Totally unrelated to robots, pirates, monkeys (or even ninjas): I probably should mention that my new book is out. It’s published by the weird and wonderful folks at BlueQ. It’s a nice little photo book of the sad chairs of St. Louis. No, really. Discarded chairs in alleys. Abandoned chairs on street corners. Abused chairs on loading docks. You get the picture. You’re gonna like it.

Check out www.50sadchairs.com to see some page samples and (if you want) by it at Amazon or Blueq.com.

C’mon!

“coondoggie writes to tell us NetworkWorld is reporting that one researcher seems to think that a military robot arms race may be imminent between both governments and terrorists.”

We are beginning to see the first steps towards an international robot arms race and it may not be long before robots become a standard terrorist weapon to replace the suicide bomber, according to professor Noel Sharkey, from the Royal United Services Institute Department of Computer Science.

Best stationary ever. Via the ‘lele.

“This tea is called Monkey Picked Tea, and it’s not just a name it’s a fact. According to legend, monkeys used to pick tea from high branches and brought them to their masters. The masters — mostly monks — thought it was delicious and so a cycle was born. These days, the monkey picking tea practice has all but died out, but apparently one remote village continues the tradition.” (Thanks Coudal Partners!)

Armour: robot

Originally uploaded by AkitaSan

Great find by AkitaSan. Tagged: Click this icon to see all public photos tagged with Armour Plant, National City, East St. Louis, Illinois, UEU.

“This robot has been programmed to write out the entire Martin Luther bible in a calligraphic style on a long roll of paper. I wonder if they’re going to bind the pages up and publish it? What the robot does is a step up from print in reproducing the manuscripts made by monks, which is great, though it doesn’t say (though my German isn’t good enough to read the product page) whether the robot arm applies differential pressure and angle of stroke depending on the previous letters, or how far across the line it is, or how far down the page, like a human being would. If it did, then that would in my mind give the work a magical, delicate quality of something written. I don’t want to get all tedious and mystical about some missing innate human or animistic quality, but I like the idea of a robot arm having to stretch a bit at the edges of the page, altering its stroke weight after a particularly arduous cadel previously, all that kind of stuff. I can imagine a whole series of publications that could be given this ‘hand done’ treatment.” (Thanks Coudal Partners!)

“Thrill seekers and robot admirers alike can mark South Korea down as a must-see destination in the coming years, as it will soon be home to not one, but two robot theme parks. Yeah, we already knew that one of these fantasmical places were on the planning block, but just today the Commerce Ministry ‘announced a proposal to build two parks by 2013 for $1.6 billion.’ Reportedly, each park will mesh culture and entertainment with robot technology, and while one will be built in Incheon, the other will be erected some 242 miles south of Seoul in the port city of Masan.”

“It has long been discussed that one of the goals of nanotechnology is to create miniscule machines and robots that can function inside our bodies to cure disease. Once this idea was straight from the script of a science fiction movie but now Korean researchers from Chonnam National University have created a microscopic robot that can travel through blood vessels.”

borg, my latest assemblage

Originally uploaded by martinhorspool

battery charger
box brownie
bathroom scales
door handles
shoe lasts
vintage egg whisk

A t-shirt from Happy Little People. (Thanks Jeff!)

“Those reading Engadget last year might recall our unbridled excitement for the opening of the largest, most extensive (if not the first) museum dedicated to robots and robotics: the Robot Museum (aka Robothink). So you can only imagine how incredibly crestfallen we were to hear that just after a year of entertaining and educating the robot loving hordes, the museum announced that it is shuttering permanently.”

“Two years ago, I forgot about it. Last year, I didn’t get a suitable call. But finally . . . This year . . . I’m very pleased to wish you all . . .

HAPPY TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!!!

…
ME: Yarrrrr, this be the Cap’n, what de ye be needin’ matey?
GUY: . . . . Uh, hello?
ME: Ahoy matey, the bosun tells me ye be havin’ a problem with one o’ me lads.
GUY: . . . Uh, yeah . . . I had a problem with one of your drivers?
ME: What did he be doin’, says I?”

…for International Talk Like A Pirate Day! But this year be different: Flickr is in on the fun (click the Arrr! translate link at the bottom of the page).

“A big, warm hug works wonders, even in the monkey world. Female spider monkeys without infants, it seems, will hug mother monkeys in exchange for permission to kiss, sniff and touch their babies.”

“I decided to make this robot because I’ve never had very neat handwriting, so making large letters has always been difficult. When I was on Student Council in high school, I always got marked down for posters that weren’t “neat” enough. Like any nerd, I figured “If I can’t do it, I’ll make a robot to do it for me.”

This robot will draw out any small monochrome bitmap onto poster paper. It can mark out the individual pixels just as a printer might. It works best with strings of characters.”

“You can keep your Bluebeards and your Blackbeards. The most successful pirate of all time controlled a fleet of more than 1,500 ships and upwards of 80,000 sailors — and she did it all without the help of facial hair.

When a Chinese pirate captain named Cheng married a beautiful prostitute in 1801, he wasn’t just getting the girl of his dreams; he was making the best financial investment of his career. His new bride, known to history as Cheng I Sao, or ‘Wife of Cheng,’ agreed to the marriage on one condition — that she would share equally in his power and would be given the opportunity to help him secure more wealth.”

“Wacky Monkey Alarm Clock will amuse even the grumpiest sleepyhead! You’ll wake up laughing to the “oo-oo-oo-ahh-ha-ha” sounds of the cute chimp on the clock’s face. Classic double bell style alarm clock features easy-to-read numbers and sweep second hand.”

…please excuse any hiccups while I get the cool old RPM design back up and running.