- On NBC’s hit freshman drama “Revolution,” the plot
revolves around tiny robots known as nanites that float in the air and can
multiply or block the movement of electricity, The wicked-smaht folks at
Harvard has come up with some mini-robots of their own and on Thursday, they
revealed a
penny-sized robot that can hover like a housefly, beating its wings 120 times
per second. "As far as we can tell, this is the world's smallest flying
robot," said Kevin Ma, a graduate student at Harvard's Wyss Institute and
a member of the robot team. Another member of the team, lead researcher Rob
Wood, also sounds fired up about this tiny new robot. "It's hard to argue
that anything is more agile than a housefly — I think anyone who's tried to
swat [one] would agree," Wood added. "This is the first controlled flight
of an insect-scaled robot." The flying penny robot has two mechanical
muscles that control the flapping and twisting motion of its wings. Prototypes
of the robot would crash soon after they took off, but the newest version is equipped
with motion capture sensors and guiding algorithms that correct its movements
during takeoff. A robot capable of flying on its own is still a ways off and at
present, this mini-bot is mostly suited to help physicists and biologists study
the dynamics of motion in a controlled environment. Sadly, Woods estimates science
is still about 30 years away from being able to pack in the power and sensors
required for a fully environment-aware robo-bug. The possibilities are endless
if such a robot is ever developed: serving as surrogate bees in pollination
efforts, spying on enemy combatants, spying on one’s own citizens…..good times.
Heck, the Senate Judiciary Committee was enraptured by the idea of
mosquito-sized future drones during a March hearing. "Presumably at some
point you could have one the size of a mosquito that has a battery that
operates for weeks and you could have the mosquito following you around and not
be aware of it,” Al Franken, D-Minn, said. "God help us if an adolescent
boy gets hold of one of these.” Well said, senator, well said……
- Steven Spielberg has found his
project and he’s going military for it. The legendary filmmaker will next climb
into the director’s chair to helm “American Sniper,” an adaptation of the
autobiography of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. Spielberg
also will produce with Andrew Lazar
under the umbrella of his Mad Chance Productions along with Peter Morgan and his leading man will
be Bradley Cooper, who appears to be on a mission to take on roles that don’t revolve
solely around him being hunky, taking his shirt off and making female audience
members swoon at movie theaters worldwide. Cooper is set to star and has been
developing the project as a producer, with Jason Hall (“Spread”) writing the
script. The project will now be a Warner Bros./DreamWorks co-production and the
studios are targeting a release date in the first three months of 2014. The
book, titled “American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper
in U.S. Military History,” tells the story of how Kyle, a Texas native,
racked up the highest number of sniper kills for an American. It success in
print has been largely attributed to its no-holds-barred first-person account
of a warrior who shoots from far and close distances. Kyle was tragically was
killed at a shooting range by a fellow vet in February and because the macabre
always sells, the book picked up steam and spent 18 weeks on the New York
Times best-seller list and 13 weeks at No. 1. Spielberg had been on a
prolonged search for a new project since finishing up his award-winning biopic “Lincoln”
and will clearly be taking a step down in leading men with his new project, as
Cooper has never been confused with Daniel Day Lewis……..
- Beware the tiki torch. That life lesson will stick with
Jason Chappell of Canonsburg, Pa. for the rest of his life and the scars on his
legs will help drive that point home every time he looks down. Chappell is
currently hospitalized after he caught fire on Saturday when a tiki torch exploded on him. Like many
people in the Northeastern United States who were thrilled to see nicer weather
come and got outside to enjoy it, Chappell was hanging out in his back
yard when he attempted to blow out an 8-inch tiki torch. Such torches rarely do anything other
than provide minimal light while looking like a pathetic attempt to bring
Hawaii to your back yard in Harrisburg, but in this case the tiki torch packed
quite a punch. According to Chappell’s neighbor, Zachary Puklus, the flames
from the torch leapt onto Chappell’s person and reaches as high as 3
feet before Puklus
grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the flames as Chappell rolled on the
street. Puklus seems like the type of neighbor a person would love to have because
not everyone is going to react quickly and have a fire extinguisher handy when
a person sets themself on fire because they don’t know how to properly put out
a simple back yard decoration. “I've always been taught to use a fire
extinguisher, so that's what I did. His foot was pretty badly burned so I'm
glad he's OK,” Puklus said. The fire department was called to the scene and
authorities said they found the tiki torch about 12 feet from where it
exploded. Maybe this torch should have been sold not at Home Depot or Lowe’s,
but at that crazy roadside fireworks stand operated by the guy missing three
fingers and both eyebrows.……
- Hugo Chavez is one, but the chaos remains in Venezuelan
politics. The flamboyant dictator no longer walks among the living, but his
spirit of fighting lives on in the Venezuelan parliament, where yelled insults
gave way to two-handed shoves, punches and even a few kicks this week as
legislators continued to battle in the aftermath of the country’s recent
contentious elections. Seven opposition legislators were reportedly injured
as the result of the brawl and from the sounds of it, they’re not about to back
down. "They can beat us, jail us, kill us, but we will not sell out our
principles," proclaimed a visibly enraged Julio Borges, an opposition
parliamentarian who spoke while with blood dripped down his face. "These
blows give us more strength." Opposition members claim they and their
peers were physically attacked while protesting against being blocked from
speaking in the National Assembly. In return, the socialist government accused
the “fascist” opposition legislators of having started the brawl. President
Nicolas Maduro, who allegedly won the election to replace his mentor, defeated
opposition candidate Henrique Capriles by 1.5 percentage points. Capriles has
refused to recognize the victory and continued to allege vote rigging in the
days since the election. The dust-up in the legislature’s chamber came after
the government-controlled assembly passed a measure denying opposition members
the right to speak in the chamber until they recognized Maduro as president. "Until
they recognize the authorities, the institutions of the Republic, the sovereign
will of our people, the opposition deputies will have to go and speak (to the
private media) but not here in this National Assembly," explained Diosdado
Cabello, the head of parliament. Those were fightin’ words for the opposition
and in the end, it doesn’t matter who threw the first punch. An awesome brawl between
old dudes in suits was the end result and if only the United States Senate and
House of Representatives legislated this way, the ratings for C-SPAN would be a
hell of a lot higher……..
- Playoff basketball is not a place of love and sympathy.
Hard fouls are delivered without remorse, injuries happen without discrimination
and tensions are at a constant apex. That’s doubly true when the two teams on
opposing sides of a series have a healthy dislike for one another. The Memphis
Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers have a certain level of animosity between
them and no two players exemplify that dislike better than Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph and Clippers
forward Blake Griffin. The two All-Star big men have done battle many times,
including in a first-round series won by the Clippers last season, and both
admit they don’t care for the other. Even a high right ankle sprain Griffin
suffered in practice Monday and which still has him hobbled isn’t going to earn
him any warm feelings of empathy from Randolph. When it was suggested that
Griffin’s injury might have an effect on Friday’s Game 6 and that Griffin
should receive less scrutiny because he’s hurt, Randolph was having none of it.
"Banged up?" Randolph
said. "I'm banged up. You forgot about my ankle? Banged up. My ankle is as
big as a balloon. Talk to the trainers. I'm getting treatment every day. It's
the playoffs.” Randolph was referring to the ankle he rolled during Game 2 of
the series in Los Angeles when he got tangled with Griffin beneath the
Clippers' basket. Griffin clearly was not his usual self in Game 5, scoring only
four points in 25 minutes during the Clippers' 112-91 loss and exiting the game
at the 5:39 mark of the third quarter. "Last year when I played in the
playoffs, I wasn't 100 percent, but I was out there, so I had to be 100
percent," Randolph added. "It's the playoffs. It's a big-boy
game." Yes, he dropped a “big boy” blast on Griffin and with the Clippers
needing a win in Memphis on Friday to stay alive, L.A. doesn’t really need the
reminder…….
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