Quantum Computing Cribsheet

I found this interesting crib-sheet on quantum computers at Seed magazine. I really liked the illustrations depicting quantum superpositions and interference ideas. The writer of the crib-sheet, Lee Billings, also mentions D-Wave Systems at the very end, and how the company claims that they have demonstrated the first working commercial quantum computer.

The Mission (Accomplished) at the City Garage Theater

Los Angeles never ceases to amaze me. I was invited by my friend Lejla to this gem of a theater, called "The City Garage Theater" situated in an alley, yes an alley, in between third street promenade and fourth street in Santa Monica. It is a very small theater and seats about forty people which is fine by me because it makes the experience of watching a play all the more real and engaging. The play is directed by Frédérique Michel. The play was quite abstract, intellectually stimulating, hardy and packed with a powerful punch. There were a few scenes which I felt could have been done without the nudity. There were some plot lines which I wish could have been developed further. The wrestling, Indian Bharatnatyam, a bit of singing combined with current politics of the Bush administration makes this play worth watching. General audience tickets go for $20.00 and student tickets go for $10.00. You will have to show your student ID to get a discount. Below is an excerpt from their website.

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In 2003 the United States invaded Iraq in the cause of global freedom and democracy. In 1794 the Revolutionary Republic of France, also in the cause of global freedom and democracy, attempted to create a slave rebellion on the island of Jamaica. Both were on a mission to liberate a suffering people from a history of brutal rule. The parallels are haunting. In this dreamlike fantasy a crusading George Bush, a trio of French revolutionary agents, a young soldier on a fatal mission in Falloujah, Maximillian Robespierre and Dick Cheney competing on American Gladiator, and a man trapped in an elevator who is mysteriously transported to the Iraqi desert, are lost in a surreal landscape. This new adaptation of Heiner Müller’s The Mission explores the troubling question of human freedom and how we bring it about -- or fail to -- reflected in a funhouse mirror of contemporary events and through the prism of American Neoconservatism. Is a passionate conviction of one’s own moral rightness a strength or a danger, not just to others, but to oneself?
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Gary Palmer at Tarryn Teresa

Last evening I was admiring the work of Gary Palmer at the Tarryn Teresa gallery in Bergamot Station. The gallery was quite crowded and there were lots of people whom I hadn't seen or met before. While the Tarryn Teresa gallery might be small, it surely makes that up when it comes to exhibiting high quality contemporary art work.

Palmer's current work reminds one of seeing the horizon of a sand dune, or a desert mound far out in the California wilderness, speckled and spotted with vagabond and hardy bushes and shrubs, rising above the horizon. When I entered the gallery space itself amidst a throng of people and looked at the panels on all four walls, my impression was, "Hmm...is that it?" However, when I went closer to the panels and inspected them, I could see that there was quite a bit of work in these paintings. They are all black and white with splotches of gray that mark the rather sombre desert sky. The scenes in the various panels form a continuum with a single, thick, black line running across the middle, on which sit these various desert flora. The medium is sumi ink with which I have to admit I have never worked before. In the past I have played around with charcoal, India ink, and graphite. There were also some larger panels at the very entrance of the gallery and I actually found them more to my liking; pieces that I could hang at my place and stare and reminisce day in and day out.

The current exhibit runs till the end of May and I highly recommend going. Who knows, perhaps you may even like a piece and end up owning it!