Posts Tagged ‘Guinness Book of World Records’
“A classical computation is like a solo voice—one line of pure tones succeeding each other. A quantum computation is like a symphony—many lines of tones interfering with one another.”*…
Quantum computers will never fully replace “classical” ones like the device you’re reading this article on. They won’t run web browsers, help with your taxes, or stream the latest video from Netflix.
What they will do—what’s long been hoped for, at least—will be to offer a fundamentally different way of performing certain calculations. They’ll be able to solve problems that would take a fast classical computer billions of years to perform. They’ll enable the simulation of complex quantum systems such as biological molecules, or offer a way to factor incredibly large numbers, thereby breaking long-standing forms of encryption.
The threshold where quantum computers cross from being interesting research projects to doing things that no classical computer can do is called “quantum supremacy.” Many people believe that Google’s quantum computing project will achieve it later this year…
Researchers are getting close to building a quantum computer that can perform tasks a classical computer can’t. Here’s what the milestone will mean: “Quantum Supremacy Is Coming: Here’s What You Should Know.”
* Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos
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As we get weird, we might recall that it was on this date in 2012 that Ohioan Beth Johnson attempted to break a record that has been set in on this same date 1999 by a group of English college students– for the largest working yoyo in the world. The British yoyo was 10 feet in diameter; hers, 11 feet, 9 inches. (It weighed 4,620 lbs.) Her attempt on this date failed, as did another. But finally, in September, 2012, she was able successfully to deploy it from a crane in Cincinnati… and earn her way into the Guinness Book of World Records
Beth Johnson and her record-setting creation
Sending Out An S.O.S…
From the first known message in a bottle (launched by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, one of Aristotle’s pupils, in 310 BCE) to the 26-foot, 2.7-ton bottle (carrying a 129-square-foot message) expected to make landfall shortly, a history of the message in a bottle…
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As we wait shoreside, we might recall that it was on this date in 1978 that West Australian fisherman Arron Marshall finished a 336 hours shower… and earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
(Not) all roads lead to Rome…
click here for larger, interactive version
In about 300 CE, Imperial cartographers created a road map of the Roman Empire; hundreds of years later, medieval artisans copied it, creating the Tabula Peutingeriana…
Now, René Voorburg and a team of like-minded enthusiasts have re-copied the Tabula. Using a set of techniques described here, they have mashed it up with Google Maps to create Omnes Viae: Tabula Peutingeriana— replete with Iter Vestrum (“Your Trip”), a handy route-planning tool…
As readers will see, while during the time of the Roman Republic, all roads did lead to Rome, imperial expansion– which began with the Empire in 44 BCE– rendered that kind of “hub and spoke” transit architecture impractical. The Tabula dates from relatively early in the Empire. Soon after, Constantine became Caesar and created Constantinople as an Eastern capital; in another 50 years, the Empire was divided… and the roads became even more decentralized. The Western Empire collapsed in 473, and the roads pictured in the section of the Tabula pictured above became past of a larger network of European roads. The Eastern Empire lasted until 1453, when it fell to the Ottoman Turks; and its roads became part of that burgeoning empire’s network.
As we feel an inexplicable craving for polenta, we might wish a mysterious Happy Birthday to Agatha Christie; she was born on this date in 1890. Dame Agatha published 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections (featuring creations like Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple), along with a number of successful plays. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time– her novels have sold over four billion copies– and, with William Shakespeare, the best-selling author of any type. And according to Index Translationum, she is the most translated individual author (at least 103 languages), with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Her play The Mousetrap opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on November 25, 1952 and is still running– at more than 24,000 performances, the longest-ever initial run of a stage play.
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