Another one from the files of "Gee-I-wish-I-had-a-weird-news-blog." Last March, I stumbled on a blog post from Wired entitled "Science Creates Creepy Headless Donkey Machine." How can you not click on a headline like that?
Gist being, the folks at Boston Dynamics created a big robotic pack animal--a robot critter that can climb hills, navigate icy surfaces, jump, and run (and passage!), all while carrying stuff. But unlike a (real) mule or donkey, it doesn't need to be fed and doesn't get tired. Cool, right?
Only problem is, this thing is terrifying. As the Wired blogger correctly pointed out, it's headless. It also drones like an angry horsefly. And, to rank it even higher on the creepy scale, it reacts to its surroundings, giving it an appearance of eerie intelligence (see :35 in the video). As it was being developed for the Department of Defense, maybe that's the goal.
Seriously, click the link. Watch the video. Be prepared for nightmares.
It's not a horse. Or a donkey, pony, mule, or Zebra. But it is a large herbivore and it is weird.
A cyclist in Colorado very politely stopped to allow a cow to cross to the road on Monday. But the cow apparently had other ideas: it knocked her off her bike and stepped on her!
Could this be a case of retaliatory bike tipping? Read the story.
As the article notes, "Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance vice president Jason Vogel called the incident 'odd, rare and random.' "
Odd, rare, and random. That's what we're going for!
