Robot seal

I want a robot seal that wiggles its flippers. This article has a better photo, and more info about robot therapy.



I need some robot therapy to lower my stress level -- I just read this Rolling Stone article that describes how badly George W. Bush is screwing up the environment. I mean, robot animals are cool, but I like real animals and nature a lot, too. I don't want to see them disappear.

Robot puppet!

That's a photo of the robot puppet I made for my puppeteer friend a while ago. The puppet's name is Fudgie, but some people call him "the retarded robot whale." Want to see a slideshow of Fudgie's trip to Sesame Street?

Shopping Smart

USA Today has an article about stores where customers can use a fingerprint to pay for their purchases. This sets off warning bells in my head about privacy concerns, but at the same time, it would be so convenient!



I hate dealing with the cashiers at the Pathmark by my house (once, one of them even made me cry -- no joke), so I mostly tend to buy food at the friendly delis around the corner. The last time I ventured to the giant grocery store, however, I found they had installed four self-checkout lanes. I mean, I'm sure it's not as fast as shopping with a thumbprint, but it's a major improvement. According to this NY Times article, I'm not the only one rejoicing about taking the minimum-wage employee out of the picture.



One more shopping thing: FreshDirect (an online grocery store that my Manhattan friends say totally rocks) is now closer than ever to delivering to my house. According to their website, they now deliver to parts of my zip code, just not the part I'm in.



The NY Times seems to be writing a lot of cool stuff about technology lately. Here's a story about the increasing influence of MoveOn.org.

Two domestic robots I painted a while back

	i am like a car wash for your dishes	when you are away, i can water myself

Technology in life and death

The NY Times Magazine section has some neat future-y articles this week. Read about what it's like when your house is smarter than you are, and learn how people are hacking their domestic robots so they do cool stuff.

And since the NY Times doesn't allow free access to stuff once it gets older, here is my favorite part of the article on how cell phones are changing our lives (it's the very last paragraph):

In Malaysia, she recently attended a "feast of the hungry ghosts," where Chinese Malays burn paper replicas of food. "They do it to ensure that their ancestors are well fed," Bell notes. But in recent years, they've also begun burning paper versions of mobile phones -- and even paper versions of prepaid phone cards, to make sure the phones will work beyond the grave. "They can't imagine their dead relatives existing without the latest models," Bell says. "And they wouldn't want their ancestors to be lonely." Even in death, no one wants to be cut off.

Just don't name her Google

I wrote a futuristic short story last year about this couple trying to pick a name for their baby, and considering lots of corporate brands. Apparently, it's becoming more common. If you had to be named after a brand name, what name would you pick? I think Maybelline is kind of fun (and people could call me "Maybe" as a nickname), but being named after a cosmetics company would probably make me feel shallow.

Hell yeah!

Send a message through the EFF site asking your representative to support the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003 (HR 2239), which would require software reviews and and voter-verifiable paper audit trails for all new electronic voting machines.

Vacuum army

From a CNN article about robot vacuums:

The U.N. study says domestic robot sales are expected to soar over the next three years and predicts 400,000 vacuum robots will be in service by 2006 -- despite their high price tags.

And that's how it starts. We invite them into our homes to do our chores, and then all 400,000 of them rebel, shifting into some alternative program where they rise up and start vacuuming US!! Although I think I'll be safe, just because I have long hair that likes to fall out and clog vacuums.

	Before there were robot vacuums

In reality, I think I would like and trust my robot vacuum, if I had one. The robot on the right is one I sent to Rodney Brooks. (Sidenote: My scanner does a bad job with anything silver or orange.) Brooks is president of a robot vacuum company and also director of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab. I didn't expect him to respond, but he sent me an email that said: "I received your painting of 'Before there were robot vacuums' which

you sent to me at iRobot. Thanks!!!! It made me laugh. I'll pin it up in my office." I like his use of four exclamation points (three wouldn't have conveyed the same level of excitement, and five would have been a bit much). He signed it "Rod," so now I feel like we are friends.

Robot army

I put a bunch of robots on one page of my other site, so I have them all in one place. I still have a ton more to put up. This little guy on the right I just finished yesterday. He is painted on canvas and now he's hanging on my wall. Doesn't he look friendly? The hand on his head reminds me of The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, a strangely wonderful live-action musical by Dr. Seuss.

It's comical

I've randomly stumbled across the "Her" comic strip a few times in my web travels, but this one is my favorite so far. Why do hipsters drive me so crazy?

The Meatrix

Today, I've seen links to this site everywhere, but maybe just because I've been visiting lots of environmental websites. It's a Matrix-inspired Flash animation about why factory farms are evil. It's really well done. I dream of one day being this good at Flash, and using my artistic abilities to inform the masses about important social issues...

	all this technology makes me feel fat

A robot for me

This one is about when technology is a pain to deal with. Like when you have a cell phone that's not charged, or your palm pilot forgets the stuff it's supposed to be remembering, and you have to reset it and start all over.

Time for a bad analogy! Maybe technology is like candy that has lots of artificial colors and flavoring. If you have the right amount, it is sweet and nice, and makes you feel like you have extra energy. But if you have too much, you get this weird kind of headache and start feeling sick inside.


And on the other hand...

Kelly sent me a link to this computer blessing. Visit the site to get the full effect (lots of overly cutesy animated .gifs and a few pop up ads). Here is a tiny sample:

Please take a minute from your busy duties
To bless all of our computers filled with love

Tiny robots

Here are two more robots that I mailed out on postcards. These are from a while ago. I am falling behind on my robot painting, and some people on my list to get robots probably think I forgot about them. But I didn't. (These robots are shown approximately actual size... at least, with my screen resolution settings.)

	i am very bright		i am not as bright

Random stuff

I keep stumbling across things I want to write about, but then I can't find the time to post. Maybe because I'm trying to write a novel this month. (I don't have an excerpt online or anything, but if I ever get it published, I'll post a link to my book on Amazon.com!)



I know why people stop blogging. It's because they write up this whole big post and then it disappears forever into a black hole called Blogger. I think I've learned my lesson. I'm writing this one in Homesite and I'll paste it into the Blogger window when I'm done.



Robots are people, too?

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robots fascinates me. Here's another article about robot rights. It reminds me of a little thing I wrote a while ago, explaining why in the future, robots will have vacation days. My theory had to do with equal rights for all employees (regardless of whether they're flesh or metal), or something like that.



High-speed growing

I wrote a little description of this site for work, but it's also a cool use of technology. Use the links on the left side to watch QuickTime videos of flowers blooming, seeds sprouting and other planty actions.



I like the word "Robolution"

Someday when I'm not trying to write a novel, I'm going to spend many hours reading and experimenting with the Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Robots. It's a book, but the website seems to have lots of good info, including a few Heroes of the Robolution trading cards.

I don't always like technology

Computerized voting machines seem like SUCH a bad idea. From this CNN article:

"The computer science community has pretty much rallied against electronic voting," said Stephen Ansolabahere, a voting expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "A disproportionate number of computer scientists who have weighed in on this issue are opposed to it."

Shouldn't we be listening to the computer scientists? They're the experts on this stuff! Here's an MSNBC article with more reasons to think Diebold's machines are evil, including that the company's CEO was a major supporter of Bush's presidential campaign.



Voting machines aren't the only thing that sucks. The person who stole my friend Paul's laptop sucks a lot. I don't really expect random strangers to donate money to buy him a new one, but wouldn't it be cool if they did?