We're just going to mention this quickly, because we've been getting a ton of mail about it for days, now: remember when Virginia Tech's "System X" G5-based cluster, formerly ranked the third-fastest supercomputer on the planet, dropped off the charts completely while the system was offline pending the completion of an upgrade from 1,100 Power Macs to 1,100 Xserves? Said upgrade took longer than expected (the school originally predicted that it'd be "complete by May"), what with Apple's Xserve shipping delay, but as a truckload of faithful viewers has kindly pointed out this week, Virginia Tech's Terascale Computing Facility notes that assembly is finally "completed" and stabilization and benchmarking are "in process." So System X will be back on the charts when the new list comes out in a few months' time, and before long we'll get to hear whether the new Xserves yield a speed boost over the original Power Macs, in addition to the space and energy savings they promise.

And yet, none of this is why eleventy-bajillion AtAT viewers felt compelled to tell us about it. Instead, they all focused on the Upgrade Gallery, which includes a couple of dozen photos of Xserves as far as the eye can see-- a beautiful sight, to be sure, but even that wasn't why everyone was writing in. No, they were all telling us about the wardrobe choice of the assembly team. See, a couple of the snapshots show one of the assemblers (a gent named Sam) clad in a very stylish AtAT t-shirt, which is, of course, essential attire for anyone who wants to stand next to scores of gorgeous Xserves without looking like a completely unkempt and ratty slob by comparison. (A tux might work, too, but those are a bit more expensive.)

Anyway, we were aware of these photos-- probably before any of you were, since Sam is, of course, a faithful AtAT viewer, and he sent us a full-resolution copy of one of those snapshots way back on July 8th, long before they were posted. It's just that we didn't feel the news was all that worth crowing about, since what Mac fan doesn't own an AtAT t-shirt by now? The garments have been available for over four years now, so even the sorriest excuse for a Mac user on Earth (you know, like that guy with the Performa 410 who keeps complaining to his Wintel-using coworkers that "Macs are so slow") has long since added at least two or three of these things to his closet. Heck, most people are well into the double digits in terms of shirts ordered, because they've worn out their first dozen or so due to incessant use; some people wear up to six at a time. So if Sam down at Virginia Tech happens to be wearing one in a photo or two of the System X upgrade, what's the surprise?

So the only reason we're mentioning any of this, of course, is just to let you know that System X is back in one piece and that you should keep an eye peeled for benchmarks soon. A purely hypothetical secondary purpose might be to remind any Mac users with fewer than three or four AtAT t-shirts in their closet that, for now, at least, all sizes are still in stock-- and mock turtlenecks and stickers count toward your coolness quotient, too, while the AtAT Karmic InvisiShirt™ even guarantees you coolness in future lifetimes. Sure, you might not wind up quite as cool as the System X team, but you'll be as cool as you can be without having 1,100 Xserves at your beck and call.