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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 10h

Which convention hall is it? Chicago has a couple.

Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 16h

Yes all those (real) constraints - host cities are picked 5 years out by competitive process - but I think the community debate is asking the SC committee when evaluating bids to place a higher value on attendee experience and safety than seems to have been the case for some recent city selections.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 16h

In most SC cities, booking late leaves you with very limited hotel options - but not usually to the extent seen at STL this year.

The importance of being nearby also depends on the safety of the city and quality of the local transport infrastructure.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 16h

I book my hotel rooms in February each year - tho’ I have a high degree of confidence I will be going to SC most years.

But what about those who don’t find out they are even in with a chance of going until a few weeks before to SC?

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 1d

There aren’t that many UK cities that can absorb 15000 hotel rooms for a week.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 1d

That hasn’t been my SC experience in general.

But it will be resonant for many.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 1d

Only 2 or 3 hotels anywhere close to the site?!

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 1d

Is it time for a #HPC community debate about the cities that are being picked for SC?

#SC25 is really struggling for available hotels near the conference center.

Plus some people are worried about the street safety reputation of STL and other recent SC cities.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 2d

Woah! How is it the middle of October already? When did that happen?

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 7d

Not even a sauna?

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 7d

The private helicopter is in for refurbishment this month - getting a new onboard jacuzzi fitted - so having to use public transport 😁

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 7d

Long distance multi-leg UK train travel is gathering friction in passenger experience - ticket website search algos refusing to show best trains or connections, staff that make up rules based on their personal assumptions, crowded trains, etc … my trips to Exeter offer fresh frustrations each time.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 10d

One side effect of having lots of LED light bulbs around the house is that you forget you have the occasional bulb that is still the old filament style and also that those filament bulbs get really hot really quickly.

Anyway so I have a blister on my finger now.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 11d

Well, the apple lobby have showed up quickly as expected 😁 but where are the advocates for Windows or Linux for a new home laptop?

Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 11d

Thinking of buying new laptop for personal use plus some travel.

Windows vs Linux vs Apple Mac?

I've had Windows & Linux laptops before, keep drifting back to Windows. Never had a mac, but have iPhone, apple watch, ipad, etc.

Tell me your pros / cons of each & convince me which to buy and why!

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 11d

If and it's still a big if :-) i do mac, then air vs pro?

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 11d

if and it's still a big if :-) i do mac, then air vs pro?

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 11d

Thinking of buying new laptop for personal use plus some travel.

Windows vs Linux vs Apple Mac?

I've had Windows & Linux laptops before, keep drifting back to Windows. Never had a mac, but have iPhone, apple watch, ipad, etc.

Tell me your pros / cons of each & convince me which to buy and why!

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 16d

The HPC (+ AI Infrastructure) Leadership Training Institute this week at BSC hit registration capacity weeks ago - extra places were opened & they went fast too, and people still on a waiting list.

Nice to see the guess of demand to run the first ever HPCLI in Europe was good!

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 16d

Sunrise in Barcelona

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 27d

Microsoft announces #Fairwater #AI #supercomputer

Over 100,000 GPUs in single system in custom liquid-cooled datacenter

10x performance of world’s fastest public supercomputer

Plus attached CPU supercomputer with millions of cores

And exabytes of storage.

blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2025/09...

Inside the world’s most powerful AI datacenter - The Official Microsoft Blog

This week we have introduced a wave of purpose-built datacenters and infrastructure investments we are making around the world to support the global adoption of cutting-edge AI workloads and cloud ser...

blogs.microsoft.com

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · 29d

Microsoft announces $30B investment in UK, including 23,000 #GPUs of #supercomputers for #AI

blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issue...

Microsoft invests $30 billion in UK to power AI future

The relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States has long been more than a matter of diplomacy — it’s a friendship rooted in shared ideals and mutual ambition. Across generations,…

blogs.microsoft.com

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · Sep 13

Boarding #BritishAirways for Seattle … oh, nope, crew got on then back off again to say the aircraft hadn’t been cleaned at all, so now we all waiting at gate for estimated 40mins delay before boarding while aircraft gets cleaned.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · Sep 13

Views of London through the clouds on way in to Heathrow earlier today.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · Sep 13

Hearing the announcement: “boarding complete” for on time departure = good.

Followed by pilot: “there is a fault with the aircraft so there will be a delay before we can go …” = less good.

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Andrew Jones (hpcnotes) @hpcnotes.bsky.social · Sep 4

Only 2 seats left!

The 2025 HPC Leadership Institute in Barcelona is nearly full - register now if you want to secure one of last seats at the most recognized training for current or future leaders across #HPC including #AI, #cloud, #supercomputing, ...

www.bsc.es/news/events/...

HPC Leadership Institute in cooperation with SURF, University of Luxembourg, TACC and Microsoft

www.bsc.es

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