The math wizards at Numberphile have brought back an age-old multiplying algorithm known as halves and doubles, peasant math, Egyptian math, or—as math presenter Johnny Ball describes it—Russian multiplying.
To do the method, begin by writing the two numbers you want to multiply at the top of two columns. In the left column, you progressively halve the number and take the integer floor of any “and a half” values, all the way down to 1. In the right column, you double the number as many times as there are digits in the left column…
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Bandung is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia and the fourth-largest city in Indonesia. Greater Bandung is the country’s second-largest metropolitan area with over 11 million inhabitants. Located 768 meters (2,520 feet) above sea level, the highest point in the North area with an altitude of 1,050 meters and the lowest in the South is 675 meters above sea level, approximately 140 kilometers (87 miles) southeast of Jakarta, Bandung has cooler year-round temperatures than most other Indonesian cities. The city lies on a river basin surrounded by volcanic mountains that provides a natural defense system, which was the primary reason for the Dutch East Indies government’s plan to move the capital from Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) to Bandung.
The Dutch first established tea plantations around the mountains in the 18th century, and a road was constructed to connect the plantation area to the colonial capital Batavia (180 kilometers (112 miles) to the northwest). In the early 20th century the Dutch inhabitants of Bandung demanded the establishment of a municipality (gemeente), which was granted in 1906, and Bandung gradually developed into a resort city for plantation owners. Luxurious hotels, restaurants, cafés, and European boutiques were opened, leading the city to be nicknamed Parijs van Java (Dutch: “The Paris of Java”).
After Indonesia declared independence in 1945, the city has experienced ongoing development and urbanization, transforming from an idyllic town into a dense 16,500 people/km2 (per square kilometer) metropolitan area with living space for over 8 million people. New skyscrapers, high-rise buildings, bridges, and gardens have been constructed. Natural resources have been heavily exploited, particularly by conversion of the protected upland area into highland villas and real estate. Although the city has encountered many problems (ranging from waste disposal and floods to a complicated traffic system resulting from a lack of road infrastructure), it still attracts large numbers of tourists, weekend sightseers, and migrants from other parts of Indonesia. In 2017 the city won a regional environmental sustainability award for having the cleanest air among major cities in ASEAN. The city is also known as a Smart City, leveraging technology to improve government services and social media, that alert residents to issues such as floods or traffic jams. Bandung is Indonesia’s major technology center. The city is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which it joined in 2015.
The first Asian-African Conference, the Bandung Conference, was hosted in Bandung by President Sukarno in 1955. Redevelopment of the existing Husein Sastranegara International Airport (BDO) was completed in 2016. To improve infrastructure, construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail was started in 2016 and is projected to be completed in 2021. This is to be complemented by an indigenous type of Automated People Mover (APM) and Light Rail Transit (LRT). The new larger second airport, Bandung Kertajati International Airport (KJT) opened in June 2018, just in time for the 2018 Asian Games. Wikipedia
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An image from Bandung, Bandung City, West Java, Indonesia
Your phones and computers hold more than you might realize. The files that you can view by default on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS are by no means everything that’s stored on those systems.
These hidden files are typically used by the operating system and the applications you’re running to store data that you don’t normally need access to—indeed, data that can interfere with the smooth running of your device if it’s edited in the wrong way or deleted.
User settings and app configurations are often saved as hidden files, for example. Programs need these files to run, but users don’t really need access to them. Hidden file caches are common as well, temporary stores of data to speed up software operations.
This guide comes with a warning then—you edit or delete hidden files from your devices at your own risk, and you really shouldn’t have to do anything with these files anyway.
Viewing them can be useful, though, in terms of troubleshooting problems you might be having with your phone or laptop, or for trying to work out exactly where all your digital storage space has got to. Here’s how to make these files visible.
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Hidden files are typically used by the operating system and apps you use to store data. You don’t normally need access to them, but it can be helpful. Photograph: Getty Images
When I lived in the Bay Area, I used to get together with my friend Jaron Lanier to explore the implications of spectacularly weird thought experiments.
Outlandish thought experiments have been essential in the intellectual history of science, but the point isn’t the weirdness itself. The payoff of thinking about strange things like Schrödinger’s cat, the infamous cat that is alive and dead at the same time, is not necessarily that we should then “believe” in the existence of such a cat. Instead, we can hope that uncommon ideas will shed light on the murky margins of our thoughts; in the case of Schrodinger’s cat, in dealing with the question of superposition. The point is not to confuse or bamboozle people, but to eventually find a way to think that makes more sense and is a little less murky.
The bizarre notion I want to consider here came from a discussion of the search for alien life forms. There are a variety of ways to look for signs of alien life in the universe, usually involving a large array of telescopes. One approach is founded on the hope that perhaps astronomers will get lucky and chance upon an alien radio broadcast. But in the thought experiment, Lanier and I explored, we considered a different and far more dramatic possibility.
Suppose that there are lots of alien civilizations running hugely capacious quantum computers of the sort that Google and others are just beginning to build here on Earth. This leads to a question of high weirdness: Would an extreme amount of very distant quantum computation result in any astronomically observable effect? Could we humans see evidence of a universe teeming with quantum computers by carefully examining the night sky?
We thought about various ways this might be possible, but in the end, we focused on one wonderful possibility. So here it is: First, alien quantum computers could explain the mystery of dark energy because computation by multitudes of alien creatures across the universe bends (or rather unbends) the universe as a whole. Because we can observe the effect of dark energy, accelerating the expansion of the universe, this implies that we have already seen evidence that our universe is alive beyond us—we just haven’t recognized it as such! And we found, fortunately, that contemplating this almost imponderable notion has a human-scale practical payoff: It helps us clarify how we think about plausible relationships between gravity and quantum information. (If you think this is strange, you should read some of the competing ideas. One recent paper suggests that dark energy is actually a sign that time is about to cease to be time and turn into space instead. We’d then be frozen out of time, but be four-dimensional. Compared to that, our proposal, aliens and all, is practically tame.)
Let’s go through the argument step by step: What is a quantum computer, and why would aliens be using them?
Tijuca (Portuguese pronunciation: [tʃiˈʒukɐ]) (meaning marsh or swamp in the Tupi language, from ty (“water”) and îuk (“rotten”) is a neighborhood of the Northern Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It comprises the region of Saens Peña and Afonso Pena squares. According to the 2000 Census, the district has close to 150,000 inhabitants. It borders with Praça da Bandeira, Maracanã, Vila Isabel, Andaraí, Grajaú and Alto da Boa Vista neighbourhoods.
It is one of the most traditional districts of Rio de Janeiro and has the third-largest urban forest in the world, the Tijuca Forest, which is the result of reforestation from coffee fields that led to a lack of water at that time. Mainly a middle-class district, it has been historically inhabited by Portuguese immigrant families and the families of military officers.
Tijuca hosts Salgueiro, Império da Tijuca and Unidos da Tijuca, three of the main Rio de Janeiro Samba Schools, that together have won 13 titles.
Tijuca is also home to many favelas such as Salgueiro, Borel, Formiga, Turano and Casa Branca. Wikipedia
About 66 million years ago, an estimated 6-mile-wide (9.6 kilometers) object slammed into Earth, triggering a cataclysmic series of events that resulted in the demise of non-avian dinosaurs.
Now, scientists think they know where that object came from.
According to new research, the impact was caused by a giant dark primitive asteroid from the outer reaches of the solar system‘s main asteroid belt, situated between Mars and Jupiter. This region is home to many dark asteroids — space rocks with a chemical makeup that makes them appear darker (reflecting very little light) compared with other types of asteroids.
Match the following figures – Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, Alfred Nobel, and Nikola Tesla – with these biographical facts:
Spoke eight languages
Produced the first motor that ran on AC current
Developed the underlying technology for wireless communication over long distances
Held approximately 300 patents
Claimed to have developed a “superweapon” that would end all war
The match for each, of course, is Tesla. Surprised? Most people have heard his name, but few know much about his place in modern science and technology.
The 75th anniversary of Tesla’s death on Jan. 7, 2018, provides an opportunity to review the life of a man who came from nowhere yet became world-famous; claimed to be devoted solely to discovery but relished the role of a showman; attracted the attention of many women but never married; and generated ideas that transformed daily life and created multiple fortunes but died nearly penniless.
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The inventor at rest, with a Tesla coil (thanks to a double exposure). Photo from Dickenson V. Alley, Wellcome Collection, CC BY.
The Metropolitan City of Bari (Italian: Città Metropolitana di Bari) is a metropolitan city in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bari. It replaced the Province of Bari and includes the city of Bari and some forty other municipalities (comuni). It was first created by the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990) and then established by Law 56/2014. It has been operative since January 1, 2015.
The Metropolitan City of Bari is headed by the Metropolitan Mayor (Sindaco metropolitano) and by the Metropolitan Council (Consiglio metropolitano). Since 1 January 2015 Antonio Decaro, as mayor of the capital city, has been the first mayor of the Metropolitan City.
It has an area of 3.825 km2 (1.477 sq mi) and a total population of 1,261,152 (2014).
Overlooking the Adriatic Sea in south-eastern Italy, the Province of Bari is located in the central part of Apulia and is bordered on the west by the provinces of Matera and Potenza, to the north by the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, and to the south by the provinces of Taranto and Brindisi. The province of Bari was formerly a part of the region of Terra di Bari, which once included the towns of Fasano and Cisternino, now in the province of Brindisi.
The area is dominated by the Murgia hills in the inner part, a karst plateau which is the home of the Alta Murgia National Park, one of the newest national parks in Italy, established in 2004. Only the Bari hinterland and the coastal strip are flat. The north of the province, with Bari, Altamura, Bitonto, Corato, Gravina in Puglia, and Molfetta, is heavily populated. The south, on the contrary, is characterized by the absence of these large centers; the only municipality to be around 50,000 inhabitants is Monopoli. In the southern part of the province, on the border with that of Taranto, is the Itria Valley, between the towns of Alberobello, Locorotondo, Cisternino, and Martina Franca. The province is largely devoid of rivers and lakes, although underground rivers in the karst landscape has formed numerous caves, including those of Castellana and Putignano. Wikipedia
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An image from Bari, Metropolitan City of Bari, Italy
Imagine if you could take a pill that would double your intelligence. What would that feel like?
You’d be able to keep more thoughts in your head. You could draw new connections between ideas. You could solve problems you’ve been stuck on for years.
Such a pill may not exist, but there already is a cognitive enhancing tool, and it doesn’t require brain-altering drugs.
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Photo by Audtakorn Sutarmjam / EyeEm / Getty Images.
In the world, human beings are facing various problems. People who are full of greed, anger, and ignorance are seen to be fighting with each other in words and deeds. As the fighting continues, various problems such as civil wars, wars of aggression, and wars of aggression are occurring. As world peace is being destroyed, humans are facing unbearable problems. Innocent children and women are not getting the rights they deserve and deserve. I can't think of one thing every time. What is it? The United Nations. If we look at the responsibilities and duties of the United Nations, I think it is not suitable for solving the problems that are happening in the world today. In fact, the United Nations and the World Security Council, such an organization must rule the world, must be able to give orders, and must have various ways to obey orders. There must be no organization that can influence more than that organization. There should be experts from each country. They can even dominate the superpowers like the US, China, and Britain. Only then will global peace be achieved quickly. Now, if a country with power develops more militarily, economically, or socially than its own country, then powerful countries will jealously seek out enemies and wage war. Or they will attack with fighter jets. In this, innocent people are losing their lives. No one understands the value of a life. You should think about how to achieve global peace by controlling these. If the US continues to be the permanent president of the UN, world peace will never be achieved. If you think carefully, no one sees that they are working for the common good, but for their own benefit, for the benefit of their own country. The permanent president of the UN and the Security Council has rejected this, As a young Rohingya, I have come to realize that only by electing the president and secretary from among the countries in the world through a secret ballot system and governing the world fairly can we achieve global peace. The United Nations and the Security Council are organizations in which any country must govern, give orders, and make them obey their orders. For example, only when a defendant is tried in court can we hold the leaders of the countries in check and control them, can we achieve global peace smoothly. Otherwise, it will not be easy for powerful countries to use various excuses to end this war every year, every year, for the benefit of themselves and their countries. No country's leaders pay any attention to the words of the United Nations and the Security Council. If we look at it in practice, look at the Rohingya issue. Myanmar is a small country. Even that country has been under siege for 8 years. What action can be taken? Why is the UN and the Security Council Powerless? Without such Power, how can the organization bring about global peace? Everyone should think about it. Whether there is a veto or a strong one, all countries in the world can only achieve global peace if they are subject to the UN and the Security Council. Seek peace in the quiet embrace of nature. Peace is an indispensable need of the human race. It is not as if one person can kill another person, and it is as if one country can attack another country, but instead of trying to build peace, we must try to destroy the peace now, and the world is getting hotter and is on the verge of collapse. I especially appeal to all the world experts to urgently try to bring about peace in all parts of the world. Mr, Noor Muhamed Arkhan Rohingya Youth Myanmar
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
