Facebook efficiently stores ~6.5 billion images, in 4 or 5
sizes each, totaling ~30 billion files, and a total of 540 TB
and serving 475,000 images per second at peak…
I remember when Facebook released their pictures application, and I thought “this is silly.” And then everyone I’ve ever known started adding pictures and I realized that my desire to “keep it simple, stupid” was, itself, stupid.
Now, here we are, with 6.5 BILLIONIMAGES on Facebook. The truly amazing thing is that last number: almost a HALFMILLIONIMAGESPERSECOND. Some people in the internet industry might say that serving that many requests per second isn’t that difficult… but I think these Facebook engineers deserve some serious, serious respect… this is tough stuff they are doing.
The Sartorialist features a quick illustration of “(The Original) John Lobb, London.” Check out the relentless authenticity of this place. First off, William Lobb is a 5th generation shoemaker in London. What’s that, 150+ years of shoemaking? Above the front door there are coats of arms. An example of the caption below one:
Then there’s Frank Sinatra’s boot last amongst Lobb’s huge collection of lasts. THEN, there’s the outrageously cool leather-bound sales records, stacked to the ceiling on engraved, dark wooden shelves.
In an era of faux finishes and a paucity of historical significance, it’s fascinating to see such an authentic, focused place still in business.
Without mortality—that is, if we lived forever, uncaring of
the ticking of clocks—would we have need of religion,
of families with children for a new generation, of dreams for
a better future? Wouldn’t scientists lose their urgency
to discover, artists to create? Without my ever-keener
awareness of Jean’s and my mortality, I certainly wouldn’t
be writing this account in my 87th year. And what about
love? As lyrical expressions, sonnets typically represent
the poet’s personal emotions. One sonnet in particular,
by Shakespeare, moves both Jean and me; I liked it as
a graduate student, but not in the way I do today. The
first-person narrator acknowledges that life, like a fire, is
consumed by the source nourishing it, and tells his beloved
in the concluding couplet, “This thou perceiv’st, which makes
thy love more strong, / To love that well which thou must
leave ere long.”
The life-long retrospective in this essay is massive in scope and as a result, variegated in message. Should you have time on this sunny beautiful summer day, though, have a sit down and read it, mindful of youth and the opportunities it affords.
Not so long ago, somebody looked at the heaps of tennis shoes and car tires piling up in landfills and thought “we can grind these up and sell the pieces!” Since then, these useful scrap rubber bits have been employed in a variety of ways, including replacement for gravel on playgrounds.
The material is, in many ways, an improvement over gravel: softer when trod upon, a nice radiator of heat on those chilly Minnesota spring days, and a good use of material that would go to waste. Unfortunate side effect: warm rubber has a biting, putrid scent. You can’t smell the fresh cut grass or the summer breeze; it smells like you are inside the world’s biggest tire.
I am just so unbelievably excited to own my own business fixing people’s teeth, I can barely stand it. If you’re in the Twin Cities area five years from now, and your tooth hurts, please do look me up.
Here’s a man that time forgot… not in a historical sense, but in the sense of doing any actual aging. Abdoulaye Wade is the president of the historically stable but deeply troubled country of Senegal. Look at his picture in that first link. Just look at his picture and then switch back here.
How old would you guess he is?
42? 48? Try 82. He is, unquestionably, the youngest looking 82 year old man I have ever seen.
You were born on third base and your parents put you
there, and you think you hit a triple. It’s not true. It’s time
to give back.
Even though Ben Stein has “publicly denounced the theory of evolution,” I still respect his viewpoints on what he has written about our parents. Thanks, university-based education, for allowing me to understand that people aren’t 100% right or 100% wrong… politicians aren’t sports teams and nuances matter.
Then “Respect The Time You Are Given” gave me a
push. That lasted for about as long as it took me to jot
it down. For the moment I am hooked on “What Would
The Hero You Do?”. When I start to feel lazy or trapped
I think of a perfect version of myself and try to imagine
what he would be doing right then and there. I don’t
always emulate him (my pecs aren’t big enough),
but it serves me well…for now.
I’m still working on editing down those European trip pictures. I am unbelievably busy taking care of dental school and other things, but I’m sure I will get these things posted.