Category: goo brain

Starting Young

Man about town, bmj2k, pointed me at a link to this toy:

A Series Of Cubicles

Furniture features:
* Flat desk area
* Left and Right built-in mouse pads
* Bench seat that fits two children and offers storage inside for supplies
* Two locking cabinet doors
* Computer wiring stores safely inside ventilated cabinet.
* Locking castors keep unit from rolling during use.

As the accompanying Gizmodo article rightly points out, this feels way too much like “Baby’s First Cubicle”.

Oddly, this implication of child labour actually inspired me to round up my own kids and put them to work.

Behold: a dramatic reading as inspired by the original text of “χώρος γραφείου“:

Download

Knock Off

This is both terrifying, and slightly familiar:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMkV8E2re9U]

(Wait, was that Iron Chef music at the halfway point?)

Now, where have I seen that thing in action before?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGE_h4jBBXc]

Ah, yes, that’s it.

I'm Kind Of Glad It's Lost

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCjGsKKevSQ]

Two things about this clip from 1960’s The Lost World:

  1. The person who posted this video is absolutely right – it definitely sounds like Star Wars’ Tie Fighter sounds were sampled from this “dino” fight.

  2. Wow, did I ever forget how unpleasant watching actual animals fight each other was. I remember enjoying this movie quite a bit, but mostly for Claude Rains, not this PETA-bait.

Closed Circuits/Minds

Marvin

Below is a video of Iran’s robot, Surena 2, getting a workout on Iranian television.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGl_jTPhMf0]

Wikipedia says:

Surena II (Persian: سورنا) is a humanoid robot which has been developed and fabricated through a joint project between “Center for Advanced Vehicles (CAV), University of Tehran” and “the R&D Society of Iranian Industries and Mines”[1]. – article

It’s hard to know what Iran is intending with this project, but I think it’s a pretty good example of what closed borders will produce. A little more communication with outside research groups and they might have a robot that does something more than balance on one leg while occasionally twitching its arms.

It seems to me ten minutes of conversation with the Asimo people, or even just watching some of their late ’90s videos, would have rocketed Surena’s research program forward.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq_193LuNc8]

(Fast forward to the last minute if you want to skip a little robo-history)

You might argue that Honda has had a lot of money and time to invest in Asimo, but go back to that Surena 2 video, then compare it against this last item, which was likely hatched by Osakan university students.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHuu2GPS_QY]

Leap

Sam? Sam? Can You Hear Me?
The new idea: A reboot of Quantum Leap.

Scott Bakula reprises his role as Sam, but Dean Stockwell is replaced with a digitally inserted Groucho Marx, as cut from old You Bet Your Life episodes.

Pilot: Sam leaps into Bakula’s body and attempts to fix his career.

Quantum Physicals

Quantum HealingYou’ll only know if you’re healed or not once the cast is off.

There’s a lot to mock in this sign – the double “i” in healing, the misspelling of alternative, (I think it’s intentional, but it’s still wrong,) – but, while taking this picture, I was struck with the feeling that these were likely just nice, naive, hippies.

Then I turned around:

Seriously?If you can’t read it, the sign on the left says, I kid you not, “Quantum Vibrational Kinesiology”.

Charlatans! Who could possibly maintain a business beside these quacks?
THC Technology

THC Technology?

Ah.