Geist and Zeitgeist - Hermann Broch

As John Hargraves notes in his introduction, Hermann Broch remains best known, especially in the English-speaking world, for his fiction (in particular the novels The Sleepwalkers (see our review) The Death of Virgil (see our review), two of the towering works of the 20th century), but of the twelve volumes of the German edition of his collected works four are devoted to his essays (and one to his poetry) -- and almost none of that, except the long piece Hugo Hofmannsthal and His Age, has been translated.

Geist and Zeitgeist offers a Broch-essay sampler: six pieces (including a chunk of the Hofmannsthal essay) first written between 1933 and 1948 that display many of Broch's preoccupations, interests, and approaches.

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Kitsch

Kitsch (English pronunciation: /ˈkɪtʃ/, loanword from German) is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that are unoriginal. Kitsch also refers to the types of art that are aesthetically deficient (whether or not being sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative) and that make creative gestures which merely imitate the superficial appearances of art through repeated conventions and formulae. Excessive sentimentality often is associated with the term.

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John Carter

I don't see any way to begin a review of "John Carter" without referring to "Through Time and Space With Ferdinand Feghoot." That was a series of little stories that appeared in the magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1956 to 1973 and had a great influence on my development as a critic. In one of the Feghoot adventures, the hero finds himself on Mars and engaged in bloody swordplay. He is sliced in the leg. Then in the other leg. Then an arm is hacked off. "To hell with this," Feghoot exclaims, unholstering his ray gun and vaporizing his enemies.

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Astronomer Finds Evidence for Record-Breaking Nine Planet System

A study by Mikko Tuomi, an astronomer at the University of Hertfordshire, has revealed that the planetary system around the star named HD 10180 may have more planets in its orbits than our own Solar system. Dr Tuomi carried out his analysis as part of the EU research network RoPACS, being led in Hertfordshire.

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First-Ever Model Simulation of the Structuring of the Observable Universe

A team of researchers from the Laboratoire Univers et Théorie (LUTH, Observatoire de Paris/CNRS/Université Paris Diderot)(1) coordinated by Jean-Michel Alimi has performed the first-ever computer model simulation of the structuring of the entire observable universe, from the Big Bang to the present day. The simulation has made it possible to follow the evolution of 550 billion particles. This is the first of three runs which are part of an exceptional project called Deus : full universe run (2), carried out using GENCI's new supercomputer CURIE at the CEA's Très Grand Centre de Calcul (TGCC).

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Google stock split helps Page, Brin maintain grip

Google Inc announced a stock split designed to preserve the control of co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin over the world's No. 1 Web search engine, asking investors to trust their long-term vision.

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Quantum Computer Built Inside a Diamond

Diamonds are forever -- or, at least, the effects of this diamond on quantum computing may be. A team that includes scientists from USC has built a quantum computer in a diamond, the first of its kind to include protection against "decoherence" -- noise that prevents the computer from functioning properly.

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Take Shelter

Here is a frightening thriller based not on special effects gimmicks but on a dread that seems quietly spreading in the land: that the good days are ending, and climate changes or other sinister forces will sweep away our safety. "Take Shelter" unfolds in a quiet Ohio countryside with big skies and flat horizons, and involves a happy family whose life seems contented.

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Jeff Nichols (Director, Writer)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2158772/

Computer Scientist Leads the Way to the Next Revolution in Artificial Intelligence

As computer scientists this year celebrate the 100thanniversary of the birth of the mathematical genius Alan Turing, who set out the basis for digital computing in the 1930s to anticipate the electronic age, they still quest after a machine as adaptable and intelligent as the human brain.

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Hypercomputation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercomputation

Hava Siegelmann
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hava_Siegelmann

An AICN Reader Has Boarded Peter Berg's BATTLESHIP In Tokyo!!

An AICN reader named Jake Walsh attended yesterday's Tokyo premier of Peter Berg's bigscreen adaptation/alienificaton of the famous Hasbro game BATTLESHIP.

What follows are Jake's thoughts on the film. I've tweaked his contributions slightly to extract a SPOILER or two which maybe wouldn't have been fair to release so far out, but substabntively this is very much his report in full. We deeply appreciate his time and effort when sending this along.

His verdict? It's huge, oversized, Bay-esque extravagenza but without the heart and charm of Bay. I'll let Jake speak for himself from this point forward.

We can judge for ourselves when BATTLESHIP opens next month.

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Peter Berg (Director)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000916/

Tadanobu Asano
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0038355/

Google Unveils Project Glass: Wearable Augmented Reality Glasses

Google today went public with its plans to offer augmented reality glasses, which it’s calling “Project Glass.” 

Unveiling the project should make it easier for Google to test the weird-looking glasses in public. As currently designed, they have a horizontal frame that rests on a wearer’s nose, with a wider strip of computer and a little clear display on the right side. So they’re not really “glasses” in the traditional sense at all.

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Babak Parviz
http://www.ee.washington.edu/faculty/parviz_babak/

Steve Lee
http://www.quora.com/Steve-Lee

Sebastian Thrun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Thrun

Self-sculpting sand

New algorithms could enable heaps of ‘smart sand’ that can assume any shape, allowing spontaneous formation of new tools or duplication of broken mechanical parts. 

Imagine that you have a big box of sand in which you bury a tiny model of a footstool. A few seconds later, you reach into the box and pull out a full-size footstool: The sand has assembled itself into a large-scale replica of the model.

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Euclid as the Father of Geometry

Chemtrail conspiracy theory

The chemtrail conspiracy theory holds that some trails left by aircraft are actually chemical or biological agentsdeliberately sprayed at high altitudes for purposes undisclosed to the general public in clandestine programs directed by government officials.[1] This theory is not accepted by the scientific community, which states that they are just normal contrails, and that there is no scientific evidence supporting the chemtrail theory.

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