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Robotics

Scientists Invent Urine-Powered Robots 123

Lucas123 writes "Researchers have already built robots that can use microorganisms to digest waste material, such as rotten fruit and vegetables, and generate electricity from it. This time, a group of scientists has taken that concept to a strange, new place: urine-powered robots. The scientists from the University of the West of England, Bristol and the University of Bristol constructed a system in robots that functions like the human heart, except it's designed to pump urine into the robot's 'engine room,' converting the waste into electricity and enabling the robot to function completely on its own. The researchers hope the system, which can hold 24.5 ml of urine, could be used to power future generations of robots, or what they're calling EcoBots. 'In the city environment, they could re-charge using urine from urinals in public lavatories,' said Peter Walters, a researcher with the University of the West of England. 'In rural environments, liquid waste effluent could be collected from farms.'"

Comment Re:Isn't it empty? (Score 4, Insightful) 608

No.

A terrorist is someone who acts to frighten the public at large, often with the aim to incite political pressure on the government to stop doing whatever it is they do to which the terrorist objects.

A citizen shooting at their government is not a terrorist, but rather a rebel.

Comment Re:Zombies. (Score 0) 608

Wrong.

Employees can not use employer insurance subsidies to purchase Obamacare, only insurance through their employer. The exemption in question specifically permits members of congress to do just that: use their employer's (that is us, via our tax dollars), insurance subsidy to purchase Obamacare.

They could have at least tried to obscure this with a commensurate (taxable) pay increase, but as so bold as to not even both with the faintest attempt to hide their corruption.

Comment CEO needs to read the U.S. Constitution (Score 1) 524

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted."

-- U.S. Constitution, Article III, section 3.

So... bullshit.

Comment The Shadow People (Score 1) 373

There was a (bad) horror movie along this principle: people dying in their sleep from no known cause. Apparently, if people believed that "shadow people" were out to get them, a negative placebo effect would take place, and they'd actually die from the belief alone.

The protagonist trying to expose the phenomenon was convinced, at the last moment, not to, lest an epidemic result.

Comment Re:Actions to take (Score 1) 337

I'd be fine with prosecuting Bush. On the right, Feinstein supports ripping up the second amendment, and McCain sought to have NDAA include a provision for indefinite detention AFTER acquital by a jury.

I think this administration has done plenty to warrant impeachment (high crimes and misdemeanors), but a charge of treason involves giving comfort and aid to the enemy. Benghazi sticks out on that one, and I am anxious to see more facts and detail emerge.

It isn't so much whether the administration was complicit, but whether they lied, and how much. NSA director Clapper has already put his foot in his mouth on that one in the domestic spying Verizon scandal and is close to being found guilty of perjury. If they have nothing to hide, why are the stories inconsistent and changing?

I may very well be wrong in seeing an ominious pattern where there is none. I'd be happy to be proved wrong. But, I do think it's appropriate to raise the question, to challenge the administration when things don't smell right, and, above all, to NOT fear reprisals, even if they may be believed likely: for my part I noticed (a) a break in to my Facebook account (with nothing really of value or interest there) and (b) access to private hyperlinks referenced there from "interesting" IP addresses. I fully expect that I am on some "list" now.

I don't care. Perhaps I will be "disappeared". IF, and I note IF, that happens, to me, and enough others, then perhaps it would not be for naught, and people might start to wake up.

Paranoia? Perhaps, but I think in a healthy dose. Silence, and fear, on the other hand, always play into the hands of tyrants.

Comment Re:Actions to take (Score 5, Insightful) 337

Yes.

I've lived 51 years, most of them O.K., and a few very well.

I'd be quite willing to die on my feet rather than live under tyrany on my knees. Somehow, either beats becoming infirm and dying of old age. On this issue, I thinks heads should roll. The responsible people (all, of them, Republican and Democrat alike), should be found out, tried for treason, and if found guilty, commensurately punished, to send a message to future politicians about who serves whom.

So, without further ado, and to certainly attract the attention at the good folks at the Secret Service:

What to do about a treasonous president

1. 218 (50%+1) of the 435 representative members of congress vote to imeach.
2. 67 (2/3) of the 100 Senators vote to convict.
3. 1 President is removed from office and is now subject to criminal prosecution.
4. 23 members of a grand jury indict him to stand trial for treason (Benghazi certainly qualifies: ordering troops to stand down when Americans are under attack?).
5. 12 members of a jury convict and sentence him for treason.
6. One disgraced, former president.

Rinse, Lather, Repeat with all the other traitors, and send a message to "politicians".

It's an easy process to remember: 218 67 1 23 12, almost like a phone number: (218)671-2312.

I am not afraid, of criticism, of torture, or of death.

Comment Re:What if the person is innocent? (Score 1) 643

She was Canadian. We had a marriage contract, executed in Quebec, CA. Unlike WA, "prenuptual agreements" have no weight there: marriage contracts are notarized, and can cover performance (who does what household duties) as well as assets. It required whoever does not work outside the home to maintain the home, raise the kids, etc. If both worked outside the home, we were to support the household in proportion to our incomes. Standard fare.

Well, she didn't. I remained faithful, but withheld certain "perqs" of marriage.

When she cheated, I figured I had the moral right to divorce her lazy ass. What I didn't realize was that, under WA law, her cheating gave her the right to have me thrown out of my own home, lest I be arrested, on the grounds that she was fearful that I might find out and get violent. So that I might support our kids, I left freely. Of course, that was construed as my abandoning our kids, so I had no chance at custody in the divorce. I regained it after she was found neglectful of them.

That marriage contract? Because it wasn't a prenup, it held no legal weight, precisely the reason we got a marriage contract instead of a prenup in the first place!

After the divorce, she was held in contempt for not selling the house she could not pay the mortgage on (for which I remained responsible, but with her having to make the payments, and I having a power of sale that I ended up exercising). When she lost custody, she alleged I never paid child suport for our son (I threw in an extra $100 a month for an allowance). The state hassled me for the money EVEN AFTER I provided canceled checks with her endorsement on them! I had to hire a lawyer to get them off my back.

But, the problem here isn't what she did as much as the laws that let her get away with it. And, for my part, I was stupid for having married her in the first place.

Then again, in the end, the kids were placed with me, with sole legal custody as well.

Comment Re:What if the person is innocent? (Score 1) 643

Well, it was a deputy prosecuting attrorney for Snohomish County in February/March 2010. I'll leave it at that.

As we had negotiated a plea bargain for a guilty plea to disorderly conduct in order to dispose felony asault on a minor charges, there are no grounds to sue.

I thought about it: here I was, carrying a screaming child into a store, with the child yelling, "Help, he is killing me. He is kidnapping me". A passerby might certainly think it was true and assault me. One standard for "disorderly conduct" in WA is doing something that invites assault. The classic example is uttering a racial epithet. As much as I thought I had done nothing wrong, the law is the law, and should I not like it, my options are to petition to have it changed. The standard met, I pled guilty to DC, and moved on with my (successful) petition for primary residential and sole legal custody of my kids. The judge in that case praised my choice to remove uncertainty about my being subject to future prosecution.

I had other options. I could have taken him back to his mother. I could have gone to the police with him and his shoes in bad shape. I could have called CPS. At the time, I thought anyone could see that this child was neiher being choked (he was screaming at the top of his lungs), and certainly not being killed. If police responed, the situation could have been made clear. I did not count on his hurting himself in vengeance so as to allege abuse, or his mother acting on it.

So, at this point it is best to (a) let it go, but (b) share how "the system" works, so others might be wary.

These days, local police know of his history of alleging abuse when he has some privilege revoked for bad behavior.

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