791 - Out Of The Rain

OK, I got my distributed systems problem fixed. Hmm … testing in the large, when whatever you do has the potential to disturb hundreds or thousands of users, that’s no fun, and even less so, when things really go awry.

After the experience of the last 24 hours I begin to understand how catastrophic failures happen. It’s not because the people involved are not clever enough, no, it’s because of the enormous pressure that their environment puts onto them. They are literally not allowed to put as much time into a proper anlysis as would be needed. Everybody wants them to do something, not to ponder about the situation, and because of the pressure they begin to try shortcuts, doing things that seem promising, guided by experience, hope and blind faith, and that’s the point where things usually get out of control very quickly. I did not give in this time, but believe me, I sympathize with everyone who does.

Photographically this day was rather meager. It drizzled in the morning, and when I left work for the train, the drizzle had changed into a steady rain. I had no hopes for any keepers, and this image more or less happened by chance. Interestingly enough it turned out quite well. One more time: not the bicycle but the rider. Sort of 🙂

The Song of the Day is “Out Of The Rain” from the 1993 Patricia Kaas album “Je Te Dis Vous”. See a video on YouTube.