Damn Creepy Robot
There is a lot of buzz today about Sony's new "running" huminoid robot
the QRIO. I first read about it on
Slashdot and I thought, sounds pretty cool. Just a bit a go I was at the
BBC news page and I watched
a video of it. The thing didn't really run in the traditional sense but did seem to technically have both feet leave the ground.
I decided to go to the Sony website and read a bit more about it. The website looks cool, but the text has a really creapy feeling about it. Take this part for example:
As the world becomes progressively more complex, we thought how wonderful it would be to have a navigator that gently changes with the times.
Now on the face, that sounds nice, but when you read a bit more in to this statment, it can seem a bit weird. Do we really need a robot companion to make us feel more at ease with a complex world.
An entertainment robot that lives with you, makes life fun, makes you happy.
Oh, I see, the robot makes you happy. This makes you forget the problems of a complex world. Phew.
QRIO is eager to be friends with people.
Thank god, I thought he might be one of those evil robots from the Matrix or Terminator.
Maybe I am reading a bit to much into this. Maybe the strange feeling I get is because the script was translated from Japanese to English. For now I will be happy to keep these robots at arms distance.
'Tis the Season
Over at
Blue Hole, Big Al is hosting a guest blog event celebrating the 12 days of Christmas. I was asked to do one and ended up getting the 8th day of Christmas, which will fall on Sunday, Dec. 21st. Now as Big Al explained, normally the 12 days of Christmas are celebrated after Christmas, but in this case it is more fun to do them before Christmas.
Dick Cheney is a killer,
but you already knew that. I am referring to our Vice President's trip to a "hunting" club in Westmoreland County PA this past Monday in which the Dick and his 9 friends killed a total of 417 pheasants in one day. The Dick shot 70 pheasants on his own, but apparently he hadn't had enough of a slaughter. So a little later he went duck hunting and killed an unknown number of mallard ducks.
Just to be clear, I am not strictly anti-hunting. I think that certain animals (pheasant and ducks included) can be hunted without a serious harm to the environment. I also think that many hunters are responsible and are very concerned about the environment. Unfortunately, there are a number of "hunting" clubs across the nation (including Oregon) that cater to the Dick and his ilk. They raise the game in captivity and then right before the hunt release them. The hunters then go out and slaughter them at will.
The kind of person that enjoys going out and killing 70 pheasants in one day has to be pretty messed up. This is the guy who is probably the most directly influential vice-president in modern times and is only one pretzel away from being the commander-in-chief. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the Dick's behavior given his record, but I think that this is shameful and disgusting.
Here is a link to the overly cheerful Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article that broke this story:
Cheney in region for a day of small-game hunting
Here is the Humane Society's response to Dick's behavior:
Cheney's Shooting Spree at a PA Canned Hunting Facility
