State of the Union

I completely missed this year's State of the Union address, but was pleased to see this quote from the speech:

First, I propose to double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years. This funding will support the work of America's most creative minds as they explore promising areas such as nanotechnology, supercomputing, and alternative energy sources.

Having supercomputing named specifically by the President ought to be a nice thing to be able to point to when selling our field. It happens less and less these days, but I've definitely had people ask me if supercomputing was a dead field - the answer is a resounding no, and this just adds to the list of indicators, including the DARPA HPCS program.