Seeing Dylan and/or Divine Revelation (Zeek.com)

"Two related theories about Bob Dylan, based on his November 19, 2001, show at Madison Square Garden."

    

Amateurs: A distant world for which Bush cares little (Financial Times)

Venezuela's chaos continues, while Colombia's violence deepens. Most recently, the US has looked on as Bolivia, a close ally and a desperately poor, and until recently stable, Andean nation, teeters on the brink of collapse. This is in large measure because of US policies but the administration has not shown the slightest recognition of the incipient disaster it is helping to create.

    

Wouldn't You Like to Know! Details Given on Contract Halliburton Was Awarded (NYTimes)
    

The Story of O: Life in and out of a political cult

(Star Tribune)"Through the 1980s, every aspect of Stein's life -- her work, friendships, conversations, housing, what she read and when she slept -- was dominated by a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist group known as the O. It arranged her marriage and tried to dictate when she had children. It cut her off from relatives and friends, who had no phone number or address for her -- only a post office box.

Today at 48, Stein has vivid memories of a wasted decade marked by panic attacks. The day she left, she began writing down her experiences, compelled to understand how a bright woman like herself could be seduced into joining what she now says was a political cult.

Stein's riveting new book, "Inside Out," is the first detailed insider account of O."

    

It's Always Something: Hubble Pictures Too Crisp, Challenging Theories of Time and Space (Space.com)

Conventional thinking is that space and time can be thought of together as a sort of foam. As light travels through the foam, it ought to be disrupted, ever so slightly, such that by the time it crosses much of the universe it would render only blurry pictures when gathered by a precision telescope. Put simple, Hubble ought to see a pixilation effect when photographing distant objects.

It does not. Hubble pictures are crisp and clear, no matter the distance to the object.

And that, say two separate teams of researchers, might mean there are flaws in quantum theory.

    

Neighborhood News: Where Downtown Redevelopment Paid Off (NYTimes)

"ENGLEWOOD, N.J. — On a shopping strip saturated with chain stores, the arrival of a Victoria's Secret might be a humdrum event. But in the northern New Jersey suburb of Englewood, the scantily clad mannequins on West Palisade Avenue send a vivid signal that a painstaking downtown redevelopment effort is paying off."