RISE OF THE MACHINES - Stanley the Ultimate Power Tool

Flee for your lives people, the age of autonomous Robot is now upon us, and they are getting paid. Obviously raising money as part of a nefarious plot (the only worthwhile type of plot in my view) to take over the world.

"Stanley" Pictured on the left may look like just a humble 4WD (SUV to our American Brethren), but this little sucker is actually the first a robotic vehicle ever to complete the DARPA grand challenge, a challenge where inventors create an autonomous ground vehicle that will save American lives on the battlefield. To be honest saving American Lives is a noble, yet secondary goal for me, more importantly i want to know when i get Stanley to drive me home from the Pub on a Sunday morning. Is he available for wedding, parties, anything.

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Stanley, the Ultimate Power Tool.

Oh, and how the heck does "Red Bull" manage to get their logo on all the winningest things.

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DARPA

US 'plans stealth shark spies'

Via news.bbc.net

Sharks with implants are planned to be released off Florida Pentagon scientists are planning to turn sharks into "stealth spies" capable of tracking vessels undetected, a British magazine has reported. They want to remotely control the sharks by implanting electrodes in their brains, The New Scientist says.

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This puts me in mind of a radical plan I had to use "Armoured Wombats". Rather than electrodes, i envisaged psychotropic drugs to drive them mental, airdropping them amongst the enemy and having them run amok smashing enemy armour. Anyone who has ever hit a wombat on a freeway will know they cause serious damage. Alas the Aussie defence department vetoed my idea, stating "If Aussies won't eat Roos, they won't abide "Suicidal Wombats". I beg to differ!!

Sometimes i despair at the lack of foresight of our military and political leaders. I blame John Howard, clearly by rejecting my plan he has indicated he is not willing to make the hard decisions as they relate to national security.

At this point we should recall the US Navy's other animal success stories

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The US Navy's mine-clearing dolphins have been the surprise media stars of the Iraq war, but they have not exactly won over Australian divers working alongside them.The polite way to express their scepticism about the mine-clearing skills of the dolphins is to question their reliability and cost efficiency, but there is another way to put it."Flipper's fucked, mate," was how one diver saw things yesterday."The dolphins have had all this amazing publicity, but as soon as they put one in the water it shot through. There's a war going on and Flipper goes AWOL.”