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Our Place in the Universe: Welcome to Laniakea

Phil Plait Salon
Figuring out where we are in the universe makes "Where's Waldo" look like child's play. Wait, "Where's Waldo" is child's play, but locating our location in the universe is really cool science.

NATO Deploys Military "Spearhead" Against Russia

Jon Queally Common Dreams
In a dangerously provocative decision, the heads of state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) decided last week to deploy a "rapid response force" for Eastern Europe. Citing what it termed "Russian aggression," NATO will develop a "spearhead" of some 5,000 elite troops to deploy against Russia. Russian leaders have long warned against NATO's eastern expansion as a threat to its security and a violation of agreements made to end the the Cold War.

Friday Nite Videos -- September 5, 2014

Portside
Why We Love Beethoven's Fifth. Movie: Rosewater. Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster. Science, Religion and the Big Bang. Fast Food Workers Stage Nationwide Actions.

Why We Love Beethoven's Fifth

Da da da dum. Three short, one long. Gerard Schwarz takes us inside Beethoven's brilliant improvisations on the most famous short theme in all of music.

Movie: Rosewater

The true story of a journalist detained in Iran for more than 100 days for reporting on Iranian elections. Written and directed by Jon Stewart.
 

Laniakea: Our Home Supercluster

A team of astronomers based in Hawaii has redrawn the cosmic map, redefining our home supercluster of galaxies, which they name Laniakea (‘immeasurable heaven’ in Hawaiian).
 

Science, Religion, and the Big Bang

Science and religion have very different stories of the origin of the universe. But does the question 'What came before?' even make sense?