Don't throw away that old computer. You might be able to use it for something big. The New York Times reports the birth of a homemade supercomputer about to be ranked as one of the fastest machines in the world. Supercomputers traditionally cost $100 million to $250 million and take years to put together. But the faculty, technicians, and students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute used 1,100 off-the-shelf Apple Macintosh computers and assembled a supercomputer in just one month for $5 million. The result is a machine that can compute 7.41 trillion operations a second. Student volunteers received free pizzas for their labor. Virginia Tech's president offered free football tickets to those spending long hours on the project. Their efforts produced a system that ranks at least fourth fastest in the world. Officials at the school said the final speed number might be significantly higher. Citation: John Beukema, associate editor PreachingToday.com; source: John Markoff, The New York Times (10-22-03)

Consider a tuning fork. It delivers a true pitch by two tines vibrating together. Muffle either side, even a little, and the note disappears. Neither tine individually produces the sweet, pure note. Only when both tines vibrate is the correct pitch heard.

Vin Crosbie Posted: 2004-03-04 The bad case of bronchitis suffered by Chang Bunker probably didn't alarm his brother Eng, despite their being conjoined at the chest. Born in the kingdom of Siam in 1811, the 63-year-old brothers -- who inspired the term "Siamese twins" -- had retired as farmers to Mount Airy, North Carolina, after decades touring the world as curiosities and freaks. They had lived a vigorous life despite their conjoined bodies, and Eng reportedly felt in good health that night. So, Eng was quite surprised when, awaking the next morning and seeing Chang had died, he suddenly realized that his brother's death was also his own. Despite his apparent good health, Eng died within hours of his brother because of their dependency.

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