Re: pg_clog woes with 7.3.2 - Episode 2

Keven Brown wrote:
> Normally I'd agree that "noapic" sounds and smells like snakeoil. The
> problem is that it has observable and repeatable effects on some
> systems, and thus can't really be classified as snakeoil (much as one
> might like to!).

There's a /slight/ difference between 'superstition' and 'snakeoil'; the
latter is something you don't expect to find effectual. The former may
represent something you don't/can't understand.

Recall Clarke's observation that "Any sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic."

Anything I can't explain is likely to either be:

a) Something I don't understand yet, or

b) Perhaps something truly supernatural, that cannot be explained
based on any sort of natural reasoning. Perhaps explainable by "God
did something unexplainable, therefore things are the way they are."

There are disagreements as to where to draw the line. People of some
degrees of "superstitiousness" may be prepared to explain _everything_
as involving "God decided to make that happen," making _no_ attempt to
understand lower level processes. Some, more skeptical, may reject that
anything should be able to fall into category b).

On the other hand, some people get themselves rip-roaring drunk and trip
over the line we thought was one of concept:

"SCSI is *NOT* magic. There are *fundamental technical reasons* why
it is necessary to sacrifice a young goat to your SCSI chain now and
then."
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