So called quantum computing does not break the computational complexity barriers, it just shifts them a bit.
What is exponential (like the RSA) remains exponential; we may have to increase the key size a little and that's it.

"Also engineering achievements, at least solely with respect to being an engineering achievement, never win a prize."
The 1979 Nobel prize in medicine was awarded for the development of "Computer Assisted Tomography".
This was an engineering achievement based on generous financing and on a previous major scientific achievement, the Fast Fourier Transformation, probably too mathematical to deserve a Nobel prize.
Additionally, the 2003 prize was [mis-]attributed for the [re-]discovery of MRI, another engineering achievement.

There has been a long debate about the anisotropy of the speed of light. The current orthodox belief is that it is isotropic, but I have yet to see a convincing proof. What would the CERN neutrino experiment tell with another detector elsewhere?

"When Does Signing Up Becoming 'Opting In?"

Please translate the title in english.
Thank you.

When the boss starts looking for scapegoats (the "rich"), it shows he gave up hope of solving the problem (runaway debt).

A patent on a finger gesture Eh?

I still do not understand why cell phone usage is allowed in trains.
This perpetual ringing, chatter and small talk is an absolute nuisance;
imposing one's private life upon the neighbors is utterly discourteous.
And I cannot concentrate on my crosswords or sudokus, even with earplugs, amid these coalitions of shouting blabbering fucking morons.

Suppose I am the greatest programmer in the world applying the fastest algorithm from my home.
I would still lag about 1 sec behind the competition with my "fast" internet connection.

Since we are speaking microseconds here, is not the main advantage being the closest or even within the final exchange computer?

The competition is obviously biased in favor, not of the best programmers, but of those privileged enough to be located nearest to the apex of the whole system.

These particular banks or trading offices can very safely and easily skim the cream and slowly leech the rest of the world, they do not even need the best programmers.
And presumably this whole looting scheme would collapse if some minimal Tobin tax (say 0.001%) was applied to all ttransactions.

In a perfectly still atmosphere (zero wind), the energy requirement grows like dV^2 to travel a distance d at speed V.
Batteries' specific energy (J/kg) being much less than current hydrocarbons', this approach is conceivable only for travel at very slow speeds.

And as a reminder, zero energy flying has been practiced for quite a while: it uses gliders or balloons.

Sometimes less money triggers better research.
A single decently fed exceptional brain plus paper and pencil is likely to produce more significant results than huge Ponzi-like technological projects.

The gigantic billion dollar ITER (nuclear fusion) project is the perfect example of misdirected public funding of "fundamental" research.
What Science needs most is not money, it is more freedom to investigate for the brightest minds.

The obvious reason for BC's attraction is that it shares the same properties as gold: limited supply, inoxydable, barely falsibiable (except for gold plating of tungsten ingots).
*PLUS*
In some respects, BC is even better than gold: zero weight, invisible, unseizable.
It can still be (slowly) mined at no cost, in winter as a byproduct of heating.
It is a tax haven, immune to government greed.
*BUT*
Unlike precious metals, BC is artificial: Science and technology will never create new precious metals, but Computer Science can create infinitely many clones of bitcoin, so that the claimed rarity is an illusion.
I expect the birth, within a few months, of some new BC look-alike, easier to mine, backed by some wealthy individual able to offer a large choice of goods and services: enough to start a real ecosystem, but of course, imitations will emerge to compete.
The original Bitcoins will then be forgotten, and by the way, so will be the dollar.

My two cents ...

What are dollars? Do they have any value (like being able to exchange them for gold or bitcoins)?

If you have anything to hide,
1- store it on an external server, not your own laptop.
2- make it untrackable by steganographic encoding.
No encryption, no passphrase, no lawyer, no 5th amendment: privacy at last!

Lagarde is right and wrong:
Raising the debt limit now may prevent immediate nasty consequences.
But it will cause much nastier consequences in the (not so) long term.

Runaway debt leads to collapse or war or both.
Unfortunately, any responsible politician suggesting debt restraint would incur electoral defeat.

MBAs *and Government* should mind their business and no more.