Happy Christmas
Sunday, December 19th, 2010 | Author: Konrad Voelkel
I wish you all a very happy Christmas time and some delicious cookies like these:
Frohe Weihnachten!
Category: English | Comments off
Sunday, December 19th, 2010 | Author: Konrad Voelkel
I wish you all a very happy Christmas time and some delicious cookies like these:
Frohe Weihnachten!
Category: English | Comments off
Friday, December 03rd, 2010 | Author: Konrad Voelkel
So I just updated my Samsung Galaxy GT-i9000 Android phone from Android 2.1 to Android 2.2 "Froyo", using a Linux system only (no Samsung Kies or Odin required). Here is my HOWTO:
DISCLAIMER: Everything described here can "brick" your phone, which means UNUSABLE and somewhat DESTROYED FOREVER.
It hasn't done any harm to my phone, but every phone is different (mine is an unbranded european model). For example, the "download mode" you get into when pushing the "volume down"+"home button"+"power on" combo doesn't work on some phones. You absolutely NEED to fix this if you have the so-called "3-button-problem". If you get a yellow sign with "Downloading..." after using the combo on booting, everything should be fine.
Continue reading «Froyo (and root) on Samsung Galaxy I9000 with Linux only»
Category: English | 3 Comments
Saturday, November 27th, 2010 | Author: Konrad Voelkel
See also: Questions part I - Information and Entropy
Questions part II - Complexity and Algorithmic Complexity
Questions part III - Statistical Physics, Quantum Physics and Thermodynamics
Questions part IV - Philosophy of Science
“Humanity is now experiencing history’s most difficult evolutionary transformation.” – Buckminster Fuller, 1983
“The human brain is incapable of creating anything which is really complex.” – Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov 1990
“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another which states that this has already happened.” – Douglas Adams, 1980
Continue reading «Questions in Information Theory V: Life and Metaphysics»
Category: English, Questions in Information Theory | Comments off
Friday, November 12th, 2010 | Author: Konrad Voelkel
See also: Questions part I - Information and Entropy
Questions part II - Complexity and Algorithmic Complexity
Questions part III - Statistical Physics, Quantum Physics and Thermodynamics
“I think there is a need for something completely new. Something that is too different, too unexpected, to be accepted as yet.” – Anton Zeilinger, 2004
“Any one who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin. For, as has been pointed out several times, there is no such thing as a random number — there are only methods to produce random numbers, and a strict arithmetic procedure of course is not such a method.” – John von
Neumann, 1951
“The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” – Lăozı, 4th century B.C.
Continue reading «Questions in Information Theory IV: Philosophy of Science»
Category: English, Questions in Information Theory | Comments off
Wednesday, November 03rd, 2010 | Author: Konrad Voelkel
I just re-discovered some notes (in german) for expository talks I gave at the University of Freiburg in student's seminars.
Here they are:
For the sake of completeness, here are links to blog posts discussing other old (german) expository talks:
And soon you might see some notes on the Weil conjectures on elliptic curves (I'm still preparing this..)
Category: German, Mathematics | Comments off
Saturday, October 30th, 2010 | Author: Konrad Voelkel
What is a flat module? How should I think of it?
To answer that question, I will provide some background, then define what a flat module is, clarify the definition by means of example and counter-example and finally show some nice and useful properties which you can memorize later by doing exercises. If you're lost, take a look at the references below.
Some far-fetched motivation to understand flat modules:
Flat modules are the "local" model for flat morphisms of schemes. Flatness is an essential part of the definition of étale morphisms. Etale morphisms are used in the definition of étale cohomology, which was used by Deligne 1974 to prove an analogue of the Riemann hypothesis over finite fields. The proof of the Riemann hypothesis over finite fields finished the proof of the Weil conjectures, some of the most influential conjectures in algebraic geometry.
You think you already know flat modules are? Then look if you can do all the exercises!
Category: English, Mathematics | Comments off