Since I got into trouble for posting about the need for more, not less, funding for science and engineering, (and, I might add, a reengineering of our approach to what it means to produce a successful Ph.D.), I thought I’d continue the trouble by linking to a post over at the Computing Research Policy Blog, “Computer and Mathematical Science Occupations Expected to Grow Quickest Over the Next Decade.”
New Quantum APS Fellows: Lidar, Lloyd, and Terhal
Congrats to Daniel Lidar, Seth Lloyd, and Barbara Terhal, for becoming the first three APS fellows selected through the APS topical group Quantum Information, Concepts, and Computation (GQI). Citations below the fold.
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A Central Non-premise of Quantum Theory
His Squidiness points to a real whopper of a silly article titled “Was Einstein Wrong About Special Relativity?” by Darrell Williams who is listed as a “Mathematician” and a “graduate of Arizona State University.”
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My Door is A Window To My Soul
Chad of Uncertain Principles asks what’s on our office doors. Here in the Paul Allen Center, our doors are too pretty to put things on, but the little square beside our door is perfect for attaching odds and ends. Here is my door in all its glory:
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Happenings in the Quantum World: Dec. 4, 2007
SQuInT program and deadline, Rush Limbaugh on quantum cosmology, and the parallel worlds of Hugh Everett’s son
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Off the Queue and Into the Cranium
Books off the queue and lodge securely somewhere behind my eyes: “A Mathematician’s Apology” by G.H. Hardy and “A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation” by Richard Bookstaber
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Nitpicker's Paradiso: We Don't Need no Stinking Scientists and Engineers Edition
Researchers Dispute Notion That America Lacks Scientists and Engineers in the Chronicle of Higher Education is a fine example of how thinking that scientific or engineering degree’s are like technical training degrees will lead you to say all sorts of funny things. Yep, it’s another edition of Nitpicker’s Paradiso.
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Teaching Happiness…
…is finding a homework stuck to my door, with duck tape, along with the note “Gone to Mt. Baker” (Mt. Baker is a local ski area.) Actually this reminds me of a policy I’ve always wanted to try: require every student to NOT attend class at least a few times a term. The idea being that it is actually beneficial to at least try to teach yourself the material without guidance from the teacher. Many students probably can learn on their own, but never try, because they equate doing well with attendance. Nudging these students towards that realization, I think, might actually be a good thing.
Seattle Contradiction: Geek City USA and Bachelors Production
From the magazine Seattle Metropolitan, comes the article “Smartest city ever: 50 ways Seattle will change the world.” I hope the claim is true, but like all magazine articles from rags denoted entirely to a city, the lens is more than a little biased.
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God Is a Weak Coin Flipper
One of the funniest abstracts to a paper on the arxiv in many moons appeared yesterday, authored by Carlos Mochon:
arXiv:0711.4114
Title: Quantum weak coin flipping with arbitrarily small bias
Authors: Carlos Mochon
“God does not play dice. He flips coins instead.” And though for some reason He has denied us quantum bit commitment. And though for some reason he has even denied us strong coin flipping. He has, in His infinite mercy, granted us quantum weak coin flipping so that we too may flip coins. Instructions for the flipping of coins are contained herein. But be warned! Only those who have mastered Kitaev’s formalism relating coin flipping and operator monotone functions may succeed. For those foolhardy enough to even try, a complete tutorial is included.