Archive for December, 2004

Not quite I Robot just yet

December 30th, 2004

Honda Worldwide | HDTV | ASIMO (Research Model) – Running at 3km/h

Still looks great, as someone on BoingBoing said. Like a little old man running for a bus, a wee bit too slowly to get there. I’d like to think that in 10 years or so we’d see these things doing useful work on a daily basis, but I saw too many episodes of Tomorrow’s World where they lied to me.

Jam on a CD, FFS. “And it’s still playable after a quick wipe down with a damp cloth”.

Lots of Robots

December 14th, 2004

I’m on a bit of a CGI trip today. I’ve been following the development of LOR by Andy Murdock for a while now, and it still amazes me that one guy can produce a film of this quality and imagination all on his lonesome. The download is hefty, weighing in at 113MB(?), but if you have the bandwidth and time then it’s really worth a viewing.

LOR the Movie

Half life for real?

December 14th, 2004

Via Octopusdropkick comes this excellent gallery of photos of the Tokyo G-Cans project, designed to prevent flooding of the city during rainy season. If you ever thought that the CGI scenery in games like Half Life or UT2004 was impressive but impossible, this would change your mind.

Photo Gallery

Better than an empty dome any day, and a lot more useful.

Backing the wrong horse.

December 2nd, 2004

BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire | ‘Asylum seeker’ in missile lorry

Navy officials have launched an inquiry after a suspected asylum seeker was discovered in the back of a lorry full of missile parts at a naval base.

The truck had just arrived at HMS Nelson in Portsmouth when the stowaway, thought to be Syrian, jumped out.

He was caught by military police and transferred into the custody of immigration officials at Portsmouth ferry port.

The MoD say there was no danger as the missile parts were packed in boxes.

There’s never an Eddie Stobart lorry around when you want one. Talk about bad luck…

Back in Italy

December 1st, 2004

So I’m back in Italy this week, not that I wanted to come again. I thought last week was pretty good, but mucked up the weekend something rotten.

Flying from/to Stanstead is too much for me. Before I get to check in it’s a two hour drive – the good side is that it gives me a chance to listen to the CDs I burn during the week.

Shite weather here this week. I was woken up this morning by thunderclaps that sounded like someone was kicking the door in , something that a distinct possibility in this hotel . It pissed it down all day so I was delighted to see that the conference being held at the customer’s site was all about Observing Soil Moisture. Gave me the chance to feel as if I could point out the obvious to a load of boffins, possibly dropping a reference to it ‘not being rocket science’ or something clever like that.

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