At long last I have completed the Long Now Photography Project. After five years, every single photograph I have is digital. Stats:
So, so glad to be finished with this. Oh my God.
Today I found myself at my wit’s end. And then, rubbing my eyes, I thought: why isn’t there a place called Wit’s End? It could be rustic and folksy, something Tolkien-pun-intended, like a pub frequented by demented hobbits, with bawdy singing and loony raving….
At Wit's End?
But surely I wasn’t the only one to have equated the mental state with a physical location. Mildly curious, I googled about. Turns out there in fact is a Wit’s End Pub. But it just doesn’t work, with the boxy corporate architecture and SUV parked out front. Plus, it’s in Canada. But given my current whereabouts, this drips with irony: there’s another Wit’s End, right here in San Diego. But it doesn’t fit my mental picture any better, at least judging from the photos. Looks like some generic Hillcrest bar.
So skip the pub notion… what about something more like a vineyard? I’m thinking golden sunshine, foliage rustling in the gentle breeze, and… madness, if available. And guess what?
At Wits' End.
Jackpot. Wits’ End Vineyard, there you go. The best part? It’s a Willamette Valley pinot noir. That’s what they do, that’s all they do, and it’s my favorite varietal from the best region for it. As to the lunacy, I can’t vouch for it. Not yet anyway. Now to track down a bottle…
This robot, built by Boston Dynamics and funded by DARPA, is called BigDog. This is eye-popping:
I am not a roboticist, but I am in part an engineer, and I have an eye for excellence in design and construction. I’d say this is most impressive. BigDog is about a meter long and can carry over 300lbs. That buzzing sound in the video is its ordinary little gasoline engine. That’s all that powers this extraordinary four-legged metal beast of burden through forest and snow.
Just making an autonomous robot that can manage in the real world at all is a true challenge. Most efforts I’ve seen have the lamest limitations, like being unable to climb stairs or becoming as helpless as a flipped-over turtle if knocked over or if it just stumbled. Walking is hard. Even on all fours.
But this is an entirely different order of robot from the classic image of the clumsy, hobbling, tippy-toppy robots of–well–a couple years ago, or even today. Just look at how gracefully it recovers from that sudden, brutal shove! I would have fallen myself. And it goes plowing through the dirt and ice just fine, if a touch gingerly, as if tentative about its judgments of its environment. Of course there is much uncertainty and chaos in an environment of ice, dirt, rock, hills and trees. But this is just a research model, and I’m sure as its design is refined, so will its body language become more confident. But it seems to work pretty damn well already.
Its applications are as clear as the technical revolution it signals. Just as the robotic drones that now rain death from the sky, this sort of ‘heavy load-carrying over very rough terrain’ machine offers profound new capabilities to the military. Ask any soldier trudging through the wilderness with a backpack that weighs one third as much. Military funding is a mixed blessing, but such is how advanced technology is often originated (and incidentally, the work I do in computer science is a response to similar pressures). But having a machine that can carry heavy stuff pretty much anywhere you care to go (or direct it to) has countless death-free possibilities as well. Even quite the opposite. Consider what a few hundred of these things could have done in Fargo recently. The prospect of fully automated sandbagging supply lines is easily a game changer for any flooding emergency. Imagine it replacing a wheelchair. Or hell, why not an ATV?
I have to admit, despite the obvious coolness factor, the thing comes across a little creepy. It buzzes like a hornet and looks like some kind of huge headless beetle. And I think anyone would find a large, heavy, powerful robot operating autonomously in their vicinity disquieting at least. Perhaps roboticists themselves would be most cautious. Eric Gradman has more than a few hilarious stories about robots going amok, exploding in his face or driving headlong into a crowd of bystanders. That is symptomatic of the current infantile state of robotics. But the baby is learning to walk. You can watch it yourself.
I would have killed for this when I was a kid: a Tauntaun Sleeping Bag.
Keep warm through those snowy Hoth nights in your very own plush tauntaun.
Who knew a the slimy innards of huge stinking monster corpse could be so cozy? And check out that lightsaber zipper to slice the big guy open. Best April Fool’s gag of the year.
Of late I’ve been taking a little dip into the art world, just a bit. But first, some background. Sinclair Stratton, an artist and a good friend, gave Heather and me this painting as a wedding gift:
"Fierce Love," by Sinclair Stratton.
It’s a watercolor portrait of us that she painted from a photo that Bil Zelman took of us from an earlier photo shoot at his studio. It was an astounding gift, and we love it. Normally, it’s on prominent display in our living room. Not today though.
Today it’s out on loan, and you’ll find it at the International Artexpo in New York. Sinclair is out there right now, and this work is among others she has on display there in her gallery. She’s out there to get herself noticed, and I hope it helps. (And yes, as a matter of fact I do think it’s pretty damn cool a portrait of us is out there!)
This all came about because of Sinclair and another friend of mine, April Game. She is the CEO/Executive Director of the San Diego Fine Art Society. I think it’s going to transform the San Diego art world, and I’m proud to be a member of its board of directors. Anyway, April and Sinclair asked if we would loan them this painting. After a little trepidation, we agreed. April is out there with Sinclair, and to judge by the SDFAS tweets, things are going pretty well. Good luck guys!