David Foster Wallace had it right.

Stolen directly from the mysql website:

Falcon has been specially developed for systems that are able to support larger memory architectures and multi-threaded or multi-core CPU environments. Most 64-bit architectures are ideal platforms for the Falcon engine, where there is a larger available memory space and 2-, 4- or 8-core CPUs available. It can also be deployed within a standard 32-bit environment.

The Falcon storage engine is designed to work within high-traffic transactional applications. It supports a number of key features that make this possible:

        * True Multi Version Concurrency Control (MVCC) enables records and tables to be updated without the overhead associated with row-level locking mechanisms. The MVCC implementation virtually eliminates the need to lock tables or rows during the update process.
        * Flexible locking, including flexible locking levels and smart deadlock detection keep data protected and transactions and operations flowing at full speed.
        * Optimized for modern CPUs and environments to support multiple threads allowing multiple transactions and fast transaction handling.
        * Transaction-safe (fully ACID-compliant) and able to handle multiple concurrent transactions.
        * Serial Log provides high performance and recovery capabilities without sacrificing performance.
        * Advanced B-Tree indexes.
        * Data compression stores the information on disk in a compressed format, compressing and decompressing data on the fly. The result is in smaller and more efficient physical data sizes.
        * Intelligent disk management automatically manages disk file size, extensions and space reclamation.
        * Data and index caching provides quick access to data without the requirement to load index data from disk.
        * Implicit savepoints ensure data integrity during transactions.

This is happening within my own county, and it's difficult for very conservative folks to imagine that this could possibly be a GOOD thing. There's the aesthetic argument, some griping about birds being affected, but I think maybe *part* of it is the unspoken downstate-versus-upstate struggle. The NYC metro area funnels off water from this region for its own use and is not cognizant of the fact that every spring, people die because they are reluctant to raise the floodgates and release a few million gallons that might prevent a flood or a road washout..... perhaps there are some resentments that "those people" down in in NYC are gonna get the bulk of the electricity produced here. "They" bring their city money up and purchase houses and price the locals out of the market. It's a conspiracy! It's way too easy for people to forget how all of it stimulates the local economy. Upstate New York would basically be dirt-poor-like-Vermont if it weren't for the NYC taxbase. I say bring on the wind turbines! More solar! Change it all to renewable energy. I'd much rather have a turbine spinning in my back yard than the Marcy South powerline marching over my land. :rolling eyes: