Joshua Inkenbrandt

It's no secret that the latest version of Digg's site, Digg v4, has had some serious hiccups since its launch. So many, in fact, they've created a page specifically for their Known Issues. It's been suggested that most of their technical problems have been in part due to switching their database from MySQL to Cassandra.

Now I tend to have grace for early adopters. I'm an addict for new technology, myself. I'll see a benchmarks or a feature set of a "promising" technology and I'm sold. This, of course, is a luxury I can afford given the fact that I do not operate a site that generates 30 million unique visitors a month and has $40 million in venture capital. But It wasn't a luxury Digg could afford.

Hopefully this will serve as a lesson: If the shoe doesn't fit, find a different pair. Cassandra is used by Facebook (it's creator), Twitter, Reddit and more, but not in the same capacity as Digg. Most of Cassandra's use has come in the form of caching and indexing. Digg is using it as a replacement for their MySQL database. This, as it turns out, is not an ideal solution (or at least its implementation is not).

I guess this is the part where I tell you that Digg should have used MongoDB... So... Digg should have used MongoDB.

It's easy to take life for granted. In a nation like ours, it's almost impossible not to. We complain about everything: taxation, healthcare, discrimination, education, rights, etc - the list is inexhaustible. But let's step back just a bit. Let's take a moment and look at the rest of the world: put our "problems" in context.

The things we complain the most about, are usually things we are taking for granted.

I'm not saying we shouldn't fight for what we believe or what we think is just; I'm saying we should be thankful for what we have while doing so.

The fact that we exist is more than any of us can comprehend. It's the most important question. Why do we exists? No matter what your answer is, it will require some faith; in religion or science. Unless, that is of course, your answer is: "I don't know".

It's a question that has never had a certain answer — which, when you think about it, makes sense. If it was certain, this world would be a completely different place. There would only be one way. Our morals would have no other influencers. The fact that you can't give an answer that doesn't require some bit of faith leads me to believe that faith is a necessary burden.

You and I have no gapless proof of why we exist. All we have is faith.