Army Contractor To Build A 1566 Xserve Cluster

olePigeon (Wik) writes "MacCentral has an interesting article on a new computer cluster. From the article: 'Apple Computer Inc. will announce on Monday the sale of 1566 dual processor 1U rack-mount 64-bit Xserve G5 servers to COLSA Corp., which will be used to build what is expected to be one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. The US$5.8 million cluster will be used to model the complex aero-thermodynamics of hypersonic flight for the U.S. Army.'" alset_tech was one of the many readers to point to CNET's version of the story.

Comments

Re:$5.8 M is peanuts, maybe even peanut dust

[strictnein]

Otherwise the richest 1% wouldn't be getting 51% of Bush's tax cut by 2010.

That's because they pay the most taxes, at the highest percentages. Talk about biased "facts".

Does it hurt you to know that the top 50% pays over 95% of the taxes, while the bottom 50% pays the rest?

Not only do the wealthy fund the programs with their taxes, they also use the least government services.

How much more redistibution of wealth do you want in this country? Should the top 40% pay 95% of the taxes? The top 30%? The top 20%?

The majority of rich people don't hoard their money. That idea is an untrue stereotype. The majority invest it, start new companies, hire more employees, expand their businesses, buy expensive cars, boats, homes, etc. and, in general, keep the economy moving.

Re:Why the Army?

[utexaspunk]

not bombs, but cruise missiles. what they want is the ability to administer "shock and awe" anywhere in the world in an instant by launching hypersonic attacks from the mainland US.

What bothers me is that a progressive liberal company like Apple that so readily identified itself in its "think different" ad campaigns with peace activists like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, John Lennon, etc, would so happily provide them with the means to do this. Business is business, I guess, but I thought Apple was a company founded on "principles"...

Weapons don't excite me.

[nfotxn]

I don't mean to flame but... let me get this straight. No public healthcare yet defense contracts like this aren't a big deal? Even the usually rational slashdotter geeks are all "Hooha hypersonic flight!". This shit is primarily for killing people. But I'm just some commie cannuck. What, with my morality and all.