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Robotics

Robot Throws First Pitch At Phillies Game 92

Posted by samzenpus from the mecha-casey-at-bat dept.
RedEaredSlider writes "The first ball at the Phillies-Brewers game will get thrown by a robot — but Roy Halladay's job is still safe. As part of an outreach program and the Phillies' 'Science Day At The Ballpark,' the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science is showcasing a robot made from a Segway and featuring an arm that acts more like a human throwing than an ordinary pitching machine. A pitching machine functions more like a gun, firing a baseball in what amounts to a straight line. But the robot has an armature connected to a hand that was specifically designed for throwing. Another thing the robot can do is identify the strike zone."

Comment Maybe (Score 1) 358

by kyuubiunl (#35818226) Attached to: New Houses Killing Wi-Fi
PC Pro should stick to computers. House wraps are not new. They're not even new in the last twenty years. Would you like higher heating bills, or maybe having to put a repeater near a window if you want wifi outside. Though why you would even give a shit if you get wifi outside your house is beyond me.

Comment Re:non-story (Score 1) 3

by kyuubiunl (#35812782) Attached to: True Radiaation Levels In US
Except that that's utter rubbish. Cessium distributes through the body evenly. The method of delivery has nothing to do with the exposure in this case. If you roll in it.....it distributes; if you breathe it....it distributes; if you drink it.....IT DISTRIBUTES! It stays in your body about 70 days. That sucks. All of japan is not dead from radiation sickness since 11 March 2011, I would say that so far we seem to be fairly safe. They're breathing a hell of a lot more of it than the guy in california, whose parents were subjected to years of open air weapons testing, and yes, DIDN'T DIE FROM RADIATION POISONING. Cows died several km from chernobyl because of thyroid dysfunction brought on by radiation poisoning, however this DETONATION and subsequent expulsion of massive amounts of material directly into the atmosphere didn't kill people the world over. Breathe.

Submission + - Engineers Remake Libyan Phone Network For Rebels (wsj.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A team led by a Libyan-American telecom executive has helped rebels hijack Col. Moammar Gadhafi's cellphone network and re-establish their own communications.

The new network, first plotted on an airplane napkin and assembled with the help of oil-rich Arab nations, is giving more than two million Libyans their first connections to each other and the outside world after Col. Gadhafi cut off their telephone and Internet service about a month ago.

Comment non-story (Score 1) 3

by kyuubiunl (#35803524) Attached to: True Radiaation Levels In US
Not only is this shameless self promotion, and terrible spell-checking, but: if the US is really going to get .01 to .1 Bq/m^3, that's 0.270 to 2.702 picoCurie. The atomic bomb fallout left people in japan exposed to over 250 picoCurie. They're still here. I think I'll go outside.
Democrats

Senator Wants to Tax Internet Shopping 705

Posted by CmdrTaco from the diapers-are-expensive dept.
tripleevenfall writes "A Democratic senator is preparing to introduce legislation that aims to end the golden era of tax-free Internet shopping. The proposal — expected to be made public soon after Tax Day — would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the ability of Americans to shop at Web sites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com without paying state sales taxes."
Government

Submission + - Feds prep for eGov shutdown (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: If the federal government is shutdown midnight Friday, the feds plan to stop updating government Web sites that aren't delivering essential services. "Most Web sites will not continue, only those Web sites that are part of these accepted activities would continue to operate," the senior White House official said Tuesday. "Accepted activities," refers to essential, life and safety-related government services. The IRS, however, will continue to accept tax returns filed electronically and to process payments. "We need to be able to collect the money that is owed to the U.S. government," the official said. Paper-based returns won't be processed.
Science

Submission + - More mileage for failed experiments! (arjournals.com)

Submitted by
asher09
asher09 writes: "All Results Journal: Chem editors write "It is well known that more than 60% of the experiments fail to produce results or expected discoveries. This high percentage of "failed" research generates high level pieces of knowledge. But generally, all these experiments have not been published anywhere as they have been considered useless for our research target. The objective of “The All Results Journals: Chem” focuses on recovering and publishing negative results in Chemistry. These key experiments are vital for the complete development of science. These negative results are the catalyst for a real science-based empirical knowledge."

I received an invitation to publish in this journal via email on March 31 at 11pm. My first reaction was "Oh April fool's joke, eh?". But upon some inspection, it appears legit.
Now I don't have to have successful experiments to keep publishing my data! Does this mean job security for me???"

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