If the penguins aren't wiggling, click RELOAD.
They finally unplugged it and carted it in
disconnected sections to Canberra's Scrap Metal & Plastic Junkyard --
Rubbish Heap, I think Australians call it -- but for 10 years,
BUNYIP was one of Earth's fastest, most powerful
(public-access) supercomputers.
It was named, of course, for the rarely (if ever) glimpsed Dreaded Monster of the Australian Outback, the Bunyipnstrus bunyipia australiensis.
This is what it looked like when it was running
and crushing previously unsolvable problems with a dismissive wave of its
superhands. It was a Linux-based machine, so a series of adorable little
penguins shuttle hither and yon from section to section to perform its
superfunctions at superspeed and superefficiency.
I had to beg two perfect strangers at the Australian
National University Supercomputer Center in Canberra (the capital of Australia)
for this spectacular wiggle.gif, I'd lost my old one, and now the ANU computer
is in lockdown because Evil Hackers have been digitally sodomizing parts of it. (We suspect Teenagers.)
Both perfect strangers -- one, a chemist
Ph.D. woman who supercomputes her investigations into modest-size molecules, had never
even heard of BUNYIP -- very kindly and promptly broke into their sealed
computer and fetched me the wonderful image of the Great Australian
Supercomputer Which Runs on Adorable Penguins.
7 comments:
Linux runs on most supercomputers. Honestly, if you were in possession of a machine of that caliber, would you want to waste it with Windows?
Of course I would never run Windows on my supercomputer (I use a pre-owned Cray, but the liquid nitrogen bills are bankrupting me).
I would run the only possible, rational OS for a supercomputer: FORTH
Okay, I give up -- did Amy look over your shoulder at the Transit and think you were looking at Geometry Porn?
Hah! No, not the Transit. Unfortunately, Amy and I don't even work in the same city, so we didn't get to enjoy it together. We both saw it, but separately. It was the escapement that she saw "adult activity" taking place in.
Nice This is what it looked like when it was running and crushing previously unsolvable problems with a dismissive wave of its superhands. It was a Linux-based machine, so a series of adorable little penguins shuttle hither and yon from section to section to perform its superfunctions at superspeed and super efficiency. Thanks a lot for posting this article.
Leonard, are you Leonard, or are you Madam Miaow? Who is this?
Well, if you're Madam Miaow (or maybe just get to sniff her fragrance once a week from a respectable distance), her website kix ass.
How the hell did you find VleepronZ? What on Earth were you looking for? I hope VleeptronZ has that which you have been seeking.
Now write back SOMETHING, ANYTHING. Don't be so goddam shy.
oh Mike -- i hope you see this Comment, but I'll get it to you & the Swellegant Amy somehow.
You've reminded me of the scene near the end of Jurassic Park. The survivors have locked themselves in the control room, seconds from being eaten by giant raptors.
Everyth8ing is dark and useless, even the phones don't work. (The park system is apparently 8 Connection Machines.)
The little nerd girl desperately clicks things on her keyboard. Then a system block diagram appears on the screen.
THIS IS A UNIX SYSTEM! I KNOW THIS! I CAN DO THIS!
and proceeds to save all their sorry asses from becoming dinosaur chow.
ps my brother has Linus Torwald's signature, he cornered the poor man at a convention of his worshippers.
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