(YouTube Link)

Deep Green is pool-playing robot created by students at the robotics laboratory of Queen's University in Canada. Students have worked on it for the past three years, gradually improving its abilities against human opponents:

The system is currently playing at a better-than-amateur level. One current weakness, however, is with the break. The special purpose end effector is powered by a linear electric actuator, which can reach speeds of up to 3 m/s. For a strong break, however, a cue speed of ~ 15 m/s is required. The objective of this project is therefore to design an auxiliary subsystem for the end-effector to be used exclusively for breaks. The subsystem could make use of the current cue, or it could append an additional cue to the end-effector. It is likely that the subsystem will be actuated pneumatically, although other options may be considered. The subsystem must also be compact enough so as not to interfere with the other elements of the end-effector.

Link via CrunchGear

Weighing in at 400 pounds, this new design by Portland, Oregon custom bike builder Metrofiets is intended for mobile partying. Here are some of the features that owners Phillip Ross and Jamie Nichols included:

The cargo container is a metal keg bucket which holds two full sized kegs and 25 pounds of ice. Beer from the kegs run through a 50 foot cooling coil and then to your glass via two taps (made by Shimano and Chris King) which protrude from a wooden bar inlaid with HUB’s trademark lightning bolt.

A large, square rear rack is designed to fit a stack of pizza boxes. Below the rack is a sound system “pannier” with another lightning bolt inlaid wood panel casing and a speaker. The bike sports HUB’s colors, matte orange and black.

This party is entirely human-powered, with the help of nine gears — any more would allow a rider to go faster than would be entirely wise, explained Ross. Sturdy looking disc brakes and chunky tires with full fenders adorn both wheels.

http://bikeportland.org/2009/09/15/introducing-the-hopworksfiets-beer-pizza-music-and-true-portland-spirit-all-on-one-bike/ via Gizmodo

Image by flickr user Elly Blue used under creative commons license.

(YouTube Link)

The above video is a reconstruction of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik. Rebecca Boyle writes in Popular Science that computer scientists at the University of Washington's Graphics and Imaging Laboratory have been using Microsoft's program Photosynth to compile Flickr images of major landmarks in order to create 3-D digital models:

"The key difference is that Photosynth was aimed at doing a single monument or landmark, which meant that it was scaled to a couple hundred or a thousand photographs, after which it became too slow," said Sameer Agarwal, an assistant professor at UW who worked on the project. "We can now process truly huge data sets -- the big breakthrough here was being able to match the images fast."

A series of videos on the project Web site lets visitors fly through landmarks like St. Peter's Basilica, the Colosseum and Venice's San Marco Square. For much smaller Dubrovnik, you can see the whole city, including mountains in the distance.

Each video includes clusters of small diamond shapes, which represent each photographer and his or her vantage point.

http://www.popsci.com/gear-amp-gadgets/article/2009-09/building-virtual-cities-automatically-150000-flickr-photos

Image: Rick Watson, Kitten Rescue

Kevin Pereira of G4's Attack of the Show solicited contributors to a Keyboard Cat-themed art show and auction. Proceeds will go to the no-kill cat rescue shelter Kitten Rescue in Los Angeles:

In July, G4 sponsored an art competition, asking amateurs and pros alike to come up with their best masterpiece based on Fatso and his song. After selecting 18 winners, the network turned the works over to Kitten Rescue, who's auctioning them on eBay this month to raise money for their animal rescue efforts. Ranging from New Yorker-inspired covers to Warhol-esque shots, the works of art are definitely unique – and adorable!

eBay Auction

Link via Urlesque

The Daily Telegraph has assembled what it considers to be the twenty strangest ads ever placed on Craigslist. These include a chair that Ralph Nader once (possibly) sat in, a drunk clown, and a woman who would like to rent out her bathroom. Here's one for a vast collection of papal mitres -- Pope hats:

"Because of this terrible economy, I'm having to shut down my business. I have OVER 1300 Pope hats (replicas) that I REALLY need to get rid of. The pope hats came from China and are a little too small for most adult heads and are also irritating to the skin, so you would need to have long hair or wear a smaller hat underneath (just like the REAL POPE). Dogs do not like to wear these pope hats, but maybe a large cat or maybe a nice dog would wear one."

Link via Hit & Run

Image via flickr user Beechwood Photography used under creative commons license.

David Derbyshire writes in The Daily Mail that ancient Britons may have developed a sophistated land navigation system among various sites and markers. Amateur archaeologist Tom Brooks has analyzed 1,500 prehistoric sites and found a pattern:

He analysed 1,500 prehistoric sites in England and Wales and was able to connect all of them to at least two other sites using isosceles triangles - these are triangles with two sides the same length.

This, he says, is proof that the landmarks were deliberately created as navigational aides. Many were built within sight of each other and provided a simple way to get from A to B.

For more complex journeys, they would have broken up the route into a series of easy to navigate steps.

Anyone starting at Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, for instance, could have used the grid to get to Lanyon Quoit in Cornwall without a map.
Mr Brooks added: 'The sides of some of the triangles are over 100 miles across, yet the distances are accurate to within 100 metres. You cannot do that by chance.

At the link, you can see a map illustrating Brooks' hypothesis.

Link via Gizmodo

Image by flickr user Danny Sullivan used under creative commons license.

Photo: Hiroshi Sugimoto

Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photograher who takes pictures of electrical charges. His exhibit "Lightning Fields" is currently on display at the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco. Sugimoto uses a 400,000-volt Van De Graaff generator to directly apply electricity to film. The above image is entitled "Lightning Fields 128, 2008."

Artist's Website

Link via Gizmodo

Previously on Neatorama: Hiroshi Sugimoto's Henry VIII Photos

(YouTube Link)

Courtesy of the British Medical Asssociation, Wired has a collection of seven videos from the 1930s showing common surgeries. They're good demonstrations of what has changed and what hasn't in the past seventy years of medicine. The video above is of a Caesarean birth. Others include brain, ovarian, and tonsil surgeries. Note that these videos are medically graphic and not for the squeamish.

Link

Katherine Harmon writes in Scientific American that a Mississippi woman blind for the past nine years can see 20/70 after one of her own teeth was surgically implanted in one of her eyes:

To begin the months-long process, doctors removed one of Thornton's canine teeth—aka an eyetooth—along with part of the jaw and cut it all down to a shape small enough to replace the cornea. The doctors then drilled a hole into it to insert a lens. In order for the tooth to bind to the lens sufficiently, the implant spent a couple months in the patient's body. In Thornton's case, it was implanted near her shoulder.

To prep the eye to receive the tooth and lens, the doctors placed a cheek graft over the eye to promote moisture. The final tooth-lens product was removed from Thornton's shoulder and placed in the center of the eye, in line with the retina.

The MOOKP procedure was developed in Italy in 1963, and has been more common in Europe and Asia, but only about 600 operations have been undertaken. Given the small number of treatments, its safety remains unconfirmed, and other doctors have their reservations. "It requires a sizable team and several operations," Ivan Schwab, of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, told CNN. "It's just an extreme variation on techniques we're already doing."

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=an-eyetooth-for-an-eye-a-rare-trans-2009-09-17

Image: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

(YouTube Link)

The Webby Awards have been given by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences since 1996 for achievement on the Internet. Winners are limited to five-word acceptance speeches. The above video is a compilation of some of those concise and occasionally funny speeches. If you had only five words to say to the world, what would they be?

Via The Presurfer

A company called GreenSun Energy is developing solar panels that absorb particular parts of the light spectrum available even when the sun is not shining directly at them:

They say the key is the bright colors in hues to capture different parts of the sun's light spectrum.

GreenSun, the company behind the technology, says unlike conventional solar panels, these can produce electricity without direct sunlight.

It says the colored panels don't need to face the sun and can absorb dispersed light.

This means they can also harness energy on a cloudy day, although with less efficiency than on sunny days.

The company says production costs are kept to a minimum because they require less silicon.

There's a video at the link and it will play automatically when you click on it.

Link

Sarah Zielinski writes in The Smithsonian that Jupiter, as the largest planet in our solar system, occasionally pulls comets into its orbit. Sometimes, as with comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994 (pictured), Jupiter's gravity will even pull a comet into a direct impact. Zielinsky writes:

Astronomers from Japan and Northern Ireland, presenting their findings today at the European Planetary Science Congress, used observations of Comet Kushida-Muramatsu—from when it was discovered in 1993 and when it returned in 2001—to calculate the comet’s path over the previous century. They determined that the comet became a temporary moon when it entered Jupiter’s neighborhood in 1949. It made two full, if irregular, orbits around the planet, and then continued its travels into the inner solar system in 1962.

The researchers also predict that Comet 111P/Helin-Roman-Crockett, which circled Jupiter between 1967 and 1985, will again become a temporary moon and complete six loops around the planet between 2068 and 2086.

“The results of our study suggests that impacts on Jupiter and temporary satellite capture events may happen more frequently than we previously expected,” David Asher of Northern Ireland’s Armagh Observatory told the AFP.

Link

Photo: NASA

Image: Jones Soda

Gourmet soda maker Jones Soda has released five new flavors inspired by the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. They are Potion of Healing, Sneak Attack, Bigby’s Crushing Thirst Destroyer, Eldritch Blast, and Dwarven Draught. I hear that drinking any will add +2 to your constitution for 1d4 rounds.

Link via Geek Dad

The blog Funster Mental Floss has pictures of ten amazing playgrounds from around the world. Pictured above is the St. Kilda Adventure Playground in Port Philip, Australia. It covers four hectares of land and includes a beached pirate shipwreck and a submarine. It was built after World War II to help disadvantaged children in the area develop mentally and physically.

Link via Geek Dad

Image via flickr user Looking Glass used under creative commons license.

UPDATE 9/16/09: In the comments, Miss Cellania says that Funster copied the work of Mental Floss writer David K. Israel, so I have altered the link. Thanks for pointing this out, Miss C.

Photo: Jorge Orta, Studio Orta

Jorge Orta is a Paris-based Argentine artist noted for his work with PAE light cannons, which he uses to project images onto mountains or large buildings. The image above was projected onto the Evry Cathedral in France in 1996 and is called "Cardinal Cross." Other images at the link include projections onto Machu Picchu, inside the Aso volcano in Japan, and the Cathedral at Chartres.

http://www.studio-orta.com/artwork_fiche.php?fk=&fs=9&fm=0&fd=0&of=0 via Gizmodo