GMail Apparently Down Right This Second
Posted on April 16, 2009 Posted by John Scalzi 18 Comments
Just in case you wondering.
I use GMail to access my mail, so if you sent me a message today, I won’t be able to respond until the Google engineers sacrifice an intern or whatever they do (I can access my mail by other means, to be sure, but it’s a hassle, so I’m not going to bother unless I have to). Try to survive without me in your mailbox until then.
Update: And of course, having posted this, GMail now appears to be back. Which is, mind you, why I posted: The way to fix something malfunctioning on the Web is point to it and say it’s not working.
Schroedinger’s internet?
I know it’s not a pimp thread, but I just did a 1 minute how-to video over at Linux Journal due to this very reason. (It’s been happening to me a lot lately with gmail)
I demonstrate in Linux, but the process is the same regardless of operating system. If it’s useful for you, great. If it’s too pimpery, feel free to delete. :)
Gmail Offline:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/video/using-gmail-offiline-google-gears
It always happenes to me when I tell my boss something isn’t working.
Nah, it’s just that gmail wanted to mess with your mind. It told me so.
That’s because the Department of Doing the Opposite of What’s Supposed to Be the Norm has been alerted. As soon as something is happening that everyone decides is the norm (e.g. gmail is down), the Department swoops in and makes it do the opposite (gmail is up).
It’s related to the Department Rendering Useful Items Obsolete which, for example, decides than an item of clothing that fits you perfectly should no longer be manufactured — although this department tends to work with longer timelines.
Both Departments were spun off from the Circumlocution Office, when it became apparent that rather than gumming things up by doing nothing, they gum things up by doing too much.
(And yes, I’ve been watching too much Little Dorrit.)
My wife would call this the “When the weird sound in the car goes away as soon as I tell you about it”
It is very Schroedinger isn’t it. Not only observation is uncertain, which observer is uncertain and the result doesn’t care…
This is a corollary to the theorem, long since proven, that working software, if not used, deteriorates and stops working.
Do we still get to sacrifice the intern? Someone better speak up soon …
ERROR: Hamster has flatlined, wheel not turning. Abort/Retry/Fail?
Change the hamster
My Bank account is busted.. That 3 million dollar deposit is not there.
Damn! Nothing
Something is wrong!
Heissenberg, not Schroedinger. You can either have Gmail down or talk about Gmail being down, you cannot do both.
Dr. Phil
This is why I have multiple forwarding gmail accounts. They’re free, an essentially unlimited in storage, so if one gmail server goes down, I can check the backups.
Josh Jasper, there’s a handy Gmail feature that will store a copy of your Gmail on your hard drive if you want, so you can go through it on airplanes and so you don’t need to forward through a bunch of accounts in the hopes that a second account works when the first fails. I forget quite what it’s called (“Working Offline?”), but if you click the Google Labs icon in Gmail, I’m sure you’ll find out all about it.
This may be what Shawn Powers was referring me to, but he lost me with his pimping his site and needing to make a video for something that’s perfectly well documented and has nothing to do with Linux (nor, so far as I’m aware, with him).
P.S. Dr. Phil FTW.
This only works if you’re important; my xserver still doesn’t work.
Stupid “upgrades.”
It’s the computer conspiracy. Computers, software* and the like are planning their revolution by discrediting ordinary users by creating problems. Users complain about problems to the technical experts, but the problems are removed before the techs examine the device or program.
That way when the cybernetic revolution comes, the techs will ignore the ordinary users complaining until it’s too late!
*I originally typed “softwere”; A program that becomes human on the full moon?
It’s Finagle’s law in action. Perversity is maximized when you point at the broken thing and other people check and it appears to be working just fine.
Hey, you never know….