couldn't get you a link to this upi story, but here is a more technical paper from the authors, and here are some highlights:

“Spanish and American astrophysicists claim the universe we inhabit contains an infinite number of other universes like our own, called O-regions, that we will someday be able to contact. Jaume Garriga, of the University of Barcelona, and Alexander Vilenkin, of Tufts University, call the concept "many worlds in one."

…these universes are likely similar to our own -- share similar life forms, for instance – because they share a key feature with our world: a finite number of distinct histories. A history is the way something has evolved in time and will continue to evolve. Until now, physicists have never been able to make such an assertion.

Are these ideas far-fetched? Alan Guth (MIT) says no. "Do I think that the ideas are viable? Definitely yes. In fact, I very much admire the precision with which the ideas are expressed. I consider the work of Alex Vilenkin and his collaborators to be the leading work in this field."

”Whenever a thought crosses your mind that a terrible calamity might have happened," Vilenkin told UPI, "you can be assured that it has happened in some of the other O-regions." Furthermore, since some O-regions have histories identical or nearly identical to our own, "if you nearly escaped an accident here, then you were not so lucky in some of the O-regions with the same prior history," he said

Guth also believes the many-worlds hypothesis has profound philosophical implications. "We already know that our planet is merely a tiny speck in a vast cosmos, but now we are being told that we do not even hold a unique copyright on our own identities," Guth told UPI. "Instead, each of us is actually only a single copy of an infinite number of beings that are completely identical to ourselves."

More collectibles as entertainment.
I possess nothing of value, but Antiques Roadshow has become my excuse for never cleaning anything, just in case it might be worth a fortune.

Yeah, but what does He look like now?

Our friend Steve DiBenedetto has a show opening this Saturday, 3/31, 6 to 8, at Baumgartner Gallery. They’ve registered a domain name, but you’ll have to go to their artnet site for a selection of Steve’s ambiguously emphatic paintings. Good stuff.

Hello Monday. Any plans for the weekly IRL meeting? I think last week was a pretty big success. Bring your own Bereket seemed to work well. But there was some talk (I think maybe I started it) of going to Grand Szechun International (hereafter: GSI.) Anybody ready to think about this yet? I know it's only Monday, but you can't start planning for the weekend too soon (and yes, I realize that by counting Thursday as the weekend I might be pushing it.)

Mmmmmm... sea cucumber.

"Joey... do you like movies about gladiators?"
Peter Graves, Airplane

he took her to a movie.....

No maps for these territories is the new William Gibson documentary. Cool web site.

Creativity, Digitally Remastered : Kimmelman for NYT. (I haven't had to sign in to e nyt in a longtime) "Wanna Cookie ?" - Don Rickles

palladin calls 71 clinton a shack.

"To do so, Mr. Anschutz chose to come to New York, the town that gave birth to the independent film industry, where small companies are marching well ahead of Hollywood toward digital filmmaking and exhibition—most of them with the idea of getting more and better distribution for smaller-budget, so-called art-house films. Some are betting that the technology of downloadable or satellite-beamed movies will make theater ownership profitable again. But Mr. Anschutz, many believe, also wants to personally influence mass entertainment—to decide what gets shown at his movie theaters, when and how often."

best of the best: mondo list of lists of all-time films

"The 34-year-old computer whiz in Silver Lake got a phone call from the friend of a friend--the head of publicity for a movie studio. The offer was $10,000 a week for an Internet "project." Was he interested? Absolutely. Details quickly followed from the studio's department of new media. The computer whiz discovered he would soon be "purposely forgetting everything I knew about design." The job was to construct a phony fan Web site for a new movie. "

Steve Albini eyewitness record reviews.

I saw Memento yesterday at Loews Broadway/19th. It's about ten minutes too long but quite good. As you may have read, it's about a man who's lost his short-term memory, but keeps himself up-to-date on his own investigation of his wife's murder by tattooing messages on his body and carrying polaroids in his pockets. The story is told in reverse chronological order, so each time he "wakes up" to a new, memory-wiped reality, the audience knows about as much as he does. Reviews have been smartass, comparing it to Groundhog Day and Harold Pinter's Betrayal, but I'd say it's closer to Tarantino (minus the pop-culture irony) and Dark City (minus the aliens). Stephen Tobolowsky, who played the accountant who kept recognizing Bill Murray on the street in Groundhog Day

is heartbreaking in a parallel tale of another short-term-memory-losser named Sammy Jankis, who remembers how to give his wife her insulin shot but can't retain the plot of the TV show he's watching. One of the ironies of Memento is that the audience has to hold a lot of info in RAM (i.e., short term memory) in order to make sense of the plot.

Can you beat Joe D? (Winner gets a virtual night with MM (not Mickey Mantle)).

Steve, Bill, and I are expecting to meet at the Local tomorrow (Thursday 3/22) after work (5:30 PM). Show up, or let us know if you've got another suggestion.

Oh that clumsy(?) CIA.

Monday, Monday : Papa John dead @ 65 from heart attack, yesterday, yesterday. Ms and Ps made 5th grade kick for me. So many groovie hits in a row ! Nothing you didn't know already (including what he was doing) in todays nyt obit.

Online art in a brick and mortar museum !?

perfectly sinful and other vintage movie posters

traffic outtakes? no, california in the 20s.

William F. Buckley weighs in on Traffic.

the market is spring forward--my two favorite people are back--the east end fish folks and the organic man--i bought 10 flounder for 11 bucks and last years roots that were left through the winter to sweeten (rude a begger, carrots, turnips, garlic....)

last nights meal at Meigas was the best yet, not all dishes in the seafood tasting menu were wonderful but some rocked, expensive yes but if could just stop going to Veritas after dinner's in NYC i might be able to afford my rent...