Roadrunner Supercomputer Breaks the Petaflop Barrier

At 3:30 a.m. on May 26, 2008, Memorial Day, the “Roadrunner” supercomputer exceeded a sustained speed of 1 petaflop/s, or 1 million billion calculations per second. The sustained performance makes Roadrunner more than twice as fast as the current number 1 system on the TOP500 list. The best sustained performance to date is 74.5% efficiency, 1.026 petaflop/s.

“Petaflop/s” is computer jargon—peta signifying the number 1 followed by 15 zeros (sometimes called a quadrillion) and flop/s meaning “double-precision floating point operations per second.” Los Alamos held the fastest supercomputer title in 1993 with the Thinking Machines CM-5, and inaugurated the supercomputer era, assisting in the development of the
Cray-1 in 1976. The Laboratory and IBM go all the way back to the first card-programmable calculators, used at Los Alamos in 1949. Los Alamos also housed serial number 1 of the IBM 704 in 1956.

The Roadrunner supercomputer, developed by IBM in partnership with the Laboratory and the National Nuclear Security Administration, uses commercially available hardware, including aspects of commercial game console and graphics technologies. Because of its off-the-shelf components, the computer costs significantly less than a one-of-a-kind machine. It also uses a Linux operating system.

http://www.lanl.gov/roadrunner

Greater Roadrunner – A member of the cuckoo family, the greater Roadrunner (Geococcyz californianus) is zygodactylous or two toes pointing forward and two backwards.  It has heavily streaked plumage, a bristly crest, short rounded wings an upward tilted tail, and long legs.  It rarely flies and has been clocked running at speeds up to 17 miles per hour.  It is said to have gotten its name in the Old West from running ahead of horse-drawn carriages.  Its diet of lizards, insects and spiders, small rodents, birds, and snakes is supplemented with occasional fruits and seeds.

Roadrunner - Lizard for lunch - file photo

Beaker

Meep what? Meep!

Do you like Disney’s roadrunner or the lab assistant from the Muppet Show, Beaker? You love to imitate their sounds and/or words? You go to Danvers High School in Massachusetts? Then you’re in trouble, my friend.

Apparently, some students keep saying “meep” around campus (and allegedly disturb class by doing so) at Danvers High School causing the principal, Thomas Murray, to ban the word. He also gave parents an automated call telling them that if their kids are caught uttering the word as a form of disrespect they might get suspended… what? SUSPENDED? Suspended! And who decides if a word is uttered out of disrespect, protest or other reasons?

But don’t think this is enough. Another blogger, Theodora Michaels, wrote an e-mail to all three principals. Both the subject and the body of the e-mail read “meep”. The response will surprise you: “Your E-mail has been forwarded to the Danvers Police Department.” What was her response in her blog? “We can be charged with . . . what, first degree meeping? Yeah, good luck with that.” I love Americans. You don’t have to ridicule them, no, they ridicule themselves. Yes, the school might see this as spamming or an offense to their rules. I call it protest. I followed in her footsteps, but made my e-mail to all three principals a bit longer:

“Dear Principals,

I just read a funny news story about your high school and also how you forwarded an e-mail that consisted of the word “meep” to your police department. What will the charges be? First degree of meeping? Have you ever heard of freedom of speech? If students want to disturb the course of teaching they often have reasons to do so. Maybe you should search for these reasons first (very basic principle of pedagogy, which is taught here: if something goes wrong always search for your own faults first). If they want to they can also change the word or even actions they do.

How happy I am to be a German and to live in Germany and to be educated to become a teacher here. Americans can be so “meep”.

In that sense:

Best meeps, …”

I mean, come on. Ban a word that has absolutely no meaning? And it does not matter what word you use to disturb class. Words can be changed quickly or actions can be changed. A comment on this story says that children might as well drop all their books at 11:45. That will do the trick, too. Murray also said that his intentions of this ban are to show parents how students use social networks: to disturb class. Like students haven’t ever played pranks at school ever in history?! Yeah, right. Read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I doubt that no child ever attempted to copy Tom’s actions afterwards. The difference was that pranks were organized mouth-to-mouth. Today social networks do the job. But is banning really the right thing to do? What will you do if all the students meep the helk out of you one day? Suspend the entire school? Yes, your reputation will soar because of an entire suspended student body, of course… What world are you living in?

For more entertainment go to this link and read through the comments, otherwise:

Have a meeping day

China becomes one of a handful of nations to own one of the top five fastest supercomputers in the world…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: canton china. For a different topic see here. The blog is also related to: china environment.

A very exciting game ends with a bitter pill to swallow for Raps fans.  Nash and Hedo went at it in the fourth quarter like a Spy vs. Spy episode and the team came within one shot of beating a very good scoring team. That my friends was offence at it’s finest. And what’s not to love about that. I felt like I was watching NBA Jam.

The Zan for Three

Kid Canada

Steve Nash drives to the basket for two on his way to another dominating performance

Nevermind which country he calls his home, people should be checking Nash’s passport to make sure he’s from the planet Earth.  He was unstoppable tonight.  Angry Raptor fans might point the blame at Calderon, but in Jose’s defense, Nash has been making everyone in the league look like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner.  He is playing at another level right now – probably on his way to MVP contention once again.

Turkish Delight

Turkoglu is becoming such a joy to watch. He’s a smart player the Raptors can depend on for leadership late in games.  Yes, he missed two jump shots to potentially win the game, but we were only in it becaue he took us there.

He shoots when it makes sense, he made a couple of unreal passes and a few of his pull up jump shots were unstoppable.  If this is “just hitting your stride” then watch out.  He was almost a scratch tonight too.

Late Game Braincramps

It’s the 4th quarter, your best player is shooting 50%,, tell me again why you are taking ill-advised 3pt shots at the beginning of the clock?  Get the ball inside!  It really isn’t rocket science.  Chris Bosh was hitting his shots and was dominating the game.  Why not give Bosh the ball and see what happens?  A few better choices during the 4th quarter and this one goes to the visitors.

(Plus one)  The New Agent Zero

He looks a little like the villain in the Pink Panther cartoons but he is playing the part of the good guy on Jay Triano’s bench right now.  Marco Bellinelli has become a reliable player off the bench.  He shoots the ball well, makes smart passes and plays good defense.  For the second game in a row Belinelli provided key minutes off the bench and provided some mismatch problems on the offensive end.

Zan of the Game

Steve Nash

The guy is probably the best player in the NBA right now.  No offense to Lebron, but Nash is making everyone on the Suns look like a Hall of Fame candidates.  And that’s with hair in his face.

Not Zan of the Game

Jarrett Jack

This guy is struggling big time. He hasn’t performed at the shooting guard and he hasn’t done his job as the back up point guard. It is early in the season but he needs to step it up.  We need him if we are going to win games.

And another thing…

Is it just me or is Steve Nash starting to look like Neil Young?  Just saying.

This blog post goes for 60’s! Earlier I showed you some trailers from Mustang movies. I have also posted a lot of Mustang music videos. But now you can see the first steps of a Mustang in advertisement industry. There are more commercials of course and my blog is unlimited, but I really appreciate your time and trying to select the best ones:

First Mustang Commercial (1964) Ford Motor Company introduced the Mustang on April 16, 1964 with a commercial, shot at the New York World’s Fair.

This is my favorite from the 60’s, 1965 Ford Mustang Commercial

Stereo-sonic tape system in Mustang 1966

This commercial shows Ford Mustang full-line for 1967, featuring the new cabriolet and hardtop models.

Mustang makes it happen in 1968 commercial

According to this 1969 commercial Ford is the way you swing!

And I couldn’t hold this to the next entry, I love it, so funny! It’s from 2005, sorry

I have very fond memories of the Looney Toons.  Ben and I used to watch the two hour chunk on Sunday mornings, comparing the quality of the Toons’ jokes to those of the other shows for kids, touting the writing in the 1940’s like a couple of bitter seventy year olds.

Our favorites were Wile E. Coyote (Predatorius-Craftilus) and the Road Runner (Delicius-Delicius).  We would talk about the genius of using umbrella corporation ACME as commentary on consumerism, then burst into noisy laughter (commentary forgotten) as poor Wile E.’s rocket scooter stopped just short of the other end of the cliff and he plummets into the canyon.  “How about ending this cartoon before I hit?” he asks sadly, via a sign with writing on it.  The cartoon-makers oblige, and the screen begins to fade to black.

I could say a lot about Looney Toons, and I probably will at some point.  The way it treats life and death as absolutes to be casually accepted, the way that the conflicts stem from basic instincts (the desire to eat, to hunt, to survive), the way that women are only present as nagging wives, tired or overindulgent mothers, or sexual objects, but you know what?  I just watched like three cartoons starring Daffy Duck, and I really just want to talk about how totally awesome Daffy Duck is.

Daffy was originally created as a screwball protagonist, screwball meaning completely uninhibited and nonsensical.  This is the era where he coined his typical, “WOO-HOO!  WOO-HOO!  WOO-HOO!” while jumping madly around a confused foe.  As time went on, though, the creators blessed Daffy with a little more savvy.  His zaniness was replaced with a quick-talking irritability and sense of entitlement, and eventually he hit on his famous catchphrase, “Yoooou’re despicable!”

Now, the thing about Daffy is that he is never quite good enough.  He is always one step behind his self-imposed rival, Bugs, and can never really seem to come out on top.  He constantly senses that he is being somehow jilted, and it’s true, but this never stops him from trying.  Daffy is always trying to get ahead, and in his fervor to be important, he often steps on the straight man.

I don’t know about you, but I can never help but love the underdog.  Or, uh, underduck, as it were.  Daffy just wants to win, just once, and he never seems to, so he loses his temper and gets frustrated and vitriolic and spouts the fowl language he’s famous for.

See what I did there?

A character who always wins is far less interesting than a character who never does, and I feel I have far more in common with poor Daffy than slick Bugs.

What do you think?  Do you have a favorite Looney Toon?  And if you say Tweetie Bird so help me god I will find where you live and slap you in the mouth.  I have had enough cutesy imitations of ‘I tawt I taw a puddy tat!’ to last me several lifetimes.

Thu, Nov 5, 2009

I am agog, I am aghast….no Marius is not in love at last. But the lunatics HAVE finally taken over the asylum……..

The Curious Case of Crazy Cartoons

Cartoons are the closest approximation to Tarantino’s movies. They start out as a simple ideas inspired by real-life objects/characters/situations and go on to evolve into completely new universes with their own sets of mythologies and histories. Although controlled to the last pixel by their creators, these cartoon characters take up a life of their own and, in the process, have the creators conform to their characteristics. A sub-art form by itself, the cartoon provides so much scope for exploration of both the animation medium and of cinema itself (by exclusion of reality). When Émile Cohl created Fantasmagorie (1908), now accepted as the first ever animation movie, he had given a mile of head start for the genre with the film’s no-holds-barred repudiation of real space and time. Since then, sadly, animation seems to have been moving in the opposite direction, trying to imitate “normal” cinema with its gargantuan technological expertise,  in the same way the latter tries to imitate life. These CG devils do not seem to understand that animation is both an adversary and a complement to photographic cinema – an extreme form of wish fulfillment that wears its manipulation on its sleeve – rather than a clone. Like all genres, the clichés have remained, the spirit and meaning buried. Premiering almost six decades ago, the Wile E. Coyote vs. The Roadrunner cartoon series is one that takes these clichés to the most extreme and, by doing so, digs into the most basic and pertinent of all questions about the medium – What does it mean to be a cartoon?

Honey, I Dehumanized the Kids

The Roadrunner series was conceived by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese.  And Chuck Jones is as true an auteur that one can find in cartoon filmmaking. One can almost immediately tell a Jones cartoon from the others. His toons are characterized by hard edged drawings with jittery motion that lacks real continuity. His characters are true caricatures, deliberately far from reality, with justifiably no depth at all. These characters somehow appear to know that they are in a cartoon. Consider his stint as the director of the famed Tom and Jerry show. Till then, Hanna and Barbera had been presenting us cutesy, smooth lined and lovable characters (This still remains my favorite era in the Tom and Jerry series) who call out for empathy. With the arrival of Jones, however, things take a dark turn as we see a frenzied Tom chasing a Jerry who seems to be perennially on crack. Jones removes any trace of cuteness from these characters, providing features like vicious teeth and pointed whiskers, and disallows any sympathy for them from us, at least by the virtue of their appearances. It is as if Jones believes that we should know that these are just cartoons and their lives are not going to be altered by our sympathy. That does not mean that he doesn’t give us emotional anchors to hold on to in his cartoons, but just that he consistently avoids the threat of realism – of appearance and of emotions – that plagues the cartoon world so often.

Although it never really upped the ante for the Tom and Jerry series, his style sure does work wonders here. In the Roadrunner series, too, there are no attempts at unwarranted emotional bonding even though one does end up rooting for Wile E. within minutes into each episode. For a comparison, these cartoons of Jones are like the early short films of Chaplin that relied purely on slapstick, without ever concentrating on the Tramp’s relationship to us like the later Chaplin films do. Jones relies on Woody Allen kind of humour – throw them all and see what sticks – with his relentless series of gags. His humour does not depend on what happens (which, by the very virtue of the Roadrunner series, is known to every one), but how does it happen and how long does it take to happen. Part of the fun in watching the Roadrunner cartoons arises from this surprise element of time that comes into picture in these skirmishes. Consider this random episode called Hip Hip-Hurry! (1958) that Jones directed. The episode consists of 8 gags of lengths 58, 30, 26, 8, 28, 35, 25 and 106 seconds respectively. The numbers are enough of a witness that Jones revels in writing both gotcha gags and wait-wait-almost-there-boom set pieces (which were a characteristic of his Tom and Jerry cartoons too) equally. And that is the only kind of unpredictability that he allows in the world of Roadrunner.

[Hip Hip-Hurry! (1958)]

Once More Upon a Time in the West

The idea of the Roadrunner show resembles a western (The fact that the coyote is a symbol of the Native American makes this notion all the more interesting!). Like the western genre, it originates as a piece of history – a shred of fact that a coyote is trying to get his hands on a roadrunner – and then develops itself as a myth that is derived from that piece of history (that the coyote always goes after the bird). Two primary characters facing each other off in a vast, cruel and blazing environment is one of the biggest stereotypes of the now-extinct genre. In Roadrunner, too, the geography is sparse, torrid and lifeless and painted with mostly brown and deep yellow colours. Furthermore, the western has always been a playground for writers to tease our moral standings and to tantalize us with notions we try to take for granted. Usually, the “morally good” according to law and social institutions for justice, in the form of police and the sheriff, is pitted against the morally good according to personal conscience and intuition, in the form of the noble outlaw and the lone ranger. Scenarios are written in such a way that our empathy goes against the justice system, which seems to be blinded by its own rules, and the audience is made to unconciously question the way laws are made. In the case of Roadrunner, this sense of balance between “good” according to public opinion and right-wing morality and “good” according to personal experience and emotional connection is maintained in the form of the roadrunner and Wile E. respectively. The cerebral part of us tells us that the roadrunner is never the instigator of trouble and it is plainly wrong to try to kill the harmless being. On the other hand, by virtue of the script, we end up supporting the coyote’s efforts and even want him to get the bird for once. The result is the deletion of human morality – the notion of heroes and villains and good and bad – from the Roadrunner universe.

No Man’s Land

One observation that one immediately makes when watching the Roadrunner cartoons is the strange absence of humans in the toons. There are no human “characters” in the series as such, even though they make their presence in the world felt indirectly now and then. Even when they do, in the form of the regular afternoon trains that run over Wile E., the random trucks that get him at the tunnels and the friendly neighbourhood highway chases, they merely act as deus ex machinas that make sure that Wile E. does not catch roadrunner and that he always chases him.  Same is the case with the ACME Corporation, from where Wile E. obtains all his bizarre gadgets. He always gets what he wants from them although one is not sure how the economy allows for this. ACME is not very unlike our capitalistic companies that benefit from people’s internecine quest for climbing the social ladder as fast as possible and which try to rake money even at the  cost of deterioration of people‘s ways of life (and history has made sure that this policy of ACME holds good for Certain Intelligence Agencies too!). Both humans and institutions perpetuate the myth of the roadrunner and Wile E by their non-intrusion and occasional intrusion. Furthermore, there are no laws in the Roadrunner world.  Unlike in movies like Toy Story (1995), where the toys had to obey the rules of the human world and come into true existence only when they are far removed from observation, Wile E. need not be ever conscious of his actions. He knows that he is being observed by the humans and he would always be made to chase the roadrunner. Even science, with its selective application of its laws, seems to want to keep the myth alive.  All Wile E. can do is to conform to this “fascist conspiracy” of the external world.

The Cartoon with(out) a Difference

In the case of The Roadrunner series, one is safe in saying that if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Far from being wrong, it is the very truth of the world of Roadrunner. The stories of all the episodes of the series are so identical to one another, that it would only be a miracle if one can identify individual episodes. You have this lanky, brown coyote – about 45 years of age, one would say, if Jim Carrey were to play him – who tries, in every which way possible, to get his hands on this clever, thin roadrunner bird. Predictably (I mean predictably), he fails, only to get up again and repeat the process. Each of these vignettes starts out and ends in the same way – with Wile E. concocting some new plan to get hold of the Roadrunner and with him getting caught in his own trap respectively. The only difference between each of these encounters lies in the way Wile E. fails in his mission. In fact, the whole universe of Roadrunner relies on repetition – repetition of situations (what would Roadrunner be without the top view of Wile E. falling into the cliff?), repetition of geography (more than in any other cartoon, the scenery in these cartoons repeats very often, especially noticeable in the background during the chases) and repetition of structure (to the point that the relative ordering of the vignettes and the episodes is ultimately immaterial). Heck, even the single piece of speech in the series comes in the form of a repetition – “Beep Beep”.

But then, there are traits that are also shared by every other cartoon (Garfield often speaks to us out of context of the cartoon about these clichés) and also perhaps the easiest ones to devise. But, the real success of the Roadrunner series lies not in using these clichés, but retaining them forever, even at the cost of being unfunny and redundant. Jones takes the practice to the breaking point (and beyond) by bombarding us with the same elements over and over. And, through this monotony, he achieves something much more than instant chuckles. Harold Ramis’ brilliant Groundhog Day (1993) examines, albeit in photographic reality, what it takes to live in a completely predictable world – a world that is mathematically derivable, geographically utopian and emotionally unresponsive. Its protagonist, Phil Connors (who is worthy of Bill Murray), after some days of rejoicing over the unlimited power that he has been given, finds himself completely alienated from his people and then, gradually, comes to accept his situation. Beyond that point, he stops attempting to break the loop of time and decides to enrich his own life and that of the others. Now that it is neither possible for him to pursue any goal in life that he may have had nor take his own life, he realizes that the only difference that he can make in this world is to make the people around him happy, even if it is just for a couple of hours. Phil Connors isn’t very unlike our hero Wile E.

Deconstructing Wile E.

The world of Roadrunner is the perfect cartoon world. It is a world devoid of the notions of hunger, injury and death. Even though Wile E. believes that he chases the bird in order to eat it, that can never be his actual motive. The very fact that he keeps chasing the bird for years in vain suggests that food is never a point of concern for him. His role in life is to chase the roadrunner and nothing else at all. In this regard, he shares a very ironical relationship with the bird. For one, he cannot and will not catch roadrunner ever because, if he did, he would not have anything else to do in his life. In that case, he would lose his identity and turn from being a cartoon ‘character’ with unique characteristics to being a mere ink stain on a sheet of coloured paper. He would then be wandering the wilderness for eternity. Nor can he renounce the chase altogether for that would tantamount to him catching the bird and subsequently losing his identity. On the other hand, the roadrunner’s role is to be chased. Since Wile E. knows that his only option is to chase the bird, roadrunner needn’t ever instigate him. But if ever, Wile E. digresses from his job, it would be the roadrunner’s duty to pull him back into the loop since he has his identity to retain. The whole of fabric of Roadrunner is based on this paradoxical relationship that the two characters share.

Now, this is not the foundation that shows like Tom and Jerry are raised on, although they, too, are reduced to no more than a bunch of futile chases. The kinship between Tom and Jerry is built around the human world, unlike in Roadrunner, like a refrigerator loaded with food, a stray canary or a runaway bear. At any point, Tom and Jerry could make a pact and go on with their lives independently – which means that Tom can laze around forever and Jerry can pinch cheese whenever he wants. But, in the case of Wile E., there are no such easy alternatives. His world is defined solely by his chases and contains no other dimension. Tom or Jerry need not be in every scene in an episode, but Wile E. has to be present in every setup of every vignette and, if needed, in every frame. Like Barry Lyndon, the coyote’s life is sealed in the two dimensions he lives in (The ideal sequel, if you can call that, to the Roadrunner show will not be in 3-D, but rather in 1-D, with the two characters represented as two dots that never meet). Even though the initial motive for Wile E. is to catch roadrunner and that for the roadrunner is to evade the claws of Wile E., in the long run, they would inevitably reverse their roles. That is, the coyote. will, eventually, make sure that he doesn’t catch the bird and the roadrunner will make sure that he is chased. This is almost exactly the kind of relationship that Batman and the Joker share in The Dark Knight (2008).

One is tempted to compare the fate of Wile E. to that of Sisyphus, the Greek king who is made to roll a mammoth boulder over a steep hill slope forever, only to find it roll back down (Is it just a coincidence that Wile E. is seen shoving huge rocks time and again?). The coyote’s life, too, goes around in such pointless loops with no end in sight. In fact, Wile E. is the quintessential Absurd Hero, like Sisyphus, who realizes the pointlessness of his life and nevertheless continues. I’m a philosopher only as much as Barack Obama is a ballet dancer, but from what little I have heard about Camus, he draws three possible responses to this realization of the absurdity of the world – Faith, Suicide and Existence. He seems to reject the first two ideas, denouncing them as tricks to repudiate the truth about the meaninglessness of life. In the third option he proposes that life be lived for-the-moment and enjoyed to the fullest, without any hope or ambition and with the constant knowledge of the absurdity of it all, and thus have complete freedom over our actions. This way, the refusal of suicide becomes the very token of acceptance of absurdity and the freedom of choice that it provides. Now, this is where Roadrunner really takes its medium seriously. Unlike Sisyphus, Wile E. (and Phil Connors) does not even have the choice of suicide, so that he can refuse it. His world knows no death. Nor can he make a leap of faith, for he has nothing to hope for, except maintaining status quo. Thus, Wile E. can only take up the third option of living life for what it is. Wile E., like most Chuck Jones characters, knows that he is in a cartoon, that he has to carry on his chase act for ever and that there is no meaning to his life. So all he can do is keep chasing roadrunner – keep pushing the rock – in an attempt to keep both of them happy. Camus sums up the Sisyphus situation fittingly: “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”. The same should be said about Wile E.

(pic courtesy: The Yerton Dreamhouse)

Ο υπερυπολογιστής Roadrunner διερευνά τη σκοτεινή ύλη | Τεχνολογία | ΕλευθεροτυπίαΑπό τον ΣΠΥΡΟ ΜΑΝΟΥΣΕΛΗΠαρά τις τεράστιες προόδους που έχουν κάνει τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες η αστροφυσική και η κοσμολογία στην κατανόηση του Σύμπαντος, πάνω από το 90% της συνολικής ύλης και ενέργειας του Σύμπαντος εξακολουθεί να παραμένει σκοτεινό και αδιαπέραστο για την επιστημονική γνώση.Το 22% του Σύμπαντος αποτελείται από «σκοτεινή ύλη», ενώ το 74% από «σκοτεινή ενέργεια», όπως περιγράφουν οι αστροφυσικοί αυτή την απέραντη terra incognita. Και λόγω των εγγενών περιορισμών που εμφανίζουν τα σημερινά επιστημονικά όργανα (γήινα ή διαστημικά τηλεσκόπια) οι επιστήμονες αναγκάζονται να καταφύγουν σε «ανορθόδοξα» ερευνητικά εργαλεία, όπως οι πανίσχυροι υπολογιστές που προσομοιώνουν και συνδυάζουν με απίστευτη ταχύτητα τις διαθέσιμες σήμερα γνώσεις.Ενας τέτοιος υπερυπολογιστής ύστερα από πολλά χρόνια προετοιμασίας είναι τώρα έτοιμος να εξερευνήσει μια εικονική εκδοχή του πραγματικού Σύμπαντος. Η εκδοχή αυτή, αν και απλοποιημένη σε σχέση με τις αχανείς διαστάσεις του Σύμπαντος, περιλαμβάνει ένα δισεκατομμύριο Ηλιους και άλλα 64 δισεκατομμύρια ουράνια σώματα.Καταλαμβάνει 560 τετραγωνικά μέτρα και είναι ο ταχύτερος υπολογιστής στον κόσμο. Αρχισε να κατασκευάζεται το 2002 στο ερευνητικό εργαστήριο της Εθνικής Υπηρεσίας Πυρηνικής Ασφάλειας των ΗΠΑ (NNSA) στο Λος Αλαμος του Νέου Μεξικού, αλλά πλήρη λειτουργικότητα απέκτησε μόλις το 2008. Οπως και ο «ξάδελφός» του Blue Sky, είναι κι αυτός δημιούργημα της ΙΜΒ. Είναι όμως πολύ πιο γρήγορος από αυτόν, γι’ αυτό και τον «βάφτισαν» Roadrunner, όπως και το διάσημο συμπαθέστατο ομώνυμο καρτούν της Warner που τρέχει σαν τον άνεμο στην έρημο του Μεξικού διαρκώς καταδιωκόμενο, χωρίς επιτυχία, από το κογιότ.Ο Roadrunner επεξεργάζεται τα δεδομένα με ταχύτητα που αγγίζει τα 1.105 petaflop (το Flop είναι μονάδα μέτρησης της ταχύτητας επεξεργασίας, από τα αρχικά FLoating-point Operations Per Second, υπολογισμοί κινητής υποδιαστολής ανά δευτερόλεπτο· 1 petaflop αντιστοιχεί σε 1 δεκάκις τρισεκατομμύρια Flop).Οι απαράμιλλες υπολογιστικές ικανότητες του Roadrunner πρόκειται να αξιοποιηθούν και σε άλλα ερευνητικά πεδία, όπως στην ανάλυση της μαγνητικής επανασύνδεσης, φαινόμενο το οποίο παρατηρείται στα ιονισμένα αέρια και η ανάλυση του οποίου θα συμβάλει στην καλύτερη κατανόηση του τι συμβαίνει στη γήινη μαγνητοσφαιρα.[νεχτ]

I’m hooking you up yet again. I got that uploading fever kid. You’re welcome.
Fact: At a time there were two bands named Donnybrook. According to wikipedia one is “a Los Angeles, California, hardcore punk band” and the other is “a Tribal Metal band from Maine”. Can you guess which band is better? Great! Me too. So here’s a little bedtime story for you. During my first semester at college in Boston I went to go see Dog Fashion Disco play a show at Bill’s Bar. (Anarchists of Good Taste is still listenable.) I can’t remember if there was some terrible opening band but let’s just assume that there was. Suddenly Dog Fashion Disco was taking the stage to rawk the faces of the baker’s dozen of people in attendance. I don’t think I was the only one surprised to see them go on so early especially since they were billed as the headlining act. After DFD played I overheard in the dead quiet room that they had played early because they didn’t want to play after the next band who were really good. I think admitting something like that is really respectable and rare. Most headlining bands get terrible bands to open for them for this exact reason. I decided it was probably worth my time to stick around and check out the next band who of course wound up being Donnybrook…the good one…from Maine. Without a doubt they blew Dog Fashion Disco off the face of the Earth.
I felt like I got it right away and was on board with them for the whole show. It was a perfect blend of Mr. Bungle/Faith No More, Tool and all that is good in music. As I recall they didn’t have any cds with them for some reason and that was a major bummer. I did end up finding it in Newbury Comics the next day though. I was lucky enough to catch them a couple of years later at the Middle East Upstairs for an even smaller crowd but it still a great show. It’s always the really great bands that have a hard time finding their audience like the situation with Haste.
I remember seeing them in Metal Hammer or a similar brutal magazine discussing the lyrics for one of their songs even though they were unsigned. According to this interview they had offers from TVT and Roadrunner. It’s a shame that it didn’t work out for them in terms of finding a label or distribution though I’m not sure they would’ve been marketed properly anyways. From my understanding they put out three proper eps. I’ll be sharing their first ep with you today. The second ep was produced by GGGarth if I’m remembering correctly and it was clearly an attempt at sounding more polished and radio friendly. With this ep they made the unfortunate move, in my opinion of course, of reworking some songs from the first ep. This reworking basically meant throwing in a chorus or two more and taking out all the interesting and unique parts. The third ep was along the same lines as the second which is to say I liked them both but would rather listen to the first one.
I offer up Donnybrook’s first ep, Bleeding The Grain, for you fans of the jackercrap.

Tracklist
1. Radio Killed The Underground Star
2. A Better Way To Waste Your Life
3. Breathing The Final Dance
4. Cold Confusion
5. Grey Sketch Of Red
6. Poetic Tightfist

http://rapidshare.com/files/302956219/Donnybrook_-_Bleeding_The_Grain.zip

As I mentioned in my first upload this is for preview purposes only and to my knowledge is out print. It’s hard to find info about these guys actually. Wikipedia doesn’t have an actual entry for them. However, they did change their name to Red Cloud Revival and have released one album which you can and should purchase at cdbaby. They’ve got a concise myspace page to explore as well. Unfortunately, they seem to only sporadically do shows at this point but please support them by buying a cd. Check out this cool video, especially considering it was probably made on the budget of a cheese sandwich, for Poetic Tighfist. You might notice that this song is on Bleeding The Grain but this is a different version done by Red Cloud Revival. (I still prefer the original for the record.) This should give you a good idea of what you’re going to get from the upload.

Supposedly Donnybrook had over 60 songs but only released a third of that. If anyone has any Donnybrook music besides the three eps please send it my way. If there is any interest I’ll post the other 2 eps as well.

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to view full size click1970 Plymouth Roadrunner C 1024X768 wallpaper ( 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner C 1024X768 wallpaper )

Slash has signed with RoadRunner Records to release his forthcoming solo album, which is due early 2010.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is using the world’s fastest supercomputer, IBM’s “Roadrunner,” to run extremely accurate simulations to verify the reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

Over the last six months, Roadrunner proved its mettle working on 10 unclassified projects that advanced the state-of-the-art in astrophysics, plasma physics, nanotechnology, magnetic reconnection and materials science.

“We had a few crashes, but that’s what this six-month shakeout period was for,” said a Los Alamos National Lab spokesperson. “After proving it out on a variety of scientific projects, we are now ready to put Roadrunner to work on our classified projects, primarily to assure the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.”

Roadrunner was developed by IBM Corp. in partnership with Los Alamos National Lab and the National Nuclear Security Administration. It’s developers claim Roadrunner is the first computer to exceed petaflop performance at 1.105 petaflops per second (1 petaflop is a quadrillion floating-point operations per second).

Based on the same IBM chip that powers the Sony Playstation 3, the PowerXCell, Roadrunner combines 3,240 computing modules linked by two-tier Infiniband networks. Each Roadrunner module houses two AMD dual-core Opteron processors and four PowerXCells. The system consumes about 4 megawatts of power.

The 10 test projects were selected to flush out any problems in Roadrunner’s architecture. The projects were also chosen since all use the large data sets crunched when simulating nuclear weapon tests, especially aging weapons.

Prior to nuclear test simulations, Roadrunner was used to simulate aspects of the “Big Bang” that formed the universe, fusion reactor design, nanowire properties, plasma physics and materials science.

Engineers at the National Nuclear Security Administration, Los Alamos and the Sandia and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories will all have access to Roadrunner during weapon test simulations.

Rob Zombie has signed with RoadRunner Records, and will release Hellbilly Deluxe 2 through the Louad & Proud Imprint.

“It certainly wasn’t an easy decision to make after all this time, but it had to be done, I love this new record and wanted to surround myself with an excited new group of people who can reignite my enthusiasm for working within a hard rock record label. Roadrunner seems to be the perfect place.”

About the birds in this video…

I saw this roadrunner outside my window while working on the computer.  It was just sitting on the wall for a very long time.  I thought that when I opened the door he or she would run away.   But luckily it stayed there and let me zoom in really close.

Just a couple of days before I got this video clip of an oriole relaxing on a palm branch in the wind, I had hit an oriole with my car.  I was driving down a narrow country road when all of a sudden two male orioles fell from a tree and landed on the hood of my car.  They were fighting as they were falling.  They weren’t paying attention to cars passing by because they were so caught up in their fight.  There was no way I could’ve stopped.  They were aiming straight for the hood of my car.  I felt so bad. One of them fell on the road and the other one flew away.  I stopped my car and tried to get out to see the bird I’d hit.  Another car was coming so I had to wait.  Luckily the other car didn’t run him over.  After the car passed, I got out and picked up the beautiful orange and black bird.  I held him in my bare hands.  He took a couple of deep breaths then died.  Crying, I took him to the Humane Society.  I thought maybe there was still a chance that he had just passed out.  But the woman said he had died.  I’ll never forget that day.  Orioles will always be one of my favorite birds.

In the Ojai Meadows Preserve a turkey vulture suns itself.  I got this shot in the early morning.  The sun was very low in the sky and there was a heavy mist/drizzle that created a rainbow.  I saw this dead tree with a bunch of turkey vultures on it.  I knew I’d be late to where I was going, but I couldn’t miss this shot!

Also in the Ojai Meadows Preserve, a white heron comes in for a landing.  It was difficult to keep zoomed in on the bird and follow him as he flew.  I’ll get better with more practice.

The music in this video is by The Maheekats, and the song is Mr. Radio Man.

That damn Wile E coyote, will he ever learn? Nothing like getting caught in the car grill and being taken on a not so joyous joyride for 8 hours! The roadrunner was last seen laughing his ass off. Beep!Beep!