Technologically engineered arm good as new

Scientists have made a quite impressive progress lately, managing to take signals from the brain of monkeys and men and using them to control mechanical limbs.

However, this is only the beginning.

Darpa, the Pentagon’s blue sky research division, plan on developing a “neurally controlled artificial limb that will restore full motor and sensory capability to upper extremity amputee patients. This revolutionary prosthesis will be controlled, feel, look and perform like the native limb.”

Just like the arm Luke Skywalker gets in “Empire Strikes Back” after Vader chops it off, but the term of finalization for this ambitious project is only 4 years away, according to Darpa.

How about its functions? How accurate would the arm be compared to a natural one?
“The limb would have to be wired directly into the peripheral nervous system, instead of the brain-controlled arms being demonstrated today, Darpa tells researchers interested in working on this “Revolutionizing Prosthetics” project. Under agency guidelines, the arm will need enough finesse to pick up a raisin or to write in longhand. It needs to be sensitive enough for the wearer to handle day-to-day tasks in the dark. And the limb will have to be strong enough to lift 60 pounds at a time.”
“The final product [an above-the-elbow prosthetic arm] must be ready for human clinical trials… [and] sufficiently mature to enter the appropriate approval processes for general medical use by the end of 24 months.”

This project truly signifies what “giving a hand” to all those who need it means…very interesting, indeed…

- source : DefenseTech -

WoW trick saves real-life boy

A moose attacked a boy and his sister, according to a Norwegian news site.

The boy reportedly “taunted” the moose away from his sister, then “feigned death” until the moose lost aggro and left. “Just like you learn in level 30 in World of Warcraft” the boy is quoted as saying.

Frankly, if he would have managed his DPS in the first place, he wouldn’t have taken aggro at all. Maybe his sister pulled unintentionally and if that’s the case, I bet she lost a lot of DKP with that n0obish action … I mean the raid was close to being wiped, come on!

Click here for the original article! (You won’t understand anything unless you speak Norwegian, but you can always try)

Omg, if this really is true, then it’s bloody amazing. You see, WoW DOES have an educational value. Play on, fellow gamers, play on!

P.S. Speaking of DKP, I must remember to show you a brilliant movie about an Onyxia raid wipe in WoW.

Activision + Vivendi + Blizzard = LOVE

Yes, you heard it right!

Everybody know that Activision is currently battling the grand EA for the position of “the Man” in video games publishing, hitting the jackpot with titles like Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk or Assassin’s Creed.

Activision has joined forces with Vivendi and thus Blizzard, famous father of the Diablo, Starcraft and Warcraft (World of Warcraft has over 8 million players worldwide) creating Activision Blizzard, a new company. The catch is that Vivendi will be the primary shareholder for the new Activision Blizzard, with 68% of the shares, so that (oh, the irony!) when the deal actually gets finalized Vivendi will have actually bought Activision.

“The details on the Blizzard-Activision part of the deal are as follows: <Note: quotes are taken from the FAQ on Blizzard’s website)

• Activision will change their name to Activision Blizzard.
• “We do not anticipate any difference in Blizzard’s operations as a result of the combination. Joining forces with Activision will create a stronger and more diversified company that we anticipate will benefit and strengthen both brands.”
• Brand names on boxes will remain the same. i.e WoW will continue to be branded Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. There will be no change to the logo.
• “A: There will be no changes in the way Blizzard operates. All of the people, processes, and philosophies that have made Blizzard so successful will be preserved.”
• Development on current roster will continue as normal at Blizzard (WoW: Wrath of the Lich King, StarCraft II and unnaounced games – Diablo 3?), although no word on whether this will be the case across the other Vivendi games.
• There will be no sharing of development teams across Blizzard and Activision.
• Release schedules will not change as a result of the deal… so Starcraft 2 could still come out some time in the next decade.
• The deal should be finalised by mid 2008″

This only represents the part of the deal concerning Activision and Blizzard, further details concerning Vivendi still being awaited.

PS3 for $299 a reality!

Omg! Here’s a piece of information I bet would interest even the most bored viewer of the console-wars (console war, what-ever!) :

Sony has put forward a new offer which states that if you purchase a PS3 with the Sony Credit Card, you get 100$ worth of credit, thus making the 40GB PS3’s price go down to 299$.

Go here if you’re interested in signing up!

That just about puts to rest all possible arguments implying that the Playstation 3 is too expensive for purchase. If you’re into buying a gaming console, you most likely know a little bit of something about games and stuff (and the fact that Nintendo’s Wii doesn’t output in HD – High Definition, that is – ) so you will probably be interested in the Xbox 360 from Microsoft or the Playstation 3 from Sony.

The fact is, a couple of months ago, everyone was saying that they couldn’t buy the PS3 because of it’s horrendous price compared to the 360. Now, taking advantage of this offer, every model of the Ps3 is 50$ cheaper than it’s Microsoftian sibling, without even taking into consideration the Xbox Live subscription, which is another 50$ for U.S. residents, and 80$ (80 – ZOMG!) for Europe residents or the difference in out-of-the-box features.

The scene is definitely set for an all-out battle this Christmas, and it will be very interesting to follow both Microsoft and the audience’s replies.

P.S. I think this change deserves a new head-to-head review of the two gaming systems, don’t you? When I have some time, I’ll work on it.

What a bike!

The ORYX bike is an innovative concept brought to us by designer Harald Cramer that combines ergonomy with style to create a truly unique bike.
“The frame and handle bars are connected via a frame-pivot, guiding cables through the frame as one turns. One of the innovations is the crank which is designed like a ring and mounted in the inside of the frame by two ball bearings.” – Come on, just say it already, it’s PRETTY =)!

“The whole bike itself is made of carbon composite, which is baked into the frame during the molding process.” – Wow, a baked bike. Do you bake bikes like you would a cookie? Cause I’d just love to bake a bike like that at home (the Cookie-Bike, I would call it :X).

“In time trial races, like the Contre la Montre at the Tour de France, every second counts, that’s why Oryx possesses an identical pair of wheels which can be removed by the push of a button.” – Imagine accidentally pushing the button during the last minute of the Tour de France, when you’re in the lead. Nice, huh?

Anyways, stylish bike. I’d definitely enjoy riding that through the hole-filled (or should I say emptied?) streets of Bucharest…

Euro 2008 draw -> Group of Death

Today, the Euro 2008 groups have been drawn. They look like this:

Perfect…just perfect! It is INCREDIBLE how the draw created such a “Group of death” that nobody had anticipated was possible. What easier teams than France, Italy and Holland to meet at the tournament? Here’s what the coaches had to say about the draw of Group C:

FRANCE

Coach Raymond Domenech:

“I have to say the way the seedings are worked out is madness. Not to have Italy, as the world champions, in the first pot is crazy. I would have also preferred to have played in Austria and not Switzerland because we would have been hassled less. I am not happy, nothing I wanted has worked out.

“In fact, I don’t think we’re the happiest four coaches here after the draw and the way it worked out. We would love to have avoided the three other teams but now we’ve got it we’ll have to deal with it.”

NETHERLANDS

Coach Marco van Basten:

“At the last World Cup we were already in the ‘group of death’. I don’t know what we’re going to call this one. We’re playing the finalists of the last World Cup so we’ll have to make sure we’re very well prepared.

“I think everything went normally and legally in the draw so what can you say?”

ITALY

Coach Roberto Donadoni:

“We didn’t have an easy qualification group and we haven’t been lucky here either. I had a gut feeling on the way here it would turn out like this, but you cannot change the rules and when you get to a final, every opponent is tough.

“I spoke with Marco before the draw and told him I thought we were going to play each other and thats the way its worked out. We have to meet France again which is tough — but every past match is history. We now look forward to the next game.”

ROMANIA

Coach Victor Piturca:

“For us it’s a very nice, easy group. We’re up against the world champions, the World Cup runners-up and Holland, who we know are very good. I hope it will be an extraordinary experience and why shouldn’t we be one of the teams to make it through to the quarter-finals?”

Birthday of a nation

Today is the national day of Romania, the country I’ve been born in and lived in for the past (almost) 16 years of my life.

Happy birthday, Romania!

Let me tell you about 1917-1918. It was the period of Greater Romania (Romania Mare – picture 3). The first province to join Romania was Bessarabia (Basarabia), in March 1918, following the “October Revolution” of 1917, which brought about the collapse of the Tsardom of Russia. After Ukraine tried to annex the province of Bukovina, it requested help from the Kingdom of Romania, which sent an army to protect the Bukovinans. Using the right to self-determination, Bukovina joined the Kingdom on the 27′th October, 1918. In November a national gathering is convoked in Alba-Iulia and on the date of December 1’st 1918, 1200 delegations of the Romanians in Transylvania (yeah, Dracula, that’s the place!), in the presence of a popular gathering of over 100000 people, decide the unification of Transylvania with the Kingdom of Romania, thus uniting all the historical provinces populated by Romanians, creating the largest Romanian country ever to exist in time of peace.

It was the second time that the unification of every territory occupied by Romanians was achieved, the first being Michael the Brave’s (Mihai Viteazul – picture 2 – Mishu FTW! ) ) conquest in 1600, ended one year later, after his death.

Romanians have always been good patriots and close brothers, but sometimes we forget that. The sad thing is that it takes an important or even critical event as a war or a cataclysm to make us remember that we are all members of the same community. Patriotism is mostly forgotten during peaceful times, people going as far as joking and making fun of their own compatriots when they talk of the spirit of this country, a spirit that has helped us keep our own national identity during the years that have passed from the conquest of Dacia by the Romans, in 106 A.D.

Even then, Dacia was an important province and it was said that the leader Burebista (82-44 B.C.), who managed to unite the Northern part of the Thracians (Romania’s territory of today) under his rule, defeating the Romans and the Celts, along with other peoples, managed to bring together the greatest army from there to India, seeding fear among his enemies.

The Romanian countries fought in order to deny the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Ages access to Europe, refusing their advance countless times. Names like Mircea cel Batran (“Mircea the Elder”), Stefan cel Mare (“Stefan the Great”) Vlad Tepes (“Vlad the Impaler” – yep, that’s him) or Iancu de Hunedoara (“John Hunyadi”) struck a great deal of fear in the turks. Romania acted as a guardian of Europe, as the “Gates of Christianity” who stayed firmly shut in front of the Ottomans.

Romania has been an important country during the last couple of centuries, too. Bucharest, it’s capital, was even called “Little Paris” in the interbellic period. Although important territories were lost in the forties, first Bassarabia and Bukovina were lost to the Soviet Union after the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, then a large part of Northern Transylvania to Hungary and the Cadrilater to Bulgaria, separating the Romanians politically once again, the spirit is still alive in the heart of every true Romanian, be him under the name of “Romanian”, “Moldavian”, “Ukranian” or any other such nationality, because we all have common ancestors, common roots.

One cannot forget his roots, or he will never fully understand who he really is.

I am a Romanian, and I’m proud to say it. Now, who are you?

The court decides

“All rise, please!

After careful deliberation by all the judges (that is, me, myself and I), it has been decided that the current theme better reflects the personality of the writer, under his pseudonime of M0ony, so it shall be awarded custody of this blog for an indefinite period of time.

Changes and modifications may be applied at a later date, at the discretion of the afore-mentioned owner (M0ony, that is), but only if these changes would somehow improve the reader’s experience of the blog.

The reader is allowed full “critical opinion” ownership, under the rules and regulations of the United Blogs of the Blogosphere, with which the blogger (me) must comply.

The afore-mentioned law implies that the writer is subject to further inspections by the readers, who must regularly check to see if the blogger respects the terms of this document by visiting his blog as often as they can.

The court is adjourned!”

What can I do but comply with the facts stated in the text? The law is law, after all…

ShiFt happens

As you may have noticed, I’ve changed the template.
These are times of civil unrest (actually, no they’re not, but let’s pretend it is so) so one must adapt to the changes of the environment, as the true animal he is.
I’d like to know your opinion on the new theme, any advices and criticism is highly cherished and recommended.
Don’t know if I’ll stick with this one yet, because I am currently trying out more interesting and never-before-seen-by-the-average-Joe-that-only-surfs-the-net-for-one-hour-a-week (wow, that’s gotta be the longest one I’ve come up with by now – give it up for t3h M0ony and his not-so-funny-or-functional-thingy/thingies) features for the blog.
I’ll keep you informed! I hope you’ll do the same, either by mail, or by comments.

Historical?

Yesterday I went to the football match Romania – Albania with 6 of my closest friends.

Of course we got there half an hour before the start of the game and we had to trample on (and get trampled on) a crowd of fans to get some tickets (and of course we twice sat in the wrong line, finally getting tickets for the 1st stand, although we wanted to go to the 2nd one). Some were jumping over the fence, some were selling overpriced tickets…everyday Romania, what can I say?

We managed to buy tickets 5 minutes after the start of the game. We entered the complex and started running towards the stadium. After passing a couple of gates, we found out one of the two 1st stands was full, so we had to run another quarter-stadium to get to the second one. Finally getting there, we were checked (for weapons or other dangerous items?) and I was asked to leave a water bottle there. Of course I had two with me, so no harm done there. The trouble was the others had gone on without me, so for about a minute I had to guess the way they had taken, before finally finding them. We finally found 7 seats in a row in the corner of the stadium, put some paper on them (see, the Math notebook DOES help) and started watching the game, 10 minutes in.

I’ve nothing to say about the way the lads played. Wonderful! Half-time found Romania having a goal’s advantage over Albania, and us on our feet, singing and shouting the team on. Absolutely wonderful! We were clearly dominating the game, creating lots of opportunities and calmly controlling the ball. Gabriel Tamas scored in about the 53′rd minute from a well-taken-torpedo-like-struck free kick, making it 2-0 for us. Waves begun by the fans started traveling along the stadium, most of them being stopped by the rich guys over at the 0 stand. The atmosphere was of elation and complete happiness. 10 Minutes later, Daniel Niculae managed to score the 3rd goal for Romania but a couple of minutes later, Albania put one in, the score then being 3-1. Just one minute later, Gigel Bucur sent a good pass to Niculae, who managed to score again for 4-1. Bogdan Lobont, the goalkeeper for the Romanian national team, managed some spectacular saves for which the fans repaid him by shouting his name when Romania was awarded a penalty in the end of the match, wanting him to take it. He didn’t take it, but Ciprian Marica did, and he did it well, taking the score to 5-1 (‘70). One minute later, another penalty was awarded for Romania, forcing the referee to give the second red card for Albania’s team. The crowd once again shouted Lobont’s name, but Dica took the penalty, setting the score as it would eventually be until the end, at 6-1 for Romania.

Everybody was singing, everybody was cheering, we were all completely satisfied with the result.

After the match was over, we stayed a couple more minutes to watch the fireworks that marked the Romanian qualification at the Euro 2008, but also the end of an era. An era in which “Lia Manoliu” was the national stadium for the Romanian team, an arena which I’m sure most of us will remember for a long time as a monument, maybe even as long as we live. The stadium is being demolished, the demolition symbolically starting at the end of the match. In it’s place a new one will be built, much bigger and much more modern.

After the match, going out of the stadium, we kept on cheering the win and the qualification of our national team with much joy. At the end of the day, I can truly say it’s been a very spectacular and special one, that I shall never forget for as long as I live, due to the win we managed, the qualification, the historical event of the demolition being started and the friends that were close to me. ROMANIA FTW!!!111!!oneone!!1!!