Kick Ass Self-Assembling Radio Station

Pandora takes in artists that you like and spits out streams of audio from those bands mixed in with bands that are similar that you might like. It rocks.
http://www.pandora.com

Great SETI Paper

The present approach is similar to the one favored by Dyson (2003), whosuggests searching for life at distant objects of the Solar System (and otherplanetary systems). Although Dyson only considers primitive life, this can beeasily generalized to life of higher level of complexity and even intelligence.8In his other writings, Dyson has suggested supercivilizations of various sortswhose activities can be detected even if they are not actively engaged in aneffort to contact and communicate with other societies; for an early reviewof such ideas, see Lemarchand (1995). In our view, the migration hypothesiscan solve Fermi?s paradox, since the truly advanced societies, i.e. those whosurvive the bottleneck presented by the threat of self-destruction throughwarfare or accident will tend to be located at the outskirts of the Milky Way,outside of the main thrust of SETI projects so far. The very same traits makingATCs capable of migrating and utilizing resources with high efficiency(compactness, high integration, etc.) will tend to make them systematicallyhard to detect from afar. This is in diametrical opposition to views of manyearly SETI researchers?recently brought to a sort of the logical extreme byWeinberger and Hartl (2002)?that ATCs will indulge in extravagant spendingin order to achieve interstellar communication, even if only nominal. Thesame applies mutatis mutandis to the large-scale interstellar travel to diversetargets; the nature of the postbiological megatrajectory is not likely to includeany gain from the scattering of pieces of an ATC all over the Galaxy.9One of the SETI pioneers, Benjamin Zuckerman proposed in 1985 that stellarevolution is an important motivation for civilizations to undertake interstellarmigrations (Zuckerman 1985). Although arguments presented in that studyseem outdated in many respects, it is significant that the mass migrationidea has been presented even in the context of classical SETI studies, biologicalevolution and pre-digital perspective. It seems implausible that anybut the most extreme conservative societies would opt to wait to be forcedto migration by slow and easily predictable process like their domicile starleaving the Main Sequence.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0506/0506110.pdf

Breakthrough for Quantum Measurement

Two teams of physicists have measured the capacitance of a Josephson junction for the first time. The methods developed by the two teams could be used to measure the state of quantum bits in a quantum computer without disturbing the state.
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/11/13/1

Why Expensive Gas Is Good For The US

Rising oil prices are more than just an irritant or even an ominous nick out of the GDP. Theyre an invitation to corn and coal and hydrogen. For anyone with a fresh idea, expensive oil is as good as a subsidy - with no political strings attached. Indeed, every extra penny you pay at the pump is an incentive for some aspiring energy mogul to find another fuel.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.12/gas.html

Culture Jamming & Buy Nothing Day

A growing subculture of activists now proclaims the date Buy Nothing Day, and its members challenge themselves and others not to consume on consumerisms busiest day.
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69652,00.html?tw=rss.TOP

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Amazingly twisted movie. Always a fan of Burtons work, especially with Johnnie Depp. Great, great movie. 9/10.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/

Batman Begins

Much better than the first few movies, but not as good as the hype. Worth a watch and a good attempt. Christian Bale just isnt that good of an actor. 7/10.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372784/

Crash

Well written, acted, and produced. Very heart wrenching and thought provoking. Well worth a watch - 8/10.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/

Braga Done F***ing Up Trek

Longtime Star Trek producer Brannon Braga told SCI FI Wire that hes done with the franchise, at least for now and for the foreseeable future. "At the moment, yeah," Braga said in an interview. "There will be a lot of fans cheering about that," he added wryly, referring to the often caustic fan criticism directed at him during his 15 years as a writer and producer on Trek series and movies.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?id=33262