
The Saddest Moment (2013) [pdf] - signa11
https://www.usenix.org/system/files/login-logout_1305_mickens.pdf
======
pronoiac
James Mickens is great! He's listed his own work here:

[https://mickens.seas.harvard.edu/wisdom-james-
mickens](https://mickens.seas.harvard.edu/wisdom-james-mickens)

> James Mickens offers his timeless insights for free, because he loves you
> and he wants you to succeed. Please enjoy the undeniable masterpieces which
> are collected below.

------
dang
Discussed back then:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6905536](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6905536)

~~~
richardhod
Thank you, although I'm glad this was reposted because the former Microsoft
host of this pdf references in that posting is now a dead link

------
bloak
The name of Cthulhu is misspelt in that paper. For the author's sake, I hope
that Cthulhu doesn't mind.

~~~
Verdex
It's probably safer to misspell it. I imagine it was intentional to avoid
unexpected consequences.

~~~
erikpukinskis
Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse! Betelgeuse!

------
caf
This is similar in spirit to the Alice and Bob After Dinner Speech
([https://urbigenous.net/library/alicebob.html](https://urbigenous.net/library/alicebob.html))

------
teachrdan
Make sure you read to the end:

> In conclusion, I think that humanity should stop publishing papers about
> Byzantine fault tolerance. I do not blame my fellow researchers for trying
> to publish in this area, in the same limited sense that I do not blame
> crackheads for wanting to acquire and then consume cocaine.

~~~
ncmncm
Exactly! This is not a criminal problem, but a public health problem.

------
KaiserPro
This brings so much joy. It sums up my experiences with supporting homebrewed,
half-arsed distributed systems.

------
atomicbeanie
And the truth is most systems of any kind seem to fail from simple things that
everyone could have prevented but overlooked. Wasted engineering. Best to
think like the Arpanet was designed. Have a way to heal once things are
normal, not work around the bizarre failures.

~~~
Gibbon1
I've spent a bunch of time in light manufacturing. In testing assemblies I've
come to the conclusion that for ordinary stuff you just want to reduce the
rate of 'bad product' below the rate of installer fuckups. If 9 times out of
10 the reason is failed it because someone fucked it up and 1 out of 10 is
because you shipped a defective unit, no one cares.

You might go, well what about safety critical things. Well it's still true.
Just at a much lower level of failure.

------
karmakaze
And here are a list of Byzantine generals

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Byzantine_generals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Byzantine_generals)

------
dunkelheit
Arguably, bitcoin network is an example of a practical and widely deployed BFT
protocol (although underlying assumptions are a bit different compared to the
classical BFT setting). So the field is not dead yet.

~~~
314
It is covered by the example that broadcasts 16 gagilluon messages (because it
is not optimized down to the 14 gagiliion case).

~~~
derefr
Blockchain systems are a funny case in that they don’t really need much
network traffic for consensus, but they _do_ need a whole lot of messages. All
the “traffic” in a [proof of work] blockchain system consists of messages the
nodes generate internally, and then discard because they’re not ‘convincing
enough’ as a proof of their leadership. But yeah, if you count all those
“attempted and discarded” messages up, there’s roughly a gajillion of them.

------
qrbLPHiKpiux
Mossad going to do Mossad things. I like reading his stuff.

------
Bakary
Can someone explain why it was Keanu who was used as an example? Isn't he
supposed to be a likeable actor?

~~~
brazzy
Likable, yes. But for the longest time he had a reputation for rather wooden
acting.

~~~
Taylor_OD
I don't think he's shirked that reputation. He's just taken on roles that
utilize that. See Matrix trilogy and the john wick movies. You don't need to
have incredible acting chops to play a fairly stoic killer/Superman.

~~~
CalChris
Point Break Live! took advantage of exactly that and recruited an audience
member every night to read Johnny Utah’s lines. Little old ladies saying _Sir,
I take the skin off chicken._

------
gmargari
2013.

