Reed's Ruminations: The Past, Present, and Future
Reflections on science, technology, and computing — leavened by personal experience
Category: Random Musings
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The Power of Plum Jelly
The dilapidated two story house marked the corner of two single lane roads in the Arkansas hills, and it was old and weather-beaten long before I was born. The windows stared sullenly at the sky, covered only by cheap roller shades that had never seen better days. A rusted tin roof (iron actually, but we…
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Reflections on SC08
“Cloud” was undoubtedly the buzz word of the conference. Like the word Grid in the past, cloud is now a tabula rasa on which research groups and companies are projecting their own definitions and spins. I was also pleased that HPCWire awarded its Editor’s Choice Award for best industry/government collaboration to the Microsoft/Intel Universal Parallel…
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SC: The Family Gathering
It’s “supercomputing week,” which means that almost everyone who can spell HPC and who can walk, drive, swim or fly will be in Austin, Texas during the week of November 16 for SC08. In short, it’s the place to see and be seen, or perhaps not to be seen if you are spending all of…
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Driving: Integers and Reals
Despite the deep and broad similarities that transend regional and national cultures, uniting us as humans, I have observed wide variation in one one deeply individualistic trait. The frequency of this trait widely varies across regions of the United States, across countries and across cultures; it is preponderant in some, rare in others, but present…
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Low Hanging Fruit: Memories of Childhood
Low hanging fruit – it’s a metaphor native English speakers often use to denote an opportunity on which one can easily capitalize, a reward readily grasped without stretching. Yet I doubt most of us, particularly those in urban areas stop to consider the agrarian origins of such phrases, when hunter-gatherers quite literally foraged for food.…
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Elvis, D.B. and the Red Caddy
Imagine my surprise when I looked up from the pump and saw Elvis at the wheel of a candy red ’69 Caddy Coupe DeVille convertible, parked outside the convenience store. He was lookin’ mighty fine, with one arm draped over the car window and the other on the wheel, harmonizing with a gospel station on…