Robots. And not the so-so computer animated flick of 2005, but real actual robots, computer-brained servants made to follow our every need. The Freaky Trigger periodic table is forward looking to anticipate - in our time - more domestic servitude from our clanking friends.

Except, as that recent article predicted, robots will not be C3-PO-esque droids with cut glass British accents, acting as our own robo-butlers. Read more »

Scientists are being naive in saying that the government report on granting rights to robots is a waste of time. But then scientists are always the last people to apologise when their wacky projects accidentally end up grafting intelligent robotic arms onto their back turning them into meglomaniacal villains. Its unlikely, say the scientists, that intelligence which would require any kind of rights is going to be developed in robots in the near future. And then they tell us that there is already a robotic KILLING MACHINE patrolling the North/South Korean border.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT GETS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING? Read more »

Stumpy the duck is down to three legs. The usual terse reporting from Ananova explains how he got one of his superfluous appendages stuck in a fence and the vet came and harvested a leg for dinner helped free him from his predicament.
Read more »

What explains the prominence of this odd item in the Freaky Trigger Periodic Table. What is it that makes the idea of Spacewar so essential to what underpins everything Freakytrigger stands for? is it

a) The idea of thrill-power which Tom talks about here, and here, and is almost certainly embodied in 2000AD which often had massive shots of war in space to illustrate the gritty future WE WOULD ALL INHERIT.

b) Is it the fear of the US Star Wars weapons programme, and Star Wars 2, elevating the up to now depressingly mundane and earthbound idea of war to a whole new plane, one which previously had been for dreamers and optimists only. The bloody carnage of bodies floating in zero gravity with a frozen AIIIIEEEE! stuck in their gullet is a universal fear surely?

c) A tacit acknowledgement than the Star Wars films are real actual history, due to taking place “A Long Time Ago” Read more »

with respect to the plausible workload of the tireless annalists of the future, which is worse?
i. the fact that the white house — by law required to archive all its emails — has apparently “lost” five million of them
ii. the fact that there are HOW MANY MILLION STILL LEFT UNDELETED?

clue: a million minutes is nearly two years, and that’s just reading time

The pie edition of FT and their loverly lollards was notable for having more research per square inch for any episode. Which was a touch infuriating when I couldn’t get it out and instead fell back on fallacious articles about there being “not enough time for God to write down pi*”. A much better argument would have been due to nondeterminancy, which is to say that there not being an exact definition for pi means that God does not know everything, which removes God’s omniscience in one fell swoop. And if that doesn’t do it, Quantum Physics does. Read more »

Japanese Deep Fryer Has Aquarium Within says the headline. Unfortunately it’s just a demo of a fat fryer that uses a watery base to filter out food from the fat. Smashing way to demo it!

Now do you believe me?

They’re going to start offering higher quality (256 kbps AAC) downloads DRM-free. Yes you heard.

Single tracks 99p, albums STAY THE SAME. So you get high-quality DRM free albums for the same cost as today’s lower quality albums.

All very clever and well done them. I’m dying to see how this turns out - as of course are EMI. This could break them, or it could revive them from their much discussed decline of late. I’ve always steered clear of iTunes downloads because of the quality issue - srsly. Now you can get the same quality as when you RIP the CD you bought off Amazon or (god forbid) FOPP on the high-street, and at quite an impressive price. And no premium if you want to upgrade - you pay the price difference, 20p per track, to get the better DRM-free version.

DRM FREE

My only quibble is I had to sit through two The Good, The Bad and The Queen tracks before the announcement.

TOTP debacle aside, the BBC knows full well you don’t need viewers to have a successful brand, especially if said brand is cheap as Mars Bars to make.

The BBC’s longest running programme celebrated its 50th birthday last night in typical fashion: a half-hour show broadcast at 11:30 pm. Read more »

as you can (sort of) see, the label sez:

“TESCO
Total Care

Freshmint flavour

INTERDENTAL
WOODSTICKS

100 double ended
with fluoride”

i. the freshmint and fluoride presumably mean you no longer need to brush yr teeth ever
ii. hence the phrase “total care”
iii. “double ended” AS OPPOSED TO WHAT?
iv. photo and purchase courtesy eli and emma
v. yes foax they are TOOTHPICKS