Quantum Computer

A Strange Computer Promises Great Speed

By QUENTIN HARDY

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Our digital age is all about bits, those precise ones and zeros that are the stuff of modern computer code.

But a powerful new type of computer that is about to be commercially deployed by a major American military contractor is taking computing into the strange, subatomic realm of quantum mechanics. In that infinitesimal neighborhood, common sense logic no longer seems to apply. A one can be a one, or it can be a one and a zero and everything in between — all at the same time.

It sounds preposterous, particularly to those familiar with the yes/no world of conventional computing. But academic researchers and scientists at companies like Microsoft, I.B.M. and Hewlett-Packard have been working to develop quantum computers.

Now, Lockheed Martin — which bought an early version of such a computer from the Canadian company D-Wave Systems two years ago — is confident enough in the technology to upgrade it to commercial scale, becoming the first company to use quantum computing as part of its business.

IVBMP and BHRC to hold a joint protest on International Day against Disappearances

Canada (Vancouver): International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons and Baloch Human Rights Council of Canada are jointly holding protests on the International Day against Disappearances.

The main aim of the protest is to bring world attention to the unending enforced disappearances and “the kill and dump” policy of Pakistan. Along with this, the safe release of Zakir Majeed Baloch and the rest of all Baloch missing persons will be highlighted on the International Day of Disappearances.

Zakir Majeed Baloch is the senior vice chairman of Baloch Student Organization – Azad. He was abducted on June 8, 2009 by Pakistani Intelligence agencies since his whereabouts are still unknown.

According to the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons about 14,000 Baloch have been victims of enforced disappearance in the hands of Pakistan’s security agencies and 500 have been extra judicially killed and targeted. Majority of victims were in custody of Pakistani security forces. They were inhumanely tortured, mutilated and decomposed bodies were dumped in the remote areas and on the road side across Balochistan. Some of the inhumanely tortured victim’s bodies were unrecognisable only their remaining skeletons were found.

Who stole our country? Major cities brace for ‘Occupy Canada’

– Canadian cities brace for Occupy Wall Street’s weekend shift across the border

By Steve Mertl, Daily Brew

Toronto and other major cities are bracing for the Canadian echo of the Occupy Wall Street protest this weekend.

Thousands of people have been camped out in New York’s financial district for a week, staging marches to protest the growing gap between America’s super rich and the harried middle and working classes. Hundreds have been arrested.

The movement, sparked by an idea in Vancouver-based Adbusters magazine last summer, has since spread to dozens of American cities and now is migrating north. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Regina and even sleepy Charlottetown are scheduled to see protests on Saturday.

Toronto will be the main focal point of the Canadian effort. Protesters are expected to converge at King and York Streets in the heart of Canada’s finance and investment centre Saturday morning.

The group OccupyTO’s website raises the spectre of a New York-style long-term action rather than a one-day protest. ….

Read more » Daily Brew » YahooNews

BHRC (Canada) Protests in Toronto and Vancouver

Toronto, May 27, 2011 – Toronto and Vancouver chapters of Baloch Human Rights Council (Canada) staged demonstrations in front of the U.S. Consulates. …. The demonstrations held in Toronto and Vancouver, the two major cities of Canada, were jointly organized by Baloch Human Rights Council (Canada), International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (IVBMP), and the International Centre for Peace and Democracy (ICFPD). The participants in the demonstration came from all walks of life, particular the Baloch Diaspora, Kashmiris, Sindhis, and the progressive and secular elements in society.

Baloch peaceful rally in front of the US Consulate in Vancouver

BHRC & IVBMP letter to US consulate

The purpose of our peaceful rally today is to express our concern over the ongoing military operation and summary executions conducted by the — and — occupation forces in Balochistan. We also would like to express our concern regarding the U.S. military aid to Pakistan, which is being diverted by the — to crush the freedoms and rights movement in Balochistan. Instead of fighting the Afghan Taliban, the Al-Qaida linked Haqqani Terror-Network in North Waziristan, or Mulla Omar’s Quetta Shura; the — military and its intelligence services are committing atrocities against civilian Baloch populace. …

Read more : baluchsarmachar

Dam deconstruction!!

The Theodosia River diversion dam will be the first dam in Canada decommissioned to restore fish habitat

A DECISION to decommission a British Columbia dam has observers wondering when – not if – other hydroelectric installations in Canada will be dismantled to give free flowing rivers for fish and ecology of the earth.

The Theodosia River diversion dam, about 140 kilometers northwest of Vancouver, will be the first major dam in Canada decommissioned to restore for fish natural habitat, says Mark Angelo, spokesperson for the Save the Thdosia Coalition and rivers chair of the Outdoor Recreation Council of British Coumbia.

The fact that we are willing to look at taking out dams that have outlived their usefulness sets an important precedent in Canada, says Angelo.

Theodosia dam is the first, but I am sure it won’t be last. The Save the Thoeodosia Coalition is the lone Canadian member organization of the International Rivers Network, which is promoting local and global efforts to decommission/ demolish dams and revive rivers.

The Theodosia River supported annual runs of more than 150,000 salmon before a diversion dam, built-in 1955, redirected 80 percent of the river’s flow.

The decision to remove the dam was made in February 2000 by the B.C. government.