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Putting into perspective the House's recent recommendation to defund the James Webb Space Telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Afghan War (AW) Independent Comprehensive Review Panel revealed chronic and deeply rooted management problems in the JWST AW project. These issues led to the project cost being underestimated by as much as $1,400,000,000 trillions of dollars relative to the most recent baseline, and the budget could continue to rise depending on the final launch withdrawal date determination. Although JWST the AW is a particularly serious example, significant cost overruns are commonplace at NASA DoD, and the Committee believes that the underlying causes will never be fully addressed if the Congress does not establish clear consequences for failing to meet budget and schedule expectations. The Committee recommendation provides no funding for JWST AW in fiscal year 2012.

The Committee believes that this step will ultimately benefit NASA DoD by setting a cost discipline example for other projects and by relieving the enormous pressure that JWST AW was placing on NASA's DoD’s ability to pursue other science national security missions.

Last September I started a PhD in Astrophysics at Arizona State. I really enjoy doing public outreach and engaging in informal education, so as I learn new and awe-inspiring things I spend a lot of time thinking, "What's so cool about this, and how do I explain it to my mother?" I think Carl Sagan expressed the motivation best in The Demon-Haunted World: "Not explaining science seems to me perverse. When you're in love, you want to tell the world." What set Carl apart, however, was his unique ability to articulate this love in a way that expressed his enthusiasm and was understandable to a wide audience. Your mother probably doesn't want to sit through a stuffy lecture, even if the contents are astounding.

One of the most amazing discoveries of modern astrophysics is that almost all of the chemical elements we see around us were produced in supernovae -- energetic explosions that typically mark the death throes of massive stars. Elements heavier than oxygen are disseminated mostly through supernovae, and elements heavier than iron come almost only from supernovae. This means that literally everything around you is full of atoms that were originally created in massive stars that exploded and sent those elements flying into interstellar space, where they eventually coalesced into dust and became you and the Earth you're standing on.

Being a big fan of stickers you can put anywhere, I thought a sticker campaign would be the perfect cheeky way to engage in some informal education! I modeled them after the labels warning of cancer risk that you find on household chemicals, furniture, and almost every building in the state of California. They're both factually correct, but while knowing that everything causes cancer is a buzzkill, knowing that everything came from supernovae is awesome.

The image I chose is one of my favorite Hubble Space Telescope pictures, the Antennae Galaxies. I've photoshopped the fake supernovae over the top. As always, there's a Flickr set that will continue growing. Here are the source files so you can print some yourself -- they're intended for 2.5" x 2.5" sticker backs.
Master psd
UBahn font
Patagonian font (with bonus dinosaurs!)

One of my favorite authors is the late Robert Anton Wilson. His own particular brand of absurdism resonates well with my own and has given me inspiration for all manner of crazy things! My favorite works tend to be his fiction -- especially the Illuminatus! trilogy and its successor the Schrödinger's Cat trilogy. Illuminatus! in particular tells the story of the most fantastically absurd far-reaching conspiracy ever dreamed up in fiction or even reality. In short, it's pretty much got to have some truth to it.

In Illuminatus!, it's noted that you can tell where the Illuminati are exerting their influence by watching for subtle and recondite symbols they use -- the numbers 17 and 23, the images of the Ouroboros and the Eye in the Pyramid, and the phrase "Property of the Bavarian Illuminati! Ewige Blumenkraft!" Now, 17 and 23 I see everywhere. The Eye in the Pyramid is on the one dollar note. But I've noticed a disproportionately small number of property claims by the Illuminati, given their clearly far-reaching influence. In the spirit of accurate labeling, such as "antibacterial," "All-natural," and "Now SLOWER and with MORE BUGS!," I've made these "Property of the Bavarian Illuminati! Ewige Blumenkraft!" stickers. They should be placed wherever the Illuminati's influence is painfully obvious, yet conspicuously undeclared!

There's a developing Flickr set where those came from! If anyone wants to modify them or make their own, I've posted the source psd. I'll also have gobs at Maker Faire Austin this weekend (look for a gentleman in a top hat).

Ewige Blumenkraft!
O Hail Eris!

Quantum Mechanics may be the ultimate mindfuck. Einstein was no fan -- he famously wrote "God does not throw dice," referring to his distaste for the statistical formulation underlying quantum theory. Despite his misgivings, quantum physics has proven effective at describing all manner of natural phenomena since its formulation in the early 20th century. That said, the formalism does lead to some rather odd or paradoxical conclusions.

Not least among these is the notion of Quantum Entanglement -- that observable qualities of systems may be statistically correlated, even though the systems may be separated by vast spatial distances. An example is a pair of entangled electrons -- one will have spin up, one spin down, but the individual states are indeterminate until a measurement is made. However, once the spin of one electron is measured, the spin of the other will become determinate instantaneously, and more importantly, superluminally. Einstein labeled this theoretical phenomenon "Spukhafte Fernwirkung" -- "spooky action at a distance."

These graffiti, placed on opposite ends of a bridge, embody the notion of entangled states, each with Einstein's appellation and a measured spin wavefunction -- up for Alice and down for Bob, whose wavefunction has collapsed once Alice makes her measurement.

For more on entanglement and Einstein's view, I also suggest reading about the EPR Paradox.

Here are a couple updates regarding previous projects. I've been spending free time lately reading, but I should have some new stuff soonish.

[citation needed] stickers have been slowly showing up in new places. I've still got a number left, so if you want a few, just send me an email or a message via Flickr. A few from around Tempe and San Francisco are in the Flickr tag pool:

I especially dig this one from Flickr user cutlerite:

Reason Magazine also recently published a short article about the project, in their March issue. Don't be afraid -- they're much nicer Libertarians than some of the Randroids I've met!

I also finally had a chance to really test my bicycle camera mount -- the lead-up to the Game Developers Conference had left me with little time for biking anywhere other than work. I went riding with Matthew and took a few shots as well as this video:

On a side note I don't recommend trail riding with this particular mount -- the constant jostling broke the conduit hanger I was using to mount the tripod head. Luckily it's the cheapest piece at only 50 cents, but the weight of the assembly demands something a bit sturdier than cheap plastic if you're going to be navigating bumpy terrain!

I was biking through Kiwanis Park in Tempe earlier today and came across this excellent street sign mod. Someone has placed clear vinyl stickers with hula hoops (complete with motion lines!) printed on them around the waists of a few crosswalk signs. They're apparently a meme that started via distribution at The String Cheese Incident concerts. I cracked up when I saw the first -- I'm glad there are other people in Tempe who want to bring some spirit into the streets, especially if it's an irreverent Discordian spirit! I saw four total -- luckily I had my camera with me so I snapped a couple photos:

It's no secret that I'm a big Wikipedia fan -- I've got a serious case of NADD and about half my browser tabs at any given time are Wikipedia articles. One of my favorite quirks about the site are the little [citation needed] tags that users can place in an article, indicating that a dubious claim needs a reference. One day an idea struck -- what statements are more dubious or outright ridiculous than those in advertisements? Thus, an OM project was born. I had 250 8x2 inch stickers printed, which I handed out to friends, who circulated them further. In true wiki fashion, the final placement of the stickers is a collaborative effort, now distributed and anonymous. If anyone sees one somewhere, please make a photo! I've been tagging my photoset on Flickr with citationneeded and wikiffiti -- more should start showing up in the next few weeks. I'm also providing the source Photoshop file (or as pdf) for anyone who wants to print their own batch. Note that you may have to resize the canvas or change the image mode to CMYK depending upon the print service used.
Update: A few people have asked via Flickr about printing services. I found uprinting.com via google, and ended up using them simply because their minimum order size was 250 instead of 500 -- there may be better or cheaper options available. They simply have a quote form you fill out, then you upload your file (such as the CMYK one above). Very painless overall.

After playing with one of these little fellows last weekend I resolved that I had to have one of my own - I can't stand TVs in restaurants in particular, or ones that do nothing but play ads in stores. So I ordered up my own kit and assembled it per Limor's instructions. A selection of the photos:

It had been about a year and a half since I'd had a chance to solder anything, which I realize now was far too long! Luckily, soldering seems to stick like bike riding - my joints were as clean and pretty as ever! Now just to test it out!

Operation Mindfuck is a wide-reaching decentralized conspiracy that extends to the highest levels of power in the world. Its purpose is to disrupt the reality grids that the general populace functions on, reminding people that there exist experiences and stimuli outside the confines of their everyday lives. As evidence of its popularity among even the powerful, I cite U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, particularly his Incredible Hulk tie.

For Halloween I joined friends making some LED Throwies (photoset - thanks Becky). We used them to make temporary improvements to a building and a sculpture:

I also spent a couple hours last weekend walking the new Tempe Marketplace shopping center with an accomplice, using one of Limor's TV-B-Gone kits to disrupt the incredibly annoying TVs that seem to be in every store for no good reason. While the most satisfying was the one in the Cold Stone (also: delicious sorbet), the most impressive was the electronics section in the Target:

I've ordered one as well - the plan is to have two that cycle out of phase so as to turn off TVs twice as fast!

Overall, some of the best fun I've had in months!

New blog is up now - I've moved over to using a modified WordPress since maintaining the codebase for my own was a bit more time than I wanted to put into it. Among other things I plan to document my increasing involvement in Operation Mindfuck.