I wouldn't call that "inevitable." Buffering exists for a reason--to buy you a bit of safety for short-lived busy periods (or, in the case of queues, delayed or

I wouldn't call that "inevitable." Buffering exists for a reason--to buy you a bit of safety for short-lived busy periods (or, in the case of queues, delayed or temporarily failed consumers). It also amortizes the cost of I/O. Buffering isn't just for logging; it's all over the networking and I/O stacks.