Dr. Christopher Bird

September 28, 2020 - I forgot to mention in my previous posting that there is a "Day Zero" for the Qubit conference this year, to take place today. This will be a series of lectures for people who are not familiar with quantum computing or not familiar with the quantum annealing methods used by the D-Wave computers, and are intended as a review. Even those of us who are familiar with the technology might benefit from and enjoy a little refresher :)

September 25, 2020 - With every dark cloud there is a silver lining. Because people cannot travel this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many conferences are being held online. This means that people who normally wouldn't be able to attend in person can now participate online. The latest of these is the annual Qubits conference on quantum computing, sponsored by local tech company D-Wave, to be held on September 29, 2020.  Those who are interested can get the details here.

September 17, 2020 - For those of you who are interested in the less serious and more interesting side of scientific research, tonight marks the thirtieth Ig Nobel prize ceremony, to honour research that makes you laugh and then makes you think. It is all serious research published in peer reviewed journals, on topics that are comical or outright bizarre. The ceremony can be viewed online through the Quite Interesting channel on Youtube.

September 10, 2020 - I do not normally comment on news stories or current events outside of the scientific and mathematical worlds, but I was disturbed tonight by an event at my old university and I need to vent. As everyone knows, there are restrictions in place at colleges and universities to minimize the spread of COVID-19. Tonight a group of over one hundred new students attending the University of Victoria -many of whom are still under quarantine- decided to hold a wild party in the middle of the campus. When they were dispersed by the police, they climbed onto the roof of a nearby primary school and continued their party. When the police dispersed them again, they spent the night having a rowdy party on residential streets. No one knows at this point if any of them had the virus, or how much they might have spread it with their idiocy. If small children attending primary school can learn healthy behaviours during a pandemic, then University students certainly should. I hope the university expels each and every one of them.

July 30, 2020 - Congratulations to the NASA Perseverance team for their successful launch today of the latest Mars probe. If everything goes as plan, they expect to land sometime next February, and begin exploring the Martian surface. This will also be the first time in history that an aircraft will have flown on another world, as the Perseverance probe also carries a small helicopter drone that can be used for aerial studies. In a few months we should have some great new photos of our neighbour in the solar system!

July 20, 2020 - After ten months of working with my tech support team and web server support team, I finally have my mobile website operational again. For reasons that are still not clear it was the target of multiple cyber-attacks last year, and the entire site had to be rebuilt from scratch. I think that everything is operational again, but if there are any glitches please feel free to email me.

July 15, 2020 - Just a quick reminder today that with the clear skies locally, it is a great opportunity to view comet Neowise in the sky before it disappears for another six thousand years. 

June 24, 2020 - I have had a few people inquire as to why my science and technology blog has been dormant lately. I would like to assure my loyal readers that it is still active, and I will be writing new articles soon, but I have been kept busy for the last few months with a combination of global health issues and personal medical concerns. I am hoping to have a little more time for writing towards the end of the summer, but only time will tell.

June 15, 2020 - A reminder to everyone that today is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, when we should all take time to check on the elderly members of our families and our communities. As many of you know, this is an issue that is important to me because of members of my own family who were not only abused, but who could not get assistance from any form of government authority or healthcare program because elder abuse is still not taken seriously. Many victims are too scared and too embarrassed to report it. It is time that we as a society stand up for our vulnerable members and say that we will no longer tolerate the apathy of our governments and hospitals when it comes to protecting the elderly!