God's Number is 20

About a month ago (in July 2010), four people collaborated with Goolge to determine the fewest number of moves to solve the Rubic's Cube. God, being omniscience, already knew this. Thus the number of moves that He needs to solve the Rubic's Cube is at most 20.

Personally, I find it rather odd that this number is called God's number and that the algorithm used is called God's algorithm. It is just another way of saying that this is the optimal solution. In computer science, we talk about optimal solutions all the time (at least up to constant factors), but we never use this term.

(All I am saying is that) this is just the only use of the phrase as far as I know. Oh well.

Reference:
God's Number is 20

A Parking Contradiction

I saw these signs in a parking lot on my way to school this week.

"A strange game this parking is. The only winning move is not to play."

Ode to TED (Day 7): Best of the Web

Today is my last "Ode to TED" day. I am sure that I will post more TED videos in the future because they are so good.

On this final day, we are going to watch a video from TED that is not by TED. TED has a "Best of the Web" section and today's video is certainly deserving of that title. It is about how all of life is becoming a game because of pervasive technology.

NOTE: This video has a few uses of strong language. I give it a PG-13 rating (to be safe).

DICE 2010: "Design Outside the Box" Presentation (DICE link)

Wii Games - E3 2011 - Guitar Hero 5

(Sorry that this video goes over my side menu bar.)

Ode to TED (Day 6): Siftables

Welcome to the penultimate "Ode to TED" day.

Siftables are an ingenious invention with amazing possibilities. My favorite part is the lack of need to explain the interface. Even though people have never seen them before, they will either know what to do from the beginning or have fun trying to figure it out. This is also one of Shannon's favorite TED videos.

TED2009: David Merrill demos Siftables (TED link)

(The length of this video is 7:12.)

Ode to TED (Day 5): Laws that Choke Creativity

Welcome to "Ode to TED" day 5.

Larry Lessig is a professor at Harvard Law School and a champion for the rights of the little guy in today's digital world. For example, he is one of the founder of the Creative Commons, one of the best solutions to content management in the internet age. It is the Creative Commons with circumscribed "CC" logo that Lessig refrains from specifically discussing towards the end of his talk.

I was first introduce to Lessig and his views my sophomore year of college in Philosophy of Technology (Phil 343). Our text book was Lessig's Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace, Version 2.0. Among other many other things, Lessig did a great job explaining why our digital age has created such tension among society, copyright holders, and the law.

TED2007: Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity (TED link)

(The length of this video is 18:59.)

Ode to TED (Day 4): Institutions vs. Collaboration

Yay, day 4 is actually happening directly after day 3!

This video is about something about which I am very passionate. It is about how the internet is able to bring people together to work toward a common goal. So... watch, learn, and hopefully, join a group online and contribute to something bigger than yourself in a way that was not previously possible.

TEDGlobal 2005: Clay Shirky on institutions vs. collaboration (TED link)

(The length of this video is 20:49.)

Ode to TED (Day 3): Classical Music

Ok, so this is my blog and I decide when a day is an "Ode to TED" day. Well, today is "Ode to TED" day 3.

This video is the most enjoyable TED video that I have every seen. Sure, I still learned a lot from it, but I don't think that is the point. Watch for yourself and see what you think.

TED2008: Benjamin Zander on music and passion (TED link)

(The length of this video is 20:46.)