We dont know whether we should be terrified or overjoyed. Weve just come across a video demo from the University of Pennsylvanias GRASP Lab that shows an autonomous quadrotor helicopter performing “precise aggressive maneuvers.” And trust us when we say, nothing in the foregoing sentence is an overstatement — the thing moves with the speed and grace of an angry bee, while accompanied by the perfectly menacing whine of its little engine. See this work of scientific art in motion after the break.
Preface: The title is a parody of the fact that the government has effectively made it a felonyto take pictures of oiled wildlife.
While most of these pictures have previously been published by the mainstream media – and presumably will remain publicly available – that assumption is not 100% certain. By way of analogy, the government sometimes reclassifies as top secret information which was previously declassified.
More importantly, while some of these photos have been widely seen, most have not, and I have never seen them rounded up in a single page before.
A British scientist says he is the first man in the world to become infected with a computer virus.Dr Mark Gasson from the University of Reading had a chip inserted in his hand which was then infected with a virus.The device, which enables him to pass through security doors and activate his mobile phone, is a sophisticated version of ID chips used to tag pets.In trials, Dr Gasson showed that the chip was able to pass on the computer virus to external control systems.If other implanted chips had then connected to the system they too would have been corrupted, he said.
“Biologists find dead zones around BP oil spill in GulfMethane at 100,000 times normal levels have been creating oxygen-depleted areas devoid of life near BPs Deepwater Horizon spill, according to two independent scientists..”
The Mary Celeste (often incorrectly referred to as Marie Celeste) was a brigantine merchant ship notably discovered in December 1872 in the Atlantic Ocean unmanned and apparently abandoned, despite the fact that the weather was fine and her crew had been experienced and able seamen. The Mary Celeste was in seaworthy condition and still under sail heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar. She had been at sea for a month and had over six months' worth of food and water on board. Her cargo was virtually untouched and the personal belongings of passengers and crew were still in place, including valuables. The crew was never seen or heard from again. Their disappearance is often cited as the greatest maritime mystery of all time.
The “Clean City” law passed last year by the populist mayor, Gilberto Kassab, stripped the Brazilian city of all advertising. So how's it looking now?
by Patrick Burgoyne
A city stripped of advertising. No Posters. No flyers. No ads on buses. No ads on trains. No Adshels, no 48-sheets, no nothing.
It sounds like an Adbusters editorial: an activist's dream. But in São Paulo, Brazil, the dream has become a reality.
