Theoretical Musings
Dave Bacon is a theoretical ski bum who is also an assistant research professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. His research is on quantum computing, his scientific passions extend to everything in physics, mathematics, computer science and beyond, and his personal pleasures include making wine, playing poker, skiing, camping, and daydreaming (although not all of those at the same time.)
March 31, 2008
Category: Teaching
...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...
Posted by Dave Bacon at 5:37 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
Category: Technology
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...
Posted by Dave Bacon at 10:18 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
March 30, 2008
Category: Caltech
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...
Posted by Dave Bacon at 1:14 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
March 29, 2008
Category: Politics
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...
Posted by Dave Bacon at 5:28 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
Category: Physics
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...
Posted by Dave Bacon at 2:24 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
March 28, 2008
Category: Physics
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,...
Posted by Dave Bacon at 12:42 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
March 27, 2008
Category: Self: Meet Center. Center: Meet Self.
A list of observations I found in moving from a PC to a MAC....
Posted by Dave Bacon at 12:33 PM • 28 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
Category: Quantum Computing
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...
Posted by Dave Bacon at 11:26 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
March 26, 2008
Category: Self: Meet Center. Center: Meet Self.
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...
Posted by Dave Bacon at 8:05 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
March 25, 2008
Category: Computer Science
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...
Posted by Dave Bacon at 3:10 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks• View blog reactions
