Garbage collecting Robots

How’s it h… I mean how’re doing? Fill your mug then fill that chair and I’ll tell you about garbage-pickin’ robots.  

A group of Italian researchers are testing a way to replace the garbage truck with a cute robot that can collect trash on demand. The robot called DustCart has been zipping through the streets of the city of Peccioli in the Tuscany region of Italy.

DustCart is part of a $3.9 million research program called DustBot  that aims to use robotics to improve urban hygiene. DustCart can not only collect trash but also gather data with on-board sensors that can monitor atmospheric pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide. The DustBot project started in 2006 is expected to end later this year.

The DustCart robot collects trash from citizen’s doors. In a demonstration by the scientists, a quick call summoned the DustCart to the door, where it asked for the personal ID number that identifies the user and tracks the garbage. The robot also asked to classify the trash as organic, recyclable or waste. It then opened its belly bin, collected the trash and zoomed out. The robot can avoid fixed obstacles since it has pre-loaded maps about its environment and sensors that can help avoid collision with other objects.

So far, DustCart is still in the prototype stage. The robot does not have the kind of rapid response time that will make it truly effective on crowded streets, say the researchers.

The DustBot has a pear-shaped body and zips around on two wheels. Remind you of anyone? Don’t say it!  Wonder if it’s got snow tires, eh? 

Bob

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Holiday hit for St Valentine's Day

What an absolutely splendiferous Valentine’s Day it is today and even more so because you and I have this chance to chat over a good cup of coffee. 

Here’s an interesting tidbit you may not be aware of… A tiny heart-shaped island in the Adriatic Sea has become a holiday hit for St Valentine's Day after being discovered on Google Earth. Even the uninhabited island's owner didn't realize how perfectly heart-shaped the island off the Croatian coast was until he was swamped with requests from lovers to stay there. 

'It has been incredible. We think it is the most perfect heart-shaped island in the world,' said Vlado Juresko, whose family owns the 130,000 square yard islet of Galesnjak, hastily renamed "Lovers' Island". 'Nobody lives there so if lovers really do want to spend time alone it's the perfect desert island. We always thought it looked a bit like a heart but since it's been on Google Earth everyone else has seen it too and the whole world seems to want to stay here.' 

Sounds like a great place to open a Tim Hortons…maybe even a Heart Attack Burger Restaurant. 

Q: Who sends a thousand valentine's cards signed, 'guess who'?
A: A divorce lawyer. 

Bob

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Fogo de Chão®

Thanks to Paul in Tokyo (ex-Chicago) for sending in this great restaurant review. Being a person of discriminating taste and gastronomic appreciation, I knew you’d want to know about it. It is called Fogo de Chao.

Fogo de Chão^® (fo-go dèe shoun) is an authentic Brazilian steakhouse chain. In 1979, Fogo^® began sharing the gaucho way of preparing meat in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Today, gaucho chefs still expertly grill 15 cuts of meat and offer continuous tableside service in Brazil and cities across the USA. 

It is best described as a fixed-price Brazilian steak house. At least, that's how they describe themselves. What it is, basically, is a giant all-you-can-wrestle-down-your-throat barbecue with linen tablecloths. Lunch is $32.50…$22.50 salad bar only and dinner is $49.50.

They offer a variety of 15 different types of meat, all of which are speared on giant skewers and flame roasted. But they don't bother taking the meat off of the spits in order to serve it. The dining room is stalked by a half dozen servers at a time, each one carrying a three-foot long skewer loaded with meat which they bring right up to your table and carve off generous sized samples for you.

Each diner is given a cardboard disc, exactly like a drink coaster, which you keep on the table in front of you. One side is red and the other side is green. Red means 'stop,' and when that side is flipped up, the severs ignore you. When you are ready for meat you flip the coaster to green.

Green sends the servers into swarm mode. Somehow they see it from across the room and sprint over to your table waving a three-foot skewer full of meat like maniacs and try to carve half of it off onto your plate. You have to practically beat them off with bread rolls.

The worst part is waiting for the guy with the type of meat you want to try. I was desperate to try the spicy pork sausages and the bacon-wrapped filet mignon, but I kept being accosted by servers with everything but those two selections.

A guy came by with about six pounds of top sirloin who didn't seem to want to take no for an answer. He kept asking me, "Are you sure? Just a little sample? Is very gooood!"

So I told him I would take just a bite-sized sample, where upon he carved off about 12 ounces onto my plate.

I was trying to save my appetite for the sausages and the bacon-wrapped filet mignon, but now I felt obligated to eat the sirloin. Since I still wanted the sausages and the filet I left the card on green and had to fend off a succession of determined servers.

I turned away the pork loin guy (but only on his second lap), the bottom sirloin guy, parmesan-encrusted pork guy, the bacon-wrapped chicken breast guy and the top sirloin guy again, who seemed to take personal offense that I hadn't eaten the gargantuan portion he originally gave me in four bites.

It was worth the wait, however, because when I finally got them, both the filet and the sausage were extraordinary.

They have a ridiculously huge salad bar, delicious appetizers and pricey wine by the glass, but suffice it to say most everything was excellent.

If you ever find yourself in downtown Chicago with a huge appetite and plenty of money to spend I can recommend it.

Thanks, Paul! Chicago’s a bit of a hike from Thailand though I suppose by the time I got there, I might be ready for one of those three-foot skewers!
Bob

Comment from Doug in Bangkok:

Hi Bob,

           For more on this fascinating subject read: God Is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World - by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

Regards

Doug

Bob’s Reply:

I’ll look for it.

Rev. Bob

Comment from Wayne in Quebec:

And it's usually the religious people who are the more racist and hateful. That's really what is in store for the world. There is even a school in the USA returning to segregation as a trial option.

Bob’s Reply:

Translation from a Quebec expression: “The more things change, the more they are the same!”

Dracula fish, bald bird among strange new species

New and Weird Southeast Asian Critters

G’day to you! See any weird or unexplained wonders on your way over there today? Boy, there are some strange critters in the world, aren’t there? Pour yourself a mug, snag a muffin, and I’ll tell you about some oddities we have here in Asia. For example, Dracula fish, a bald songbird and a seven-metre (23 feet) tall carnivorous plant are among several unusual new species found in the Greater Mekong region.

Other new finds among the 145 new species include a frog that sounds like a cricket and a "sucker fish", which uses its body to stick to rocks in fast flowing waters to move upstream, according to conservation group WWF. Better watch that one. It could be related to ambulance-chasing lawyers!

With fangs at the front of each jaw, the Dracula minnow is one of the more bizarre new species found recently in the Mekong River region, which comprises Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China's Yunnan Province. Discovered in a small stream in Myanmar, it is largely translucent and measures up to 1.7 centimetres long. Wait a minute…that could be blood-sucking lawyer-related, too!

It is not yet known whether the species is endemic to a single ecosystem within Myanmar, or spread throughout the region as a whole. I’m not about to go sticking my hand into any ponds to find out!

Other bizarre discoveries include the Bare-Faced Bulbul bird, which is bereft of feathers on the face and side of the head and has pale blue skin on the rear of the head and around the eyes. It lives in sparse forest on limestone karsts in central Laos.

Among newly recorded plants, the Nepenthes bokorensis plant, found in southern Cambodia, has a climbing length of up to seven metres, with pitchers that trap ants and other insects for food.

"The rate of discovery in the Mekong is almost without equal globally," WWF regional conservation director Stuart Chapman told AFP. 

"That's attributed to the enormous geographical and climatic range within the region, going from high altitude to dense tropical forests through to some of the richest freshwater in the world," he said.

"Undoubtedly this region is one of the richest in terms of its biodiversity, but it's also one of the most threatened." The Greater Mekong region is home to some of the planet's most endangered wild species including tiger, Asian elephant, Mekong dolphin and Mekong giant catfish, said the World Wide Fund For Nature.

Nong and I haven’t done as much exploring as we’d like to but we’re threatening to visit Nong’s youngest sister, Nak, who works for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) about four hours drive from here and close to the Myanmar border. On the way we pass through Kanchanburi, home of the famous Bridge on the River Kwai. I’ve walked across it and ridden on the Death Railway. The scenery on the other side of Kanchanaburi is quite ‘specky’ as well. Waterfalls, hot springs, resorts overlooking winding misty rivers with swinging bridges crossing them and a National Park with neat caves and relics from when the Japanese were building the railroad.  

By now, you should be ready for another cup of coffee, huh? Can I tempt you with a dunker? Better scoff it down before the bare-faced, bald-headed Bulbul gets hold of it!

See ya!

Bob

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Bona deum! Capulus quod crustulum?

Did you take Latin in school? If you did, you likely know that means “Good day, eh! Coffee and a pastry?” I couldn’t find either doughnut or muffin in my English-Latin dictionary but I knew they’d have pastry as in Italian or Maltese ‘pasticci’. Delicious, too.

So what’s with the Latin, eh, Bob? Fall and hit your head again, did you?

No, I just happened to be looking up the meaning of something and came across some up-to-date translations that I knew you’d want to know. Add some of these to your vocabulary and scare the intellectual daylights out of your friends…

Age. Fac ut gaudeam - Go ahead. Make my day!

Balaenae nobis conservandae sunt! - Save the whales!

Braccae illae virides cum subucula rosea et tunica Caledonia-quam elenganter concinnatur! - Those green pants go so well with that pink shirt and the plaid jacket!

Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris - If Caesar were alive, you'd be chained to an oar

Clamo, clamatis, omnes clamamus pro glace lactis - I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo - I'll have a pizza with everything on it

Di! Ecce hora! Uxor mea me necabit! - God, look at the time! My wife will kill me!

Fac me cocleario vomere! - Gag me with a spoon!

Fac ut nemo me vocet - Hold my calls

Fac ut vivas - Get a life

Heu! Tintinnuntius meus sonat! - Darn! There goes my beeper!

Huc accedit zambonis! - Here comes the Zamboni! (for hockey fans)

Machina improba! Vel mihi ede potum vel mihi redde nummos meos! - You infernal machine! Give me a beverage or give me my money back!

Magnus frater spectat te - Big Brother is watching you

Mater tua criceta fuit, et pater tuo redoluit bacarum sambucus - Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries  (I love that one, don’t you?)

Sane ego te vocavi. forsitan capedictum tuum desit - I did call. Maybe your answering machine is broken

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere - If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Sic friatur crustum dulce - That's the way the cookie crumbles

Tua mater tam antiquior ut linguam latine loquatur - Your mother is so old she speaks Latin

I tried to translate ‘Have you seen my snow shovel? And it gave me Vos animadverto meus snow rutila? Obviously the word ‘snow’ is not in the dictionary. Sounds like a good dictionary to me!

Habetis bona deum! - Have a nice day !

Robertus

Comment from Paul in Tokyo:

Well, I guess I could say Japan is one of the big players in the medical tourism field....as an exporter.  The national insurance here is wonderful, but costs are very high on things it does not cover such as a lot of dental procedures, cosmetic surgery and the like.  I know a few people myself who have gone to Thailand to have dental work done.

As for me, I like to spread my business around.  

Bob’s Reply:

With South Korea so close I imagine a lot of Japanese take advantage of that.

Bob

Medical Tourism

Well, how’s it going then? Keeping on the go? Better grab a coffee and take a load off. Y’know, as we get older…and I’m not saying you’re getting old, mind… we tend to spend more time buying medicine and going to get this treated or that looked at, don’t we? And, if we can’t get what we want here, then we’ll go somewhere else that’ll do it cheaper or faster. 

Like in Canada, eh… the average wait for an operation can be three months…six months… up to two years. So what do some Canucks do? They drive or fly to the US of A and get treated there. Of course they have to pay out of their own pocket but at least they get treated quickly. Depends how important it is to your physical and mental well-being.

Some Asian countries are even into Medical Tourism. For example, Bangkok Pattaya Hospital here in Pattaya, Thailand says that about 35% of its patients are foreigners. Granted, a lot of us live here but many come to Thailand strictly for medical treatment. Mostly that is from Middle Eastern countries – only a four-hour flight away. The hospital has a complete wing for Islamic patients. They also have an International section for European and other foreigners complete with English doctors.

Korea is also big into medical tourism. Having made a full-scale entry into global medical markets with the amendment of the Medical Service Act in 2009, Korea is positioning itself as a Global Healthcare hub, with a record of about 60,000 foreign patients visiting Korea per year.

Korea is proclaimed to hold a top-tier global competitiveness in the treatment of cancers, cardiac and vascular diseases, and spinal disc and organ transplantation.

The country is also considered a world leader in the fields of cosmetic surgery, dermatology, and dentistry. In addition, Korea's unique traditional medicine is recognized worldwide for disease prevention and an an alternative medicine. Nonetheless, the biggest advantage of Medical Tourism Korea is highly diverse and superior-quality medical services at reasonable prices.

So, if you’ve got an ache or pain and some spare bucks in your wallet, why not hop on over here to Asia. We’ll take good care of you – and your money!

Bob

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Guest Post: Aliens??? Chernobyl???

Thanks to Wayne for the info in today’s post! Help yourself to another virtual doughnut on the house, Wayne! What the heck, let’s all have one! Coffee?

Extremophiles challenge everything we thought we knew about the existence of life on Earth. Now, astrobiologists are questioning if some extremophiles are actually aliens living among us.

Extremophiles are organisms that thrive in the most extreme environments on Earth. From the sulphuric hot springs in Yellowstone National Park to the icy Antarctic, these creatures push the limits of what we know about biology, and force us to reevaluate the possibility of extraterrestrial life forms. Scientists are finding an ever-increasing number of these tough little organisms living quite happily in places where we previously believed no life could possibly exist. Extremophiles have even been found nestled in the heart of a nuclear reactor.

The Chernobyl fungus:

Scientists found a dark slime on the walls, living within the reactor and actually feeding on the radiation. The melanin-rich fungus increases rapidly in size when exposed to a high level of gamma rays.

The Pompeii Worm:

This extremophile keeps a cool head even in extreme temperatures. The Pompeii Worm finds a habitat on or near Black Smokers, hydrothermal vents on the sea floor, which give the worm its volcanic name.

Water Bears / Tardigrade:

The Tardigrade is considered the king of the extremophiles. These microscopic organisms look like clear gummi bears come to life. Tardigrades have been discovered all over the world, and in the most amazing places, from the peaks of the Himalayas to the sea floor, from temperatures approaching absolute zero to temperatures over 303° F.

Thanks, Wayne. Remember how alcoholics were always touted as ‘seeing things’ such as pink elephants. Well, could it be that the alcohol merely sharpened their visual senses to the point where extremophiles became visible to the naked, if somewhat bloodshot, eye? Theory works for me, eh! 

Bob

Comment from Tomas in Toronto:

I like to see a photo of Tiffany Tits (forgive me my spelling, I am not a native English speaker),  when she is a bigger scientist!

Bob’s Reply:

You’re bad, Tomas... but there’s nothing wrong with your English!

Bob

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Extremophiles

Hi there! Sit down and smell the coffee… Inhale… breathe out… inhale… breathe out. Good. Now that we’ve done our exercise for the day, let’s get on with it!  Extremophile is the word for today. My mother considers me to be an extremophile because I choose to live on the other side of the world. What’s so extreme about that, eh? Now, those Lolita girls in Japan, wowie! You’d almost have to class them as extremophiles, wouldn’t you think? Or maybe it’s the boys they hang out with.

Extremophiles are microbes that have adapted to extreme environments, such as Utah's Great Salt Lake. But new microorganisms can be found in everyday places, and scientists are showing school kids how to discover and name their own new species.

Thanks to advances in computer technology and DNA testing, scientists are identifying new species faster than ever. There are literally millions and millions of animals, plants and other living creatures all around us.

Elin Kelsey, a science writer, says, "Scientists are discovering more new species today than at any other time in history." She has written a science for kids book called “Strange New Species” and published by Maple Leaf Press in Toronto.

Among the latest extremophile discoveries are tiny microorganisms. Hundreds fit on the head of a pin, yet they're tough enough to survive in Utah's Great Salt Lake. "They've all figured out how to be able to survive in very high salt," says Lynn Rothschild, an astrobiologist at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. 

"It's so salty; it's 10-times saltier than the sea," Kelsey tells DBIS. This new organism is an extremophile, which means it likes to live in extreme environments. Sounds to me as though they need some Tequila-philes to go along with all that salt, eh!

Kelsey wants kids to learn about the new species that micro- and astrobiologists are discovering and to get involved. "I hope they really take away the wonder of the world, you know, that there are so many places in which life can exist and does exist," she says. 

She shows kids how to find new species using things they have a home. "It really just stretches the idea of where life can exist on Earth and where life could exist, perhaps, in the universe." 

Neat stuff, I say. Let’s turn the kids into scientists. Give them each one of those mini-notebooks, an Internet connection, a microscope and a dictionary of weird names. That ought to keep the little devils bust for a few years. There, see…I’ve already done your Christmas shopping list for you!

Since scientists seem to name their discoveries after themselves, I wouldn’t be surprised to soon see Ashley ants, Tiffany tites, LaVon lizards, Miquel mosquitoes and Vuong Vampire mice. I have no idea what a ‘tite’ is. Go ask Ashley. She discovered the darn thing!

Bob

Comment from Wayne in Valleyfield, Quebec:

Hi Bob,

I couldn't find a link to leave a comment Re: the Grey Wolf in Egypt.

So here is my comment.

Near Coteau du Lac, Quebec along the '#20 ' highway is a weigh scale for trucks and the snow removal crew piles up snow in the corner of the parking lot ( Sometimes 12-15  feet high ).

Ocassionally at day break there is a long lean Timber Wolf standing on the pile of snow watching the traffic go by. A very majestic sight indeed.

Wayne 'Bones' Clifford

Bob’s reply:

Just email me your comments, as you did Wayne, and I’ll post them. Blogposts are also on my SalubriousDay http://wwwsalubriousday.net website and there is a comment form there... and it is also run separately as a Blogger blog: http://coffeewithbob.blogspot.com/

Just for the ‘halibut’ as they say in the Maritimes, I also publish several other blogs in my spare time. Scroll down...

Bob

Comment from Paul in Tokyo:

How did you get on our campus to take photos?  

There is another term here, るりいーごん which reads as "Loli con" and refers to a Lolita complex.  The Lolita Fashion kids are a lot more innocent that the ones with the Lolita complex......many of whom seem to be aging high school teachers who get caught doing weird things a couple of years before retirement.

There is also a group here with "Mazza Con," Mother Complex, but I haven't even had my coffee yet. Too early to deal with that.

Cheers.

Bob’s Reply:

Opening up a Lolita Fashion shop in Thailand sounds like a great entrepreneurial venture for Neng. If it catches on, WOW! But the clothes would have to be made of much lighter material. Black T-shirts are in but Gothic black overcoats…? I can see the umbrellas catching on quickly since Thais love to stay out of the sun.

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Gothic Lolita Fashion in Japan

How’re you doing today? Fill your mug, try a virtual doughnut. I like the chocolate raspberry crème ones over there on the top shelf. Say, how’s your fashion sense? Let me tantalize you today with some Japanese fashions called Gothic Lolita.

Lolita fashion (ロリータ・ファッション, Rorīta fasshon^?) is a fashion subculture that is influenced by Victorian clothing as well as Rococo costumes. Lolita has made this into a unique fashion by adding a gothic look. Gothic black is often highlighted. Lolita fashion has evolved into several different sub styles and has created a devoted subculture in Japan. The Lolita look consists primarily of a knee length skirt or dress, headdress, blouse, petticoat, knee high socks or stockings and rocking horse or high heel/platform shoes and a period umbrella.

In Lolita fashion, it is generally accepted that "Lolita" does not refer to Vladimir Nabokov's famous novel. (Yeah, right!) Adherents present themselves more as Victorian children or porcelain dolls and prefer to look "cute" or "beautiful" rather than "sexy". While there are Lolitas who agree that the term 'Lolita' does not necessarily have anything to do with sex at all, the right to make this determination is up to the individual wearer. Uh-huh!

So there you go, eh. Go up to your granny’s attic, blow the dust off that old steamer trunk and root around. Parade around tomorrow in some Victorian gear and you’ll be part of the latest, hottest, hippest fashion. Send me a picture if you don’t get arrested first!

Bob


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New African Wolf Discovered

Hello there! Nice to see you today. I see Madge is already filling your mug for you. Choose a treat and we’ll jaw a little. In case you missed it, scientists studying genetic evidence have discovered a new species of wolf living in Africa.

The researchers have proved that the mysterious animal, known as the 'Egyptian jackal' and often confused with the golden jackal, is not a sub-species of jackal but a grey wolf.

The discovery, by a team from Oxford University's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), the University of Oslo, and Addis Ababa University, shows that grey wolves reached Africa around 3 million years ago before spreading throughout the northern hemisphere. The new wolf is a relative of the Holarctic grey wolf, the Indian wolf and the Himalayan wolf.

Professor David Macdonald, an author of the paper and Director of Oxford University's WildCRU, said: 'A wolf in Africa is not only important conservation news, but raises fascinating biological questions about how the new African wolf evolved and lived alongside not only the real golden jackals but also the vanishingly rare Ethiopian wolf, which is a very different species with which the new discovery should not be confused.'

Now, that is one skinny, sorry-looking wolf, don’t’cha think? It looks as though a couple heart attack burgers would do it some good. Wolves are not generally solitary animals. They live and hunt in family packs. I have read several good books about wolves by Farley Mowat and a lady whose name escapes me for the moment…but she is half Inuit and half Californian if I recall correctly. In both cases they studied wolves in the Canadian Northland. Fascinating glimpses into wolf culture and communications.

Hey, I bet I could wolf down another muffin. How about you?

Bob

Comment from Charisse in Banglamung:

Speaking of Migration there‘s a show on National Geographic Channel about the great migration from monarch butterfly, ants and those crabs from Christmas Island etc...Realy cool stuff.thanks so much for u blogs!

Bob’s Reply: 

Thanks, Charisse. Wish we got the Nat Geo channel.

February…or, the Month of Marvin

Hi there! How’s it going today? Grab a coffee and low-fat virtual doughnut and c’mon over here. I may not remember what I did yesterday but the brain can recall things from the dim distant past. Let me give you a for instance…

When I was a teenager growing up in Montreal (Watch those comments about ancient history, eh!) there was a Dee Jay named Dean Agopian, if memory serves which it may or may not. I believe he was on CFOX. Not that it matters. He was a funny guy but what I recall most about him was that he had trouble saying the word ‘February’. Most of us don’t pronounce the first ‘r’ or if we do it is almost silent. 

Dean had so much trouble with the word that he changed the name of the month to Marvin. He’d say, for example, “Good morning, it’s 8:32 on this Wednesday, the second of Marvin. Schools in the following areas are closed today because of blizzard conditions…” 

What does February mean anyway, Bob? 

Glad you asked… The month February is named after "Februa," an ancient Roman purification ritual. Occasionally girls are named February though if I was a girl I think I’d hate going through school with a name like that. Kind of like Johnny Cash’s song “A Boy named Sue”. Though now that I think about it, I did have a male music teacher in school and his name was Shirley. 

There’s even a song by Josh Groban “The Meaning of February”. Lucky for you, I’m not about to sing it.

Catch up with you tomorra!

Bob