What's Special About This Number? 0 is the additive identity. 1 is the multiplicative identity. 2 is the only even prime. 3 is the number of spatial dimensions we live in. 4 is the smallest number of colors sufficient to color all planar maps. 5 is the number of Platonic solids. 6 is the smallest perfect number. 7 is the smallest number of faces of a regular polygon that is not constructible by straightedge and compass. 8 is the largest cube in the Fibonacci sequence. 9 is the maximum number of cubes that are needed to sum to any positive integer. 10 is the base of our number system.
a math prof made this cool site talking about special quality about thousands of numbers...good mental masterbation for all the number theory junkies out there (you know who you are)...
Startupping is a one-of-a-kind community resource created for Internet entrepreneurs by Internet entrepreneurs. It is a place to share information, ask questions, and tap into the experience of others who have built and are building web businesses. Read blog posts about startup issues, participate in our discussion forums, and view our wiki resources, including sample term sheets and a glossary. For more information about the Startupping site, see our about page.
YouTube - Video explains the world's most important 6-sec drum loop
Topic: Arts
5:47 pm EST, Feb 15, 2007
This fascinating, brilliant 20-minute video narrates the history of the "Amen Break," a six-second drum sample from the b-side of a chart-topping single from 1969. This sample was used extensively in early hiphop and sample-based music, and became the basis for drum-and-bass and jungle music -- a six-second clip that spawned several entire subcultures. Nate Harrison's 2004 video is a meditation on the ownership of culture, the nature of art and creativity, and the history of a remarkable music clip.
UPDATE - A detour into the strange world of quantum computing
Topic: Miscellaneous
9:47 pm EST, Feb 12, 2007
A detour into the strange world of quantum computing 2/12/2007 12:16:26 PM, by John Timmer On Tuesday, a startup company called D-Wave is going to publicly demonstrate a quantum computing system that they call Orion. Is this the dawn of a new era of computing or simply an exercise in hype? It's hard to say prior to the announcement, but my guess is a little of both. To fully appreciate why, we'll have to take a detour into the strange world of quantum computing.
they claim to have a working 16 bit quantum computer...even if its extremely limited in its applications I'm very excited to see this technology moving forward so quickly...
UPDATE: so I just heard from someone that was at the demo, it apears to have worked as advertised...pretty amazing...
Wired: 27B Stroke 6- Billy Hoffman on Ajax Security at RSA
Topic: Computer Security
4:40 pm EST, Feb 8, 2007
The best conference presenters have a story to tell, and this morning, Billy Hoffman -- the lead researcher at Web application security company SPI Dynamics, had a great story to tell Wednesday morning at the RSA security conference about how all your favorite new Web 2.0 applications are a boon to criminals.
