2006/10/31

HAL-5 Robot Suit Ready for Production.

Cyberdyne announced that they will start mass producing the HAL-5 , a Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) for “walking assistance and rehabilitation, nursing, factory work and disaster relief.” This robot suit allows anyone who wears it, the potential to lift up to 10-times the weight they normally could. Production will be limited to just 20-units next year and 400-500 units in 2008.


Oooh, next up, Cyclone armor!

2006/10/30

The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test


Count von Count
You scored 77% Organization, 23% abstract, and 47% extroverted!
This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are very organized, more concrete, and both introverted and extroverted.

Here is why are you The Count.

You are both very organized. You almost always know where your belongings are and you prefer things neat. You may even enjoy cleaning and find it therapeutic. The Count is obsessive compulsive and needs to always count what he has. You would never find The Count missing a bat.

You both are concrete thinkers. The Count is very mathminded and wants to know what he has and where it is. His purpose in life is clear. You probably also know what you want in life, and you have a real plan toward achieving it. You aren't likely to throw everything away to take a risky chance.

You are both somewhat introverted. The Count is quite obsessed with himself and the things that belong to him. At the same time he has had 2 girlfriends and he has guests in his castle. Like The Count, you probably like to have some time to yourself, but you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations.


The other possible characters are
Oscar the Grouch
Big Bird
Snuffleupagus
Ernie
Elmo
Kermit the Frog
Grover
Cookie Monster
Guy Smiley
Bert

If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also if you want to tell me your favorite Sesame Street character, I can total them up and post them here. Perhaps your choice will win!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 99% on Organization
free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 99% on concrete-abstra
free online datingfree online dating
You scored higher than 99% on intro-extrovert
Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

2006/10/27

Misc. Friday Ramblings...



Friday FIREPOWER!
  • Mozambique...in Miami Vice.
    The shooter was an IPSC Grandmaster (see the classification system here) and was a consultant on the show. Here he got a bit part as an assassin. For the pistol shooting at the end the director told him, "Don't worry about making it look fast. We'll take care of that when we edit it." Apparently the director had never seen a real shooter draw and shoot. Needless to say they didn't need to do any editing to make it look faster. Another thing Guy said was that the script didn't say what to do with the gun afterward and he didn't realize it until the shooting was over. So what happens is the shooter double taps the other guy looks down, realizes he has a "stove pipe" failure, clears the gun and puts it on the chest of the victim as he walks away. The crew was so slack jawed over the display of speed they just kept filming even though that wasn't part of the scene.

    Notice, three shots. Also, there wasn't a stovepipe at all. The gun is in battery. What he did was unload and show clear...probably out of habit.

  • Shooting skeet with cars.
    We need a bigger gun....and more cars!

2006/10/26

The King is Dead. Hail to the King baby!

Rock 'n' roll legend Elvis Presley ceded his crown to Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain on Forbes.com's list as the top-earning dead celebrity.

The list, published on Tuesday, said grunge rocker Cobain earned $50 million between October 2005 and October 2006. Presley wound up in the No. 2 slot with $42 million, down from last year's $45 million.

Forbes.com bases its dollar amounts on licensing deals for using the deceased celebrities' work or image in advertising or elsewhere.

This was Cobain's first time on the list in its six years of publication. Presley has ruled the roost since its inception, said Forbes.com staff writer Lacey Rose.

Cobain's coup was due to his widow, actress and singer Courtney Love, who sold a 25-percent stake in the Seattle grunge group's song catalog to New York music publishing company PrimeWave.

Ranked after Presley is "Peanuts" cartoon strip creator Charles Schulz at $35 million.

Rounding out the top five were Beatle John Lennon at $24 million and groundbreaking physicist Albert Einstein at $20 million, whose estate profited from such licensing deals as the popular "Baby Einstein" educational videos.

So I wonder if Love's share will end up going up her nose or not.

2006/10/25

"Franks be to God."

Franks for the memories, Hot Dogma.

In the dog-eat-dog world of hot dog restaurants, the Pittsburgh location has decided to settle and change its name to Franktuary.

The settlement ends 17 months of legal wrangling with a Miami Beach restaurant that made a federal case out of the Pittsburgh site's name. Dogma Grill has a trademark on the word "dogma" and its attorneys contended the similarity in names might confuse consumers.

The settlement includes a small, undisclosed financial compensation and an agreement to drop the name Hot Dogma from its signs, Web site and merchandising.

In the end, business sense held sway. While Hot Dogma has received pro bono representation since the four-count federal suit was filed in April, Ms. Lindsey didn't relish the effort an extended legal fight would require.

And to properly bury the name Hot Dogma, a "giant funeral" is planned for down the road, she said.

That means a fire sale of the restaurant's hoodies and T-shirts, whose logo, is, of course, "Franks be to God."

Wanted for questioning:


edit: sorry for the crap...er, short week. Being under the weather doesn't help. Last time I ever get a flu shot.

2006/10/20

Misc. Friday Ramblings...

Bruce Baum: If you want too much porn on the internet, you could get hair on your palm pilot.

Friday FIREPOWER!
  • FN SCAR evaluation and video.
    SOCom awarded a Nov. 5, 2004, contract to FN Herstal to develop a highly reliable, modular weapon system for its elite forces.

    Army Times recently spent a few hours at FNH USA’s weapons training and test facility in Fredericksburg, Va., checking out the latest prototypes of the new weapon system.

    The SCAR program is really two rifles — the SCAR Light, chambered for 5.56mm NATO rounds, and the SCAR Heavy, chambered for 7.62mm NATO ammo.

    Both versions of the SCAR can be equipped with different barrel lengths to suit missions ranging from close-quarter fights to long-range shooting.

    The SCAR Light has a 10-inch “close quarter combat” barrel, a 14-inch “standard” barrel and an 18-inch “long barrel.”

    The SCAR Heavy also has a 10-inch CQC barrel but has a 13-inch standard barrel and a 20-inch long barrel.

    The CQC barrel is intended for urban-style targets out to 200 meters; the standard barrel is for targets at 300 to 500 meters; and the long barrel is for targets at 500 to 800 meters out.

    For cleaning, the SCAR breaks down into five main groups:

    • Upper receiver assembly, including the barrel.

    • Lower receiver assembly, including the trigger mechanism.

    • Moving parts assembly, which houses the bolt carrier group and recoil spring.

    • Buttstock assembly.

    • Magazine assembly.

    The joint command is looking at SCAR for Army, Navy and Air Force special operators. In addition, the Marine Corps is looking at SCAR for its elite units and hasn’t ruled it out as a future option for the entire Corps.

    The conventional Army, however, is not interested in SCAR. For the foreseeable future, Army officials have said combat units will continue to use the M16 rifle and the M4 carbine. Over the next five years, the Army’s first priority is to look for a replacement for the M249 squad automatic weapon.


    Video: SCAR (S.O.F. Combat Assault Rifle)

    Hope and pray that a civilian version comes out before the Republican rule ends in 2008.

  • Self-defense in Seattle.
    Daniel Culotti was shot shortly after 11 a.m. by a 52-year-old man he was assaulting in an unprovoked attack, according to Seattle police. The victim of the assault was carrying a handgun and had a concealed-weapons permit, police said.

    Seattle police continue to investigate Saturday's shooting, and their findings will be turned over the prosecutor's office to decide whether charges are warranted. While police would not speculate on whether the shooting of Culotti was self-defense - saying the term is a legal finding that will be determined by prosecutors -the account offered by a police spokeswoman supports that possibility.

    Moments earlier, witnesses told police, a man in his 20s apparently attacked the 52-year-old man, punching and kicking him until he fell to the sidewalk. The older man pulled out a .357-caliber Ruger revolver and fired one round, striking the man in the abdomen.

    The older man "was not winning the fight" - the other man "just starts attacking him, he's on the ground and a shot is fired," Brown said, describing witnesses' accounts.

    "It happened pretty fast. Probably by the time anybody thought to intervene, it was already over."

    The 52-year-old had a concealed-weapons license and was in legal possession of the handgun, Brown said. Police have not released the man's name because he was not booked into jail.


  • Slow-motion bullets and impacts.
    Because it is always more effecive to go full-auto while wearing a hockey mask.

2006/10/19

Voting Myths

Any leader hoping to draw lessons from this book should start first by jettisoning any preconceived notions about how to connect with voters, consumers, and churchgoers, ignoring conventional wisdom and the false assumptions of pundits. This book debunks their many myths. Our findings include:

Myth 1: A company's product, a candidate's policies, or a pastor's sermons are the main appeal for most people.

Reality: People are looking first for a Gut Values Connection.

Myth 2: September 11, 2001, changed Americans.

Reality: The attacks did hasten change, but Americans had been transforming their values and lifestyles since the mid-1990s.

Myth 3: Technology has created a more disconnected nation.

Reality: Americans are using new technologies to build new forms of community and civic engagement.

Myth 4: The glut of information has made people more independent and less reliant on one another.

Reality: The Information Age and fragmented media have caused people to turn more often to peers for advice, giving rise to Navigators.

Myth 5: A vast majority of megachurch worshipers are antigay, antiabortion conservative Republicans.

Reality: Few megachurches are politically active because they don't want to turn off a single potential customer. A surprisingly large portion of megachurch worshipers are Democrats and independents.

Myth 6: The electorate is divided into Republican "red states" and Democratic "blue states."

Reality: Americans are highly mobile and self-polarizing, so it makes more sense to categorize them by their lifestyle choices rather than arbitrary geographic boundaries. We call them Red Tribes, Blue Tribes, and Tipping Tribes.

Myth 7: Republicans have a lock on exurban America, as shown by the fact that because Bush won 96 out of 100 of the fast-growing counties in 2004.

Reality: Democrats can win exurbia because voters in these new, fast-growing areas are driven by their lifestyle choices and values, not partisanship.

Myth 8: Americans slavishly vote their self-interest.

Reality: Their idea of self-interest is more selfless than most politicians realize. Voters will turn to a candidate who reflects their Gut Values over one who sides with them on policies.

Myth 9: The best indicator of how a person will vote is his voting history or views on abortion, taxes, and other issues.

Reality: The key to predicting how a person will vote (or shop and worship, for that matter) is his or her lifestyle choices. To borrow and bastardize a phrase from President Clinton's 1992 campaign -- It's the Lifestyles, Stupid.

According to the following quiz, I am barely a red tribe member. I tend to do what they are saying, vote for the candidate that view the issues that interest me the most in the same light. So, if they like guns, games, boobies, etc, they are okay in my book. :)

2006/10/18

You drink that crap?

Britain needs to use more recycled effluent as drinking water if it is to deal with a long-term shortage crisis, a report said today.

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) said using treated sewage was one radical suggestion that needed to be pursued if the country was deal with the growing problem.

Many UK water companies were forced to impose tough restrictions on water usage this summer, banning the use of hosepipes and sprinklers, because of low reservoir levels.

The Environment Agency said southeast England had endured its worst drought for a century.

"Parts of the UK are experiencing long term water shortages, so we need a range of solutions to keep the water running," said John Lawson, the ICE's Water Board chairman.

"Effluent water reuse is still a relatively untapped way of providing drinking water to meet growing long term needs."

AdvertisementAdvertisementSewage can be turned into drinking water by processes which sieve and then chemically clean the water so it can be put back into rivers to be re-treated for human consumption.

We all drink some form of wastewater. Whether it goes through a man-made water treatment facility before returning to nature, or it passes directly into nature, it all gets back to the water we have supplied to us. That's why I drink Dasani. :)

2006/10/17

Only you can prevent crime against your family.

According to authorities, the man believed to have shot two people in a Macclenny home Monday morning was arrested in Georgia.

Police said Bobbie Dressel went into a convenience store in Liberty County, Georgia, and told the clerk he had killed someone. Police were called and he was taken into custody.

Police said they tracked him while he used his cell phone.

A woman was killed and her stepfather was wounded in a double shooting at about 6 a.m., and the Baker County Sheriff's Office said they believe the woman's ex-boyfriend, Dressel, who they said had threatened her in the past, is the gunman.

The shootings took place before dawn at a home in the 9300 block of Brent Lane, off State Road 121, near Macclenny. Investigators said there were three other people inside the home at the time of the shootings, including two young children, ages 1 and 8. They were not harmed.

Deputies identified the woman killed as Cynthia Below, 30, a corrections officer with the state. Her stepfather, Malcolm Jones, was in critical condition at Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center.

Family members told Channel 4's Casey Black that Dressel had hidden in the woods with a gun on prior occasions and deputies were called to the house on Sunday after Dressel allegedly called the house dozens of times -- a violation of the restraining order.

Outside the home Monday morning, family members were visibly angry with Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson for not arresting him before the shooting.

"My question is, why didn't they pick him up yesterday when there was a complaint against him," Jean-White said. "If they would have picked him up yesterday, I believe she would have still been alive today."

"We were frustrated too, as the family is. We're sorrowful for the family," Dobson said. "As any person knows, a law enforcement agency can only do what we can do. We can't place a deputy out here at this house 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Dressel has a criminal history in neighboring counties, having been arrested for shooting into an occupied dwelling in Union County and an arrest for failure to appear on a drug charge in Clay County.

Deputies said Dressel was wearing an ankle monitor, and it was tracked for three blocks after the shootings, then the signal was lost.

"The monitoring system is supposed to keep up with him. Apparently, it did. It tracked that he came up here, and tracked that he left," Dobson said.

However, the ankle monitor worn by Dressel requires the wearer to charge its battery, and the battery on his ankle monitor died about 30 minutes after the shooting.

A few comments that I'd like to make:
  • If they were tracking him by his cel. phone usage, why weren't they able to apprehend him before his surrender.

  • If the criminal is in charge of charging his monitor, then you are putting the key element of the tracking program in the control of the criminal.

  • Restraining orders are only worth the paper they are written on if the opposing party believes in obeying the order.

  • Only you can prevent violent crimes from occurring to your family under your own roof. The police are not there for your personal protection.

2006/10/13

Misc. Friday Ramblings...

Dogbert:
The best part about hating people is that I never run out of great ideas.

Friday FIREPOWER!
  • What caliber is best for pumpkins?
    They're coming right for us!

  • Dragon Skin armor.
    "Pinnacle Dragon Skin SOV-2000 level III armor was tested this week for an LE agency, along with stand-alone Armored Mobility Incorporated level III plate armor used as a control and for comparison. Both types of armor were conditioned for 12 hours at 170 degrees F, then moved to ambient air for approximately 90 min prior to being shot. The problems associated with the use of inelastic clay backing material have been well documented; as such, the armor was secured to a life-size curvilinear torso replica made of Perma-Gel. Each armor system was shot a minimum of 20 times with five shots of each ammunition type fired against each armor system--one 90 degree perpendicular shot, two shots at 60 degrees obliquity, and two shots at 30 degrees obliquity, using each of the following loads fired at a distance of 10 feet:

    -- 5.56 mm 40 gr LeMas Urban Warfare (using a moly coated Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet) with a 3718 f/s average velocity.
    -- 5.56 mm M855 62 gr FMJ with a 3054 f/s average velocity.
    -- 7.62x39 mm M43 123 gr steel-core FMJ with a 2307 f/s average velocity.
    -- .30-06 M2 150 gr FMJ with a 2736 f/s average velocity.

    All of the above ammo was successfully stopped by both armor systems in this testing, with no armor failures or penetrations, even after receiving multiple hits."


  • North Korea's nuk-u-lar program.
    Estimating the yield is tricky business, because it depends on the geology of the test site. The South Koreans called the yield half a kiloton (550 tons), which is more or less—a factor of two—consistent with the relationship for tests in that yield range at the Soviet Shagan test site:

    Mb = 4.262 + .973LogW

    Where Mb is the magnitude of the body wave, and W is the yield.

    3.58-3.7 gives you a couple hundred tons (not kilotons), which is pretty close in this business unless you’re really math positive. The same equation, given the US estimate of 4.2, yields (pun intended) around a kiloton.

    A plutonium device should produce a yield in the range of the 20 kilotons, like the one we dropped on Nagasaki. No one has ever dudded their first test of a simple fission device. North Korean nuclear scientists are now officially the worst ever.

2006/10/12

Teen drops out to play video games.

A high school dropout from Jupiter is earning six figures playing video games. Tom Taylor says people were skeptical when he quit school to concentrate on a career as a video gamer. Now the 18 year old has product endorsements and a video game tutoring business.

He's one of about 100 professional gamers associated with Major League Gaming -- a video gaming league founded in 2002. When playing well, pros can bring home a few grand a month.

Six months after he started gaming full time, Taylor signed a $250,000 contract. He also got a publicist, a financial adviser and media training. Taylor says he was born to play video games.

I went the wrong way in college. I learned programming in the hopes of one day designing and building games. Instead, I should have concentrated on playing them for money. Back then, however, the best thing going was Street Fighter 2 in the arcade.

2006/10/11

White & Nerdy


Yes, I can quote Monty Python. I'm so white and nerdy.

Check out the guest appearances from Seth Green, Donny Osmond, and Judy Tenuta.

2006/10/10

Join the club!

Make your fantasy a reality with Mile High Atlanta. We are located at West Georgia Regional Airport near Carrollton, GA. just a short drive from the Metro Atlanta area in rural Georgia. We will take you up to over 5,280 feet above the earth's surface so you have the opportunity to join the exclusive "Mile High Club." For only $299.00 you will have an hour flight in a Piper Cherokee Six designed exclusively for this purpose. Also included is a bottle of champagne and you get to keep your sheets as a souvenir of this special event.


Remember to ask for the parabolic maneuver so you can do it in true zero-G.

2006/10/06

Misc. Friday Ramblings...

Heard on the radio concerning the local dating scene:
The odds are good, but the goods are odd.

Friday FIREPOWER!
  • Police officer shot at with an AK-47.
    It doesn't matter what weapon you have, if you aren't trained well with it, hitting the target is just dumb luck. The office, with training, returns fire with his sidearm and scores three hits under stress. Stupid criminals.

  • Stupid Weapons Scorecard.
    A system for rating a (possibly) stupid weapons idea:
    1) Promises a “revolution in warfare.” Add 50 points. Add 25 points for claims of a “new arms race.”

    Add 5 points for each time any derivative of the word “transformation” is used in promotional materials describing the weapon.

    2) Is supposedly a “new” idea, yet on closer examination, there are myriad examples of attempts using similar ideas in the past.

    Add 10 points for each case of a similar idea in the past. Add another 15 points, for each case inventor/company was unaware of this earlier attempt, and thus failed to learn from past mistakes.

    3) Lacks a realistic operational scenario of where or how such a weapon could be used.

    Add 25 points. Add 15 points if inventor/company describes an operational scenario, but it has no relation to current warfare (i.e. aircraft equipped with laser beams shooting at each other).

    4) The usability of the weapon assumes as yet unproven leaps in technology to reduce size, power generation or other critical elements.

    Add 15 points for each needed technological advance.

    5) The idea comes from someone who is unfamiliar with how the military fights and how weapons are used.

    Add 15 points (this is slightly subjective, so add only five points if served in military, but never involved in any military operations). Add 20 points if military experience is derived from watching war movies or the evening news.

    6) The company/inventor relies on obtaining funding (private or public) from people who themselves have no idea how the military uses weapons (i.e. private investors, congressional earmarks).

    Add 20 points if developmental funding relies on congressional earmarks (as opposed to funds requested in the Pentagon’s budget). Add 25 points if developmental funding relies on publicly traded stock. Add 30 points for developmental funding from intelligence agencies.

    7) Incorporates references to and/or inspiration from Star Trek, Star Wars, Buck Rogers, or video games. Add 10 points for Star Trek, 5 points for Star Wars, 3 points for Buck Rogers, and 2 points for video games (regardless whether XBox or Playstation II).

    8) Inventor/company argues that people also once doubted the feasibility of a nuclear weapon, as if that automatically means that this weapon will work and/or is deserving of nearly unlimited funding.

    Add 25 points. Also add 20 points if similar references are made to the Wright Brothers and airplanes.

    9) Claims foreign countries are working hard on this technology, and could overtake the United States if we don’t invest in it (without proof of such work).

    Add 10 points for claiming Russia is working on the same type of weapons, 20 points for China, 30 points for North Korea, and 5 points for the French. Score extra 100 points if claim is that extraterrestrial life forms are working on it (in fact, stop now if that’s the case – trust me, that’s a stupid weapon).

    10) Claims foreign governments have contacted inventor/company about buying the weapon and/or idea (but with no actual sales).

    Add 10 points.

    11) Relies on PowerPoint in lieu of engineering details to demonstrate workability. Add 5 points for each cartoon depiction of technology not yet in existence.

    12) References to previous military funding as proof the idea is valid, because we all know the military only funds things that work.

    Add 5 points.

    13) When presented with possible scientific laws that the weapon – as proposed – might violate, inventor/company simply insists the technology works, and it’s up to the scientists to explain how.

    Add 35 points.

    14) Cost of the weapon (please include nonrecurring costs if the weapon doesn’t yet exist), exceeds that of similar one currently in inventory by a factor of 10.

    Add 20 points for each factor of 10. Add another 5 points if you assert that costs will come down with mass production without being able to cite evidence for demand and/or how much those costs would be reduced.

    15) Any proof the weapon works is openly paraded to the media, but questions about problems with the weapon are rebuffed by claims that the information is “classified” or “proprietary.”

    Add 25 points.

    What’s the weapon’s total score?


2006/10/05

The Burger King scares me.

"Finally, Sneak King takes the stealth action genre and puts it to a friendlier use than usual. Instead of tiptoeing behind enemy guards to silently snap their necks, players will sneak up on hungry people to surprise them with offerings of Burger King food. Gamers will have to sneak up on people in a logging yard, a construction site, downtown, and the suburbs, and they will be graded on their performance 'based on how elaborate the delivery is executed.' This is not the King's first visit to the world of gaming. The genuinely off-putting monarch of meat appeared in Electronic Arts' Fight Night Round 3 as an unlockable manager character to accompany your boxer to the ring. "

2006/10/04

2006/10/03

Stomping a man when he's down.

Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was suspended five games for kicking Dallas center Andre Gurode in the face during Sunday's game.

The NFL said Monday that Haynesworth was suspended for flagrant unnecessary roughness. The suspension, which is without pay, is effective immediately. Haynesworth will be eligible to return to the field Nov. 19 for the Titans' game at Philadelphia.

Haynesworth was penalized and ejected from the game early in the third quarter after he twice kicked Gurode in the head following a 5-yard touchdown run by Julius Jones of the Cowboys.

Jones had just scored on a 5-yard run, putting Dallas up 20-6 in what wound up as a 45-14 victory. Gurode's helmet came off, and Haynesworth, standing over him, used his right foot to kick Gurode in the head.

Haynesworth's previous problems had been hidden from attention because they took place in practice. As a sophomore at Tennessee, he fought with a teammate and left practice, returning with a long pole looking for tackle Will Ofenheusle before Coach Phillip Fulmer stopped him. He was suspended for half a game.

During 2003 Titans training camp, Haynesworth kicked center Justin Hartwig, now with Carolina. Charges for a road rage incident earlier this year were dismissed.

Repeat offender offends offense with feet.