National Post

China builds world’s fastest supercomputer that can do 33,860 trillion calculations every second
China has built the world’s fastest supercomputer, almost twice as fast as the previous U.S. holder and underlining the country’s rise as a science and technology powerhouse.

The semiannual TOP500 official listing of the world’s fastest supercomputers released Monday says the Tianhe-2 developed by the National University of Defence Technology in central China’s Changsha city is capable of sustained computing of 33.86 petaflops per second. That’s the equivalent of 33,860 trillion calculations per second.

The Tianhe-2, which means Milky Way-2, knocks the U.S. Department of Energy’s Titan machine off the no. 1 spot. It achieved 17.59 petaflops per second. (Photo: Top500)

Apartment building washed away as torrential rains cause floods and landslides, killing at least 23 in India
Torrential rain and floods washed away buildings and roads, killing at least 23 people in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, officials said Monday.

More than a dozen people died in the state’s Rudraprayag district alone, while another 50 people were missing, said Amit Negi, an official in Uttarakhand.

A landslide triggered by the monsoon rains buried a bus, killing three people in Almora district. (Photo: AFP PHOTOSTR/AFP/Getty Images)

Couple returns $23,000 wedding ring accidentally sold for just $10 at garage sale
A man who reduced his wife to tears by accidentally selling her $23,000 wedding ring for $10 at a garage sale said his faith in humanity had been restored after it was returned.

Racquel Cloutier was distraught after her husband, Eric, told her he had sold the wooden watch box in which she had hidden the ring before going to hospital to have their fifth child. “I immediately started crying,” said Mrs. Cloutier, 31, of Laguna Niguel, California. “I just wanted the ring to be in a safe place and out of reach from my two-year-old twins.” (Photo: Facebook)

nationalpostphotos:

Moody photo of a Spanish bullfighter Juan del Alamo making the ‘paseillo’ or ritual entrance to the arena before a bullfight at Las Ventas bullring in Madrid Sunday, June 16, 2013. Bullfighting is an ancient tradition in Spain and the season runs from March to October. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

postarcadenp:

Finding poetry in motion in the Road Not Taken

By Matthew O’Mara

Road Not Taken is poetry is motion, quite literally.

Developed by Spry Fox, Road Not Taken is a puzzle game about life and loss, that features randomly generated levels and permadeath. Similar to games like Shiren the Wanderer, players move along a grid attempting to traverse forest after forest as the game’s story unfolds.

Invoking the famous poem by Robert Frost, the title speaks volumes about what players can expect in a game of isolation and difficult choices. Something happened a long time ago in Road Not Taken and the player has to take a road less travelled in Spry Fox’s game to uncover the truth.

But as David Edery, co-founder of Spry Fox — and an English major by training — explained, Mr. Frost’s oft-quoted poem is one of the most misunderstood poems in the history of American poetry.

“The first thing I should say is that it’s pretty clear this poem means different things to different people,” Mr. Edery said.

“It’s been pretty interesting watching debates flare up about the meaning of the poem as a result of our game’s announcement. People are having arguments that quickly segue in directions that have nothing to do with Spry Fox or this game.”

http://bit.ly/13O7kAe

‘These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong’: Snowden says leaks didn’t disclose U.S. military targets
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked classified documents about government surveillance programs, said he didn’t reveal any U.S. operations “against legitimate military targets.”

“I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous,” Snowden said during an Internet question-and-answer session today on the website of U.K.’s Guardian newspaper.

Snowden’s identity on the chat couldn’t be independently verified.

The Obama administration has confirmed the existence of two surveillance programs following Snowden’s disclosures — one designed to collect phone call records from millions of U.S. citizens and another that monitors the Internet activity of foreigners with links to terrorism. (AP Photo/The Guardian)

nparts:

Dave Chappelle is headlining Funny Or Die’s Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Tour: natpo.st/1bO67uo

But it’s not coming to Canada! As consolation, here’s a photo of the time Dave Chappelle met Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (just last year!).

postarcadenp:

Get ready to hack the planet in Watch_Dogs Live

By Matthew O’Mara

Watch_Dogs is getting an early release … on mobile devices.

Announced Thursday, Watch Dogs Live is a multiplayer mobile game that gives players a chance to know what it feels like to hack the planet.

The game was inspired by the upcoming Ubisoft game Watch_Dogs and is available for free on the Google Play Store and on the App Store.

http://bit.ly/13O3fft

nationalpostsports:

It doesn’t get better than this: Justin Rose, of England, poses with the trophy after winning the U.S. Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club. (Photo: Charlie Riedel/The Associated Press)

Gary Clement’s Canada Day summer Twitter stories
How do Canadians celebrate Canada Day? You Tweeted and Gary Clement ‘tooned 

‘I can kill someone with this ring’: Vladimir Putin denies he stole an NFL Super Bowl ring from team owner Robert Kraft
Russian President Vladimir Putin is denying insinuations that he stole New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl ring that’s now on display in the Kremlin, but says he’s ready to buy him another ring as a gift.

Putin was reacting Sunday through a spokesman to a New York Post story quoting remarks made by Kraft at an awards gala at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel last Thursday.

“I took out the ring and showed it to (Putin). And he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring,”’ Kraft said, as quoted by the Post. “I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

The diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring worth about $25,000 changed hands while Kraft was visiting St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005 with an American business delegation that met Putin. At the time, Kraft had said he gave the ring to Putin as a gift. (Photo: Larry Busacca// Anthony Devlin/AFP/Getty Images)

npostlife:

How cancer spreads in body uncovered by scientists who say it will be ‘relatively easy’ to stop process
Since most cancers kill people via a secondary tumour after the disease spreads, stopping its migration in the body could be a game-changer for cancer survival rates, researchers say.
[Photo credit: Fotolia]

‘It’s a trap!’: Star Wars themed wedding photo turns Toronto couple into Internet stars
The force was with Leslie Seiler and Paul Kingston the day they said I do. Now, so is Internet fame.

The Toronto couple have had to curtail their own honeymoon to deal with the spate of publicity surrounding one of their wedding photos.

The image — snapped on May 31st in central Toronto– depicts the two aspiring comedians and their wedding party being chased by the iconic All-Terrain Armored Transport vehicles (At-Ats) from the Star Wars franchise.

Since the image appeared on social media earlier this week, requests have been pouring in for the newlyweds who appeared to survive a near brush with Empire combat vehicles. (Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Little Blue Lemon Photography & Cinematography-Danielle & Tony Lombardo)