pontiff
Posts by this author
March 31, 2008
Normally when I think about quantum computers, I think about systems which are pretty cold, since a thermal equilibrium state at high temperature is a very mixed state. But is it really true that a quantum computer needs to be cold to quantum compute? I've often wondered (some would say…
March 31, 2008
Postdoc in Italy, AQIS 2008 Call for Papers, the Register reports on QUEST, and the New Scientist morphs into the No Scientist.
There is a postdoc position available in Italy:A Post Doctoral fellowship in Quantum Information Theory is available at the University of Camerino, Department of Physics,…
March 31, 2008
...realizing that the class you are teaching for the first time this quarter ends on the half hour, not the hour, and therefore the fact that you are rushing through the material must seem extremely amusing to the students who know the class ends at 20 minutes after. Doh. Doh. Doh!
March 31, 2008
As part of my switching to a Mac, I've started using Firefox (one reason being that I'm investigating using Zotero for grabbing bibliographic citations from the web.) However, an annoying problem I encounter was when using Firefox and downloading pdfs from the arXiv. The problem was that Firefox…
March 30, 2008
Last night I got a chance to go see Quantum Hoops which is playing at the Landmark Metro in Seattle for a limited time. For those who haven't heard of this movie, "Quantum Hoops" is a documentary about the Caltech basketball team, which currently owns the longest losing streak without a…
March 29, 2008
If you really really want to get yourself pissed off about the tyrannical despotic anti-democratic junta that current runs the United States, I highly recommend this week's edition of This American Life (free in about a weeks time, or try here to find a local show time. Hint local shows elsewhere…
March 29, 2008
Lawsuit brought against CERN and the LHC for the possibility that it might produce black holes which will eat the earth. I look forward to seeing string theory on trial. Maybe something like an inverse "Inherit the Wind" play to follow.
Oh, and this made me laugh:Mr. Sancho, who describes…
March 28, 2008
Linear optics quantum computing, where one combines linear optics with the nonlinear processes of single photon creation and single photon detection, is a relative newcomer onto the scene of possible routes toward quantum computing. Whenever I think about these schemes, what jumps into my head is…
March 27, 2008
A list of observations I found in moving from a PC to a MAC.
The default on a Mac is that the tab key only moves between text boxes. That's just silly. To fix this, go to System Preferences, click Keyboards and Mouse, and then select the appropriate radio box under the Full Keyboard Access…
March 27, 2008
It looks like DARPA is getting back into funding academic research in quantum computing. Here is a new BAA for a program called QuEST. And it looks like they want revolution, not evolution:DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals in the area of Quantum Entanglement Science and Technology…
March 26, 2008
Well, after the Great Debate, I decided to take the plunge and get....Yep, a MacBook Pro with a top clock speed and a ton of RAM (what you can't infer those later things from the picture?) So far things are so good, although I must say, the "it just works," MacMantra is just a plain lie. Getting…
March 25, 2008
From the bits blog at the New York Times, a list of technology famous quotes which may or may not have been said. Two of which I believe I've used before (doh!):
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." This quotation is attributed to Bill Gates, but Mr. Shapiro suspects that it is apocryphal, and…
March 24, 2008
I always knew that T-Rex was a vegetarian:
"Trying to teach children not to believe everything they see." Shouldn't they add "and believe in everything they don't see?"
Update: I should have known Pharnygula would have posted this before me. Note to self: always check with PZ before posting…
March 24, 2008
Over at Emergent Chaos I found an article which throws down the gauntlet over quantum computers. And there isn't anything I cherish more than gauntlets thrown down!
Note: I should preface this by saying that I don't consider myself a over the top hyper of quantum computers in the sense attacked…
March 22, 2008
I always thought that I was special because I have, in my short life, been kicked into a night club. But now, comes word of an even more spectacular event: scienceblogs' own PZ Myers was expelled from seeing the creationist propoganda film "Expelled!" Adding to the irony, noted biologist/athiest…
March 21, 2008
Greetings from SMF! Home to the slowest baggage claim in the west (not that I was crazy enough to check a bag.)
Even from beyond the grave Feynman gives string theory no love:
March 20, 2008
In high school, we had software which would simulate dynamics of different shaped objects. I used to set up part of the screen as a "hoop" and then try to design the crazies way for a ball to bounce off all sorts of shapes set with different initial velocities and into the hoop. It was kind of…
March 20, 2008
Dear Digg, no, this article and press release do not mean that Scientists Invent Room Temperature Superconducting Material. It means that scientists have put molecular silane under hundreds of giga-Pascals presures (for comparison, atmospheric pressure is 100 kilo-Pascals) at a temperature of…
March 20, 2008
A New York Times article has appeared about a study on the effects of excessive beer drinking on scientific productivity. The study, (Tomas Grim, "A possible role of social activity to explain differences in publication output among ecologists." Oikos 117 (4), 484-487) done by the aptly named…
March 19, 2008
Last year, Google announced a set of resource to help students and faculty with CS education. They've revamped the set of resources and redesigned the web page and all the jazzy stuff to produce: Google Code University. Marty Stepp, whose courses are featured in the Google code university, has…
March 19, 2008
Since my laptop was stolen, it's time for me to think about getting a replacement. My last laptop was a tablet PC, a Toshiba M400 Portege, which was "Vista capable," which I'm pretty sure means that it was "just barely Vista capable." I loved having a tablet PC, but the Toshiba wasn't exactly…
March 18, 2008
Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author, predictor of the future, and inspirer of at least one little kid from rural Northern California, is dead at age 90.
Although I learned to cringe at some of Clarke's writing as I grew older, I have very distinct and fond memories of reading "Childhood's End…
March 18, 2008
To the jerk, or jerks, who broke into my car and stole my laptop and passport while parked in downtown Vancouver. Pfffft! You stink! And just what do you think you're going to do with all those LaTeX files? Maybe you should try to sell them to D-wave! (For the humor impaired: that's a joke.)
March 16, 2008
Seeker by Jack McDevitt, Newton's Wake: A Space Opera by Ken MacLeod, and Eater by Gregory Benford. Seems I am on a science fiction kick. That must be a sign that I'm looking for new ideas to work on.
Seeker by Jack McDevitt. Science fiction with an archeology/mystery bent. Lost civilizations…
March 15, 2008
As noted by Lance, the new journal ACM Transactions on Computation Theory is now accepting papers. Note for quantum computing theorists:ACM Transactions on Computation Theory will cover theoretical computer science complementing the scope of the ACM Transactions on Algorithms and the ACM…
March 15, 2008
A favorite quote of mine from Vincent van Gogh: "For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream." Especially when I can access them through my web browser. Here in Seattle this is greatly needed, since there are vast portions of the winter when the night…
March 14, 2008
Paul Krugman proves that not only is a bad ass economist, but that he is also a pretty cool guy:Thirty years ago I was an oppressed assistant professor, caught up in the academic rat race. To cheer myself up I wrote -- well, see for yourself. Joshua Gans of the University of Melbourne scanned a…
March 14, 2008
Happy Talk like a physicist day, Happy Pi day, and Happy birthday dear uncle Albert.
So how does one talk like a physicist? I mean its hard for me to say, because I'm a physicist (or was, or am, or was molded into who I am by physicists.) But one can certainly sing like a physicist! Here is a…
March 13, 2008
An interesting summer school for computer scientists interested in probabilistic techniques to be held in Bristol, UK (you know the school that had a chalkboard with the statement that quantum computers could efficiently solve NP-complete problems :) ) Deadline fast approaching. Details below.…