A Tweet Re: Aerospike

Jongleberry ‏@jongleberry  7m7 minutes ago7 minutes ago @PeterCorless @mattapperson @aerospikedb i don't know what this does. "FLASH-OPTIMIZED, IN-MEMORY, NOSQL DATABASE." these are not features

Jongleberry, I wanted to respond to you, though it'll take longer than a Tweet.

FLASH-OPTIMIZED

Many older databases run primarily out of traditional rotating hard disks. Such media has access speeds in the millisecond (10^-3) order of magnitude. Red Hat says "The average access time of a typical hard drive is roughly 8.5 milliseconds." That's fine so long as you don't have really fast response time requirements.

Yet if you take a look at how fast modern databases need to perform, such as for Real Time Bidding (RTB), you have use cases, such as Komli, where they need to get data back in as little as 1-2 milliseconds, there's no way spinning disk is going to get data back that fast.

Instead, you need to run from Flash-memory Solid State Drives (SSD). These drives can be accessed at microsecond speed (10^-6 or 10^-5), meaning they are orders of magnitude faster than spinning disk.

The way Aerospike is architected takes advantage of running from Flash (and RAM, see more below). Now, you can meet those 1-2 millisecond response times. Flash, like spinning disk, is persistent, meaning you won't lose your data even if the power goes off. It's more expensive than spinning disk, but that price has been coming down massively in recent years.

IN-MEMORY

Aerospike can also work out of RAM, which is accessed in (tens of) nanosecond orders-of-magnitude (10^-8). So it is faster even than Flash/SSD. Yet it is not persistent. So if anything goes wrong with the power — Poof! — your data is gone. Of course, that speed brings higher costs.

This is why Aerospike focuses on using RAM and Flash each for what they do best. RAM for pure performance, and Flash for persistence with near-RAM speed (at least compared to spinning disk).

NoSQL

There's a lot of information on what NoSQL databases are, versus SQL. Aerospike is, in specific, a Key-Value store.

BOTTOM LINE: SCALE & PERFORM WHILE SAVING MONEY

When put all together, Aerospike running from Flash is cheaper-than-pure-RAM (such as Redis), and faster-than-hard-disk-can-ever-hope-to-be (such as a Cassandra deployment).

As Lynn Langit just published today, Aerospike performs as-well-or-better than Redis in RAM, and as recently published on Google Cloud Platform Blog, it requires far less servers than Cassandra.

For more cost-savings considerations of Flash/SSD, there are other articles that highlight the advantages: "RAM-like Performance with Local SSDs," as well as "Are SSDs Really 10x Cheaper than RAM?"

For further reading, I also recommend this article by Young Paik, who summed up the discussion as, "Goldilocks and the Three Storage Types."

Also see:

• Aerospike Architecture: Hybrid Storage
• SSDs vs. hard drives vs. hybrids: Which storage tech is right for you? (PC World, 2013)

GlobalCommit.org

Now that GlobalCommit has been a group on Facebook for a few days, I have also gotten a basic website nailed up. It's not "pretty," but it's live:

• GlobalCommit.org

San Jose Civility Movement

There are a number of recent trends that I have been following that, to me, stem from some common underlying problems:

• Crimes, Criminal Violence and Gang Violence
• Domestic Abuse and Violence, including disturbing trends of Homicide or Homicide-Suicide
• Bullying and Harrassment
• Workplace Hostility and Violence
• Gender and Gender Identity Violence, including sexual abuse and rape
• Racial, Religious, Ethnic or National-origin based prejudice and violence
• Political differences, demonizing, and toxic environments of political discourse

While these all seem quite disparate in their causes, their solutions are common: basic, human civility. Dignity. Respect. Kindness. Consideration.

Even if we are different, each of us should respect each other as human beings. Even if we disagree, we should remain civil, courteous, and fair in our disagreements. The vehemence, polemic, and nastiness that is so commonplace degrades our society and denigrates our individual wellbeing.

The Solution is Civility

To that end, I created the Civility Movement, a national campaign to turn our country towards a better future. One where we can have more wholesome familial relationships. Healthier friendships, schools and workplaces. One where political differences should not destroy the unity of our community.

I would like to invite my neighbors from Branham-Kirk to join me, and would like to invite you to invite others you know who would be good additions to the group. I am especially interested in making contact with civic leaders, faith leaders, youth group leaders or teachers, and others who have personal commitment and vested stakes in the outcome of our city.

Personally, I would love to get volunteers who can commit some volunteer time and skills in social media, blogging and web design, etc.

• San Jose Civility Movement - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SanJoseCivilityMovement
• Civility Movement - https://www.facebook.com/groups/CivilityMovement
• GlobalCommit (Facebook) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/GlobalCommit
• GlobalCommit (web site) - GlobalCommit.org

Please feel free to call me at 650-906-3134, or email me at petercorless@mac.com.

GlobalCommit - A program of LAHAF, Inc.

GlobalCommit

GlobalCommit is a series of public benefit projects focused on connecting committed global citizens to causes and solutions they care about.

CONFLICT MONITORING & RESOLUTION

• CoexistSTANCE - https://www.facebook.com/groups/CoexistSTANCE

CIVICS & CITIZENSHIP

• Civility Movement -https://www.facebook.com/groups/CivilityMovement/

URBAN REDEVELOPMENT

• Neponsit Home Redevelopment - https://www.facebook.com/groups/NeponsitHomeRedevelopment/

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

• Feeding Liberia (FELA) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1495965897330291/

DISASTER RESPONSE

• Philippines Typhoon Aid - https://www.facebook.com/groups/PhilippinesTyphoonAid/

• Rockaways - Hurricane Sandy News - https://www.facebook.com/groups/RockawaysHurricaneSandy/

GlobalCommit is a program of LAHAF, Inc., an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit based in New York City. 

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1. Feeding Liberia (FELA) - Formed to help Liberia grow its own food. This program is to help stop the chronic undernourishment in the country and alleviate dependence on foreign food imports. The first step is to create a 50-acre working farm in rural Liberia. This farm will be a source of good, locally-grown food for the people of the village where it is created. Surplus can be sold at market to help develop local economies around food production. It will also serve a model implementation for the creation of other farms across Liberia.

2. CoexistSTANCE - a group standing for, calling for, and working for tolerance, peace and mutual understanding around the world. Created in the wake of an ongoing series of violent attacks around the world. It is opposed to extremism, especially religious, racial and nationalist movements who breed violence, intolerance and incivility. It is a citizen-led, individually-driven, crowdsourced and contributory project to work to create opportunities for peace, reconciliation, mutual understanding, all in the hopes of reducing or ending violent extremism in the world, wherever it occurs, either domestically and internationally.

3. Civility Movement - an effort to promote pro-social, civic-minded behavior and to minimize and ameliorate anti-social behavior. The civility movement stands for a united, peaceful and progressive society. We stand against criminal violence, gangs and gang violence, domestic violence and abuse, bullying, workplace violence and discrimination within society. Focused on fostering domestic civility within the United States.

4. Neponsit Home Redevelopment - a project to help foster civic dialogue around the restoration and redevelopment for the former site of the Neponsit Hospital in Rockaway Beach, New York. The site is presently owned by the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC). The project will help envision the best use of the site, and encourage civic participation and input in the redevelopment process.

5. Rockaways - Hurricane Sandy News - A Social Media Emergency Management (SMEM) group formed in response to the 2012 Hurricane Sandy disaster (also known as “Superstorm Sandy”). More than two years after the storm, the Rockaways community still is facing long-term recovery needs. This social media project is presently focused on keeping the community informed of programs and issues relevant to disaster recovery, such as major disaster recovery financing, changes to flood insurance programs, opportunities for employment, and specific needs of individual families, businesses and homeowners.

6. Philippines Typhoon Aid - A Social Media Emergency Management (SMEM) group formed at first in response to Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan in 2013, and then reactivated in the face of Typhoon Ruby/Hagupit in 2014. Supports the Philippines during time of natural disaster, specifically tropical cyclones. Work with on-the-ground agencies and other online communities-of-interest and need. Help aggregate and share information, highlight activities and needs, and provide a common forum and medium for communications.

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Get Committed

GlobalCommit is now happening. It is the equivalent of a "non-profit incubator," with a focus on "triage" for the world's problems, big and small. The implicit challenge for everyone is to find a cause that you care about around the global, and then commit to it.

Don't just be aware.
Don't just be interested.
Don't just be influenced.
Don't just be involved.

Get committed.

That means taking the full plunge. All the way in! And no checking your watch, saying "Look at the time. Gotta run. Thanks! It's been fun." Nuh-uh. We're in it for the long haul.

We need stick-to-it-iveness. We need gumption. We need people willing to roll up their sleeves and to get stuff done. Now. Not tomorrow. NOW.

The world needs the help of countless committed individuals to make even part of these visions to come true.


By the grace of Jen Q. Adams, the Executive Director of LAHAF, Inc., now all of these projects have now found a home. I want to personally thank her for entering into a fiscal sponsorship agreement with me to help give a legal basis for all of these projects. Such IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) status will allow us to raise the funds necessary to flourish.

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More Than Just "Global Understanding"

Doing advocacy, crisis management and conflict monitoring are not new issues for me, and, if anything, I feel remiss that creating Global Commit had not happened sooner.
Back in 2008-2009, people might remember how I had attempted to begin the Global Understanding Institute (http://globalunderstandinginstitute.blogspot.com/). For various reasons, at the time it did not go far, and never incorporated. Yet much of GlobalCommit is based upon that framework.

Yet rather than just "understanding" what the problems are — now's the time to commit to fixing what's broken, repairing what needs to be mended, and removing that which is standing in our way.

Even earlier, in 2006-2008, I had done research into the Balkans crisis of the 1990s (http://razumijen.blogspot.com/).

I have also been a passionate Wikipedian, working on a lot of various conflict-oriented pages and those related to violent extremism, especially the conflict in Somalia c. 2006-2008 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Petercorless#Africa).

All of this goes back to the military conflict simulation games I played, designed and developed going back to my childhood days. Yet rather than design "war" games, what we need now are more "peacemaking" games. Simulations, data models, and even roleplaying games that might help us resolve conflicts, and bring us to a new higher-basis of civility and social well-being.

As well, in the long run, there will need to be a clear commitment beyond just research and remote work, to partner with "boots-on-the-ground" individuals and groups. It is one thing to talk about resolving some of the world's largest problems. It is an entirely different thing — a humbling experience, really — to stand amidst a problem so much larger than any one of us, and consider how to tackle it.

That scale of magnitude is what I felt most from my on-the-ground trip to the Balkans, long after the conflict there had passed, mind you, and what I learned from doing hurricane disaster recovery in the wake of Sandy. Scope and scale will be key challenges going forward.

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Where's Ebola?

Though I've been doing a lot of work with the Ebola public health emergency in West Africa, those projects are not on the list of GlobalCommit. For now, since I am only one member of a group of folks doing such work, I felt it was unfair to unilaterally drag my colleagues into GlobalCommit without long and serious discussions. I continue to work on Ebola, and have been in touch with Rebecca Williams of Disaster Info Team. She is very proud and pleased of what I am doing, but for now, again, my Ebola initiatives remain apart from the current list of projects for GlobalCommit.

—=•=—

How You Can Help

Wanted: Volunteers

• Pick a project! (Rules for submitting your own will be shared in the future.)
• Are you dedicated to the principles of the group? (ex: disaster response, communal advocacy, civility and peaceful coexistence)
• Do you know, or would you like to learn Social Media Management?
• Are you level-headed and fair minded?
• Do you like to settle disputes?
• Do you like to share vital information with communities of interest?
• Do you enjoy recruiting others to causes that can make a difference?
• Want to write essays and conversation-starters regarding critical issues of community interest?
• Do you have skills at mapping?
• Do you have graphic arts skills?
• Do you have web content management skills (wikis, WordPress, etc.)?
• Can you hack code?
• Do you work well with others?

All of the projects of GlobalCommit are currently accepting applications from people who would like to be admins, contributors and team members.

There is no need to travel to any community, conflict zone or crisis location, though, if someone is from an affected project area, you are certainly welcome to join to bring your perspective and to advocate on behalf of your community. All general work for GlobalCommit can be performed from the relative safety of wherever you are living.

Contact

Peter Corless
Founder, GlobalCommit

• Email: petercorless@mac.com
• Phone: 650-906-3134
• Twitter: @PeterCorless

Observations of 2014: Ebola Situation Reports & Statistics: Reading the Tea Leaves

Yesterday, I went back through all of the WHO and CDC reports of Ebola casualties, as far as they went. I also scoured various news stories to try to get at the origins and spread of the Ebola outbreak. The national MOH's are somewhat opaque as to how they derived their numbers, and since we know that they've been wildly inaccurate from time-to-time, analysis is oft reduced to the level of augury from tea leaves....

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/ebolasocialmediacoalition/permalink/1515051772102128/

Ebola Situation Report Analysis - 31 Dec 2014

Ebola Situation Report Analysis - 12/31/2014

• 20,206 cases, 7,905 dead
• +709 cases, +317 dead in past week
• +101 cases, +45 dead every day

Read in full: https://www.facebook.com/notes/ebola-social-media-coalition/ebola-situation-report-analysis-31-dec-2014/1514845865456052