I will be going on a short hiatus since my assignment deadlines are coming up and I still have a lot to catch up on, not to mention the midterms approaching as well. Till then keep me in your well wishes, mates. I should be back by a week approximately, give or take a few days, if I survive that is.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Gone For A While
I will be going on a short hiatus since my assignment deadlines are coming up and I still have a lot to catch up on, not to mention the midterms approaching as well. Till then keep me in your well wishes, mates. I should be back by a week approximately, give or take a few days, if I survive that is.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Day Dedicated to Casper
I thought i'd post some pictures of male Turkish Angora Casper. Some of you might have seen these pictures before but the majority of you haven't. So here you go.
Sitting on the drawing room table, lazying around and literally reigning over the drawing room. These days that is his kingdom and he spends most of his day there.
Casper was yawning and really sleepy, and he got snapped. It might look he is attacking but he is just acting like a tired bum, legs dangling off the edge of the table.
Lazying around on the drawing room sofa looking at some object of interest.
Playing with his own tail with nothing better to do that day.
Thanks to the flash, a devlish picture of Casper.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds
The protests that began over the irreverent depiction of the Prophet PBUH have started to grow out of hand in many countries of the world. I will just focus on the situation in Pakistan only. I will leave the rest as, just other bad apples in the bad lot of hypocrisies.
So what do the instigators of the protests call it. A rally against the depiction of the caricatures? Bullshit! They say these protests are being done in the name of Islam. Bullocks! What in reality these protests are, is a carefully played out and masterminded effort on the part of the Religious MMA party to take a swipe at the government. It is part of a bigger scheme of political wrangling among the MMA and the Government. A child and a young man were killed in the KFC ransacking by protestors in Peshawar. A school and other buildings were destroyed in a small town in Punjab. Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore have had problems with protestors disrupting the normal day to day lives of Millions of people. Is this in the name of Islam? Would our Prophet PBUH have wanted us to do this? Would a protestor with balls come up and tell me that their justification for killing a child and a young man is that some Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet PBUH? What does Quran say about the killing of a human being, let alone a non-muslim or a muslim?
The MMA and other opposition parties have finally gotten something to incite the masses against the government. I believe the MMA and these protestors, along with the Bughti people in Balochistan, to be the biggest traitors Pakistan has ever known. They burn down business, kill innocent people and cause immense damage to the country as a whole just because some firebrand Mullah gets behind them and spurs them on by putting some Spice up their asses.
I believe the real problem is that these protestors have nothing better to do. They sit at home, watch the news over a cup of tea, and then they say, "Well, now that is something we can rally on against the government. We don't have anything better to do , so lets go." The problem is the lack of desire to do something for your country, to work for its betterment and your fellow citizens.
It is a sad day for Islam, when its "so called" protectors are it's biggest destroyers, trying to cause problems contrary to the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah and giving everything they do, even if they burp, in the name of Islam. For God's Sake. Someone needs to tell them to go give us true muslims a break. Islam and its Prophet PBUH deserve much better than these scoundrels.
So what do the instigators of the protests call it. A rally against the depiction of the caricatures? Bullshit! They say these protests are being done in the name of Islam. Bullocks! What in reality these protests are, is a carefully played out and masterminded effort on the part of the Religious MMA party to take a swipe at the government. It is part of a bigger scheme of political wrangling among the MMA and the Government. A child and a young man were killed in the KFC ransacking by protestors in Peshawar. A school and other buildings were destroyed in a small town in Punjab. Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore have had problems with protestors disrupting the normal day to day lives of Millions of people. Is this in the name of Islam? Would our Prophet PBUH have wanted us to do this? Would a protestor with balls come up and tell me that their justification for killing a child and a young man is that some Danish newspaper published cartoons of the Prophet PBUH? What does Quran say about the killing of a human being, let alone a non-muslim or a muslim?
The MMA and other opposition parties have finally gotten something to incite the masses against the government. I believe the MMA and these protestors, along with the Bughti people in Balochistan, to be the biggest traitors Pakistan has ever known. They burn down business, kill innocent people and cause immense damage to the country as a whole just because some firebrand Mullah gets behind them and spurs them on by putting some Spice up their asses.
I believe the real problem is that these protestors have nothing better to do. They sit at home, watch the news over a cup of tea, and then they say, "Well, now that is something we can rally on against the government. We don't have anything better to do , so lets go." The problem is the lack of desire to do something for your country, to work for its betterment and your fellow citizens.
It is a sad day for Islam, when its "so called" protectors are it's biggest destroyers, trying to cause problems contrary to the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah and giving everything they do, even if they burp, in the name of Islam. For God's Sake. Someone needs to tell them to go give us true muslims a break. Islam and its Prophet PBUH deserve much better than these scoundrels.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Cold, Wet and Calm
It is cold and wet today in Los Angeles. I think the coldest day of the winter season today in LA. I came from Michigan to California, so it isn't that big of a deal for me. But when I go outside, I see people wearing pullovers and shivering while walking and I am thinking, "Come on, It isn't that cold, is it?". But I guess I am used to sub freezing temperatures that make your face feel like a puckered piece of lifeless mass. I am thankful I am rid of that.
Did I tell you guys how my roommate D, left the window open when he went to sleep last night? I am talking about the living room window here. It was cold outside and he had opened it to cook, guess what.. yes yes.. FISH!!!. He himself wore a jacket while I was sitting wearing a T-shirt. It didn't feel cold then but at 3:45AM my sleep was interrupted and I found myself shivering. He did it today too. Me and my brother went out to dinner, came back and find he has the windows open and is wearing a jacket. Hilarious moment. I would assume a normal person would close the windows and remove the jacket but not D. I closed the windows and surely enough, D's jacket came off after a bit.
Personally, I am beginning to find that not overreacting and always being calm even when your angry wins you the day in the end. Anger doesn't solve anything. It just destroys your ability to comprehend the problem at hand and deal with it efficiently and easily. On top of that, anger is also bad for your health. So next time your going to break someone's skull open or say something sarcastic and mean to them, just take a deep breath and let it go. If you can't, just walk away for the time being. It is better to walk away and come back then have to live with regret.
P.S: D's coldcapade and my anger post are unrelated. I was never angry at D all through the debacle. I was more amused to say the least.
Did I tell you guys how my roommate D, left the window open when he went to sleep last night? I am talking about the living room window here. It was cold outside and he had opened it to cook, guess what.. yes yes.. FISH!!!. He himself wore a jacket while I was sitting wearing a T-shirt. It didn't feel cold then but at 3:45AM my sleep was interrupted and I found myself shivering. He did it today too. Me and my brother went out to dinner, came back and find he has the windows open and is wearing a jacket. Hilarious moment. I would assume a normal person would close the windows and remove the jacket but not D. I closed the windows and surely enough, D's jacket came off after a bit.
Personally, I am beginning to find that not overreacting and always being calm even when your angry wins you the day in the end. Anger doesn't solve anything. It just destroys your ability to comprehend the problem at hand and deal with it efficiently and easily. On top of that, anger is also bad for your health. So next time your going to break someone's skull open or say something sarcastic and mean to them, just take a deep breath and let it go. If you can't, just walk away for the time being. It is better to walk away and come back then have to live with regret.
P.S: D's coldcapade and my anger post are unrelated. I was never angry at D all through the debacle. I was more amused to say the least.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Catching Up
Valentines day passed without much happening. I spent most of the day trying to catch up on my studies and got a lot of work done. Still have a long way to go. I am beginning to get my groove and feel for studies back and shifting into high gear now. USC is proving to be a challenging place to study at and I am sure I will be able to achieve my degree without any major problems.
Computer Networking (CN) is going along fine. Still have to start on the Database systems (DBS) assignment as well as the Software Architectures (SA) assignment. I plan on getting the CN assignments and reading done by today. It would be one less burden, helping me cope with the SA and DBS assignments.
Thanks to all of you guys who dropped by and gave your well wishes on Valentine's day. Hope you all had a blast and I am sure many of you did. Thanks also, for keeping on coming back to my blog. Not much to write about other than my assignments these days, cuz that is the only thing that is on my mind a lot lately.
Tech Talk:
For the tech savvy among you, this is the general summary of what I have to do in my three assignments. I will be posting tech related stuff like this from now on, along with the normal postings, also because I want to keep an archive of what I did for my assignments or mused about, tech wise. If you are not into this kind of stuff, your welcome to ask me questions about anything I talk about here, or you could just skip it, read the usual normal posts and save yourself the trouble *grin*.
P.S. I am too lazy to make two seperate blogs and two seperate posts for normal and tech related information.
Computer Networking (CN) is going along fine. Still have to start on the Database systems (DBS) assignment as well as the Software Architectures (SA) assignment. I plan on getting the CN assignments and reading done by today. It would be one less burden, helping me cope with the SA and DBS assignments.
Thanks to all of you guys who dropped by and gave your well wishes on Valentine's day. Hope you all had a blast and I am sure many of you did. Thanks also, for keeping on coming back to my blog. Not much to write about other than my assignments these days, cuz that is the only thing that is on my mind a lot lately.
Tech Talk:
For the tech savvy among you, this is the general summary of what I have to do in my three assignments. I will be posting tech related stuff like this from now on, along with the normal postings, also because I want to keep an archive of what I did for my assignments or mused about, tech wise. If you are not into this kind of stuff, your welcome to ask me questions about anything I talk about here, or you could just skip it, read the usual normal posts and save yourself the trouble *grin*.- Computer Networking: Take the Ethereal Software and capture packets off the ping and traceroute programs. Analyze these packets and answer the questions based on the packets. Questions such as source and destination IP's, length of the ICMP packet and it's included fields, difference between ping and traceroute ICMP packets and other ICMP general questions. The other CN assignment is based on material relating to the layered networking architecture. Questions relating to signal to noise ratio, Shannon's Theorem and some true and false questions as well as explanation type questions from the textbook itself.
- Software Architecture: This assignment has questions relating to the to the Parnas Research Paper on the criteria of dividing modules in a software system. We also have to design a system and then answer questions relating to the interdependencies among the components and their connectors.
- Database Systems: This assignment is a biggie and requires lots of work and time. It requires making an Object Relational Database from a scheme already given. Designing the tables for the relational part and then the object queries for the Object part and then testing and debugging. It also requires entering of significant test and dummy data. Might require a little research also because of Object Relational Syntax being subjective to different implementations, the one I will be using is Oracle 10G.
P.S. I am too lazy to make two seperate blogs and two seperate posts for normal and tech related information.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Happy Valentine's Day
What is Valentine's Day? It is a day when we send out our appreciation for those that we love. This can be love for your significant other, for your parents or anyone that you appreciate and love.
I wanna dedicate my Valentine's day to my parents. Thankyou mom and dad for always being there when I needed you. Through all the happy times and the sad, through it all. Without you, I would have been nothing but a rough pebble in the ocean; you polished me and made sure I shone. You have been my best friends till now and I will make sure that I remain your best friend for life. Thankyou for everything. I love both of you, a lot.
Happy Valentine's day to all of my blogbuddies too. May you all have a fun day.
Monday, February 13, 2006
My Chinese Roommate
Ok this post is dedicated to my roommate. By dedicate, it doesn't mean you will get to hear only good things about him. Not Sir ree. You will get a proper introduction. For the sake of privacy let's call him D from here onward. Without further ado here we go:
D is from the People's Republic of China. His family emmigrated to the US recently but they live a bit far off. That is why, D stays with us guys and goes to USC. He is a Civil Engineering graduate student with emphasis on road and highway contruction. The guy is quiet, humble and an avid fish eater (more on this in a bit). He is fairly clean (I was worried i'd get a roomate who was a pig but thankfully I am ok). He doesn't talk behind your back and here I am writing a post about him, oh well, he isn't me now is he? Since his family recently emmigrated along with him, as I said before, he has difficulty speaking english like most oriental people not born in the United States. The good thing though is that he is trying very hard to learn new words everyday and tries to talk a lot with me in English (I am sure some of you know I don't speak chinese, Right?). He loves the television series "Friends" and has all the seasons on DVD. I am going to have to hound and watch them all over again sometime. The guy is talented (He got into USC, what do you expect).
D has an obsession with fish. The guy eats it like his life depends on it in some way. Normally I wouldn't mind that, since I eat out with my brother (who is my other roommate and goes to USC with me), but D, cooks fish in a weird way resulting in the smell going all around the house. I am kinda sick of it. The first day he tried cooking fish, the amount of smoke in the house increased tenfold and the fire alarm went off. In 5 minutes, the fire squad was here in their outfit and one had to watch D's face to feel sad for him.
Well there you are. That is D. I hope his fish fetish ends soon because otherwise, I am going to put him into the ocean with all the fish. (Ofcourse I am kidding, I wouldn't hurt a fly, you guys know that right?).
D is from the People's Republic of China. His family emmigrated to the US recently but they live a bit far off. That is why, D stays with us guys and goes to USC. He is a Civil Engineering graduate student with emphasis on road and highway contruction. The guy is quiet, humble and an avid fish eater (more on this in a bit). He is fairly clean (I was worried i'd get a roomate who was a pig but thankfully I am ok). He doesn't talk behind your back and here I am writing a post about him, oh well, he isn't me now is he? Since his family recently emmigrated along with him, as I said before, he has difficulty speaking english like most oriental people not born in the United States. The good thing though is that he is trying very hard to learn new words everyday and tries to talk a lot with me in English (I am sure some of you know I don't speak chinese, Right?). He loves the television series "Friends" and has all the seasons on DVD. I am going to have to hound and watch them all over again sometime. The guy is talented (He got into USC, what do you expect).
D has an obsession with fish. The guy eats it like his life depends on it in some way. Normally I wouldn't mind that, since I eat out with my brother (who is my other roommate and goes to USC with me), but D, cooks fish in a weird way resulting in the smell going all around the house. I am kinda sick of it. The first day he tried cooking fish, the amount of smoke in the house increased tenfold and the fire alarm went off. In 5 minutes, the fire squad was here in their outfit and one had to watch D's face to feel sad for him.
Well there you are. That is D. I hope his fish fetish ends soon because otherwise, I am going to put him into the ocean with all the fish. (Ofcourse I am kidding, I wouldn't hurt a fly, you guys know that right?).
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Random Jokes
JOKE 1:
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip, set up their tent, and fall asleep.
Some hours later, Holmes wakes his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
Watson replies, "I see millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" Watson ponders for a minute. "Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Timewise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?"
Holmes is silent for a moment, then speaks. "Watson, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent."
JOKE 2:
A waiter asks a man, “May I take your order, sir?”
“Yes,” the man replies. “I’m just wondering, exactly how do you prepare your chickens?”
“Nothing special, sir. We just tell them straight out that they’re going to die.”
JOKE 3:
ROMANCE MATHEMATICS
Smart man + smart woman = romance
Smart man + dumb woman = affair
Dumb man + smart woman = marriage
Dumb man + dumb woman = pregnancy
OFFICE ARITHMETIC
Smart boss + smart employee = profit
Smart boss + dumb employee = production
Dumb boss + smart employee = promotion
Dumb boss + dumb employee = overtime
SHOPPING MATH
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.
A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need.
GENERAL EQUATIONS & STATISTICS
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson go on a camping trip, set up their tent, and fall asleep.
Some hours later, Holmes wakes his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
Watson replies, "I see millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" Watson ponders for a minute. "Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Timewise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?"
Holmes is silent for a moment, then speaks. "Watson, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent."
JOKE 2:
A waiter asks a man, “May I take your order, sir?”
“Yes,” the man replies. “I’m just wondering, exactly how do you prepare your chickens?”
“Nothing special, sir. We just tell them straight out that they’re going to die.”
JOKE 3:
ROMANCE MATHEMATICS
Smart man + smart woman = romance
Smart man + dumb woman = affair
Dumb man + smart woman = marriage
Dumb man + dumb woman = pregnancy
OFFICE ARITHMETIC
Smart boss + smart employee = profit
Smart boss + dumb employee = production
Dumb boss + smart employee = promotion
Dumb boss + dumb employee = overtime
SHOPPING MATH
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.
A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need.
GENERAL EQUATIONS & STATISTICS
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Assignment 1 Grades
CS578 Software Architecture: 93/100 | Weightage = 5% | Converted Grade: 4.65%
EE450 Computer Networking: 95/100
Got my grades for my assignment 1's from my CS 578, Software Architecture class and my EE 450, Computer Networking class and I can say I am not too happy about them. Especially the Software Architecture grades. I was literally robbed of some of my grades with useless mark deductals off some of my points. I might have to go in and get it rechecked. Most of it was standard though. Now that I know how the graders grade, I will have to raise my standard of submittal. Not give them anything to remove.
I probably made some blunder on my Computer Networking Assignment as well but I am not overly worried about that. I will just have to try to get above 95 though, because the teacher has been known to rob students during midterms and finals. This time the assignment was graded by the grader not the teacher. So gotta be careful.
EE450 Computer Networking: 95/100
Got my grades for my assignment 1's from my CS 578, Software Architecture class and my EE 450, Computer Networking class and I can say I am not too happy about them. Especially the Software Architecture grades. I was literally robbed of some of my grades with useless mark deductals off some of my points. I might have to go in and get it rechecked. Most of it was standard though. Now that I know how the graders grade, I will have to raise my standard of submittal. Not give them anything to remove.
I probably made some blunder on my Computer Networking Assignment as well but I am not overly worried about that. I will just have to try to get above 95 though, because the teacher has been known to rob students during midterms and finals. This time the assignment was graded by the grader not the teacher. So gotta be careful.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Interesting Argument
Yesterday, while coming from class I met my friend, who for the sake of privacy I will call, E. The class itself was a boring one. E was standing outside the local Burger King. Turns out he also had'nt eaten lunch yet. So we both ate a Chicken Sandwich. Me and E are in the same Software Architectures class. We had time to kill before the class began and E took me along, to meet another Pakistani friend of his at the University. Being woefully few in number, the Pakistani students at USC are a close knit bunch. So I's gesture to take me along and break the ice with another Pakistani was welcome and appreciated. It turns out the ice was kind of hard to break.
The other friend who we will call S, was studying in the library where we went to meet him. Turned out he was the same age as me. Now I and him are good friends and they started talking about stuff while I am sitting there awkwardly. E is nice enough to get me into the conversation but it is proving difficult since S, seems oblivious to my presence. Maybe S wasn't taught proper etiquittes but that is perfectly ok. I didn't mind that much. When he did talk it was to argue with me from the get go.
Some of the arugments he put forth are these:
1. Most people come to the US from Pakistan to work and since it is easier to apply from the US than Pakistan, they come here on a student VISA, do their MS and then work. Now, I agreed with him on the "easier to apply from the US for a US job than from Pakistan", but the coming here as a grad student to work is stupid to say the least. Why would someone pay 60k+ Dollars to come here so that down the line, 2 years from now, he or she can work based on the completion of their MS. That would be a pretty big investment just to find a job from the US in US. I asked him if he had brothers here and he says yes. So what was the problem then. I could see he was getting uncomfortable now, so I decided to let him off the hook.
2. The second was his assault on my choice of why I had not chosen to work after I had graduated from the US and applied for MS. Shouldn't my choice be my own and who is this stranger to ask me anyway? To say the least, I felt insulted. I told him not everyone is so crazy to work as you are, after their Bachelors, especially coming to the US to do your MS from a 60k+ annual tution Uni. Good that I got him back because there were loopholes developing in his logic and he was starting to contradict himself.
3. He was of the view an MS degree doesn't do anything for your job search or during your job. It is just a degree many companies ignore. Now, that was a shocker, ladies and gents! So, we can safely assume, S came to the US to study in a 60k+ Uni to find only land a job. I asked him this, and he slowly said yes, visibly unsure how to answer his own logic. He wouldn't believe me when I said that an MS degree will help you overcome the glass ceiling your definately going to get somewhere, sometime in your career.
In the end, when people argue just for the sake of an argument, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth and you tend to think. Why even bother aruguing when you don't even have a simple valid argument to your credit? It only makes you look like a fool, in my honest opinion. Too bad the ice didn't break and I didn't like S much. Maybe a second meeting would clarify things.
The other friend who we will call S, was studying in the library where we went to meet him. Turned out he was the same age as me. Now I and him are good friends and they started talking about stuff while I am sitting there awkwardly. E is nice enough to get me into the conversation but it is proving difficult since S, seems oblivious to my presence. Maybe S wasn't taught proper etiquittes but that is perfectly ok. I didn't mind that much. When he did talk it was to argue with me from the get go.
Some of the arugments he put forth are these:
1. Most people come to the US from Pakistan to work and since it is easier to apply from the US than Pakistan, they come here on a student VISA, do their MS and then work. Now, I agreed with him on the "easier to apply from the US for a US job than from Pakistan", but the coming here as a grad student to work is stupid to say the least. Why would someone pay 60k+ Dollars to come here so that down the line, 2 years from now, he or she can work based on the completion of their MS. That would be a pretty big investment just to find a job from the US in US. I asked him if he had brothers here and he says yes. So what was the problem then. I could see he was getting uncomfortable now, so I decided to let him off the hook.
2. The second was his assault on my choice of why I had not chosen to work after I had graduated from the US and applied for MS. Shouldn't my choice be my own and who is this stranger to ask me anyway? To say the least, I felt insulted. I told him not everyone is so crazy to work as you are, after their Bachelors, especially coming to the US to do your MS from a 60k+ annual tution Uni. Good that I got him back because there were loopholes developing in his logic and he was starting to contradict himself.
3. He was of the view an MS degree doesn't do anything for your job search or during your job. It is just a degree many companies ignore. Now, that was a shocker, ladies and gents! So, we can safely assume, S came to the US to study in a 60k+ Uni to find only land a job. I asked him this, and he slowly said yes, visibly unsure how to answer his own logic. He wouldn't believe me when I said that an MS degree will help you overcome the glass ceiling your definately going to get somewhere, sometime in your career.
In the end, when people argue just for the sake of an argument, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth and you tend to think. Why even bother aruguing when you don't even have a simple valid argument to your credit? It only makes you look like a fool, in my honest opinion. Too bad the ice didn't break and I didn't like S much. Maybe a second meeting would clarify things.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
USC Supercomputer - Trojan Power
Just stumbled upon this news while I was browsing my University's website. This news came out back when when I was frantickly applying to get into USC back in November. Is is like 3 months old but the record still holds and the news piece is still valid today. So I post it here for your perusal. It is about the University of Southern California's Supercomputer at our High-Perfomance Computing and Communication Lab here. The record-breaking performance of nearly 11 trillion calculations per second makes it the nation’s second most powerful computer system in an academic setting. That is 11 followed by 12 zeros btw. *grins*
The nation’s second-fastest supercomputer in an academic setting belongs to the USC Center for High-Performance Computing and Communications, according to TOP500 Supercomputer Sites, an online publication that ranks the sites operating the 500 most powerful computer systems in the world.
The latest TOP500 rankings were announced Nov. 15 at the Supercomputer Conference 2005 in Seattle, Wash.
Among supercomputers in an academic setting, HPCC’s parallel supercomputer rose from fourth- to second-fastest in the United States in just six months.
Among all supercomputers in the world, HPCC’s cluster jumped in the rankings from 37th to 24th. The supercomputer claimed these distinctions by achieving a benchmark in September of 10.75 teraflops, or 10.75 trillion calculations per second.
In the previous TOP500 rankings, released six months ago, the HPCC supercomputer clocked in at 7.291 teraflops.
A recent upgrade of the HPCC cluster, which increased the system’s total number of compute nodes from 1,716 to 1,830, powered the supercomputer’s record-breaking performance.
“The HPCC supercomputer has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years,” said James Pepin, director of the HPCC.
“In June 2003, when the HPCC supercomputer first entered the Top500 rankings, it achieved a benchmark of one teraflop and was ranked 55th in the world. Today it is more than 10 times faster and has leapt to 24th in the rankings. We’ve come a long way in a very short time,” Pepin said.
HPCC is an interdisciplinary partnership supported by numerous schools and departments across USC. HPCC bridges USC’s strengths in scientific computing, computer science and communications by supporting more than 120 research groups in a variety of disciplines, ranging from genomics and geophysics to materials science and natural language translation.
“USC has made modest local investments to achieve its current status among the world’s top supercomputer sites, while many of the higher-ranked systems are mega-projects supported by national funding sources,” said Michael Pearce, USC’s deputy chief information officer.
“The local aspect of HPCC allows USC researchers unfettered access to a world-class resource,” Pearce said.
Priya Vashishta, chair of the Faculty Advisory Council for HPCC, said, “Many national governments and top research universities are pouring resources into high-performance computing because they recognize that the future of research in so many fields depends on it.
“USC researchers are very fortunate to have a world-class supercomputer on campus to support their research and the creation of complex computer simulations,” said Vashishta, professor of chemical engineering, materials science and computer science in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and professor of physics and astronomy in the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
HPCC displays supercomputing simulations in its new USC Center for Data Visualization and Collaboration.
“One of the great opportunities we have at HPCC is to move beyond the traditional realms and problems tackled by supercomputing to address issues of how people interact with information and each other to help create meaning in a digital society,” said Thomas Katsouleas, professor of electrical engineering and electrophysics in the USC Viterbi School and president of the USC faculty senate.
Part of the focus of HPCC is to expand the reach of high-end computing by addressing system-level questions in social, economic and cultural research.
“We are unique in academia in having a supercomputing resource of this class that is available across the disciplines and for classroom use as well as research. In this way, HPCC is helping USC to create the virtual worlds and immersive environments that will revolutionize higher education in the 21st century,” Katsouleas said.
By Kevin Durkin - USC News
Another star on USC's shoulders. Btw if your wondering why I always write Fight on Trojans! It is because we are the USC Trojans and Fight on! is our motto.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
One more to go
Got done with the ER diagram assignment for my Database course. Not all that great, still skeptical about a few things in the assignment. There are so many ways of doing an ER diagram and so many small things that it can really get out on control really fast if you are doing it after a while. So let's hope I get some good grades for it, cuz the next two assignments are based on this one.
I had decided to cancel my PDA order last week. Some things had come up and I had to. Now I have again gotten the green light to buy it. I will most probably go with the Dell Axim 51v again. I also looked at PalmOne LifeDrive. I will give it a test drive. If I like it, I will also go for a LiveDrive, although the chances of that are very low. The Axim is so irresistable.
On another note, there is a person who has been going around harassing me and other USC students on the blogworld. To give you a little background about the whole deal, a LSU (Lousiana State University) student have been harassing USC students because of his/her jealousy that USC has won more National Football Championships than them. Simple fact. They were planning to put up a HUGE billboard near our campus in LA, telling us about their "so called" dominance over us. Sadly for LSU, a certain rich USC alumni decided to buy a billboard space for a few grands and use it to tell people of LSU's dreams, and also to donate funds to the Hurricane Katrina victims. Apparently he mentioned Katrina because LSU fans were good enough to pull out their pocketmoney for a billboard but not enough for relief efforts for Katrina victims. Now a certain LSU fan/student has been going around harassing USC students, fans and former alumni. If you see any of his comments on my blog, disregard the nuisance.
I had decided to cancel my PDA order last week. Some things had come up and I had to. Now I have again gotten the green light to buy it. I will most probably go with the Dell Axim 51v again. I also looked at PalmOne LifeDrive. I will give it a test drive. If I like it, I will also go for a LiveDrive, although the chances of that are very low. The Axim is so irresistable.
On another note, there is a person who has been going around harassing me and other USC students on the blogworld. To give you a little background about the whole deal, a LSU (Lousiana State University) student have been harassing USC students because of his/her jealousy that USC has won more National Football Championships than them. Simple fact. They were planning to put up a HUGE billboard near our campus in LA, telling us about their "so called" dominance over us. Sadly for LSU, a certain rich USC alumni decided to buy a billboard space for a few grands and use it to tell people of LSU's dreams, and also to donate funds to the Hurricane Katrina victims. Apparently he mentioned Katrina because LSU fans were good enough to pull out their pocketmoney for a billboard but not enough for relief efforts for Katrina victims. Now a certain LSU fan/student has been going around harassing USC students, fans and former alumni. If you see any of his comments on my blog, disregard the nuisance.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Damn Deadlines
The second Software Architectures assignment is due next week as well as the Database Systems assignment. The Software architecture assignment mostly deals with the meat architecture details this time around. Apart from some question with small definition stuff, we have to design an architecture ourselves and then design four other architectures for the same problem and discuss the pros and cons of each of the four architectures. I have a fair idea of what do to for MOST of the questions. Gotta read the Perry/Wolf research paper and then, based on that, answer some of the questions in the ASSignment.
The Database Systems assignment shoudn't be too hard. The purpose of the assignment is to design an ER model based on a problem. ER models are not hard to build. The interesting thing is that, the more the time you give your ER diagram, the better it will get. Let's see how good I can make mine.
The Database Systems assignment shoudn't be too hard. The purpose of the assignment is to design an ER model based on a problem. ER models are not hard to build. The interesting thing is that, the more the time you give your ER diagram, the better it will get. Let's see how good I can make mine.
Friday, February 03, 2006
The Vilest of Veiled Attacks On Our Savior, The Prophet PBUH
Unless you have been living under a rock, you know how European newspapers and publications in countries such as Norway, France, Germany and last but definately not least Denmark, posted the caricatures of the Prophet PBUH last week. The images showed the Holy Prophet PBUH wearing a turban fashioned as a bomb (Naoozobillah), among other things. This created wide spread protests in all the muslim world in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, and almost every other muslim country on Earth.
Now that you know the premise for this post, let me start by saying that the Europeans have gone daft. Their affrontry by saying the cartoon was a in the priciple of freedom of speech, makes me believe they think the muslim world is stupid and dumb. To throw the veil of "freedom of speech" at us, over such a blatant disregard for another religion and its pacticers. Truly sad and disgusting. Samar, Aisha, Huda and Fahad among others, have beautifully potrayed their feelings on the issue. I would suggest all muslim bloggers to at least publish one topic if not more, on the issue and potray a united muslim stand from a blogging point of view. Compared to the amount of other crap we post about everyday, our Savior and Prophet PBUH deserves at least that much.
So what is freedom of speech honestly? Is it freedom to say or act whatever you want to do? Well looks like it. But should this so called freedom of speech be limited to a country's own boundary or should it cross into the world. In the end it doesnt matter and we don't care. The end result is that due to this so called freedom of speech, an insult was hurled at the muslim the world over. A veiled insult that has the cowards uttering it, hiding behind the petty and disgusting excuse of "freedom of speech". If freedom of speech gives you the right to hurl insults at others, then damn it I say. If common decency, maturity and respect for others has no place in your everyday life, then such speech is moot and only a free ticket to utter foul crap whenever and wherever you want to.
Denmark today refused to apologize for the cartoons. Hardly surprising since their government wants to commit hara kiri and suicide itself economically with the amount of lost exports to Arab and Muslim countries. I say go for it guys. When you go out to shop, do not buy any French, Norwegian, Italian, Danish and German goods. Trust me, you can find alternatives to everything made in these countries from other countries. We don't have to be extremists to send a clear signal.
Extremists are people with little or no rational thinking. Let us potray that we are indeed pissed and mad yet potray it in a civil and forthright manner. The Prophet PBUH himself, would have wanted us all to remain calm in this. We aren't perfect. He PBUH, was. But let us at least follow the teachings of the man we are protecting here. Going gung ho and killing innocents is something he never wanted and it shoudn't change here either. So if you meet someone who is pissed enough to go gung ho, remind them that there are other more islamic, peaceful and caustic methods of getting back at those that have maligned the name of the Savior of both worlds, our Prophet PBUH.
UPDATE: More and more Western countries are purposedly provoking the muslims at this stage by republishing the cartoons. New Zeland and Ireland are the latest example. "Freedom of Speech" especially when you know when its offensive to those in your target audience or a subset thereof, is abuse. Abuse of "freedom of speech" in itself.
Chronological News:
September 30, 2005:
- The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed PBUH.
December 9, 2005
- The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which represents 56 Muslim states, lodged a formal complaint against Denmark with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
January 11, 2006
- The Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter felt the Danish government was right to side with Jyllands-Postens in the Mohammed cartoons debate and insist on freedom of the press and freedom of opinion.
January 17, 2006
- Norwegian newspaper Magazinet reprints the controversial cartoons around or on this date.
January 26, 2006
- Saudis recall ambassador to Denmark as protest over caricatures.
January 27, 2006
- In response to the cartoons, the Danish paper Dagbladet Information reports that Egyptian companies have started to boycott Danish products.
January 29, 2006
- Libya closes embassy in Denmark over Prophet cartoon
January 31, 2006
- Carsten Juste, editor in chief of Jyllands-Posten publishes an open letter addressed to Muslims all over the world in which he apologises for the cartoons' impact (in English and Arabic).
February 1, 2006
- Die Welt publishes one of the cartoons on its front page. Other German newspapers such as, Die tageszeitung, Tagesspiegel and Berliner Zeitung print them as well.
- Fatwa was pronounced against Danish soldiers stationed in Iraq and the Jyllands-Posten offices in Arhus and Copenhagen had to be evacuated after a bomb threat.
- France's Soir becomes the first French newspaper to publish the cartoons.
- Syria recalls ambassador from Denmark over cartoons.
February 2, 2006
- The editor in chief of France Soir, Jacques Lefranc, is fired. The French-Egyptian owner of the paper, Raymond Lakah, apologises "to the Muslim community and all those who were insulted by the publication."
February 3, 2006
- New Zealand paper prints Islamic cartoons.
- The United States backs Muslims on against European newspapers that printed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a move that could help America's battered image in the Islamic world.
- Venezuelan internet media publishes controversial cartoons.
- Angry protests over Mohammed caricatures spread in countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
- Brunei Parties Join Global Islamic Outcry.
- Jack Straw attacks European press over cartoon furor.
- Iraq's top Shia Muslim cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani condemns the publication, but says militant Islamists were partly to blame for distorting the image of Islam.
- Vatican cardinal criticizes cartoons satirizing Prophet Mohammed PBUH.
- Europe Warns Saudi Arabia Against Danish Boycott.
February 4, 2006
- New Zelands's Dominion Post and the Christchurch Press re-print the Danish cartoons.
- Danish embassy in Syria torched.
- Denmark orders its officials out of Syria.
Now that you know the premise for this post, let me start by saying that the Europeans have gone daft. Their affrontry by saying the cartoon was a in the priciple of freedom of speech, makes me believe they think the muslim world is stupid and dumb. To throw the veil of "freedom of speech" at us, over such a blatant disregard for another religion and its pacticers. Truly sad and disgusting. Samar, Aisha, Huda and Fahad among others, have beautifully potrayed their feelings on the issue. I would suggest all muslim bloggers to at least publish one topic if not more, on the issue and potray a united muslim stand from a blogging point of view. Compared to the amount of other crap we post about everyday, our Savior and Prophet PBUH deserves at least that much.
So what is freedom of speech honestly? Is it freedom to say or act whatever you want to do? Well looks like it. But should this so called freedom of speech be limited to a country's own boundary or should it cross into the world. In the end it doesnt matter and we don't care. The end result is that due to this so called freedom of speech, an insult was hurled at the muslim the world over. A veiled insult that has the cowards uttering it, hiding behind the petty and disgusting excuse of "freedom of speech". If freedom of speech gives you the right to hurl insults at others, then damn it I say. If common decency, maturity and respect for others has no place in your everyday life, then such speech is moot and only a free ticket to utter foul crap whenever and wherever you want to.
Denmark today refused to apologize for the cartoons. Hardly surprising since their government wants to commit hara kiri and suicide itself economically with the amount of lost exports to Arab and Muslim countries. I say go for it guys. When you go out to shop, do not buy any French, Norwegian, Italian, Danish and German goods. Trust me, you can find alternatives to everything made in these countries from other countries. We don't have to be extremists to send a clear signal.
Extremists are people with little or no rational thinking. Let us potray that we are indeed pissed and mad yet potray it in a civil and forthright manner. The Prophet PBUH himself, would have wanted us all to remain calm in this. We aren't perfect. He PBUH, was. But let us at least follow the teachings of the man we are protecting here. Going gung ho and killing innocents is something he never wanted and it shoudn't change here either. So if you meet someone who is pissed enough to go gung ho, remind them that there are other more islamic, peaceful and caustic methods of getting back at those that have maligned the name of the Savior of both worlds, our Prophet PBUH.
UPDATE: More and more Western countries are purposedly provoking the muslims at this stage by republishing the cartoons. New Zeland and Ireland are the latest example. "Freedom of Speech" especially when you know when its offensive to those in your target audience or a subset thereof, is abuse. Abuse of "freedom of speech" in itself.
Chronological News:
September 30, 2005:
- The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed PBUH.
December 9, 2005
- The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which represents 56 Muslim states, lodged a formal complaint against Denmark with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
January 11, 2006
- The Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter felt the Danish government was right to side with Jyllands-Postens in the Mohammed cartoons debate and insist on freedom of the press and freedom of opinion.
January 17, 2006
- Norwegian newspaper Magazinet reprints the controversial cartoons around or on this date.
January 26, 2006
- Saudis recall ambassador to Denmark as protest over caricatures.
January 27, 2006
- In response to the cartoons, the Danish paper Dagbladet Information reports that Egyptian companies have started to boycott Danish products.
January 29, 2006
- Libya closes embassy in Denmark over Prophet cartoon
January 31, 2006
- Carsten Juste, editor in chief of Jyllands-Posten publishes an open letter addressed to Muslims all over the world in which he apologises for the cartoons' impact (in English and Arabic).
February 1, 2006
- Die Welt publishes one of the cartoons on its front page. Other German newspapers such as, Die tageszeitung, Tagesspiegel and Berliner Zeitung print them as well.
- Fatwa was pronounced against Danish soldiers stationed in Iraq and the Jyllands-Posten offices in Arhus and Copenhagen had to be evacuated after a bomb threat.
- France's Soir becomes the first French newspaper to publish the cartoons.
- Syria recalls ambassador from Denmark over cartoons.
February 2, 2006
- The editor in chief of France Soir, Jacques Lefranc, is fired. The French-Egyptian owner of the paper, Raymond Lakah, apologises "to the Muslim community and all those who were insulted by the publication."
February 3, 2006
- New Zealand paper prints Islamic cartoons.
- The United States backs Muslims on against European newspapers that printed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a move that could help America's battered image in the Islamic world.
- Venezuelan internet media publishes controversial cartoons.
- Angry protests over Mohammed caricatures spread in countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
- Brunei Parties Join Global Islamic Outcry.
- Jack Straw attacks European press over cartoon furor.
- Iraq's top Shia Muslim cleric Ayatollah Ali Sistani condemns the publication, but says militant Islamists were partly to blame for distorting the image of Islam.
- Vatican cardinal criticizes cartoons satirizing Prophet Mohammed PBUH.
- Europe Warns Saudi Arabia Against Danish Boycott.
February 4, 2006
- New Zelands's Dominion Post and the Christchurch Press re-print the Danish cartoons.
- Danish embassy in Syria torched.
- Denmark orders its officials out of Syria.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Congratulations Pakistan
Congratulations to the Pakistan team on a fine victory over India in the last test match. Nice way to wrap up a series win after 19 or so years I say. Everyone performed well, from A to Z. Good team effort. Shows the spine the Pakistani team has developed over the year, coming from behind and fighting back to roar back into the game and ultimately win it.
My personal picks of the series were Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq and Muhammad Asif. Akmal single handedly saved the test match, yet again. Truly a great prospect for the team and I bet in a few years time, he will be regarded as the best wicket-keeper batsman of his time. Razzaq justified his selection superbly with the bat and the ball. Bowled extremely well and kept asking the batsmen to play their shots. And the last but definately not the least, Asif is truly a splendid sight to watch. The balls he gave to dispose the top Indian batsmen were beauties of the highest order. Great prospect.. I might even think he is the next Pakistani great bowler to come.
Concluding, Congratulations Pakistan. Great mauling of the Indian attack. Keep it up and hopefully we will win the ODI series too.
My personal picks of the series were Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq and Muhammad Asif. Akmal single handedly saved the test match, yet again. Truly a great prospect for the team and I bet in a few years time, he will be regarded as the best wicket-keeper batsman of his time. Razzaq justified his selection superbly with the bat and the ball. Bowled extremely well and kept asking the batsmen to play their shots. And the last but definately not the least, Asif is truly a splendid sight to watch. The balls he gave to dispose the top Indian batsmen were beauties of the highest order. Great prospect.. I might even think he is the next Pakistani great bowler to come.
Concluding, Congratulations Pakistan. Great mauling of the Indian attack. Keep it up and hopefully we will win the ODI series too.
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