"Nathan stages a viral video of a pig saving a drowning baby goat in order to make Oakland petting zoo an international destination." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noTz20TB714
We've spent years in R&D mode working on the data model, the query language, APIs and architecture to make sure that everything clicks together to create one vertically integrated, cohesive, and language agnostic solution. Everything in EdgeDB is optimized for DX (while not sacrificing perf or type safety), and as far as I know there's no other database company out there which does what we do. So fingers crossed, our attempt at evolving relational databases will be successful.
I'm not intimately familiar with that particular piece of history, unfortunately (I'll read more about it for sure). There were many examples in the past of great tech (like smalltalk or network dbs) that didn't exactly succeed for many reasons, sometimes because it was created way ahead of its time. We build EdgeDB to address today's needs: nested hierarchical queries, integrated schema migrations, performance, high quality language drivers etc. There is some intersection with what was done in the past for sure, but if you're interested in databases I encourage you to take a look at our website, the blog, and the docs. I'm sure you'll find new things.
If this is shocking wait until you find out that a lot of banks still use IBM IMS. That's IBM's first database that they built for the government to track rocket parts for the Apollo moon mission.
Tangential, but I watched a video about maintenance on the Russian high speed train, Сапсан (sapsan), and when they started the train for a test the unmistakable sound of Windows XP starting was heard. It could have been for any number of systems on the train, but I found it funny. Admittedly it was US documentary, and they really butchered the translation for dramatic effect, so I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't fabricated also.
Gold is also the most reasonable element to use as a store of value. It isn't very reactive or radioactive, so it's stable for long periods of time, it's a solid at room temperature, it's not hazardous to human health, it's easily manipulated and formed, and it's not super abundant but also not super rare. Silver is the only other element that comes close, and it tarnishes.
There could be some value attributed to being able to use gold as a store of value and currency in the event of a dissolution of modern society such that the internet or widespread electricity is no longer around.
Sure, but this is based on the idea that the innate uses and value of gold would be similar (or "relatively high") after such a transformation of the world. This is not clear to me at all, compared to say, a similar wealth invested into a large cache of firearms and ammo. Or whatever will happen to be useful, depending on the scenario.
It reminds me of an anecdote from my grandfather from the end of WW2, people were giving away gold rings for loaves of bread. (Clearly, only when in desperate need, but it did happen.)
Firearms and ammo are a necessity, but one person/small tribe can only defend against so many others. What you really need is a community (or bigger tribe) that will come to your aid, and the community will need to be able to trade between themselves and others, which is where gold comes in.
In that situation, the inability to eat it or shoot something with it is probably going to make gold/silver pretty close to worthless as well until society re-exists.
Even if the US government ceases to exist, the features of non reproducibility built into cash dollars (watermarks, intaglio printing) would still exist although they won't be as ultimately durable into the future as an element. At least you can also use them as fire starters.
Paper money has a lower bound of material value equal to $(toilet paper - utility value for the comfort of toilet paper over a dollar bill) per square inch.
> Rather than a query planner, an interesting approach would be to expose the more stable part of the internals with a new language and let people roll their own query plans.
Those that are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.
Go read Stonebraker's "What Goes Around Comes Around"
>The second one (mid 2000s) was a neat physical storage trick, which should have been a feature of a database system, not an excuse for building a new one.
Can you say what database this was? Akiban? SchoonerSQL?
According to Robert Haas, the zheap project is dead.