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I created and submitted a video for the VIDA 10.0 international competition with help from my friends.

VIDA 10.0 is an international competition created to reward excellence in artistic creativity in the fields of Artificial Life and related disciplines, such as robotics and Artiftcial Intelligence.We are looking for artistic projects that address the interaction between “synthetic” and “organic” life”.

In previous years prizes have been awarded to artistic projects using autonomous robots, avatars, recursive chaotic algorithms, knowbots, cellular automata, computer viruses, virtual ecologies that evolve with user participation, and works that highlight the social side of Artificial Life.

You can make the video below play full-screen by clicking one of the buttons on the toolbar.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

The video is available on Youtube as well. http://youtube.com/watch?v=pZpcGwWfRBE

A high quality version can be downloaded here (mpeg4, 1kbps, 74megabytes)

A (0.5 gb) DVD quality version of this video is also available for the asking.

“A person in a uniform is merely an extension of another person’s will” - Philip Slater - according to RPG Motivational Slides

My original post on the subject “Motorized Bicycle” has received so many comments that I created this second post, just so people don’t have to scroll down so terribly far to read all of the terrific comments.

I have closed comments on the original post. Please leave a comment here to continue the thread.

Yours in bikes,

Lee

I used to have Search Everything installed but it broke in some version of Wordpress. Well, it’s back. Now, when you search on my blog it looks at all of the comments as well as posts. You can also search for phrases with “quotation marks”. :-)

SWARM used a TIG welder to weld the aluminum orbs together. I took some notes about it…

We went through our first bottle of argon on the TIG welder alarmingly quickly. A bottle costs about $80 and a trip to Praxair to refill. Here are some tips that will let us use the gas much more efficiently.

- I am now able to set the pressure at about 21 CFM without any problem. We initially had it at 35 CFM. When welding, you should decrease the pressure until you start seeing little black flecks in the weld. Turn the gas back up just high enough so that you don’t see them any more and you’ll be dialed in.

- Set the post flow down to 3 seconds. We had been leaving it as high as 15 seconds but here’s what I think:
I’ve not seen any difference between a post flow of 3 seconds and one of 15. The aluminum is completely solid after 1-2 seconds. It’s not like you are holding the torch over the weld for 15 seconds anyway.
Con: I’ve noticed that the tungsten discolors when the gas stops short. I’ve noticed that this causes the tungsten to be consumed slightly each time. However, over 5 hours of constant welding, I lost about 1/8″ of tungsten. This hasn’t affected the quality of my welds. If we were working on a slower cooling metal like steel, we’d probably want to extend the post flow time.

- The gas lens lets you put the pressure a little bit lower than the regular nozzle. I think I had to keep it at 25 CFM with the regular nozzle.

- If you have to extend the tungsten electrode to get into tight spots (like welding up the base), you might have to turn the gas pressure up a little to keep the black flecks away. The gas lens will make it so you don’t have to turn the pressure up quite as much. For example, with the regular lens, I needed to leave it at 35 CFM when the electrode was extended. With the gas lens, I can turn it to about 27.

Oops. This attorney has some unusual payment terms..

over 10,000 satisfied clients indeed!

woopie

http://tjic.com/?p=7238

ST. PAUL, Minn.

…Scott D. Clark, a guest at the Embassy Suites Hotel in St. Paul, cornered the [ tame duck that lived in a hotel lobby’s ornamental pond ] early Saturday morning, grabbed the bird and ripped its head from its body while a hotel security guard and others watched, police said…

“He was allegedly drunk,” Wuorinen said.

Tim Shields, general counsel with the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies … said…

“I think Embassy Suites needs to take another look at this and review how they keep ducks safe, or use fish like most hotels would use,”

I just sent a fax to Mr Shields… I’m looking for Embassy Suites contact info now…

Minnesota Federated Humane Societies
Tim Shields
6613 Penn Ave. S., Ste. 100
Richfield, MN 55423
612-866-8663
Fax: 612-861-1786

Lee C. Sonko
[redacted]

Mr. Shields,

I recently read your comment about the extremely unfortunate incident at the Embassy Suites Hotel in St. Paul.

“I think Embassy Suites needs to take another look at this and review how they keep ducks safe, or use fish like most hotels would use,” Shields said. (http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/09/23/police_man_beheads_tame_hotel_duck/)

I must assume that your remark was taken wildly out of context. I cannot comprehend what you mean by the statement as it stands. Are we to keep ducks behind bullet proof glass windows from now on for fear of snipers? The ducks in this hotel, and in many hotels around the world, have done perfectly well for countless years much to the benefit of the ducks and people that appreciate them. The only fault lies in the person that chased and killed the poor animal. He is solely to blame. Otherwise, are we to take your comment to its logical conclusion and outlaw all places where ducks and humans might interact?

It would be a terrible shame if hotels were persuaded by your comment to keep people away from animals because of this one unfortunate event, which was perpetrated by one person.

Thank you for your time,
Lee Sonko

From Nate Smith to David Ellsworth to you:

Nate sent me a list of some good pictures and videos of Crude Awakening / BLEVE. If you have more, please send them to me and I will forward them to Nate.

- David

(more…)

This Yellow Pages salesman walks into a bar and says, “Hi, I’m Lee Sonko from Valley Yellow Pages.” It’s still kinda weird but it seems that I’ve changed careers again, from

• Software QA engineer at Politzer and Haney, Course Technology, Softkey Intl, Shiva, Picturetel, MCI/Newscorp Internet Ventures, American Internet, Riverton Software Corp, BGS, Firefly, ADP and Wavexpress to
• Owner of “The Computer Guy”, computer repair and training company to
• Substitute teacher to
• Customer Support Manager and QA engineer at Wavexpress  to
• Co-owner of Safe and Secure SF,  disaster preparedness consultancy to
• Yellow Pages account executive.