2, The Ranting Gryphon is ranting master.

2. The Ranting Gryphon has a number of good rants on YouTube. Check out the one after the jump for an amusing rant about America. Favourite comment? Has to be the one about "going to a best western and shagging a large hairy Samoan woman, dressed in a clown suit with a stuffed badger". Oh yeah - comedy gold.

Meet the Whaka's

Ok, most of the time I understand the PC nature our society has taken - to a certain degree. We live in a time when now, more than ever, its important to be aware of other people and their cultures. More importantly, we need to make sure when we do or say things, we don't run rough shod over things that others may consider important. Racism, intolerance and bigotry are unnecessary societal evils that we can do well without. Then there are times, like today, when you just roll your eyes and say "Oh for fucks sake! Get over it!"

In Auckland there has been a billboard up in Parnell for Ace Rentals, that had four sections. The first 3 showed the highway road signs pointing to Whakatane, Whakamaru and Whakamoa. For those of you who dont live in New Zealand, or are unfamiliar with Maori pronunciation the first part of those place names is pronounced with the Wh making a "fa" sound and the k is hard - phonetically its "faka" or Fucka. You can see where this is going right?

The final panel had the phrase "Rent a car from only $25.00 a day so you can visit any whaka." Now, when I first saw it on a news article tonight I thought it was quite witty. But it looks like the PC Police are out in force, batons at the ready, loud hailers declaiming racial hatred blaring. The Maori Language Commission has complained that the advert "demeans Maori, it demeans New Zealanders". The Maori Party also got in on the act, using it as a chance to pimp themselves on National TV just before an election. Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said the billboard was an inappropriate use of Maori language. "It is an abuse of a people, our history and our culture"

I don't get it. Its a word - its a tongue in cheek representation of a word that some people find a bit ribald. Its like the label FCUK - theres people walking round with it on their T-shirts, jeans or whatever. We all know what it says - I know it, you know it, the PC Police know it. This is just the same - what if it had said Phuket? Would the Phuketians be up in arms claiming racial abuse? I doubt it.

What about Meet the Fockers? Its a pun on a dutch family name, and do we see them up in arms about it? Nooo mish moneypenny.

And its not the funniest place names I've heard of either - Intercourse, Pennsylvania is pretty amusing. So's Beaver, Dikshit and Tittybong. Maybe we could use those? My point is, that its just a pun - its not racial insensitivity, its not the end of the world, and its not something people sould be wasting their valuable time on this earth reporting on or writing in blogs. Oh - snap.

Anyhoo - thats my 5 cents worth. I'll close out with some more examples of places with weird names just to show that no one really gives a whaka.

Arsoli (Lazio, Italy)
Bastard (Norway)
Beaver (Oklahoma, USA)
Beaver Head (Idaho, USA)
Brown Willy (Cornwall,UK)
Chinaman's Knob (Australia)
Climax (Colorado, USA)
Cunt (Spain)
Cunter (Switzerland)
Dikshit (India)
Dildo (Newfoundland, Canada)
Dong Rack (Thailand-Cambodia border)
Dongo (Congo - Democratic Republic)
Effin (Limerick, Ireland)
Fuku (Shensi, China)
Fukue (Honshu, Japan)
Fukui (Honshu, Japan)
Fukum (Yemen)
Hold With Hope (Greenland)
Intercourse (Pennsylvania, USA)
Lickey End (West Midlands, UK)
Little Dix Village (West Indies)
Lord Berkeley's Knob (Sutherland, Scotland)
Middle Intercourse Island (Australia)
Muff (Northern Ireland)
Nobber (Donegal, Ireland)
Pis Pis River (Nicaragua)
Sexmoan (Luzon, Philippines)
Seymen (Turkey)
Shafter (California, USA)
Shag Island (Indian Ocean)
Shitlingthorpe (Yorkshire, UK)
Tittybong (Australia)
Tong Fuk (Japan)
Turdo (Romania)
Twatt (Orkney, UK)
Wank (Germany)
Wankendorf (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany)
Wankener (India)
Wankie (Zimbabwe)
Wankie Colliery (Zimbabwe)
Wanks River (Nicaragua)
Wankum (Germany)
Wet Beaver Creek (Australia)

Thanks to 3 News and Stuff

Monkey News

This has come directly from the Ricky Gervais website and is an animation that someone has put together of one of the podcasts features called Monkey News. For those that don't know Monkey news is news that has been found by Karl Pilkington that involves chimps and monkey's. usually the news is based on facts of some description but twisted and warped by Karl's own perception of how animals behave. I like this one because Ricky is obviously getting wound up by the story and can't believe what he is hearing. Follow the link for the video.

Behold the wonderful mind of Karl Pilkington.

Retro Movie Graffiti

Check out the following link to see more of this cool retro science fiction graffiti.

Thanks to Nera Studios for sending the link.

R.I.P. Arthur C Clarke - 1917 - 2008

Today see's the passing of a man that changed the World. Arthur C Clarke has been influential in the world of science fiction, science space advocacy and and many of his ideas and predictions came true during his lifetime. One of his unaccomplished goals mentioned in a recording made to family and friends, said that he 'would have liked to see evidence of extraterrestrial life during his lifetime'. Part of the legacy he leaves behind includes predicting that man would land on the moon by 2000, communication satellites would live in geosynchronous orbits and probably most famously is his story, 'The Sentinel' which was turned into the science fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Watch Arthur's last comments after the Jump.

AT-AT prototype - Big Dog rocks.

Boston Dynamics in the US has developed what can only be described as the prototype for the AT-AT from The Empire Strikes Back. Although I suspect that the AT-AT could not do the things that 'Big Dog' can. This new robot is far more weird than watching the ASIMO robot trying to run, if anything it looks a bit creepy, almost like a 4 legged spider. Look at the way that the 'Big Dog' manages to keep on it's 'feet' while on ice. Video after the jump.



The potential for this kind of robot is amazing. Imagine how it could be helpful in rescue situations. Give it some coordinates and send it on its way with first aid kits and supplies.
Then there is the military use. Again send it into where troops are pinned down with fresh food and ammo. Or send it behind enemy lines with tactical bombs or claymores. Not that we advocate the use of technology in that way here at RD. Needless to say that this project is partly financed by DARPA.
This could also be utilised in planetary exploration. It would be able to get to places that the likes of rovers could not get to. Down into Valley's and craters, jump crevices and travel faster. Someone email NASA.

Here are some specs right from the Boston Dynamics website:
Speed = 3.3mph
Ascent angle = 35 degree
Load weight = 120lbs

Regardless of the end outcome and final use this is a pretty cool new robot and is right up there with the ASIMO from Honda, and Dextre the new robot arm on the International Space Station.
This technology has a bright future, here's hoping they don't take over the World and make us all in to batteries.

George Carlin - Laughomatic Mirth Machine

George Carlin is pretty old now. Over the hill and gathering speed. In fact, some would say he's well down the hill, approaching warp factor nine. Be this as it may, he is still one funny bastard. Check him out waxing forth on our favourite topic - religion.

Are we nearing scientific Utopia, or Dystopian William Gibson style society?

I have been amazed at the gadgets and scientific advances made in the recent future. We have had any number of gadgets that let us expand our senses, and advances in science that enhance our abilities to repair and rebuild. This is just the beginning. If you combine this with advances in nano technology, we can soon expect many things we do now like cell phone use, computer interaction and interaction with one another to be at light speed (compared to today) and internalised wherever possible. (Picture left from NotCot)






Yes, I foresee hundreds of dudes wandering round with wireless aerials sticking up out of their heads. Much like that dude off star wars who is Lando Calrissian’s office manager - Lobot. Actually, I figure it will all be internal, much like everything else. They will be small clusters of nano sized machines, that collect around specific nerve centres and lobes of the brain depending on their function. For interaction, we’d either find some way of using out central nervous system as an aerial (ala Iain M Banks – Against a Dark Background), or implant long metal coils that run down from our medulla oblongata to our heel on one foot. Maybe we’ll be able to pick up AM radio and tune into the cricket at work!

I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t read of some advance in tech or medicine or science that could be the spark to the next stage of our evolution. And that’s what we need too. I reckon because we have removed most of environmental problems and pressures, we have stagnated our own evolution. We are stuck arguing with morons who cling to outmoded ideas about religion, and held back by greed merchants more concerned with making a buck than furthering their own species. If we took half of what we spend on making war, or half of the amount collected by big financial institutions as interest, and pumped it into biotech and medical research I reckon we could eliminate a lot of the world medical issues. I know – there’s no such thing as a Utopia, and eliminating all the worlds medical issues would only introduce other ones (like population pressure), but a geek can dream drok it! And surely if we didn’t have to worry about our own mortality we could focus a lot of our time on invading, er I mean, exploring neighbouring planets and even solar systems.

So, what advances have I seen that have sparked the old brain juices flowing? Well shitloads really, but just point to a couple, here’s a list (not definitive) of the ones I’ve seen recently :

BIOTECH IS GODZILLA!
A good one I’ve seen recently is the six fingered banjo addon for weirdos. Researchers have figured out how digits are formed during the early stages of foetal development and are working on replicating the process. This can lead us to all sorts of Deliverance jokes, but even better than that is the ability to count to 42 on one hand.

BRAINS! BRAINS!
Scientists have also figured out another wee bit about brain development with regard certain stimulus. Researchers have empirically shown that parts of your brain are changed at a neurological level by whatever you see. This has good implications for people who may have partial brain dysfunction with regards their sight, being able to have their brains reprogrammed to allow them to see once more. Or reprogrammed into human automatons who could come wash the car and vacuum the house.

MORE BRAINS!
Neuroscientists in Florida announced that they had been injecting blood into rat brains. Not exactly a good lead in I know, but when you say its blood of newborn infants umbilical cords, what say you now savage! Ok, still no good. Well the outcome of this gory experiment was rejuvenation of the rats aging brains, restoring neurogenesis (growing new neurons) and reducing the effects of brain aging. Once refined, this sort of technology may help with life longevity and reversing the effects of brain trauma. Like Monty Burns using Bart’s blood in the Simpsons. Ah –the Simpsons. Is there anything they can’t teach us?

SHINY SHIT!
And the gadgets – automated voice boxes, bionic limbs and robotic eyes. Soon, Cyberdyne will be online and we will assimilate everyone. Or turn this planet into a post apocalyptic hell. Whatever - better clear the calender for that one.

Its all good. I reckon, 15 years or so from now, we will be all queuing up for longevity treatments and anal probes. Err I mean, implants, to enhance our bodies natural abilities. How long before the anti doping agencies for sports become anti-enhancement bodies? Would you allow someone with enhanced sight, reflexes and arms in the baseball leagues? Would you allow someone with enhanced legs and arms into the Super 14 Rugby teams? I hope these are questions we are considering in the near future.

Movie Review - Rambo 4

Directed by: Sylvester Stallone
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Paul Schulze, Julie Benz

So I sat down and watched the latest Rambo film the other day. That’s right folks, I watched Sylvester Stallone grunt and shoot his was through nearly a hundred minutes of river, forest and blood. Yes, lots of blood. Why review this you might say? It’s going to be predictable and formulaic. Well yes it is, read more to see why it works.

My Rating: 4/5

Rambo 4 has come out at a time where it is morally wrong to upset your enemy’s and their culture. If we still had the mindset of the 80’s then I am sure that Rambo would be killing the Iraqi’s or even the Afgans that he saved in part 3. But as it happens he is now not fighting the enemy of the US, he is fighting the oppressive and demented regime of the Myanmar military, and boy are they demented.
Synopsis: (minor spoilers, sort of)

Without getting into to much detail the film plot is fairly simple. Rambo lives a simple life in Thailand when some church\redcross do gooders want to go up river to the bad area to help people. Rambo says “No, bad idea” they say “we don’t care” he takes them anyway.
The red cross\God people get caught by the bad guys and some get made dead. A bloke then comes to Rambo and asks for his help, he helps.
Rambo and a bunch of mercenaries go to the bad area and fight lot of the bad people. Rambo saves some of them. Some of them die, except the girl who lives. He kills about 9 million people with 50.cal machine gun which is cool.
Rambo goes back to the US to hang with his family. The End.

(End of minor spoilers)

So that’s the plot. What about the rest? Rambo part 4 is actually very well shot, some of the scenes at night and in the rain really set an uneasy mood. Stallone has done well with this. I actually think that it is his best directed film along with Rocky Balboa. I don’t know if it’s because of age or the team of people he has around him but he has managed to turn what was an 80’s commercial vehicle into gritty and oppressive view of the problems in Burma. It is obvious that Stallone has his own views on the political injustice and this is his way of publicising this.
To say that this film is ultra violent is a major understatement. According to Wiki there are 236 kills which averages out at 2.59 kills a minute, that’s not bad for a 93 minute film. Most of the deaths occur by towards the end of the film by Rambo and his 50.cal machine gun and it is a mighty impressive spectacle. Bodies are literally torn apart and there is so much blood. Probably one of the most harrowing parts of the film is not the blatant disregard for the lives of the military but the way the village invasion is depicted. No-one is spared, men, woman and children are slaughtered by the Burmese army and it is incredibly explicit. This was almost hard to watch, it is hard to think that these atrocities might actually be happening somewhere in the world.

All up this film works for me. Its violent, full on and dramatic and has made me (if only for a minute) think about the world. I recommend this to anyone that grew up with the old school action films. It will also suit anyone that enjoys the new brand of gorefest film. Nice one Sly.

Seven Deadly Sins gets its Sequel.

I am sure that my fellow writer Spankermatic will have something to say about this but I felt I had to add my 2 cents worth also. The Vatican has announced 7 new deadly sins; they are Polluting, Genetic Engineering, Obscene Riches, Taking Drugs, Abortion, Paedophilia and Causing Social Injustice. Read more of the diatribe after the jump.

[edited by Spankermatic who most certainly wanted to have wee tirade about the $$Catholic Church$$]

Does this mean we will get a new directors cut of the film Se7en starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt called 7+7 or 14 or 7-2:Return of the Sins? Imagine trying to make the new sins into a movie. The murderer would have a difficult time finding someone who fit the bill wouldn’t he – no actually, he could probably find every single one of them in the Vatican.

1 - Creating Social Injustice : Look no further than the Catholic Church's track record on using its religion to oppress the masses in whatever century you like. The Crusades ("God Wills it!" said Pope Urban II), the Inquisition (burn the heathens!), the Salem Witch trials (more burning!), exploitation of ethnic populations by missionaries, Anti Semitism, oppression of women, and the big tick for Slavery and stoning disobedient children by the bible. "The pattern is a clear and documented fact: whenever religion has become powerful (Christianity or otherwise) oppression and tyranny has quickly followed." (Kyle J Gerkin)

2 - Genetic Engineering : wasn’t it the monk Gregor Mendel who first proved that specific genetic traits could be selected using breeding patterns in snow peas? He was a pioneer in understanding how evolution using a model of inheritance works, and has contributed significantly to the way we understand genetic selection today. I note from his Wiki page that " After his death, the next abbot burned all his papers he had in his possession." Surprise - not.

3 - Obscene Riches : why is it there are people starving all over the world, and the Pope and his lackeys cover themselves in jewels and velvet robes? What about the whole 'giving your money every Sunday at the meet-n-greet (Mass or whatever its called now)'? The Catholic church is one of the richest organizations on the planet - just check this quote from The Vatican Billions by Avro Manhattan, or this article in Time magazine. "Bankers' best guesses about the Vatican's wealth put it at $10 billion to $15 billion" - obscene? Naw - just play money eh. And here's how this sin and the next one tie in nicely together.

WASHINGTON (AFP) (march 7 2008) - The Roman Catholic church in the United States paid out 615 million dollars (400 million euros) last year for child sex abuse cases involving members of the clergy, or 54 percent more than the previous year, an official report showed Friday.

4 - Paedophilia : One would assume that the Catholic Church could have better spent that money teaching its moronic monks NOT TO ABUSE CHILDREN!! Man, this one of all is the most ironic.

5 - Taking Drugs : with some of the crap that the old Pope spouts he has to be on something. But this one highlights a major flaw with the new deadly sins. They are vague and contrary to accepted wisdom. What Drugs? Alcohol is a drug, but you have wine with the communion. If a person is in pain, would not morphine help ease that pain? If a child who has severe psychological problems because he was abused by the local priest takes drugs to ease the mental anguish, he becomes a sinner? That's fucked up. I personally don't think the taking of many drugs will take you anywhere good, but I am not going to enforce my opinion on someone else. If they want to smoke - go for it. Its their lungs and their body to defile. Good on em. Wanna mainline heroin? Go to it man - just remember that you will get no help from me when your body falls apart from the abuse. Each person should be responsible for their own choices.

6 - Abortion : there’s bound to be quite a few priests who have knocked up the odd nun or two and hushed it up using the convenient Family Planning clinic down the road. But that's not what this ones about. By making abortion a mortal sin, they try to remove choice from people, and removal of choice is a form of control. If you are told by the ones in charge that you don't even have the right to decide what happens to your own body and a small clump of cells nesting within, you are no longer in control of anything.
And this does not even get into the issue that the Catholic Church said, up until as late as 1869 (Pope Pious Prick), that "the fetus did not become a person until late in the course of gestation". This completely contradicts the current position of the Church which says its from the moment of conception. Now since their entire repertoire of jokes is based on one book, how is it that the words in the book changed? They didn't - just like every other time in history, its nothing to do with the teachings of God, Jebus or the FSM - its about small minded bigots in a big building in the middle of bumfuck Italy trying to impose their will on everyone else.

7 - Polluting : every time the pope dies, they burn a fire to create smoke that has no other relevance than to send a signal. Wave a flag? Fire a flare? Open the fricking window and yell "Thar's a new pope in town - better scram you varmints!" Or in this digital age, crack out the PC or Blackberry and send an email or a txt? Nu pope pikd. Gt out glad rags and gitar.

The big problem with new bunch of sins is they lack context and can largely be argued against using any number of historical facts about the Catholic Church. The original seven sins pretty much speak for themselves, and also seem to cover all the new ones as well. Its all about control - do this, don't do that.
And just who decides how people are judged? That’s right it’s the Church. That’s where this whole thing falls over. It seems that by adding things such as abortion, genetic engineering, obscene riches and to a certain degree even taking drugs is in itself social injustice. Yes, abortion is a morally tricky area. Yes, taking drugs can be socially destructive and yes, it sucks that I'M not obscenely rich but all these things need to be put into context. What if a woman is raped and falls pregnant, is abortion acceptable? YES. What if taking drugs helps relieve pain of arthritis, are drugs acceptable? YES. And what if you had built a company from nothing and turned it into a million dollar industry does that mean that you have sinned? NO I think not. Bill Gates is far too shrewd not to have a first class ticket to the big computer shop in the sky.

Not only that but by adding these new sins hasn’t the church just condemned itself to an eternity in Hell? Taking out the one about genetic engineering I think that they have partaken in all of the new entries. That is your social injustice.

Check this - if god created everything then he created our ability to do everything we can. That includes engineering at a genetic level. If God did not want this to be possible then it would not be. It is something that mankind has developed the ability to do, just like being able to fly in a plane and build computers and invent the telephone. All these things were not possible before hand but we made it happen. Woo hoo… Go the human race.

This new list from the Vatican is just another way that the Church is using to control its followers and spread fear. I am sure if Jesus is watching from up high on his cloud he is probably pissing his pants with laughter. I can see it now - "Oh what have those wacky Catholics done this time".



Thanks Jesus and Mo.

Space Shuttle blasts off for ISS

The Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted of last night on another construction mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It is the second mission of six this year and one of the fastest turn arounds in Space Shuttle History. Atlantis returned less than a month ago after delivering the European Labratory "Columbus". STS-123 is a 16day mission and involves installation of the new Japanese module called Kibo and the new Canadian arm. Video of the launch after the jump.


Good luck and Godspeed

I Am Legend is a bit better now - or is it?

As we discussed in an earlier post (on our old blogarooney), the Fresh Prince's latest movie I Am Legend was sub par. It left a bit to be desired throughout, and the ending sucked serious balls. And now we know why - there was an alternate ending. The producers, after listening to clearly moronic test audiences, decided to go with the fluffy bunnies, religo and ultimately shit house ending we saw with the movie. Well, screw that - it downed the whole flick I reckon. Fortunately, someone has saved us by posting the entire alternate ending on Gametrailers. Check it out after the jump.




Well after watching that, I cant say I like either ending really - they both suck. My better ending would have been the infected corner Will Smith, use cohesive arguments to make him understand that Scientology is a bunch of crap, and they all run off to Tom Cruise's house to do an intervention. Theeeeeetaaaaaannnnssss!

Michael Shermer is the Skeptic King

Here are a couple of video's of a guy called Michael Shermer. He is the founder of The Skeptics Society and Editor of Skeptic magazine. He has written a bunch of books and often does talks. He hangs in the same circles as Richard Dawkins and James Randi which makes hime a stand up guy in my book. This is a somewhat witty look at who he is and what the Skeptic Society is all about. This may be a funny but a lot of his points are very serious and well made. Video's after the jump.

Part 1

Part 2

The Stuff of Science Fiction

I caught this on the news the other day and it blew me away. A chap in the US cut the tip of his finger of in the rotor blades of a toy airplane, and then had it grow back. Its called Regenerative Medicine and uses Cellular Matrix Dust applied to the damaged area. More after the jump.

This technology obviously has huge implications. Originally used on internal organs such as the heart it can now be a potential for soldiers injured in the line of duty. But if they can get a finger to grow back in 4 weeks then how far will it go? Can they grow back a finger including the knuckles? How about a whole hand? maybe even an entire limb such as a leg or arm, damn it lets rebuild him better than before.

This is straight out of the realms of science fiction (more specifically Peter F Hamiltons series The Nights Dawn trilogy) where injured people apply a medical pack to regrow tissue. Its only a matter of time I guess before nut jobs and religious fanatics try to put the kybosh on another new technology that will only improve the lives of many, many people (Much like stem cell research).
The next stage will involve more extensive test on people but I will be more than interested to see where this goes.

Richard Dawkins calls a spade a spade

Nice vid here of Richard Dawkins using a quote from the Ed of New Scientist to call it like it is.

And yet another one - She's F**king Seth Rogen

In the same vein as the previous videos by Jimmy Kimmel, Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen have made a video straight from the set of Kevin Smiths new movie Zack and Miri make a Porno. Check it out after the jump

NASA to blow up the moon and Microsoft to snap Universe

Two wicked things came to my attention today - first off Microsoft is releasing a new freeware product called Microsoft Worldwide Telescope. Watching the video of the demo, I must admit it looks bloody awesome. Also NASA have announced they are going to ram a spacecraft into the moon and see what comes out in the ejecta. Kind of like Space 1999 but without the nuclear waste dump going critical.




Microsofts WWT is pretty amazing. I know Google have been working on Google Sky for some time, but I do get a bit sick of everything being in perpetual Beta. Not that the actual Google Sky is bad - its just that the MS one looks better.

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a rich visualization environment that functions as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space telescopes in the world for a seamless, guided exploration of the universe.

WorldWide Telescope, created with Microsoft's high-performance Visual Experience Engine™, enables seamless panning and zooming across the night sky blending terabytes of images, data, and stories from multiple sources over the Internet into a media-rich, immersive experience.

Check out the vid below for the demo.


And it looks like NASA is going to ram the mooon with some space vehicles in Feb of 20009 - heres the press release.

LCROSS will piggyback on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission for an Oct. 28 launch atop an Atlas 5 rocket equipped with a Centaur upper stage. While the launch will ferry LRO to the moon in about four days, LCROSS is in for a three-month journey to reach its proper moon-smashing position. Once within range, the Centaur upper stage doubles as the main 4,400 pound (2,000 kg) impactor spacecraft for LCROSS.

The smaller Shepherding Spacecraft will guide Centaur towards its target crater, before dropping back to watch -- and later fly through -- the plume of moon dust and debris kicked up by Centaur's impact. The shepherding vehicle is packed with a light photometer, a visible light camera and four infrared cameras to study the Centaur's lunar plume before it turns itself into a second impactor and strikes a different crater about four minutes later.

NASA is gonna whup its ass! Well, maybe not - more like mining for water really I suppose.

Chicks with Guns

Awesome... Nuff said.


Info after the jump


This is Kari Byron from Mythbusters playing around with a MINIGUN. How cool is that? Its called the Dillon M-134D minigun and goes through 3000 round in a minute, thats insane..

Robots taking over the world - prepare for either termination or utopia

I find it astounding the number of advances being made in robotics these days. Whether it be the amazing and astounding Auto Breast Massager, or the Bum's Rush device, we are seeing a large amount of things being automated. Are we on the cusp of a new age of robotic enhancement of life as we see in so many sci-fi movies? Or is Sky-Net about to unleash the wrath of AI on us ala Terminator?






Its amazing to see how many scenes in movies that we now see coming into fruition in real life. Nothing like life imitating art I say. Several cases I read about recently spring to mind to illuminate this point.

First we have the NeuroArm - a robotic arm designed to work inside an MRI (Magnet Resonance Imaging) and give the surgeon an unparalleled microscopic view inside the head of the patient. Theoretically, you could use this device remotely to operate on someone's brain, which ties into the other technologies already around that allow doctors to operate on people remotely. This we have seen in previous movies like Alien, Star Trek,

Next up, we have robots designed to help us, like the Wearable Robotic Aid for construction workers. This allows builders, especially when putting up ceilings, to reduce arm fatigue, because if anyone who has tried to put up ceilings has realised, your arms get tired quickly holding them up over your head. This will transmute into big yellow exoskeletons in the future I'm sure, just like Ripley uses in Aliens. Theres also the ones that make our breakfast and pump our gas. They cook our meals, they haul our trash, they connect our calls, they (may) drive our ambulances. We guard us while we sleep. They will fuck with us.

And lets not forget all the robots being designed to blow shit up - the American Defense department is spending US$4 billion over the next few years on unmanned systems. They already have unmanned drones, and computer guided weapons, but next it'll be hunter-killer drones and AI's running the battlefield. Lets only hope that AI ends up being more like the movie of the same name, and Sonny from I Robot, than Terminator and V.I.K.I.

Really - I think we've covered all the bases - automated death machines, automated life giving machines, and automated petrol pumps. What more could a future me want?

Panasonic solve all worlds problems - time to plastic everything!

Panasonic, the company that brings us TV's, microwaves and other electronic goodness has bought itself a seat on the board at Greenpeace with its latest invention. In a press announcement, Panasonic states they have figured out a way to eliminate a majority of plastic and electronic waste using Titanium Oxide as a catalyst.





Apparently the whole process is very efficient, requiring very little energy to work, thereby reducing CO2 emissions as well. Big thumbs up from me if this works as well as it says it does. As massive electrical goods consumers, we need a way to dispose of all the old iPods and motherboards we turf out every year. Its amazing to see the figures on waste even in your own area. In the Wellington Region for 2005, we created 382,887 tonnes of rubbish that went into landfills - imagine how much we could reclaim if we used a process like the one described below, if it works like it says it does. We could reclaim a whole lot of metal and reusable stuff from 382,000 tonnes of rubbish I'll bet.

Although its a great step forward, its not a Panacea I'm sure - but with the boffins at Panasonic on the case (and elsewhere) I'm pretty confident science will help give us more discoveries like this to help greenify the planet once more. Apart from my back lawn which I just astroturfed.

See the full press release below


Panasonic Uses Catalytic Reaction to Decompose Plastics Into Harmless Gas for E-Waste Recycling

-Eliminating need for incinerating or dumping plastic waste in landfill-

Osaka, Japan - Panasonic, by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, today announced that the company has developed together with Kusatsu Electric Co., Ltd. a recycling technology that enables the recovery of metals from plastic-coated wires and plastics used in electric and electronic equipment without causing hazardous side-effects.

Using the catalytic properties of titanium oxide (TiO2), the innovative technology facilitates recovery of inorganic substances such as metals by transforming organic substances such as plastics into harmless gases.

Panasonic is successfully using the new technology at the Matsushita Eco Technology Center (METEC) to recover copper from degaussing coils covered with vinyl chloride tape found in CRT TVs. In addition, mixed plastic waste destined for incineration or landfill is treated and changed into non-toxic gases at METEC. The method not only contributes to "zero waste," but also helps reduce CO2 emissions as little external energy source is required in the gasification process.

Today, about 80 percent, by weight, of all collected home appliances is recycled into metallic and plastic materials. The remaining 20 percent is currently regarded as non-recyclable waste e.g. rubber, mixed glass and mixed plastic waste which is difficult to sort further as it is comprised of many different types of resins or contains metals. Although some mixed plastic waste can be used as fuel in general, the waste containing certain chemicals such as vinyl chloride needs to be treated in a high-temperature incinerator to avoid dioxin emissions.

The new recycling method combines Kusatsu Electric's non-incineration plastic disposal technology using TiO2 and Panasonic's high grade materials recovery technology that is used by Panasonic to recycle old home appliances. The method uses unique mixing and carrier systems that allow plastics to contact the catalyst efficiently for gasification, leaving the valuable metals. As the catalytic reaction of TiO2 generates heat to promote gasification, an additional heating source is not required in the process. The method uses cooling water to maintain temperature (500°C) for optimal catalytic reaction. The subsequent heated water from the process can be used for other purposes. Hydrogen chloride produced during the gasification process of vinyl chloride is neutralized with lime.

Panasonic aims to completely eliminate mixed plastic waste and spread the use of this environment-friendly technology to recycling-related facilities and further to production facilities in and out of the Panasonic group.