Older blog entries for amatus (starting at number 98)

#wtfgoogle #its2013 #turnonencryption

#wtfgoogle #its2013 #turnonencryption

[Operators] Gmail federation

Syndicated 2013-02-21 04:07:19 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts

A couple articles on experimental and theoretical progress on topological insulators. These might be ...

A couple articles on experimental and theoretical progress on topological insulators. These might be among the new physical phenomena that have the greatest potential for useful applications, and are another manifestation of the beautiful interplay between topology and electromagnetism.

Some great physical explanations can be found in this 2-year-old Physics World article:

Unlike superconductors and magnets, which have order associated with a broken symmetry, topologically ordered states are distinguished by a kind of knotting of the quantum states of the electrons. This topological order “protects” the surface states, so that they cannot be eliminated by disorder or chemical passivation, and it endows them with special properties that may be useful for applications ranging from spintronics to quantum computation.
http://www.physics.upenn.edu/~kane/pubs/p69.pdf

Found via this newer article recounting some of the key steps, including the recent awarding of the 2013 Physics Frontiers Prize to three pioneers of the field:

What applications these new generations of topological materials might have is probably beyond our current imagination. That being said, there is recent experimental evidence that a 1D topological superconductor can support Majorana bound states, which may be the building blocks of a fault-tolerant quantum computer. This work was in fact Science Magazine’s runner-up for the 2012 scientific breakthrough of the year, trailing only the discovery of the Higgs boson. Let’s hope this is the start of a trend!
http://quantumfrontiers.com/2013/01/12/topological-insulator-trio-recognized-by-2013-physics-frontiers-prize/

#scienceeveryday  +ScienceSunday 

Syndicated 2013-02-02 11:58:15 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts

Unqualified Reservations: How Bitcoin dies

Unqualified Reservations: How Bitcoin dies
TL:DR - Bitcoin dies in two very simple steps. 1: A DOJ indictment is unsealed which names everyone on Planet Three who operates, or has ever operated, or perhaps who has ever even breathed on, a BTC/...

Syndicated 2013-01-24 17:04:48 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts

I'm still waiting for the awesome language that will finally kill C.

I'm still waiting for the awesome language that will finally kill C.

Damien Katz: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of C
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of C. For years I've tried my damnedest to get away from C. Too simple, too many details to manage, too old and crufty, too low level. I've had intense and torrid love a...

Syndicated 2013-01-10 17:54:53 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts

A solution to the 12 coins problem: 1 L-- 2 LL- 3 LR- 4 L-L 5 R-L 6 RRR 7 RLR 8 RLL 9 --R 10 L 11 -RR...

A solution to the 12 coins problem:
1 L--
2 LL-
3 LR-
4 L-L
5 R-L
6 RRR
7 RLR
8 RLL
9 --R
10 L
11 -RR
12 -RL
#cleaningscrapsofpaperoffmydesk

Syndicated 2012-12-06 03:20:14 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts

If you have a unit interval and you want to know how many ways you can divide it such that division marks...

If you have a unit interval and you want to know how many ways you can divide it such that division marks are at m/2^n and the divisions are sorted from smallest to largest, use this recurrence relation:
a[0] = 1
a[n] = 1 + sum_{i=0}^{n-1} {2^(i(n-i-1))a[i]}
#cleaningscrapsofpaperoffmydesk

Syndicated 2012-12-06 03:01:38 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts

If you have an n by m grid of points, you can connect 4 points to make a square in (2mn^3-2mn-2n^4+n^...

If you have an n by m grid of points, you can connect 4 points to make a square in (2mn^3-2mn-2n^4+n^2)/12 different ways.
#cleaningscrapsofpaperoffmydesk

Syndicated 2012-12-06 02:52:15 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts

Apparently Rosencrantz was flipping a coin with Bose-Einstein statistics.

Apparently Rosencrantz was flipping a coin with Bose-Einstein statistics.

This Quantum World | Quantum coins and quantum dice A comparison of the behavior of ordinary coins and dice with that of quantum coins and dice (bosonic as well as fermionic).

Syndicated 2012-11-29 18:35:29 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts

I remember seeing this comet at the McDonald Observatory.

I remember seeing this comet at the McDonald Observatory.

Comet Hyakutake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hyakutake became visible to the naked eye in early March 1996. By mid-March, the comet was still fairly unremarkable, shining at 4th magnitude with a tail about 5 degrees long. As it neared its closes...

Syndicated 2012-11-28 19:46:45 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts

I believe his point about just-in-time delivery making our industry very fragile.

I believe his point about just-in-time delivery making our industry very fragile.

Syndicated 2012-11-26 04:05:23 from David Barksdale - Google+ Posts