On the 8 Spot

cool!

Quantum computers with maybe 12 or 16 qubits have been built in the lab, but quantum computation is such a young field, and the physics of it are so counterintuitive, that researchers are still developing the theoretical tools for thinking about it.

Systems of linear equations, on the contrary, are familiar to almost everyone. We all had to solve them in algebra class: given three distinct equations featuring the same three variables, find values for the variables that make all three equations true.

Computer models of weather systems or of complex chemical reactions, however, might have to solve millions of equations with millions of variables. Under the right circumstances, a classical computer can solve such equations relatively efficiently: the solution time is proportional to the number of variables. But under the same circumstances, the time required by the new quantum algorithm would be proportional to the logarithm of the number of variables

via Quantum computing may actually be useful, after all.

Article on Mahatma Gandhi never winning a nobel peace prize.

May I just say that this is like a Hall Of Fame without Michael Jordan.

I didn’t know this till today, you just tend to assume these things, and I always assumed he had one, this is saddening, but Gandhi was bigger than the Nobel.

Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate

by Øyvind Tønnesson

Nobelprize.org Peace Editor, 1998-2000

1 December 1999

introduction

Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) has become the strongest symbol of non-violence in the 20th century. It is widely held – in retrospect – that the Indian national leader should have been the very man to be selected for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was nominated several times, but was never awarded the prize. Why?

These questions have been asked frequently: Was the horizon of the Norwegian Nobel Committee too narrow? Were the committee members unable to appreciate the struggle for freedom among non-European peoples?” Or were the Norwegian committee members perhaps afraid to make a prize award which might be detrimental to the relationship between their own country and Great Britain?

via Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate.

a thought occurred to me. One of the hallmarks of the Bush 2 administration is the total lack or disregard for it’s allies and neighbors.

I’d like to think of Obama’s Nobel as a way for the nobel committee to give and anti nobel to the other George Bush!

Noynoy needs to differentiate himself , his volunteers, his friends and followers otherwise, this is just another popularity contest. He must not only try to rise above Philippine Electoral Politics but he needs to take us along, he must be the tide upon all our boats rise! People go with the tide , Leaders are the Tide!

Aquino, Roxas get pop star welcome in Negros

By Carla Gomez

Inquirer Visayas

First Posted 17:47:00 10/08/2009

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—Senators Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, who have announced their candidacies for president and vice president under the Liberal Party in next year’s elections, got a pop star welcome from a sea of yellow crowds in three cities in Negros Occidental on Thursday.

People shouting “Noy-Mar Na!” surged forward to touch the two, get their autographs and have their pictures taken as the duo went on stage in Talisay, Bacolod and Bago cities.

Aquino said the crowds were overflowing because people want to see change in government.

“If we continue with this momentum, we will make change a reality,” Aquino said.

Butch Abad, campaign manager of the two, said it was not very hard to campaign for Aquino and Roxas because of the spontaneous outpouring of support from the people.

“This is a normal reception for them everywhere they go because they have made it very clear that this is a people’s campaign,” Abad said.

via Aquino, Roxas get pop star welcome in Negros – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

Congratulations to President Obama, though I have a feeling health-care reform would have been a much loftier achievement!

The Nobel Peace Prize 2009 awarded to President Obama Print E-mail

Image The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2009 to US President Barak Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons..

The Nobel Peace Prize is an international prize which is awarded annually by the Norwegian Nobel Committee according to guidelines laid down in Alfred Nobel’s will. The Peace Prize is one of five prizes that have been awarded annually since 1901 under the auspices of the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm for outstanding contributions in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. Starting in 1969, a Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has also been awarded.

Whereas the other prizes are awarded by specialist committees based in Sweden, the Peace Prize is awarded by a committee appointed by the Norwegian Storting. According to Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize is to go to whoever “shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”. The prize includes a medal, a personal diploma, and a large sum of prize money (currently 10 million Swedish crowns).

The Nobel Peace Prize has been called “the world’s most prestigious prize”. The Prize is awarded at a ceremony in the Oslo City Hall on December 10, the date on which Alfred Nobel died.

(NRK/Nobel Committee)

Rolleiv Solholm

via The Norway Post – The Nobel Peace Prize 2009 awarded to President Obama.