Exploding Aardvark

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WATCHING TRENDS

There seems to be more and more granny-tasering and child-handcuffing going on in American law enforcement these days. I had read about this five-year-old girl’s story earlier, but seeing the video really pissed me off. She’s just sitting there quietly in a chair, and not one, not two, but three police officers are needed to […]

THE ODDS ARE STILL PRETTY BAD, THOUGH

The zombie infection simulation has been updated. Now humans can fight back instead of just panicking.

WE CAN’T MAKE IT HERE

Two different versions of this excellent James McMurtry song can be downloaded at his website.
We Can’t Make It Here
Vietnam vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one’s paying much mind to him
The VA budget’s […]

AGENTS FOR THE DEAD

I was reading an article on digitally resurrecting a dead singer’s voice and making it sing a song he never heard in his lifetime and this bit caught my eye:
Not only does Roesler act as business medium for Errol Flynn, Buddy Holly and Bogart, but he also represents sports stars (Babe Ruth, Rocky Marciano) and […]

US MILITARY RECRUITING 14-YEAR-OLDS

Carla Bloomer agrees with Tom that poor children have few options, but rankles at the suggestion that selling military service to a child is an answer to the problem. And she didn’t even know this was an issue until she learned a recruiter had talked to her 14-year-old son and convinced him to sign up.
“He’s […]

ROBOTICS MISCELLANY

A serpentine bridge-inspection robot. (video link)
GRACE, the Social Robot (Graduate Robot Attending a ConferencE)
Anatomically Correct Testbed (ACT) Hand“So far, we have constructed an index finger with all associated muscles.”

Nursebot Project: robotic assistants for the elderly
Robot Soccer
Skinnerbots: trainable robots using operant conditioning
Roboceptionist

FLYING ROBOTIC WHALES TO DELIVER BROADBAND

US communications outfit Sanswire yesterday unveiled concrete evidence of its truly audacious plan to deliver line-of-sight wireless broadband and mobile phone signals to an area the size of Texas from a single transmission point. The company is not, however, planning a private satellite launch or 10,000-foot-high transmission mast disguised as a really big tree — […]

NASA IS CREEPING ME OUT

First there is the video of the scary robot head. And then, digging around a bit, I find this picture.

THEM

They are testing a robot that they hope to shrink to nanobot size and eventually form what NASA calls “autonomous nanotechnology swarms” (ANTS). The researchers aim to give ANTS enough artificial intelligence to make smart decisions as well as know intuitively when and how to walk and swarm.
NASA turning nanobot swarm from fiction into science
Shape-Shifting […]

REMOTE CONTROL OF BRAINS

“This is a new approach to neuroscience,” said Gero Miesenbock from the Yale University School of Medicine. “We can not only passively observe but actively control behavior.”
Fly brains manipulated by remote control: Laser-activated chemicals target specific neurons