Free Republic

Those Knightscope security robots may not be so great at their jobs. When a woman in a park near Los Angeles saw people fighting and tried to summon help via a police robot patrolling nearby, the robot merely told her to "step out of the way" and continued along its pre-determined route, according to NBC News. No help came until the spectators called 911 directly, raising the question of what, if any, function these robots are actually supposed to serve. It turns out that the robot, a K5 model named "HP RoboCop", patrols the park on behalf of the police...

Because I'm a Conservative, I believe in a strong separation of church and state. As Eliade wrote in The Sacred and the Profane, "the sacred always manifests itself as a reality of a wholly different order from 'natural' realities." We do a disservice to the truly sacred when we force it into Caesar's world. What is sacred to me is between myself and my Maker--and forcing that into the public square diminishes both of Us. Because I'm a Conservative, I care about the environment. Whether prompted by the Bible or by our own sense of morality (itself a part of...

I don’t know, I’m thinking the only thing worse than being woken up by the ‘exterminate’ of this Dr Who Dalek Talking Alarm Clock thing, would be if it rolled up to your bed and shoved the sink plunger into your eyeball repeatedly until you made a move for the bathroom. Man, masochism comes in strange shapes nowadays, that’s for certain. $37.15. At 25 centimetres tall, this golden replica of those dastardly Daleks features an alarm clock with LCD display set into the Dalek’s chest. When the alarm goes off, your Dalek’s ears and eyes (we thought they were...

Kidnappers' who stole a Dalek from a Somerset tourist attraction have sent its owners a ransom note - and the robot's amputated plunger. The 5ft model, believed to be an original from the cult BBC Dr Who series, was taken from Wookey Hole Caves near Wells on Monday. On Thursday, staff found the plunger arm and a ransom note on a doorstep. The note read: "We are holding the Dalek captive. We demand further instructions from the Doctor." The group, signing themselves Guardians of the Planet Earth, added: "For the safety of the human race we have disarmed and removed...