Robert J Turner

Below was a message sent to me on StumbleUpon,  makes me just go Waah? and scratch my head:

SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS

From,

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Maryland Professor Creates Desktop Supercomputer

Discussion at PhysOrgForum
Credit: Clark School of Engineering - University of Maryland
A prototype of what may be the next generation of personal computers has been developed by researchers in the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering. Capable of computing speeds 100 times faster than current desktops, the technology is based on parallel processing on a single chip.
Parallel processing is an approach that allows the computer to perform many different tasks simultaneously, a sharp contrast to the serial approach employed by conventional desktop computers. The prototype developed by Uzi Vishkin and his Clark School colleagues uses a circuit board about the size of a license plate on which they have mounted 64 parallel processors. To control those processors, they have developed the crucial parallel computer organization that allows the processors to work together and make programming practical and simple for software developers.

“The single-chip supercomputer prototype built by Prof. Uzi Vishkin’s group uses rich algorithmic theory to address the practical problem of building an easy-to-program multicore computer,” said Charles E. Leiserson, professor of computer science and engineering at MIT. “Vishkin’s chip unites the theory of yesterday with the reality of today.”

Desktop Parallel Processing

Parallel processing on a massive scale using numerous interconnected chips or computers has been used for years to create supercomputers. However, its application to desktop systems has been a challenge because of severe programming complexities. The Clark School team found a way to use single chip parallel processing technology to change that.

Vishkin, a professor in the Clark School’s electrical and computer engineering department and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), explained the advantage of parallel processing like this: “Suppose you hire one person to clean your home, and it takes five hours, or 300 minutes, for the person to perform each task, one after the other,” Vishkin said. “That’s analogous to the current serial processing method. Now imagine that you have 100 cleaning people who can work on your home at the same time! That’s the parallel processing method.

“The ’software’ challenge is: Can you manage all the different tasks and workers so that the job is completed in 3 minutes instead of 300?” Vishkin continued. “Our algorithms make that feasible for general-purpose computing tasks for the first time.”

Vishkin and his team are now demonstrating their technology, which in future devices could include 1,000 processors on a chip the size of a finger nail, to government and industry groups. To show how easy it is to program, Vishkin is also providing access to the prototype to students at Montgomery Blair High School in Montgomery County, Md.

atatstroller.jpg JPEG Image, 500×436 pixels

Check the guy’s Tatoo too.

Most Haunted: Midsummer Murders - Stoney Middleton

 Stoney Middleton is situated in the beautiful Middleton Dale, in Derbyshire and the Peak District National Park. Stoney Middleton lies on the ancient highway between Chesterfield and Brough and was mentioned in the Domesday Book as Middletune. There are about 600 inhabitants nestling among limestone cliffs and rocks. Stoney Middleton is a magnet for walkers, climbers and potholers alike.

Stoney Middleton is the site of a Roman settlement. The Roman baths, fed by a thermal spring were previously owned by the distiquished judge, Lord Denman, a great victorian reformer, who advocated the abolition of slavery and became the first national chairman of the Womens Institute.

This village may have beautiful and serene veneer but seemingly innocuous local traditions including well dressing are connected to pagan origins and quintessentially English gardens and quaint cottages hide sinister secrets of murders.

Will Yvette, David, Leslie and the teams’ combined skills reveal murderous incidents of yesteryear and what secrets will the team uncover when the reassuring daylight turns to dusk?

Episode Information

First aired: 19 June 2007

Lets hope and pray there is some truth to this before we end up reading about another celebrity overdose or tragic death.  

Lindsay Lohan is on the road to recovery after finding God, according to her father.

Lindsay Lohan

(BANG) - Lindsay Lohan has found God, her father says.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India defends trafficking record
India defends trafficking record
By Jyotsna Singh
BBC News, Delhi

The Indian government has rejected its inclusion on a list of countries compiled by the US which have not fully stopped human trafficking.

India was designated as a “Tier 2″ country: it did not fully comply with minimum standards but was making significant efforts to do so.

The government says a lot is being done to tackle the problem, although more needs to be done.

It says efforts are underway to rescue and rehabilitate trafficking victims.

Sanctions possibility

“The world’s largest democracy has the world’s largest problem of human trafficking,” said the US state department’s specialist on trafficking issue, Mark Lagon.

The department has warned India would be downgraded to a “Tier 3″ category unless it improved its track record.

That would mean that the US would withhold non-humanitarian, non-trade related foreign aid.

Correspondents say that “Tier 3″ countries are also denied access to educational and cultural exchange programmes.

The state department estimates that around 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year, and that 80% of them are females used in the sex trade.

The annual report places India as a “Tier two” country for the fourth year in a row.

An official in India’s Women and Child Development ministry, however, defended her department’s efforts in tackling the problem.

‘Unfair’

“We are doing our bit, but more needs to be done,” said Deepa Jain Singh, secretary for the Women and Children’s Development Ministry.

Non governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the area have supported the government’s efforts.

“We don’t agree that nothing has changed. Legislation has come in place to deal with the issue. It is a clear indication that the pressure on the government is working,” Rishi Kant, from the women’s group, Shakti Vahini, told the BBC News website.

Other women’s groups argued that it was unfair that India was being put on the US watch list over the issue, and not Bangladesh or Nepal.

Aid agencies estimate that around 5,000 to 7,000 women and girls are trafficked to India from Nepal and around 10,000 to 20,000 women and children from Bangladesh.

“Nepal, Bangladesh and India need to work together to stop such trafficking,” United Nations Development Programme spokeswoman Archana Tamang told the BBC.

“Women and children are not being brought into India only, there is a lot of reverse trafficking taking place as well.

“It is really important for all the three nations to work together as a sub-regional group to remedy the situation,” she said.