Looming Robot Menance, Part V

My alma mater is up to it again. Apparently researchers from CMU and Pitt have taught monkeys to control robot arms with their brains.

Two monkeys with tiny sensors in their brains have learned to control a mechanical arm with just their thoughts, using it to reach for and grab food and even to adjust for the size and stickiness of morsels when necessary, scientists reported on Wednesday...

...just beneath the monkeys’ skulls, the scientists implanted a grid about the size of a large freckle. It sat on the motor cortex, over a patch of cells known to signal arm and hand movements. The grid held 100 tiny electrodes, each connecting to a single neuron, its wires running out of the brain and to a computer.

The computer was programmed to analyze the collective firing of these 100 motor neurons, translate that sum into an electronic command and send it instantaneously to the arm, which was mounted flush with the left shoulder.

The scientists used the computer to help the monkeys move the arm at first, essentially teaching them with biofeedback.

After several days, the monkeys needed no help. They sat stationary in a chair, repeatedly manipulating the arm with their brain to reach out and grab grapes, marshmallows and other nuggets dangled in front of them. The snacks reached the mouths about two-thirds of the time — an impressive rate, compared with earlier work...

...On several occasions, a monkey kept its claw open on the way back, with the food stuck to one finger. At other times, a monkey moved the arm to lick the fingers clean or to push a bit of food into its mouth while ignoring a newly presented morsel.

The animals were apparently freelancing, discovering new uses for the arm, showing “displays of embodiment that would never be seen in a virtual environment,” the researchers wrote.

There is video of one of the monkeys at the NY Times website.

Baby in Black

My parents were the first couple among their group of friends in Georgia to have a baby, so I was "adopted" by some of them. Mel and Debbie, in particular, spent a lot of time with me. It was Mel who introduced me to the joys of Saturday morning cartoons and old school country music. I've heard stories about him perching me on the center console in the front seat of his car so that I would be close to the radio. We would both sing along as loud as possible with artists such as The Stanley Brothers and Johnny Cash. I don't know if I've listened to The Stanley Brothers since then (although anyone who has seen O Brother, Where Art Thou? or listened to the soundtrack is familiar with the surviving brother, Ralph) but Cash stuck.

In the spirit of Mel, I figure that I should take some responsibility for shaping Finn's musical influences; hence my gift of the Cash onsie. I don't need to worry that Finn's life will lack music as it plays a big role in both of his parents' lives. Matt has an absolutely beautiful voice, but he's a tenor. I know he likes to sing Johnny Cash tunes to Finn, but to do Cash justice you gotta have that big resonance in your voice. Not that I am half the singer that Matt is (or Cash), but I am a bass. As you can see below, Finn is happy for me to help out.

Running Update

Well, I did my first organized run this morning. Despite the threat of thunderstorms, the weather wasn't too bad. There was some light sprinkles both before and after the run, but not during. I felt fine, and ran at pretty much my normal pace. After the first 200 yards or so, the crowd thinned out enough that I wasn't worried about running into anyone, or anyone running into me.

I noticed that about a third of the runners were wearing headphones. I had thought that was bad form for these kinds of races (the sign-up forms had everyone explicitly agree to not wear them) It didn't seem to be an issue, but I think the threat of poor weather held the turn-out down. Maybe it's a bigger deal with larger crowds?

Next up is a longer run with more hills. I have more work to do to get ready for that!

Therapeutic Blogging

Scientific American has an article about blogging becoming a focus on study.

Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.

I think better when I'm writing. I am better able to clarify my thoughts and feelings when I try to express them "on paper" (actually, almost all of my writing is down on my computer, but it doesn't sound right to say I'm expressing my thoughts "in pixels," does it?) than at just about any other time. I've had times when I didn't know what I thought about something until I sat down and spent some time trying to write about it. The way that writing in general, and also of blogging, has been a form of self-medication for me is in self-discovery. I don't know about the physiological benefits, but I do understand myself better from my writing.

Maybe it's time to give playwriting another crack. Of all of the creative writing I did in college, playwriting was the most satisfying. I've had a few premises in the back of my mind the past couple of years, but never worked on them. None of those ideas interest me much anymore, but I think I'll be on the lookout for the kernel of a story that could be told on stage.

Baz Luhrmann's New Film

Baz Luhrmann, director of Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge, has a new film scheduled to be released in November. The trailer can be seen here.

More Alejandro

Paste Magazine published an interview with Alejandro about his new album. You could go read it on their site, but if you read the same interview at Alejandro's own website you can listen to three of the songs from "Real Animal." Here's the intro to the interview:

Although he's yet to cross into his sixth decade, it seems like Alejandro Escovedo has lived enough life to fill a century of lyric booklets. After a harrowing battle with Hepatitis C left him vomiting blood at the side of the stage in Arizona, the Austin-based musician gave up the rock-star lifestyle and delved into his near-death experience on 2006's brooding, John Cale-produced, critically-acclaimed album The Boxing Mirror. Escovedo's ninth solo offering, the upcoming Real Animal, chronicles the glory days of Escovedo's colorful journey, starting when he was a young California punk enraptured by glam rock and continuing through to when he settled down in Texas and began his solo career. In a neat turn of events, Real Animal was produced by the man who helmed so many of Escovedo's favorite records, the legendary Tony Visconti (T. Rex, Bowie, Morrissey...to name just a few). Paste spoke to Escovedo on the eve of South By Southwest, where he was preparing to perform Real Animal in its entirety with cowriter Chuck Prophet.

Aggressive Foreign Policy Doesn't Have to be Stupid

Some of the talk about Obama's popularity being a generational thing does not sound too convincing. His ability to forcefully respond to the intellectually bankrupt Republican approach to foreign policy equating "toughness," however, does seem to have an generational element. He was too young for Vietnam, which might have something to do with why he doesn't feel the need to apologize for not being pro-war all the time. Michael Tomasky illustrates an example of this in The Guardian. Before this section of the article, he described Bush's claim that Democrats like Obama were appeasers who would have rolled over and given all of Europe to Hitler.

John McCain, that same Thursday morning, was giving a speech in part about the need to move beyond the partisan bickering of the last decade. Within an hour or two, following Bush's lead, McCain attacked Obama: "What does he want to talk about with Ahmadinejad, who said Israel is a stinking corpse?" The Obama campaign emailed reporters accusing Bush of launching "a false political attack".

Now here's the important part. In the past two presidential campaigns, that's where this would have ended. The Democrat "responded" for the record, but somewhat perfunctorily, while the Republicans got their point across: the Democrats are appeasers, the Democratic nominee wants to talk to terrorists and he won't keep the country safe.

Game, set, match. This is how Bush built margins of trust with voters over Al Gore and John Kerry on national-security questions. Invoke appeasement of Hitler, toss in Israel's safety: this is exactly the kind of thing that sent Gore and Kerry running for the hills. Even Bill Clinton, who knew better how to return a punch, would have tried to change the subject back to the economy.

But the current version of the story ends differently. Last Friday, in South Dakota, Obama gave an extended and aggressive press conference in which he hit back hard. Bush and McCain, he told Americans, "are trying to fool you. They're trying to scare you. And they're not telling you the truth." He ticked off the lies that were told about Iraq and the benefits that would redound from making war there, noting that not one of the promises had come to pass.

The headline that afternoon on the influential blog of Mark Halperin, of Time magazine, conveyed the takeaway: "Bam!! Bop!!!! Bash!!"

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Send Me On My Way - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
2. Back To The Earth - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
3. Blue Diamonds - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
4. Ecstasy - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
5. Powderfinger @ - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
6. Weave - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
7. Cruel Sun - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
8. Too Much - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
9. Heaven - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston
10. Cat Turned Blue - Rusted Root - 03/30/05 Boston

Occasionally, I listen to an actual album instead of one my various playlists. Yesterday I was applying polyurethane to the hardwood floors my dad and I have been refinishing, and a Rusted Root concert seemed like an appropriate soundtrack.

Rusted Root was probably my favorite "local" band when I lived in Pittsburgh. CMU hosted a number of concerts during my years on campus, and Rusted Root was the best (The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones were great during my freshman year, but my enjoyment of that concert probably had more to do with the girl with whom I attended the show!)

Okay, just one thing

Last Sunday, the KC Star published a long cartoon by local artist Travis Fox reminiscing about summers in Kansas City as a kid. I'm guessing that Fox is close to the same age as I am, because there were several sections that immediately felt familiar, particularly Worlds of Fun, Royals Games (in the 1980's the Royals were great and I was actually a baseball fan back then - I never worried about foul balls, though) and Cool Crest.

Check it out!

Update

Ever since I visit Finn, Matt & Monte, I have not been writing here much. I doubt that will change this week, even though I have a backlog of things I want to blog about.

The owner of the kitchen where I work had a horrible weekend. Last Friday he had to put the family dog to sleep. Then on Saturday night, his 53 year old brother had a heart attack and died. When I talked to him on the phone Sunday afternoon, he sounded like he was in a bit of shock. I'm sure I would have sounded the same. He's spending this week in California with his family, which leaves me in charge of the kitchen this week.

So far, things have gone really well. I'm not too worried about the rest of the week, either, but it does take more energy being the "decider" for everything. All in all, its one more good experience to have in preparation for my future food related endeavors. I just wish it did not come about under such sad circumstances.

Soccer

When I lived in Pittsburgh, Karl, a friend from college, played on an adult indoor soccer team. One time when his team was shorthanded, he asked me and two other college buddies to play with them. I think I feel confident saying that all three of us overestimated our level of fitness. At the time I was playing basketball with teenagers a couple of times a week at work, so I thought I would be okay. I was wrong.

If you are not familiar with indoor soccer, it is played on a field the size of an ice hockey rink with each team fielding 5 players plus a goalie. Ideally each team has at least 10 field payers so that any one person is only on the field for a 4 or 5 minutes shift. You are basically sprinting the entire time you are on the field, so you need to take frequent breaks (unlike outdoor soccer whose larger field and greater number of players mean you are constantly jogging with the occasional sprint - allowing you to pace yourself much easier)

Even with the three of us joining Karl's team, there were only a couple of subs. It was brutal. Not only was the opponent in good shape, but they were all skilled players. Let's just say it was a good thing there was a large trash can right next to the field. There was puking and pulled muscles and generalized humiliation all around.

Fortunately, I had a much better experience tonight when I joined a pickup game at a nearby park. The vast majority of the players were between 25-35 year old, were in decent shape, and had obviously been playing quite a bit. I did fine. Any observer would not have needed much time to pick me out as the guy who had not played any soccer for several years, but the running I have been doing over past few months served me well.

My touch was way off, and I badly misjudged several balls in the air, but I did feel like I was able to "see" the game. There were a number of times when I could anticipate a play developing, and knew where I wanted to put the ball to make that happen, but my feet just couldn't execute what my mind told them to do. After an hour or so, I was able to make a few nice passes.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to get back on a soccer field. I hope to make this a regular thing on Tuesdays, and would love to find another game to join on the weekend. I hope that by playing consistently I can regain some of my touch on the ball. I'm sure I will be sore tomorrow (running sideways, backwards, and the kicking all use different muscles than what are used by simply jogging) and I have a nice little bruise on my left heel. A significant part of my motivation for the jogging was so that I could play soccer again and enjoy it, and I've accomplished that!

One of the fun things about these pickup games is that the players are from all over the world. Of the 17 or 18 guys who showed up tonight, countries represented on the field included the UK, Jamaica, Turkey, and at least one Central American county.

Metabolism

Leo needed to go to the vet today for updating vaccines and to get him on Frontline for ticks. (On Sunday I found two ticks on him even though he had only been in the backyard or on walks in the neighborhood recently - I'll spare you the photos of those nasty things)

I talked to the vet about how he has gained some weight over the past 6 weeks or so. She said that since he is about 4 and 1/2 years old, his metabolism is probably starting to slow down, just like what happens with us when we hit our 30's. She wasn't worried about his weight, but didn't want him to gain any more. So, since he's been getting a decent amount of exercise since the weather has warmed up, it's less food for Leo. Sorry guy, I guess you know how I feel.

10 Most Recently Played in my iTunes

1. Request Line - Blackeyed Peas - Bridging the Gap
2. Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen - Magic
3. Tip Of My Tongue - The Choir - Orphans Of God (Disc 2)
4. Right Here, Right Now - Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way, Baby
5. Don't Let The Man Get You Down - Fatboy Slim - The Greatest Hits
6. Wonderful Night - Fatboy Slim - SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artist
7. I'm Not Afraid - Fleming & John - Delusions Of Grandeur
8. A Place Called Love - Fleming & John - Delusions Of Grandeur
9. Hung Up - Madonna - Confessions On a Dance Floor (Deluxe Version)
10. Dance My Pain Away - Rod Lee - The Wire...and all the pieces matter

I just synced my running ipod, so these songs are from my "Running" playlist. I particularly like "Don't Let The Man Get You Down," because in college I would have been counted as one of the "long haired freaky people."

Running Update

The Hospital Hill Run is less than a month away, so this afternoon I added hills to my run.








Hills suck.

The Looming Robot Menace, Part IV

So now the Army is pursuing research into creating tiny robots. Think of a swarm of insect sized robots that go into places you cannot, or do not want, to send a human. They would collect intel and send it back to human soldiers.

So now we are working on robots to control limbs, to drive autonomously, carry military gear off road, to act like George Bush, and now to swarm like insects and gather intelligence. Great.

I suppose I should point out that while my series of posts about robots are tongue-in-cheek, I also believe that there are some real concerns. Not that the robots will rebel and overthrow their human masters, but rather about how easy it seems to be to accept new technology uncritically. Just because something is new or cool, does not necessarily mean it is good. I'm no technophobe, but not a technophile either. Things like email and text messaging change the way we communicate. Some of that is positive and some is not, and if we simply uncritically accept the changes then it will be almost impossible to accentuate the positive aspects while minimizing the negative.

I'm back

I had a wonderful trip to New Hampshire. There was much eating and carrying Finn and taking pictures (some to be seen on Flickr with more to come) and a few naps and even some singing.

My weekend plans...

...involve being a pillow for my nephew, Finn.