It's bad enough they grounded the laser plane and killed the kill bots. Now they continue to threaten freedom by Axeing the Dragon Tank.

Cracked me up :-)

Though they are inspired by snakes, the Modular Snake Robots from Carnegie Melon do things that no biological snake can.
New video 7/10:



Of course, bio snakes still have the big advantage of not needing a power cord.

Intrigued by the glimpses I have seen so far of District 9.
There's a new trailer out:

Happy Tesla day!

I celebrated with 12 solid hours of engineering. Seem to celebrate most holidays that way lately.

New York State government has been a train wreck for a long time, it's an organization where you can not do your job and still get a raise year after year. Several weeks ago it graduated into a full blown cluster f*ck. But today it looks like those of us in the Empire State are back to having a more or less functional legislature.

UPI.com - New York state Senate standoff ends


For those of you not playing along in your home state or country I will try to provide a brief history as I understand it ...

Since 1965 the Republicans have controlled the State Senate, NY is a blue state by population but a red state by area. That was until last year when the Republicans got Bushed out of office.
So, in January the Democrats took control with a slim 32-29 majority. They basked in new found power and things crapped along pretty much as usual.
For a few months.
Then on June 8th two Democratic Senators, Espada and Monserrate, defected to the other side joining the Republicans.
Suddenly, the Republicans were back in charge. They basked in recovered power and things crapped along pretty much as usual.
For about a week.
Then on June 15th Sen. Monserrate changed his mind and rejoined the Democrats. The Senate was tied 31 to 31, neither party had a majority. Ever since no legistlation has been passed in New York, while the parties commenced an expensive pissing match.
At the end of June NY Governor Paterson starting ordered emerency sessions of the Senate every day until they ended the stalemate. But that did not work.
In situations like these the Lieutenant Governor can cast a tie breaking vote in the state Senate, like the VP in the US Senate. But NY does not have a lieutenant governor, it used to be Paterson, but he became governor back when the last governor resigned after getting caught screwing prostitutes, oops.
Anywho ... yesterday the Governor decided to appoint and swear-in a new Lieutenant Governor (though that may not be legal). Suddenly Sen. Espada had a change of heart and decided to triple-cross the Republicans and return to Democrats, giving the Dems a majority again.
So we are back where we started in January, accept that Espada got to be majority leader as part of the deal.
Did I miss anything?

The alternate title for this post was "Why I am a registered independent".

A few weeks ago researchers at a Swedish university published a study showing Association between mid-life marital status and cognitive function in later life.

This morning that study was a topic of discussion on Fox and Friends. Co-host Brian Kilmeade objected that a study of subjects in Sweden and Finland can not be applied to Americans. Then he provided the following baffling explanation:

Because in the U.S. we keep marrying other species and other ethnics and other ...; whereas the Swedes have pure genes. Because they marry other Swedes .... Finns marry other Finns, so they have a pure society. In America we marry everybody. We will marry Italians and Irish.

@ 0:50

Warning: Watching Fox and Friends may negatively impact cognitive function in later life.

(via Gawker & MediaMatters)

Ah an intersection of engineer and goth ...

Rotors and fixed wings work well enough for helicopters and planes, but at smaller scales and speeds other modes of flight like flapping wings offer advantages. Researchers at North Carolina State are developing a MAV based on a bat.


Photo Credit: Gheorghe Bunget, North Carolina State University
Their design uses an elastic shape-memory metal alloy for the joints to emulate tendons, bones, and cartilage. For the muscles they plan to use micro-wires of an alloy that contracts when a current is applied.

EurekAlert - Robo-bats with metal muscles may be next generation of remote control flyers

After Alice in Wonderland, apparently the next planned Burton - Depp collaboration is a movie remake of Dark Shadows.

So that's something else to look forward to.

DARPA continues (1,2) their pursuit of a useful miniature unmanned air vehicle. The team from AeroVironment developed a prototype with inspiration from the hummingbird.

Who knew? Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney collaborated on an animated short film. Destino was started in 1945 and released in 2003.