Early Post

I'll most likely be away from computers this Friday, so I'm posting this week's post today to get it done.

This news piece aired originally on 3/23/2008 on CBS Sunday Morning. It's about regenerative medicine.

Enjoy!

Phobot!

"Phobot is a phobic robot, who's very scared of certain objects, and robots in particular. Phobot is meant as a concept exploring possible support tools for kids with object or location-related phobias. Phobot and the phobic child will help each other overcome fears by following exposure program steps. If you help Phobot out, gradually exposing the little robot to bigger and bigger robots, Phobot will overcome its fears."

~ from http://staff.science.uva.nl/~hcramer/phobot/index.html



And please remember that the latest issue of If - E - Zine(tm) is now available at TheLordShen.com

Bonus Post! Bionic Eyes Now Available

Robots on Mars!!!

Here's a short documentary with an intimate look at NASA's plan to build a robot colony on Mars.

100th Post! And it's about GUNDAM! Japan officials edited Wikipedia at work

Japan officials edited Wikipedia at work

From Yahoo! News:

TOKYO - Japan's Agriculture Ministry reprimanded six bureaucrats after an internal probe found they spent work hours contributing to Wikipedia on topics unrelated to farm issues — including 260 entries about cartoon robots.

The six civil servants together made 408 entries on the popular Web site encyclopedia from ministry computers since 2003, an official said Friday.

One of the six focused solely on Gundam — the popular, long-running animated series about giant robots — to which he contributed 260 times. The series has spun off intricate toy robots popular among schoolchildren as well as adults known as "otaku" nerds.

"The Agriculture Ministry is not in charge of Gundam," said ministry official Tsutomu Shimomura.

SOURCE

GUNDAM FIGHT!


One of my prized possessions: a Gundam Wing Zero Collectible!


Special thanks to J. Ho for bringing this news article to my attention. Check out his art blog, he loves drawing robots and He-Man. Now if only he'd draw robotic He-Man.

BONUS POST! Follow-up on Mysterious Meteorite Illness

I posted this story on 9/18/07. Here's a follow-up:

"On what started as a normal Saturday night one week ago, residents of a small, remote Peruvian town saw a bright light streak across the sky, heard a resounding bang and suddenly found themselves at the center of a media frenzy.

Initial suspicions of an airplane crash quickly spiraled into widespread reports that a meteorite had plummeted to Earth and left a smoking, boiling crater whose supposedly noxious fumes were reported to have sickened curious locals who went to peer at the hole.

Despite doubts expressed by geologists that the crater was actually caused by a meteorite and firm explanations that a meteorite would not even emit fumes and that the "sickness" was likely a case of mass hysteria, numerous onlookers far and wide were fascinated by the idea that this event could be some real-life "Andromeda Strain" (the 1969 novel by Michael Crichton), where a mysterious rock falling to Earth from outer space made anyone who went near it ill."

SOURCE

Mass hysteria seems to have caused the 'illness'. A sort of mass psychosomatic reaction.

BONUS POST! Diseased Meteor Will Kill Us All!

LIMA (AFP) - Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

SOURCE


OTHER RELATED HISTORICAL AND FICTIONAL METEOR STORIES:

TUNGUSKA EVENT

The Tunguska event, sometimes called the Tunguska explosion, was a massive explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya (Under Rock) Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai of Russia, between 7:00 and 8:00 AM on June 30, 1908.

The explosion was most likely caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5 to 10 kilometers (3–6 mi) above Earth's surface. Different studies yielded varying estimates for the meteor's size, including 60 meters, 90 to 190 meters and up to 1200 meters in diameter.

Although the meteor or comet is considered to have burst prior to hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact event. The energy of the blast was estimated to be between 10 and 20 megatons of TNT — 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The explosion felled an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometers (830 sq mi). It is estimated to have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale.

The Tunguska event is the largest impact event in recent history. An explosion of this magnitude had the potential to devastate large metropolitan areas had it occurred over a large city. This possibility has helped to spark discussion of ways to potentially stop large asteroids or comets from hitting Earth.

SOURCE

THE BLOB



THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN

A Cornucopia of Cyborgs and Robots

Well, this is a HUGE post today. Got some pop culture stuff and a lot of scientific research here. I hope everyone enjoys. Be sure to post your thoughts!

One of my favorite comic book characters.



Robot maker builds artificial boy


RICHARDSON, Texas - David Hanson has two little Zenos to care for these days. There's his 18-month-old son Zeno, who prattles and smiles as he bounds through his father's cramped office. Then there's the robotic Zeno. It can't speak or walk yet, but has blinking eyes that can track people and a face that captivates with a range of expressions.

At 17 inches tall and 6 pounds, the artificial Zeno is the culmination of five years of work by Hanson and a small group of engineers, designers and programmers at his company, Hanson Robotics. They believe there's an emerging business in the design and sale of lifelike robotic companions, or social robots. And they'll be showing off the robot boy to students in grades 3-12 at the Wired NextFest technology conference Thursday in Los Angeles.

Unlike clearly artificial robotic toys, Hanson says he envisions Zeno as an interactive learning companion, a synthetic pal who can engage in conversation and convey human emotion through a face made of a skin-like, patented material Hanson calls frubber.

"It's a representation of robotics as a character animation medium, one that is intelligent," Hanson beams. "It sees you and recognizes your face. It learns your name and can build a relationship with you."

It's no coincidence if the whole concept sounds like a science-fiction movie.

Hanson said he was inspired by, and is aiming for, the same sort of realism found in the book "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," by Brian Aldiss. Aldiss' story of troubled robot boy David and his quest for the love of his flesh-and-blood parents was the source material for Steven Spielberg's film "Artificial Intelligence: AI."

He plans to make little Zenos available to consumers within the next three years for $200 to $300.


READ MORE

ZENO'S OFFICIAL SITE

ZENO'S BLOG!


BUILDING GODS
A movie wherein a cyborg, brain builder, theologian, and philosopher debate the future of artificial intelligence, robotics, cyborgs, and living inside of computers.



OFFICIAL SITE


BRAINGATE






BRAINGATE HOMEPAGE


REAL TRANSFORMER

BONUS POST! Viking queen exhumed to solve mystery!

SLAGEN, Norway (Reuters) - Archaeologists exhumed the body of a Viking queen on Monday, hoping to solve a riddle about whether a woman buried with her 1,200 years ago was a servant killed to be a companion into the afterlife.


As a less gruesome alternative, the two women in the grass-covered Oseberg mound in south Norway might be a royal mother and daughter who died of the same disease and were buried together in 834.

"We will do DNA tests to try to find out. I don't know of any Viking skeletons that have been analyzed as we plan to do," Egil Mikkelsen, director of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History, told Reuters at the graveside.

READ MORE

RIP Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle Camp Franklin, 88, of Goshen, CT and New York City, died Thursday, September 6th. Born November 29, 1918, in New York City, to Charles Camp and Madeleine Barnett Camp, she was educated in Switzerland and South Carolina, before graduating from Smith College. She was the author of over 60 books, including the award-winning A Wrinkle in Time.



RIP Madeleine L'Engle


OFFICIAL SITE

Hackers Take Down the Most Wired Country in Europe

FROM THIS MONTH'S WIRED:

The minister of defense checked the Web page again — still nothing. He stared at the error message: For some reason, the site for Estonia's leading newspaper, the Postimees, wasn't responding. Jaak Aaviksoo attempted to pull up the sites of a couple of other papers. They were all down. The former director of the University of Tartu Institute of Experimental Physics and Technology d been the Estonian defense minister for only four weeks. He hadn't even changed the art on the walls.

An aide rushed in with a report. It wasn't just the newspapers. The leading bank was under siege. Government communications were going down. An enemy had invaded and was assaulting dozens of targets.

Outside, everything was quiet. The border guards had reported no incursions, and Estonian airspace had not been violated. The aide explained what was going on: They were under attack by a rogue computer network.

It is known as a botnet, and it had slipped into the country through its least protected border — the Internet. Ministers of defense develop strategies to combat the threat of missile attacks, naval bombardment, air raids, and tank advances. But a digital invasion? Estonia is a member of both NATO and the European Union. Should Aaviksoo invoke NATO Article 5, which states that an assault on one allied country obligates the alliance to attack the aggressor?

SOURCE

Women Dig Cavemen

Here's this week's post. Enjoy!




Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com Thu Aug 23, 12:35 PM ET

Guys with bulldog-like faces have been chick magnets throughout human evolutionary history.

A recent study of the skulls of human ancestors and modern humans finds that women, and thereby, evolution, selected for males with relatively short upper faces. The region between the brow and the upper-lip is scrunched proportionately to the overall size of their heads.

Among the men who fit the bill: Will Smith and Brad Pitt.

In a past study, researchers found a similar facial pattern in chimpanzees, with males having relatively shorter and broader faces compared with females, controlling for body size.

Men with "mini mugs" might have been most attractive to the opposite sex and thus most likely to attract mates for reproduction, passing along the striking features to the next generation and so forth, said lead study author Eleanor Weston, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London.

"The evolution of facial appearance is central to understanding what makes men and women attractive to each other," Weston said. "We have found the distance between the lip and brow was probably immensely important to what made us attractive in the past, as it does now."

Whereas past studies have suggested facial symmetry and facial masculinity play roles in this game of desire, none have provided evidence of an evolutionary shaping of male and female faces.

"I think it's a very nice approach," said Randy Thornhill, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico, referring to the study. Though not involved in it, Thornhill agrees with the finding that certain facial features evolved due to sexual selection.

Facial coordinates

The researchers calculated certain facial coordinates on 68 males and 53 female skulls from a contemporary native southern Africa population ranging in age from infant to 30 years old. Measurements included distances between the point between the eye brows and upper lip and from cheekbone to cheekbone.

Weston and her colleagues also examined facial data from fossil hominin skulls dating back to 2.6 million years ago, unearthed in Kenyan deposits as part of the Koobi Fora Research Project IV. These skulls represented five species: Homo erectus, Homo ergaster, Paranthropus boisei, Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus. These facial coordinates were then compared with the contemporary coordinates.

In spite of their bulkier bodies (about 15 percent more massive than women's bodies), and similarly broader faces, men have upper faces similar in height to women's faces, the scientists found. But compared with the rest of the head, a guy's mid-face is compressed. The differences held throughout human history.

A simple ratio of upper face length to broadness could serve as a proxy for facial attractiveness, the scientists say in a report on their research published in the online journal PLoS ONE.

Masculine appeal

The scientists are not certain why today's distinctive male face and its proportions evolved.

"A shorter upper face does serve to exaggerate the size of other face features such as the flare of the cheeks and the size of the jaw, but this might not be why it developed," Weston told LiveScience. "Rather the shorter [and] broader the male face the more ‘masculine’ and the less ‘feminine'—based on biological face changes that take place during growth and development—the individual becomes," she said.

Also, this facial development was accompanied by a shrinking of guys' canine teeth, so men appeared less threatening to competitors, yet attractive to mates.

While the scientists who authored the current study examined skulls and did not specifically study how modern faces fit the findings, the Natural History Museum press officers applied Weston's findings to a "quick and dirty" survey of photos of celebrities.

They came up with a list of stars with masculine faces, listing them from most to least masculine according to facial dimensions: Will Smith, Peter Andre, Justin Timberlake, Thierry Henry, Brad Pitt, David Beckham, Johnny Depp and Kanye West.

Visit LiveScience.com for more daily news, views and scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point of view.

SOURCE

BONUS POST! Space Hotel

BARCELONA (Reuters) - "Galactic Suite," the first hotel planned in space, expects to open for business in 2012 and would allow guests to travel around the world in 80 minutes.

Its Barcelona-based architects say the space hotel will be the most expensive in the galaxy, costing $4 million for a three-day stay.

During that time guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and use Velcro suits to crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.

Company director Xavier Claramunt says the three-bedroom boutique hotel's joined up pod structure, which makes it look like a model of molecules, was dictated by the fact that each pod room had to fit inside a rocket to be taken into space.

"It's the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest challenge," says Claramunt. "How to accommodate the more intimate activities of the guests is not easy."

But they may have solved the issue of how to take a shower in weightlessness -- the guests will enter a spa room in which bubbles of water will float around.

When guests are not admiring the view from their portholes they will take part in scientific experiments on space travel.

Galactic Suite began as a hobby for former aerospace engineer Claramunt, until a space enthusiast decided to make the science fiction fantasy a reality by fronting most of the $3 billion needed to build the hotel.

An American company intent on colonizing Mars, which sees Galaxy Suite as a first step, has since come on board, and private investors from Japan, the United States and the United Arab Emirates are in talks.

PLENTY RICH ENOUGH

If Claramunt is secretive about the identity of his generous backer, he is more forthcoming about the custom he can expect.

"We have calculated that there are 40,000 people in the world who could afford to stay at the hotel. Whether they will want to spend money on going into space, we just don't know."

Four million dollars might be a lot to spend on a holiday, but those in the nascent space tourism industry say hoteliers have been slow on the uptake because no one thought the cost of space travel would come down as quickly as it has.

Galactic Suite said the price included not only three nights in space. Guests also get eight weeks of intensive training at a James Bond-style space camp on a tropical island.

"There is fear associated with going into space," said Claramunt. "That's why the shuttle rocket will remain fixed to the space hotel for the duration of the guests' stay, so they know they can get home again."

In an era of concern over climate change, Galaxy Suite have no plans so far to offset the pollution implications of sending a rocket to carry just six guests at a time into space.

"But," says Claramunt, "I'm hopeful that the impact of seeing the earth from a distance will stimulate the guests' urge to value and protect our planet."


SOURCE

"i laugh and cringe and vomit and die all at once"

copyright 2007 by charles shaver. all rights reserved.


watching the tube
last night
there was this chick
this dame
this broad
talking with letterman
about her tat of a bluebird
on her wrist
and he asks
"so do any of these tattoos have any meaning
or are they just pretty?"
and she says the bluebird on her wrist
was inspired
by a poem
by charles bukowski

i laugh and cringe and vomit and die all at once

here's this porcelin goddess
even has the brit accent
expounding upon
the birdhouse of bukowski's soul
the bird in the heart of a dead drunk
what the fuck
what the fuck did she know
i wanted to cheer cuz someone on the grand stage
of our times
knew who the hell he was
i wanted to throw a red card
throw a red card
of foul, foul
irony
for what could this chick
this dame
this broad
with the brit accent
truly know about creativity
drunkenness
down-an'-outedness
with her multi-million dollar movie contracts
at such a young age

i can't say im closer to buk than her
or any other
no holier than thou's from me
he was a prick at best
but im not flaunting
my bluebird soul
on my wrist
for forty million viewers
while promoting my million dollar movie

i got up from the couch and came in here to my computer
and began to write

Book Burning to Protest the Lack of Book Loving?

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tom Wayne has amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero's Books.
ADVERTISEMENT

His collection ranges from best sellers, such as Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October" and Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities," to obscure titles, like a bound report from the Fourth Pan-American Conference held in Buenos Aires in 1910. But when he wanted to thin out the collection, he found he couldn't even give away books to libraries or thrift shops; they said they were full.

So on Sunday, Wayne began burning his books in protest of what he sees as society's diminishing support for the printed word.

"This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today," Wayne told spectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books.

The fire blazed for about 50 minutes before the Kansas City Fire Department put it out because Wayne didn't have a permit for burning.

Wayne said next time he will get a permit. He said he envisions monthly bonfires until his supply — estimated at 20,000 books — is exhausted.

"After slogging through the tens of thousands of books we've slogged through, and to accumulate that many and to have people turn you away when you take them somewhere, it's just kind of a knee-jerk reaction," he said. "And it's a good excuse for fun."

Wayne said he has seen fewer customers in recent years as people more often get their information from television or the Internet. He pointed to a 2002 study by the National Endowment for the Arts, that found that less than half of adult respondents reported reading for pleasure, down from almost 57 percent in 1982.

Kansas City has seen the number of used bookstores decline in recent years, and there are few independent bookstores left in town, said Will Leathem, a co-owner of Prospero's Books.

"There are segments of this city where you go to an estate sale and find five TVs and three books," Leathem said.

The idea of burning the books horrified Marcia Trayford, who paid $20 Sunday to carry away an armload of tomes on art, education and music.

"I've been trying to adopt as many books as I could," she said.

Dozens of other people took advantage of the book-burning, searching through the books waiting to go into the flames for last-minute bargains.

Mike Bechtel paid $10 for a stack of books, including an antique collection of children's literature, which he said he'd save for his 4-year-old son.

"I think, given the fact it is a protest of people not reading books, it's the best way to do it," Bechtel said. "(Wayne has) made the point that not reading a book is as good as burning it."


SOURCE

Yes, I do know

Go. Now. Visit. They need the money and it's cheap. The Quarter is near full recovery. It's clean and safe. I just came from there. Go. Don't you deserve a vacation? Why not help out while you're at it by pumping money into the local economy? That's what they need the most. That was the answer universally given when asked what the rest of teh country can do to help. Go. Enjoy. Relax. Eat and get fat. Enjoy.

Peltier Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

On April 3rd, 2007, the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee has received confirmation of Leonard Peltier's official nomination for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. This year 181 candidates have been registered. The name of the Prize recipient for 2007 will be announced in mid-October.






Leonard Peltier

Robots Around the World

Here's some news stories concerning robots, their kith and kin:

ROBOTIC LUNAR LANDER
*************************************
"Raytheon Co. has proposed a robotic lunar lander to NASA that would be based on technology already developed for a missile defense program.

A Raytheon official said the lander leverages propulsion system technology developed for the Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), which was developed and manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems of Tucson, Ariz., for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The propulsion system is combined with autonomous navigation technology developed for cruise missiles, she said.

“The proposal is based on these two technologies in which there has been an enormous amount of investment over the last 15 years or so, especially for the missile defense interceptors,” Karleen Seybold, senior systems engineer at Raytheon Missile Systems, said in an April 4 interview. “We’re pulling this technology together in a very low-cost, autonomous lunar lander.”"


SOURCE


DOMO Robot
****************************************
"MIT researchers recently demonstrated the capabilities of such a robot, named Domo, which, like the robot in a recent General Motors ad, can transcend mass-production's repetition. It is designed to interact with humans and adapt to its environment in ways previously only imagined in science fiction.

Presently, Domo can identify objects, reach for them and place them on shelves. Unlike an assembly-line robot, Domo can sense its surroundings using a pair of video cameras for eyes; they are connected to 12 computers. The cameras are built into remarkably human-looking 'eyeballs,'...


Unlike its predecessors, Domo also has the ability to sense touch, necessary for safe interaction with humans. Springs in its arms, hands and neck can sense force, allowing it to respond appropriately. Pushing its hand will make it move in the direction of the push."


SOURCE


DOMO IN A VISUAL TRACKING EXERCISE:





RATS CONTROL ROBOT ARM WITH BRAINS
**************************************
"Controlling a robot arm by brain power alone sounds like science fiction, but experiments involving rats' brains have brought it closer to reality.

Dr John Chapin, of the MCP Hahnemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, has shown for the first time that brain cell activity can be used to control a robotic device.

The research is a big step towards artificial limbs for paralyzed patients that could be controlled by thought alone, just like normal limbs.

The scientists trained rats to obtain water from a robotic arm by pressing a small lever. Each rat had electrodes implanted in its brain to record the activity of certain cells.

As the rats performed this task, the scientists analyzed the patterns of activity in the regions of the brain that control movement.

They identified specific brain cell activity associated with the rat's paw movements.

The researchers had to develop a new mathematical method to analyze the signals from the brain cells.

The next step was to connect the robot arm directly to the rat's brain. The brain now controlled the robot arm directly through the electrodes and the computer.

The rats appeared to have little difficulty in controlling the robot arm. Initially, they continued to press the lever, even though this was no longer necessary to cause the robot arm movements.

But eventually many rats learned that they could obtain water through brain activity alone and stopped pressing the lever."


SOURCE




REPLIEE Q1
******************************************

"Repliee Q1 (at left in both pictures) appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe. Shown with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University, the android is partially covered in skinlike silicone. Q1 is powered by a nearby air compressor, and has 31 points of articulation in its upper body.

Internal sensors allow the android to react "naturally." It can block an attempted slap, for example."

Watch her here

SOURCE






HERE'S A ROBOTIC FISH:



KISMET:



CYBORG SITES:

World Transhumanist Association
"The World Transhumanist Association is an international nonprofit membership organization which advocates the ethical use of technology to expand human capacities. We support the development of and access to new technologies that enable everyone to enjoy better minds, better bodies and better lives. In other words, we want people to be better than well."


Robo-eels, critters on chips lead cyborg pack

12-Year-Old Dies Because His Family Is Poor

"... A 12 year-old boy had passed away in Prince George's County, Maryland, as a result of not having adequate dental care.


Deamonte Driver was like many urban youths in the DC Metropolitan area. Struggling against many economic factors, the young boy did not have sufficient insurance coverage to provide quality health care, and the Medicaid coverage provided by the State of Maryland fell far short of providing even a basic level of coverage.


Of the 5,500 licensed dentists in Maryland, less than 20 percent will accept Medicaid. There are various reasons for why dental offices report that they will not accept the coverage. The top of the list is financial, with most dentists stating that reimbursements from the government are just too low to make it worthwhile."


SOURCE



From LordShen: This one really hits home with me because in 2004 I had to pay over $1,100 out of my own pocket (a significant portion of my yearly income) spread over three months PRIOR to getting a routine but required cleaning. Being poor blows.

In case you're wondering how exactly this young boy died, since his parents couldn't get him in to see a dentist because they couldn't afford it, the tooth abscessed, spread to the boy's brain and caused a tumor that eventually killed him.

Florida Police Arrest Man for Feeding the Homeless

MIAMI (Reuters) - Police in Florida have arrested an activist for feeding the homeless in downtown Orlando.

Eric Montanez, 21, of the charity group Food Not Bombs, was charged with violating a controversial law against feeding large groups of destitute people in the city center, police said on Thursday.

Montanez was filmed by undercover officers on Wednesday as he served "30 unidentified persons food from a large pot utilizing a ladle," according to an arrest affidavit. The Orlando area is home to Disney World and Universal Studios Florida.

The Orlando law, which is supported by local business owners who say the homeless drive away customers but has been challenged in court by civil rights groups, allows charities to feed more than 25 people at a time within two miles of Orlando city hall only if they have a special permit. They can get two permits a year.

Police collected a vial of the stew Montanez was serving as evidence.

Police spokeswoman Barbara Jones said in an e-mail it was the first time anyone had been arrested under the feeding ban.

Montanez was charged with a misdemeanor.


SOURCE