Adventures of a Simpleton

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Book From the Sky installation, 1987-1991by Xu Bing

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Yale scientists have found a new way to manipulate microwave signals that could aid the long-term effort to develop a quantum computer.
Like regular (classical) computers, quantum computers must be able to receive, store, and manipulate information in order to perform calculations. But the fragile nature of quantum information — which exists as a “0” or “1” or both simultaneously — poses challenges. In research published March 14 in the journal Nature, Yale physicists report an advance in developing memory mechanisms.
Learn more about the breakthrough →

purefrank replied to your post: Planning a Gap Year

Congrats on Yale mate. It’s pretty gutsy to do a gap year; but there’s no other time to do it! Farming in the winter though?

Thanks! Are you at MIT yourself? The farm in Yamagata said they needed some help finishing up the rice/soybean/apple harvest and making mochi. If that doesn’t work, there are plenty of WWOOF opportunities in Okinawa/Kyushu, where the weather is pretty warm all year round. This farming thing is pretty risky, but I also think it’s somewhat of a “now or never” situation.

1 month ago

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Planning a Gap Year

is actually extremely difficult. It’s pretty fun and there are a ton of opportunities out there. However, it’s so stressful and it makes me nervous about the whole concept of it as well.

If I do take a gap year, I will have to fund it 100% by myself…which is a difficult task. Well, if I get NSLI-Y and accept the scholarship, they will pay for it (sadly, I’m still waiting for my notification from them). I just don’t want to put all my eggs in a basket. Plus I think I will learn a lot more by planning and funding everything on my own.

I’ve got a pretty solid plan for the first several months of the year, but the rest is up in the air. I still have to secure a job as well to fund it, and the whole plan hinges on that. This is what I have so far:

Now-June: Work to Raise Money

July-Aug: Vacation in China with Cousin

Sept-Oct: Photojournalism Internship in Tokyo

Nov-Jan: WWOOFING in Japan (it’s basically working on farms)

Feb-July: ???

During that ??? time, I hope to work in China to make some money. Then depending on how much I make, go to rural China/Tibet/SE Asia/India to do something. I’m just planning on staying in Asia for the year, since all my costs come from transportation. The best case scenario is that I only fly from the US to China, and then back to the US from wherever I end up. I’ll use buses/trains/boats/walking for the rest of the year.

I don’t want to plan things too far in advance since I know that my feelings might change and other opportunities might arise. I think being flexible will be to my advantage in that sense.

Well, that’s just my gap year stuff. On the bright side, I’ve committed to Yale! Now, I just have to decide whether I will be going this year or next year…

1 month ago

6 notes