When I asked ORNL Director Thom Mason about that plan earlier this week during a visit to the lab, he didn't much want to talk about it -- apparently because the upgrade would be funded with stimulus money. "The stimulus announcements are all coordinated by DOE," he said. "So until they make an announcement, there's nothing for us to really talk about because we don't have any money."

Mason, however, did talk a bit about an upcoming review of plans for a new 20-petaflops machine that would -- if the current goal holds -- come online sometime in 2011.

Sadly nothing to do with the classic Captain Blood, and everything to do with classic novel Captain Blood. It’s a hack ‘n’ slash adventure game from the developers of Sea Dogs, complete with pirates getting stabbed, cannons getting primed, and bosses getting — wuh-oh — quicktime event’d. I played this a bit in Moscow last year and it was actually pretty fun — especially the arcade boat violence between speedy galleons — but I’m not exactly holding out for a masterpiece.

The year’s most unexpected sequel is barrelling towards us, and Telltale hope to whet a few more preorder whistles by finally releasing a smidgen of interface’n'puzzle footage — specifically, the opening minutes of the reborn point’n'click adventure. Episode 1, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal, is out in just six pirate days (which are like normal days, but with a looser moral code), and if you’re convinced you’re going to love it, you can pay pirate money (which is much like normal money, but with a slight scent of seaweed) for it right now.