Doobybrain.com

If anybody even noticed, I took off the CAPTCHA thing before you submit comments. I found that it wasn’t really doing too great of a job and it was more of a hassle than anything else. I guess spammers are either real people or just really intelligent machines since they seem to get past the CAPTCHA thing just fine. Hmm. Well, Akismet is doing a decent job at least.

David Blaine is an idiot. After his botched attempt to hold his breath for 9 minutes in a spherical aquarium at Lincoln Center this past year, David Blaine wants to, yet again, put his life in danger. Except this time, he wants to escape from shackles while suspended above New York City. Oh yeah, this will take place next week, when everybody will be eating Thanksgiving dinners and not really caring whether or not he successfully completes this stunt. Yay. -_-
Hmm, it’s very odd that Wikipedia has absolutely nothing about David Blaine’s underwater breath-holding stunt…

Joyce and Ethan keep telling me to watch Lost, which, I do intend to. However, I can’t help but keep stumbling upon writing from angry viewers of the show who are sick and tired of the plot just going in circles. It seems as if Lost was never meant to be a long-running show, but because of its success and because of greedy network executives (I’m assuming), the show has somehow been prolonged, forcing its writers to come up with retarded plots and countless mini-plots. I can’t wait to watch the show though–the first two seasons at least. :)

This looked too fun not to post, so here’s how you can make an image like the one above using satellite photos of buildings that look like letters. You can then send it out as an e-greeting (or geo-greeting…GAY). Hah, anyway, do what you want with it.

Robots that are “conscious” (so to speak) and aware of themselves are now possible. Asimov’s “future” doesn’t look very far off! :)

Scientists said on Thursday they created a brainy, four-legged robot resembling a starfish that can sense damage to its body and, on its own, think up a way to recover.

Researchers Hod Lipson and Victor Zykov of Cornell University and Josh Bongard of the University of Vermont made a robot that observed its own motion using built-in sensors in its joints and then generated its own concept of itself, or at least its physical structure, in its internal computer.

Lipson said the robot used various movements of its joints, first to generate hypotheses and then to formulate an accurate conception of itself.

The researchers then tested the robot’s ability to adapt to new situations — in this case injury — by shortening one of its legs. “The robot knows something’s wrong,” Lipson said.

Animals can compensate for injury by changing movements, like limping to favor an injured leg. Machines can be programmed to react to a problem in a certain way. But when they are damaged in unexpected ways, they usually are doomed.

This plucky robot responded by generating on its own a new concept of its structure, accurately sensing it had been altered, and then devising a new way to walk using a different gait to compensate for the injury.

The robot’s smarts, awareness of itself and ability to adapt on its own separates it from its mechanical brethren.

This could be really cool and really not cool at the same time. But because it’s robots, I think it’s cool. I love robots. And just in case the robots do eventually get too smart and start a robot uprising, I’ll be glad that there’s already a book out that considers that idea, and with it, we can all be saved from a robot uprising. ;)

AHHHH! Snow Patrol and Ok Go are playing TOGETHER at Madison Square Garden on March 26 (Mon) and 27 (Tues)! Tickets are $40, which is a bit pricey compared to what I usually pay for live concert tickets, but I guess it pays for itself since the venue is Madison Square Garden. I’ve never been there, but I think this would be an awesome concert to go to in order to get myself familiar with it. Anybody up to go with me? Tell me soon! I don’t want these to be sold out!

Not to be skeptical or anything, but I find myself wondering whether or not this is an affective way to evangelize. I often find myself thinking that this is doing more to alienate Christians from the rest of society than it is to actually get them to believe anything a Christian might be saying. I don’t know. Anybody think about that?

And did anybody see this on Yahoo! News as well? A cat gave birth to dogs! Or at least what appear to be just very ugly cats. That mom cat is such a whore! HAR HAR HAR! Mating with a dog! HAHAHAHAHA!

I’ve already tried Google Maps’ click-to-call feature and I can say without a doubt that it works–and works mighty well! This is so awesome that it’s free! This probably means that for those of us who can access the internet on our phones, we no longer have to remember or write down a business phone number. We just let Google do the work for us. Oh, and did I mention that this service is ABSOLUTELY FREE OF CHARGE (not including your usual phone service plan). Neat!

This one’s for Ashley, who needs (or wants, rather) something to cover her walls in her apartment. Enjoy! This sounds like a pretty easy project. I might do this in my new room…whenever I actually move in. [via]

Alright, I’m off to Daniel Park’s wedding! Should be fun. Talk to you all soon!