Our world may be a giant hologram – space – 15 January 2009 – New Scientist – If this doesn't blow your socks off, then Hogan, who has just been appointed director of Fermilab's Center for Particle Astrophysics, has an even bigger shock in store: "If the GEO600 result is what I suspect it is, then we are all living in a giant cosmic hologram." The idea that we live in a hologram probably sounds absurd, but it is a natural extension of our best understanding of black holes, and something with a pretty firm theoretical footing. It has also been surprisingly helpful for physicists wrestling with theories of how the universe works at its most fundamental level.
Obama Poster Photo Mystery Solved! – By now it's safe to bet that most of the world has seen artist Shepard Fairey's "Hope" poster of President-elect Barack Obama, but did you ever wonder who the photographer is whose picture was the basis of the artist's work?
TPM: News Pages | Talking Points Memo | SUMMARY: AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT – In the next two weeks, the Congress will be considering the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. This package is the first crucial step in a concerted effort to create and save 3 to 4 million jobs, jumpstart our economy, and begin the process of transforming it for the 21st century with $275 billion in economic recovery tax cuts and $550 billion in thoughtful and carefully targeted priority investments with unprecedented accountability measures built in.
The Right Stuff – Universe – openNASA.com is representative of a relatively new trend towards transparency within the agency, one spearheaded by plugged-in employees hell-bent on using networked technologies to interact more directly with the public. I know it's relatively dorky at this point to talk about "web 2.0" or "social networking" as radical tools of change, but this is NASA we're talking about — a hugely beleaguered, bureaucratic government agency with a great deal of power. Late in the game or not, this is massive.
