Bryan Fuller’s ‘Hannibal’ gets NBC series order

We were always bullish on this one. Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal project just got a direct-to-series order. NBC has picked up 13 episodes of the thriller TV series based on Thomas Harris’ classic cannibal serial killer.

Logline: “One-hour contemporary thriller series featuring the classic characters from Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon – FBI agent Will Graham and his mentor Dr. Hannibal Lecter – who are re-introduced at the beginning of their budding relationship.”

So that includes some new information. Fuller is focusing on damaged FBI profiler Graham instead of Clarice Starling (popularized by Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs). Graham is the agent who captured Lecter when the psychiatrist was on his killing/eating spree.

The first question is who will play Lecter — a part that one could argue is either a dream role, or a thankless gig considering the inevitable comparisons to Anthony Hopkins’ Oscar-winning take on the character. Another question: How much will NBC push the envelope with the original tale’s gory content?
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NASA Collaborates with Google and USRA for Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab

Quantum computing may be the key to solving some of the most challenging computer science problems. This is why Google in collaboration with NASA and the Universities Space Research Association today announced that they will launch the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab.

The lab will be hosted at NASA's Ames Research Center and Google has stated their goal is "to study how quantum computing might advance machine learning."

The lab will initially be home to D-Wave Systems Inc. new 512-qubit quantum computer, the D-Wave Two™. D-Wave, a Canadian company with offices in Palo Alto, bills itself as the first commercial quantum computing company.

Google in a post on their Research Blog today said "Machine learning is all about building better models of the world to make more accurate predictions. If we want to cure diseases, we need better models of how they develop. If we want to create effective environmental policies, we need better models of what's happening to our climate. And if we want to build a more useful search engine, we need to better understand spoken questions and what's on the web so you get the best answer."

"Classical computers aren't well suited to these types of creative problems. Solving such problems can be imagined as trying to find the lowest point on a surface covered in hills and valleys. Classical computing might use what's called "gradient descent": start at a random spot on the surface, look around for a lower spot to walk down to, and repeat until you can't walk downhill anymore. But all too often that gets you stuck in a "local minimum" -- a valley that isn't the very lowest point on the surface."

"That's where quantum computing comes in. It lets you cheat a little, giving you some chance to "tunnel" through a ridge to see if there's a lower valley hidden beyond it. This gives you a much better shot at finding the true lowest point -- the optimal solution."

USRA will manage the science operations for the collaboration which will benefit its researchers by having an allocation of 20% of the computing time.

Installation of the new D-Wave Two™ at NASA Ames and is expected to be operation by Q3.

Housed within 55,000 glaciers in the Himalaya Mountains sits 40 percent of the world’s fresh water. The massive ice sheets are melting at a faster-than-ever pace due to climate change, posing possible dire consequences for the continent of Asia and the entire world stand, and especially for the villages and cities that sit on the seven rivers that come are fed from the Himalayas’ runoff as they respond with erratic flooding or drought.

The “Himalaya Water Tower” is a skyscraper located high in the mountain range that serves to store water and helps regulate its dispersal to the land below as the mountains’ natural supplies dry up. The skyscraper, which can be replicated en masse, will collect water in the rainy season, purify it, freeze it into ice and store it for future use. The water distribution schedule will evolve with the needs of residents below; while it can be used to help in times of current drought, it’s also meant to store plentiful water for future generations.

The lower part of the Himalaya Water tower is comprised of six stem-like pipes that curve and wind together and collect and store water. Like the stem of a plant, these pipes grow strong as they absorb their maximum water capacity. In each of the six stems, a core tube is flanked by levels and levels of cells, which hold the water. The upper part of the building – the part that is visible above the snow line – is used for frozen storage. Four massive cores support steel cylindrical frames that, like the stems below, hold levels that radiate out, creating four steel tubes filled with ice. In between the two sections are mechanical systems that help freeze the water when the climatic conditions aren’t able to do so, purify the water and regulate the distribution of water and ice throughout the structure.

At the bottom of the structure, surrounding the six intertwined water tubes is a transport system that regulates fresh water distribution to the towns and cities below. The curving channels connect the mountains to the villages, and are also hold within them a railway for the transport of people and goods.