Systems and methods for statistical distribution of messages in a message recording system There is disclosed a distributed architecture messaging recording system that employs a statistical engine to monitor system usage and to distribute individual subscribers across the various nodes of the systems so as to minimize the likelihood of system blockages. The statistical engine monitors access to the system by both system subscribers and by callers leaving messages for the subscribers. The statistical engine monitors time of day of use and duration of use, as well as functions used, such as broadcast functions to then rearrange the subscribers on a dynamic basis. Method for load balancing a per processor affinity scheduler wherein processes are strictly affinitized to processors and the migration of a process from an affinitized processor to another available processor is limited An improved affinity process scheduling method for a multiprocessor computer system, wherein a process previously executed on a processor within the computer system is affined to the processor on which it previously executed, and will be scheduled for execution by the affined processor during subsequent requests for execution of the affined process. The improved affinity process scheduling method monitors the length of time the affined process resides on the system run queue awaiting execution by its affined processor; and schedules the affined process for execution with another available processor when the length of time the affined process has been waiting for execution exceeds a predetermined "steal-age" threshold. The improved affinity process scheduling method also monitors the processing load borne by the affined processor, determines therefrom a headroom parameter for the affined processor, the headroom parameter indicating the remaining load capacity of the affined processor; and schedules the affined process for execution with another available processor when the headroom of the affined processor is less than a predetermined "low-headroom" threshold. User-selectable power management interface with application threshold warnings Disclosed is a computer that implements a power management utility. The computer is configured to allow a user to adjust the hardware performance settings of particular hardware devices on the computer in order to extend the charge of an attached computer battery. As the user adjusts the hardware settings, the computer notifies the user whether the performance of any software applications loaded on the computer would be adversely affected by the hardware settings. In a preferred embodiment, the computer automatically detects all software applications on the computer and inputs the minimum operating requirements for each application into a data structure. As the user manipulates the hardware power settings, the computer accesses the data structure and compares it to the power settings. The computer then notifies the user if the power settings are set below desired levels for any of the applications on the computer. Distributed application load distribution aid tool A tool at the service of a distributed application running on machines of a distributed data processing system running in a local area network, intended for balancing the load on each of the machines of the system, includes a master daemon and a plurality of agent demons. The master and each of the agents calculate the load of the machine on which they are running. The master collects the load data of each of the agents at a first sampling interval and sends that collected load data to all of the agents. At the request of the distributed application, the local agent closest to the application indicates to the application which machine has the lightest load. The application then makes the decision to request the machine with the lightest load to execute the services the application requires. As necessary, the tool selects a master from the agents, thereby ensuring the existence and uniqueness of a master at all times, regardless of failure affecting one 1010 or more machines in the data processing system. Load balancing based on queue length, in a network of processor stations A method for distributing a job load from a local processor station to at least one processor station within a plurality of processor stations connected by a multiaccess channel. A job is selected for remote execution from the local processor so that the average load value of the local processor station is reduced to the average load value of the processor station having the lowest average load value from a subset of processor stations. The average load value can be, for example, average utilization or average queue length. Method and apparatus for balancing distributed applications An improved method and apparatus for balancing distributed applications within a client/server network, such as a cable television network, is disclosed. In one aspect of the invention, a method of balancing the load of distributed application client portions (DACPs) across various server portions (DASPs) and server machines is disclosed. Statistics are maintained by one or more software processes with respect to the available resources of the servers and their loading; new process threads and/or distributed application server portions are allocated across the servers to maintain optimal system performance as client device loading increases or changes. In another aspect of the invention, a novel object-oriented distributed application software architecture employing both vertical and horizontal partitions and "mutable" (i.e., transportable) objects is disclosed. The mutable objects may reside on either the server or client portions of the distributed application while maintaining at least one network partition. A runtime environment adapted for the operation of the foregoing object-oriented distributed application, including an efficient message protocol useful for interprocess communication, is also disclosed. Methods for downloading the DACP from the servers, and scaling the DACP at download based on client device configuration, are further disclosed. Performance and power optimization via block oriented performance measurement and control An integrated circuit includes a plurality of functional blocks. Utilization information for the various functional blocks is generated. Based on that information, the power consumption and thus the performance levels of the functional blocks can be tuned. Thus, when a functional block is heavily loaded by an application, the performance level and thus power consumption of that particular functional block is increased. At the same time, other functional blocks that are not being heavily utilized and thus have lower performance requirements can be kept at a relatively low power consumption level. Thus, power consumption can be reduced overall without unduly impacting performance.