In his letter to President Bush, Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, declared that Western-style democracy had failed and that the use of secret prisons in Europe and aspects of the war in Iraq could not be reconciled with Mr. Bush's Christian values. But the letter did not address directly the central issue that divides the two countries: Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Wow.

Iranian President's Letter to Bush Emerges

The first study ever to look at where sensations of dread arise in the brain finds that contrary to what is widely believed, dread does not involve fear and anxiety in the moment of an unpleasant event. Instead, it derives from the attention that people devote beforehand to what they think will be extremely unpleasant.

Study Points to a Solution for Dread: Distraction

New views of the most distant touchdown ever made by a spacecraft are being released today by NASA, the European Space Agency and the University of Arizona. The movies show the dramatic descent of the Huygens probe to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan on Jan. 14, 2005.

This video is the most amazing thing I've seen in awhile...

NASA and Partners Release New Movies of Titan

Rutan said if he was the NASA Administrator, he would call a major press conference about the agency plans to go back to the Moon.

“I’d go in front of the microphone,” Rutan said, “and I’d scream at the top of my lungs, ‘this is stupid,’ then turn around and head back to the office and go back to work.”

Rutan Takes Aim at NASA's CEV Plans, Likens it to 'Archeology'

It has taken almost three years—by some counts, more than 6 years—but ICANN’s domain name policy making organization has finally taken a stand on Whois and privacy. And the results were a decisive defeat for the copyright and trademark interests and the US government, and a stunning victory for advocates of the rights of individual domain name registrants.

In Historic Vote on WHOIS Purpose, Reformers Win by 2/3 Majority

So-called domain tasting is one of the more unpleasant developments in the domain business in the past year. Domain speculators are registering millions of domains without paying for them, in a business model not unlike running a condiment business by visiting every fast food restaurant in town and scooping up all of the ketchup packets.

In Bad Taste

Is the Internet truly "flattening" the modern world? Will national boundaries crumble beneath the ever-increasing volume of Internet traffic? Goldsmith and Wu, both professors of law (Goldsmith at Harvard, Wu at Columbia), think not, and they present an impressive array of evidence in their favor.

Tim Wu is guest-writing Lessig's blog this week.

Who Controls the Internet? : Illusions of a Borderless World : Books: Jack Goldsmith,Tim Wu

Some of the country's biggest beverage companies have agreed to stop selling sugary soft drinks and other high calorie beverages in the nation's schools, in an initiative announced today by former President Bill Clinton and Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, both of them leaders in the movement to help stamp out childhood obesity.

"If it could happen to tobacco, it can happen to us."

Soda Distributors to End Most School Sales

This image was taken on April 28, 2006 and received on Earth April 28, 2006. The camera was pointing toward Epimetheus at approximately 667,385 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2007.

There are a lot of really amazing images like this coming back from Cassini.

NASA Cassini Image: Epimetheus, Saturn's Rings, and Titan | SpaceRef - Space News as it Happens

What is Klüver-Bucy Syndrome?

Klüver-Bucy Syndrome Information Page: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)