Frank Cotolo
15 Jun, 2009

 

For the first time in years there have been technical problems so vast that two of our shows went undone and now the technicians at SRN Mediaworks are kicking out the proverbial jams to be sure servers do indeed serve.

 

The problem, as we understand it in our production office, is that the hardware fails, thus not supporting the software, thus shutting down and leaving the world sans broadcast, that is, void of sound.

 

Sound simple? It isn't because the hardware's failure is a matter of a million things, not all tangible. Those little motherboards, they are little in size but huge in purpose and performance. And to have the very nature of our show in the hands of those "mo-boards" is to place the fate of greatness on the tip of a needle.

 

Let me explain.

 

We are victims of the system no matter how much we care to imagine that our purposes, far from commercial, take us away. The server, that mighty component that puts the inter in Internet, is a needy beast. And a gentle giant.

 

Let me explain more.

 

Plug A goes into plug B and that allows plug B to cooperate with plugs C, D, E, F, G, H, I and so on to plug Z. Then, all of those plugs each connect with 10 or more plugs and those 10 or more plugs then connect with hundreds of others each and before you know it there is a plug universe with billions of plugs feeding on the others, some 10 deep, 20 deep until the possible number of people who might jump into the orbits is larger than the population of a small planet, though the concept of "small" takes on a whole new meaning.

 

Let me explain with more detail.

 

Say that five people know six other people and they all have computers, OK? So the six people are connecting to the five people but one of them is left out. He or she feels - how can I say this? - left out. So he or she finds six people on his or her own and connects with all of them. Those six people become part of the string that is being supported by the same server supporting the first string, even though the last six people are individually supported by six other servers that in themselves support "x" number of strings.