A small spider silhouetted in front of a rainy, foggy background

Hello, Spring friend

Singer Hall at Swarthmore College, a modern gray building with many reflective windows.

Registration for Linux Clusters Institute Intermediate Workshop is now open! June 1-5 at Swarthmore College. Details at linuxclustersinstitute.org/2026-lci-int...

Same here, I don't understand what people are up in arms about. Based on the RH stuff I read I sort of thought we would be changing bodies/genders/species for the weekend in the big bright beautiful future.

2026 Linux Clusters Institute Intermediate Workshop registration is live! Join our exciting instructors at Swarthmore College for the next level in HPC system administration instruction.
appserv7.admin.uillinois.edu/FormBuilderS...

A clipped screenshot from an email advertisement for the "Socratic Stage" dialogues from an email with the subject "Two Incredible Socratic Stage Events Next Week! Don't Miss It!" that goes on to list three events. The clipping is for the event "Recovering The Orgiginal [sic] Constitution?"

Things going great in Sarasota, it seems

Who can resist a delicious French taco?

A stack of books on top of a turntable. The books are "Fighting Tyranny" by Gene Sharp and Bruce Jenkins, "The Quantum Thief" by Hannu Rajaniemi, "I am the Law" by Michael Molcher, and two volumes of "The Dept of Truth" by Tynion/Simmonds/Cadonici/Bellaire/Bidikar/Sampson/Charretier/Boss/Pearson/Romero/Fornes

Bookmail!

Idiot box is a true classic, glad that it's finally on media. Also, congrats on that Stoker Nomination!

Senior Systems Administrator, High Performance Computing in Ithaca, New York, United States of America | Information Technology at Cornell University Apply for Senior Systems Administrator, High Performance Computing job with Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, United States of America. Information Technology at Cornell University

CAC is hiring! We have posted a senior sysadmin for HPC position. Exciting research projects, fantastic team, "gorges" location!
Posting at: jobs.hr.cornell.edu/us/en/job/WD...

A FLAS fellowship is what brought me to Indiana University and set me up for my two masters' degrees (and much later PhD), informed my career interests, made me a published translator of Polish, participant in research exchange with amazing faculty at University of Warsaw, 2-decade+ friendships...

An illuminated burnt-orange sculpture of a giant pickaxe head embedded in the rock in front of the UTEP Bookstore, perforated with illuminated zeros and ones. The pickaxe stands up in front of a brilliant blue sky.

Not my photo, but the UTEP sculpture "Mining Minds" by Michael Clapper goes really hard

I lucked into one of these at a discount store a while back and it is an incredible daily driver - fantastic coffee, visitors need no schooling, easy to clean, makes our kitchen look fabulous.

Researchers in Japan and Switzerland demonstrated a giant robotic hand designed to aid disaster response, as part of Japan’s Collaborative AI Field Robot Everywhere (CAFÉ) project. The device, built in collaboration with Japan’s Kumagai Gumi, Tsukuba University, and the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, and Switzerland’s ETH Zurich, is able to grip fragile or heavy debris with precision. The researchers paired the robot hand with an AI excavation system using reinforcement learning, which allows it to safely tackle hazards like natural dams from landslides.

Save us, Giant Robot Hand!

Possum t-shirt is best t-shirt!

This was a fascinating one for me, I liked the way the flashbacks, touches of body horror, and basic indignities of being human were all suggestive of something without being ham-handed. I was expecting a different denouement but not terribly disappointed.

Stop-work order issued to life-saving heart valve research at Cornell University "I think it's my lifelong mission. I have literally been working in this field since 1985, and for the past 30 of these years, I have been developing miniature blood pumps."

www.wbng.com/2025/05/12/s...

Just one example of the impacts of federal stop-work orders, life-saving research cannot move forward.

Just registered for Durham HPC Days for the 1st week of June, stopping in before ISC'25 -- looking forward to it!

www.durham.ac.uk/research/ins...

I've already been working on a performance-to-power statistic to put a "sustainability cost" on people who won't give up old machines, the SpacePerry would be a great way to drive the concept home when we get to some of the GPU gear.

Cannot wait to factor SMR into costing model for a startup negotiation, "bear in mind, these quotes are good for now but by the time you get to the institution, things may have changed."

A Disaster for American Innovation The Trump administration is jeopardizing the AI boom.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Guardian of the Universe, by Oxygen Destroyer 9 track album

I'm not the biggest metal fan but today is really hitting me with Oxygen Destroyer vibes.
oxygen-destroyer.bandcamp.com/album/guardi...

At work, lining up all the stuff I need to do, thinking of when I will return home to continue @sgj.bsky.social's The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and have my wig completely and utterly flipped by it.

#HPC person

One job of the scientist in our times is to speak the truth with a collective voice based on evidence. That's why I'm proud to join over 140 leading researchers to affirm the scientific consensus that bias in AI is a real problem that needs to be prioritized.

www.aibiasconsensus.org

Mines and cluster munitions.

The first mission in the Roadcraft demo is with a timber harvester and a logging crane, maybe oversuccessful in sealing the deal. I probably would have been in if you had given me a simple bulldozer or bucketloader.

They absolutely are, and other action in addition to budget updates...

I think Killian's assessment is pretty on target for HPC. CASC is meant to be a means of conversation between the funding agencies and RCD centers; without our colleagues at the agencies--no one to speak with. I wish I could say there are plans for science spending to come, I don't see any.

CASC Statement on science agency firings in HPCWire today:
www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire...

The impacts to our national competitiveness, health, safety, and science leadership will have longer consequences than one quarter, one year, or one presidential term.