We all know what goes down after Mario saves the Princess (again and again and again…)
Before you whip out your you-know-what, impress your geeky girlfriend by whipping out one of these. Designer Ben Marsh has created these amazing Game Boy condoms – complete with pun-tastic names like “Donkey Shlong” and “Sextris”.
Disclaimer: These don’t actually exist…but a geek can dream, can’t he?
YOU: Huh? Oh, sorry. I actually wasn’t sleeping – I was thinking.
BRAIN: About what? The fact that we could have used the economic bailout money to cure several deadly diseases worldwide? Or were you considering what a nuclear-armed Iran would mean for the rest of the Middle East?
YOU: Not exactly.
BRAIN: So…what then?
YOU: Um…which one of the new playmates on “The Girls Next Door” I like best.
BRAIN: Ugh. Read these articles NOW.
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* The financial bailout will cost us lucky taxpayers over $4 trillion. Did you know for less than $300 million we wiped Smallpox off the planet? And for $5 billion we put a significant dent in Polio? Imagine what we could do with $4 trillion (after we paid out the AIG bonuses, of course). - Salon
* The Obama administration is starting to give subtle signs that they won’t be able to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. So, how will this actually reshape the Middle East? Hint: it doesn’t look good. - Slate
* Some schools in France are experimenting with the idea of paying students for attending class. It worked for a few schools in the US…will it work abroad, or does it conflict too severely with France’s egalitarian ideals? – Time
* Sure, humans fight, cheat, and destroy each other…but it might actually be true that we’re biologically and evolutionarily hardwired to be empathetic, kind, and full of warm fuzzies. - Slate
* Cristina Nehring writes an incredibly thought-provoking article about what she calls the “New Erotic Fundamentalism”, and argues convincingly that we’ve all been a bit too hard on hopeless romantic Mark Sanford. - Truthdig
A few weeks ago, I posted a video of a new robot from Honda that jogs upright and stubbornly refuses to be pushed down when a human tries to knock it over. Exciting (and scary) stuff.
Since then, I’ve come across dozens of videos and articles about new developments in robotics – it’s not so much that robots are learning how to solve academic math problems any faster or more efficiently…it’s that they’re learning how to become more like humans – they play sports, master musical instruments, and may even be able to have sex (woah). Here are some wild recent developments that caught my attention:
-Are you desperate to ride an old-fashioned bicycle built for two, but you don’t have anyone to join you? Call up “Joules” and you’ll have a riding partner for life…or at least until “Joules” turns on you and eats your brain.
-This robot named “Deep Blue” wants to get you drunk at a pool hall and hustle you for $50. It’s creators say it plays at a better-than-average level…and it’s getting better every day.
-Need to jump over a 25 foot tall barbed wired wall? Have no fear, this new military robot is here to help, and it won’t even ask why you need to jump over a 25 foot tall barbed wired wall.
And last but not least, have a quick look at this article that profiles artificial intelligence researcher David Levy. He recently took home the prize for developing the most human-like chatbox (which is essentially a program that imitates human speech and cognition in an eerily accurate way.) David claims it’s only a matter of time before we start doing the nasty with our robot friends. He says “as soon as the media starts writing about ‘My fantastic weekend with a sex doll’, it will be like the iPhone all over again, but the queues will be longer.” I can already see the fanboys preparing their sleeping bags to camp out weeks in advance. (via Guardian)
BRAIN: WAKE UP!
