Welcome to Alternate Reality, or more simply 'Life As I See It'. A recollection of a unique view of this order of things.

Showing posts with label robots. Show all posts
Showing posts with label robots. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Fit to be Clicked

No longer content with just sewing together Frankensteinian mash-ups of what nature has taken billions of years to perfect, some scientists are looking to create life from scratch, but are we ready to play god yet? If we don't who will? Is creating artificial biology really the same thing as creating life? Either way is it sacred or blasphemous. While the science itself is fascinating and the applications of custom-made microbes too numerous to count, science has accelerated to the point where the philosophers just can't keep up which poses interesting dilemmas in and of itself.

The Secret is a sham, Embrace the power of Negative thinking! The dark side has never been so pragmatic.

In a bold move to cut crime in the GBL demographic, California has started allowing over night conjugal visits for registered domestic partners. Stating that as nothing ruins a good jail fantasy like the boyfriend kicking around, Gays now have one less reason to commit crimes. Apparently Approving of this assault on this institution of Gay culture the civil liberties union has applauded the changes. On a similar vein,contrary to popular belief the U.S. military loves gays. They like them so much they even looked into creating more of them with some very unconventional weapons.

Are fast food chains deliberately misrepresenting their product or do underpaid immigrants and students just not take pride in crafting a burger that lasts forever anymore?

Maybe it is the fact that they are predators the size of a bus, but jumping sharks are just plain freaky. On a side note, researchers have discovered that these primitive predators use a very sophisticated full body nose to smell in 3D.

Is the pharmaceutical industry immoral, dishonest, corrupt or just misunderstood? With Glaxo having been sued for misrepresenting Paxil, and Merk for down playing the lethal side effects of Vioxx and now with the whole country of Nigeria suing Pfizer for killing off and a few hundred kids ( OK, to be fair some escaped with only "mild" physical deformities), in allegedly improper drug trials for an up and coming meningitis vaccine, one has to ask when is just a few flipper babies too many flipper babies?

Do diet pills cause suicidal thoughts? Possibly. However researchers may have overlooked the slim possibility that many might find having a fat distorted body quite depressing too. However, the FDA assures fat people that while North America's obesity problem has reached tragic levels, they are in no danger as a recent survey has found that they are most likely simply too fat to use standard suicide techniques to end their bloated ghastly existences.

Virtual Tourism. Explore the famed Machu Puchu via Gigapixel Technology.

It seems China just can catch a break these days, First tainted pet food, then tainted toothpaste, and now fake blood too. It's just been one consumer product scandal after another lately. Goodness people are even accusing the beleaguered country of Child labour of all things! Poo poo to them I say, China is blaming foreigners for its woes. One of the firms in question has admitted to hiring children, but not to produce Olympic merchandise; the kiddies get the puff jobs in the mines. Although here is some food for thought, did you know that 90% of those ever ubiquitous Vitamin C supplements are made in China?

This is one funky cake!

I just thought this was a cool clock, I'm not sure it will alter our perception of time or anything, but it is a nifty way to visualize it.

And so the robot uprising begins, whoever would have thought that it would be the Roomba's that brought humanity to it's knees. Those cute (yet insidious), little robots that suck are insinuating themselves into homes all over world and forcing innocent families to change their cleaning habits. In a recent turn of events, there are reports that a Roomba has recently violated all 3 laws of Roombotics. Irobot, the Roomba's manufacturer, says this so called "isolated incident", should not put off people considering purchasing one of the plucky little foot soldiers of it's mechanical army.

Just when you thought you had to rely on other people for the news, now you can just go ahead and make up your own! This fun site lets you write your own article and headline then generates a newspaper stub.

The Secret life of Mr. Lee. A cats eye view of the world.

On the topic of trivia, do you know where food comes from? Well if you don't your not alone, it seems a growing number of people in Britain don't realize that food comes from a Farm. This might very well explain the plight of farmers all over the world, people just can't figure out why the heck we need them.

I always figured peeing on an electric fence would be more theatrical, but I just love the way he falls over.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Fit to be Clicked

The Autobots and Decepticons have had nifty restyling in the new Transformers movie due for release this July. For those that have missed them, you can take a peak at the movie trailers and photos here. In related news an unknown craft that looks suspiciously like the old Teletran-1 has been spotted in some mountains somewhere, why it has klingon graffiti on it is anyones guess.

On the topic of photoshop jobs, I am trying to decide if Men's Fitness digitally pumped him up or used the old squeeze the biceps trick for Andy Roddick's cover shot for the magazine.

Has reality TV become too visceral? A terminally ill woman in Holland is primed to give away her kidneys in a TV special put on Endemol, the same company that owns the Big Brother franchise. During the 80 minute episode, 'The Big Donor' Lisa will choose which of three lucky contestants will receive her kidneys with the help of text messages send in from viewers.

Talk about looking for the silver lining, researchers have discovered that there is apparently an upside to Herpes. Too bad it might cause Alzheimer's too.

Then again, scientists have been very hard at work contradicting themselves. One group of Scientists recently showed that multi-vitamins may increase ones risk of Colon Cancer, while another team almost simultaneously announced that those fickle vitamins may help you live longer once you have it.

The legal victory of rational over superstition in Philadelphia was short lived. Yes, after a week long crackdown on fortune tellers, the psychics are back to work.

Have your neighbors have jumped on the global warming band wagon? Trading in the old SUV for a hybrid, buying local produce and racking up carbon credits as if they are some kind of crusade to save the planet? Strike back with Carboncreditkillers.com!

I'm not sure what would be worse, trying to explain to you family how you were charged with a DUI in a wheelchair, or explaining to your neighbors that you got a great price for their dachshund at your yard sale.

Scientists ranging from engineers to Neurologists have but their collect brain power together give robots a bit of finesse by building a better robotic brain, or a cerebellum at least (the part of our brain that governs fine motor skills). while this brings us ever closer to that inevitable robot uprising, I think they will need to work on their conversation skills a bit more before we need to worry to much.

It pulses, it throbs, it jiggles around, all in time with your music. Strong-arming for Apple not withstanding, I'm sure this new Igasm Gizmo has a certain niche market writhing in anticipation.

A former employee for IBM is suing the company for wrongful dismissal after he was fired for trolling sex chat rooms on the job. According too the suit, he feels that instead of being fired and despite being warned about the behaviour previously, he should have been offered sympathy and support since it seems hes rather addicted to them.

It seems that you just can't marry your cousin anymore. A Pakistani court has jailed couple of newly weds for an un-Islamic marriage after it was discovered that the husband was really a woman...or at least still to much of a woman despite being a transsexual. While the brides father is pressing for annulment based on the grounds that woman can't marry women under sharia law, the couple insist that he just wants to marry her off to cover an uncles gambling debts.

It's not all doom and gloom for same-sex couples however. Carlos and Fernando, a same-sex flamingo couple of 6 years at the wildlife reserve in Gloucester are the blushing new parents of a chick that was abandoned in its nest. This is not the first orphan the couple of 6 years has raised as it seems the boys have a habit of chasing other birds away from their nests to that they can rear the chicks on their own.

Is being anti-heterosexual just as bad as being anti-homosexual? While the Polish parliament is pushing through legislation to cut down on gay themed chatter in schools and ordering psychological evaluations of the Teletubies, a gay bar in Australia has recently won the right to ban heterosexuals from the establishment citing that straits ruin the ambiance. While civil liberties groups are supporting the decision, I'm sure we haven't heard the last about it as Australia's equal opportunity laws prevent discrimination based on race, religion or sexuality.