Cool Video - Killer Catfish Hunting Pigeons -
XIAM007 - Generation X I am
Saturday, 8 December 2012
Friday, 7 December 2012
Parrot drives robot buggy with beak -
Parrot drives robot buggy with beak -
An engineer has created a homing robot buggy capable of being driven around the home by his pet parrot.
Andrew Gray, a student at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of the University of Florida, designed the BirdBuggy to solve a problem he was having with Pepper, his loud bird.
"Our parrot, when he's left alone, screams. It's ear piercing even if you're several rooms away," explained Gray to the university's WUFT radio station. Now Pepper can manoeuvre himself from room to room by standing on the box-like buggy's perch and manipulating a joystick with his beak.
The buggy was not the first attempt at solving the noise problem with technology. "What we normally do is spray him with a water bottle and it shuts him up for a little bit," said Gray. "So I built a voice-activated squirt gun. It worked really well at first, but then he started using it as a bird bath and would scream just to get squirted."
The new solution came when Gray decided to tackle the underlying separation issue rather than its squawky symptoms.
"What's the underlying issue? The problem is that he's not in the room with us. When he's in the room he's fine, so I thought 'how do I get him around the house?'"
The BirdBuggy's final design took Gray four months and includes infrared sensors to prevent Pepper barging into things and a type of homing mechanism which can be activated after Pepper has abandoned the craft, allowing the vehicle to locate and travel to its docking station using green and orange reference spheres.
Read more -
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-12/07/parrot-birdbuggy
An engineer has created a homing robot buggy capable of being driven around the home by his pet parrot.
Andrew Gray, a student at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of the University of Florida, designed the BirdBuggy to solve a problem he was having with Pepper, his loud bird.
"Our parrot, when he's left alone, screams. It's ear piercing even if you're several rooms away," explained Gray to the university's WUFT radio station. Now Pepper can manoeuvre himself from room to room by standing on the box-like buggy's perch and manipulating a joystick with his beak.
The buggy was not the first attempt at solving the noise problem with technology. "What we normally do is spray him with a water bottle and it shuts him up for a little bit," said Gray. "So I built a voice-activated squirt gun. It worked really well at first, but then he started using it as a bird bath and would scream just to get squirted."
The new solution came when Gray decided to tackle the underlying separation issue rather than its squawky symptoms.
"What's the underlying issue? The problem is that he's not in the room with us. When he's in the room he's fine, so I thought 'how do I get him around the house?'"
The BirdBuggy's final design took Gray four months and includes infrared sensors to prevent Pepper barging into things and a type of homing mechanism which can be activated after Pepper has abandoned the craft, allowing the vehicle to locate and travel to its docking station using green and orange reference spheres.
Read more -
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-12/07/parrot-birdbuggy
Genetically modified mosquitoes set to be released into the Fla. Keys in experiment to fight dengue fever -
Genetically modified mosquitoes set to be released into the Fla. Keys in experiment to fight dengue fever -
Hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes are awaiting federal approval for release into the Florida Keys as part of an experiment aimed at reducing the risk of dengue fever.
Mosquito control officials have requested the Food and Drug Administration’s sign off on the experiment that would be the first of its kind in the U.S.
Some residents of the tourist town of Key West worry though on how much research has been done to determine the risks of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes on the Keys’ fragile ecosystem.
Officials are targeting the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes because they can spread dengue fever, a disease health officials thought had been eradicated in the U.S. until 93 cases originated in the Keys in 2009 and 2010.
Read more -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244272/Florida-officials-consider-releasing-genetically-modified-non-biting-mosquitoes-battle-dengue-fever.html
Hundreds of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes are awaiting federal approval for release into the Florida Keys as part of an experiment aimed at reducing the risk of dengue fever.
Mosquito control officials have requested the Food and Drug Administration’s sign off on the experiment that would be the first of its kind in the U.S.
Some residents of the tourist town of Key West worry though on how much research has been done to determine the risks of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes on the Keys’ fragile ecosystem.
Officials are targeting the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes because they can spread dengue fever, a disease health officials thought had been eradicated in the U.S. until 93 cases originated in the Keys in 2009 and 2010.
Read more -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2244272/Florida-officials-consider-releasing-genetically-modified-non-biting-mosquitoes-battle-dengue-fever.html
Austrian bus driver returns half a million dollars found in bag -
Austrian bus driver returns half a million dollars found in bag -
A Vienna bus driver who found a bag with 390,000 euros ($509,700) in cash inside handed the money over to police, who tracked down the elderly woman who had inexplicably left her fortune behind.
The driver, identified by the Vienna transport authority only as Wolfgang R, was inspecting his vehicle at the end of the line when he found the bag in a seat behind the driver’s.
“At first I thought it was shopping or medicine,” the Krone newspaper quoted him as saying. However, when he opened the bag he found a collection of 500-euro notes staring back at him.
Police in the Austrian capital used a bank deposit slip inside the bag to trace the owner. There was no word on whether the woman had given the honest driver a reward.
($1= 0.7652 euros)
Read more -
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2012/12/06/austrian-bus-driver-returns-half-a-million-dollars-found-in-bag
A Vienna bus driver who found a bag with 390,000 euros ($509,700) in cash inside handed the money over to police, who tracked down the elderly woman who had inexplicably left her fortune behind.
The driver, identified by the Vienna transport authority only as Wolfgang R, was inspecting his vehicle at the end of the line when he found the bag in a seat behind the driver’s.
“At first I thought it was shopping or medicine,” the Krone newspaper quoted him as saying. However, when he opened the bag he found a collection of 500-euro notes staring back at him.
Police in the Austrian capital used a bank deposit slip inside the bag to trace the owner. There was no word on whether the woman had given the honest driver a reward.
($1= 0.7652 euros)
Read more -
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2012/12/06/austrian-bus-driver-returns-half-a-million-dollars-found-in-bag
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Nursing Home Resident With Alzheimer's, Has 57 Maggots Removed From Ear -
Nursing Home Resident With Alzheimer's, Has 57 Maggots Removed From Ear -
Doctors removed 57 maggots from the ear canal of Catherine McCann, 92, with Alzheimer's disease. McCann's family is suing the Lutheran Home for the Aged in Arlington Heights where her husband John McCann, 88, pays $10,000 a month for nursing home care.
CBS Chicago reports that her husband John, said, “I was horrified, shocked. I thought it was terrible. I’m paying all this money for that kind of care — no way.”
John McCann is suing the nursing home for emotional distress and negligence.
According to attorney Henry Gruss, who filed the lawsuit, “In this case, they allowed Catherine McCann to have a fly get into her ear canal, lay eggs and hatch 57 maggots."
According to CBS Chicago, doctors at the Northwest Community Hospital removed the maggots from McCann's ear. The doctors made a video to document the infestation.
Mary McCann Stassen said she could barely look at the video. She said: “It’s a picture I will never, ever get out of my mind –ever." She said it was traumatic hearing her mother scream while the doctors took the maggots out of her ears.
The family doctor sent some of the maggots for expert analysis. Experts said the maggots had been in McCann's ear for two-and-a-half to three days. According to her husband, McCann cannot speak and the only sign that something was wrong was that she kept pulling at her ear.
McCann has an enlarged ear canal after a surgery performed on her several years ago. The condition has required periodic flushing of her ear with antibiotics to treat infection. McCann had also been treated for buildup of wax in her ear nine days before the maggots were found. The doctor had prescribed ear drops four times a day. The nursing home said she was receiving her drops and that the last dose was at 6 p.m., the evening before the maggots were detected.
According to CBS Chicago, attorney Gruss, said: “I’m questioning whether or not she received the medication in that left ear during this time. Because how can you put drops of medicine in an ear that has 57 maggots?”
Catherine’s husband, John, said angrily, “After giving them $270,000 of my hard earned money — my life savings I gave to them — and not even so much as a note or a call."
However, the nursing home administrator, Phillip Hemmer, said: “We are just as concerned as the family," but added that he did not believe the staff did any wrong. He said a member of staff at the home saw McCann scratching her ear and called a nurse who called the home's medical director after she saw the maggots.
Nursing home officials argued that the maggots would have been detected earlier had they grown big enough to be seen. The management insisted that the home has an excellent reputation and that the incident was an “extraordinarily unusual event."
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/338286#ixzz2EIleYt2j
Doctors removed 57 maggots from the ear canal of Catherine McCann, 92, with Alzheimer's disease. McCann's family is suing the Lutheran Home for the Aged in Arlington Heights where her husband John McCann, 88, pays $10,000 a month for nursing home care.
CBS Chicago reports that her husband John, said, “I was horrified, shocked. I thought it was terrible. I’m paying all this money for that kind of care — no way.”
John McCann is suing the nursing home for emotional distress and negligence.
According to attorney Henry Gruss, who filed the lawsuit, “In this case, they allowed Catherine McCann to have a fly get into her ear canal, lay eggs and hatch 57 maggots."
According to CBS Chicago, doctors at the Northwest Community Hospital removed the maggots from McCann's ear. The doctors made a video to document the infestation.
Mary McCann Stassen said she could barely look at the video. She said: “It’s a picture I will never, ever get out of my mind –ever." She said it was traumatic hearing her mother scream while the doctors took the maggots out of her ears.
The family doctor sent some of the maggots for expert analysis. Experts said the maggots had been in McCann's ear for two-and-a-half to three days. According to her husband, McCann cannot speak and the only sign that something was wrong was that she kept pulling at her ear.
McCann has an enlarged ear canal after a surgery performed on her several years ago. The condition has required periodic flushing of her ear with antibiotics to treat infection. McCann had also been treated for buildup of wax in her ear nine days before the maggots were found. The doctor had prescribed ear drops four times a day. The nursing home said she was receiving her drops and that the last dose was at 6 p.m., the evening before the maggots were detected.
According to CBS Chicago, attorney Gruss, said: “I’m questioning whether or not she received the medication in that left ear during this time. Because how can you put drops of medicine in an ear that has 57 maggots?”
Catherine’s husband, John, said angrily, “After giving them $270,000 of my hard earned money — my life savings I gave to them — and not even so much as a note or a call."
However, the nursing home administrator, Phillip Hemmer, said: “We are just as concerned as the family," but added that he did not believe the staff did any wrong. He said a member of staff at the home saw McCann scratching her ear and called a nurse who called the home's medical director after she saw the maggots.
Nursing home officials argued that the maggots would have been detected earlier had they grown big enough to be seen. The management insisted that the home has an excellent reputation and that the incident was an “extraordinarily unusual event."
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/338286#ixzz2EIleYt2j
Santa at mall fired for being rude, not letting little girl sit on his lap -
Santa at mall fired for being rude, not letting little girl sit on his lap -
A mall in Maine has sacked Santa Claus after children and parents complained he was rude, grumpy and wouldn’t even let one child sit on his lap.
Officials at the Maine Mall in South Portland say they’re looking for a jollier Santa and hope to have him in place Thursday.
Jessica Mailhiot and her 6-year-old daughter, Chantel, went to see Santa this week. They tell WGME-TV ( http://bit.ly/RpPkak ) he was rude and wouldn’t let the girl sit on his lap when they said they didn’t want to buy a $20 photo.
Chantel says when she asked Santa for an American Girl doll, he replied she’d get an “American football.”
When the mom posted her story online, others shared similar experiences.
The station contacted the Santa, but he didn’t want to comment.
Read more -
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1298461--santa-at-mall-fired-for-being-rude-not-letting-little-girl-sit-on-his-lap
A mall in Maine has sacked Santa Claus after children and parents complained he was rude, grumpy and wouldn’t even let one child sit on his lap.
Officials at the Maine Mall in South Portland say they’re looking for a jollier Santa and hope to have him in place Thursday.
Jessica Mailhiot and her 6-year-old daughter, Chantel, went to see Santa this week. They tell WGME-TV ( http://bit.ly/RpPkak ) he was rude and wouldn’t let the girl sit on his lap when they said they didn’t want to buy a $20 photo.
Chantel says when she asked Santa for an American Girl doll, he replied she’d get an “American football.”
When the mom posted her story online, others shared similar experiences.
The station contacted the Santa, but he didn’t want to comment.
Read more -
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1298461--santa-at-mall-fired-for-being-rude-not-letting-little-girl-sit-on-his-lap
West Virginia high school mandate that students stand for 'African-American National Anthem'... -
West Virginia high school mandate that students stand for 'African-American National Anthem'... -
Controversy fills the halls at a Kanawha County high school, Monday, after the principal cancels the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem.
Capital High School principal Clinton Giles refused to comment on camera about his decision to pull the pledge, he did say off camera, that he was trying to make a statement, after getting complaints he was forcing students to recite the pledge.
"My understanding is we had some calls from parents that students were being told that they had to stand and if they didn't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, and I also believe they played the African American national anthem, then they were disciplined for that," explained Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Ron Duerring.
Duerring says that schools are required to say the pledge, but students are not required to stand and recite it. They have the option to remain seated. Giles told Eyewitness News that he does ask students to stand during the pledge, but they aren't forced to recite it.
"There is court case at the national level, supreme court level, federal and state that says you can't force any child to stand for any pledge of any kind," said Duerring.
Giles said in January of 101, he changed the rule at Capital, from giving students the option to sit or stand, to making them stand. He said the school has the power to structure the observance of the flag, and he's within his rights to make the rule.
After the complaints came to the superintendent, he took matters into his own hands, and cancelled the pledge and National Anthem all together, Monday morning.
Read more -
http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewitness/121203_12284.shtml
Controversy fills the halls at a Kanawha County high school, Monday, after the principal cancels the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem.
Capital High School principal Clinton Giles refused to comment on camera about his decision to pull the pledge, he did say off camera, that he was trying to make a statement, after getting complaints he was forcing students to recite the pledge.
"My understanding is we had some calls from parents that students were being told that they had to stand and if they didn't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, and I also believe they played the African American national anthem, then they were disciplined for that," explained Kanawha County Schools Superintendent Ron Duerring.
Duerring says that schools are required to say the pledge, but students are not required to stand and recite it. They have the option to remain seated. Giles told Eyewitness News that he does ask students to stand during the pledge, but they aren't forced to recite it.
"There is court case at the national level, supreme court level, federal and state that says you can't force any child to stand for any pledge of any kind," said Duerring.
Giles said in January of 101, he changed the rule at Capital, from giving students the option to sit or stand, to making them stand. He said the school has the power to structure the observance of the flag, and he's within his rights to make the rule.
After the complaints came to the superintendent, he took matters into his own hands, and cancelled the pledge and National Anthem all together, Monday morning.
Read more -
http://www.wchstv.com/newsroom/eyewitness/121203_12284.shtml
Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks -- a trainer is teaching man's best friend to drive -- really! -
Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks -- a trainer is teaching man's best friend to drive -- really! -
The SPCA in Auckland thought it would be a good way to showcase how smart rescue dogs are and perhaps improve their adoption rate. So they called on animal trainer, Mark Vette, who was up for the challenge.
Out of a pool of seven dogs, Vette chose "Monty," "Ginny" and "Porter." Monty is an 18-month-old giant schnauzer whose owners turned him in when he became "too much for them to handle."
Ginny is a 1-year-old whippet mix rescued from abusive owners, and someone found 10-month-old Porter roaming the streets.
Vette explained their strategy.
"No animal has ever driven a car before so what we're going to do is we're going to do a straight and we're going to head off, so we'll start the car, get into position, brake on, gear in place, back onto the steering wheel, accelerator, take off and head along the straight and then stop," he said.
At first, they started with lots of indoor training with a fake car, using clicker-reinforced targets to teach the dogs how to shift gears, use a brake and steer.
"When we chain behaviors together, in this case we've got 10 behaviors we're all putting together, so each behavior is a trained behavior, and then you put them into a sequence. So it's a lot to do, and for the dog to actually start to get an idea of what actually is happening takes quite a long time," Vette said.
Five weeks later, Monty was ready to try the real thing -- on a closed track, of course. Monty hopped right in behind the wheel, put the car into gear, on command, then waited for the trainer to order "A" for accelerator.
Then he was off! Monty was driving...some might say a little better than what we sometimes see on Tampa Bay roads!
Monty and the other "drivers" will show off their new skill on national television in New Zealand on December 10th. Vette says after that "test drive," his roving rescue rovers just might be in huge demand. Says Vette, "It will be Dial-a-Dog" the week after this!"
FOX 35 News Orlando
Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/20270364/2012/12/05/trainers-teach-dogs-to-drive-cars
The SPCA in Auckland thought it would be a good way to showcase how smart rescue dogs are and perhaps improve their adoption rate. So they called on animal trainer, Mark Vette, who was up for the challenge.
Out of a pool of seven dogs, Vette chose "Monty," "Ginny" and "Porter." Monty is an 18-month-old giant schnauzer whose owners turned him in when he became "too much for them to handle."
Ginny is a 1-year-old whippet mix rescued from abusive owners, and someone found 10-month-old Porter roaming the streets.
Vette explained their strategy.
"No animal has ever driven a car before so what we're going to do is we're going to do a straight and we're going to head off, so we'll start the car, get into position, brake on, gear in place, back onto the steering wheel, accelerator, take off and head along the straight and then stop," he said.
At first, they started with lots of indoor training with a fake car, using clicker-reinforced targets to teach the dogs how to shift gears, use a brake and steer.
"When we chain behaviors together, in this case we've got 10 behaviors we're all putting together, so each behavior is a trained behavior, and then you put them into a sequence. So it's a lot to do, and for the dog to actually start to get an idea of what actually is happening takes quite a long time," Vette said.
Five weeks later, Monty was ready to try the real thing -- on a closed track, of course. Monty hopped right in behind the wheel, put the car into gear, on command, then waited for the trainer to order "A" for accelerator.
Then he was off! Monty was driving...some might say a little better than what we sometimes see on Tampa Bay roads!
Monty and the other "drivers" will show off their new skill on national television in New Zealand on December 10th. Vette says after that "test drive," his roving rescue rovers just might be in huge demand. Says Vette, "It will be Dial-a-Dog" the week after this!"
FOX 35 News Orlando
Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/20270364/2012/12/05/trainers-teach-dogs-to-drive-cars
STUDY: Dogs can sniff out lung cancer... -
STUDY: Dogs can sniff out lung cancer... -
Dogs are surprisingly adept at sniffing out lung cancer, results from a pilot project in Austria published on Wednesday suggested, potentially offering hope for earlier, life-saving diagnosis.
"Dogs have no problem identifying tumour patients," said Peter Errhalt, head of the pulmonology department at Krems hospital in northern Austria, one of the authors of the study.
The test saw dogs achieve a 70-percent success rate identifying cancer from 120 breath samples, a result so "encouraging" that a two-year study 10 times larger will now take place, Errhalt said.
The results echo anecdotal evidence of odd canine behaviour when around cancer sufferers and are backed up by the results of similar small studies, including one by German scientists in 2011.
The ultimate aim is not however to have canines stationed in hospitals, but for scentists to identify what scents the dogs are detecting, explained Michael Mueller from the Otto Wagner Hospital in Vienna, who collaborated on the pilot project.
This in turn could help scientists reproduce in the long term a kind of "electronic nose" -- minus the wagging tail -- that could help diagnose lung cancer in the early stages, thereby dramatically improving survival rates, Mueller said.
Read more -
http://www.france24.com/en/20121205-dogs-can-sniff-out-lung-cancer-pilot-study-shows
Dogs are surprisingly adept at sniffing out lung cancer, results from a pilot project in Austria published on Wednesday suggested, potentially offering hope for earlier, life-saving diagnosis.
"Dogs have no problem identifying tumour patients," said Peter Errhalt, head of the pulmonology department at Krems hospital in northern Austria, one of the authors of the study.
The test saw dogs achieve a 70-percent success rate identifying cancer from 120 breath samples, a result so "encouraging" that a two-year study 10 times larger will now take place, Errhalt said.
The results echo anecdotal evidence of odd canine behaviour when around cancer sufferers and are backed up by the results of similar small studies, including one by German scientists in 2011.
The ultimate aim is not however to have canines stationed in hospitals, but for scentists to identify what scents the dogs are detecting, explained Michael Mueller from the Otto Wagner Hospital in Vienna, who collaborated on the pilot project.
This in turn could help scientists reproduce in the long term a kind of "electronic nose" -- minus the wagging tail -- that could help diagnose lung cancer in the early stages, thereby dramatically improving survival rates, Mueller said.
Read more -
http://www.france24.com/en/20121205-dogs-can-sniff-out-lung-cancer-pilot-study-shows
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
The Nighttime Earth From Space Like You’ve Never Seen It Before -
The Nighttime Earth From Space Like You’ve Never Seen It Before -
These super-high-resolution images, made possible by a new type of infrared sensor on the satellite, were revealed here at the American Geophysical Union conference Dec. 5.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite has a "day-night band" that can detect natural and man-made light with unprecedented resolution and clarity. It can resolve everything from the nocturnal glow of the atmosphere to the light of a single boat at sea. It can detect auroras, wildfires, the reflection of moon and star light off clouds and ice and the lights alongside highways. The sensor has six times better spatial resolution and 250 times better resolution of lighting levels than anything that came before it.
The VIIRS instrument works by scanning in 22 different wavelength bands. For each pixel, it uses a low-, medium- or high-gain mode to accurately depict the light from each source. Low-light signals are amplified and bright lights are kept from being over-saturated.
The data from the Suomi satellite is freely available to the public within hours, providing the first look at the Earth at night for most scientists. Previously, the U.S. Air Force had a suite of night-time satellites with low-light sensors, but the data wasn't nearly as good, was mostly classified, and was available only to a few scientists.
Read more -
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/suomi-satellite-night-lights-gallery/
These super-high-resolution images, made possible by a new type of infrared sensor on the satellite, were revealed here at the American Geophysical Union conference Dec. 5.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite has a "day-night band" that can detect natural and man-made light with unprecedented resolution and clarity. It can resolve everything from the nocturnal glow of the atmosphere to the light of a single boat at sea. It can detect auroras, wildfires, the reflection of moon and star light off clouds and ice and the lights alongside highways. The sensor has six times better spatial resolution and 250 times better resolution of lighting levels than anything that came before it.
The VIIRS instrument works by scanning in 22 different wavelength bands. For each pixel, it uses a low-, medium- or high-gain mode to accurately depict the light from each source. Low-light signals are amplified and bright lights are kept from being over-saturated.
The data from the Suomi satellite is freely available to the public within hours, providing the first look at the Earth at night for most scientists. Previously, the U.S. Air Force had a suite of night-time satellites with low-light sensors, but the data wasn't nearly as good, was mostly classified, and was available only to a few scientists.
Read more -
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/12/suomi-satellite-night-lights-gallery/
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