Kategorie: _ in English

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the World’s First Commercial Quantum Computer* [*But Were Afraid to Ask]

After 14 years of research and development the first commercial quantum computer in history was launched this year by D-Wave Systems, Canada. The D-Wave One works with 128 qubits, has a volume of 10 cubic metres and comes with a scheduled price of 10.000.000 $. Until now D-Wave Systems officially sold only one computer. Not surprisingly this first customer [Lockheed Martin] comes from the military sector. One can assume that the Pentagon and the intelligence services also have a D-Wave One in their cellar.

As is well known the hypothetical computation power of quantum computers cannot be compared with that of classical processors. Due to superposition effects a quantum register with 128 maximally entangled qubits can represent 2^128 states at once. Yes, indeed, that’s a mind-blowing huge number.

There are physical impairments of course: Quantum superpositions are extremely prone to interference [see decoherence]. The slightest interaction with the environment leads to a collapse of the quantum system. Therefore the components of the D-Wave One have to be cooled down close to absolute zero. One technique that can be utilized in this cryogenic state is called adiabatic quantum computation [AQC]. This technology is supposed to be superior to classical processing when it comes to hard optimization problems [details here] and is applied in the D-Wave computers.

Will D-Wave Systems change the world in the next years? It’s at least their claim. And Jeff Bezos [CEO of Amazon] as well as Goldman Sachs are also believing in the potential of this enterprise, as they have invested large sums in D-Wave.

Well, dear reader, if you have some bucks left, you can of course also order your first quantum computer. Just write an email to sales@dwavesys.com. For Amazon Prime clients shipping is free! 😉

The ‚Jesus is Lucifer Thesis‘

The idea is as old as the NT itself. What if Jesus was not the Messiah but a false prophet?

As is well known, the Jews have exactly this opinion about Jesus.
But what if Jesus was not only an impostor but Lucifer in person? Wouldn’t it be the most cunning deception ‚Satan‘ could perform? Declaring to be the incarnate God, the savior of mankind, making himself to the object of universal worship? A bold thesis, especially for devout Christians. But there are at least some hints in the bible that seemingly support this thesis.
In Isaiah 14:12 [Vulgate] we read:
quomodo cecidisti de caelo lucifer qui mane oriebaris corruisti in terram qui vulnerabas gentes
The latin term lucifer means literally ‚light bringer‘ or ‚bringer of dawn‘ and was used to name the morning star [the Venus, which is a planet of course; the term ‚evening star‘ refers also to the Venus].
Accordingly ‚lucifer‘ was mostly translated with ‚morning star‘:
How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! [NIV 1984]
Influenced by the Enochic Judaism Isaiah 14:12-15 was interpreted within the Christian Tradition as applicable to Satan, presenting him as a fallen angel cast out of Heaven.
The interesting point is that Jesus himself stated to be the ‚morning star‘, as we can read in Revelation 22:16, the very last chapter of the bible:
I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star*. [NIV 1984]
* stella matutina
In this light some confusing statements of Jesus might make sense. For example Luke 12:51
Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. [NIV 1984]
Of course the web is full of articles that refute the Lucifer-Jesus identification. I myself think that the thesis is profoundly wrong. This is the most convincing and extensive article on this that I read:
Those who are more intrigued by the ‚Jesus is Lucifer thesis‘ should read The Key to the Bible by Leo Panakal and Vinodh Kumar. The authors do not only state that Jesus is Satan but moreover that the God of the OT is the epitome of evilness, punishing Adam and Eve, tormenting Hiob, ordering Abraham to sacrifice his son etc. But they have in turn [as have I] a special sympathy for the serpent in the Garden of Eden. The relationship between the serpent, standing for truth and enlightenment, and God as concealer of the same, wanting Adam and Eve to be like children, might therefore be treated in one of my next blog entries.

The Fall of Lucifer / image from Paradise Lost
The Fall of Lucifer, illustration for Milton’s Paradise Lost by Gustave Doré


PS: many thanks to The Church of Google.

How to stream flash videos via Dropbox

1. Create a folder named „flash“ at your public Dropbox folder.

2. Upload all files and folders from this zip file to the prepared Dropbox folder.

3. Convert your desired video file to the flv format and name it „yourvideo.flv“.

4. Copy the converted file to this subfolder: /dropboxusercontent/public/flash/videos

5. Get public Dropbox links for all files that appear in this html script.

These are: http:// …
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/xxx/flash/swfobject/swfobject.js
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/xxx/flash/swfobject/swfmacmousewheel.js
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/xxx/flash/settings.xml
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/xxx/flash/videoPlayer.swf    dl.dropboxusercontent.com/xxx/flash/swfobject/expressInstall.swf
[xxx is a placeholder for your link specifics]

6. Copy those links to the corresponding locations in the script.
7. Copy the whole code to your web page. That’s it. If you have any questions, just send me an email.
Of course you can change some parameters in the code and in the file settings.xml to adjust the player to your demands.

… and here you can see that it works …

[As of March 2017 Dropbox has disabled public folder sharing, so this does not work anymore, at least with Dropbox.]

Alternative History, Part I: The Life of the Austrian Painter Adolf Hitler [1889-1915]

Born in 1889 at Braunau am Inn, Upper Austria, Hitler grew up in Passau and Linz.

Bild: Hitler as infant / Hitler als Kleinkind
Hitler as Infant

At the age of ten Adolf discovered his passion for drawing and painting, but his father Alois ignored this desire and sent his son in 1900 to the „Realschule“ of Linz, a technical high school of about 300 students. There he met Ludwig Wittgenstein (the later world famous philosopher). They both shared an interest for art and music (especially Wagner operas) and soon became friends. In school Hitler had deficits in mathematics and grammar, but with the help of his friend Ludwig (who was top of the class) he eventually managed to quit school with a diploma.

School class photo / Klassenfoto
bottom left: Wittgenstein | top right: Hitler

In 1907 Hitler moved to Vienna to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts. The assessment commission attested him talent for drawing, respectively architectural images, but yet rejected him, because of his „unfitness for painting“. Maybe Hitler was not an artistic genius, but he had a strong will and was fairly disciplined. In 1908 Hitler passed the entrance test again, this time successfully.

Collage of Hitler paintings / Collage von Hitler-Gemälden
This collage unites some early works of Adolf Hitler, right in the middle a photograph of the artist as a young boy.

In 1910 Hitler became the last „Meisterschueler“ of Christian Griepenkerl (1839 – 1912), curiously enough the professor who rejected him in 1907. In 1912 Hitler had his first more extensive exhibition at the Secession hall in Vienna. At this time his style was strongly influenced by landscapists like Van Gogh and Cézanne, but of course in his own expressionistic interpretation.
Since 1913 Hitler and Ludwig Wittgenstein lived together in a spacious urban villa at the Viennese Kundmanngasse that was built according to own construction plans. At this time their homosexuality was already an open secret. With the beginning of World War I in 1914 both of them joined the Austrian army (Wittgenstein voluntarily, Hitler by force). While Wittgenstein stayed uninjured and even could finish his first main work in the trenches (the Tractatus logico-philosophicus), Hitler was shot during a harsh attack of the Serbian enemy in January 1915 and died from exsanguination, aged only 25.
Hitler was not the only famous German speaking painter who lost his life in the trenches. August Macke, Franz Marc and Franz Noelken also died at the frontline. It’s hard to imagine what artworks those fallen heroes may have produced if they did not have died that young …

How to convert common email prefixes into cool ones and some remarks on perfect numbers

COMMON –>
but useful for spamming
COOL
911
1-900
666
1101111000 (888 binary)
1337
MCCCXXXVII (1337 latin)
admin
JHWH
contact
hellogoodbye (beatles)
corporate
asics [anima sana in corpore sano (acronym)]
enquiries
iris queen (anagram)
info
onoff or loremipsum or whatever
mail
liam (gallagher)
request
thequest
root
rootof2
sales
capitalism_2.0
solutions
finalsolutions (rather evil than cool)
webmaster
weedmaster
domain@domain
neverod@doreven (palindrome)
forename.
surname etc
doe (placeholder name)
or robert.trebor (ananym)
more boring prefixes (but also useful for spam attacks): office, orders, reception, support 
more geeky ones: 3.14159… (pi of course); 42 (answer to the ultimate question of life the universe and everything –> even Google knows that); 6, 28, 496, 8128, … (perfect numbers – by the way: take a look at their end digits –> yes: always 6 or 8 …)
extreme nerdy: transform perfect numbers into binary code:
6 = 110 (in Germany also the counterpart to 911)
8 = 11100
496 = 111110000
8128 = 1111111000000
As you can see, perfect numbers have a special structure in binary code (p ones followed by p − 1  zeros). I was really excited when I detected this pattern, but I was of course not the first one (unbelievable what enlightenments can arise on the quest for cool mail prefixes). If you study the explanation for the pattern, you will realize that perfect numbers are closely linked with Mersenne primes. Just take a look at their binary structure:
3 = 11
7 = 111
31 = 11111
127 = 1111111
[I have to close this chapter here, but I will return to perfect numbers sooner or later]
Well, my personal prefix derives from the scientific name of the common box (Buxus sempervirens). Sempervirens means „always strong or virile“, referring to the evergreen and frost-resistant leaves of the box.

Did you mean Google?

How long will it take until the Google engine becomes aware of itself? 10 years? 100 years? Or is this out of question?
Are there are any signs of self representation by now? And how to detect them?
I made a test that can easily be repeated by YOU, my dear reader. Remember: Google is a compliant proband. He/She/It will tell you the same secrets that I got from him/her/it. First google „google“ with three o’s (gooogle), four o’s (goooogle) and so on … (make sure that Google instant predictions are off)
Result: More than four o’s are to much for our little search engine. „Did you mean google“ appears only with three to four o’s. From 5 to 124 o’s you actually get search results (but the more o’s the more senseless). I guess there are websites with even 125 Google-o’s, but they don’t appear in the results, because a Google search term is limited to 128 signs (7 Bit).
Now we should dare the enlightening look into the mirror: Type „elgoog“ and press „I’m Feeling Lucky“ (even if you don’t feel lucky)
Result: You land on a page where the Google site is completely mirrored, or formulated correctly: .derorrim yletelpmoc si eglooG erew egap a no dnal uoY
For rash readers, here is the direct link to the „mirror server“ 😉
Now that we know that Google recognizes his twin brother elgooG and can count to four, we should grant the engine at least recreational holidays once a year …
PS: For all 1337 fans I have another cool Google gimmick /// ƒ0r 4££ 1337 ƒ4n$ 1 h4v3 4n07h3r 9009£3-91mm1(|{ /// Check it out: https://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-hacker

On the seventh day Z. created the timeline …

The next step in social networking is made. Since December 6, 2011, Facebook’s „Timeline“ is available and replaces the conventional user profile. From now on every post and like is set into the larger context of the user’s life career. The profile isn’t static anymore, but changes and grows like an organism, like Facebook has grown in size and complexity over the past years, not to mention Google or the internet as a whole.
After the formation of chemical elements and their compounds, living matter and human consciousness, evolution has finally entered the world of the binary code …

perpetuum mobile invented? Follow-up: no.

The world’s energy demand could be covered with a single stroke, if low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR) could be evoked. LENR (or cold fusion) would practically be an inexhaustible energy source, without the well-known risks of nuclear fission. The problem: According to present knowledge LENR offend against the generally accepted laws of physics and established theories. Nevertheless there is an Italian inventor (Andrea Rossi) who claims to have invented a machine that can evoke those divine reactions. His patented „Energy Catalyzer“ allegedly transforms nickel into copper by infusing heated hydrogen. In fact Rossi has already found investors in the US and Europe. It seems that his device really works: The engineer Domenico Fioravanti tested the prototype for an undisclosed customer and reported that the plant released about 2,5 kW during five hours of self sustained mode. If Rossi has actually single-handedly found out the recipe for cold fusion, he would have secured his place in the history books. But caution is called for – how many scholars and pseudo-scientists have claimed to have squared the circle before?
Nevertheless, Rossi has graduated with a thesis on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. And we remember how heavily Einstein was underestimated in his early career …
Follow-up: Until now [October 2, 2015] nothing has been severely proved or disproved. However there are indications that the device is an imposture. More at Wikipedia: http://bit.ly/energycat