- Germans are known for many things, but a great sense of
humor is not one of them. Or any sense of humor, for that matter. A group of
German milk farmers are aiming to change that by doing something as simple as
entertaining thousands of cow-loving viewers with short, bovine-centric videos
posted on YouTube-like site. The videos posted on the increasingly popular
"My Cow Tube" are not simply for entertainment; they come in the
wake of r several food scandals that have rocked Germany – including
horse meat being found in frozen lasagna last year and the first diagnosis of
mad-cow disease since 2009 earlier this month. You might think people would
have no interest in watching cattle farmer Eike lying in the hay among his cows
and explaining why they have four compartments in their stomachs and
regurgitate their food, a process known as rumination. You would be wrong. The
masses are fired up to learn about topics such as cow reproduction, how the
animals learn to use a water pump for drinking and a process they call
"cow styling" with rotating brushes – a mechanical back rub that
the animals seem to enjoy. The videos have amassed an impressive 170,000 views
and developed a rabid following for their twice-weekly postings. Their creators
are a group of 16 dairy farmers and at their core, the videos are aimed at
improving the reputation of cattle farming and providing insight into the work.
"We
now use the camera as often as possible, so that we can capture the special
moments and to show that we have nothing to hide," said 44-year-old farmer
Amos Venema, from Jemgum, in north Germany, who has 165 cows on his farm. All
in all, it’s a remarkable tale that proves one thing no one saw coming: Germans
actually do have a sense of humor………
- Score one for creative oddity and copious consumption….not
to mention waste and excess on the part of one of the biggest rock bands in the
world. Foo
Fighters are reportedly recording their new album in 12 different recording
studios around the world, at least according to an Australian fan now living in
Chicago to whom frontman Dave Grohl reportedly revealed the news. That the band
is working on a new album is not in question, as they recently posted that
session for the project are “f*cking on” and posted a picture of a row of
master tapes labeled “Foo Fighters LP 8” to their official Instagram feed. What
is in doubt is the veracity of the word of a fan who claimed that Grohl told
him that the 12 songs for the album were recorded in 12 different studios
scattered across the globe. According to this fan, Foo Fighters were keen to
work with legendary producer Steve Albini, who owns the Electrical Audio studio
in the Windy City. As the story goes, Grohl has been grinding away with Albini
and fellow über-rock producer Butch Vig, using a never-previously-used
recording technique that's unique to this particular analogue studio. Grohl did
speak about the album late last year and hinted at a new twist on the process. "We're
doing something that nobody knows about, it's f*cking rad,” Grohl said. “We
begin recording soon, but we're doing it in a way that no-one's done before and
we're writing the album in a way that I don't think has been done before.” With
the album apparently in the can and now needing simply to be processed and
produced, Foo Fighters will headline a special gig next month in the run-up to
next month’s Super Bowl……….
- Do robots need whiskers? Of course they do. If they didn’t,
why would scientists be festooning said whiskers on robots to be used for
tactile sensing? Think about it……robots already have artificial skins so they can
"feel" objects and obstacle, robotic eyes to help them see and other
manner of artificial body parts to make them more alive. Now, researchers from
the Berkeley Lab and the University of California have managed to create
artificial whiskers for robots. Real animals such as cats or rodents can use their
whiskers to supplement their other senses when hunting or scavenging for food
and the Berkeley team used their biomimicry skills to craft some highly
effective robotic designs. Their artificially constructed e-whiskers are so
sensitive that they can detect even very slight movements in the air. "Whiskers
are hairlike tactile sensors used by certain mammals and insects to monitor
wind and navigate around local obstacles," the study’s authors wrote in
their findings. "Here, we demonstrate artificial electronic whiskers that
can respond to pressures as low as 1 Pa with high sensitivity.” To fashion the
faux whiskers, the team used films of silver nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes
to create highly sensitive tactile sensors that can be attached to robots to
give them additional input about their surroundings. "Systems consisting
of whisker arrays are fabricated, and as a proof of concept, real-time two- and
three-dimensional gas-flow mapping is demonstrated,” the authors added later in
their report. “The ultrahigh sensitivity and ease of fabrication of the
demonstrated whiskers may enable a wide range of applications in advanced
robotics and human-machine interfacing.” Bigger things could be ahead for the
fake whiskers, as the team believes they can also be used on aquatic robots.
Fish do use whisker-like organs called barbels to sense vibrations in the water,
so fish-like robots could theoretically use their synthetic barbels for the
same purpose…………
- The Justice Department does not sound happy with a certain ladies-only
prison in Alabama. And no, you can't argue that the entire state of Alabama is
a Podunk prison from which everyone would be fortunate to escape because that’s
a low blow and Alabama doesn’t deserve it. Then again, the Justice Department's
Civil Rights Division seems to believe that female inmates the Julia Tutwiler
Prison don’t deserve the treatment they’re receiving from those running the
prison. The department issued a scathing report declaring that the Alabama
Department of Corrections has repeatedly violated the women's constitutional
rights at the prison by forcing prisoners to live in a toxic environment marked
by sex abuse and harassment by the corrections staff. In the report, department
investigators urged the state to take immediate remedial steps. "Our
investigation has revealed serious systemic operational deficiencies at
Tutwiler that have exposed women prisoners to harm and serious risk of harm
from staff-on-prisoner sexual abuse and sexual harassment," said Acting
Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels. "These problems have been
festering for years, and are well known to Alabama prison officials. Remedying
these deficiencies is critical to ensuring constitutionally protected treatment
of women prisoners at Tutwiler and will promote public safety.” Federal
officials also penned a letter to Gov. Robert Bentley claiming that the inmates
"universally fear for their safety" and "live in a sexualized
environment with repeated and open sexual behavior." Included in this
perverted environment are strip shows and "cross-gender viewing" of
female prisoners as they undress in front of correction staff. Toss in "inadequate conditions" of
confinement and medical and mental health care and this prison sounds
like….well, prison on steroids…and not the good kind. Alabama Department of
Corrections Commissioner Kim Thomas dismissed the findings as "off the mark" and promised to
implement changes and recommendations with the goal of improving prison conditions……….
- Boston Red Sox
pitcher Jon Lester doesn’t seem to grasp the concept of leverage in
negotiations. When a professional athlete is approaching free agency, he or she
must use every resource at their disposal to convince their current team that
they plan to test the market and likewise do everything they can to pit
potential suitors against one another to drive up their asking price. Lester,
who went 15-8 with a 3.75 ERA last season for the world champion Red Sox, is
eligible for free agency after the 2014 season. If he turns in another year
like last, he will undoubtedly command an eight-figure annual salary and have
his pick of teams to sign with. All he has to do is stay quiet, pitch well and
make it clear he intends to test the market when he has the chance,
so…..dammit, who told him that he should forfeit the upper hand by explicitly
stating that his desire is to remain with Boston and to take a discount in
order to do so? "These guys are my No. 1 priority,'' Lester said at the
Boston Baseball Writers' Association of America awards dinner. "I want to
be here 'til they rip this jersey off my back. It's like Pedey [Dustin Pedroia,
Red Sox second baseman]. He left a lot of money on the table to stay here.
That's what he wanted to do. I understand that. That's my choice, that's his
choice.” Lester added that he understands he will almost certainly get less
money if he follows through with his asinine plan and while he will make enough
money in a single season to last the rest of his life no matter which team he
signs with, it’s the principle that matters here. What matters is that a man
who was paid $11.625 million last season in the final year of a five-year, $30
million extension and will earn a scant $13 million this coming season is
passing up a chance to make an incredibly exorbitant amount of money to simply
make an egregiously large amount of money………
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