Fun Stuff

You may or may not have seen the new demo for the Boston Dynamics Atlas robot. It now has hands! It can use objects to span gaps, do flips, and throw objects a considerable distance. The new grippers installed are simply a two-finger claw with one fixed finger and one moveable one. This allows Atlas to lift and move large or heavy objects. This human-sized robot has been featured in videos running and jumping and flipping through Parkour courses in demos and competitions. In a Super Bowl commercial, Atlas lifted a keg over its head.  Atlas is the leading design for humanoid robotics. But is strictly a research platform, so don’t look to buy a new best friend.

Our cat, Janet, shown below, contemplating eating some weeds, is the queen of the house. Everything is for her, at least in her opinion. This leads to her planning elaborate crimes, such as finding a way to get stuck in drawers or sitting on the table after we leave. But we love her, nonetheless.

Art Breeder

I was recently introduced to the website artbreeder.com, which leverages AI to manipulate pictures based on sliders to create new, beautiful works of art. At least that’s what it is on paper. More realistically, it’s a great place to create abominations to show your friends. I was going to run one of my pictures through it, but I don’t want to wait for the website to process. Instead, we’re going to use this random image somebody else uploaded. I’ll name him Adam.

I have teenage nieces and nephews that are impossible to shop for this time of year. Thinking back, I have a hard time remembering what I wanted at that age, but many of the tangible gifts I was once excited about have been replaced by digital funds (e.g., gift cards).

When I was a kid, we got a clock that featured a radio signal so it could synchronize the time automatically. It was very finicky, most likely due to the fact that the signal was coming from Colorado and thus was bouncing off the atmosphere several times before it got to us. This usually meant that after daylight savings days, it’d need to be left in a west-facing window for several days before it correctly synced to the accurate time.

Does anyone else have a MIL (mother-in-law) that wanted to know your Christmas wish list over a month ago? No? Just me?

I don’t know what I want for Christmas. I have barely decided on my favorite Halloween candy this year (Twix is edging out 100Grand, and who knew it was such a popular opinion).

I hopped on the WFH (work-from-home) bandwagon and purchased an under-the-desk treadmill. While the brand name may fool you (it’s not for just youths/short people) it took weeks and days to decide which one fit my needs. Here’s a list of requirements (in no particular order):

Jurassic Park is a classic movie most people have at least heard of. A team of scientists endeavors to bring back the dinosaurs from extinction and succeeds. This premise may be closer to reality than you think. The biotech startup Colossal has begun the process of doing just that. In 2021, started trying bring back the Wooly Mammoth, and shocked the world by announcing they are resurrecting the Tasmanian Tiger.