08:04 – We got our blizzard after all. Barbara said there were snowflakes falling on her drive home yesterday evening. And in the mountains some areas were buried by an inch (2.54 cm) of snow. We have a couple more chilly days in the forecast, but by this weekend the highs are to be back up in the mid-60’s (~ 18C).
That kickstarter project I mentioned yesterday is off to a very good start. As of this morning they have $17,372 pledged of their $30,000 goal, with 43 days remaining.
“Alas, Poor Stephen is Dead …or what it takes to be a Backblaze hard drive.”
http://blog.backblaze.com/2013/10/28/alas-poor-stephen-is-dead/
“How long do disk drives last?”
http://blog.backblaze.com/2013/11/12/how-long-do-disk-drives-last/
“The theory matches the reality that Backblaze experiences. The chart below shows the failure rate of drives in each quarter of their life. For the first 18 months, the failure rate hovers around 5%, then it drops for a while, and then goes up substantially at about the 3-year mark. We are not seeing that much “infant mortality”, but it does look like 3 years is the point where drives start wearing out.”
The Backblaze disk farm is now 75 petabytes and growing at 2 to 3 PB per month. I find this fascinating that they can keep the disk farm online between hardware failures, constant online user access and hackers.
Miles asked yesterday: I don’t even know why employers pay for employees health cover.
It’s due to WW2. Seriously.
During WW2, there was a general wage freeze. However, companies wanted a way to compete for workers, so they got a law passed that made some benefits, including health insurance paid for by employers, to be considered compensation by the employer, but not taxable to the employee. After the war, it became a standard part of compensation at large companies and union shops