You have 7 tabs open about the Holographic principle

The holographic principle is a property of quantum gravity and string theories which states that the description of a volume of space can be thought of as encoded on a boundary to the region — preferably a light-like boundary like a gravitational horizon … In a larger and more speculative sense, the theory suggests that the entire universe can be seen as a two-dimensional information structure “painted” on the cosmological horizon, such that the three dimensions we observe are only an effective description at macroscopic scales and at low energies.

This is the coolest thing I’ve read in weeks. This is going to take some reading to digest, but the notion that the universe is actually 2D is awesome.

This Scientific American article is a little less dense if you are interested.

One more link.

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Finally, an interesting use of Auto-Tune: science music!

More info at the site.

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For the latest science news that makes me uncomfortable for some reason, science shows men might be hardwired to objectify women:

Researchers used brain scans to show that when straight men looked at pictures of women in bikinis, areas of the brain that normally light up in anticipation of using tools, like spanners and screwdrivers, were activated.

Scans of some of the men found that a part of the brain associated with empathy for other peoples’ emotions and wishes shut down after looking at the pictures.

Because, generally, I see women as nothing but a set of nails and screws.

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Holy crap. In reading an essay about the Seven Soldiers comic, I came across this quote:

…black holes do strange things to entropy and information (once you’re in an event horizon, you can *only* move towards the singularity. That means that moving forward in time is equivalent to moving towards the singularity.

and it dawned on me — we live in a black hole. The entire universe is sitting in an event horizon. We can only fall forwards in time, towards the end — the black hole itself.

Oh wait. Someone found matter leaking out of our universe past the known barrier? And if that’s the case, then my theory is already blown?

Damn.

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Every day, I resolve to be a better parent. Just about every day, I fail. 

Overly high expectations or no, today was one of those rare exceptions to that feeling, a day where I can go to sleep and feel like I did a somewhat adequate job at being a parent. We spent most of our day at the science museum with a couple of other moms who have kids the same ages, which is great. Two sets of three kids at the same ages. We rolled from activity to activity, building bridges, chipping out dino bones and playing with various experiments. We had a fun time in a giant discovery room just for little guys, where they can play with all sorts of age-appropriate gadgets. Then we had lunch, which thankfully fell short of complete mayhem, a pleasant change. Finally, we wandered into a seasonal exhibit area where there was a large space and just a simple craft area set up. That was awesome. The kids got to cut and paste and color, and then when they got bored with that, they got to run around like crazy. When they got tired of that, they came back and did more crafts. There was also a crazy-cool “spin the wheel, mix the beads” display on probability, which I can’t say enough good things about. I mean, if a display/activity can make probability relevant in any way, shape or form to a five year old, you know it’s good. I should have taken a picture of it.

Rebekah zonked out five nanoseconds after getting in the car. The nap left her all kinds of stirred up this evening and she had tons of trouble falling asleep. (Reed, on the other hand, had fun watching an episode of his new favorite show–“How It’s Made” on the Science Channel–before crashing into bed.) Poor thing was just too tired and too wired to fall asleep easily. I lay down next to her and she put her little hand on my wrist, I guess just to be sure I wouldn’t go anywhere. She gave me a little squeeze and with that fell asleep. 

Oh, and, ah, apparently when I’m left alone with craft supplies, odd things happen. Verrrry Wild Kingdom. And, yes, I’m aware moose and tigers generally live on different continents, thank you very much. 

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Morning all! As usual, I have too many tabs open. Here’s some stuff I’ve been poking around:

• Bi-sexuality in animals:
  

  What is more, homosexuality among some species, including penguins, appears to be far more common in captivity than in the wild. Captivity, scientists say, may bring out gay behaviors in part because of a scarcity of opposite-sex mates. In addition, an enclosed environment boosts an animal’s stress levels, leading to a greater urge to relieve the stress. Some of the same influences may encourage what some researchers call “situational homosexuality” in humans in same-sex settings such as prisons or sports teams.

• Obama voted for the wiretap bill last week. This one hurt me a lot — I haven’t seen anything discussing what his defense is but it’s certainly questionable since Clinton voted against it and McCain didn’t vote.
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may fail. This is insane. I haven’t followed up over the weekend on this, unsure if things are looking better or worse this morning for them.
• Ok, crap. Money issues, politics and now fires have destroyed 1/3 of the avocado crops in CA? One more thing to my growing list of “shit we are running out of”: oil, bees, bats, seafood, bananas, money, rice, corn and now avocados. It’s a wonder I’m sleeping at night still.
• Good news though: Engineers at MIT have found a way to improve solar panels — at a 40x increase. Oh hell yes.
• And Aubrey — this is up your way — literary tattoos.
• And finally, an article on passenger trains in America. I ride a train every weekday now, have ridden from Washington DC to Montreal (back in 1994) and have the ‘oh, if only the high-speed train between Sac-town and LA existed already’ too often.

Hm. That’s a depressing set of links. How about an awesome set of E.T. cartoons to help balance it out? Wo doesn’t love E.T. and Soundwave sharing a slurpee?

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just to try and keep you entertained a little:

• the best dating/asking out vm ever. oh douchebags, will you ever get unfunny?
• in my weekly “something new to stop me from sleeping” section, the north pole will completely melt this summer, for the first time ever. there are plenty of firsts that i am excited by (see: not being a virgin anymore), but this isn’t one of them.
• because you wondered, here is the imdb listing for troy mcclure.
• and because you loved 2 girls, 1 cup, here is a video “re-enactment” of the moments before the movie was made.

rock out this weekend, kids.

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