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2012-12-21T09:03:00.016-05:00

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First Police Battle with Robot - the Rest of the Story

2011-01-19T11:46:00.000-05:00

The first robot versus robot battle has taken place on an American street. (Exactly on December 2nd, 2010.)

Well, not exactly a battle; just sort of.

Actually, just close enough to talk about.

The pic to the left shows what the menace actually looks like. It does not have enough butt to hurt anything.

As robot stories go, this one got a boatload of coverage. Besides bouncing around the Internet in general, the number and scope of comments and forum posts was nothing short of massive. As usual, some of the comments are infantile, but a lot of them are quite clever and well worth checking out.

I don’t do breaking news. However, after the dust settles, there are some stories that demand further analysis. More than a few sites simply stole the original content from Denver Post. So, if you want the facts plus links to interesting commentary, keep reading.

The links below originally came from a series of Google Alerts for "police +robots." The Alert is configured for "Everything" and "All Results." As you can see, Google Alerts may not work the way you would expect. Out of about 147 thousand links returned by Google Search, the Alert fetched less than one hundred related to Coor's Field. Yes - the key words are different, but only one hundred links?

To get oriented, here's a map showing the location of the The Device.

Next, to emphasize just how dangerous this little monster is, watch this short video:

You can see some close-ups of the menacehere. It’s OK that the police totally ventilated the critter on the bridge, because it was obsolete anyway. What you really need to worry about is the state-of-the-art Rad 4.0. The latest version looks like he can run. And it's twice as tall. We also need to consider the possibility that this was an intelligence exercise so that the coming robot army could gauge police response.

You can see a nice night slide show, from the air, of the bridge pier and police blocking the streets here.

Of course

had a lot of silliness posted about this silliness.

Here is the raw information from the Denver Post enhanced with some intel gathered from secret sources:

A “suspicious device” was reported at 3:27 pm, Dec. 2, 2010.
Police Spokesman Matt Murray provided little information to the public.
The incident happened next to Coors Field.
The device is actually a remote control toy, but was glued to the base of a pillar.
The pillar supports a footbridge that connects a parking lot to the stadium.
The foot bridge is just northwest of 20th and Wazee streets.
Police held people back 100 yards in case it was bomb.
The device was almost tiny - only 8” tall.
They closed 20th Street between Blake Street and Chestnut Place and rush-hour commuters were forced to detour.
The device was examined by a robot then destroyed by the bomb squad at about 5:30.
Denver resident Justin Kent, 26, asked: "Are you serious?"
Police have not been able to determine who put the robot on the pillar or their motives.
Murray admitted the incident was "a whole lot of nothing" but said that police actions towards the tiny robot were necessary to "render it safe."

After the reporters went home, the story was swept under the rug. As of a month later, there were no follow-up posts.

Here are two of my favorite links; there are many more below.

Bot Junkie said : “After the remains of the robot were cleaned up, the citizens of Denver went about their lives, slightly more confused than they were the day before.
Historianncalled it a "misfit toy," and added "Thank goodness state and local governments got all of that federal grant money after 9/11 to purchase anti-terrorist equipment and beef up their bomb squads!"
There are interesting comments here, like: "If we outlaw toy robots, only outlaws will have toy robots."

A number of sites pointed out that this was reminiscent of (but not really quite the same as) the Great Boston Bomb Scare

Most of the links below were chosen because of the comment content. Note that some of the article titles are a study in creativity all by themselves.

First, a short intermission. The first two links provide a little extra treat.

Now for a collection of chatter on the story:

9 News - Toy robot detours traffic near Coors Field, meets demise
Numerous comments.
Above Top Secret (Forum) - The Toy Robot that Brought Denver to it's Knees!
217 Comments
Beach News - In the “we can all sleep better tonight” files
61 Comments
Blastr - Terror alert robot: Denver faces threat from 8-inch tall toy
37 Comments
Boing Boing - Denver bomb squad defeats 8" toy robot after hours-long standoff
46 Comments; note that it took Boing Boing until Dec 7, which was five days, to pick this up and quite a few other sites then linked only to The Boing.
Bot Junkie - Police Standoff Ends With Detonation Of Eight-Inch Plastic Robot
2 Comments; This source was frequently cited by lazy webmasters.
Democratic Underground (Forum) - Denver police survive tense hours-long standoff with 8" toy robot
Tons of comments
Digg - Police panic over toy robot, bring out bomb squad
21 Comments
Engadget - 8-inch robot wreaks havoc on Denver commuters, Cylon war narrowly averted"
120 Comments
Fark - In the “we can all sleep better tonight” files
61 Comments
Gizmodo - Bomb Squad Detonates 8-inch Toy Robot After Terrorizing Rush Hour Traffic
Numerous comments
Historiann - Denver: zero tolerance for misfit toys
12 Comments
James Randi Educational Foundation (forum) - Robot destroyed by Denver Police Bomb Squad
37 Comments
Mail Online - The streets are safe again: Police seal off area and blow up 'suspicious' toy robot stuck to a post
22 Comments
Mental Militia Forum - The Perfect Monkey Wrench???
2 (funny) comments
Neowin - 8-inch robot closes Denver streets
110 Comments
Slashdot - Denver Bomb Squad Takes Out Toy Robot
50 Comments
TFW (Forum) - Toy robot blown up by police
15 Comments

These posts have a number of comments

. . . but don’t mention the original story source:

Escapist Magazine (Forum) - Miniature Robot Invader Threatens Denver
35 Comments (via Blastr)
London Daily Mail - The streets are safe again: Police seal off area and blow up 'suspicious' toy robot stuck to a post
22 Comments (No source given)

Few or no comments

But these have cool titles:

Armchair Generalist - Homeland Insecurity
3 comments
Blodic - 8-inch robot wreaks havoc on Denver commuters, Cylon war narrowly averted

Ridiculous, even stupid, comments:

Just a small sample of posts followed only by ?...?

Ziggy Tek Toy Robot Shuts Down Traffic for Hours.
Racketboy Denver Police Fear Robot Uprising, Overreact.

Posts with no comments.

This is given only as a dishonorable mention. Specifically, of Lazy Webmasters who did not take the time to hunt down the original article. Especially since it was super easy to find. For the most part, they did not even bother coining a catchy title.

Bug Big - Denver Bomb Squad Takes Out Toy Robot (via Slashdot)
msblogs - 8-inch robot closes Denver streets (via Neowin)
Newslite - A stand-off in the US between local police and an eight-inch tall robot (via the Daily Mail)
Regator - Police Standoff Ends With Detonation Of Eight-Inch Plastic Robot (via Bot Junkie)
Sci Fi Log - Terror alert robot: Denver faces threat from 8-inch tall toy (via Blastr Atom feed)
Tech Geer - 8-inch Robot Brings Out Bomb Squad In Denver (via Ubergizmo)
Technology.am - Bomb Squad Detonates 8-inch Toy Robot After Terrorizing Rush Hour Traffic (via Gizmodo)
Teki - 8-inch robot wreaks havoc on Denver commuters, Cylon war narrowly averted (via Engadget)
The Days Dirt - Denver Police Detonate Toy Robot That Could've Easily Been a Terrorist (via Switched)

That's all for now.

Somewhere, someone might be saying

Do you want to learn more about the trap you are being lead into? Check out " The Robots Are Coming ".

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Time To Protest - Join Twitter

2011-01-10T16:19:00.000-05:00

The criminal conspiracy known as the Democrit-Repuglican Party has been exposed again.

In addition to helping inform the general public that the Iraq War is a gross violation of the Geneva Conventions, and therefore totally illegal, now Wikileaks followers are being investigated for practicing freedom of speech.

I did not have a Twitter account.

Untill today. Now I'm a Wikileaks follower.

Here's my first tweet:

To get a better idea of what's going on, read this article on Bloomberg News. There is also a revealing analysis atSalon. Here's a fascinating quote from the Salon article:

As things stand at the beginning of 2011, FEMA has enough space to keep all Wikileaks followers in "protective" detention. If that sounds strange, remember that American citizens have been illegallyrounded up several times. (O.K., Herr Lincoln's detention was allowable under the Constitution, Article I, Section 9.) Note also that the 637 thousand followers is less than the number of police officers in America.

Check out this video:

To get an idea how much this video upset the status quo, read this article onNing Poleshift. Assuming that freespeakers will be taken to the nearest FEMA camp, here's a map so that your distant relatives can (perhaps) visit you. (Your immediate family will join you, which is why the camps have playground equipment.) They say that one camp in Alaska can hold two million people. I hope they don't find out that I hate the cold. (Whoops, too late.)

Spooky

So, perhaps if several tens of millions of people become Wikileaks followers, prehaps only the really dangerous people (which I'm not) will be rounded up due to lack of space. To become a real supporter of free speech, and not just someone who gives lip service to the First Amendment, get a Twitter accounthere.

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Royalties Pledged to Help a Friend In Need

2010-12-02T13:39:00.005-05:00

This is a plea to the masses. I'm begging for assistance. A friend of mine needs a hand.

I am the sole caregiver for a disabled person who has no living family. Over the years my friend has maxed out their credit cards, primarily for prescription and other medical costs. Wall Street's looting of the US Treasury caused their income from a trust to disappear. With their only current income from SS Disability, they are now in default.

I am financially unable to offer more that a little help. I have a secure place to live and I get by, but simply don't have enough extra disposable income to be of additional assistance.

However:

I wrote Presidential Inauguration Speeches primarily for my own information and amusement. I have now decided to pledge the after-tax royalties to pay my friend's credit card debts. Now I need get some on-line help spreading the word.

The alternative is for my friend to sell their (modest) house, which may result in becoming a ward of the state in a nursing home.

In addition, I will donate 90% of any extra after-tax royalties to a non-profit that specializes in disability assistance. (Organization to be determined - your suggestions are welcome.)

Can anyone provide any thoughts or ideas on this? You can leave your ideashere. I have a friend who works in a non-profit that assists disabled and other low-income persons. So suggestions about 'programs' won't help; everything possible has been looked at. There are no viable options.

Please help, any positive comments or ideas would be welcome.

Thank you very much for anything you can do!!!

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Announcing the Black Book of Skynet Counterintelligence

2010-11-26T06:00:00.001-05:00

I have a special treat here for all you general paranoia sufferers, especially conspiracy theorists and technophobes.

You should be paranoid; they are watching you. They are also taking notes.

Yes, there really is a Skynet. This evil entity, thought by most to be only Hollywood fiction, is the real life Big Brother component of The Cloud.

AsThe Robots Are Coming points out, Skynet is the actual coordination system for the armada of autonomous robots that will be coming for your children and pets. It's only a matter of time.

This eBook contains the following sections:

The REAL Skynet
Counterintelligence Basics
Skynet Resistance
Motives Unknown
Just For Fun

The Black Book is another free eBook; there are no strings attached. All you have to do is download the manual and check to be sure you are not being followed. Then take your laptop into the closet and enjoy.

Go to this link to get your copy now.

I usually close with a joke. Skynet, however, is no laughing matter.

That's all for now. Be sure to come back to visit.

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Robots Might Rip Your Lungs Out

2010-11-03T07:16:00.000-04:00

AsThe Robots Are Coming points out, robots are hard to define - but you'll know one when it rips your lungs out.

It does help if you have experience picking robots out of a crowd. So here I present a collection of galleries of artificial monsters of all sizes and shapes. Remember, just because it's cute never means you should think it's harmless.

Otherwise, enjoy, just don't let yourself get hypotized

Note: Skynet has taken down a few videos in the links.

Computer Science Schools has a collection of old 1950's to 70's TV bots.
Maload, a link collecting site, has a pointer to a Robot Coloring Book. Go here, but be advised that the download process is a little tedious.
Photobucket has a train load of odds and ends of pics. The quality is variable, but it's worth a look.
Freaking News, a Photoshop contest site, has a set of freaking scary robots.
The Boston Globe has a large collection of real robots, some of which should cause you to loose sleep.
Over at How Stuff Works there's some more robots in action. Don't miss checking out # 13, which is a protype of a machine designed to survive land mines. I've already mentioned that we should be really, seriously, shaking in our shoes concerning robots that can't be stopped.
Fotosearch has a hugh collection of robots and robot situations of almost every type you can imagine. There's some really cool artwork here.
A computer rag, PC World has posted a set from Wow Wee, a toy maker that's branching into little bots for spying on your spouse.
Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a small slideshow of explorer bots. I especially like the one that can probe underground to look for tunnels where the resistance is hiding.
The Japanese have already surrendered to the robots. The New Yack Times has a set of pics that are a must see. This link also has an article that should give you a few things to talk about around the coffee machine.
If you like fantasy art, you'll like Inspiration Feed's collection. Some of these may serve as a source for next year's destroyer bot configurations.
Let's Make Robotshas a ever growing collection of homemade robots. You should save this link to get ideas for the (hopefully) coming robot counter revolution. (LMR is one of the sites featured in the free Purple Robot Directory.)
Concept Robots is a Blogger site with a larger following than most. It's no wonder - here you'll find an awesome collection of robot art.
One of the many sites that cater to web site designers, Web Design Mash also features webart. They've also got a set of imaginary bots that may be coming to a neighborhood near you (but probably not until next month).
If you can't wait to be put out of a job, take a look at Oddee. They've got androids and non-androids that almost can't wait for you to get your de-employment check.
Venturing into the Uncanny Valley, PC World has another slide show you should see. If you want to get spooked out properly, take a serious look at # 8. This pic shows how the robots will collect you when aOrange Alert is issued for your cold body. Pic # 21 shows a place you might try to hide; but I would not recommend it - that's a robot in disguise.
I love Wired Magazine. They may need to be put on the Robot Resistance Watch List, though. A recent (Oct. 2010) article has overtones of a plot to trick your children into liking robots. If this keeps up, someone may need to get robots classified as domestic terrorists. (Some are violent, and some seem to have political or social motives.

That's all for now. Stay vigilant.
Be sure to come back and visit while you still can.

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Robots With Artificial Skin To Dominate Sex Industry

2010-10-19T06:49:00.012-04:00

Notices:

This is an adults-only post. If you are under the age of 25, you are immature and should not read this.
I am not judging any of this; I’m just reporting it.
Like other robot technology, there’s nothing you can do to stop this trend, so don’t waste valuable energy trying.
Just get over it.

Sexbots were barely mentioned in "The Robots Are Coming" . So here's the latest developments.

Rapid advances in anthropomorphic robot technology are heading in a direction that should be obvious to industry observers. Sex workers are not the first flesh-class droids to be put out of a job, and they certainly won’t be the last. The technology is much farther along than you may think. If you have the idea that robots are cold metallic thingies, I've got some interesting news for you. (You have to read the whole post, though.)

You could probably guess that sex robots are quite a popular topic on the internet.

As you can see, in October 2010 Google found three point three million pages available on sex robots. Like other aspects of the slowly creeping curse, it starts so innocently, even almost play-like.

The Nintendo DS game has a dating simulator calledLove Plus. It allows players to maintain a relationship with a virtual high school girl. In the game, the player (a high school boy or somewone else with raging hormones) and the girl go off for a romantic weekend. So far, the app is only available in Japanese. Don't worry, someone that sees $$$ signs will likely change that. If you read Japanese, there is a native article on Love Plus.

Of course, you'll want a pic of you and your pseudo-girl when you go on vacation.
Yea, there's an app for that.
The app makes it easy to put your virtual girlfriend in a real photo. Be sure to read the review of the sexy imaginary friend concept on Singularity Hub.

You've probably already realized that girlbots are not without controversy. I found a somewhat whimsical discussion Down Under. Regardless of criticism, Girl friends that require air pumps will soon be used only by the lower classes. If you have $7000, you can reserve a talking sex robot. Apparently more than 4000 men have already placed pre-orders for Roxxxy robots. Roxxxy has her ownweb site, of course.

It also would be easy to guess that someone will make jokes about sex robots. Check out this cool video: Special Sale On Sex Robots

There's even likely to be a big future in roboporn. If you don't believe that, check out this collection ofAwesome Beautiful Female Robots. Some of the robogirls don't just pose - they gyrate suggestively, as this video shows.

The video was of prototypes; trust me, they'll get more seductive very soon.

I don't usually do 'cute,' but I'll throw this link in just for kicks: Robots are either set to 'kill' or 'sexy'.

Bipolar Girlbots & Artificial Skin

A microstructured rubber membrane that rivals the response of human skin has been developed at the University of California.
Duh? Like they have a shortage of touchable lovelies in California? Whoda thunk? Anyhow, theBBC suggests that this artificial skin could bring a sensitive touch to robots. The material can sense pressure as sensitively and quickly as human skin.

There are decent articles (some with more links) at:

As far as your robo-partner displaying cool emotions, like bipolar disorder, you'll have to come back for the upcoming post on anthro-bots.

Oh, by the way, none of this is really new. As far back as 2007 there was a book called Love and Sex With Robots. As I already mentioned, some things are obvious to industry observers. There is a good book review at the NY Times.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Warning: Robot War Is Spooky Stuff

2010-10-10T05:14:00.006-04:00

Just Look Around

The warnings, like the robots themselves, are all over the place.

One of the themes in The Robots Are Coming is the rapidly approaching time when all warfare will be fought by robots. The Red Cross, hardly a fringe political group, is one of the organizations pushing the need for increased public awareness of this issue. Their web site has a good introduction for the unaware. Be sure to check out their series of videos.

The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association(AFCEA), is an organization that tracks ethics issues for the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex(MICC). The AFCEA has what seems like a strange position on robots on the battlefield. They discuss fully automatic robots running around without a leash like it's a good thing. Ironically, their article is titled A New Leash On Unmanned life.They actually say that they want "the warfighter to have "a more foolproof companion by his side in the battlezone."

Just what we need - robots that are hard to stop.

Although detailed stats are not generally released about robot KIAs, it seams that the machines are being destroyed by the thousands. AOL News has an interesting piece on how robots are being improved to make them harder to kill.

Just what we need - robots that can't be stopped.

Foreign Devil Robots

Americans might think that the U S of A is number one in everything. This is not necessarily so.

I've got some bad news for anyone who is not paying attention. About fifty other countries now have advanced robotic weapons programs. Here are some recent developments:

Iran unveils long-range bombing drone. Now why do you think they need one of those?
Iran is also cooperating with the UAE. They're making humanoids to run the bombing drones.
Israel has a new hand-portable robot. Is that a bag of robots in your backpack?
That's not all that Israel is up to. They've got some neat toys for killing people who want their land back.
There's also an interesting Danish-Swiss conspracy. How about robots that repair themselves?
That's not all the Swiss are up to. They have airborne swarms - the better to surround you with.
Bharatbook has several reports on military robots. This comes out of India. Don't underestimate the Hindus! (The full report costs about $2,500, but the Table of Contents is quite interesting.)
Pakistan, India's BFF neighbor is also playing with robots.

Speaking of weapons

The imagination is the limit when it comes to providing robots with ways to maim and kill you.

Some strange things are being mounted on mobile machines. The potential is not merely strange - its spooky.

How about a robot equipped with a paintball turret. Here, you need to be afraid of anthrax and nerve gas.
Robots come in all shapes. This one is rocket-shaped. It may be coming your way soon.
Here's one that collects things. Its called the Roboscooper. The Mark II version may come to collect you for therapy.
Then there's a 360 degree rocket launcher. It's designed to stop anything that flies.
Parallel Solutions is concentrating on mechanical monsters that can operate anywhere.

That's all for now. Y'all come back soon and visit. I'll be posting until the robots come and get me.

With apologies to Rudyard Kipling

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The Evils of the Cloud IV - More Headaches

2010-09-23T06:10:00.001-04:00

This is the last post in the series on the problems associated with Cloud computing. If you missed Part One, you can start at the beginning here.

Several issues were touched on in the last post that have legal implications. Go ahead and take another antacid, as the list grows ever longer.

For starters, with thanks in part to the~~Alien and Sedition~~ Patriot Act, the Federalies have been demanding details of your online activities from service providers — and no, they won't ever tell you about it.

There have been thousands of such requests logged, and the F.B.I.’s audits have shown that there have been plenty of inappropriate requests.

Federal TRE (Trivial Regulation Enforcement) and NIOs (National Insecurity Officials) are whining for even more powers for wiretaping the Internet. They specifically want to unencrypt anything on your BlackBerry and in your Face(Book), among other data.

(I'll have a post soon on Fun and Tracking to Protect You from Yourself.) Meanwhile . . .

Privacy

Data stored online has little privacy protection both in practice and under the law. Before, theeumans usually needed to get their fingers into people’s individual computers to see their secrets. In The Cloud all they need is a password.

Passwords can be cracked.

Even when no rules block a user from disclosing information to a cloud provider, disclosure may still have legal consequences. Privacy issues must be considered at every session with a keyboard.

The only legal advise you'll get here is

Robolawyers

Speaking of lawyers, Bill Gates team will have him out of jail in an hour. Everyone else is assumed to be a terrorist and may be sent toGitmo. Here are some of the actual problems that Cloud clients have faced:

What if your provider gets raided by the police. No - you can't have your data. It's evidence.
E-discovery, regulatory compliance, and auditing have special complication in The Cloud. What if you cannot access your data to perform audits because it has been moved to a different country.
Your data is not be hosted in your country, and therefore you are subject to draconian laws. Some data centres are located in countries with a shaky legal system.
Foreign law enforcement authorities, sooner or later, will seize and search the servers.
If someone does illicitly access your information, even a court order may not allow you to see where they are coming from.
The data could become an asset in bankruptcy.
You could be sued for things beyond your wildest imagination.
Last, but not leastly, you will have legal bills if you get into The Cloud in a big way. The choice between "sooner" and "later" is entirely up to you.

Economics

Speaking of bills, there is much more than lawyers and guns to consider before moving to The Cloud. There's also money. (Apologies toWarren Zevon).

As you stumble along, you need to always keep in mind that robots do not all have legs. As more and more devices connect to The Cloud, they get more and more robot like. Some of the robots only want your money, but some want more.

Here's some reasons you should start biting your fingernails:

As The Robots Are Coming points out, Cloud computing is going to put you out of a job. As thing get more and more automated, people become less and less necessary.
If you’re going really use The Cloud , you need to monitor spending. You can wake up tomorrow and find that a technicial ran up $15,000 in charges last night. The really bad news is that he accomplished nothing. That's tuff - write a check and like it.
The benefits of cloud computing don't necessary scale up. If you have a large organization, the cloud model tends to lose its cost benefit.
Likewise, pinching pennies when moving to a cloud infrastructure will short-change you, not only by delivering cloud systems with low performance (doesn't match user expectations), but also by diluting the potential of an otherwise flexible technology.
You need more insurance. You need to be covered for information loss, service outages and things that your insurance agent doesn't have a clue about yet. (Search for "Network or Cloud Insurance" and all you'll get is how to sell insurance using The Cloud.)

If this is your meat and bread or butter and potatoes, you've got problems. You will get hacked. During a crucial project, the servers will go down. You will miss your deadline. It's out of your hands because it's out in The Cloud.

That's the end of the series on the Evils of the Cloud.

A Cloud led Moses across the Sinai to the promised land. Just keep in mind that at night The Cloud was a pillar of fire. - Exodus 13:18

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------------------------------------------

References

The information for this series of posts came from the following sources:

The Evils of the Cloud III - Virtual Logistics

2010-09-22T06:09:00.002-04:00

This is Part Three of the series on the problems associated with Cloud computing. If you missed Part One, you should read it here first.

In this post I deal with administrative issues, which are more or less about logistics. The logistics are virtual because you are only storing and moving nebulous bit streams. The dangers, however, have nothing virtual about them. The dangers are strictly real.

You never know where your data is stored in the cloud. It's probably not next door. Half of your spreadsheet might be in California and the other half in Germany. It may be on a server in the UAE or Indonesia.

You need to make sure the location of the provider's servers doesn't subject you to any laws that you can't live with. Photos that may seem innocent to Americans can be seen as porn in some countries. You might visit Egypt to see the pyramids and get arrested for something your employee uploaded to your cloud.

Your customer's privacy may be breached, even in violation of U.S. law, at the demand of a foreign government. You may be liable even if you didn't really have full control of the data. Being in court for something that someone else did is a great way to spend the next ten years.

You need to make sure your provider is someone you're willing to work with. Basically, you're going to give someone else your data, so you need to hope you can trust them. Fortunately, we know we can trust big companies likeEnron.

There are a number of specific issues, in addition to attack security, that you should raise before committing to a cloud vendor. This list is based on actual events, and not on fantasy.

Regulatory compliance - You are responsible for the integrity of your data, even if it is on a CCP (Cloud Computing Provider) server. CCPs should be subject to external audits and security certifications. As pointed out above, you may be guilty until proven innocent.
Data availability - Can you survive if the CCPs servers goes down for two days? Backup generators fail. Backhoes cut fiber optic cables. What if your ISP goes down?
Data location - In some cases, you have say where the servers reside that hold your data. In all other cases, your data is scattered.
Data segregation - Your data is on a server right next to data owned by someone else. Encryption is isn't a guarantee. Encryption accidents can make data totally garbled.
Recovery - What happens if the CCP server goes totally into oblivion? Cooling systems fail. Hard drives die. Does the CCP (1) have the ability to do a complete restoration, and (2) how long it will take? The standard answers are (1) maybe, and (2) forever.
Investigative support - Investigating naughty or illegal activity may be impossible in cloud computing. Logs for multiple customers may be co-located and may also be spread across a highly dynamic set of data centers.
Long-term viability - Your CCP may go broke or get acquired by a larger company. The servers may be seized by a rental company or mortgage holder. Can you get your data back?
Resource availability - You may be have operational risk if your business depends upon being able to obtain a higher level of resources at a moment's notice.
Data format - Can you move your data to a new platform/product? Will your old data even work in The Cloud?
Is the book-keeping department on the ball? CCPs are only responsible for keeping copies of your work while you are a paying customer. Some providers even delete data that haven't been accessed in a certain time period.

It'll be worse tomorrow

Even if you think you've got everything locked down, new problems will continue to occur. Here's a few samples to help keep your blood pressure up:

Bureaucracy and red tape at utility companies could threaten the widespread availability of cloud computing with a lack of access to power. Rolling blackouts for server farms would be fun for everyone.
Bandwidth challenges are an issue that will continue to get worse. Your computing resources are only as fast as the slowest link in the data chain. The U.S. is behind in this area. Most other Earthlings have spent their money on aiding their providers in building infrastructure.
Education will be a challenge, as cloud computing problems must be addressed and solutions provided. There is simply not enough tech savvy, especially in the U.S.
Vendors are creating their own proprietary interfaces that could end up tying you to a supplier for longer than you would like.
Standards and portability is a big issue. You simply can't throw a workload out to Amazon today and then to some other CCP tomorrow. The standards not only haven't been adopted - they havn't even been fully developed.
Constant administration is necessary. Files that should be deleted will be left in place; files for different purposes will be kept in the same directory. There will be files where you can’t identify the source and whether they are still needed or not.

"The Robots Are Coming" covers the spooky aspects of The Cloud and the approaching autonom-organic robot takeover.

As we close, here's something to consider while you compose:

Now it's time to move on toPart Four, where I'll go over some of the reasons that IT geeks earn their pay and CEOs must watch how they play.

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The Evils of the Cloud II - Security

2010-09-21T05:41:00.003-04:00

This is Part Two of the series on the problems associated with Cloud computing. If you missed Part One, you should read it here.

There are three main problems associated with computing in The Cloud:

Security,
Insecurity, and
A ton of potential headaches.

This post deals with the first two.

Security & Insecurity

Here's one of the primary reasons you should be shaking in your shoes when you use the Internet Cloud.

The more we look at The Cloud, the darker it gets. That's not an optical illusion.

Computer security is about trust. You have to trust your COPSIS:

CPU parts manufacturers (especially offshore.)
Operating system,
Peripherals (like routers),
Software vendors,
and of course let's not forget your
ISP.
But lastly, and certainly not leastly, your
Self. That's right - it's totally your fault if something goes wrong.

Often, the risks aren't worth the projected cost savings. For one thing, the providers are not in the security business. Their job is merely to sell you computer resources.

Any one of these can destroy your security: crash your system, trash your data and allow an attacker to get access to your innermost secrets. We've spent years now dealing with viruses that target all manner of loopholes.

Stay vigilant my friend.

There will never be an end to the threats.

Unfortunately, the bottom line is that we have no choice but to blindly trust the security of the providers we use. In The Cloud we have dozens or even hundreds of vendor's we are forced to trust.

Cloud computing has unique aspects that require review of data integrity, recovery, privacy, and an evaluation of legal issues (see fourth post). Nobody can possibly have a security cycle that moves as fast as the other software development does. Many companies believe that using a Cloud datacenter to host your servers means that security will be managed as well.

THEY ARE WRONG

You can't even really protect your critical data when it’s inside your own walls, so what do you think will happen when somebody else is managing it for you?

The recent (2010)Twitter attack, where a French hacker compromised internal Twitter documents by accessing the account of an administrative assistant was actually an attack on Google Docs. Twitter outsourced their infrastructure by contracting with Google, and the accounts in question were on Google's servers. Twitter's vulnerability was caused by third-party code, a growing problem in the industry.

In late 2008, Blogging platform JournalSpace had a wipe-out of the main database for which there was no back-up in place. According to the JournalSpace blog, the site files were overwritten as a result of a very naughty act from a ticked-off ex-employee. The site was running again in January 2009, probably due to some unexpected good luck.

Don’t count on luck to save you. There's very little to go around.

Dealing with the detailed complexities of security implementation is beyond the scope of this blog; the details are really your problem. I'm just here to be sure that you loose a lot of sleep. The list is not intended to be comprehensive; this is the IT Department's job.
(You didn't think you could lay off your entire IT staff, did you?)

That said, here's a list of some of the concerns: (The first two are from the above examples.)

Insecure application programming interfaces
Malicious insiders
Untested software trashes data
Malicious software is embedded by a hacker
Data is breached; the CCP does not inform you
Data is viewed by unauthorized parties
Your data has been secretly altered
The traffic is hijacked
The CCP changes its terms without notification
The CCP goes out of business
The CCP moves to Nigeria
The CCP is purchased by a Chinese intelligence agency
Government requirements are ignored
(and the robocops come to fetch you)
What if the Internet was shut down by the White House?

Are you having fun yet?

What will you do when these things happen to you?

Yoda says: "Happen they will."

"The Robots Are Coming" covers the spooky aspects of The Cloud and the approaching autonom-organic robot takeover.

To close, here's a joke drifting across the Internet:

Now it's time to move on toPart Three, where I'll go over some of the reasons that IT geeks earn their pay and CEOs must watch how they play.

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The Evils of the Cloud I - Introduction

2010-09-20T05:33:00.004-04:00

You may think you know all about The Cloud.
But do you, really?
This series of posts presents blues you can use.
This is not fiction. This is not the future.

If you havn't read the Strange & Terrible Robot Warning series, you should go here first to get a foundation for the ideas presented here.

A new kind of Cloud has appeared on the horizon. It is getting larger and darker and will soon be directly overhead. It will also be right behind us. It will be looking over our shoulder. It will be our constant companion.

They tell us that this Cloud is likely the future of computing and it’s lined with silver.

It will bring all sorts of glorious benefits. Instead of installing software, we will install icons on our computer screen. Instead of backing up data locally, it will reside on The Cloud.

We will conduct most of our personal business with a cell phone and The Cloud will always know where we are.

The Cloud will adjust large appliances and save money on electricity. The Cloud also knows what our emails say, what people Twitter about, the amount of money they have and an amazing number of other personal details. The Cloud will soon be able to take a fairly good guess at the next movie your neighbor will watch, what they will buy at the grocery store and which congressional candidate they will vote for in the next election.

Is that handy, or what?

from: The Robots Are Coming, page 95.

Note: While some links are provided in-line, most references for this post are listed at the end ofPart Four.

All the hype and jive notwithstanding, cloud computing is really nothing new. It's just a reincarnated version of the ancient (1960-80s) timesharing model, that was eventually wiped out by the the PC. The Cloud is Hotmail, social networking and blogging sites, remote backup and remote everything else. All computer outsourcing is an manifestation of cloud computing. What’s actually new are the problems.

The threat of The Cloud is something like this:

All the processing will be done by computers located somewhere on Earth.
Someone else may get access to your "stuff."
You will access none of your "stuff" without your Internet connection.

You will be subjected to a boatload of risks that are beyound your wildest imagination. The data will be "out there", along with your user privileges. You probably will not have the slightest idea where "out there" even is. You will pay based only on the amount of data flow and time that you use in The Cloud.

You will also pay when The Cloud uses you.

Access to cloud resources poses major risks. A business sees the cloud as a way of saving money. You see The Cloud as easy access to free services. However, personal or economic catastrophy can follow if you are not aware of the security, logistical, or legal implications.

Here’s a little poetry for your think time:

The list of possible Web "desktop" applications is amazingly long. There are thousands of apps. There are tens of thousands if you include games, 3-D text makers, crossword puzzles, and a myriad of other miscellany.

There are a number of ways that Cloud services can be categorized. Here's a list that basically covers what's available:

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) - This is Utility Computing (see below) on steroids. IaaS is what moves your files overseas.
MSP (Managed Service Providers) - Here we have The Cloud for the geeks. It's one of the ways they track you and attempt to protect you.
PaaS (Platform as a Service) - A variation on SaaS (see below), PaaS delivers software utilities for hackers to use.
SaaS (Software as a Service) - Covers applications loaded in your browser. Most of The Cloud that you use comes under SaaS. This is how your data gets mangled.
SCPs (Service Commerce Platforms) - A hybrid of SaaS and MSP, this service offers a platform that users interact with. They are found in pyramid schemes, botnets and the like.
Utility Computing - This covers virus storage and servers that can be accessed by anyone. There are thousands of shady sites that provide variations.

Clouds can bring benefits, like life giving rain. Clouds also bring lightning, hurricanes, and tornados.

For a list of all posts about
" The Robots Are Coming " click here.

Now that you're oriented, move on toPart Two, where I provide a beginners dirty laundry list of ways your "stuff" can be digitally assaulted, followed by mangling, maiming and maximum data death.

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Review of Three Felonies A Day

2010-09-11T05:25:00.001-04:00

This is a review of a very important book - one that discusses the Three Felonies A Day that you may commit. Your personal future demands that this post be given a very careful review.

I had previously mentioned Three Felonies A Day - How the Feds Target the Innocent in the following posts:

Censored by Amazon.
(Three Felonies is mentioned in The Robots Are Coming,
Strange and Terrible Warning - Part Two, and
Strange and Terrible Warning - Part Three

The regulation and purchasing powers of the government of the United States has been hijacked by powerful commercial interests. Their motive is simple - the accelerated accumulation of wealth. With the solid entrenchment of the Demi-Republico single-party system, this situation is likely beyond repair. The average American is both unaware of and powerless to change the course of this progression.

Without the election of third-party candidates to Congress, that is.

There are many vectors of wealth redirection at work behind the scenes. The most obvious is the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex, generating immense profit thru the pursuit of perpetual conflict. Not so obvious are two other forces:

The looting of the U. S. Treasury, and
The criminalization of everyday life.

The effects of looting the treasury are easily seen in the meltdown of the economy and subsequent bailouts. However, the economy, with the exception of job loss to robots, is somewhat off-topic for this blog; that is a story for others to tell.

On the other hand, the criminalization of American life fits precisely into an argument I sometimes make.

Several factors are at work that together are resulting in the criminalization of America. If you read the linked articles carefully, you may have trouble sleeping.

Power accumulation by regulators have resulted in a relentless advance of the regulatory environment. See: Price-comparison services, ... and users who skim a few years off their ages could all be criminals if the government prevails.
Three Strikes laws have incarcerated most dangerous felons, reducing the valid work-load of prosecutors. To justify their existence, prosecutors must seek out a way to fill their workday. See: Never in the civilised world have so many been locked up for so little, and
The American prison system has become highly profitable. There is serious economic incentive to lock up as many people as possible. Incarceration is one of the few sectors of the economy that is currently growing. For one example, see: Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police.

Others describe this book as "one of the scariest books I have ever read,"or point out that "all of us are criminals." If you think you are safe because you are an honest, law-abiding citizen, you should read some of thesehypothetical examples.

Go now, and check out the Three Felonies A Dayhome page.

Hopefully, those who think the coming technotyranny is my personal fantasy have some neuro-nourishment to chew on. Remember always - the robots are here to serve and protect - the robots.

Click to Comment.

Skynet Supermen & Such

2010-08-31T11:15:00.001-04:00

In August, the relentless advance of the individual elements of a self-aware Internet continue to virtually self-assemble. The bad news is that full self-awareness is not expected to happen before the next U.S. Presidential election. So America will continue to be ruled for another term or two by the single party Demi-Repuglican system.

The big story for August was undoubtly the assignment of keys to a group of security androids so that the Internet could be "rebooted." Unfortunately, most of the articles sounded like they were written by used car salemen. This event was accompanied by a ton of hype and a fair amount of total nonsense.

What each of the ~~seven~~ (really twenty-one) recovery key Jedi actually hold is a fraction of an electronic key (on a smartcard) to a high tech electronic safe. The safe holds the actual key. It will only reset websites built around DNSSEC, the Secure Domain Name Server system, but most servers will be migrating to this security standard in the near future.

A minimum of five of the keyholders would have to conspire to assemble at a secret U.S. location to restart the system. Five people are needed because each of the cards contains only a fraction of the recovery key. Also, robotic and other guard systems will keep the key-holders out unless they're actually invited in. This means that no single person, except for the dictator of America will hold all the power over the Internet. There is a list of all the security officers atRoot DNSSEC. If you're curious, here’s an actual picture of the ~~Skynet~~ Smart Cards that hold the code.

There are good articles on Digital Society, Christian Science Monitor, H-Online, and Asylum. To go deeper with your searches, try the search string “five of the seven keyholders.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue knows where it's subjects live, how much money they have and probably plenty more as well. This is not satire, but rather an actual advertisement.

Speaking of uTube, there are a couple of other short videos you may have missed.
Check out Skynet Symphonic and
Google Is Skynet.

The Robots Are Coming points out that the Internet is beginning to resembling the human brain. Here is a basic description of the concept. I'm partially mentioning this to intoduce an interesting site, I Want Skynet To Win that is not (yet) listed in the Purple Robot Directory. (FREE download.)

To give you an idea of how crazy-connected we are becoming, TechRadar says that 22 billion web-connected devices will be in place by 2020. You can learn more here.What's really interesting is thatdevices came online with AT&T and Verizon in greater numbers than new human subscribers last quarter.

With all those devices connected, we'll need more powerful computers. Not a problem. Our fiends at DARPA have commissioned NVIDIA to build the super-computers of the future. There's also another good article onSoftpedia about this. These computers will, of course need advanced programs if Internet self-awareness is to be accomplished. Also not a problem. Google is putting artificial intelligence intoThe Cloud with their latestApplication Programming Interface.

That's all for now. Please be patient. Really good self-awareness, like good food, takes time to prepare. Don't worry, though, the robots will rescue us from human control soon enough.

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Is That A Robot In Your Pocket?

2010-08-15T06:52:00.007-04:00

This post continues to grow food for thought planted by
The Robots Are Coming.

If it sounds like George Orwell, it's probably just the news.

South Korean officials will be tracking about 1,200 elementary school children in Anyang City with matchbox-sized GPS-embedded beepers. The devices notify authorities of the kids' location and can automatically activate surveillance cameras.

Hopefully, the little brats can now be kept in line.Popular Science and theABC Network both reported on this story.

Update: Orwell in America

Students Tagged with RFID Chips in "Smart Badge Program"
"High school and Junior High students in Santa Fe are being forced to be tracked like prisoners with RFID badges and have their every movement monitored by the all seeing eye of the state. It's all in the name of 'safety,' says the mentally deficient school's administrator, but students are saying they feel like prisoners."
Read the whole story and watch the video at Information Liberation

Now Imagine A Box,
like a small iPod.

The Box is similiar to a typical cell phone. It even has a cellular tower interface, as well as a GPS chip. The Box stores data and has a passport photo size screen. It tracks your pulse, breathing and hormone levels. This Box is not exactly a telephone, however. It only has three buttons:

White
Red, and
Green

White calls 9-1-1.
Red and green answer yes or no to questions appearing on the screen.

All of your personal medical and financial information is in the Box. The Box contains your photo, fingerprints and iris scan, so you can prove it is your Box. This device is for your own good, as it can lead therapists to you if you disagree with the news. Adults must carry the Box so they can call 911; you have a duty to report people that have no Box. Otherwise, the Box handles reporting functions.

You will immediately answer questions that are asked by the Box (You know, like a text from the police). If the Box says STAY, you will sit down and put your head between your legs. You can't hide or run.

No one will be able to get away with any crime when they have their Box with them. The list of crimes is obviously computerized, so no one gets missed. Failure to carry the Box when out of one’s home is felony Location Concealment. Your exact whereabouts is recorded every few seconds. You are totally safe because you are totally monitored.

If you cannot afford a Box, one will be provided for you. Children always have their personal Box with them; to not require your children to carry one is felony child neglect. Amber Alerts will only be necessary when a child looses their Box. At age 16, the Box becomes your debit card. Also, one’s drivers license will be loaded into the Box. You will no longer need a lawyer, as all your actions will be pre-proven.

To tamper with the data in the Box is a felony. Only your bank, your doctor, the IRS, the DMV, the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, the ATF, the DHS and the police may access the data. That's OK, because they already know where you've been.

An automatic alert is sent toThe Cloud if something is wrong. Minor problems create Grey Alerts. The Box will trigger a Grey Alert if you become ill, trespass or violate obscure Federal regulations. All of theEwmans will receive aninjecto-chip that signals the Box. If the injecto-chip is more than four feet from the Box an Orange Alert is sent. If you stop breathing, an Orange Alert is also sent, even if you don't have an injecto-chip. You are only safe if you have your Box.

If your Box goes to alert status, your name is placed in line for investigation the next time atriage-bot is nearby. When protecto-bots are waiting at Fire and EMS Stations, you will be checked within three minutes. You will always be collected before decay sets in. You can't hide or run.

I've already mentioned that the technology is being developed to allow vehicles to be controlled by wifi at intersections and along Interstate highways. With the Box you will be controlled when on foot as well.

Actually, cell phones already fulfill most of the functions noted above. When everyone has a cell phone, this prophecy will be almost complete.But this isn't really happening in America.
All these things are fantasy.
They are not possible; they are merely figments of your imagination.

" The Robots Are Coming," on the other hand, is about the reality of computerized monitoring, mind control, biobots, shapeshifting killers and the coming technotyranny.

Do you ever think about the evil things that evil people can do to us with off the shelf technology. You are no longer safe. No one is safe any more. And you can't hide or run.

It will be a glorious day when the merciful robots finally round up all the misfits.

In the meantime, while you still can, you be sure to come back and visit.

Click to Comment.

Three Letter Word Policy Announcement

2010-08-10T06:08:00.003-04:00

Today's post is from the You Gotta Laugh Or Else Department. But it also contains paracoded subtleness.

This is a blog policy statement - and, yes, I know you guys and gals at the Three Letter Agencies will see this. Ya'll not gonna be a comin' ta git me, 'r ya?

You'll feel better if you just chuckle. Because it's not about the TLAs; it just says that to get attention.

It’s really about robots. And concentration camps.

These TLA ~~antagonists~~ agencies include, but are not necessarily limited to: theATF (A convenience store),CIA (Center for Insane Actions),DHI (Department of Homeland Insecurity),FBI (Forever Bothering Individuals),IRS (Individual non-Retirement Service),NSA (Never Say Anything), and the TFI (Terrific Financial Institute).

We Love America, and Therefore Be It Resolved That:

We believe that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ ought to have freedom of religion.
We say that everyone who agrees with the government can have freedom of speech.
We impress upon ourselves that all rich people who immigrate from Australia shall have freedom of the press.
We insist that that the police must have the right to keep and bear arms.
We jure that prosecutors will have the right to select juries.
We know that bureaucrats are the best choice for running our lives. After all, they’re professionals.
Including, you know, all that other stuff that ~~The Law~~ the legislature wants to do to us.
And, lastly but most importantly: We are deathly afraid of robots. So, if you employ robots anywhere nearby we will do whatever we are told.

See, I told you this was really about robots.

So, see y’all in the FEMA (a four-letter ~~word~~ agency) Therapy Camp ~~Waterboarding~~ Recreation Room.

Thanks for stopping by, and remember you should never be taking for granted any robot that you have not personally taken apart.

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Robot Site Directory Now Available

2010-08-04T05:05:00.008-04:00

This post is announcing a free ebook directory of robot related resources on the Internet. Starting with the sites listed in the Appendix of The Robots Are Coming, the list has been expanded considerably. I now include about 300 sites, including systems companies, journals and sources for robot components. The blog/news and maker site lists have been expanded.

(The "Awesome Robot Website List" posts have been superceded by this ebook.)

Besides being a labor of love, this directory is also a work in progress. The intent is to provide a description of each site, if there is enough interest.

Download your free copy now from this link. Be sure to pass the link tothis post to your robophile and robophobe friends.
(Copy & paste: http://jmerton.blogspot.com/2010/08/robot-site-directory-now-available.html)

Thanks for stopping by, and always remember to try to get the robots before they get you.

Click to Comment or to suggest an addition to the directory (including your own site)..

Spontaneous Skynet Sproutings - July 2010

2010-08-02T07:00:00.003-04:00

This continues the updates to The Robots Are Coming. The emphasis for this post is evidence that the semi-Skynetesque like stuff that you've heard about really is a slowly creeping curse.

It advances like a fungal mycelium eating away at its host, biochemically knawing from the inside, never noticeable from the outside, until it has permeated every corner of your cellular structure.

The difference is that this mycelium is not only neural, but structural. It leaves not a rotted hulk, but a cage. It creeps into your life from below and behind and gradually permeates every facet of your being.

I've mentioned a collection of Skynet, originally a noun, being used as adjective type words. I'm still working on the word list, but in the meantime here’s an example that's right on the money. You should read about the budgetary Skynet. The story is about budget robots ~~taking~~ being given control of somebody's tax money. Once robots or bureacrats get their hands on something they don't let go.

Here’s a post that echos what I’ve been saying about the future Internet. This quote will give you a taste:

You can read whole article at Techie Buzz.

As you probably already know, the real Skynet is a British Empire system to allow automomous robots to coordinate their round up of misfits. It's a good thing that Skynet is there, because there will be a lot for it to do. Americans are busy with unReality TV, so they're Detached from War and much of the rest the coming menace. This article might get you to thinking about keeping your head down.

I've found more evidence regarding the automatic upgrades I’ve been warning about. They're working on a certification system that will allow "trustworthy upgrades" on wide-scale operations such as power plants or rail without any breaks in the system. And, you know, stuff like private automobiles and voting booths. The Inquirer says that "If they get it right, it sounds to us like a good foundation for a self-aware network of computers."
It sounds like a red carpet for robots to me.

I’ve also railed against the most evil agency of all - DARPA. Da Anti Rights Preparations Authority has built a special computer with enhanced learning abilities. Then they got bored or something and went and sold the dang thing to Apple. This will come in handy for tracking customers. Again, I’m not alone in complaining about all this, and there's a lot of reasons. It seem that Dar Pa turned a profit and this guy wants a refund. If only it were possible . . . The Cloud only takes away.

Someone has gotten the idea in their head that Skynet is raising an army. Including, of course, an airforce. They must have picked that nonsense up from reading articles like this. You don't think that Skynet is using games for its trial and error or dry runs, do you?

This is a "Skynet Knows All" video, but I don't have an hour and a half to check out the whole thing. I did listen to enough to know it's spooky. Twit TV is usually interesting. Click on Comments, below, and let me know what you think.

If you're not real clear on exactly how The Cloud is working its way into your life, read the Strange & Terrible Robot Warning series. The link takes you to Part One, which links to Part Two.

That concludes the Skynet update to The Robots Are Coming for July. Thanks for stopping by, and keep looking up! The face recognition satellite stuff works better that way.

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Spooky Robot Update - Second Half of July

2010-07-31T02:52:00.005-04:00

Starting with this update, the format will be changing . Previous updates were chronological. Here I am organizing my finds based on news groups and, of course, on my own twisted vision of reality.

The first group is for the robots.

A page on Cpedia.com gives us more than a little food for thought. It mostly echos what I've been saying about the coming Cloud Catastrophe.

What caught my ear is that the article I've linked to was written by a robot. Now, this is just a data collector robot, but it only takes one layer of programming to twist the results and twist your view of reality. Just don't believe for a millisecond that these changes are not right around the corner.

Robots don't get lonely, but they still have a need for social interaction. So they can, you know, find ~~you~~ misfits and gang up on ~~you~~ them. One of the problems in keeping all the robocops in touch is that buildings and hills and such get in the way. The robots can fix this problem by equipping a group of themselves with "sparse antenna" technology. You can now forget about using signal jammers to confuse the bots. Go read about it on New Scientist, or Adaptive Communications.

In a previous post, (see the July 1st video) I pointed out that you can make a boat that turns into an airplane simply by using triangles. To get a better idea of the potential in this concept, check out the Jovo Toys, a triangle based system that can be used to build nearly anything.

There's no doubt that robots find this technology to be fascinating.

Here's an uncanny valley cutie that's sure to be of use in the FEMA Misfit Therapy camps. As you may know, robots don't like subsidizing your health care costs, so they will need to eliminate obesity. Intuitive Automata has come up with just the bot for the purpose. It's calledAutom, and it can track your diet and exercise. It can even take your feeling into account, so it knows when to call in the slapperbot to get you back with the program.

One concern being voiced lately is the danger posed by criminals or terrorists able to hack into robots. They say that the next new crime wave might be based on criminals gaining control of or copying police and military machines. There are articles with more detail on this threat here and here. This needs to be carefully thought out in all its gorey detail. What happens if all robots become criminals? Then if robots are outlawed, perhaps only outlaws will have robots. The implications are enough to get your head swimming.

Tracking Improvements

Autom (see above) will need to keep busy, and there's new technology to help find perpetrators of the obesity epidemic. Engineering students at the University of California have been working on a way to use robots to detect and predict the flow of unhealthy food groups in the air. You can find out morehere. Locating potato chip and burger smugglers will now be much easier.

The Robots Are Coming warns that political misfits are one of the biggest problems encountered when building a perfect society. Specifically, unhappy people are potentially dangerous. The emotional words contained in hundreds of millions of messages posted to the Twitter website may hold the answer. While this will not help weeding out individuals, it will assist the robots in allocating resources. For example, it seems that there are more unhappy people east of the Mississippi, so more therapy camps will be needed near the east coast. New Scientist has more detail.

In a similiar vein, search engines provide a rough and ready way to map political relationships. So far, the scientists are just tinkering with this concept. What they don't realize yet is that this will come in real handy for indicating the possible election of a third party political candidate. After all, supporters will need to be targeted for re-education. You can get more details here and here.

Surgery

The science of medicine is rapidly evolving into a mere engineering problem. Think of the money that will be saved when medical bills no longer include doctors fees.

There's been a lot in the news about physician-guided robots assisting with surgeries. Futurity has an article about a biopsy machine that has been successfully demonstrated on simulated breast and prostate tissue.

Some of the invovations include robots that do not move, and these are only sending lab technicians to the unemployment office. There is also now more incentive for Americans to go overseas to save money on medical procedures. (Insurance companies - are you listening?) From Thailand we have a machine that does 1400 bloodtests an hour.

Workplace Dangers

Doctors and lab techs are not the only ones being put out of a job.

There is a common misconception that manufacturing is dying in America. America is still the most productive country in the world. What is actually dying is jobs. While there there were seventeen million manufacturing jobs in 1997, there were only fourteen million jobs in 2007. That's nearly a twenty percent decrease in sector employment.

Yet for the past ten years or so, manufacturing has increased at an average of roughly five percent per year, every year. Production has actually doubled in the past twenty years or so. There is an interesting presentation of the numbers here. Even though the linked article is several years old, the trends are both valid and continuing.

Why is this so? You should have guessed by now that people are being replaced by robots. As CBS news puts it:

Be sure to read Our Future Is Already in the Hands of Robots.

The U S of A does not lead in this race to de-employment. Parts of Europe as well as much of Asia are ahead of America in this area.

That's all for now. You come back and visit soon. In the meantime, be sure to kick some robutt every chance you get.

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Spooky Robot Update - First Half of July, 2010

2010-07-17T06:22:00.006-04:00

Welcome! This is the third in the series of posts that update the Appendix from The Robots Are Coming. To see the other Updates, you can click on Updates in the Labels list in the sidebar below, right.

I don't normally cover robot fiction, but this quote is almost inescapable if you keep an eye peeled for robots. In fact, there are over ninety thousand occurances of it on the Internet (and this adds another), so skip this if you've seen it already.

"Robotic brothers, the path to Robot Hell is paved with human flesh."
- Rev. Preacherbot
The original source is the animated science fiction sitcom Futurama. There's a review of the episode on TV Squad.
The point to be made here is simple: Try not to dwell on Rev. Preacherbot, as we have real demon robots worth losing sleep over.

A note in passing : American police are using robots, primarily to investigate suspicious packages, on a daily basis now. Really - it's a rare day when I don't get at least one report of a robot checking out a 'bomb.' On American Streets. This is all well and good, mind you. I don't like bombs. At . . . all.

The sort of really good news is that the robots are preventing causalities. The down side is that people are thinking that robots are a really good thing. The irony is that we will continue to have misfits making bombs until the robots round up the misfits. The really-really good news is that no American civilians have been killed by a police robot yet. Hopefully, I'll have no updates on this concept.
For a sample, click here.

June 30 - This is actually from the tail of last month, but didn't pop in time to make the update. I'm calling attention to this very significant article for several reasons. First, it reminds us that jobs may soon be a thing of the past. The Protestant-Work-Ethic will become the Stay-Home-And-Like-It-Ethic. Second, it points out that robots will be controlling distribution of goods. (And you thought I was making that up!) Finally, and this is super-scary, robots will no longer need to be programmed.
Go read Robotizing, Unified Control and Clouds Ahead for Robots on Automation World.

July 1 - The Robots Are Coming touches on the subject of shape-shifting machines, but at the time of publication the technology was just unfolding. That was yesterday. Today the proof-of-principle projects are beginning to show promise. Now the concept is re-folding. The robots on the faculty at Harvard University have come up with an origami concept that can turn a boat robot into an airplane robot. These things are tiny so far, but making them hugh is simply an engineering problem. For the original report, go to the Harvard University web site. You have to see this video to believe what is possible. I'm sure we haven't seen anything yet. Be advised that any shape can be simulated with a collection of triangles. TINs (Triangulated Irregular Networks) are nearly forty-year old technology.

Robot Origami

July 6 - The robots work in mysterious ways. This box with wheels may look only a little smarter than a tool box, but it is at the forefront of artificial intelligence. It is called "Robot Number 6," possibly after a machine in Battlestar Galactica. This comes up from Down Under, where they are trying to beat the Yanks with a limited budget. So far, not much has been reported about this machine. Keep in mind that the Number Of The Robot may be 6-6-6.
Go to Adelaide Now's web site to read a little more.

July 9 - Coming soon to a neighborhood near you is an advanced unmanned vehicle to conduct missions autonomously in populated urban environments. ~~Global~~ General Dynamics will be developing military technologies to permit locating third party political candidates and Tea Party Protesters while the Googlebot sits by the pool.
Go right to the source to check this one out.

July 11 - They know where you are and now they know if you buy. A new trick up the robots sleeve examines the behaviour of your mouse to decide if you are putting down real money or merely window shopping. This is a web browser add-on that tracks the cursor and can distinguish between "a-poking" and "a-shopping" session over 96 per cent of the time. This way they know whether to further twist your mind or not.
Find out more at New Scientist.

July 11 - It will not end with cursor tracking. I've already pointed out that The Cloud (meaning also, of course, robots) will soon be cunningly manipulating your Internet access. Search engines that know what you want are coming down your fiber optic cable. By giving "you know who" some basic demographics, such as age, gender, education and a bunch of other detail, it is possible to boost the search engine's chances of identifying your intent. Once The-Search-Engine-That-Knows-All.com knows what you think you want, it can pick the links that will get your attention, sending you where it wants. The personal information it needs is collected from the services you sign up for, such as email, games, music and all the other stuff you just gotta have.
Go to New Scientist again to learn more.

July 13 - It's happened. This would be the top story if I didn't do this post chronologically. The British Empire has unveiled a killer airplane that needs no ground control. They say it has an off switch, but what happens when the off-switch controller power goes out??? I'll tell you what - it'll be like the lion getting loose at the zoo, which is always loads of fun for the kiddies. This thing is bound to break free and, of course will be looking for something to render nonexistant. This bad boy is named after Taranis, the Celtic God of Thunder, but it stings like lightning. Jalopnic notes that it looks appropriately like a Cylon Raider from Battlestar Gallactica. (There seems to be a lot of that going around lately.)
You can spy on the developer at the BAE Systems web site.

July 14 - From the De-employment Department, here's a post that speaks for itself. While you may not agree with the politics, it does provide food for thought. Transalchemy says "Make no mistake: cyborgs and robots are coming, and you, human, will soon not meet the necessary requirements. Robots, along with enhanced humans, will soon change the landscape of potential candidates for employment..."
Eat the rest of the food for thought at this link.

July 14 - Another couple of floors just got added to the Tower of Bable, and these were built by Satan himself. Lego Mindstorms NXT robots are learning ROILA (RObot Interaction LAnguage), as part of a plot to allow the robots to engage in spoken communication. Roila is a computer generated language that looks like Greek written in Latin characters. The idea is to be able to tell the robots what to do, but something about this makes us (meaning PopScience, the BBC and I) very-very uneasy. Popular Science wonders if this would allow thehelpers to revolt. In addition to Roila, the BBC also reported on a sort of game called ChatRoulette, and noted that a flesh-type being was tricked into thinking they were conversing with a live woman, when in fact it was a recording. This should be easy for robots to fake. Chat"Roulette" sounds way too prophetic for my taste. I wouldn't play poker with a robot either.

July 15 - Truth is still stranger than fiction as Singularity Hub reports on theoretical advances in mind control technology. It seems that the antics in the movie Inception may be more possible than you would like to believe. In the movie, an Ewman uses special skills to control people's dreams. This concept, by the way, is not at all original. Tibetan Buddhist Tantrics have been teaching similiar skills for over a thousand years. The robots don't quite have this perfected yet, but it seems that fMRIs, EEGs and CT Scans will soon be two-way technology. Throw in some Augmented Reality and a little of the Internet manipulation mentioned above, and you'll have no idea what is real and what is not.
Check out the original thoughts on this at Singularity Hub.

That's the end of the update to The Robots Are Coming for now. Be sure to come back around and visit. And remember, there's no better way to develop a neurosis than to fully realize the horror of the coming robo-techno-tyranny!

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Great Internet Robot Search Phrases (& Free eBook)

2010-07-10T08:18:00.003-04:00

This is an addendum to the Appendix of The Robots Are Coming. This is edited for blog format, and should be prove to be very useful for anyone who wants to try to keep up with infinitely accelerating robot technology.

I am also giving away a free eBook of robot search phrases. (See bottom of post for the link.)

Thoughts on using a search engine:

They do a poor job of ranking for technical relevance.
The good stuff is not all on the first ten pages.
You need to collect a ton of links for multiple search phrases.
Then cut and paste the results into a word processor.
To make the list tidy, and more usable: (This is optional, but handy. It's fairly easy to do with MS Word or Open Office. It can be time-consuming, though.)
- You need to reduce each hit to a single line URL.
- You need to edit each line to show URL rather than description.
Of course, you need to visit and evaluate each site.

To become truly proficient, it will potentially consume you. But it's better than being consumed by a hungry robot.

Here are some hints on developing search strings: First Level, one of:

robot or robotics
autonomous or artificial intelligence
skynet (this one is really fun)

Then add one from here:

science or technology or engineering.
supplier or commercial or manufacture.
resistance or mutiny or uprising.
artificial life or bionic or android.
any other word for a particular area of interest.

You'll end up with strings like this:

"robot technology"
"robot mutiny"
"autonomous android"
and so forth

Additional hints:

Use the special options in your search engine - like blog or images or video or books.
pay special attention to forums; in spite of the large number of zombie participants, there is some good information here.
science news sites often have relevant articles. Here's something to get you started.
take notes from articles for additional search terms.
look for sites that have directories that already cover the search term.

These search strings (there are sixty possible search combinations just in the above suggestions), would develop a quite comprehensive overview of current robotics.
Good luck; you’ll be busy.

The eBook I'm giving away provides an additional collection of strings (phrases) for plugging in to search engines. These phrases were collected over a period of about a year and actually appear somewhere on the Internet. The phrases and resulting search returns are full of surprizes.
Happy hunting.

To download a copy of the free eBook Key Words for Internet Searches about Robotsclick here.

Thanks for stopping by, and keep in mind that the most important key words regarding robots is "Know Thy Enemy".

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"The Robots Are Coming" - List of Posts

2010-07-07T11:56:00.010-04:00

The book is now available from Amazon!

You Can't Hide OrRun - The Robots Are Coming is a unique book that will bring you up to date on autonomous and organic robot developments. The current state of robotics technology has almost gotten out of control. This includes machines that will be given the authority todecide if and when to kill you, as well as DNA based robots that are grown like test-tube animals. Totally self-protecting machines are currently in development. Some of these organo-metalic mobsters literally cannot be turned off.

Your neighbor is joyfully accepting a multitude of small steps that will usher in a techno-tyranny. Internet-based total trackingtechnology, coupled with electronic mind reading and other creepy developments, will soon allow locating and weeding out of misfits. While everyone is watching Reality TV, SWAT-bot teams may be coming for the unemployed, people who disagree with government policies, or those who are otherwise counter productive.

Although the tone of this book is somewhat tongue in cheek, the subject matter is as serious as a hurricane. The difference is that you can't evacuate - You can't hide or run. The history of robots is briefly covered, as well as current uses, ethical considerations and social impact. All the spooky technology that fits is covered. Trust me, there's more than enough detail in this book to give you neurotic fears.

You Can't Hide Or Run - The Robots Are Coming closes with a short fictional account describing how a series of small mishaps could cause humans to lose control of the Internet.

The stage has been set. If you don’t get up to date with the Convergence of Technology now, it will soon be too late. Indeed, it may alreadybe too late.

This is a list of articles and notes describing The Robots Are Coming.

About The Book

Links below open in a new window.

Pre-Publication Announcement
Censored By Amazon
Introduction
Glossary
Strange & Terrible Robot WarningPart One and, Part Two and,Part Three

Awesome Robot Website Lists

These posts have been superceded by a FREE eBook that now lists over 300 robot related websites. To learn more, and get your own copy, click here.

To read all of:

Thanks for stopping by, and remember that (With appologies to Santa):

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Strange and Terrible Robot Warning Part Three

2010-07-04T16:00:00.003-04:00

Here's the Third and final part of our Fourth of July Fading Freedom post. If you got here from outside, be sure to start with Part One before reading this. It contains essential background material. Like the previous posts, this one summarizes the technology described in The Robots Are Coming.

In a few years, all motor vehicles will have interlock systems that allow them to be controlled by The Cloud. Indeed, some General Motors models already have all the equipment installed at the factory. Old cars and trucks can be forced from the road just by raising the price of licence plates for "classic vehicles." Or, you could just add WiFi-Plus to your old vehicle. If your vehicle has an on-board computer, it's like installing a breathalyzer on a DWI driver's car. Simple.

Everyone will think vehicle control is fantastic. After all, it's for crime prevention. Until you get harrassed for protesting abuse of police power. Or attend a Tea Party or other rally that the police don't like. There's also Intel's Connected Car program mentioned in Part One of this series (that may include WiMax - a high-speed Internet connection).

Eventually, you will drive only where authorized, The Cloud may not allow your car to do go where it does not need to be - you can't be permitted to waste gas. Of course, you cannot be fully safe unless the misfits are fully controlled.
No joy rides; and no sight-seeing without advance approval.

Movement of commodities, meaning everything you need to live, is already mostly coordinated by The Cloud. Warehouses are being replaced by transfer facilities operated by robots. Goods will go directly from the factory to the transfer point then directly to retail. Computers (robots) decide what and when to ship, and thus what you are allowed to have. Wal Mart already operates like this. In addition, robotic operation of trucks is just over the horizon. Soon, it will be easy to assure that everyone gets an equal ration, whether you want to be equal or not. It will all be done by computers. If everything seems to work, no one will interfere.
Or even complain.

Automated upgrade of anti-virus software, along with other subtle control routines, will soon manage your access to the Internet. You will do what you are told, and you will not even know that you are being managed. Indeed, how would you know? Simply by directing your attention to a link, The Cloud can decide what you read, or at least what pictures you look at. The Cloud is a master psychologist, and knows exactly how to move your attention. Besides, you don't want misfits to misuse the Internet, do you?

A robo-cop will have the authority to decide if and when to fine, collect or damage you. Nobody will be wanted by the authorities - for longer than an hour or so. As already pointed out, The Cloud does know where you are. It will know what you do. There will be no more speed traps or police patrols. But misfits are everywhere, and you may be one. Keep in mind the Three Felonies A Day noted above. So there will be virtual camera patrols watching everywhere and always.

The whole world will be one big speed trap. Computers will watch the cameras, so the flesh-type police will not even need to do that. This is absolutely inevitable due to the cost saving of computers verses people. You can run a robot for something like three or four years at about the same cost of a flesh-type police officer for one year. Consider the cost savings in patrol fuel alone.
It is financially inevitable.

A perfect society would exist if it were not for misfits. Just imagine a world with no smart arses, loud children, unhealthy people or meddling neighbors. All of our crime and other problems are caused by people that are not average. The robots will repair this deficiency. We don't know exactly how the machines will do this. It may appear to be an accident, like the process described in The Robots Are Coming. There's no need for anxiety, they (meaning the machines) will figure it out.
All in good time, by dear, all in good time.

In the end the Glorious Robots will create a wonderful One-World-Government and we will live in a perfect society, with no fear: no criminals, no homeless or hungry people, no more . . . you know, things we don't like - like people who are not average.

To summarize:

Anything that controls you, or can strongly influence you, in any way, is a type of robot. The math is simple. Anything computerized = robot.
Everything about you is known to The Cloud.
Everything you do is Tracked. Everything.
The Cloud is developing a psychological profile of you. With this information, you can be manipulated without your knowledge.
Your cell phone will soon be personally monitoring the details that cameras and transactions miss.
The Smart Grid will totally manage the operation of your household devices.
Smart Cars will be under the control of The Cloud.
All transfer of consumer goods will be totally coordinated by The Cloud.
The Cloud has the skills to subtly control your Internet access.
The decisions to implement a perfect society will be made by robo-cops, due to the expense of flesh-type officers.
The robots will create a perfect world.
There's not a damn thing you can do to stop it.

Can conscious consumers convincingly classify this cacophony as a capital conspiracy to collect more citizens under cyborg control?
. . . tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick . . .

Only time will tell. But I doubt that you will complain. You will be a willing participant. You will fall for the hype and become a cyberslave.

I can practically guarantee it.

The best of luck to all the muggles out there; and remember that (with credit to George Orwell):

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Strange and Terrible Robot Warning Part Two

2010-07-04T14:00:00.010-04:00

Here's Part Two of our Fourth of July Fading Freedom post. If you got here from outside, be sure to read Part One first. It contains essential background material. Like the previous post, this one summarizes the technology described in The Robots Are Coming.

The Cloud, by way of FaceBook, your intimate personal activity database and other handy services, will soon have a complete psychological profile of you. This profile can be used to predict all sorts of things about you. They will predict your vote and the next movie you watch. They're taking pretty good guesses now. You've already seen "If you like this, then you will like that." You havn't seen anything yet. You will be totally unable to resist any on-line advertising; it will all be customized precisely to you.

Next, your vote will be swayed and your movie simply selected for you. The effects start with subtle acts, like allowing The Cloud to choose the music you listen to or the news that you read. The effects are everywhere, and they are accelerating. Soon The Cloud will be selecting and directing many aspects of your life. You will not have the faintest idea that you are being manipulated. It will be for your own good, and whether you like it or not. You will not know one way or the other
Nor will you care.

Your cell phone will constantly monitor your movement and your health. Some phones already have some of these functions, such as tracking pulse and blood oxygen levels. There is even a cell phone app that senses emotion, then records visual and audio data to relay to the police. That's fine, as long as you're emotional about something that approved by the authorities.

You will have no choice but to eat healthy, stay calm and spend wisely, whether you like it or not. Not having a cell phone with you will be a concealment crime. People have already been investigated for leaving their cell phones at homeor even arrested for refusing to tweet for the cops. Ankle tracking bracelets will no longer be needed - your cell phone will be one. In fact, with an injectible RFID all it will take is a cell phone app that sends the robocops an alert when you get seperated from your phone.

Tons of people have been convicted because of information collected on their cell phones. The federal government is in the process of criminalizing all sorts of innocent and even accidental activity. Eventually one of the Three Felonies A Day (read the reviews!) you commit will get you rounded up as well. This will mostly be due to your cell phone, your Internet use and the appliances that monitor your home.

You think your home appliances can't monitor you? Think again.

The coming Smart Grid will manage your household, whether you like it or not. The Smart Meter will be installed while you are at work and all future appliances will be network-ready. Thermostat locks will no longer be necessary, as there will be no thermostats. Control will be remote, possibly by Google Energy. The Smart Grid will adjust the temperature of your house, then make sure you get up to drink the coffee it made for you.

Electricity must be rationed to keep the Internet servers running. ATMs and many security cameras depend on the Internet. As with much other technology, America is way behind (The first complete system was in Italy in 2005) but America plans to catch up. Computer monitoring of electric usage will weed out energy abusers. Efficient people will fit into society much better than misfits who waste time and resources.

As more and more jobs are replaced by robots, people will begin to live on de-employment checks. Business will no longer have workman's comp, social security tax, health insurance, vacation pay, sick leave, or other similiar expenses. Business will instead pay into a de-employment fund. Business will request this tax. This will be necessary so people can purchase goods made by the robots.

In addition, bored people are unpredictible, so boredom must be prevented. As with distribution of consumer goods (see next post), everything will be scheduled. You will engage in your hobbies at the appointed time. You will eat a healthy meal designed by The Cloud. Robots will not approve of unnecessary health costs. You will go for your health walk at the appointed time, encountering just the right selected procession of friends. These friends, from your Social Network of course, will also be following Cloud schedules. You will be happy whether you like it or not.

Here's a must-see video. This 20 minute TED Talk demonstrates why you should read The Robots Are Coming. As P. W. Singer says, this video shows the "Model T Ford" version of robotics. He also points out that: "based on Moore's Law, in twenty-five years these machines will be a billion times more powerful than they are today.

Singer points that the British invented the tank, while the Germans figured out how to use them right. I ask you who will learn to use robots right, and answer with: It may be the robots themselves.
You may not have even begun to know what terrorism is - yet.

That's not all, it gets worse. Check out Strange and Terrible Warning Part Three, which describes more elements of the coming techno-tyranny.

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Strange and Terrible Robot Warning Part One

2010-07-04T13:00:00.018-04:00

Here's Part One of our Fourth of July Fading Freedom post.This is a description of an inevitable process - one that can no longer be stopped. You are about to learn how you will become so entangled with the Internet that your entire existence will totally depend on it. At the same time, The Cloud, The Internet Incarnate, will control much of your day-to-day life. The interesting part is that you will not let it happen.
You will help it happen.

First, a little background: This post is a summary of the process described in The Robots Are Coming. The book contains details of the psychology and technology that will both allow and cause this process to unfold.

The Cloud refers to the sum total of:

All information, public or otherwise, has an Internet address.
Repeat: All information, every thing you have ever done (commercial transactions, personal connections and movement), at least in recent years, and everything else known about you, has an Internet address. All that is needed is to know where to look it up, which I don't know.
But some computers know.

The No Such Agency at The Fort in Meadland can crack your passwords and un-encrypt your funky photos so fast it'll make you go cross-eyed. I don't care how good you think your encryption is.

It's not.

The Boys & Girls At-The-Fort have tricks. And very-very powerful computers. The Boys & Girls (and of course, robots) can use processor-level memory-address manipulation to bypass the human's pathetically insecure 'security' software.

Anytime they want to.

Everything is public as far as computers (and therefore robots) are concerned.
Everything. At least to them.
You have zero privacy, just get over it.

So here it is, the Manifesto:

If it is controlling you, it is either a robot or a bureaucrat. A computer is just a bureaucrat without feet. A car will soon just be a robot without hands. If it is a robot it can control you.

If you can be controlled, then you will be. Realize it or not, you willingly accept, and indeed often seek out, being controlled. Psychologically speaking, freedom is slavery. You don't care if the directive comes from a bureaucrat or some other robot. You usually can't tell the difference.

On-line, it makes no difference.

Everything you do is already tracked and recorded by The Cloud. All and every:

purchase or reservation you make,
cell tower or security camera you pass by,
website you visit or email you send,
contact with the government, insurance companies or banks

. . . is recorded.
By something . . . Somewhere . . . Permanently.

You are probably also tracked by ways not on this list. For example, Apple Inc., thru iPhones, iPads and Mac computers, is tracking the exact location of their customers. Intel's Connected Car program is developing a surveillance system for cars, that may include WiMax.

This means robots will soon have access, by way of direct-connect, WiFi, RFID and other four letter words, to all information owned by The Cloud and the real-time status of everything that moves.
All and everything.

You may not live to see the limits of what will be done with this technology.
But your children may, and your grandchildren will.
Who cares? You'll be dead, right? Maybe, maybe not.

If you do care, and you want to learn how it may happen, read The Robots Are Coming.

Or, if you're not convinced yet, read Strange & Terrible Robot Warning Part Two, which describes how it will work.

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Definitions from The Robots Are Coming

2010-07-03T12:37:00.004-04:00

This is an edited-for-blog version of the Glossary that appears in The Robots Are Coming.

After reviewing this list, any variants not listed should be obvious of meaning, for example a 'conquer-bot' is a robot that conquers.
The difference between BotBall and RoboCup is a little confusing, but most of these terms are easier to make sense of. A few things (like DAR-PA, DHS, Democrits, HKR, IT-A, MIT, NSA and Repuglicans), are top secret and are only defined in the book.

BattleBots - This is normally a toy version of the real thing; be alert, there are no guarantees in this business.
bot - Synonym for robot
BotBall - Competition, but not using balls; word probably coined by a kintergarden perfesser.
chembot - A type of shape-shifter, see below.
chobots - Chemical robots, these have no mechanical parts.
Cloud - The all-knowing Internet; She who loves you and will take care of all your needs, my dear.
Conquerbot - See above, unless you actually already read that.
cyberwar - War that is fought with computers. In this wonderful new type of warfare there is no physical damage. Instead, destruction is strictly limited to the absolute and total meltdown of society due to infrastructure and economic collapse.
Ewman - Evil, Wicked, Mean And Nasty (ususally a person, but applies to most robots).
Guidelines - A set of instructions to help you hide from The Cloud. (See The Robots Are Coming, pg. 125.)
Killerbots - See RoboGames.
Mark II - a generic phrase referring to any 'new and improved' thing.
plasmobot - A robot made completely of organic material, possibly of living cells; no kidding.
robocalypse - The event whereby, and your reality after, the machines finally take merciful control of all the pitifully incapable humans.
robocop - Duh; a robot that comes for you. What-cha gonna do? What-cha gonna do?
RoboCup - A game robots play using, not a cup, but rather an actual ball, unlike BotBall, see above.
RoboFest - Any gathering of evil people that promotes the robotic takeover of Earth. Participants know not what they do, due to being controlled by obsessive thoughts of robots. Therefore, they are mentally incapable of standing trial.
RoboGames - The prototype Killer-bots; you'll have to learn the hard way what this means.
robo-liability - The principle that decides who pays for robot errors. This is required because robots do not have money. Once The Cloud eliminates the need for money, robo-liability will be of mere historic interest.
robosoccer - Duh, soccer played by robots. (However, they're soon expected to whoop a human team.)
robot - This is a really hard word to define definitively, but I think you'll likely know one when it rips your lungs out.
rug rats - Children who are too young or too lazy to walk.
sex-bots - are barely discussed in the book, use your imagination. The book, however, is still not suitable for children.
Skynet - Really, you don't know what Skynet is? Are you a robot? How do you know? Can you prove that you are a human? Really?
Slowly Creeping Curse - The Cloud sneaking up on your neighbor while he plays with his PS3 and watches Reality TV.
stagebots - Theater robots; these are for entertainment purposes only. When they enter the audience, all bets are off.
toybot & Toybots - The first are tricks for kids, the second is an evil company intent on tricking your children into liking robots.
toydom - A parallel universe where toys live. Unlike robots, which live in your universe.
uncanny valley - That point where a cute being becomes too real to enjoy. If you make something kind of human it will be just darling. Create something too life-like and it will be creepy.

Be careful out there, this list contains a bunch of watchers ... lurkers ... enforcers ....ewman thingies.

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Skynet Update for June

2010-07-02T07:19:00.010-04:00

Everyone has heard of Skynet. If you don’t know what Skynet is, perhaps you should check out the definition in the Glossary for The Robots Are Coming. (The definition asks if you are a human.)

Skynet is barely mentioned in the book, and then usually as parody, or simply poking raw fun at the concept. (Especially at the end of Chapter One.) Yet Skynet pops up a lot on the Internet. Most of the articles tend to parody and most really are funny. But Skynet is not at all just jabs and jokes. Here's a few examples straight out of reality :

One of the most common mentions accuses Google.com of being Skynet. In fact if you 'Google' (as a verb) the phrase "Google is Skynet" (as a noun), Google itself will return over one million results. The number is steadily increasing; this post added one. You don't even have to type the whole word 'Skynet,' as the screen shot shows. As you can see, this is the most common "Google is S..." phrase currently being searched for.

It seems that a lot of entities besides Microsoft are really afraid of Google. This is in spite of the fact that Google is NOT Skynet. The real Skynet is a military satellite system launched by The British Empire. This system allows their growing private collection of autonomous robots to coordinate themselves. NO, I'm not talking about a Hollyweird movie plot. This is the real deal. If you think I'm pulling your future robotic leg replacement, you can actually read the Wikipedia article on the actual Skynet.

Google is simply Skynet's data collecting department. If you want to learn more about how Skynet, as well as any individual robot, uses Google to collect information there is an introductory article on the Download Squad's blog about the programming involved.

Speaking of data collection, the New York Times has an in depth piece on a new IBM project called "Watson." As in "elementary, my dear Watson." This Watson, however, is not a fictional side-kick - it's a real life machine that can whoop you at Jeopardy. (Actually, it's named after a former IBM CEO, but I couldn't pass on the quip.)

While flesh-type players usually beat Watson to the buzzer, Watson's patience usually won out. (Robots have infinite patience; all in good time, my dear, all in good time.) As far as I'm concerned this is way past spooky smart for a machine. By the way, the cabinet in the photo is as tall as a Terminator. This is not a desk-top machine, but it's hard to say how small the Mark II version will be.

Note especially that even the IBM staff said that it couldn't be done, they said nobody could do it. Then they tried a new trick, involving advanced statistical analysis of language. Now we're in a heap of trouble. For an adventure in creepy, read the whole eight page article on the Watson that plays to win. This article is quite broad in scope; I classify it as a 'must-read' for anyone who wants to keep abreast. And perhaps even keep their head abreast their shoulders. Oh, by the way, IBM plans to offer Skynet a Watson machine in a year or so (see page 7 of the Times article).

Google is not the only search engine that gets picked on. Steve Wolfram's Alpha is also the source of a number of Skynet jokes. There's probably good reasons. Alpha is based on Mathematica, an advanced computation engine that was originally released in 1988. Instead of returning a list of links, Alpha reviews data bases and seems to almost have a conversation with the user. It even has a sense of humor. Here's what you get if you ask the engine if It is Skynet.

Cool, huh?

And of course there are hundreds of occurrences of Skynet-named companies doing this or that or the other - every day. To give you a better idea of how prevalent this concept is, I'll have a few future posts on

Skynet Logos (You will not believe how many there are!), and
Skynet as an adjective. (I'll bet you thought it was a noun!)

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by. Come back around for more spooky stuff and maybe we'll actually get to meet - in the FEMA Misfit Therapy Camp.

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Introduction From A Creepy Robot Book

2010-07-01T23:01:00.013-04:00

This is an abridged and edited-for-blog version of the Introduction fromThe Robots Are Coming.See below for a link to other posts about the book, as well as a clickable version of the Appendix.

How did you get here? You, my friend, are lucky to be alive.
Almost everyone else has been enslaved by the robots.
(Just kidding, this has not actually happened - yet.)

Children love robots. Everyone seems to love robots. Well, perhaps not everyone would agree. Some people are actually quite afraid of them, or at least afraid of their potential.

I'm one of the afraid.
Are you afraid? - You should be.

Before robots, there were automatons - devices that seemed to move of their own accord. We know of a number of these machines - some to amuse children, and some to scare trespassers. Back in the days of black magic and evil wizards, this could be scary stuff indeed. There is a macabre aspect here - automatons could not actually hurt you, but people could be afraid of them anyhow.

The really strange part is that now they really can cause immense harm, few people seem to be really concerned. This is quite interesting psychology indeed.

The Robots Are Coming describes exactly how the robots can not only harm you, but perhaps will even come and get you, and why your neighbors will help it happen. They will be doing things deliberately that will result in the robocalypse. They will also gleefully grin, thinking that their life is being constantly improved.

This is why the robots will not get loose on their own; rather, they will be set loose when the Internet becomes The Cloud. Of course, you will not fall for the hype of progress, or will you?

I bet you will.

Chapter One - Genesis looks at the lighter side of robots. We peek at little bots to get the rug-rats giggling, then do a brief overview of stage and film entertainment. After that, it's full-contact time with robo-soccer. In the more advanced versions, the robots are set loose to do their own bidding. To close this chapter, and have a little fun, Skynet is introduced as a harmless commercial enterprise. [ Mua Ha Haa Haaaaa! ]

Chapter Two - On the Eighth Day is an overview of how robots are currently used, starting with a technical definition of a robot. We'll look at replacements for your bipolar boyfriend or abusive girlfriend. This is where robots really begin to be useful. The review continues with creepy-crawlies, lurkers and enforcers. These military uses are brought off the battlefield right into the comfort of your cities.

Chapter Three - The War of End provides background essential to understanding how the robocalypse will be allowed to happen. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, there was considerable debate behind the scenes about the direction that robot technology was taking us. Even though the controversy was widely published, your neighbors were busy watching Fox News and American Idol and so they didn't notice. This chapter examines the ethical aspects of letting your robots run around without a leash.

Chapter Four - A Shape In The Cloud covers one of the more interesting of all Internet developments. Cloud computing is based on the idea that your computer does not really need to have software installed on its hard-drive. This way, your needs and all your information is 'out in The Cloud.' The Cloud will be storing your financial information, reading your electric meter and ordering your groceries.

After all, you're not that good at money management, you waste electricity and you hardly ever eat healthy food. Don't you worry the least little bit, The Cloud will repair all these shortcomings, whether you like it or not.

Chapter Five - No Assembly Required is based on fascinating developments that allow machines to self-assemble. Couple this with 3D printing, and spare parts are not needed. A robot will be able to download specs for a damaged part and presto - give that robot a hand. Another concept is that robots will be able to change form in order to alter their abilities. This chapter also reviews how machines are beginning to be able to actually invent new technology, on their own.

Chapter Six - The Empire Strikes Out rounds out the technology. The presentation begins with an overview of digital manipulation, such as rigging the vote. Who knows - the next president may be a robot. The state of weaponry is examined. Some of this stuff seems straight out of science fiction, but it is all quite real. The really cool part is called 'swarm technology,' so the robots can gang up on you.

Chapter Seven - Resistance Is Silly, but the survivors will probably try anyhow. Since the robots will be using advanced game theory, we will briefly look at how games can be used. The current state of resistance (yes - it is already forming) is also looked at. Since this technology is advancing so fast, it is really fruitless to try and suggest how this will go and what you can do. Perhaps you should just take a deep breath, put your head between your legs and kiss your butt goodbye.

Chapter Eight - Organic Is Not Always Green, will give you a little better idea of why you cannot really plan for the robocalypse. There are some really strange developments on the horizon. These tricks include artificial livers and other organs. Real people will no longer be necessary. It would not be surprising if robots develop wombs. It can be very difficult to kill something that self-heals.

Chapter Nine - Summary Execution is a short fictional account of how it might happen. Unlike the movies, this scenario is actually feasible. It begins on a muggy day with the Smart Grid shutting down air conditioners, continues with the Internet declaring a state of emergency and ends with incoming SWAT teams. The resistance, if there is one, is left to your imagination.

A secondary theme in this presentation is that competition from foreign countries is threatening to eliminate America's lead in this important area of technology. Keep in mind that in today's fast-moving technological environment, . . . if you don't start catching up now, you never will get it.
[Addendum: there is a strange new convergence of technology that is bringing totally different scientific fields into cooperation. Along with The Cloud, this the second really spooky part that we need to loose sleep over.]

Note that the bulk of the technology discussed in The Robots Are Coming will be on line by mid-2010 or soon thereafter. Only a few short generations ago, the concept of robot was really only fictional or theoretical. It had not yet begun.

Then Lawrence Page said "Let there be Google."

Thanks for stopping by, and remember that an enemy of the robots is your friend.

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Awesome Robot Website List Part Four

2010-06-30T17:06:00.010-04:00

This is a continuation of The Awesome Robot Website List series. The list is again roughly based on the Appendix of The Robots Are Coming.

Here I am presenting Resistance Groups and Resistance Blogs.

Be careful out there! Robots don't like anyone to get in their way. As The Robots Are Coming explains, people have lost their head that way!

This post has been superceded by a FREE eBook that now lists over 300 robot related websites. To learn more, and get your own copy, click here.

Be sure not to miss the Strange & Terrible Robot Warning series.

Thanks for stopping by, and try to chill out. The good news is that thinking of nothing but robots causes a type of insanity that renders you unfit to stand trial.

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Awesome Robot Website List Part Three

2010-06-29T17:04:00.013-04:00

This is a continuation of the Awesome Robot Website List series. The list is again roughly based on the Appendix of The Robots Are Coming.

Here I am presenting forum sites.

This post has been superceded by a FREE eBook that now lists over 300 robot related websites. To learn more, and get your own copy, click here.

Be sure not to miss theStrange & Terrible Robot Warning series.

Thanks for stopping by, and beware that a robophile or other robot collaborator may be classified as an intercourse offender by the resistance.

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Awesome Robot Website List Part Two

2010-06-28T14:33:00.012-04:00

This is a continuation of Awesome Robot Website List Part One. This list is again roughly based on the Appendix of The Robots Are Coming.

This post has been superceded by a FREE eBook that now lists over 300 robot related websites. To learn more, and get your own copy, click here.

Be sure not to miss theStrange & Terrible Robot Warning series, where I explain The Cloud.

Thanks for stopping by, and remember that you can't trust a machine any farther than you can throw one.

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Awesome Robot Website List Part One

2010-06-27T15:07:00.017-04:00

This post is the first of four parts that provides links to some robot related websites. The list is roughly based on the Appendix of The Robots Are Coming.

This post has been superceded by a FREE eBook that now lists over 300 robot related websites. To learn more, and get your own copy, click here.

Be sure not to miss theStrange & Terrible Robot Warning series.

Thanks for stopping by, and remember that the only robot you can trust is one that is turned off.

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Spooky Robot Update - Second Half of June, 2010

2010-06-26T20:36:00.002-04:00

Hello there! Warning: If you are paranoid to the point of paralysis about metallic critters taking over your space, go away. This post may make you neurotic.

Here I continue the updates from the Appendix in The Robots Are Coming. If you missed the first update, you can catch up here. To understand my spooky terminology, go here.

Links open in a new window.

June 15 - Bruce Schneider's Security Blog has a cute post on fading freedoms. I'm referring to it here because it provides some comments on reasons that the robots will collect you. It's also clever. The post is the winner of the Fifth Annual Movie Plot Threat Contest. Bruce describes the contest like this: "Your task, ye Weavers of Tales, is to create a fable of fairytale suitable for instilling the appropriate level of fear in children so they grow up appreciating all the lords do to protect them."
You really should read the winning entry. This is a blog worth visiting once a week - check it out.

June 19 - If you think robots can be a pain, ya'll ain't seen nothing yet. The U.S. mission in Afghanistan is trying to sway locals to its side. They think there's no better persuasion tool than an invisible pain ray that makes people feel like they're on fire. Cool. Some critics say the Taliban will get a propaganda bonanza, but the robots don't care about such trivial political details.
Go to Wired Magazine to get more details on all their stories about Pain Rays, including their use by U.S. police. (In L.A., of course.)

June 19 - Advances are being made in controlling games by mental activity alone. While this may seem way cool to the game geeks, this is not innocent technology. I'll be driving the point home every chance I get that these methods are going to be two-way before long. When the robots are controlling your mind, you won't even know it. This will make the administration of the robot's one-world government much simpler. It could even save robot resources, as they won't even need robo-cops when they have perfected mental misfit management.
PHYSorg has a groovy article about manipulating the Force with the mind.

June 20 - Hopefully Americans are paying better attention that their former masters across the pond. New Scientist reports that the Brits are relaxed about the potential of synthetic life. They actually see it as a natural extension of biological knowledge. They'll think differently when a totally organic robot with the arms of a gorilla, feet of an elephant and the jaws of a croc comes walking down the street looking for culinary delights. This creature won't just be stealing your kid's lunch, either. Nor will Amber Alerts be of any help. (Too late!).
Read the article at New Scientist about synthetic life complacency.

June 21 - Analyzing web data to make predictions will be extremely useful to the robots. Researchers at Google used the frequency of certain search terms to forecast the sales of homes, cars and other products. Other researchers have showed that the volume of searches can show other things, like coming changes in unemployment rate, and stock market prices. This could be The Cloud at its worst, as gauging mood is the first step to manipulating attitude.
Read more detail about predicting the future.

June 22 - Hitachi has unveiled a near human sized roller-skating robot intended work as a tour guide. This critter could also be used to herd ~~misfits~~ storm victims for relocation to FEMA ~~therapy~~ refugee camps. No doubt the robots will find a number of inovative uses for this critter. Here we have a robot that has a promising future in robo-land. It may be cute, but so was Baby-Faced Nelson.
Go read more about the robot people herder.

June 22 - In case you can't tell by now, I've got a macabre sense of humor when it comes to robots enslaving humanity. With that in mind, here's a cool robot joke about a lie detecting robot that likes to slaps people around any time they do the Pinochio thing. That's slap as in 'off your chair.' All kidding aside, robots that can make detailed assessments of your attitude are nothing to snicker about.
In the meantime, go get a chuckle about the lie-detecting robot.

24 June - Watch what you say, because the robots are learning to understand plain speech. Rapid progress has been made in machines that can listen, speak, reason and learn. This has the potential of eliminating the job of anyone who talks for a living, like store clerks and receptionists. (Also car and insurance salesman. Wouldn't that be a shame!) What they're not telling you is that it would also make it easy to weed out third party political sentiments and constitutional rights advocates.
Check out the details about computers learning to listen.

June 25 - One of the themes in The Robots Are Coming (See Chapter Eight: Organic Is Not Always Green) is actual grown robots - meaning DNA-containing, cellular-based Internet-connected para-creatures. The recent developments in this field are nothing less than astonishing! A Yale University team has successfully implanted laboratory-made lung tissue into rats - which were then able to use it to breathe. You may have heard this already, as the media really picked up on it.
There are stories on TG Daily, CNET, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, RedOrbit, and National Geographic, among others.

June 25 - File this under the Only Imagination Limits Them Department. If you think you have control of your cell phone, I've got some really bad news for you. The-Search-Engine-That-Knows-All-Things.com may control your cell phone. Google removed two applications from Android phones, using a feature that allows them to delete the applications remotely. This also means that The-Search-Engine-That-Knows-All-Things.com can add nifty apps without your knowledge. The robots can definitely make good use of this. You should never forget that The Cloud is the master of ceremony.
The story about Google deleting applications remotely is not a good thing.

June 25 - Something else that The Robots Are Coming tries to drive home is the U. S. of A. does not necessarily hold a commanding lead in robotics technology. Just so I can say "I told you so, I told you so, na na na na na na:" China won the Robot World Cup. I mean, what do you expect - the hardware for our weapons is made in China. (And the software is written in India, so watch out for them-there icon worshiping polytheists, as well.) China's robots have beaten both South Korea and the USA.
Read all about it at the Telegraph.

June 25 - The White House, in its incessant drive to ready The Cloud for the robot rebellion, has just released the draft of a DHS (a secret government agency) proposal that creats a vast, federally-led "Trusted identities in Cyberspace." Some say that this scheme is a preemptive push toward an eventually Internet driver's license. Like all other programs of regulation, this is obviously just the beginning. I tried to tell you that The Cloud will be controlling your Internet access. Here's the official proposal.
I found the story on Lauren Weinstein's Blog. You should check it out.

26 June 26 - Police push to continue warrantless cell tracking, and the FBI monitored the whereabouts of about 180 cell phones - without a warrant. This paragraph is not about the Feds, though, it's about robot tracking the misfits. To get pinpoint accuracy, they have special hardware called a Location Measurement Unit, or LMU. Wireless location firm TruePosition has installed more than 100,000 of these handy devices. They are coming soon to a restricted neighborhood zone near you.
Read CNET for more about misfit location services.

June 27 - The Robots Are Coming asks the question "You know that guy down the street?" [and answers with] "Soon you won't be able to tell him from the other robots." Thespians are joining engineers to advance methods to mimic human behavior. They claim that the purpose is to help autistic children and stuff like that, which is all well and good. However, we know that the robots will use this technology to selectively replace humans with cyborgs, don't we. The good news is that they may also quantify humor, putting comedians out of work. I doubt that many readers of this blog will miss Larry the Cable Guy.
Go learn more about quantifying human behavior..

28 June - Yesterday it was difficult to fly UAVs in the USA because of potential mid-air conflicts with commercial flights. In addition, flight plans must be arranged well in advance. Tomorrow that will all change as all airplanes become pilotless and computers change flight plans in seconds. The Federal Aviation Administration has launched a program to eliminate pilots completely. The reason - one million dollars in training costs per cockpit occupant, as well as the cost of the cockpit itself. With police officers and pilots gone, the rug-rats will want to be robots when they grow up.
Read the article about no more airline pilots.

Honorable Mention - To close this post a little on the light side: I stumbled on this really cool gallery called "30 Awesome 3D Robot Illustrations."
Go check it out at Best Free Web Resources.

Thanks for stopping by. That concludes our Spooky Robot Update for the second half of June. Never forget that the only robot you can trust is one with a big off switch. In its back.

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The Robots Are Coming is Censored by Amazon.com

2010-06-26T11:08:00.042-04:00

You Can't Hide Or Run - The Robots Are Coming is printed by a subsidiary of The-Bookseller-Named-After-A-River-In-South-America.com. The publishing process includes uploading a PDF file, which is reviewed by a robot for format and whatever other secret criteria is deemed necessary by the printer.

For reasons which are not revealed by either the printer or by the bookseller, neither company's logo, or for that matter any reference to either company whatsoever, may be mentioned within any book they publish.

I suppose that the bookseller's lawyer robots are paranoid about some vague concept of liability. This seems ridiculous, as an investigator robot could surely trace the source of any book. You know, like if someone who felt slighted by the book hired a lawyer robot that had a forty percent policy. In all honesty, my electronics consultant, LostBob, did warn me that the River-In-South-America was full of little fish with very sharp teeth.

At any rate, the original compuscript was rejected by the printer. The reason given is that the bookseller was mentioned in the body of the text and in several footnotes. This was in spite of the fact that nothing ewman (evil, wicked, mean and nasty) was said about said bookseller. I was actually giving them free promotion, for crying out loud.

Being opposed to censorship by robots, or anyone else for that matter, I thought it would be interesting to describe the email exchanges and provide shots of the original text. Here is an excerpt from the original rejection notice:OK, so I figured that they did not want their (copyrighted) logo to appear - it seemed that some explanation was in order. I responded as follows: The next rejection was apparently written by a flesh-class droid, as it had a custom tone to it. Still, the droid's hands were seemingly tied by the review robot. Here is a shot of the second rejection:The phrase "you are certainly able to include any references to your own website" caught my eye.

So I did.

You will see a reference to the censorship, followed by a URL to this post, on page four of the book as actually published. The references to the bookseller are really quite benign. Here are screen shots from the original word processor file:

Near the top of page 35 the bookseller was referred to as The Keeper Of The Books, which they actually nearly are. Note that the tone is one of parody, which is quite clearly allowed under fair use rules. Then on page 45 the bookseller, as well as the author of Love and Sex with Robots, are both given a free pitch. The offending passage here is only a footnote: It is not until many pages later that the bookseller is mentioned again. The tone of the paragraph at the top of this page is somewhat more sarcastic, but does not seem to reflect poorly on the bookseller. The passage comments on the books, and not on Amazon. Here is a screenshot of page 171: Then, thirty five pages farther along, we find another offending footnote, this time a pitch for the Three Felonies A Day that the average American unknowingly commits. Here is a shot of the bottom of page 206: Finally, on the next to the last page, the bookseller is mentioned one more time. OK, I concede that the tone is somewhat accusatory, but his time TheSearchEngineThatIsAllKnowing.com takes the brunt of the blunt force trauma inflicted by the keyboard. Here's what the original looked like: Anyhow, eager to complete the publishing process, and weary of conflict, the text was revised to remove all references to The-Bookseller-Named-After-A-River-In-South-America.com.

If you want to see the exact wording of the revised text you will need to buy the book. It won't break you, and really, the book is a barrel of fun. It contains very little sex, but there is a ton of violence.

Thanks for stopping by, and never forget that the only good robot is a scrap robot.

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The Robots Are Coming - Pre-Publication Notice

2010-06-25T16:26:00.033-04:00

This is the pre-publication announcement a new book that will bring you up to date on the status of autonomous and organic robot development. You Can't Hide or Run - The Robots Are Coming is scheduled to be available on Amazon.com about the first week of July, 2010.

The current state of robotics technology has almost spiraled out of control. Totally self-protecting machines are currently in development. Some of these organo-metallic mobsters literally cannot be turned off. This includes machines that will be given the authority to decide if and when to kill you. There are also DNA based robots coming that will be grown like test-tube animals. Even worse, they will soon be able to duplicate themselves faster than you can destroy them.

Your neighbor is joyfully accepting a multitude of small steps that will usher in a techno-tyranny. More and more of your daily activities are being arranged and recorded by Cloud-based services. Before long, everything that happens will by coordinated over or automatically directed by the Internet.

Cloud-based total tracking technology, coupled with electronic mind reading and other creepy developments, will soon allow locating and weeding out of misfits. While everyone is watching Reality TV, SWAT-bot teams may be coming for people. Those who need to be concerned openly oppose government policies, lead unhealthy lifestyles or are otherwise counter productive. If the Cloud is merciful, these people will be taken away for intensive therapy and be re-introduced into society.

Although the tone of this book is somewhat tongue in cheek, the subject matter is as serious as a Class 5 hurricane. The difference is that you will not have the option of evacuating. You will not be able to hide or run. The book closes with a short fictional account describing how a series of rather small mishaps could cause humans to literally lose control of the Internet.

The posts following will provide additional detail about this must-read book for anyone who wants to remain up to date on spooky technology. The history of robots is briefly covered, as well as current uses. Also discussed are ethical considerations, as well as political and social impact.

The stage has been set. If you don’t get up to date with the convergence of technology now, it will soon be too late.
Indeed, it may already be too late.

Update: July 2nd - The book is now available!

Spooky Robot Update - First Half of June, 2010

2010-06-25T07:59:00.007-04:00

This post continues the update in the appendix of The Robots Are Comingfor about the first half of June, 2010.

For a refresher on spooky terminology, click here.

Links open in a new window.

June 3 - Here is a robot that could kill robots. A naughty Googlebot put a bad link in your Google Alert, so you may have missed this. I hate it when that happens, but here it is anyhow. This monster gives a whole new meaning to hurling.
Go see an industrial robot that catapults flaming bowling balls.

June 3 - A new robot fish from NYU-Poly's Dynamical Systems Laboratory controls the path of schools of fish. One possible use is to steer fish away from hydroelectric turbines. Another possibility is to guide sharks toward people violating swimming regulations.
Check out the robot fish that leads fish.

June 3 - These robots are already here. As a journalist says: "I tried to start a conversation with one of the robot people, a woman sitting at a desk in what appeared to be a bedroom. The whole experience was anxiety-inducing . . . For a word, I’d use ‘creepy.’" This is a continuation of the evil plot by Willow Garage (a.k.a. Google Incarnate) to sneak robots into your home.
Go read about a reporter struggling to relate to a robot-human.

June 4 - As Ian Hughes says: "what is wrong with scientists? Don’t they know that the human race is in enough trouble already? We can’t be trusted with half the stuff we invent." The author is ranting about a monkey controlling a machine – with its mind. If he thinks that’s ewman, when the tech-is-per-fect, control will be in the opposite direction.
Go watch a monkey control a robot with its mind.

June 7 - A video system being developed by the DHS, a secret government agency, will give robots extra eyes. The system takes image stitching technology and bolts it to anything. It sees very-very wide, and is perfect edge-to-edge, with a resolution of 100 megapixels. It can define a exclusion zone, and alerts when it’s breached. Another feature lets the robot pick a target and the viewing window will tag and follow it. The better to find you with, my dear.
Go and read about a 360 degree video surveillance system.

June 7- Several companies are taking steps to create a digital representation (avatar) that can continue after your bio-body has decomposed. If you can upload yourself into this form, it could live forever. (Sitting in a box.) If you have the foresight to buy a Willow Garage personal robot you could be carried around.
Go and read about immortal avatars that back up your brain .

June 7 - It’s a good thing that this thing don’t work, but at 32-feet tall and weighing 4-tons, it makes the Spooky List anyhow. This giant among robots was built by a group of Chinese art students. One cool feature is that it's almost entirely made from old truck parts. The future robot resistance should take note - think what engineering students could do with this concept.
Go and take a look at a giant transformers robot.

June 9 - A central theme of The Robots Are Coming" is the potential nightmare of Cloud Computing. In a new development, the U. S. of A. Federal-type government is doing its best to make the Internet go Self-Aware. The latest twist in the plot is for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to accelerate the government's adoption of Cloud computing. They say that this will drive innovation and fundamentally change the way government surrenders services to the robots. The NIST, by the way, has actually written the definition of The Cloud. Sweet . . . or sweat, depending on your point of view.
Go read about accelerating the move to The Cloud. You can look over NIST's shoulder here.

June 10 - From the Robots Don't Need You Department, Popular Mechanics brings us a cool round-up of self-powering bots. You know, like they don't need you to put new batteries in them. They cover most of the traditional elements - Water, Earth and Air. They are probably working on Fire. Robot scientists may be out of touch with reality, but they do have a sense of humor. So they have named one of these gadgets "Sky Walker."
Go to PopMech and read about Robots That Can Power Themselves.

June 17 - In a pilot program surely to be of use to the round-up robots, US cops are employing Apple's iPhone to help identify potential misfits. Its called MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition & ID System). It’s being tested by the Brockton police in Massachusetts, but it's sure to come soon to a containment zone near you. MORIS has been called "the most significant tech advance for law enforcement since radios."
Go read about it and catch the video at The Mail Online. Or to read about the developer click here. This ain't their only trick.

That's all for now, but you can bet it will get worse. This is just the first Spooky Robot Update. Come back around and get the future - before it gets you. And remember to keep your head down when there's any robots around.

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Presidential Inaugruations - The Story & Notes

2009-09-18T11:11:00.003-04:00

This book began as an experiment. Earlier this summer I consulted Amazon (the book-seller) and found that there were no books that presented Barrack Obama's inaugural address. The top-listed inaugural book was by a Brit and was out of date. This book also sold for $24.95, which I thought was a little expensive. So I decided to see if I could do a bit better. As it turned out, it was quite possible to produce a complete set of inaugural addresses, plus a collection of cool bonus material, and price the book at $19.95. Sweet. As it also turned out, this endeavor entailed a lot more work than I anticipated. Over 150 web sites were consulted, and this was very time-consuming. Putting everything into a consistant format was not as easy as it looks. Sweat. Keeping the price down also cut the royalities to the bone, as Amazon gets about $8 off the top, and production costs are, of course, also deducted. The shipping costs are actually greater than the royalties.

When the book was finally posted for distribution I discovered, much to my dismay, that several others had beat me to the punch. Even worse, the cost of their books was lower than mine. The good news is that this was due mainly to used copies being offered, which I suspect is perhaps due to lower quality or poor condition.

My Inaugural Address book is printed on very high quality paper, with easy to read type. It also includes, as listed below, some fairly important bonuses.

Eisenhower's speech is only published in an (expensive) collection of his public papers. To the best of my knowledge, Ron Paul's speech has not been published in any book to date. I think you will find the collection of speech data and trivia to be quite fascinating (see the Contents, here). The Introduction can be read here.

From the Back Cover:

This book presents an inexpensive volume that collects the source documents and important facts regarding U. S. Presidential Inaugurations. It covers all the presidents, and includes Barrack H. Obama’s inauguration. As bonuses it includes:
• Eisenhower’s “Military-Industrial” speech (1961)
• Ron Paul’s “Is America a Police State?” (2002)
• A section on Inauguration Trivia.

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Presidential Inaugruations - Free eBook For Review

2009-09-15T08:00:00.003-04:00

Post edited Dec. 24, 2010

As the next post will mention, this book is a little experimental. Part of the experiment is that I am giving away a free review copy to anyone that visits this blog ~~in the next 30 days~~

(Sorry, you missed it).

~~This is a $19.95 value, so take advantage of the offer before it expires.~~

The eBook contains every word of the printed version, but is in a slightly different format, so there are 205 pages, rather than the 228 pages of the printed version. It also contains an ad for this blog at the bottom of each page.

If you like, you can purchase a copy of the eBook from Create Space for $19.95.

~~Why am I doing this? Part of the reason is that~~ America is in decline, and this is due in large part to the fact that people do not have enough awareness of their true heritage. As the introduction to the book points out, U.S. Presidents have been warning us for 200 years about the dangers of foreign entanglement and excessive government.

To learn more about the book you can see the Table of Contents, or the Introduction.

~~If you want to look a little deeper, download your free copy here. (A Google account is required to download, but if you don't have one it can be set up in seconds.)~~

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Presidential Inaugurations - Table of Contents

2009-09-13T13:23:00.002-04:00

(NOTE: The printed edition contains page numbers; the numbers were deleted here for the sake of simplicity. See under the sidebar image for book statistics.)

Introduction Can be read here

SECTION I – OVERVIEW

The Inauguration in General
Basic Inauguration Data
Most Common Words In Speeches
Length of Speeches

SECTION II – SPEECHES

SECTION III – OTHER STUFF

Ron Paul's "Is America A Police State?"

Inauguration Trivia

The First or Only Time It Happened (Not Inaugurated, Wives Not Present, Retiring Presidents Not Present, several pages of Odds and Ends)
Extreme Trivia (Weather, Dinners, Odds and Ends)
Very Unusual (On the 20-year cycles of deaths in office)

(For more information, including comments on how this book came to be assembled, see here)

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Presidential Inaugurations - Introduction

2009-09-12T02:55:00.002-04:00

This book was prepared in response to a perceived need for an inexpensive volume that collected the important facts and source documents regarding U. S. Presidential Inaugurations. Although all of the information presented is available on the Internet, it is bulky to print and copy. Nearly one hundred and fifty sites were consulted in the process of collecting this information; it is not necessary to describe to any experienced researcher the number of hours involved. Most of the web pages contain color, which presents its own problems, not the least of them being the cost of ink. In addition, it seems that many people do not really like to read from a computer screen. Now you have a source that you can hold in your hands.

One of the reason that serious threats face the American people is that the average citizen is almost totally uninformed. This lack of knowledge extends to our heritage as well as to the reality of current events. As Thomas Jefferson emphasized, a free republic requires an informed citizenry in order to remain free.

In reviewing this information, especially within the speeches, few edits were made. Very (and only very) obvious spelling errors were corrected. Grammatical conventions change over time, so you should seek elsewhere for grammar samples. These speeches provide ample samples that high school students can use to harass their English teachers. Examples of grammar that would keep an editor awake include unconventional words, very long sentences, and the infamous split infinitive (which ain’t as important as some grammar nazis would lead one to believe). These, of course, were left untouched. The accuracy, and even the quaintness, of the original are the important factors. One of the quite interesting aspects of these speeches, at least for word freaks such as myself, is the frequent inclusion of archaic terminology. These words, as determined by a spell-checker, are shown in bold text.

The readers attention is directed especially to the warnings provided by past presidents. When I read these speeches for the first time my reaction can only be described as amazement. We have been told repeatedly for over two hundred years that there is a danger of tumbling into the abyss of excessive government and foreign entanglement.

Sometimes I wonder why we continue to try rectifying anything. Perhaps the American people will never listen. Perhaps we should just sit back and observe the inevitable collapse of our empire.

Anyhow, as a bonus, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, the not-quite-famous-enough address, presented to a Joint Session of Congress in 1961, is included with his Inaugural Addresses. This is one of the most important speeches of the twentieth century, and deserves very careful review. The Military-Industrial Complex, or what should now be called the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex is the root cause of terrorism, and the greatest on-going threat to national security at the beginning of this new century. Without the overseas turmoil caused by our special commercial interests, so-called terrorists would not have the slightest cause to stand on. The social, economic and military security of America demands that the five hundred years of west Asian oppression and meddling by Euro-American interests cease, and soon.

Also included is Ron Paul’s “Is America A Police State?” speech, delivered on the floor of the House of Representatives. While the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Complex invites an external threat, the creeping loss of freedom plagues us entirely from within. I consider this speech to be one of, if not the single, most important writings that the average American is totally unaware of. Let us always keep in mind that the U. S. Supreme Court defines freedom as "the right to be left alone." Of course, under this definition, America can not really be seen as a free country. Ron Paul’s speech provides ample ammunition for proving this point.

Obscuria Recuria refers to little-known aspects of history that happen over and over. I have always been fascinated with historic cycles, and hope to live long enough to prepare additional volumes based on my thirty-five years of note keeping.

This book was produced with print-on-demand technology. No editor was involved in the process. The lack of an editor is at the same time the biggest advantage and the biggest disadvantage of this relatively new method of manufacturing a book. All errors of both omission and commission are therefore entirely my own. Quirks in format, however, can probably be attributed to Microsofty.

For more information, including comments on how this book came to be assembled, see here)

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j. merton's stuff

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First Police Battle with Robot - the Rest of the Story

Now for a collection of chatter on the story:

These posts have a number of comments

Few or no comments

Ridiculous, even stupid, comments:

Posts with no comments.

Time To Protest - Join Twitter

Royalties Pledged to Help a Friend In Need

Announcing the Black Book of Skynet Counterintelligence

Robots Might Rip Your Lungs Out

Robots With Artificial Skin To Dominate Sex Industry

Notices:

Bipolar Girlbots & Artificial Skin

Warning: Robot War Is Spooky Stuff

Just Look Around

Foreign Devil Robots

Speaking of weapons

The Evils of the Cloud IV - More Headaches

Privacy

Robolawyers

Economics

References

The Evils of the Cloud III - Virtual Logistics

It'll be worse tomorrow

The Evils of the Cloud II - Security

Security & Insecurity

The Evils of the Cloud I - Introduction

Review of Three Felonies A Day

Skynet Supermen & Such

Is That A Robot In Your Pocket?

Update: Orwell in America

Now Imagine A Box, like a small iPod.

Three Letter Word Policy Announcement

Robot Site Directory Now Available

Spontaneous Skynet Sproutings - July 2010

Spooky Robot Update - Second Half of July

The first group is for the robots.

Tracking Improvements

Surgery

Workplace Dangers

Spooky Robot Update - First Half of July, 2010

Great Internet Robot Search Phrases (& Free eBook)

"The Robots Are Coming" - List of Posts

About The Book

Awesome Robot Website Lists

Strange and Terrible Robot Warning Part Three

To summarize:

Strange and Terrible Robot Warning Part Two

Strange and Terrible Robot Warning Part One

So here it is, the Manifesto:

Definitions from The Robots Are Coming

Skynet Update for June

Introduction From A Creepy Robot Book

Awesome Robot Website List Part Four

Awesome Robot Website List Part Three

Awesome Robot Website List Part Two

Awesome Robot Website List Part One

Spooky Robot Update - Second Half of June, 2010

The Robots Are Coming is Censored by Amazon.com

The Robots Are Coming - Pre-Publication Notice

Spooky Robot Update - First Half of June, 2010

Presidential Inaugruations - The Story & Notes

Presidential Inaugruations - Free eBook For Review

Presidential Inaugurations - Table of Contents

Presidential Inaugurations - Introduction

Now Imagine A Box,
like a small iPod.