Superexchange in optical lattices, factoring 15 in a linear optics quantum computer, quantum plagarism peaceful resolution, silicon and gallium arsinide quantum computers, and quantum mumbo jumbo in support of the ideas popularly known as God.
Continue reading “Happenings in the Quantum World: December 22, 2007”
Bacon Flowchart
The title says enough already: Bacon Flowchart.
Wiimote Multitouch Display
More from Johnny Chung Lee on hacking the wiimote system to produce a very cool multitouch display:
The Leveling of Education or Information Overload?
I grew up in the middle of nowhere. I read all, and I mean all, of the science and math books in my local library (and nearly all of the Scientific American magazines as well.) Because this was before the internet was ubiquitous these were the only resources I had. These days I often wonder how my life would have been different if I would have had access to open courses like the one described in this article.
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America COMPETEs Flip Floppers
Here’s a list of people who voted for the spending omnibus which totally shafted science and who also voted for the America COMPETEs act. Is your representative on there? Send a letter?
Update: Science article on the budget and science.
QEC 07 Open Thread
You know, QEC07 participant, you’re supposed to be watching the talks and not reading this blog! But if you are reading this blog, you might as well not just lurk and instead comment. That’s right its a QEC 07 open thread.
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You Down With QIP?
So simultaneous with QEC07, the conference I’m attending, is the QIP 2008. Anyone at QIP see any interesting talks that they’d be willing to comment on? Come on, don’t be shy (or post anonymously 🙂 )
Curmudgeons Winning?
Today I watched a talk on skepticism about quantum error correction. Now I don’t agree with the particular criticism’s leveled, but I’m all for people airing their criticisms and, if the majority view is correct, the majority should be able to answer the questions raised. But this isn’t what interested me today. What interested me today was thinking about the following question: when has it been true that a curmudgeon, which I use in the most positive since of the word, been on the winning side? When has it been that a single or very small group of radicals who opposes a majority whose beliefs are set in concrete has actually ended up on the correct side of the argument? But more than this the definition of a curmudgeon indicates an amount of stubbornness which is above and beyond normal stubbornness. Indeed I would say that it even indicates a small amount of being confronted to by contrary evidence, but persisting in spite of this. And maybe not even being confronted not just by a bit of contrary evidence, but maybe a vast encyclopedia of contrary evidence.
I suppose the reason this fascinates me is that I, myself, certainly have some curmudgeonly characteristics. Does this mean I’m doomed to the losing side of the battle? I’m pretty sure I’m doomed, but for other reasons, and only today did it occur to me that I need to add my curmudgeonness to the list of reasons for doom.
A Startup in a Weekend?
Startup weekend will be coming to my backyard in January (literally in my backyard, Adobe is just down the hill from Villa Sophia.) Startup weekend, you say? What the heck is that?
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QEC07 Conference
The grades are all done, and the students are gone, and now I’m conferencing. (That sentence should be sung to the tune of “Busted”) After a mere hour and a half delay at the airport I arrived last night at USC for QEC07.
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