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Happy New Year!

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Earlier today I got this email (from NASA) with subject line, Government Shutdown and D-Wave System:

If you are receiving this email, you are being notified that, due to the US government shutdown, access to the D-Wave machine is suspended until further notice.  We will advise you when this situation changes.

I miss Jon Stewart, doing his thing, on The Daily Show.

Once in a while, I land up watching Trevor Noah.

Sometimes I see snippets from the Colbert Report.

But, they are not Jon.

Sometime in December, I saw a great show by John Oliver from some years ago:

John Oliver on HBO uses RIP to Forgive nearly $15M in Medical Debt for 9,000 Americans.

I thought that idea — of buying distressed medical debt — could be a good Christmas Gift to give thousands of Americans this year.

Many years ago, I had set up RAGS Charitable Foundation: Rohan, Ashwin, Gunjan, Sridhar.

We have made many gifts over the years, including funding an Institute Chair (in 2016) at my alma-mater, IIT Madras.

This Christmas, we decided to donate to RIP Medical Debt.

Who says watching late night TV cannot lead to something good?

Now, why was I upset about the shutdown?

My team — CMU Quantum Group — has been working over the holidays to finish up our experiments on D-Wave.

We are solving non-linear integer optimization problems using Graver basis (as the test set) that have been computed using quantum annealing.

We have three invitations already this year to present our work. (Two in January!)

Time for this Government Shutdown to end!

Happy New Year!

 

 

3 comments

  1. Reply

    This is awesome. Thanks for allowing a peek into that restless mind of yours. Miss our lunches!

    My only suggestion is a quick link to all your new films reviews. Would be helpful as Gerry and I disagree about what to see next.

  2. Reply

    Hi Liz:
    Miss our lunches too! Perhaps in May when I am back doing my guest teaching at Harvard.
    Here are 15 movie reviews:

    1. Vice: Cute in places, but a missed opportunity to make a good movie. Recommend.
    2. Roma: Overrated. It will win awards, but to me this is where I disagree with the Academy (like in the cases of La La Land and The Shape of Water). Skip.
    3. A Private War: Recommend. Rosamund Pike delivers a good performance.
    4. The Mule: Clint is good. Recommend.
    5. A Start is Born; Lady Gaga is good. Bradley Cooper’s performance is given too much credit in the reviews. Recommend.
    6. Bohemian Rhapsody: Quite enjoyable. Rami Malek does a good job. Recommend.
    7. A Simple Favor: Enjoyed it. Recommend.
    8. First Man: Decent. Recommend.
    9. Crazy Rich Asians: Too light. Skip.
    10. Searching: Interesting format and competently executed. Recommend.
    11. Widows: Recommend.
    12. Spider’s Web: Okay, but could have been better. Skip.
    13. Fantastic Beasts: Not as good as the first one. Skip.
    14. Hunter Killer: Disappointing. Skip.
    15. Operation Finale: Quite gripping. Recommend.

  3. Reply

    Many thanks! Looking forward to connecting in May. Thanks for this primer on new films!

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