Want to mock movies, but need heckling helpers? I have found instructions on how to build replicas of the Crow and Tom Servo puppets from Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Here’s a Korean-built emotive android. Bonus points for the first of you to a) power it via USB and b) use it to monitor your CPU load. Go!
Hey, I dig giant robots. You dig giant robots? They Might Be Giant Robots.
Progress has been slow. I had to build a new motor controller for Rover, because the left tread would not reverse, and as a result the robot would not be able to turn. Replacing transistors only made the problem worse. Rover now has a new motor controller that uses relay-based H-bridges, but also uses power transistors to switch the motors on and off, which will allow me to control the speeds of the motors by adjusting the duty cycle.
So, here’s Rover…
I’ve also started and almost completed a second project, a drawing robot. It’s based on a plan I found in a book called Apple II/IIe Robotic Arm Projects. This is a jointed, two dimensional robot. (Most two-dimensional robots are not jointed, but rather use pulleys or screws to to position themselves based on X-Y coordinates.) When this robot is complete, you will be able to put a pen in its hand and have it draw you a picture.
Hackaday’s Pre geek-o-ween mini extra includes this cyborg pumpkin :
Sure, it’s creepy now, but just wait until it starts to rot.
In that vein, does the fact that it will still function without its biological parts make it less than a cyborg? Would this more accurately be classified as a cucurbitoid ?
Bacteria found living in a goldmine are now proven to inhabit a non-solar-powed ecosystem. Apparently, the beasts feed on a chemical reaction powered by nuclear decay. Now that their habitat has been, after twenty million years of isolation, been exposed to the outer world, I wonder how much longer they’ll last.
Researchers have developed a You-Are-Here sign for the Web. It sounds as though it will give the Back button a tree-like structure, allowing the user to return to any branch or leaf at will. Unfortunately it also sounds like vaporware right now.
Here’s an interesting paper on human attachments to robots. No, not cybernetic attachment, emotional attachment.
More on Japanese Androids . One roboticist is treating them as art and creating portraits, so to speak, of himself and his daughter. His practical idea is also an excellent one: to ship a robotic lookalike to a meeting one can’t attend in person, and control it remotely. Although for theater’s sake, I might prefer to appear as a giant holographic floating head. One that can shoot lightning out of its eyes.
They say that the Internet is shaped like a jellyfish . I had also heard that it was a mesh, a series of tubes, a hollow ball with value around the edges, and a storm cloud with a silver lining. Let me know when it evolves into a sea anemone or a beautiful coral reef.
Remember the animatronic chimp head that was the gadget of the year last Christmas? It turns out someone actually got one and finally figured out what to do with it. The answer? Attach it to Roomba and watch it scream in simulated terror.
Make: points us toward a cool Linux kernel hack that enables SAA7134 based TV tuner cards to tune in to other radio frequencies. Sounds like it would be a highly interesting experiement, but unfortunately my TV card doesn’t use that chip.
According to " The 3-Variable Funny Test "I am the Wit: 52% dark, 19% spontaneous, 15% vulgar.
You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you’re probably an intellectual, but don’t take that to mean pretentious. You realize ‘dumb’ can be witty–after all isn’t that the Simpsons’ philosophy?–but rudeness for its own sake, ‘gross-out’ humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.
I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.
Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it’s also the best, in my opinion.
PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart – Woody Allen – Ricky Gervais
Newscientist.com brings us an article on the alien invaders laying waste to the Galapagos Islands. In fact, there are two sets of invaders: pests such as rats and goats, and tourists who will soon be coming by the cruise-ship-load. As you know, because each island was so isolated, the species living on each could evolve in peace to best suit the environment. And by comparing what he found on each island, Darwin evenutally formulated his famous theory on the origin of species.
At any rate, this isolation and ultra-optimization to the environment left the native flora and fauna susceptible to invaders, such as the previously-mentioned rats and goats. Being from a more competitive environment, the invaders quickly outcompeted and overran the natives. As mentioned in the article, environmentalists have taken steps to eradicate the invaders. For example, a pesticide specially formulated to be toxic only to rats will be sprayed across one island. Once the invaders have been exterminated, they be replaced with compatible species from the other islands.
My thought is that this is just a foreshadowing of what will happen when we finally go to the stars. My concern is which role will we be playing? Will we be the Pinta tortoise, driven to extinction by alien goats? Will we be the tourists, obliviously spreading destruction in our wake? Will we be the rats, nibbling our way across the cosmos? And if so, will somebody out there be spraying us with Human-Be-Gone?
I realized that today is the fifth anniversary of my move to San Diego. It was Columbus Day, 2001, and I remember this because the banks were closed and I almost ran out of gas.
That year, Columbus Day fell on the eleventh of October. Coincidentally, National Coming-Out day falls on the eleventh of October every year. It’s not exactly a holiday, just a manufactured celebration like so many other manufactured celebrations we celebrate in the US.Given the choice, though, I’d rather celebrate honesty than celebrate Columbus, a man who mistakenly thought he’d reached India. So in celebration of honesty, guess what? I, too, am gay.
This is not going to be news to more than a few people, especially since I’ve been out since about 19. This is really more of an affirmation. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not the type of guy to go out of his way to challenge people on sexuality. Quite the opposite.
However, I presume this is fairly obvious to everybody, not that I mince and fuss like See-Threepio or anything, nor do I (often) criticize people’s taste in fashion or decor. Nor do I want to go shopping (unless you’re going to Fry’s.) Why not? Well, believe it or not, there are as many types of gay people as there are of straight people: millions.
Of course there are many other people out there who do embrace such flamboyant mannerisms. Now, if that’s an expression of their true identities, then more power to them. Be authentic! But there are also people who will behave in a certain way when they think it’s expected of them. However, I am not that sort of person.
So maybe it’s not that obvious. But I am still certain that those of you who do know me personally really have already figured it out and are just "waiting for [me] to say something." If that’s the case, then consider it said. Let’s talk about it.
ERIK
