In oracle, you can copy data between linked databases via normal SQL.

insert into table select * from table@db_link

The databases can even be on different physical machines.

Vishu and I were talking the other day, and he expressed an interest in learning Ruby.. in particular Ruby On Rails. I was sort of ambiguous about the exercise but couldn't really put my finger on why. After reading Why Ruby Shouldn’t Be Your Next Programming Language (Maybe), I figured out why I'm not all that jazzed about it.