In February of 2007, D-Wave Systems, of Burnaby, Canada, successfully demonstrated the world’s first quantum computer, to much fanfare. Known as Orion, this 16-qubit adiabatic quantum computer is designed to be scaled up to a 1024-qubit model by mid-2008 that can very quickly compute a very specific sort of problem using somewhat different properties of quantum […]
The story of place: Discovery Roman Bathhouse Changes Understandings of Nazareth’s History
The ancient bathouse in Nazareth is an impressive archeological site that includes inside it treasures from more than one era, leading to disagreements about its origins. It was discovered by accident by a couple under their commercial shop in the city centre, and is beside one of the most sacred and historical places in Christianity, […]
Dodgy neighbour
A recent interview in the Financial Times had South Africa’s president Thabo Mbeki reiterating his much maligned policy of quiet diplomacy on the ever thornier subject of his country’s troubled neighbour, Zimbabwe. With Robert Mugabe, who at 83 has now led Zimbabwe for 27 years, having convinced his party to select him as their candidate […]
OPEC
OPEC and High Gas prices OPEC and prices at the gas pump are hitting the headlines again. This should not surprise savvy news readers. Prices at the pump start bouncing around every year, just about the time Americans start making vacation plans. There is only one certainty when […]
Schooling isn’t education
Until the moment I withdrew my sons from state education in the UK, I confused education with schooling. It’s a common mistake, and one which is easier to make if you have been through the state education machine yourself. The state spends considerable amounts of money – our money! – persuading us that the two […]
Warnings for Obama
"If you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we […]