News Sites Slammed By Michael Jackson Traffic 387
miller60 writes "Major news sites struggled to remain online yesterday evening as news of Michael Jackson's death triggered huge waves of Internet traffic. TMZ.com broke the news and was quickly overwhelmed, while Twitter turned off features to handle its load. They weren't alone. Keynote Systems reports that ABC, AOL, CBS, CNN Money, MSNBC, NBC, and Yahoo! News all experienced performance problems between 6:15 and 9 pm Eastern time, when the average availability of news sites tracked by Keynote dropped from almost 100% to 86%. The cloud computing crowd immediately jumped on the traffic jams to argue their case. 'Not have a cloud bursting strategy in the age of cloud computing isn't just wrong — it's idiotic,' wrote one cloud blogger."
Poll results (Score:5, Insightful)
Right now the results of the /. poll are showing the majority of votes as him being forgettable. Obviously the current young generation has no idea the impact MJ had on the world. Perhaps in time they will learn.
in other news??? (Score:1, Insightful)
In regards to the traffic issues, MSNBC had an 'auto-start' slideshow going on the homepage in primetime last evening, so it would seem they brought a lot if not all of this on themselves...
*now* you pull the trigger on the story.. (Score:2, Insightful)
*sigh* (Score:4, Insightful)
I hate to say this, but things like this (and Anna Nichole Smith) make me weep for humanity.
We put too much interest in people whose saving grace is that they can put a song together when there are so many other problems in the world that need resolving.
Do you think world would have paid as much attention to Stephen Hawking if he died?
I'd doubt it but he's probably made a greater contribution to mankind over the long term compared to MJ.
Secondly, MJ kind of screwed the pooch when it came to financial responsibility. The guy was known to publicly throw tantrums at his personal assistants when they told him to stop buying everything in the store and spent millions on stuff like paintings, statues, and luxuries that none of us could ever afford.
Hell... For all the grief we give about Bill Gates, at least he is doing something for humanity that is good other than spend money on luxuries. The guy is not a hero and we should not look to him for inspiration. Plenty of other people in streets of Iran to look for that.
Cloud (Score:5, Insightful)
What if everyone uses Cloud hosting?
The Cloud works for some customers because they are depending on under-utilization of the available resources. If all the news agenices, Twitter and Facebook all used Amazon then perhaps it would create the same melt down.
Re:*now* you pull the trigger on the story.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Someone that popular is "news for anybody", regardless of who you are. Maybe to a lesser degree for some, but still.
My Pet Project Will Save Everything (Score:5, Insightful)
This wouldn't have happened if they had my poorly-defined buzzword idea!
Cloud in Neverland Fantasy (Score:5, Insightful)
Cloud computing pundits seem to ramble about instant on access and scalability. Nice fantasy. What they actually want to do is make you buy into a single vendor system that's tightly controlled, which may or may not scale as expected when the time comes and that is plagued by the same outages we see from any service vendor.
Re:Cloud (Score:5, Insightful)
That's exactly what I was thinking. Right now these sites have to spend a certain amount of cash to prepare for these types of events. If they were all "in the cloud" then they wouldn't bother with that extra capacity...The cloud can cover it, right?
As soon as some generalized event comes along that saturates a number of big "cloud" subscribers, then the whole system is going to be heavily taxed, not just a few individual sites, and by the very nature of the "cloud" thing, that will affect a wide number of sites outside the sites that would otherwise be affected.
You're going to have to sell me on redundancy before you can get me to buy into magical cloud land.
Re:*sigh* (Score:2, Insightful)
I hate to say this, but things like this (and Anna Nichole Smith) make me weep for humanity.
We put too much interest in people whose saving grace is that they can put a song together
As far as I know the only thing Anna Nicole Smith ever put together were two oversized sillicone filled breasts. Having them exist simultaneously in the same universe, much less on the same torso, was itself a feat I admit.
Re:Poll results (Score:5, Insightful)
It was only later that the pedophilia stuff cropped up.. but by then he was already a legend ranking right up there will Elvis, and if it werent for the pedophelia stuff his funeral would be as big as JFK's or John Lennon's (thats assuming it wont be, but it may very well actualy be)
A freakish monster obsessed with surgical modifcations? Yep. Caught in several pedophelia scandals? Yep. One of the biggest musicians ever? Also true.
I can't believe people care about this! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cloud (Score:5, Insightful)
from the blogpost:
why elasticity is so important when architecting your web application stack
while probably technically with merit, sentences, verbiage like this make me want to be sick. exorcist sick.
Cloud (Score:3, Insightful)
So if all those sites were "in the clouds", they would all demand extra (limited) cloud power. So unless default is to have 3 or 4 datacenters on standby...
But that would, in a way, conflict with the goal of efficient resources.
Re:Poll results (Score:1, Insightful)
And to those of us not interested in the music industry, the biggest selling album ever is also supremely uninteresting. He may have had a huge effect on the music industry, but he didn't have much effect on the rest of the world - which amounts to quite a lot.
Incorrect (Score:2, Insightful)
Since when was 44% a majority? (Unless the vote has changed significantly since you posted...)
And they didn't anyway - rather, 44% say they were unaffected by his death. The "forgettable" was just biased blurb added by the poll author, and can't be assumed to be representative of people's views.
I'd say that if 50% of the entire population are affected by your death, that's pretty damn good going.
Well. If it had been posted to a newsgroup (Score:5, Insightful)
The news would have been everywhere with minimal bandwidth consumed.
Basically, the webserver concept is broken for really big traffic.
Of course, the problem with usenet is it's too efficient. People can post crap too easily and get others to pay for it.
He was a childhood idol to many (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember that when I was young, MJ was very much an idol to many people my age. Who says we're looking to him for inspiration - or even as a role-model - in this day and age? No, it's the passing of something from our youth. We mourn what he was, not what he had become.
And yes, if Stephen Hawking passed I'd imagine it would still be a fairly big event as well.
Re:*sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)
For the a lot of people who grew up during his heyday, Michael Jackson was "The King of Pop". As a singer/performer, he helped define a genre during his time. People remember the emotions of getting pumped up before a game to a song, or losing their virginity to a song, or getting through a rough time with a song. Those emotional attachments create powerful memories and connections.
When my grandfather died my mom listened to the same Yanni CD for like 12 months straight and it never occurred to me why until like 4 years later when I made the connection that that was what we would always listen to on our weekly visits to the nursing home, and that the songs soothed her and helped her cope with the loss. Because of that, Yanni (whose music I'm not even a fan of) evokes a pretty strong emotion to me, and a much stronger emotion from my mom. The completely intangible feelings that music can give you can feel _more_ tangible or be more rememberable than the changes to our lives brought about by the achievements of some guy in a lab, even if those lab achievements mean far more to mankind in the long or short run.
The human race dissapoints me once again (Score:4, Insightful)
The twitterverse has spontaneously shifted from being a (supposed) forum for Iranian democracy to a Michael Jackson tribute site. News sites reporting the death of this one man, this self-obsessed child molester with a surgery fetish, have been swamped with traffic whilst sites reporting the deaths of thousands of innocent people never have any problem coping with traffic: http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1 [thehungersite.com]
I am an atheist, believing in no life after this one, and the upshot of this is I find all human life to have indefinite value - indefinite but basically equal. If you are mourning right now and your surname isn't "Jackson", then it is a direct affront to those who die through no fault of their own and are implicitly disregarded by the rest of the world during the absurd rituals we employ to mark the death of somebody famous.
I don't believe in human nature or historical inevitability. I believe in free will, and thus I believe people have a choice. Masses of people have made the wrong choice, and it makes me both sad and angry. The reaction to Michael Jackson's death, rather than the death itself, has put a real downer on my day.
Re:Poll results (Score:5, Insightful)
good grief, by any serious consideration of musical talent he was nothing special, made no new contribution to the arts. Hype and marketing success story, sure. But being almost the same age as MJ I can tell you neither I nor any of my friends growing up cared for his music, especially as he spent half his life being a weirdo.
I don't own any Michael Jackson music, nor have I ever been to any of his concerts, etc..
He may not have had any serious musical talent (which pop stars do?), I suspect he did within his genre, but you can't deny that he was an exceptional performer. Perhaps he was just the canvas on which many people painted a performance, however, he was central to that. Perhaps you don't like that style but you've got to appreciate the fact that he's one of the highest selling artistes ever and entertained on stage over about 40 years. That's an achievement.
I'd also think he made substantial contributions to the arts in his performance of some quite novel choreographic sequences- who'd done a zombie dance before thriller!? Who'd seen moonwalking before MJ popularised it.
Re:Poll results (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh screw off, culture and the arts are an important part of defining "who we are" as a race. Without our movies, music, paintings and books we would completely loose our sense of who we are, and where we've been. (books in particular, do you really think the world would not be negatively effected if all of the classics simply ceased to exist over night?)
Re:Poll results (Score:5, Insightful)
Its not about liking him, its about recognizing the huge influence he had over contemporary and later musicians. Its much like Nirvana, I may personally hate their music (and that statement alone would've been enough to send my karma into the fiery pits of hell, had Slashdot a younger population), but even to me the influence they've had over pretty much anything that calls itself "rock" these days is undeniable. Michael Jackson represented the same thing for pop, so regardless of whether you liked him or not he most certainly wasn't "forgettable".
Re:Poll results (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Poll results (Score:4, Insightful)
Michael Jackson on one hand, Guns 'n Roses on the other. No wonder I never liked music as a kid. The 80's were a fucking wasteland. The Talking Heads are the only band from the decade I like, and I didn't discover them until adulthood.
Of course, Junta and Pretty Hate Machine were both released in 1989 so it wasn't *all* bad.
Re:Poll results (Score:1, Insightful)
It's fair to say that since it's the biggest selling album ever, odds are it has directly shaped many of today's performers.
See if you can try to figure out where I'm going with this.
Re:Poll results (Score:3, Insightful)
Did you even RTFSummary? News sites were slammed, but you suggest that he didn't have much effect on the world outside the music industry. Does not compute.
Re:Poll results (Score:3, Insightful)
Er, I'm British, I'm not sure why you'd assume I'm American.
Manchester United (British football team) are also prominent world wide including places ranging from Somalia to China to Pallestine, but it doesn't mean they really are that important in the grant scheme of things.
You can say what you want about my opinion of Michael Jackson but do not forget there are still hundreds of millions out there who agree with me.
It is stupid to pretend everyone liked him. Yes he had a massive following but it is not universal, it's naive to think that would ever be the case when we're talking about something as subjective as music.
Re:Poll results (Score:4, Insightful)
How 'bout some empathy for the children he conned into sex acts?
Proof or retract.
How 'bout some disgust for the jaded rich who don't see anyone else as valid and care only for their own pleasure?
I see MJ completely differently. Thrown into the spotlight at 5 years old, he pretty much stopped maturing at that point. His fame (and, later, infamy) and riches meant that he always had "handlers" around to take care of things for him. Without having to do things for himself, he could never mature. He wasn't jaded rich. He was immature rich, and probably not by his own doing.
How 'bout some joy that children are safer by one pedophile now?
Assuming he was one. I kind of doubt it.
How 'bout the realization that singing meaningless crap in a falsetto while dancing self indulgently isn't talent no matter what the industry tells you?
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Based on the sales of said meaningless crap, I'd have to conclude that you're wrong. I just happen to (mostly) agree with you. (Not all of it was meaningless, but I digress - I'm not sure what he wrote vs merely sang/performed.)
Re:Poll results (Score:4, Insightful)
And thus we see the true colors of our society. So long as you can sing, dance, and entertain the world, molesting children and then paying off their parents to make criminal cases go away is just fine with us. You can even come right out and proclaim in televised interviews that you're carrying on inappropriate relationships with children; we'll still either deny or ignore it.
I see all this outpouring of sympathy all over the web for a pedophile who molested children with impunity for years on end and all I can think is that all those Catholic priests should have taken some classes at an art school before doing what they did as it probably would have saved the church some money. I don't care how well you sing or dance. I don't care if you cure Cancer. The moment you start molesting children, society should throw you to the wolves.
Re:Poll results (Score:2, Insightful)
Let's be honest here, the man could definitely sing. That falls within the definition of musical talent whether or not you liked his music.
Re:Ok, So How Would It Help? (Score:3, Insightful)
It might help when CNN gets pegged. But since it's coming out of a shared common pool of resources, it won't help when CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc. etc. etc. all get pegged.
Re:Poll results (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Poll results (Score:5, Insightful)
Certainly the accusation is there in the case of Michael Jackson, but he remained unconvicted, just like you.
Re:Poll results (Score:3, Insightful)
Its Frank freaking Sinatra for christ sakes.
Its Elvis freaking Presley for christ sakes.
Its John freaking Lennon for christ sakes.
Its Michael freaking Jackson for christ sakes.
These guys are not footnotes. They are Legends. Michael Jackson sold out 50 concerts in just a few hours when sales opened up in March of this year.. ONE MILLION TICKETS. According to ticketmaster after selling out so quickly, the demand for those tickets was "unprecedented." Michael Jackson is as huge as Elvis regardless of how any of us feel about his music or his lifestyle.
Re:Poll results (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not sure what you are getting at. Did Elvis have a big political or economic effect either? No. He was the King, and that was all that he ever needed to be in order to affect the world.
Having a legacy isn't a college entrance application. Being "well-rounded" is not a requirement to affect the world. I could care less about "the Music Industry" myself, but I've certainly heard his music despite that. It is possible for people to be so good at what they do that they transcend their origin point in society.
Look at Bill Gates. He's a computer nerd, but he's also a fabulously wealthy computer nerd whose operating system is running on most PC's today. Now he's a philanthropist, but do we really think that he wouldn't have gone down in history if he had never been something other than Chairman of Microsoft?
John Lennon and many of the performers of the same ilk may be out to stop all wars or cure AIDs or whatever, but let's be honest, would we give a shit about them if they weren't the performers that they are/were? In fact, if we are really being honest, what do most of these performers do in these other spheres that makes any difference other than adding publicity to things? Their effect on the world is already there *before* they got involved. There are a few performers who are really knowledgeable about what they are doing, and probably deserve great fame for these other works as well, but that's the exception, not the rule.
Re:Poll results (Score:4, Insightful)
No retraction. He merely bought off the civil cases. Any moron knows what happened,let alone wise men.
I'm sure you see him through rose colored glasses. Take them off. He's an ugly little troll.
Based on sales of meaningless crap indeed. The music industry only ONLY calls an act talent if they have the talent to market said act. The rest is advertising hyperbole. The general public likes anything it's told to for the convenience of the industry to market it. No talent required, none seen. There was a time you could put on an organ grinder monkey suit, shrill falsetto, dance self indulgently and the industry had someone who could market that.That spells sales. Sales based on a talented marketing division not a monkey.
No matter how much you polish it a turd is a turd. Market it correctly and the public will have a popular new exciting taste sensation. You've been had. Go brush the crap off your teeth.
God, I'll bet you think he actually had something to do with writing any of the songs he recorded.
The man was so socially retarded he could barely do anything towards personal care that you or I do ourselves everyday. Don't expect he made any relevant career decisions on his own. He was a brand name and that's all. He was used by others as a cash cow and built his own wealth that way.
If not for that he would probably be just another citizen doing prison time for molestation.
Re:Poll results (Score:4, Insightful)
Based on your required level of evidence, I hereby accurately state that you are an active pedophile currently engaged in molesting children, after all I can quote you verbatim as saying..
"I've admitted to inappropriate relationships with young boys"
Re:Not only news (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow, that's the way I'd like to go...owing about $400 million.
That means you could afford a pretty good life up until then...and when you're gone, what do you care?
Re:*sigh* (Score:3, Insightful)
Hell... For all the grief we give about Bill Gates, at least he is doing something for humanity that is good other than spend money on luxuries. The guy is not a hero and we should not look to him for inspiration. Plenty of other people in streets of Iran to look for that.
Michael Jackson won 15 awards for his humanitarian efforts that I could immediately find. Bill Gates has won 2 that I could immediately find. Michael Jackson was 50 when he died, Bill Gates is 52 and has more resources. You have simply been blinded by the jokes and allegations about ole Jacko. Outside of his music, he was a humanitarian, and he had many friends. He was a compulsive buyer, had serious daddy-issues, and was very, very weird -- but for a man his age, he probably changed the world, for the better, more than you, me, and every other current slashdot poster put together.
Re:Poll results (Score:4, Insightful)
No retraction. He merely bought off the civil cases. Any moron knows what happened,let alone wise men.
Obviously you are a pedophile and serial killer then, since you can't buy me out.
Pay hush money? (Score:3, Insightful)
That is called a settlement.
One party realizes that irrespective of the truth the damage is too much to contemplate, so they try to settle.
It is funny how you, and other MJ haters, don't question the morals of the parents or guardians of the children that decided to settle. I know there is no amount of money that would keep me quiet if a child of mine had been interfered with, so I think one can also argue that if the parents settled that means they either put money before ethics and morals (in the case MJ actually did something) or were a bunch of scum-bags blackmailing Jackson knowing he had done something that clearly was inappropriate (sleeping in the same bed with children) but not illegal.
So we can play it both ways, which is why it is better to let the legal system play things out and accpet whatever conclussions are reached.
Re:Snap out of it. (Score:3, Insightful)
And, to be honest with you, I don't really see the validity of the complaint. I mean, if sound processing is so evil, then you'd better go back and start mouthing off about how the Beatles and the Beach Boys during the mid-60s were doing all kinds of strange things in the studio. Strawberry fields is heavily processed, and includes two takes, one of them which had to heavy modifications to fit with the other. The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations was recorded at several studios in pieces and edited together.
Musicians had been using the studio like that for the better part of 20 years when Thriller came out. We wouldn't have Sgt. Pepper or Queen's A Night At The Opera or The Who's Who's Next if it weren't for a considerable amount of sound processing and engineering. I'm not sure what exactly in Thriller, in the respect of the recording and mixing process, the parent is even referring to. This was before digital recording, so it was still recorded on analog tape by analog desks with real live musicians.
I listened to Billie Jean and Thriller last night, and I don't hear anything that sounds insanely produced, no worse than, say, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds or Baba O'Reilly. It's not my kind of music (I'm more the FM Classic Rock type), but I'd have to say that from my limited knowledge of dance music, you're average Abba record probably involved far more sound engineering. Most certainly Queen during their mid-period were literally overdubbing vocals dozens of times to achieve the operatic section of Bohemian Rhapsody, and they weren't the only guys doing that. Pink Floyd probably has some of the most elaborate productions in the pre-digital age with Dark Side of the Moon.
Frankly, I think the parent is just talking out of his ass.
Re:So you where there. (Score:3, Insightful)
Whether the guy was a molester or not, the fact was that he was a very troubled guy. You read what some of the guys who knew him even during his heyday have to say, and this was a man deeply scarred by a violent, domineering father. And look at his responsibilities. One way or the other, the Jackson 5's success rest mainly on Michael. He, more than his siblings, was the gravy train. It's kind of sad, because between about 1979 and 1987, his heyday when he and Quincy Jones made three incredibly successful records, his eccentricities seemed more like a clever PR ploy (it's pretty much admitted now that he leaked the infamous picture of him in the hyperbaric chamber). But maybe it's true that some psyches just aren't built for fame, and I think the notion that he was some sort of man-boy who never really got past his teenage years is likely true.
People are calling his demise like that of Elvis's, I'm thinking it more resembles Howard Hughes.