In a tactic reminiscent of the peaceful resisters in Starhawk’s novel The Fifth Sacred Thing, people in the gallery of the Senate disrupt the proceedings there with the voices of the dead in Iraq. Chilling:
We’ve all seen the You Tube videos of the uncanny quadraped pack mule that Boston Dynamics is working on for DARPA:
but, check out this video of the recent BIG DOG 3.0 (This is not just the new Big Dog video. This is a whole new technology.)
Next time you’re in Miami and doing anything “suspicious”, be sure to look up!
MIAMI (Reuters) – Miami police could soon be the first in the United States to use cutting-edge, spy-in-the-sky technology to beef up their fight against crime.
A small pilotless drone manufactured by Honeywell International, capable of hovering and “staring” using electro-optic or infrared sensors, is expected to make its debut soon in the skies over the Florida Everglades.
If use of the drone wins Federal Aviation Administration approval after tests, the Miami-Dade Police Department will start flying the 14-pound (6.3 kg) sharp image drones over urban areas with an eye toward full-fledged employment in crime fighting.
“Our intentions are to use it only in tactical situations as an extra set of eyes,” said police department spokesman Juan Villalba.
“We intend to use this to benefit us in carrying out our mission,” he added, saying the wingless Honeywell aircraft, which fits into a backpack and is capable of vertical takeoff and landing, seems ideally suited for use by SWAT teams in hostage situations or dealing with “barricaded subjects.”
Check out John Whitney’s demo reel of work created with his analog computer/film camera magic machine he built from a WWII anti-aircraft gun sight. Also Whitney and the techniques he developed with this machine were what inspired Douglas Trumbull (special fx wizard) to use the slit scan technique on 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The Onion serving up the important news…
Actual transcript of an interview between ABC’s Martha Raddatz (the former Boston news anchor Martha Bradlee, btw) and strongman dictator war-criminal unindicted co-conspirator unlected Vice-President Dick Cheney:
Raddatz: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.
Cheney: So?
Raddatz: So? You don’t care what the American people think?
Cheney: No.
It’s even more charming on video.
Answer:
You really can’t make this stuff up. Or, rather, you can make this stuff up, and Jerry Bowyer did.
My favorite part: the book is selling for $0.01 on Amazon.
News flash: chimps make and use spears to hunt prey.
Humans are still, however, the only species known to employ autonomous lethal robots, dog-shaped or otherwise, for hunting…
The Bush years have brought us many execrable things. Conspicuous among these has been the absolute abuse of the English language beyond comprehension. I’m not talking about our favorite Bushims (like, “You work hard to put food on your family!”); I’m talking about the systematic suppression of rational thought through linguistic devices.
Essayist David Bromwich spells it all out in Euphemism and American Violence:
A group of men who think what they want to think and pay little attention to evidence have been running things; and they are guided not by experience but by words that were constructed for the purpose of deception.
Fellow Glitchie, Sean Stevens, helped create this amazing remote-control, robotic, music system.
ABSOLUT QUARTET
(2008)
Jeff Lieberman and Dan Paluska
Part of the Absolut Machines campaign.
Visit http://absolutmachines.com to interact with the machine. As seen in the beginning of the video, the visitor to the site enters a melody on their computer keyboard. The machine then uses this melody to generate an original and unique 2 1/2 minute piece of music. The web visitor also recieves a link to a webcam video of their piece being played.
You can also visit the machine in person. It is on display @
186 Orchard st
(between Stanton and Houston)
NY NY 10002
until April 25th, 2008.
Find more information at http://bea.st/sight/absolutQuartet/.