On October 14, 1962, six thousand (yes 6,000) Unification church couples got married in Korea. Think about it...that is probably the largest STRESS test of all time! :-)

Before we get to the software testing news, here are some other events that happened on this day in history that I find interesting:

• Space probe Magellan burns up in atmosphere of Venus in 1994
• 1st automated telephones installed in New York City in 1922
• Martin Luther King, Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize in 1964
• 1st live telecast from a manned U.S. spacecraft (Apollo 7) in 1968
• George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film in 1884
• Bob Marley's last concert in 1980 (what a shame)
• Nazi Germany withdraws from The League of Nations in 1939
• Cubs beat Tigers 4 games to 1 in 5th World Series in 1908 - 6,210 is the smallest crowd at a World Series (I used to live near Wrigley Field in Chicago)
• IOC decides to stagger Winter and Summer Olympic schedule in 1986
• Japan declares Philippine Independence in 1943 (my great-great uncle Sam Craig was a war hero in Philippines)
• 1st TV movie from a TV series - "Rescue from Gilligan's Island" in 1978
• 1st Continental Congress is 1st to declare colonial rights, Philadelphia in 1774
• Alan Alexander Milne's book "Winnie-the-Pooh" released in 1926
• Cheyennes and Arapaho nations sign "peace treaty" then are chased out of Colorado in 1865
• U.S. U-2 planes locate missile launchers in Cuba in 1962
• President nominee Ronald Reagan promises to name a woman to Supreme Court in 1980
• Netherlands and Indonesia sign cease fire in 1946 (huh?!)
• Columbus leaves San Salvador; arrives in Santa Maria of Concepcion in 1492
• Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi wins Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 (I have friends from Burma)
• Battle of Hastings, in which William the Conqueror wins England in 1066
• Chuck Yeager in Bell XS-1 makes 1st supersonic flight (Mach 1.015) in 1947

Load Testing News and Links

101 Covers the Basics

Dynatrace published a good primer on load testing on its website. It is probably the same content that was in their highly advertised white paper, and we are grateful to them for sharing. Click here for the article

I may not agree with everything in the article, especially some of the terminology, but it is a useful introduction to anyone that is new to load testing.

Ignore Performance Engineering at Your Peril

Slow sites costs money! If your website is slow you’ll get:

• Fewer search queries per user
• Less query refinement
• Less revenue per visitor
• Fewer clicks, and lower satisfaction
• A longer time for visitors to click something
• Fewer searches per day
• Lower search engine rankings

I came across a tweet in #performance that pointed me to a good article on proof that speeding up websites improves online business.

Load Testing is for Global Leadership

Yep, even the world's rich and famous should be concerned with load testing. Especially if they are going to create a web presence. Apparently the first lady of France, Carla Bruni, launched a web site without having the necessary performance engineering to deliver the content - it crashed under load on its first day.

The site (www.carlabrunisarkozy.org) is intended to showcase her charity work, and many followers are expecting some personal insights into her life with President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace. My understanding is that one of the reasons that there is such a huge following is because of Carla's nude picture that sold for a whopping 45,000 British pounds. Another might be that Carla Bruni-Sarkozy saves sex tourist minister Frédéric Mitterrand. Oh my...those French!

More coverage on Carla Bruni's lack of respect for load testing