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Come to the White Island

Something is happening in Ibiza… or so says the press release for The White Island, which filtered into the ARGNet tipline last week. The new alternate reality game began on June 1st, and involves dance music and late night parties across Europe. There are some interesting names connected to the project as well — Pete Tong, known best for his work on BBC Radio 1 and for being the subject of the mockumentary “It’s All Gone Pete Tong“, and Charles Kriel, a DJ who previously worked on the Fallen ARG and now heads up Black Swan Media. If these names aren’t enough to get you clubbers interested. . .

Link

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How Do You Make A Baby Cry?” the short film from Electric Children, has been added to Will Ferrell’s video website, FunnyOrDie.com. It’s the hard hitting, emotional 3! True Hollywood Story of a man who’s job it is to make baby actors cry for the movies. Watch it and give us some “Funny” votes!

Link

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Giant Platypus Spotted in Alaska?

[Later he told me] that as a young man forty or so years ago he had stood on shore near Mountain Point south of Ketchikan and spent a minute watching an animal in the water at very close range that simply resembled a giant platypus. He described the creature as dark with a bill and feet like a platypus only the overall size was six feet or possibly greater. He gave no mention of the tail if there was one. The sighting was in shallow water on a rocky shoreline and the creature was close to the surface….

. . .

Could this cryptid be a turned around, misidentified pinniped, perhaps a sea-elephant, which makes more sense than a platypus? Perhaps it is something simpler?

No, says the eyewitness, “categorically…it was not a known species of seal.”

Link

Clearly you’d have to be crazy not to believe in the giant platypus.

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via ModBlog

The Split Tongue Girl in Singapore

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MMORPG Gold Farmers

Gold Farmers are young people who earn their living by playing MMORPG games. They acquire (“farm”) items of value within a game, usually by carrying out in-game actions repeatedly to maximize gains, sometimes by using a program such as a bot or automatic clicker.

They sell the artificial gold coins and other virtual goods they’ve harvested to players and/or farming organizations and get “real” money in return. Players from around the world will then use the golden coins to buy better armor, magic spells and other equipments to climb to higher levels or create more powerful characters.

. . .

Although there are gold farmers or gold farms in countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Mexico, Chinese are by far the most dynamic. There, young players typically work twelve hour shifts, with just a lunch break somewhere in the middle.

There are gold farmers or gold farms in other countries as well, such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Mexico. However, they do not approach the scope and scale of the Chinese farm industry.

Link

This reminds me of Anda’s Game.

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Japan’s Military Continues to Explore the Realization of the Gundam

The Technical Research and Development Institute in Japan’s Ministry of Defense has posted on its website the program for its Heisei 19 Research Paper Presentation: Defense Technology Symposium 2007 on October 29, and the November 7-8 symposium’s schedule includes a ground equipment exhibit titled: “Towards the Realization of Gundam (Advanced Personal Equipment System).” The exhibit runs alongside another one for a “Miniature Robot (for Reconnaissance and Data Gathering).” No other information on either exhibit is provided on the symposium’s webpage.

The Occult Aspects of Artificial Intelligence

Listen to me closely when I tell you that artificial intelligence will not come about from some government scientist locked away deep within a lab in some remote secret mountain complex. Nor will it come from some punk hacker extraordinaire aimlessly tripping through a cyberspace that he doesn’t fully understand. Artificial intelligence will be the result of the tireless workings of a small time computer programmer with a penchant for the occult. Don’t believe me? I don’t expect you too, but take a moment to analyze the evidence.

Robotic Jellyfish Swim and Fly

They may look whimsical, (((if that’s the word))) but the waterborne AquaJelly and airborne AirJelly make use of mechatronic design practices, control strategies and actuation methods that could have serious engineering implications. According to Markus Fischer, Festo’s head of corporate design, these robots have a degree of autonomy and adaptive behavior that “will be very useful in the factory of the future. Click here to see a video.

A Chemical Brain to Control Your Nanobots

Nanotechnology is perhaps the most rapidly advancing new technology out there right now. All kinds of nanomachines based on biochemical mechanisms, tiny structures of metal or other techniques are being created and studied in universities and laboratories around the world.

Scientists have now created a device two billionths of a metre in size that could work as a chemical ‘brain’ for a group of nanomachines. Potentially this could lead to their use in medical techniques such as nano-surgery on tumours.

Living Neural Networks and Their Possibilities

Soldiers will control battlesuits using their own nerve impulses, thanks to artificially grown human nervous systems. Cybering lovers could control sex toys over the net and “feel” when they’re touched, using the same biotechnology. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have succeeded in growing a miniature human nervous system in culture, inside an artificial network. They hope it could be used to repair nerve damage, but the ability to grow fully functional human nerves suggests all sorts of other possibilities.

Pleo the Pet Robot Dinosaur

Pleo is a robotic dinosaur designed to emulate the appearance and behavior of a week-old baby Camarasaurus. It was designed by Caleb Chung, the co-creator of the Furby, and is manufactured by Ugobe. Chung selected this species of dinosaur because its body shape, stocky head, and relatively large cranium made it ideal for concealing the sensors and motors needed for lifelike animation. According to Ugobe, each Pleo will “learn” from its experiences and environment through a sophisticated artificial intelligence and develop an individual personality.

Transformer Cell Phones

New transforming cellphones from Toshiba have arms and legs, creating a very robotic look. When folded up they look like regular phones.

. . .

The posable Keitai Sousakan 7 phones can send text messages to users about their feelings through an onboard AI application called Buddy Talk. They can learn through dialog and adapt to user behavior. They also appear as characters in screen apps.

Ru Bot II – The Rubik’s Cube Solving Robot

This is the new version of RuBot by Pete Redmond from Dublin, Ireland. It’s very different to the prototype but it has to be the coolest looking robot solver ever. There are cameras in the eyes of the head that scan the cube before the pneumatic arms solve it. It usually solves the Cube in about 35 seconds (not including the scan) no matter how much it is mixed up.

Boston Dynamic’s Giant Insect-Like “Big Dog

Boston Dynamics just released a new video of the Big Dog on ice and snow, and also demoing its walking gait.

Shape-Shifting Robot Swarms

Swarms of robots that use electromagnetic forces to cling together and assume different shapes are being developed by US researchers.

The grand goal is to create swarms of microscopic robots capable of morphing into virtually any form by clinging together.

Hubo FX-1 Walking Robot

HUBO-FX1 is the human-riding robot having 12 DOF. The development concept is that the robot can walk naturally with carrying a person or a load of 100kg, so the lower body takes after legs of human and the upper body takes after a chair. A person who sits on the upper body can control the robot naturally using the built-on joystick installed. It has many kinds of sensors. Each ankle has the 3-axis force/torque sensor which measures a normal force and 2 moments. Each foot has the inclination sensor which measures angle of the slope. Also the rate gyro and the inclination sensor of the body can do a stabilization of itself. HUBO-FX1 is 2m in height and 150kg in weight. It is possible to perform forward walking, backward walking, side walking and turning around.

Giant Robot Heads For International Space Station

“Now I wouldn’t go as far to say that we’re worried it’s going to go run amok and take over the space station or turn evil or anything because we all know how it’s operated and it doesn’t have a lot of its own intelligence,” (astronaut Garrett) Reisman told The Associated Press last week.

“But I’ll tell you something … He’s enormous and to see him with his giant arms, it is a little scary. It’s a little monstrous, it is.”

NASA Tests Robot That Could Pick Up and Move a Moon Base

NASA engineers are testing out a giant, six-legged robot that could pick up and move a future Moon base thousands of kilometres across the lunar surface, allowing astronauts to explore much more than just the area around their landing site.

Asimo Conducts the Detroit Symphony

ASIMO, a robot designed by Honda Motor Co., met its latest challenge Tuesday evening: Conducting the Detroit Symphony in a performance of “The Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha.”

“Hello, everyone,” ASIMO said to the audience in a childlike voice, then waved to the orchestra.

As it conducted, it perfectly mimicked the actions of a conductor, nodding its head at various sections and gesturing with one or both hands. ASIMO took a final bow to enthusiastic shouts from the audience.

“It is absolutely thrilling to perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. This is a magnificent concert hall,” ASIMO said.

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Shot on location in Twin Peaks, San Francisco.

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Now this is a cool origin story:

…Secret half sister of Jack and Meg White aka ‘The White Stripes’.. P J Higgins was born in Detroit, but denounced at birth for being the illegitimate daughter of Elvis. In a bid to keep her identity concealed, PJ was immediately shipped by government officials to a secret commune in Birmingham, England. Although a direct descendant to the White/Presley dynasty..It still remains a mystery as to why P J was born black?? Some blame it on global warming others on the fact that Ma White was a constant abuser of St Tropez (Fake Tan for those that don’t know.. And YES!..It does seep into the blood system) But as to why, her siblings suffer a rare albino like complexion, is a greater fascination to most!.. But as we proceed.. After years of silenced captivity and as prophesised in the ‘Book of Rock’- It was all but inevitable that PJ’s inherent talent and legacy would one day shine through.. With a sound equally comparable to that of her brother/sister combo.. And after suffering a life of vilification at the hands of her peers.. We find it only fitting that PJ reclaim the throne that her father left before her… Ladies and Gentlemen..Without further ado.. Please welcome P J Higgins…‘THE BLACK STRIPE’

The Black Stripe on MySpace.

She’s also P J Higgins and Princess Juliana.

Check out her music. All three of her personalities are brilliant.

Music | 3 Comments »

BANGKOK, Thailand – A secondary school in rural Thailand has designed a new bathroom that it calls a “transvestite toilet” for its growing community of cross-dressers.

The Kampang School in northeastern Thailand conducted a survey last term that showed more than 200 of the school’s 2,600 students considered themselves transvestites, said school director Sitisak Sumontha.

Link

200 transvestites out of 2,600 students – that’s fantastically cool. I have no doubt this trend will spread around the entire planet. Faster and faster. Evolution is going just how I imagined it.

Previously on Electric Children:

Third Sex Soldiers

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