Fantasist's Scroll

Here’s an interesting idea.

According to this article on the Japanese Times, the Japanese government is going to sponsor a five-year plan to build a robot with the “functionality” of a five-year old.
First, this is a pretty big challenge. Not only do they have to overcome the physical problems, but the mental and emotional problems as well. I mean, robots that walk are relatively new and they mostly have to be guided. This robot would walk and be totally autonomous. There’ll be a lot of processing power in that sucker. And, quite a bit of AI work will need to be done for it, too.
Second, there’s the time-scale. Five years, in my opinion, is pretty aggressive for this kind of project. Especially considering the state of the world economy in general and Japan’s economy in particular.

But, their thought is that this project would be like the US Apollo project. It was a giant challenge that cost a lot of money, but it also produced some amazing technologies that changed our world. Those new inventions, of course, changed the US economy tremendously. That change effected the world economy in ways that we’re really still feeling.
I, for one, hope that they succeed. The spin-offs alone will be worth it!

I didn’t even know they were oppresed already!

Here’s a fun little article from The Village Voice about the World Transhumanist Association. In reality, they’re about a lot more than just cyborgs, but that’s what we’re closest to right now. But, should they get their say, bioengineered life and artificial intelligences would get similar protections. These folks are really forward thinking, in my opinion, since you’d have to define “cyborg” pretty loosely to even get close with current technology. And, as for AI or “genenginered” beings, well…. But, at least they make good fodder for science-fiction! Either way, enjoy the article.

The ultimate “green” vehicle!

Yep, you read right, it’s a bicycle made out of bamboo. According to this page on the American Bamboo Society’s website, there’s a Brazillian in Christiana, which is in Copenhagen, who’s making bicycles out of bamboo. And, according to the article, they seem quite popular, too!
Have fun with it.

It may be small, but it doesn’t need gas!

So, what’s the big news, you say? Well, for starters, it has “normal” pickup and speeds. Not to mention decent drive distance before recharging. It’s kind of funny looking and it only seats two, but it’s tiny. Really, it’s a pretty cool concept. Comparable, I think, to the Mini-Cooper. Only more fuel effiecient.
Read all about it at the Pacific Northwest.

Hmm, I’m not so sure about this…

According to this article on AustraliaIT, someone has come up with something they call “Darwinian poetry“. Frankly, it sounds goofy, but the idea of evolving poetry appeals to me. Survival of the fitest and all that.
Oh, what the heck, it’s Friday! Go check it out!

Happy Birthday H.P. Lovecraft!

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born today in 1890, in Providence, Rhode Island. He was the creator of the Necrnomicon, which is a ficticious book which he used as a prop in his writing. It was, however, so believable that there are still people who insist that it is a real book and that they’ve seen a copy. (It’s not and they haven’t. What they saw was a way for someone to make money of their gullability.)
A very nice website on his life and work can be found at HPLovecraft.com, which includes a list of all his writings. The title of this enty is based on one of those titles (The Colour Out of Space.) If you haven’t read his work, you’ve been living under a rock. Get out from under it, get yourself to a bookstore or library and read something he wrote!

A build it yourself Gauss gun!

No, really, you can actually make this sucker in your own basement. This website, in Russian and English, shows you how. It takes you through the process, step-by-step, in somewhat broken English. And, it makes a pistol, not a rifle, which is doubly cool. So, this isn’t a “firearm”, per se, is it covered by the same rules? I’d imagine so. It would be, basically, a concealed weapon. It looks pretty effective, too, based on the photos(here and here). And, because it doesn’t use an explosive charge, there’s virtually no sound when it discharges. I see all kinds of applications for this little sucker.
Look out Traveller, here we come!

The Argos is going to look at sunken ships in the Black Sea.

The Argos is a robot explorer, for anyone who’s not familiar with it. And its owner/operator, Robert Ballard, is going to look at some very well preserved ships from the Byzantine era. According to this article on Wired News, these 1,500 year-old ships are preserved so well due to a lack of oxygen. Apparently, the little beasties that ravage shipwrecks can’t survive in an oxygen-free environment.
So, it looks like scientists are going to get a much better picture of what life was like in the Byzantine era. The researchers are hoping for everything from cargo to documents that might shed some light on the people who were running around at the time the ship sank. They might even be able to prove the “world flood” that seemed to take place and was recorded as the Flood that Noah survived in the Bible. Kind of cool.