The World’s Top Ten Supercomputers

Aside January 7, 2021 Markozen.com Technology

According to a quote with several origins, science advances on the shoulders of giants. In our time, these words have taken on a special meaning thanks to a new class of giants—supercomputers—which nowadays are pushing the boundaries of science to levels that the human intellect would be incapable of reaching on its own.

In a few decades, the strength of these giants has multiplied dramatically: in 1985 the world’s most powerful supercomputer, Cray-2, could process 1.9 billion floating point operations per second (FLOPS), or 1.9 gigaflops, the parameter used to measure the power of these machines. By comparison, a current PlayStation 4 game console reaches 1.84 teraflops, almost a thousand times more. Today, there are at least 500 supercomputers in the world that can exceed a petaflop, or one billion flops, according to the TOP500 list drawn up by experts from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the universities of Mannheim (Germany) and Tennessee (USA).

Below we present what are currently the ten most powerful supercomputers in the world and some of their contributions to knowledge.

1. SUMMIT, OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY (USA)

The world’s most powerful supercomputer today is Summit, built by IBM for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. It occupies the equivalent of two basketball courts and achieves an impressive 148.6 petaflops thanks to its 2.41 million cores.

El supercomputador Summit es el más potente del mundo en la actualidad. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL — The Summit is the world’s most powerful supercomputer today. Credit: **Carlos Jones/ORNL**

In addition to its large capacity, Summit is also the most energy-efficient machine in the top 10 of the world’s supercomputers. Its mission is civil scientific research, and since it came into operation in 2018 it has already participated in projects such as the search for genetic variants in the population related to diseases, the simulation of earthquakes in urban environments, the study of extreme climatic phenomena, the study of materials on an atomic scale and the explosion of supernovae, among others.

2. SIERRA, LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY (USA)

IBM is also responsible for the second most powerful supercomputer on the list, Sierra, located in California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Based on Summit-like hardware, Sierra manages 94.6 petaflops.

The Sierra supercomputer is dedicated to military research. Crédito: LLNL — The Sierra supercomputer is dedicated to military research. Crédito: **LLNL**

Unlike its older brother, Sierra is dedicated to military research, more specifically to the simulation of nuclear weapons in place of underground tests, so its studies are classified material.

3. SUNWAY TAIHULIGHT, NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTING CENTRE (WUXI, CHINA)

Until Summit and Sierra came into service in 2018, China was at the forefront of global supercomputing with TaihuLight, a machine built by the National Centre for Engineering Research and Parallel Computing Technology and installed at the National Supercomputing Centre in Wuxi. Unlike other machines of its calibre, it lacks accelerator chips, so its 93 petaflops depend on its more than 10 million Chinese Sunway processors.

TaihuLight is installed in the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi. Credit: Nsccwx — TaihuLight is installed in the National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi. Credit: **Nsccwx**

TaihuLight is in a way a product of the trade war between China and the US, since its construction has completely dispensed with US technology, in response to the restrictions imposed by the US. This supercomputer has participated in research such as the simulation of the birth and expansion of the universe using 10 billion digital particles.

4. TIANHE-2A, NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTING CENTRE (GUANGZHOU, CHINA)

China also retains fourth place in the ranking with Tianhe-2A, or Milky Way 2A, developed by the National University of Defence Technology and equipped with Intel Xeon processors that allow it to reach 61.4 petaflops. According to its operators, the machine is use for computing related to government security, among others.

Tianhe-2, in National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou. Credit: O01326 — Tianhe-2, in National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou. Credit: **O01326**

5. FRONTIER, TEXAS ADVANCED COMPUTING CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS (USA)

The Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin has entered the top 10 in global supercomputing thanks to Frontera, a new system built by Dell and equipped by Intel. Frontera was unveiled to the world in September 2019 as the world’s fastest supercomputer located in a university. Since June, it has been collaborating with three dozen scientific teams in research related to the physics of black holes, quantum mechanics, drug design and climate models. Its 23.5 petaflops will be available to the scientific community, which will benefit from its computational capacity especially in the areas of astrophysics, materials science, energy, genomics and the modelling of natural disasters.

The Frontera supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center. Crédit: TACC — The Frontera supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center. Credit: **TACC**

6. PIZ DAINT, SWISS NATIONAL SUPERCOMPUTING CENTRE

Europe’s most powerful system ranks sixth on the list. Piz Daint is a supercomputer named after an alpine mountain—whose image is displayed on its housing—located at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre in Lugano. It is an upgrade of a system built by the American company Cray, founded by the father of supercomputing Seymour Cray and responsible for several of the world’s most powerful machines. Its Intel and NVIDIA processors give it a speed of 21.2 petaflops. Piz Daint is involved in extensive research in materials science, physics, geophysics, life sciences, climatology and data science.

Piz Daint is the most powerful system in Europe. Credit: CSCS — Piz Daint is the most powerful system in Europe. Credit: **CSCS**

7. TRINITY, LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY (USA)

Also a product of the Cray company is Trinity, the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory system that is able to reach nearly 20.2 petaflops. This machine, which inherited its name from the first U.S. nuclear test in 1945, is mainly devoted to nuclear weapons-related calculations.

Trinity inherited its name from the first U.S. nuclear test. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory — Trinity inherited its name from the first U.S. nuclear test. Credit: **Los Alamos National Laboratory**

8. AI BRIDGING CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE (ABCI), NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (JAPAN)

The 19.9 petaflops of ABCI, a system built by Fujitsu and belonging to Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, place this machine in eighth place in the ranking. One of its most striking features is its energy efficiency, a parameter in which it scores just below Summit. ABCI’s goal is to serve as a cloud-based Artificial Intelligence resource available to Japanese companies and research groups.

ABCI's goal is to serve as a cloud-based Artificial Intelligence resource. Credit: ABCI — ABCI’s goal is to serve as a cloud-based Artificial Intelligence resource. Credit: **ABCI**

9. SUPERMUC-NG, LEIBNIZ RECHENZENTRUM (GERMANY)

In 2018, the new generation SuperMUC supercomputer officially came into service at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre in Garching, near Munich (Germany). Built by Lenovo with technology from the company and Intel, the most powerful supercomputer in the European Union achieves a processing speed of 19.5 petaflops.

The new generation of the SuperMUC supercomputer came into service in 2018. Credit: lrz — The new generation of the SuperMUC supercomputer came into service in 2018. Credit: **lrz**

10. LASSEN, LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY (USA)

The top 10 closes with Lassen, Sierra’s little brother at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, built by IBM with the same architecture. Its recent improvements have increased its speed to 18.2 petaflops. Unlike its brother, Lassen is dedicated to unclassified research.

Lassen is dedicated to unclassified research. Credit: LLN

Source: https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/

Luxury Doomsday bunker condos for millionaires

Aside January 7, 2021 Markozen.com Bizarre, Buildings

During these strange days and “uncertain times” the popularity of the doomsday bunker is booming.

The ‘Doomsday shelter’ being built below Kansas prairie where millionaires will be able to sit out the Apocalypse in style

Four buyers have already invested in condos below the ground
Fears range from pandemics, terrorism and solar flares
Indoor farm to provide fish and veg for 70 people for as long as necessary

When you buy a house, you end up feeling like you will be paying it off until the world ends.

Well, how about one of these luxurious condos, which come with all the mod-cons, as well as a pool, a movie theater and a library – oh, and a guarantee that it will survive Doomsday if and when that fateful day comes.

For these luxury flats, deep below the Kansas prairie in the shaft of an abandoned missile silo, are meant to withstand everything from economic collapse and solar flares to terrorist attacks and pandemics.

Naturally, there will be no one around to phone if the guarantee fails – but at that point, the insurance will probably be the least of your worries.

So far, four buyers have thrown down a total of about $7million (£4.4m) for havens to flee to when disaster happens or the end is nigh. And developer Larry Hall has options to retro-fit three more Cold War-era silos when this one fills up.

Hall said: ‘They worry about events ranging from solar flares, to economic collapse, to pandemics to terrorism to food shortages.’

Inside: The circular designs provide a luxurious and attractive setting to watch the world end

So far four buyers have thrown down a total of about $7million (£4.4m) for a haven under the prairie

Instead of simply setting up shop in the old living quarters provided for missile operators, Hall is building condos right up the missile shaft.

Seven of the 14 underground floors will be condo space selling for $2 million a floor or $1 million a half floor. Three and a half units have been sold, two contracts are pending and only two more full units are available, Hall said.

For now, metal stairs stretch down to connect each floor but an elevator will later replace them. The units are within a steel and concrete core inside the original thick concrete, which makes them better able to withstand earthquakes.

Hall is also installing an indoor farm to grow enough fish and vegetables to feed 70 people for as long as they need to stay inside and also stockpiling enough dry goods to feed them for five years.

The top floor and an outside building above it will be for elaborate security.

Other floors will be for a pool, a movie theater and a library, and when in lockdown mode there will be floors for a medical center and a school.

Complex life support systems provide energy supplies from sources of conventional power, as well as windmill power and generators.

Giant underground water tanks will hold water pre-filtered through carbon and sand. And, of course, an elaborate security system and staff will keep marauding hordes out.

The silos as the were in the early 1960s: Developer Larry Hall is converting four of the 72 Atlas “F” Missile Bases into luxury doomsday shelters.

The condo elevator will only operate if a person’s fingerprint matches its system, Hall said. Cameras will monitor a barbed-wire topped fence and give plenty of warning of possible intruders. Responses can range from a warning to lethal force.

Some Really Big Ones

Aside January 7, 2021 Markozen.com Art

‘Angel’ Photographed Hovering Over Firefighters in Poland

Aside January 6, 2021 Markozen.com Offbeat, Religiousness

A remarkable photograph from a fire in Poland shows what appears to be an angel hovering in the sky over the scene. The jaw-dropping image was reportedly snapped last month as firefighters were battling a blaze in the community of Małdyty. The picture was subsequently posted to social media by the mystified fire department, who marveled at the wondrous sight and left their social media users to draw their own conclusions as to what can be seen in the photo.

When asked about the anomaly, one of the firefighters who had been on the scene understandably explained that “I didn’t see anything. The work is dangerous, I didn’t look around.” He went on to seemingly dismiss any possible otherworldly explanation for the oddity, observing that “I’ve seen strange figures in photos taken during our rescue operations before, but I don’t know if this is the way the light works or if the wind is causing the smoke to look like that.”

However, one of his colleagues had a different take on the picture, musing that “if we have such protection from the afterlife watching over us, I feel fairly calm about safety during the operation.” To that end, some have suggested that the eerie figure in the sky was some kind of guardian angel that was protecting the firefighters as they tried to stop the blaze. What’s your take on the curious image?

Looks like smoke coming out of a chimney to me. Grasping at straws here.

Speaking of holy images:

The Face of Jesus Appears in the Oddest Places

Jesus Christ is everywhere, but one Orlando woman thought she was going crazy when she saw his image in the bark of a dead tree in her front yard.

“It’s Treesus,” the homeowner, Kim, said on the eve of Resurrection Sunday. “I find it very odd. For me, it’s unmistakable, and I’m not particularly religious. So I don’t know what it means.”

The Orlando Sentinel agreed to withhold her full name and address because she fears her home would turn into a mecca of pilgrims wanting to see the image.

Here the face of Jesus manifests as a stain on a bathroom wall.

Grilled cheese sandwich, actually this one is the Virgin Mary I think.

There are no photos of Jesus (okay maybe the Shroud of Turin) and nobody painted him. So how did we determine that he looks like the guy on the Kit Kat chocolate bar?

Potato chip

The image seems to materialize in hot places

Pizza slice

Why? Why would the Lord and Saviour, King of Kings, put his face on a bloody banana? He might only convert 2 or 3 people with this stunt. He should manifest on a giant billboard in Times Square.

Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records when played in reverse.

There have been many instances of perceptions of religious imagery and themes, especially the faces of religious figures, in ordinary phenomena. Many involve images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the word Allah, or other religious phenomena: in September 2007 in Singapore, for example, a callus on a tree resembled a monkey, leading believers to pay homage to the “Monkey god” (either Sun Wukong or Hanuman) in the monkey tree phenomenon.

Carl Sagan hypothesized that as a survival technique, human beings are “hard-wired” from birth to identify the human face. This allows people to use only minimal details to recognize faces from a distance and in poor visibility but can also lead them to interpret random images or patterns of light and shade as being face.

Oh wow Jesus, this is really going to help people quit smoking.

And then there are people nowadays who will never notice Jesus.

jesus

Trump’s Thugs!

Aside January 6, 2021 Markozen.com Bizarre, Crime

Trump Hooligans face down.

How it started top, how it ended below.

This clown broke into Nancy Pelosi’s office. Vandalized the office and stole her mail.

Capital police keeping the thugs at bay.

Idiot sits at Mike Pence’s throne in the senate.

This moron poses for a photo as he is stealing a podium from the Capitol building.

Some of Trump’s supporters were rabid!

And this disgusting mayhem wasn’t planned out?

Trump’s thugs have so much style. Trailer park trash.

This fool broke into Mitch McConnell’s office.

U.S. Capitol building 2021 with politicians hiding from the vandals.

This came out a few years ago. Whoever made it saw what was coming.

Trump MAGA supporter disrespecting the American flag in D.C.

Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters deplorables back in 2016. She hit the nail on the head.

In 2016 Trump made the following comment at a rally in Iowa: “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, ok? It’s, like, incredible.” — Donald Trump, who is currently the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president, insulting the intelligence of his own supporters. From Mother Jones 2016.

What in the Hell is going on in Washington, D.C.?

Aside January 6, 2021 Markozen.com Bizarre, Crime, Politics

US Congress in turmoil as violent Trump supporters breach building

Violent supporters of President Donald Trump have breached the Capitol in Washington, as lawmakers met to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s poll win.

In dramatic scenes, demonstrators swarmed the building as Congress members were escorted out by police.

Mr Biden said the action should “end now”, and Mr Trump released a video message asking supporters to go home.

The joint session of Congress certifying Mr Biden’s win has been suspended and forced into recess.

There are reports of guns drawn in the building and at least one person shot. A woman was reported to be in a critical condition after receiving a neck injury.

There has been an armed confrontation at the doors of the House of Representatives. Tear gas has also been used.

Members of Congress have been told to evacuate the building or remain where they are. One congresswoman tweeted that she was staying in her office.

What has Trump created? These thousands of blind ignorant supporters that believe Trump’s election fraud bullcrap lock, stock and barrel. What is wrong with these people?

This is beyond ludicrous and absurd, it’s pure unadulterated insanity. What has Trump done to the United States? How has he brainwashed so many people into believing every psychotic statement he makes. Why are his supporters so gullible? It is beyond comprehension for the average commonsensical human being.

Go away Trump, please please just go away.

Cops in Pakistan Bust ‘Werewolf’

Aside January 5, 2021 Markozen.com Offbeat, Paranormal

A young man in Pakistan found himself at the center of an odd controversy after cops arrested him for prowling the streets of a city on New Year’s Eve while dressed as a werewolf. The strange incident reportedly occurred in the city of Peshawar last Thursday evening when the unnamed individual was spotted riding around on a motorcycle wearing a fairly realistic lycanthrope mask and allegedly roaring at bystanders in an attempt to frighten them.

Cops subsequently arrested the ‘werewolf,’ presumably for causing a public disturbance, and photos of the mask-clad man handcuffed and standing alongside two police officers were posted to social media shortly thereafter. The images quickly went viral in Pakistan and prompted a bit of a backlash from residents who questioned the reasoning for the man’s arrest. Specifically, they noted that wearing a mask is required by law in Peshawar in order to help stop the spread of the coronavirus and therefore, technically, he was following the rules.

To that end, some people also pointed out the amusing fact that one of the police officers in the photos is not wearing a mask, which should actually be a violation of the regulations. And there were others who credited the youngster with coming up with a clever way to keep people off the streets during New Year’s Eve, making him an unlikely public health hero in their eyes. It remains to be seen whether any of their points will help the young man avoid being punished for the mask misadventure.