Category: quick thought

Robot Fight

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDljbN7eJ5Y]

While it looks more like a toaster with legs than Usain Bolt [? – JRD], Cornell University’s Ranger robot has set some track records all the same. On July 6, Ranger set a world record for untethered robotic walking, traveling 14.3 miles in only 11 hours.

Guided by students with a remote control, Ranger navigated 108.5 times around the Barton Hall indoor track, about 212 meters per lap, and made about 70,000 steps before it had to stop and recharge. The 14.3-mile record beats the former world record set by Boston Dynamics’ BigDog, which had claimed the record at 12.8 miles. – TechNewsDaily

I don’t mean to harsh on Cornell’s buzz, but implying this little R2D2-on-stairs robot is somehow a direct competitor with the BigDog is like trying to face Huey, Dewey, or Louie – from Silent Running – off against Optimus Prime. I mean, sure, they can all do light housework, but you know who you’re going to turn to when you need some long-haul trucking done.

Robot Fight

Better yet, none of this is the most interesting robot item I’ve had to consider today:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI06lujiD7E]

Somewhere in the design of this automaton is a partnership with the Dyson vacuum people.

Some Notes On Geeston

Oddly, Sunday In Geeston has more biography in it than most of the stories I’ve put up via Flash Pulp. I could take you to that little office, and I wasted more than one afternoon with a man not unlike Eddie, who took quite a bit of enjoyment in spending Sundays waiting for people to climb the post office’s tall cement steps.

I worked for the Eddie-alike, although he was too weird to truly insert into fiction. I intervened one day during a particularly sad case of stair-climbing, and, despite the fact that I may have saved that old man a hip, I was greeted with a dour look when I returned.

The store he operated eventually went under and we stopped talking shortly afterwards – actually, the day after he spent an afternoon showing me his KISS doll collection.
KISS dolls

Crime Never Bids

Hardy, a friend of mine who has a spider-sense for odd Canadiana, sent me this gubmint auction link.

I’ve seen my share of government auctions – I was expecting seized Honda Civics and grow-op houses – but no, this is actually general surplus, so it’s not JUST the former possessions of the incarcerated. (Although, yeah, there’s plenty of that too.)

Stretcher

One stretcher, slightly used? Yikes.

20,000 Straws

I don’t know where these came from – but I love the understated nature of the picture. At first I couldn’t figure out why the government was wasting my tax money trying to sell straws and plastic lids, but then I realized it’s actually 20,000 of each. That’s a lot of straw wrappers to blow at people.

Diamond Chips

I know what I said about seized assets, but wouldn’t you want to play International Super Spy with a bag full of real diamond chips?

Just pretend they weren’t actually wrenched out of old ladies’ ring-settings by a meth-head B&E specialist using a pair of rusty needle nose pliers.

My Hovercraft Is Full Of EeeeelsI actually WANT to believe this is a seized asset – that somewhere there’s a crime lord that once shouted: “Oh no, the cops! Quick boys, to the hovercraft!”

On "Bachelor Magazines"

I was leafing through one of those ancient comic collections people leave lying around their bathrooms, and came across this strip, which I find interesting for two reasons:

Old Garfield Strip

1) Apparently there was a time when this was an area the Garfield universe was all right
with going into – I seriously doubt you’d see Jon receiving “bachelor magazines” in today’s funny pages.

2) There was a time when Jim Davis thought this was a passable joke. This actually makes me feel better in an odd sort of “there’s always the next episode/strip” way. Mulligan hates Mondays!

Anyhow, we’re back to regular broadcasting – last night’s episode is delayed, but should be up shortly. Our lack of internet combined with a stomach bug has the FP production crew a little behind.

A Solution For The Gulf

A facebook acquaintance recently posted up photos from a They Might Be Giants concert in which he saw a Festo AirPenguin, live and in person.

What’s an AirPenguin? This:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPGgl5VH5go]

I’m pretty excited to hear these things are actually out and about in the real world now, (Eat that, Roger Waters’ pig,) but this also points out a possible solution to the mess in the gulf – we may not be able to save all that wildlife, but it’s all right, Festo makes an AquaPenguin as well!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8tfES8gImc]

Angle-ing

The Jefferson Bible

I need to get my punches in on Sharron Angle while I can.

From her recent interview:

“Actually, Thomas Jefferson has been misquoted, like I’ve been misquoted out of context. Thomas Jefferson was actually addressing a church and telling them through his address that there had been a wall of separation put up between the church and the state precisely to protect the church.”

I’m sure Jefferson was quoted out of context on more than one occasion, but attempting to argue that Jefferson was actually all Church + State = BFF seems a little ridiculous. We’re talking about a guy who believed so strongly in Christianity as a philosophy, and not a religion, that he re-edited the bible:

The Jefferson Bible, or The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth as it is formally titled, was Thomas Jefferson’s effort to extract the doctrine of Jesus by removing sections of the New Testament containing supernatural aspects as well as perceived misinterpretations he believed had been added by the Four Evangelists.

[…]

The Jefferson Bible begins with an account of Jesus’s birth without references to angels, genealogy, or prophecy. Miracles, references to the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, and Jesus’ resurrection are also absent from the Jefferson Bible. The work ends with the words: “Now, in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus. And rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.” These words correspond to the ending of John 19 in the Bible.

– Wikipedia

I’m not sure that Sharron Angle would enjoy what’s left after that cutting: it’s all about feeding the poor and embracing strangers even if they’re different than you.