Economic crisis hits the top 500

Top 500

Although Jaguar finally became the fastest computer, the change among the entire top 500 was rather low. The former fastest computer, Roadrunner, actually got slower, which is something I've never seen happen before. Whereas in previous lists, almost half the list would be new computers, there were only 165 new computers this time. Overall, this past six months, the overall FLOPS calculated by all 500 computers only increased 24%, the lowest increase since June 2006. The average is around 36%.

In theory I thought of to explain this slowdown came from an article I saw about Japan cutting funding to supercomputer programs. Albeit, only 16 computers on the list are Japanese, so by itself that wouldn't change much. However, it's likely that other countries have cut funding as well.

Still, 24% is not bad growth, Jaguar is now more powerful than all 500 supercomputers from June 2005 combined. BlueGene, which held the top spot for over 3 years is now 7th. While the epically named Earth Simulator built in 2002 would be 155th, if it were still listed.

Johnson's Chase to lose

With the win at Phoenix, Johnson is all but certain to win. Based on averages from this past year, there is no chance anyone else can win. However, based on current points Martin could still win the Chase if he wins this race and Johnson gets less than 22nd, or various other combinations wherein Johnson has to finish less than 22nd and Martin has to finish in the top 10.

Johnson does poorly for once

Johnson surprised everyone by crashing in the third lap at Texas, which hurt his scores, but Gordon and Martin didn't really capitalize on it like they should, so Johnson is still far and away the favorite.

Johnson - 91%
Gordon - 8%
Martin - 1%
Everyone else - 0%

The Appalachians almost ended life on Earth

Science Magazine

460 Million years ago when the Appalachians were being formed, they were lined with volcanoes that caused a global ice age that drove two-thirds of species to extinction.

Well, I guess that's it

Despite a 6th place finish, Johnson did so much better than the other chase drivers that he pretty much untouchable now. So current chances of winning:

Johnson - 98%
Gordon - 2%
Everyone else - 0%