A lot of physics is taste, discerning what is an important and a potentially soluble problem.

The fifth dimension could actually be infinite and we would not have noticed it.

Brian Greene: "Sometimes it takes an outsider to come into a field and see what is being missed, or taken for granted."

On Gravity, Oreos and a Theory of Everything

Richard Linklater is planning a big-screen adaptation of "Fast Food Nation," the 2001 expose book by Eric Schlosser.

Says Morgan Spurlock: "You see how deep the tentacles run, You see how big the web is."

Want Stealth With That? The 'Fast Food Nation' Film Goes Undercover

Rarely since the mid-19th century, when it first became a crowd pleaser, has the Gothic aesthetic gained such a throttlehold on the collective imagination.

Consumers are following fashion and embracing a Gothic style. They are snapping up trinkets that they would once have dismissed as perverse or subversive: silver skull cuff links, chains interlaced with black ribbon in the manner of Victorian mourning jewelry, stuffed peacocks with Swarovski crystal eyes, and, as party favors, tiny rat and chicken skeletons.

Gothic Aesthetic

Before you click through, try to guess the missing word.

Eric E. Schmidt explains the company's astounding success in **** ... by suggesting that **** should be interesting, relevant and useful to users.

"Improving **** quality improves Google's revenue. If we target the right **** to the right person at the right time ... we win."

This proposition, he continued, is applicable to other media. "If we can figure out a way to improve the quality of **** on television ..., we should do it," he said.

While he is watching television, for example, "Why do I see women's ****?" he said.

Is it memes?

Google Wants to Dominate [You]

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it I'm an extraordinary machine

This song reminds me of one of Nellie McKay's jazz cabaret tunes, like the lyrics of Won't You Please Be Nice [mp3] and the tune of Respectable [mp3]:

If you would sit
Oh so close to me
That would be nice
Like it's supposed to be
If you don't I'll slit your throat
So won't you please be nice

Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine

Across the world of science, the boundaries are being redrawn. A new political emphasis is being placed on science and innovation by countries such as China, India, and South Korea. At the same time, a gradual process of ‘offshore innovation’ is underway, as higher-value R&D begins to flow overseas. Confronted by these trends, Britain has a choice. It can either retreat into a scientific version of protectionism. Or it can embrace the new opportunities for networking and collaboration that such transformations create. This two-year project, to be carried out in partnership with the Foreign Office and others, will provide a compelling framework for understanding the new geography of science.

The project has five central aims:

1. To map emerging trends and patterns in the globalisation of science, with a primary focus on three countries: China, India and South Korea;
2. To forecast how such trends might evolve over the next 10-15 years;
3. To identify new models of networking and collaboration between scientists, policymakers and companies in China, India, South Korea and the UK;
4. To analyse the implications of these trends for science policy and investment in the UK and Europe;
5. To produce an agenda-setting publication which sparks widespread policy and media debate.

Research themes and questions will include:

1. Knowledge mapping and forecasting
2. Networks, competition and collaboration
3. Science and sustainable development
4. New metrics and indicators
5. Talent attraction and knowledge diasporas
6. Innovation, precaution and public engagement

You can download a project summary in PDF.

Atlas of Ideas

In keeping with this trend, Colbert's name is scattered all over the set -- in the background in two places, on a plasma screen in front of him, twice on his desk and moving in a red ticker across the ground, plus his desk is in the shape of a giant "C." During the opening credits, an eagle flies around his head, and words flash across the screen: "POWERFUL," "COURAGEOUS," "EXCEPTIONAL," and also "DOMINEERING," "RELENTLESS," "GRIPPY." Yes, you read that right: Grippy. Soon, Colbert tells us about his own personal brand of no-nonsense, hard-hitting ... well, nonsense. Somewhere out there, Bill O'Reilly is fidgeting and twitching like the villain whose voodoo doll just took a thumb tack to the forehead.

In a nice play on O'Reilly's "No-Spin Zone" foolishness, Colbert wants us to know that even though his name is all over the place, the show isn't all about him. "No, this program is dedicated to you, the heroes!" he bellows. "And who are the heroes? The people who watch this show -- average, hardworking Americans. You're not the elites, you're not the country club crowd. I know for a fact that my country club would never let you in. But you get it! And you come from a long line of it-getters!"

Immediately, Colbert has his finger on the throbbing pulse of right-wing punditry, the dexterity with which they pander to the working class without getting any mud on their Italian wing-tip loafers. "On this show, your voice will be heard," Colbert reassures us, "in the form of my voice."

Which brings us to "tonight's word": truthiness. "Now I'm sure some of the word police, the 'Wordinistas' over at Webster's, are gonna say, 'Hey, that's not a word.'" But Colbert goes on to explain, "I don't trust books. They're all fact, no heart. And that's exactly what's pulling our country apart today. We are divided between those who think with their head, and those who know with their heart." Next to Colbert, a bullet point flashes "No Thinking." With the glorification of ignorance at its peak, this little rant couldn't feel any more timely. It's soothing, somehow, to witness Colbert tackling the profound absurdity of the times with such unbridled glee.

It was pretty amazing last night.

[ Awesome. Except that it's making me want to get cable again... -k]

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | All-spin zone

The CIA is divided between the Directorate of Intelligence, which houses the analysts, and the Directorate of Operations, which houses the spies and the paramilitary forces. The spies are, in general, divided into two groups. There are those with official cover and those with non-official cover. Official cover means that the agent is working at the U.S. embassy in some country, acting as a cultural, agricultural or some other type of attache, and is protected by diplomatic immunity. They carry out a variety of espionage functions, limited by the fact that most foreign intelligence services know who the CIA agents at the embassy are and, frankly, assume that everyone at the embassy is an agent. They are therefore followed, their home phones are tapped, and their maids deliver scraps of paper to the host government. This obviously limits the utility of these agents. Being seen with one of them automatically blows the cover of any potential recruits.

Then there are those with non-official cover, the NOCs. These agents are the backbone of the American espionage system. A NOC does not have diplomatic cover. If captured, he has no protection. Indeed, as the saying goes, if something goes wrong, the CIA will deny it has ever heard of him. A NOC is under constant pressure when he is needed by the government and is on his own when things go wrong. That is understood going in by all NOCs.

George Friedman of Stratfor on the way the CIA divides up its clandestine staff, and how it relates to the Plame situation.

Stratfor via DailyKos: The Importance of the Plame Affair

The United States takes great pride in the vitality of its economy, which forms the foundation of our high quality of life, our national security, and our hope that our children and grandchildren will inherit ever-greater opportunities. That vitality is derived in large part from the productivity of well-trained people and the steady stream of scientific and technical innovations they produce. Without high-quality, knowledgeintensive jobs and the innovative enterprises that lead to discovery and new technology, our economy will suffer and our people will face a lower standard of living. Past economic studies have estimated as much as 85% of measured growth in US income per capita is due to technological change.

Today, Americans are feeling the gradual and subtle effects of globalization that challenge the economic and strategic leadership the United States has enjoyed since World War II. A substantial portion of our workforce finds itself in direct competition for jobs with lower-wage workers around the globe, and leading-edge scientific and engineering work is being accomplished in many parts of the world. Thanks to globalization, driven by modern communications and other advances, workers in virtually every sector must now face competitors who live just a mouse-click away in Ireland, Finland, China, India, or dozens of other nations whose economies are growing.

Dig it. A free book that will keep you from becoming obsolete.

Rising Above The Gathering Storm

Mr. Jonze and Mr. Eggers have remained in close contact with Mr. Sendak. "They call, they write, they send postcards, they show me script changes, they send me pornographic pictures and models of the monsters," Mr. Sendak said. "They're very attentive. They make me useful to them."

You can imagine what happens behind the scenes of the Harry Potter movies.

A Wild Rumpus in the Hollywood Jungle