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Al Bumin said:
Thanks Al!
:biggrin2:
- Thread starter dirtyman
- Start date
Thanks Al!
:biggrin2:
ancing: :yahoo: :BigHug: :YMPARTY::biggrin2:
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Ms. Sarah said:
Happy for you Ms. Sarah
papasmerf said:
Gets my nomination for father of the year loser award.
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Pooldude said:
He never did the 'rebellious teenager' thing when he was younger, so I guess it was time ...
:wink2:
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Whaw-Whew said:
[h=1]White Men Can't Jump[/h]
Published on Mar 13, 2014
Soft robots — which don't just have soft exteriors but are also powered by fluid flowing through flexible channels — have become a sufficiently popular research topic that they now have their own journal, Soft Robotics. In the first issue of that journal, out this month, MIT researchers report the first self-contained autonomous soft robot, a "fish" that can execute an escape maneuver, convulsing its body to change direction, in just 100 milliseconds, or as quickly as a real fish can.
"We're excited about soft robots for a variety of reasons," says Daniela Rus, a professor of computer science and engineering, director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and one of the researchers who designed and built the fish. "As robots penetrate the physical world and start interacting with people more and more, it's much easier to make robots safe if their bodies are so wonderfully soft that there's no danger if they whack you."
The robotic fish was built by Andrew Marchese, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and lead author on the new paper, where he's joined by Rus and postdoc Cagdas D. Onal. Each side of the fish's tail is bored through with a long, tightly undulating channel. Carbon dioxide released from a canister in the fish's abdomen causes the channel to inflate, bending the tail in the opposite direction.
Read more: https://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2014/so...
Soft robots — which don't just have soft exteriors but are also powered by fluid flowing through flexible channels — have become a sufficiently popular research topic that they now have their own journal, Soft Robotics. In the first issue of that journal, out this month, MIT researchers report the first self-contained autonomous soft robot, a "fish" that can execute an escape maneuver, convulsing its body to change direction, in just 100 milliseconds, or as quickly as a real fish can.
"We're excited about soft robots for a variety of reasons," says Daniela Rus, a professor of computer science and engineering, director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and one of the researchers who designed and built the fish. "As robots penetrate the physical world and start interacting with people more and more, it's much easier to make robots safe if their bodies are so wonderfully soft that there's no danger if they whack you."
The robotic fish was built by Andrew Marchese, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and lead author on the new paper, where he's joined by Rus and postdoc Cagdas D. Onal. Each side of the fish's tail is bored through with a long, tightly undulating channel. Carbon dioxide released from a canister in the fish's abdomen causes the channel to inflate, bending the tail in the opposite direction.
Read more: https://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2014/so...
Brokenhearted
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Paris restricts car use after pollution hits high
Alternate driving days are being introduced in the French capital, Paris, in an attempt to tackle dangerous levels of air pollution.
From Monday, drivers will only be able to use their vehicles every other day. This is only the second time since 1997 that such a restriction has been enforced. The French government made the decision after air pollution exceeded safe levels for five days running in Paris and surrounding areas.
Motorcycles will also be covered by the ban, which will allow only vehicles with number plates terminating in an uneven digit to take to the roads, beginning at 05:30 (04:30 GMT) on Monday.
On Friday, public transport was made free of charge for three days in an attempt to encourage people to leave their cars at home. This measure will continue on Monday.
The smoggy conditions have been caused by a combination of cold nights and warm days, which have prevented pollution from dispersing.
The capital's air quality has been one of the worst on record, French environmental agencies say, rivalling the Chinese capital, Beijing, one of the world's most polluted cities.
On Friday, pollution levels hit 180 microgrammes of PM10 particulates per cubic metre, more than double the safe limit of 80. PM10 particulates are emitted by vehicles, heating systems and heavy industry.
The government will review pollution levels on Monday, before deciding whether to extend the driving restrictions for longer.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26599010
Alternate driving days are being introduced in the French capital, Paris, in an attempt to tackle dangerous levels of air pollution.
From Monday, drivers will only be able to use their vehicles every other day. This is only the second time since 1997 that such a restriction has been enforced. The French government made the decision after air pollution exceeded safe levels for five days running in Paris and surrounding areas.
Motorcycles will also be covered by the ban, which will allow only vehicles with number plates terminating in an uneven digit to take to the roads, beginning at 05:30 (04:30 GMT) on Monday.
On Friday, public transport was made free of charge for three days in an attempt to encourage people to leave their cars at home. This measure will continue on Monday.
The smoggy conditions have been caused by a combination of cold nights and warm days, which have prevented pollution from dispersing.
The capital's air quality has been one of the worst on record, French environmental agencies say, rivalling the Chinese capital, Beijing, one of the world's most polluted cities.
On Friday, pollution levels hit 180 microgrammes of PM10 particulates per cubic metre, more than double the safe limit of 80. PM10 particulates are emitted by vehicles, heating systems and heavy industry.
The government will review pollution levels on Monday, before deciding whether to extend the driving restrictions for longer.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26599010
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This originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog.
It’s often assumed that people are paid what they’re worth. According to this logic, minimum wage workers aren’t worth more than the $7.25 an hour they now receive. If they were worth more, they’d earn more. Any attempt to force employers to pay them more will only kill jobs.
According to this same logic, CEOs of big companies are worth their giant compensation packages, now averaging 300 times pay of the typical American worker. They must be worth it or they wouldn’t be paid this much. Any attempt to limit their pay is fruitless because their pay will only take some other form.
“Paid-what-you’re-worth” is a dangerous myth.
Fifty years ago, when General Motors was the largest employer in America, the typical GM worker got paid $35 an hour in today’s dollars. Today, America’s largest employer is Walmart, and the typical Walmart workers earns $8.80 an hour.
Does this mean the typical GM employee a half-century ago was worth four times what today’s typical Walmart employee is worth? Not at all. Yes, that GM worker helped produce cars rather than retail sales. But he wasn’t much better educated or even that much more productive. He often hadn’t graduated from high school. And he worked on a slow-moving assembly line. Today’s Walmart worker is surrounded by digital gadgets — mobile inventory controls, instant checkout devices, retail search engines — making him or her quite productive.
The real difference is the GM worker a half-century ago had a strong union behind him that summoned the collective bargaining power of all autoworkers to get a substantial share of company revenues for its members. And because more than a third of workers across America belonged to a labor union, the bargains those unions struck with employers raised the wages and benefits of non-unionized workers as well. Non-union firms knew they’d be unionized if they didn’t come close to matching the union contracts.
Today’s Walmart workers don’t have a union to negotiate a better deal. They’re on their own. And because fewer than 7 percent of today’s private-sector workers are unionized, non-union employers across America don’t have to match union contracts. This puts unionized firms at a competitive disadvantage. The result has been a race to the bottom.
https://www.salon.com/2014/03/15/robert_reich_paid_what_youre_worth_is_a_dangerous_myth_partner/
It’s often assumed that people are paid what they’re worth. According to this logic, minimum wage workers aren’t worth more than the $7.25 an hour they now receive. If they were worth more, they’d earn more. Any attempt to force employers to pay them more will only kill jobs.
According to this same logic, CEOs of big companies are worth their giant compensation packages, now averaging 300 times pay of the typical American worker. They must be worth it or they wouldn’t be paid this much. Any attempt to limit their pay is fruitless because their pay will only take some other form.
“Paid-what-you’re-worth” is a dangerous myth.
Fifty years ago, when General Motors was the largest employer in America, the typical GM worker got paid $35 an hour in today’s dollars. Today, America’s largest employer is Walmart, and the typical Walmart workers earns $8.80 an hour.
Does this mean the typical GM employee a half-century ago was worth four times what today’s typical Walmart employee is worth? Not at all. Yes, that GM worker helped produce cars rather than retail sales. But he wasn’t much better educated or even that much more productive. He often hadn’t graduated from high school. And he worked on a slow-moving assembly line. Today’s Walmart worker is surrounded by digital gadgets — mobile inventory controls, instant checkout devices, retail search engines — making him or her quite productive.
The real difference is the GM worker a half-century ago had a strong union behind him that summoned the collective bargaining power of all autoworkers to get a substantial share of company revenues for its members. And because more than a third of workers across America belonged to a labor union, the bargains those unions struck with employers raised the wages and benefits of non-unionized workers as well. Non-union firms knew they’d be unionized if they didn’t come close to matching the union contracts.
Today’s Walmart workers don’t have a union to negotiate a better deal. They’re on their own. And because fewer than 7 percent of today’s private-sector workers are unionized, non-union employers across America don’t have to match union contracts. This puts unionized firms at a competitive disadvantage. The result has been a race to the bottom.
https://www.salon.com/2014/03/15/robert_reich_paid_what_youre_worth_is_a_dangerous_myth_partner/
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We're just going to come right out and say it: what you know as baby carrots are not, in fact, baby carrots. They're just thin carrots that have been cut in half.
There, now you know. Sorry to lift the veil of cuteness off your eyes, but it had to be done. No longer can the carrot industry trick us into eating carrots just because we're drawn to all things baby sized.
We know, this feels like the day you found out Santa was a sham -- worse even. We're sorry to be the ones to burst your tiny carrot bubble, but we can't have you living this food lie any longer. Especially if it means you'll stop buying those watery, stumpy carrots and start enjoying whole, full-flavored carrots again. Don't believe us? See for yourself.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/baby-carrots-lie_n_4964384.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
There, now you know. Sorry to lift the veil of cuteness off your eyes, but it had to be done. No longer can the carrot industry trick us into eating carrots just because we're drawn to all things baby sized.
We know, this feels like the day you found out Santa was a sham -- worse even. We're sorry to be the ones to burst your tiny carrot bubble, but we can't have you living this food lie any longer. Especially if it means you'll stop buying those watery, stumpy carrots and start enjoying whole, full-flavored carrots again. Don't believe us? See for yourself.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/baby-carrots-lie_n_4964384.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular
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