QIP 2010 Speakers
The list of talks accepted at QIP 2010 is now online. As a member of the PC I can tell you that there were way more good papers than available speaking slots and made some of the final decisions hard to make. One talk that I think will be a highlight is the invited talk by the optimizer: "Efficient simulation of quantum mechanics collapses the polynomial hierarchy." Quantum computing skeptics of the "BQP=BPP" kind may just found their island significantly smaller and lonelier. The QIP=PSPACE will also be given a talk

Quantum Misc
Some notes for quantum computing people: IARPA will be hosting a Proposers' Day Conference for the Quantum Computer Science (QCS) Program on December 17, 2009 in anticipation of the release of a new solicitation in support of the program. Details hereSubmissions for TQC 2010 in Leeds are now open at http://tqc2010.leeds.ac.uk.Digging through my inbox I noticed that I forgot to advertise the following quantum postdoc:The physics of quantum information group at the department of physics of the Universite de Sherbrooke invites applications for up to

The 1/6th People
@EricRWeinstein is at it again in twitterland, this time on the subject of the funding of science. For an intriguing read about the glut of Ph.D.s versus science funding, he links to his (circa 1998?) article titled: "How and Why Government, Universities, and Industry Create Domestic Labor Shortages of Scientists and High-Tech Workers." An interesting read, to say the least. Then @michael_nielsen points to

D. Bacon Beard
One must wait until the end of the video, and no, that is not me: Read the comments on this post...

Mmmvelopes. Tasty Tasty Mmmvelopes.
Too often in life I am sending out a check to some charitable organization, or to resubscribe to Bacon magazine, and I think "damn this would be a lot better with Bacon." And now via the honest one, I find out that there is a solution to this vexing problem: Bacon flavored envelopes! From the "learn more" section of the webstie:Technology has given us a lot lately. The car. TV. X-rays. The refrigerator. The Internet. Heck, we even cured polio. But what have our envelopes tasted like for the last 4,000 years? Armpit, that's what. Really