Free Republic

Good ahead. Have a field day.

Thanks, JimRob and FReegards to all my FReeper FRiends.

With some of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's former top advisers on her payroll, it isn't surprising that Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman espouses many of the same policies he has - from tax cuts to stimulate the economy to promises to run California more like a business. Those similarities are why one prominent California politician said electing Whitman would be the equivalent of another Schwarzenegger term. The politician who said that was Republican Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove (Sacramento County), a Tea Party favorite who backed Whitman's primary rival, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.Shortly after taking office in 2004, Schwarzenegger...

Japanese researchers have developed an android that mimics human expressions. Eventually, it could be used as a companion for disabled children or the elderly.

Well, this isn't good. A robot at the Italian Institute of Technology led by Dr. Petar Kormushev has taught itself how to use a bow and arrow. It only took him eight shots to start hitting the bullseye every time. And I don't know about you, but I'm not sure that seven shots is enough time for me to run away.

In the washroom at the airport I saw a handwritten sign posted over one of those hot air hand dryers: "Please push button and listen for a short message from the President." There's nothing like "hot air" and the smell of crap to give you that true Obama experience. Check out these other Useful Info Nation pages:

Panasonic has developed a hair-washing robot that uses 16 electronically controlled fingers to give a perfect wash and rinse, the company said Friday.The robot, images of which were distributed by Panasonic, appears to be about the size of a washing machine. Users sit in a reclining chair and lean back to place their head in the machine's open top.Two robot arms guide the 16 fingers, which have the same dexterity as human fingers, the company claimed. Sensors scan the person's head to measure its shape and assure that just the right amount of pressure is applied when washing and...

Just want to see where this goes....

I don't think this is what our Narcissist-in-Chief would expect in this situation. Obama and the Virginians When Obama died, George Washington met him at the Pearly Gates. He slapped him across the face and yelled, “How dare you try to destroy the Nation I helped conceive!” Patrick Henry approached, punched him in the nose and shouted, “You wanted to end our liberties but you failed.” James Madison followed, kicked him in the groin and said, “This is why I allowed our government to provide for the common defense!” Thomas Jefferson was next, beat Obama with a long cane and...

Northwestern University professor, Kristian Hammond, received more than $700,000 in federal stimulus money to develop software that tells jokes. Hammond says it’s serious work. “Understanding what makes humor, what makes irony, what makes interesting juxtapositions, to understand what that means [then] actually create it," said Hammond. WLS-TV reports, “The material generated so far is not exactly killer standup material, and Hammond's critics certainly aren't laughing. Senator John McCain singled out Hammond's project, calling it a ‘joke machine’ — one of many examples of wasteful spending.”Hammond received the funding after he applied to the National Science Foundation, beating out dozens of...

September 4, 2010 The Boss Is Robotic, and Rolling Up Behind You By JOHN MARKOFF SACRAMENTO — Dr. Alan Shatzel’s pager beeped at 9 on a Saturday morning. A man had suffered a stroke, and someone had to decide, quickly, whether to give him an anticlotting drug that could mean the difference between life and death. Dr. Shatzel, a neurologist, hustled not to the emergency room where the patient lay — 260 miles away, in Bakersfield — but to a darkened room at a hospital here. He took a seat in front of the latest tools of his trade: computer...

Seaswarm, an autonomous, solar-powered skimmer, may be the answer to less expensive and more efficient methods for cleaning up future oil spills. The robot prototype promises to absorb 20 times its weight in oil. Created by researchers at MIT’s Senseable City Lab, Seaswarm employs a conveyor belt of absorbent, nanowire mesh. The specially deigned mesh can suck up oil on the water’s surface and then process and dispose of the oil it’s collected. The Seaswarm can continue to absorb more of the spill while the robot autonomously navigates and cleans the ocean for weeks on end. Researchers claim that 5,000...

Its pale torso is about the size of a small child, it has no legs and just stumps for arms. For a man who has made his life's work coming up with increasingly creepy robots, Hiroshi Ishiguro has really outdone himself this time. The Japanese roboticist has just unveiled his latest creation - a strange robotic creature called the Telenoid R1. Ishiguro has, in the past, tried to exactly replicate living humans and once developed an eerie robot replica of himself that he named Geminoid HI-1. He also came up with a terrifyingly lifelike female robot called the Gemnoid F....

I just witnessed a couple of Orthodox posters get kicked off a "Catholic Caucus" thread. I thought, despite their differences, they had a mutual understanding that each sect was considered "Catholic". Are not the Orthodox considered Catholic? Why do the Romanists get to monopolize the term "Catholic"? I consider myself to be Catholic being a part of the universal church of Christ. Why should one sect be able to use a universal concept to identify themselves in a caucus thread while other Christian denominations need to use specific qualifiers to identify themselves in a caucus thread?

Mini-Robot Employs Fiery Darts to Neutralize IEDs A new robotic operated countermeasures designed to disable Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from long distance are in development in Israel at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. According to Ram Fabian, director of Rafael's Land Warfare Systems, The micro-rocket system called 'Pincher' is currently in prototype phase, and could become operational next year. Pincher uses 'pencil size' rockets capable of destroying explosive charges from extended range. "The rocket causes the charge to burn, instead of explode (a process called 'deflagration'), eliminating the risk of blast, shrapnel and debris." Fabian told Defense Update. more...) Photo above:...

ON THE GULF OF MEXICO – Underwater robots positioned a giant 100-ton concrete-and-steel box over a blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on Friday as workers prepared to drop the device to the seafloor in a first-of-its-kind attempt to stop oil gushing into the sea. A spokesman for oil giant BP PLC, which is in charge of the cleanup, said the box was suspended about 200 feet above the main leak Friday and was being moved into position, though it could be Saturday before that happens. Several undersea cameras attached to the robots were making sure...

GLENFIELD, England, April 29 (UPI) -- British cardiologists used a robotic arm to perform surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat while the surgeon was in another room, hospital officials said. The procedure, a medical first, involved passing a thin metal wire along the patient's blood vessels and into the heart where a precise dot of heat was then applied to a faulty section of heart muscle, said officials at Glenfield Hospital, one of England's primary hospitals for coronary care. Cardiologist Andre Ng of the nearby University of Leicester carried out the procedure using the $540,000 Catheter Robotics Remote Catheter Manipulation...

An Open Letter To Patriots I am writing this as an open letter to all that consider themselves a voice for the Conservative / Tea Party Movement or any other political voice in opposition to the current administration in D.C. More and more average citizens are becoming active in the political process every day. Many, like myself, have never been involved but are very concerned about the direction of our great nation. They turn to many media sources for information and insight on the seemingly endless series of debates over everything from healthcare and immigration reform to jobs and the...

President Obama said that with the health care reform bill passed he would like to move on to other areas of his presidency. A reporter asked if he was going to get into nation building like former President Bush did. Obama replied, "No. In fact I'm going to do just the opposite." ------------------------------------- Thank you! I'm here all week, try the veal. (Made that joke up myself, folks. Be kind)

The woman applying for a job in a Florida lemon grove seemed to be far too qualified for the job. The foreman frowned and said, "I have to ask you this: "Have you had any actual experience in picking lemons?" "Well, as a matter of fact, I have: I've been divorced three times, owned 2 Ford 's, and I voted for Obama."