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Congratulations to Joe. Always great athlete and an even nicer kid
Comedian George Carlin Dies in Los Angeles at 71
—
If you have selfish ignorant citizens you are going to have selfish ignorant politicians.
Frogs, “Trichobatrachus robustus “, found mainly in Cameroon, and ten related species have claws of pure bone that burst through the frogs’ skin when they are threatened. They need to first “actively break” their own bones in order to create these claws.
I’m Back.
The archives of the Bay Area rock band the Grateful Dead - a treasure trove of more than 30 years of memorabilia that includes the band’s first recording contract, life-size skeletons of band members and artwork hand-made by its fans - are headed to UC Santa Cruz, where they will be displayed at McHenry Library.
Grateful Dead archives going to UC Santa Cruz
Who’s up for a trip to California?
I’m off to Ohio next week / weekend, for ….graduation.
What can I say I may never see most of these people again and I have to remove the few things I still want from the apartment.
Another month before the crowds arrive. I have to get to my “family home” to get some summer clothing, and much missed books. Haven’t had time for the three hour drive. I’m considering a drive early next week.
It might seem odd that waiting tables, tending bar, and managing a restaurant, all of which will I’ll do in some capacity this summer, is a desirable occupation after four years of college; it is desirable while trying to figure out if I want more, education that is.
Robotman, as you know him, should be arriving from South America sometime this summer. When is the question.
I finally got one of my W2′S from one of my jobs in Ohio. I already filed an extension, but my roommate, so said because I’m still paying rent there, sent it Express for sixteen dollars and change. I’m still trying to find the phone number for the woman who owns the Greek restaurant I worked at. The Restaurant closed and is reopening at a different location eventually …so I am without access. If she did send one to my apartment my roommates lost it.
I’ve gained a few pounds. Could be that I was thin when I returned from college and am now in a more normative state.
I’m off to the beach for a walk with the dog. The most excitement here is going to the used bookstore and a few friends coming over Sunday. I work every other second of the day and night, good thing, I have bills out the ass from irresponsible consumption.
I”m at the beach in Delaware.
Delaware voted for Obama, it’s safe territory.
My laptop is on its last leg. I’ll be using it sparingly.
I can’t wait to start working, I’m poorer than a church mouse and that is putting it mildly.
I’m of to purchase the standard work outfit for the establishments I’ll be working for.
Later people.
All two of you.
Leaving for the beach in about three weeks. I’m going to be doing a variety of things to help get the place I’m working open for business, and will be helping them open another establishment. Not attempting graduate school for at least two year if ever. I am considering doing student sub teaching starting next fall if I stay at the beach - living there all year round. It’s quiet there in the winter.
I’ve made and sold a few boards, we’ll see what happens with that.
I’m broke of course, my car is falling apart. Working and living where everything is walking , biking or boarding distance is mandatory.
The weather sucks here for the most part. I can’t wait for the sun.
Would someone please tell those spam assholes to stop sending me text messages for Viagra and overseas Valium.
Later
Surfer girl of old beat me to it again with her post for blog action day.
Speaking of surfing.
The final itinerary:
I leave from San Diego in three days, with Blake, for San Hose Costa Rica. We’re flying down and will drive to the coast find work on and off while we surf the coast of Costa Rica for an indeterminate period of time.
As of now we are in no rush, meeting some friends from school here and there. We plan to do all of Central America and South America working our way in a circle. Starting with the west coast of Costa Rica and on down. We are playing it by ear, will be trying to find work along the way. It’s going to be a long year. I am stoked.
Jaco Beach
Pavones
Zancudos
Ostional
Playa Langosta
Will be in Chile by their summer.
Computer access: Will have it on and off and only when free.
De cuerdo y loco todos tenemos un poco.
I’m glad Blake is coming. I speak only Japanese.
Sapporo has some some great snowboarding.
Maybe next year.
I was going to post my itinerary, but cooper has a robot post up and I’m going to direct all three of my readers and the five belonging to G over there. Not technically a robot post I’m going to classify it as one for now.
A whole new game plan starts in three days. I’m going to be back to post about it in a day or two.
The cost of the conversion of the engine and the expense to run it was going to me too much.
California was the answer but the South /Central American tour is back on.
Liberals are more likely than are conservatives to respond to cues signaling the need to change habitual responses, according to a new study by researchers at New York University and UCLA.
The findings, which show that self-rated liberalism is associated with the type of brain activity involved in regulating conflict between a habitual tendency and an alternative response, appear in the online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Previous studies have found that conservatives tend to be more persistent in their judgments and decision-making, while liberals are more likely to be open to new experiences. These differences are related to a process known as conflict monitoring-a mechanism for detecting when a habitual response is not appropriate for a new situation
Shook my head to this one.
Up and down, in case you’re wondering.
David Airey, a graphic designer specializing in logo design is holding an anniversary prize giveaway. There’s more than $4,000 in free prizes! Find out how to enter by reading the details on David’s logo design blog.
Cooper started me on this. I’m not much of a full monty kind of guy so I’m doing the partial monty. Things I wouldn’t mind winning.
PayPal courtesy of Gayla McCord of Mom Gadget. I’m a starving student.
The Revolution Premium WordPress theme package (personal package) from WordPress designer and consultant Brian Gardner
Behringer Podcastudio USB Podcasting Kit
Books from Pro Blogger
Or an IdEgo banner flying around Smart Wealthy and Rich
Anything.
Cool contest.
The Id posted this. The Id is claiming all wins.
When robots roam the earth - CSM
What will be the first alien intelligence with which humans come into contact? Surprisingly, it won’t come from another planet. Instead, these entities will be the work of humans – robots with an artificial intelligence that will demand new rules about their roles in society.
That’s the conclusion of the European Robotics Research Network, which issued a “Roboethics Roadmap” last spring. Sometime in this century, the group figures, robots will be considered intelligent enough – even self-aware, in some sense – to be considered a species all their own. “It will be an event rich in ethical, social, and economic problems,” the group concludes.
A new question of Robotethics:
Should machines be allowed to kill humans or just machines, and who sets the universal Robotethics rule anyway?
Will we be as good at providing answers in this ethical dilemma as we are to our human ethics?
Yup, that was a trick question.
I’m just a surfer dude with an engineering degree.
I have to start paying attention to current events. I read a few links from Cooper’s post and despite a limited amount of traffic I am going to post them here. The Links have to due with the Jena Six.
You can also google this and find a lot more information.
Battling Modern Day Jim Crow: the “Jena Six”; How Online Media and Activism Are Making a Critical Difference
The Jena Six: Something you should know about
Not OK that I knew nothing about this until now.
I’ve spent the last couple of days recovering from something. I think I poisoned myself with chicken. I’m not sure. I ate chicken, which was on its last use date, after defrosting it on the counter all day. This is not a good idea. I ended up with severe stomach and headaches for a couple of days. I stayed in bed for almost two days.
Worked today, slow as hell but things will pick up in a couple weeks when the student return.
My last term will begin in three weeks.
More later.
A read on obesity.
Supersized portions and a lack of exercise may not be the only reasons for the spread of obesity in the U.S. A new study finds that having an obese friend makes a person 57 percent more likely to develop a bulging waistline too.
From Scientific America Supersize Me—and All My Friends.
This post presents a ridiculous explanation.
I have no overweight friends I can think of off hand. I am active physically therefore my friends are physically active. I come from a physically active family.
There is no need to study these things.
The argument for Physics First looses some ground.
“Taking more physics does not appear to improve students’ subsequent performance in either chemistry or biology courses.”
students with the most coursework in high school mathematics performed strikingly better in their introductory biology and chemistry courses in college; introductory college-level physics performance also benefited. Conversely, little correlation was seen between the amount of high school coursework in biology, chemistry, or physics and college performance in any of the other disciplines in this trio.
I can barely keep my head above water these days I’m so busy.
To keep you posted on Robot News I return.
Robots That Walk on Water
As if signing books and performing surgery on patients were not enough, robots can now walk on water, too, thanks to engineers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). What started as a class project three years ago ended up as insect like mechanical robots with four to sixteen legs
It’s a brave new world.
Seed has a good article on The Rise of RoBoEthics
In April, the government of Japan released more than 60 pages of recommendations to “secure the safe performance of next-generation robots,” which called for a centralized database to log all robot-inflicted human injuries. That same month, the European Robotics Research Network (EURON) updated its “Roboethics Roadmap,” a document broadly listing the ethical implications of projected developments like robotic surgeons, soldiers, and sex workers. And in March, South Korea provided a sneak peek at its “Robot Ethics Charter” slated for release later in 2007. The charter envisioned a near future wherein humans may run the risk of becoming emotionally dependent on or addicted to their robots.
Something to think about.
Straight from the Telegraph.
Those worms may be a hazard to the environment after all.
I’m going to see Transformers.
Long live The Robot.
Quick one, because some of you have been talking about Robotic vacuums.
How Stuff Works: Inside the world of Robotic vacuums. A compete image gallery for entertainment purposes.
You don’t think this could happen think again.
The beach is hot, not as hot as inland so I’m not complaining. The van is almost complete but I have to work for a good part of the summer in order to compile the necessary funds. I am usually working or working on the van’s engine. Come visit me, the doors are always open.
To our house at the beach to work on van.
Old Van purchased to drive to South America - surf.
Engine, will run on vegetable oil.
Working on it now - will continue when I arrive home.
Exact date for the onset of the trip is unknown - probably early autumn.
Can you think of a better way to use an engineering degree?
No?
Didn’t think so.
I’m on study week for a couple more days.
I have a headache right now, study week blows.
I’m not sure how much I will be able to keep up here once I move to California. I’ll be heading to Maryland for a week and then we are taking off. I am hoping to catch a few people while I’m there and extend invitations for a visit to the surfers among them.
Not spending much time online I missed this.
Robots in Your Prostate
Robots can prevent impotency.
Just wanted to share that with you.
If MIT can’t get it right there really is no hope.
MIT should know that what you see is not what you get.
If they do not investigate their admissions chief I wonder how thoroughly they investigate their students? No wonder I wasn’t admitted.
A flock of robotic falcons has been dispatched to tackle an influx of obese pigeons who are increasing in number and size thanks to an unnatural diet of fastfood.
“Robofalcons” to take on UK city’s pesky pigeons
Great Stuff.
From Scientific America, a request for data driven results in response to all the questions about guns and gun control.
Army to deploy robots that shoot
Not really what it sounds like. The potential is there.
Some disturbing news from Coffee Fool - Nearly all of the coffee out there is stale.
I can’t wait until they update the internet. They are starting with a Clean Slate.
Great now they can remove the ninety-percent of sites. Cooper ensures us are they are shit anyway.
This is old so I’m going to have to research what they presented as a plan. Good to know my children will not be using the same old crappy internet I have to use.
I wanted to write about California.
The short if it is I’m moving there after graduation.
More details to follow.
I’ll be in Santa Barbara tomorrow looking for housing.
Blake took the week off, we’re going out to look at what is available with a limited lease; he went a couple months ago so he already has an idea in which area we will end up.
I’ll also be doing a search for employment.
Nice to get out of Ithaca to a place where sun takes away all thoughts of death.
Kidding.
A fact or two before I go.
Cockroaches can live without there heads.
If I collapse do not give me mouth to mouth.
I’ve taken CPR a number of times since high school and they change the statistics on how best to keep someone alive every year or two. Looking at the nineteen percent ” no brain damage” I’m not so sure I want you to bother at all.
I am leaving for California tomorrow to look at places to live. All things indicate that I will be living there and working for a year or so then taking off to do a year or too worth of surfing. Nothing is in stone, but those are the plans.
I know some of you are gambling away your last penny during March Madness. I point you to this article inScience Daily.
‘March Madness’ Gambling Can Be First Step To Addiction”
I lost a few bucks.
Go help cooper and blog aboutPlan B.
Plan B - a Plan whichmakes sense.
Robots to serve as artifially intelligent advisors.
It’ll be nice to have someonething to look our for gramdma while still allowing her to live independently.
From Technology Review ,the good and the bad news.
” 216 Million Americans Are Scientifically Illiterate (Part I)”
“The good news: America’s science literacy rate is up from a pathetic 10 percent in 1988. The bad news: it’s still only 28 percent.”
In other news:
Robot swarms ‘evolve’ effective communication
Also;
“In its most high-profile move yet toward sustainability goals, Cornell has joined about 80 other colleges and universities in pledging bold efforts toward reducing emissions of greenhouse gases associated with global warming, chief among them carbon dioxide (CO2).
After reviewing the recommendations of a committee co-chaired by Carolyn Ainslie, vice president for planning and budget and Stephen Golding, executive vice president for finance and administration, President David Skorton signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. Skorton issued the following statement Thursday, Feb. 22.”
“Today, I am honored to announce that I am signing, on behalf of Cornell University, the American University and College Presidents Climate Commitment. By this act, we commit to developing a plan for the university to achieve climate neutrality, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, starting on our main campus in Ithaca, N.Y. Today’s signature will allow the university to serve in a leadership position as a member of the Commitment’s Leadership Circle.”
Skorton signs Presidents Climate Commitment
Why do we have a category titled “fucked”?
I think I am starting a job, this living without money is getting uncomfortable.
I’ll post more about it should it happen, remember I’m in North Central Ohio so the options are limited.
The weather should warm up soon, the roads have been such that no one here has gone out much, just the local bra, the library and bed. The mother of a friend of mine has been diagnosed with a severe illness so I’ve been helping her through that.
I’ll be back in full swing soon, and then there is break. 
Please send chocolate.
You have a one day head start.
Video games do not screw up your brain, they improve your vision.
“Halo could improve your performance on a standard eye chart.”
It may scramble the rest of your brain but you will have great vision wtf.
If Female butterflies get frisky when males become scarce do female humanoids be come frisky when their males become scare?
Will killing off the male human population work to increase mating in the human world?
Return next week for the answer.
Nothing is more annoying than when I get on the computer, which is a rare occurance lately and there is a old friend with their IM on but they immdidately put oin the away sign.
Sigh.
It’s fucking freezing here. I lost my phone again and there is only one place it could logically be because I was sick and didn’t go anywhere last week. My phone is insured, another ripoff because after you use the insurance twice they cancel it.
Verizon sucks balls by charging you inflated prices for phones, excpet every two years when you renew your contract. For now I am phoneless. I’ll keep you posted.
Chicago.
I don’t care, but many of my friends here are from Illinois.
Travesty, Politics, comments and Darfur is still Dying.
I’ve been locked in my room asleep for five days and until today no one missed me.
My tonsils are touching , but today was the first day I was able to get into the clinic.
Life sucks.
My evening class was canceled due to snow.
Yay that.
I’ll be back.
According to Science Daily the worlds first soft bodied robots are in the works.
Biology Professor Barry Trimmer/Tufts, leads the project and started to look at the biology of catepillars several years ago for clues about their fluid motions.There are a couple of years worth of pro-types already.
Their is great potential in a robot with fluid, animal like movements.
Thought you’d want to know this.
Cooper sent me this.
Diabetes pill in works at NYU
I’m not clear on how workable this would be for a type I diabetic but I can see it working for type 2 diabetics.
A normal human being needs to have a certain level of insulin in their bodies at all times - some baseline insulin, in Type 1 Diabetes that doesn’t happen. iN Type 1 Diabetes the pancreas does not produce insulin because the beta cells have been destroyed by an autoimmune process.
I can see a pill having the potential to take up the glucose into the cells but the insulin needs will still remain physiologically, at least as far as I know, and I have type 1 Diabetes.
A pill that would increase uptake of insulin into the cells would have to be very dehydrating unless it was glucose specific. Dehyration can cause a Type 1 Diabetic to get very ill, very fast.
Stem cells are still the best hope for immune mediated or type 1 Diabetes - the most devastating type of diabetes.
I’ll follow this and see how it progresses; it could cut down on the amount of insulin I need to inject and that can’t be a bad thing.
I am liking my evening classes, it’s the day classes that are bothering me.
I sit here book-less because my mother did not transfer my book money into my school account soon enough.
She told me Friday she would do it Saturday and the money would be there immediately. The school does not except Visa in any form only MasterCard and my parent’s hold only Visa’s. so she was unable to transfer the money. She flipped off an email saying she transfer the momey via bank first thing today.
I left Saturday and had no contact with her until today because my phone is broken, again.No good useless Verizon and their grotesquely pathetic phones.
My mother is a civil rights attorney, you would think she would know it was a HOLIDAY.
A holiday everywhere except in the boondocks of Ohio.
Happy Martin Luther King Junior day.
Good Times last night with the boys. Finally someone I can relate to showed up.
Leaving for school Saturday, we don’t get MLK day off.
Busy picking things up and getting all my stuff together. Barnes and Noble failed me. I needed a book within a couple of days time to begin reading it before the term started. I couldn’t change the order to let them know to ship it and not wait for a CD I ordered to become available. It pissed me off,I coulld’t wait two weeks for the book, I needed to start reading it now and had to go buy it at Borders. I’d used a gift card to order ti online.
I wrote and complained and they are sending me another gift card and cancelling my order. At least they were pleasant about it.
This is pretty sick, disgusting and despicable doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Dead Frat Pledge’s Body Defaced
She wants us to save Darfur.
I want you to know about the destruction to the environment which is ruining surfing site everywhere.
Made it to Utah not one day too soon.
Saddam Hussein Has Been Executed
“A senior American official in Baghdad said that Saddam
Hussein, the former leader of Iraq, was hanged on Friday
night for crimes against humanity.”
I am ambivilent.
From Scientific American, a very long article, by Bill Gates, on the potential of robots.
I forgot to tell you, I’m home and we are leaving for Utah the day after Christmas.
Help Sci Am - Be Part of Our Year in Review Roundup
Go tell them your choices for :
1) year’s most under-reported story
2) most over-hyped
3) most controversial
4) most misinterpreted
5) the story that would not go away
6) most disappointing story
7) most encouraging 
least surprising discovery of the year
9) most surprising
10) most textbook-changing
11) most personal worldview-changing
12) most egregious example of scientists overstepping the boundaries of their discipline
13) year’s most policy-changing story (if only in an ideal world)
14) year’s scariest story
15) science picture of the year
16) science story of the year
Download Beyond Botball Game Now!
Robots replace child jockeys in Dubai camel races
MIT debate: Will a ‘conscious’ machine ever be built?
Inventor Ray Kurtzweil and Yale University professor David Gelernter spent much of the session debating the definition of consciousness as they addressed the question, “Are we limited to building super-intelligent, robotic ‘zombies,’ or will it be possible for us to build conscious, creative, even ’spiritual’ machines?” Although they disagreed, even sharply, on various points, they did agree that the question is philosophical rather than scientific.
Chess Champion Loses Match to Computer
World chess champion Vladimir Kramnik lost the sixth and decisive game against computer program Deep Fritz on Tuesday, ceding a hard-fought Man vs. Machine match 4-2.
How to Make Your Christmas Lights Flash to Music
My answer is don’t, but follow the link if you must.
Pop Psyche
Mastering Your Own Mind
Read it, you may benefit from doing so.
I was diagnosed with severe ADHD the end of my freshman year of college. I had bombed a couple of classes my first semester of school, had an inordinately large amounts of stress .
I bombed chemistry despite getting a B in AP chem in high school. I could not take a test freshman year to save my life. I would stay up all night studying and blank out at the test. I could often not even decipher the question.
My English professor said she wanted me tested for learning disabilities, my family doctor said no I had gotten through high school with a decent GPA taking all AP classes and there was no way in hell I had a learning disability; he wanted me tested for ADHD.
I knew all along I had it, I’d known since middle school but it never affected grades. I mentioned it to my parents once in high school, and when I researched the drugs I decided it was not worth investigating I wasn’t going to do those drugs.
Well after the year from hell I was evaluated and was told I had severe ADHD. My psychiatrist has it, or so he says. I was lucky my IQ allowed me to compensate and my strict schedule in high school with student government, soccer, lacrosse helped keep it in check.
A strict schedule where I plan things around a core, a lot of physical exercise, and a little organization worked in high school but it did not work in college.
I tried Concerta and stopped taking it after one week; it made me feel like a zombie.
He gave me Adderall; it works for those times when I need to focus on one thing for a sustained amount of time but it also keeps me up all night and makes my heart race. I hate the drug and love it. Half the college is on it for no other reason than to keep them up all night studying. It is amazing what a father, despite being a physician
and knowing better, will do to their kid just to get them through school.
Sucks because if I did not have to take this drug it would never enter my body.
Off track.
Meditation works.
Buddhists have it right.
So doesn’t fishing alone.
I’ll go there later.
One large research paper done, all major pre Thankgiving exams are complete. I’m leaving for home Saturday morning, unless my afternoon class is cancelled on Friday. I have nine days off.
Peace Out
Young to test artificial pancreas
Children in the UK with type 1 diabetes are being recruited to test an artificial pancreas early next year.
With a stem cell cure being out of the question, thanks to people who have no friggin clue, this may be the next best thing.
Right now the options - and they are better than they were when I was diagnosed, at age twelve, only nine years ago but this is an implanted insulin pump.
Anything to stay healtheir longer but believe me this will not be a picnic either.
Potential Male Contraceptive Homes in on Testes
i don’t want my hormones fucked wtih so I hope they go in a different direction. I do appreaciate the fact that women have had their hormones fucked with for along time and all is fair but I hope they continue to develop this in another direction.
Robotic Pumpkin
Cylon Jacko-O- Latern
All brought to you by Evil Mad Scientists
Don’t forget to vote.
Sexiest parents deliver average offspring.
Sexy males sire dowdy daughters and attractive females bear insipid sons – in fruit flies, at least.
This perverse pattern of inheritance may be one reason why not all individuals are highly attractive. It may even help explain why many of the showiest sexual displays are found in birds and butterflies, rather than other organisms.
The paradox arises because many of the traits that enhance a male’s reproductive success are detrimental to female success, and vice versa. For example, female flies that devote a lot of time to feeding may have more energy to put into egg-laying, whereas males may do better spending more of their time mating instead.
The reddest place in America
There may be no spot in the U.S. more Republican than Madison County, Idaho. But even in this overwhelmingly white, Mormon enclave, the doubts are creeping in.
Invisibility Cloak Sees Light of Day
Those who don’t see the potential of this raise your hand.
I thought so.
Raffaello D’Andrea’s robotic chair creates stir online, falling apart and reassembling itself
Great piece of art.
Alice chastises us for our “inertia“.
I’ve put my Reps on notice as well as the reps of this state.
I don’t vote here but I threatened to have that changed.
Power to the people.
A few Links for you to enjoy
It was a celebrated experiment demonstrating the electrical nature of lightning. And it’s just gone electronic. Benjamin Franklin’s 1752 paper describing how he conducted lightning with a kite is one of hundreds of landmark scientific papers now available to the public in an electronic archive compiled by the Royal Society in London.
The papers date back 340 years to the first scientific journal, Philosophical Transactions, published in 1665. Among them is Edmund Halley’s description in 1705 of the comet named after him; Isaac Newton’s invention of the reflecting telescope; the first paper published by Stephen Hawking and details of the DNA double helix published in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick.
Free for two months from 14 September, the archive includes reports of the discovery of penicillin and proposals for blood transfusions penned in 1665 by Robert Boyle, to see “whether a fierce dog stocked with the blood of a cowardly dog may become more tame”. The archive is at www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/archive.
The World’s No.1 Science & Technology News Service
Benjamin Franklin’s ‘lightning kite’ paper goes online
The best news this month.
Human Activities Found To Affect Ocean Temperatures In Hurricane Formation Regions
New research shows that rising sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in hurricane “breeding grounds” of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are unlikely to be purely natural in origin. These findings complement earlier work that uncovered compelling scientific evidence of a link between warming SSTs and increases in hurricane intensity.
And from Wired: Hair Club for Scientists.
I want in.
Afghanistan’s opium cultivation surged by 59 per cent this year largely as a result of a Taliban-led insurgency that is pushing the southern part of the country to the verge of collapse, the United Nations drugs agency chief said at the weekend.
Opium crops in W. Nooristam (RAWA photo - June 2003) “Some cabinet ministers in Afghanistan are deeply implicated in the drugs trade”
The Telegraph (UK), February 5, 2006 Antonio Maria Costa, head of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, said in Kabul that the record harvest of 6,100 tons was “staggering” and “very bad news”.
The southern part of Afghanistan, where Nato took control from US-led troops on July 31, was “displaying the ominous hallmarks of incipient collapse, with large-scale drug cultivation and trafficking, insurgency and terrorism, crime and corruption”, Mr Costa said in a separate statement released by his office.
Afghanistan now produces 92 per cent of the world’s supply of opium used to make heroin, Mr Costa said.
In Helmand, where most British troops are stationed, the area under opium cultivation soared by 162 per cent as a result of corruption and efforts by insurgents to encourage production. Militants, linked either to the Taliban or al-Qaeda, were providing protection to drug convoys travelling to Afghanistan’s borders and demanding money in exchange, Mr Costa added. That money has been used to fuel the insurgency in which 22 British troops have died since
the Nato handover alone. Afghanistan’s drugs trade now accounts for at least 35 per cent of the economy and is the largest source of employment, foreign investment and income generation.
I’m not clear on what they expected in a country where opium has always been the mainstay of the economy. No plan there either.
Andre out. Now they can concentrate on the games.
Safin just beat
Nalbandian advancing to the third round - a killer match.
The winner of this thing is still Roger unless something goes dreadfull wrong.
There is no way possible the girl on the top will lose to the girl on the bottom, at least not if the swing has anything to say about it.
Classes started Monday.
I have spent almost six hundred dollars on books so far.
Saw Ben Harper in Columbus the other night, it was as good as it always is with him.
We got back to campus early.
I’ve found myself going to bed early, earlier than I have in years and I feel hell of a good doing it. I don’t know if I can keep it up once classes get into full swing, but it has occurred to me that rearranging my schedule so as not to have to be in the library at two am drinking jolt, hitting the bed at 7 for a nap before an eleven o clock exam might not be the way to go any longer.
Have to go get a fishing license sometime this week.
I was semi arrested last year while out fishing after one of my finals. I was strung out, tired after staying up all night to study, looked like a junkie and couldn’t remember my social security number. This was a “red flag” for the officer and the officer searched my car looking for drugs.
They couldn’t find me in the “system” when they checked for Maryland licenses so the dude was “suspicious”. I was fined one hundred and forty five dollars. I had to pay it before they let me out of jail.
Didn’t even include the purchase of a license.
Andre did not go down.
And so we wait.
What more do you want I started classes and my partner in blogging is at a Ben Harper concert somewhere in Ohio.
I’m sure my father doesn’t want anyone to know about the alcoholic drywall men he at one time had doing a lot of the work in his houses, or the fact that he at one time actually screamed at a member of one of the teams he was coaching.
My father is embarrassed by the scream.
Every parent that reads this is going to be surfing the internet to the best of their limited abilities to find out of their child has a blog. At least the journal sites can be locked.
Half a name is better than a whole name and no name is better.
I’m fearing the ” do you have a blog ” email that will be forthcoming.
Heading back to school.
I arrived this morning, home meaning the home I grew up at, and will leave this afternoon for school.
Classes start Thursday.
The Age of Cheap, Plastic Robots
Sure, we’d all like to own a robot — to do our homework, to exchange quips with our moisture vaporators, to infiltrate our ragtag fleet of exiled starships — but they’re so goshdamned expensive. The Sony Asimo, for instance, costs a million dollars to make and they still haven’t figured out how to keep the “v” attached to the end of its name. Even a low-end Roomba costs a hundred bucks, and my cat-frightener budget doesn’t go that deep.
I’m finally twenty - one
Protect Your Privacy from Google
I am sick of going to my google home page and anytime I click on something even if I haven’t clicked on it in six months there is a record of it.
Ben Harper August 30, 2006 Wednesday, 5:30 PM Lifestyle Communities Pavilion- Promowest Columbus, OH
My first day of class is the 28th.
S, is hiking with her father and brother this weekend.
I ordered a new ipod so cooper do not get your head in a spin; I need it but I’m not salivating over it.
Not much time this week
From Pogues post comes s cool optical illusion.
Stolen from Pharyngula.
You got to read this.
How can twenty five percent of the people who saw this say it made them uncomfortable? Is there no hope for us?
My first thought was “that is a really nice breast”. That’s just me.
To cooper, on a rant about not being able to date within her age group - due to the pathos of the mothers for safe soccer league:
Approximately twenty- five percent of twenty to twenty - five year olds do not salivate over their state of the art techno possessions. This from a random online and text message survey I did during the past twelve hours.
Twenty- five percent is pretty sad come to think of it.
Scratch that study.
Other things this weekend.
Centrist Democrats and Democratic Republicans
Opinion on the rapture here.
Great news if you are a fan of Curry.
I want to stroll the streets of Havana as a tourist not as a student.
I want to listen to the music and to have hi -speed internet access available everywhere I go
Not too much to ask.
Who is Happy. Hint we came in23rd.
Check out this post at New Scientist Blogs and be sure to check out the vide of Hiroshi Ishiguro’s robotic twin.
WordPress is running slow for me even when I have a fast connection.
That’s not often here at the beach.
Researchers Identify Very First Neurons In The ‘Thinking’ Brain
Will add fuel to the abortion debate.
The arugement shouldn’t change.
Making a surfing video tomorrow morning - it will be owned by the company who is filming it so I don’t know how much freedom I will have to use it. I am guessing none.
I am getting paid.
Later.
Hot as crap on the beach, and the surf has only been satisfactory two out of every ten days.
My ” umbrella job” is good this week because the heat means more people desire to be under a canopy of some kind.
Brainy Robots Start Stepping Into Daily Life or Baby you can drive my car.
Bayesian Mathematics Breathes Perception Into Robots
Better start those kids reading or soon the robots will be out thinking us all and the wars we have to worry about will be of a different kind.
Darfur and Unforgivable Hell on Earth - Darfur - another plan and Kristoff tells a fugitve’s tale.
Bored waiting for people to get off work.
Thinking of coming back for the last show ever at Nation’s in D.C. Monday.
Discussing taking semester off but the rents don’t think it is a good idea; i’ll continue to work on that.
The news sucks ; no good robotic stories.
I had a post about Robots but it disappeared and so fuck it.
I have to go to work.
The reason we are rarely on is because we do not have high speed internet at the beach. Every so often we can suck up on the neighbors wireless but otherwise it is phone. We are rarely in, and when we are we are sleeping.
Cooper Alice always told me not to spend too much time reading the pathetic self absorbed drivel posted at a lot of these sites, but this was sent to me by my mother.
I’m almost embarrassed to say it but Miss Peggy reads the blogs.
Not this one.
This link to a Sony add which is blatently racist and makes me glad I had to junk that Sony computer a few years ago and switch to Mac, and a video to promote abstinence. WTF
This did nothing but make me hot for all those women; if I were abstinent this would really pull my chain.
I’m surprised this is on fox. I love the ocean and I would love that my spermatozoa’s spermatozoa will have access to a similar ocean as I. Seems doubtful.
DDT Linked to Developmental Delays in Babies
New research out of California suggests that DDT causes developmental delays in infants whose mothers were exposed to the pesticide. DDT is currently banned in the United States, but officials in Africa are considering expanding its use to combat mosquitoes that spread malaria. The new findings — along with the potential benefits of DDT use to reduce malaria — “need to be considered by the policymakers,” said study author Brenda Eskenazi, a professor of epidemiology and maternal and child health at the University of California, Berkeley.
More on the robot front
Learning to communicate and adapting our behaviour to the information we receive has been fundamental to human evolution. If machines could do the same, the intelligent robots of science fiction could become the stuff of science reality. A team of scientists led by the Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology in Italy are developing technology to allow machines to evolve their own language from their experiences of interacting with their environment and cooperating with other devices.
Everything can be bought.
Robots are having a heyday in Germany. While one group has just completed a World Cup championship in Bremen, Germany, another is diligently patrolling Berlin's Olympic Stadium, one of 12 venues hosting the World Cup soccer tournament currently under way in the country. The RoboCup 2006 championship ended Sunday with Germany winning 11 of the 33 robot soccer categories. China came in second with nine medals, followed by Japan with six and Iran with five. Japan won the humanoid competition, with a kid-size robot from Osaka. The RoboCup's goal is to develop a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can play — and win — against a human World Cup champion team by 2050.
My brother is at the World Cup, he's teaching in England for another year before grad school so he took off to Germany before coming here to spend a few weeks at the beach before going back to London.Maybe some rad pictures.
This is just a repeat of my post a my blogger Robotman site.
All my posts have been imported.
Just moved here and will get to links and such eventually.
Hitting the beach, I have to work.
I'm thinking about moving to wordpress and taking over a blog a friend started some time ago but never used. It's called idego. The dude, we will call him innocuous-boy-man, is going to become a posting partner there. We have busy schedules, don't care for blogs but want to fuck around some on the on the internet. We've have been best of friends since meeting in kindergarten; he disappeared and went to juvie another school in second grade and when he reappeared in middle school we , like moths to a flame, were again drawn to each other, (not in “that way”; although, now that I think of it we did argue frequently over who our only gay, male, high school friend found more attractive. ) Narcissism at it’s finest. I have imported all my post to wordpress, haven’t done links so far;they are still the original links from the original owner. That will change just not tonight. idego
Technorati Profile They wouldn't let me claim this blog at technorati I think because someone else owned this site first.
Hence this code is posted here as proof. I think.
To work.
My conscience has been corroded, some blog linked my brief little post about Guatanamo and Coops post on Kristoffs misguided column on duke lacrosse,( it was actually this link they used),in a bunch of examples of liberal whining. They then removed the linkability of the link later on so as not to give exposure to "liberal".
They were kind enough to leave a link, an attribution link, which was left to instigate .
I would link the post but I didn’t do it yesterday and I am not going to so it today; that would be exposing maybe one more person to their drivel and giving them exposure is not what I am going to do.
I post robots.
I never post politics.
I never signed up for that position.
I will now.
.