Robotic Invasion!!!

A. and I were chatting this evening about how it's interesting when people dismiss a lot of sci-fi, such as that dealing with A.I. stuff, as completely "fantastic" or "far-fetched," or extremely futuristic. A huge amount of sci-fi from previous time periods has since become reality, and a lot of other technology like robotics is very advanced and growing exponentially during our time. Then, of course, is everything that has already been done but not released to the public. Technology has been growing at unbelievable rates in the last century or so...who knows how far it will go even in the next 20-30 years or so. In the spirit of our conversation I went looking at videos of robots on YouTube, just for fun.

First, a scary one. Swarms of tiny robots that can assemble themselves into bigger robots and do things like "self-heal." Famous last words spoken by the scientist-- "There is no risk." NOOO!!! Robots take over the world!!!



Next, Japanese female androids...always a classic.



Some dancing robots...



And finally, just for fun, PUPPY VS. ROBOT SUPERFIGHT!!!!

Ninja Warrior!!!

Well, after spending the last hour ONCE AGAIN trying to log in to my blog (shows how much I post....), I feel compelled, despite my frustrated exhaustion and resentful feelings toward the internet in general, to post in this secure little blog that was quite alike a moated fortress just minutes ago.

I had some juicy morsels saved up from books I've been reading lately, but instead, in rebellion against academia, I will post a couple of clips from the latest obsession in my household. Seriously, these Japanese shows, Ninja Warrior and Unbeatable Bansuke, along with Battlestar Galactica, keep my faith in television entertainment. Maybe that's sad, but man do I love it. Not sure how much these random clips I found on YouTube exemplify it, but one of my favorite things about these shows are the off-the-wall, melodramatic subtitle translations of the commentary.

This first shows a shot at the next-to-last course by one of the most frequent, and most popular competitors on the men's side:



This one shows, I believe, the first woman to make it through the entire series of courses in Women of Ninja Warrior. I saw it in the G4 American version with subtitles... but I'm amused by this British (I think?) commentator.



Here is one of the obstacles on Unbeatable Bansuke, the stilt walk (there's also a handwalk, a crazy bike obstacle course, and many other random obstacle courses that are very nearly impossible to beat). I couldn't find video of this awesome old guy who actually beat the stilt course, but I did find one of this kid doing it:



Yep, this is how I choose to waste time. Among other things.