China Zooms Ahead…Again

China's Supercomputer 

Have you ever heard of a "petaflop"? Nope, nothing to do with things like pedophilia, pedantic, petroglyphs. It's a measurement of performance, speed, on a computer and has never-before-been tested. Well we'll be getting to know the Tianhe, the Chinese supercomputer that can perform 2,507 trillion calculations per second. That's 2.507 PETAFLOPS per second.

The new supercomputer has over 14,000 Intel chips and nearly 200 graphics processing  units, all of which were made in the US. The speed of this machine "blows away" the previous fastest computers by a long shot, according to one guy who maintains a ranking of the 500 fastest computers in the world. Even he is astounded by this new turn of events. Housed in over 100 refrigerated units in China, this supercomputer is a total game-changer and puts China, once again, at front and center of new and emerging technologies. Animation, gaming, defense technologies, real estate transactions, financial transactions will all be changed by this.

Bigger, better, faster, less expensive are the watchwords of the "new" China. They are competitive, aggressive and "the" global force to be reckoned with. They continue to zoom ahead on all fronts. Anyone that thinks otherwise must just plain have his head in the sand.

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The Rent Is Too Damn High!

Jimmy McMillan has one thing on his mind and one thing only: "The rent is too damn high!" That's why he's running for Governor of the great state of New York on the Rent is Too Damn High Party's ballot. Yes, for real.

And you've got to admit: He's right. But it's not just for New Yorkers. It needs to be said out loud, nationwide.

It's Great to Be a Billionaire but you Better Speak Mandarin to Say Congratulations!

A list of the world's twenty richest self-made women was released today and surprise of all, most of them are from China. Mainland China, at that. Only eight of the twenty are not Chinese.

Among them, are Zhang Yin, a big manufacturer of container-board products, weighing in at a $5.6 billion self-worth, making her the world's wealthiest entrepreneurial woman. The industries in which they made their money are varied: publishing, semiconductors, real estate, landscaping, steel manufacturing, media, eyeglasses and my favorite, a woman who founded the largest producer of collagen sausage casings. That one really caught my eye. She's number #19 on the list.

Author JK Rowlings of Harry Potter fame is #20. A British "Dame" who manufactures eyeglasses made the list. Russian mogul Yelena Baturina makes pre-fab housing. Giuliana Benetton, clothing. There are only four Americans on the list: Oprah, Meg Whitman, Doris Fisher and Ruth Parasol.

Oprah, a household name here, needs no introduction. Meg Whitman, for those not on the west coast, is the Republican nominee currently running for Governor of the great state of California against tried and tested Jerry Brown. Meg made her fortune at eBay, with some stops at Goldman Sachs, Disney and other giants along the way.  Doris Fisher, along with her husband, founded Gap. She is now in her 90s but still embraces the business world.

Ruth Parasol, at 43, is the youngest of the Americans. She spring-boarded her father's million-dollar phone-sex business into an online gambling empire becoming a billionaire with partygaming.com in 2001. Her stateside partying business was cut short after a few years when the government decided to take measures against online gambling. She fled to Gibraltar where she now lives with her husband and kids. They say if she comes back to the US she could face a trial.

Imagining that the paths those twelve Chinese women had to follow was one crooked road, I am wondering exactly what they had to endure to reach the top. How did most of them even make it in a country known to abandon girls? To only allow one child per family? Are their mothers proud of them or do they think they lead misguided lives? Are they able to enjoy their money and live freely?

However they did it, I say, "congratulations" or however one says that in Mandarin or Cantonese.

Tony Blair is in Love

Tony Blair declares he's had a love affair!  Not what you think, perhaps. Not with a woman. The object of his affection: the United States. In this simple declaration, he's become my hero. What America needs -- and has always needed -- are non-American ambassadors whose understanding can bridge misunderstandings and dispel outright disdain. Someone who just plain "gets" us.

Let me explain something:  I am married to a naturalized American citizen who, too, has found that the beauty of this country lies not in its sameness but in its diversity. We talk about it a lot. His family in Greece doesn't "get" us. There is no "one" America. There is no sameness. That this is not a cultural wasteland, a breeding ground for "ugly" Americans. The commonalities we have that bind us together lie not in being "American" but in our tolerance of others' beliefs, in our ability to argue and in our inherent naivete. In our love of search and quest.  By and large, Americans still believe that anyone can achieve, can overcome, can succeed. It's the foundation upon which our society was built and continues to grow. And it's still the only place on Earth where that is so.

The times I have lived outside the United States have been the moments I have felt most patriotic, having to defend the actions of my Presidents and Congress, my fellow citizens, good and bad, who certainly have faltered, flawed and fumbled. We have not always been the best ambassadors for our cause.  Having to dispel the myth of the "ugly" American, the "gringo, the cultural wasteland is an every-day occurrence for those living outside.

I would like to see the Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, George Bush show. There's no question it will make you laugh, make you think, may even make you cry. But above all, it will confirm that we are a force to be reckoned with.

I think this book needs to be a must-read for our generation, around the world.

C-Section on Mother Earth

Upon seeing the last of the thirty-three miners lifted to safety, one woman there was quoted as likening the whole operation to "a caesarean section on Mother Earth." As a Mom, I totally understood what she meant. As an American, I'm proud of the work my fellow countrymen played in this rescue. As an observer, I hope more people take to heart the lesson President Pinera illustrated. When we come together for a common mission, united, there is no power that will stop us.

The feeling of re-birth for those men, for the country, even for the billions of viewers watching every moment on television and computer screens is undeniable. I've read accounts of people thanking Jesus, of thanking G-d, of thanking the Chilean people. All well and good. But let's not forget Mother Earth herself, for not collapsing the holes. How about giving thanks to the Pennsylvanian teams that provided the equipment to drill the holes? If this were a C-section, they were the special doctors called in. Schramm Inc. and Center Rock, the two PA-based mining-support companies, had been onsite since the collapse and never faltered, never left.  Like good and committed "doctors."

While we're at it,  how about NASA?  The aeronautics agency specializes in preparing for leaving the earth-- not necessarily for being trapped within it. But they rose to the occasion brilliantly. Space age technology and nutritionists devised both the food plan to keep them alive and nourished throughout the entrapment and the engineering to build the "Phoenix"- the cage that lifted the men to safety.

Above all, we need to thank the Chilean President, who dealt with the devastating earthquake earlier this year and had the foresight in this horrible catastrophe to seek out help from the international community and, then, ACCEPT the help that was offered.

Welcome back to the world, miners!  Welcome to the new millennium everyone! May this re-birthing be the way of the future.

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