Virginia Tech is doing something very cool. They’ve bought 1,100 Apple G5s, which they’re going to group together to create one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. They intend to take delivery of the systems this coming week. There’s an information session being held about in this Thursday morning, which I’ll certainly attend.
Monthly Archives: August 2003
Hoax-a-rama.
I love hoaxes, pranks, and instances of social engineering. (Broadly referred to as “culture jamming.”) In the past couple weeks, here in Blacksburg, I’ve delighted in staging improvisational jokes and fictions. In every instance, it was only funny to me, which is fine, because I’m only looking to amuse myself. When I meet a complete …
More cars than sense.
There are now more cars than drivers in the U.S., according to the transportation department. Everybody with me now: Put the keys down and step away from the car. Nobody has to get hurt if we end this now.
Whumpa whumpa whumpa.
Still with the bass from next door. Tonight, I played Portishead’s “It Could Be Sweet” for them. I’m looking for suggestions for other bass-a-riffic songs.
Thumpa thumpa thumpa.
The girls who next door to me enjoy techno. At least, they play it. A lot. I put a nice note on their door the day that they moved in, politely and self-effacingly asking that they turn down their bass. I guess it didn’t take, because they kept it up. This is how I found …
Nekkid.
Many of the girls at Tech could hypothetically wear less clothing, but they would, in fact, be naked. Lord knows I’m no prude — I’ve done my share of nude hiking — but I couldn’t imagine walking around with as little clothing as some of these girls. Most people wear more to the beach.
The finest minds of my generation.
One of my classes is a 3000-level political science class. (They use thousands at VT; I have no idea of why. Maybe all colleges do so. What do I know about colleges?) This class is intended for third- and fourth-year students, and is consequently populated mostly by upperclassmen, largely political science majors. On Tuesday, my …
Day the second.
I had three classes today. (Well, yesterday — it’s late.) It’s too late for me to go into a whole lot of detail, but suffice it to say that they were a lot smaller than the two classes that I had yesterday, but still quite overcrowded. My professor didn’t show up for the first class, …
Long-haired hippies need not apply.
Blacksburg has banned rollerblading. Not only is it illegal to skate on the sidewalk or in the streets throughout downtown, but it’s illegal to use them on the Bicentennial Greenway, the paved pathway that runs along a tree-shaded path through town. I brought two pairs of ‘blades with me. I’d intended to use them as …
$.5T Deficit
The Congressional Budget Office will reveal tomorrow that our deficit is about to expand further still, from $401B this year to $500B — half a trillion dollars — next year. They forecast a total $6.3T deficit in the next decade. That’s not including $2T tax cuts planned by the White House. Tax cuts that will, …