Seymour Cray, Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer -> 超級電腦幕後英雄

Seymour R. Cray, a computer industry pioneer and the father of the supercomputer, posed with the Cray 3 supercomputer at Cray Computer Corp. company headquarters in 1994.

對程式設計人員來說，希穆爾克雷(Seymour Cray)是一位巨人。克雷極少發表演說，1976年他在科羅拉多州的國家大氣研究中心對程式設計人員發表演說，並同意演說結束後答覆詢問。只見會後整個會場突然沈寂下來，克雷在講台上站了好幾分鐘，等待程式人員提問，但沒有人發問。等到克雷離去以後，大氣研究中心電腦部負責人責備在場的程式人員：「為什麼沒有舉手發問？」經過一陣令人不安的沈默，一位程式師終於回答：「要你對上帝說話，你敢嗎？」

超級電腦的發明對於電腦的發展歷史來說，是一項重大的里程碑。本書敘述超級電腦的發明人克雷及他的工作小組，如何在電腦工業發展的初期，突破科學上的限制，與公司的官僚體系抗衡，進而奠定資訊時代的基石。

Cray-1, Cray's first supercomputer. Introduced in 1976, this system had a peak performance of 133 megaflops. The first system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Cray Y-MP8DIntroduced in 1988, this system was key to breaking the one gigaflop performance barrier. It has traditionally been the standard by which other supercomputers are compared.

The Supermen : The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer
by Charles J. Murray

Hardcover: 232 pages
Publisher: Wiley (January, 1997)
ISBN: 0471048852

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The story of supercomputing is only partially about technology. More than anything, it's about the gifted, brilliant, and often eccentric individuals who knew how to use that technology in new ways to do amazing things. Perhaps the most amazing of the bunch was Seymour Cray, the bureaucracy-intolerant genius with the barnstorming mind whose name has become synonymous with supercomputers. Charles Murray gives us an insightful and often thrilling and sometimes amusing look into how Cray and his genius companions took computers to new heights and humbled companies like Control Data and IBM....

Chinese Edition: 超級電腦幕後英雄
作者：
Charles J. Murray/著
譯者： 譚天
出版社： 遠流
初版日期：1999年01月01日

Mingster Reviews: Fun to read, recommended.

Related Links

1. Smart Computing Encyclopedia
   
2. Cray Computer FAQ
   
3. Cray-Cyber.org
   

Lawyer got close, but no cigar - A tale of cock sucking lawyer

A Charlotte NC lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires."

The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued and won! In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous, however; the judge stated that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be "unacceptable fire," and was obligated to pay the claim. Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."

NOW FOR THE BEST PART. After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and sentenced him to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine. This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

有名北卡 Charlotte的律師買了一盒極為稀有且昂貴的雪茄，還為雪茄投保了火險。結果他在一個月內把這些頂級雪茄抽完了，保險費一毛也還沒繳，卻提出要保險公司賠償的要求。在申訴中，律師說雪茄在「一連串的小火」中受損。保險公司當然不願意賠償，理由是：此人是以正常方式抽完雪茄。...... 結果律師告上法院還贏了這場官司。

法官在判決時表示，他同意保險公司的說法，認為此項申訴非常荒謬，但是該律師手上的確有保險公司同意承保的保單，證明保險公司保證賠償任何火險，且保單中沒有明確指出何類「火」不在保險範圍內。因此，保險公司必須賠償。與其忍受漫長昂貴的上訴過程，保險公司決定接受這項判決，並且賠償美金一萬五千元的雪茄「火險」。

以下才是最精彩的地方： 律師將支票兌現之後，保險公司馬上報警將他逮捕，罪名是涉嫌 24 起「縱火案」！！！ 由他自己先前的申訴和證詞，這名律師立即以「蓄意燒毀已投保之財產」的罪名被定罪，要入獄服刑二十四個月，並罰款美金二萬四千元。

這種事，也只是有在美國才會發生！