Does Schrödinger's cat really exist? You bet. The first ever quantum superposition in an object visible to the naked eye has been observed.

Aaron O'Connell and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara, did not actually produce a cat that was dead and alive at the same time, as Erwin Schrödinger proposed in a notorious thought experiment 75 years ago. But they did show that a tiny resonating strip of metal – only 60 micrometres long, but big enough to be seen without a microscope – can both oscillate and not oscillate at the same time. Alas, you couldn't actually see the effect happening, because that very act of observation would take it out of superposition.

"We talk about quantum weirdness and things being in two places at once, but it all involves atoms and molecules, stuff we don't normally interact with."

Via Warren Ellis.

Update: Kottke, of course, has more.

In Tarantino's world, this is the last thing a Nazi should ever see.

Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds was one of his very best films. When a friend of mine disagreed and, shockingly, told me he hated it (emphasis his), I thought it might be worthwhile to explain why I loved the movie so much.

To illustrate, I noted that every / single / line / by Brad Pitt, in the role of Lt. Aldo Raine -- the Gentile leader of a special group of American Jews tasked with raising terror and killin' Nazi's -- was dominant.

Specifically, I loved his lines in the Tavern Scene.

Lt. Aldo Raine: You didn't say the goddamn rendezvous was in a fuckin' basement.
Lt. Archie Hicox: I didn't know.
Lt. Aldo Raine: You said it was in a tavern.
Lt. Archie Hicox: It is a tavern.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Yeah, in a basement. You know, fightin' in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you're fightin' in a basement!

Why is that so funny, you might ask. Well, I can explain, (quite nerdily, I'm sure), in three steps.

First, lots of f-bombs. Always a plus.

Second, Pitt says he's going to list off a bunch of problems, but then only gets to problem number one, which is circular and is just a restatement of the situation.

Third, starting the sentence by saying "Number one" points to the fact that Brad Pitt starred in Fight Club, where of paramount importance was the First Rule of Fight Club: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club. While Tarantino is following this rule here, in this alternative-history film, and not talking about it, he is directly referencing Fight Club by having Pitt himself, who played a second personality -- an unreal persona in an alternate, anarchic, revolutionary future -- in Fight Club, talk about how awful it is to fight in a basement... which, of course, is the location of the bare knuckles exhibitions central to the referenced film.

In other words, Tarantino's more meta than anyone outside of Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche, New York, etc.) ... and he knows it.

But where Kaufman works within the always-hilarious confines of loneliness and despair, Tarantino laughs manically, drops another f-bomb and hits you in the head with a baseball bat.

Navi, the CGI-stars of Avatar.

It's rare that we're treated to a big-budget, big talent film that provides a new way of sharing information, telling a story, or looking at the world.

Citizen Kane took us through windows, cut back-and-forth through time, used impossible angles, and shared the comic-book panel-gestalt with high-brow film critics and the wider, movie-going general public (or, as Michael Chabon suggests, vice versa). Star Wars removed sci-fi films from B-movie status and lit the imaginations of kids the world over. Pulp Fiction and Memento (among others) played with time as Picasso played with visual angles, and The Matrix brought anime's influence to U.S. live-action, melding time-worn effects with new technological advances and a cutting-edge story to give voice to the Internet generation's worldview, dreams and fears.

While Eric Cartman would argue that Cameron stole his story, according to the early reviews James Cameron's Avatar should be, at the very least, a visual spectacle. Through a mix of CGI and live action, most of the movie's setting is computer-generated, as are the main characters for large chunks of the film. Some segments take advantage of new 3-D technology and are so well done that Ridley Scott is rumored to have scrapped some work he'd already completed on Forever War to switch to 3-D as well.

Most telling of all is Roger Ebert's review, edited here so as to remove spoilers:

Watching "Avatar," I felt sort of the same as when I saw "Star Wars" in 1977. That was another movie I walked into with uncertain expectations. James Cameron's film has been the subject of relentlessly dubious advance buzz, just as his "Titanic" was. Once again, he has silenced the doubters by simply delivering an extraordinary film. There is still at least one man in Hollywood who knows how to spend $250 million, or was it $300 million, wisely.

"Avatar" is not simply a sensational entertainment, although it is that. It's a technical breakthrough. . . It is predestined to launch a cult. It contains such visual detailing that it would reward repeating viewings. It invents a new language, Na'vi, as "Lord of the Rings" did, although mercifully I doubt this one can be spoken by humans, even teenage humans. It creates new movie stars. It is an Event, one of those films you feel you must see to keep up with the conversation. . . .

I've complained that many recent films abandon story telling in their third acts and go for wall-to-wall action. Cameron essentially does that here, but has invested well in establishing his characters so that it matters what they do in battle and how they do it. There are issues at stake greater than simply which side wins.

Cameron promised he'd unveil the next generation of 3-D in "Avatar." I'm a notorious skeptic about this process, a needless distraction from the perfect realism of movies in 2-D. Cameron's iteration is the best I've seen -- and more importantly, one of the most carefully-employed. The film never uses 3-D simply because it has it, and doesn't promiscuously violate the fourth wall. He also seems quite aware of 3-D's weakness for dimming the picture, and even with a film set largely in interiors and a rain forest, there's sufficient light. I saw the film in 3-D on a good screen at the AMC River East and was impressed. I might be awesome in True IMAX. Good luck in getting a ticket before February.

It takes a hell of a lot of nerve for a man to stand up at the Oscarcast and proclaim himself King of the World. James Cameron just got re-elected.

At the very least, it'll be better than Titanic. Happy holidays, indeed.

Once again, The Times Magazine looks back on the past year from our favored perch: ideas. Like a magpie building its nest, we have hunted eclectically, though not without discrimination, for noteworthy notions of 2009 — the twigs and sticks and shiny paper scraps of human ingenuity, which, when collected and woven together, form a sort of cognitive shelter, in which the curious mind can incubate, hatch and feather. Unlike birds, we can also alphabetize. And so we hereby present, from A to Z, the most clever, important, silly and just plain weird innovations we carried back from all corners of the thinking world. To offer a nonalphabetical option for navigating the entries, this year we have attached tags to each item indicating subject matter. We hope you enjoy.

via The Ninth Annual Year in Ideas - Magazine - NYTimes.com (and Waxy)

The direct inverse of my home town Warriors, the Rockets have been successful because of how they're built. Michael Lewis touched on this in his New York Times Magazine piece on Shane Battier, but really, that structure is a product of the Rockets' General Manager, Daryl Morey.

Daryl Morey’s has been an “experiment” unprecedented thus far in this league.  Never before has a team predicated transactional decision-making primarily upon advanced statistical analysis.  With the club exceeding all expectations, to some extent, Morey’s methods have been validated.

Due to the novelty of his approach, and the immediacy of his success, oft forgotten is it that we still lay merely in the earliest of stages in the shaping of this team.  Only precious little is known of Daryl Morey’s managerial philosophy.  The forethought with which he has guided the transformation of this roster would indicate some grander scheme yet to unfold.  This is the subject of my intrigue.

via Discerning Morey’s Philosophy | Red 94 (hat tip to True Hoop).

* My favorite to watch? The Seattle Zombies.

This clip made me all smiley. Twelve games in four minutes. Punch-Out! + Gauntlet = WIN

Also great is the production company's name: Alaskan Military School

(Via Waxy and GameSetWatch.)

(click for full size)

Fantastic work by Writer: Geoffrey Golden / Artist: Jordan Monsell at Madatoms (via Digg).

Privacy concern in Google Voice call recording

Monstrous privacy concerns loom: What information will Google collect from the calls it connects, and what will it do with that information? Google's privacy policy says it will store and maintain recorded conversations. Is it preserving the numbers called, the duration of the call and even the name and address of the person the Google Voice user called? When I call a person who uses Google Voice or he or she calls me, what control do I have over what information Google collects about me or about how Google will use that data? Apparently none.

Many thanks to Prof. Tuthill for the opportunity, collaboration and guidance. I'd never shopped an idea around to different publications -- the entire process was interesting.

A mouse, or the ship from Flight of the Navigator?

Impressive enough that Apple stock hit an all-time high today. In the middle of a steep recession, Apple continued to grow. Add in contemporaneous moves by competing businesses -- Windows 7 comes out tomorrow, and last week Verizon and Google began advertising for their joint iPhone competitor, Droid -- and the milestone is even more spectacular.

Predicts John Gruber...

I’ll go out on a limb and predict that Apple’s market cap will surpass Microsoft’s by the end of 2010. (Also worth noting: Apple has enough cash on hand — cash — to buy every share of Dell.)

Wow. Frankly, Apple has rarely had a day of announcements similar to yesterday's. Sure, most of the new products weren't ground-breaking, but there were upgrades aplenty and very likely zero misses.

I love that Apple has been developing tech in one line and then re-purposing it in other lines, bringing the innovation to all products. Mac Mini as home server. Unibody to all MacBooks, integrated battery first to all iPods and then to all MacBooks. And now Multi-Touch from the iPhone and iPod Touch screens and MacBook Pro trackpads all the way to the stand-alone mouse. As a bonus, the new Magic Mouse sure is purdy.

Unfortunately for me, I know almost no one else who watched these shows. I suppose the animation turned them off to experiencing comedic genius, which is really too bad. And, of course, I'd walk around using the genius one-liners and referencing jokes that no one else knew. I'm sure they thought I was crazy, but I don't really care -- it was funny for me.

At least I'm not alone.

One of the best jokes on the show involved Lovitz's character's adoptive father, an alcoholic millionaire who loved to get hammered and dress up as Baby New Year. (Hilarious already, no?) During a flight, the drunkard's plane started jumping around wildly so, fed up, he sprung to action. In a rule-breaking move that only the absurdly wealthy would think to attempt, Baby New Year burst into the cockpit, only to find a drunk penguin at the controls.

"A penguin. And you've been drinking! Wait a minute, penguins can't fly..."

So. Funny.

The Critic: Penguins Can't Fly

nedhepburn:

the penguin is probably the Dame Judy Dench of cartoon cameos. he’s in this episode for like 40 seconds total, and its probably the funniest thing i have ever seen. i’m sorry. i have a really weird sense of humor and an alcoholic penguin who cant fly a plane (where did he get those goggles? has he really bagged all those stewardesses? and most importantly, where did he get the idea to try to fly it from, the drinking?) is probably one of the funniest things in the entire world.

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