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The programme is being funded by Darpa, the US military's research arm.
Earlier this year, Sandia National Laboratories awarded the contract to build the next generation of the hopper to Massachusetts-based robotics firm Boston Dynamics.
Researchers at Sandia have tried out the robot on a variety of different surfaces.
The semi-autonomous, GPS-guided gadget could be used for surveillance in urban environments.
Its developers say this could potentially reduce troop casualties.
Testing and delivery of the Precision Urban Hopper is planned for late 2010.
We talk to the star of Missing Link about the return of James Gunn to the Guardians franchise and the long-awaited finale to this Avengers era.
A lot of people died in Avengers: Infinity War, including a score of beloved characters on-screen and about, oh, 3.5 billion Earthlings off-camera and half of all life in the rest of the universe. But one of the most harrowing deaths was that of Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, the alien warrior with a heart of gold who traversed the universe as a Guardian of the Galaxy, only to meet an untimely end at the hands of her own adoptive father, the genocidal despot Thanos.
And while we can be pretty certain that the characters Thanos dusted will somehow come back to life in Avengers: Endgame, fans still don’t know if Gamora’s death will turn out to be final. We talked to Saldana about what the future holds for the character, how she feels about James Gunn returning to direct Guardians of the Galaxy 3, and her new stop-motion adventure Missing Link.
ESQ: Your character in Missing Link, Adelina, really reminded me of Gamora—they’re both adventurers, dealing with loss and collaborating with some really outsized male personalities. What drew you to playing characters like that?
Zoe Saldana: I feel like those have become easy characters for me to do. What I like is to collaborate with filmmakers and studios that really stand by a mission and that they try to honor it, I think that what [Missing Link stop-motion production company] Laika is doing is extraordinary. Every film that they’ve released I’ve seen, and I just love what they’re about and how they’re doing it. The stories that they write are stories that adults can watch because they’re complex. And I like to be a part of projects that take a long time to build, because they pay really good attention to detail.
A lot of characters died in Infinity War, but Gamora had one of the most personal and intimate death scenes. How did you prepare for shooting that, and what did it feel like to say goodbye to her?
In order for us to understand how evil of an entity Thanos is, it just made sense that we needed to see him sacrifice one of his children. He’s the ultimate terrorist in the galaxy, and I really appreciate the fact that [directors Joe and Anthony Russo] took it upon themselves to flesh out the relationship between these two daughters and Thanos. I don’t question when a character that I’m playing has to die if it makes sense. Yes, of course it’s painful, but I kind of separate my personal preferences, and I really accept and honor the destiny that my character has.
Have you seen the fans online who think that Thanos was right?
No, who are those people to say that?
Their perspective seems to be that humans are wrecking the planet, so the answer is that we need fewer humans. They may say he went about it the wrong way, but think that his basic idea was right.
Oh my god, they’re so ridiculous. No! I think that nobody should play god, not even the gods themselves. He’s a loony bin!
How did you feel about the return of James Gunn to the Guardians series?
I feel happy, what Disney did was absolutely amazing. The recognition that the action was very impulsive—they’re sending out such a strong message to young generations. Disney makes content for the younger beings, and they’re sending this message of redemption. I think it’s really important, especially if the person has taken into account their actions, has worked his way into rectifying what was done once it was brought to his attention, or her attention. I think that redemption really is the next step that we haven’t really discussed enough.
When he was initially fired, you and your co-stars were very vocal in your support for him, stepping up with the open letter. What made so strongly about advocating for his return?
I think it was important. He was our boss. I mean, Disney is all of our bosses, but James Gunn was like our captain. And even though our captain was fired, it felt like it would have been weird for us to not react to that, and not have a say, not make a sound. I think that we tried in our letter to just provide empathy for the situation, and disclose just how confused and upset we were as humans as that were indirectly involved in this matter. Also, I think it’s important to say that even though you work for these corporations, you have to take a stand when you feel like they’re misrepresenting your voice and your views on something. Autonomy is really important, too.
Did you have any worries, did you wonder if you would be a target for hate?
No, I’m not afraid of that.
Because I don’t live for what others think of me. And I do think that I’m the kind of person that tends to think before I speak. Social media can betray you, because everything sounds amazing—especially the more likes and the more followers you get, your ego is really inflated, and you think that you can say whatever you want and be untouchable. And that isn’t the case. You have to really watch what you say. For me, I’ve always been very mindful of that, one because I like to be very private in my personal opinions about things, and two because I’m aware that the films that I do primarily appeal to a younger audience. And I don’t want to be responsible, like directly and consciously responsible for saying something that they will misunderstand, and then practice in their lives and end up getting hurt.
The cast of Guardians of the Galaxy.
I know it’s probably top secret, but is there anything more for Gamora? Are we going to see you in Endgame or Guardians 3?
I don’t know, I hope so! But I’m not at liberty, unfortunately to say. And to be quite honest, I don’t even know what Endgame is going to be really about. It’s such a top secret project that even the cast is confused in terms of what is up and what is down.
Are there any particular steps that were taken to keep info from Endgame on lockdown?
My god, we were all lost! We had no idea what was going on, the actors. Nobody ever had a full script, you were just given sides like a day before you were supposed to travel to location to shoot, and by the time you would get there it turned out that those sides were inaccurate, they purposefully misdirected you, and now your sides are given to you an hour before you were supposed to be on set. That’s how they manage to keep this all—it’s crazy.
How do you respond to that as an actor, having things change on you all the time? Maybe you prepared for a certain scene but now things are going in a different direction. How do you deal with that?
No, I mean, it’s a little bit uncomfortable. But we’ve all played our characters before, right, so we understand the game. We understand why this is happening.
Everybody hates having to stop reading ebooks, listening to music and playing Angry Birds during take-off. But it's not a fact of life; the FAA is rethinking its policy on using electronic devices during takeoff and landing. About. Bloody. Time.
According to a report by the New York Times, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is planning to take a "fresh look" at the ban on using electronic devices during taxi, takeoff, and landing. It is, however, not budging on phones; any changes will be for tablets, ereaders, MP3 players and the like.
Currently, every single device that needs to be approved for use on planes has to be tested on an empty flight —one at a time. What's more, that has to be done on every plane in an airline's fleet. No wonder no airline bothers changing the status quo; it would cost a fortune.
It was noticeably absent from the Baxter Bulletin and I'm curious as to why? Why wasn't a sample ballot printed by the paper?
As I stood in line waiting to vote, I talked with others who also noticed that the newspaper failed to perform this helpful function and some remarked on the general uselessness of The Bulletin.
I knew what the issues were, and who I wanted to vote for, but some folks need last minute info, and taking the time to read over an amendment while in the voting booth is not right.
Speaking of amendments, you can tell that the lawyers have a outsize influence on the wording of proposed amendments. The "short" version, which precedes the actual amendment is often so filled with legalese as to be NOT understandable.
We need more "plain English" and less legalese so that us ordinary folks can understand what is being proposed!
Renewable energy has a lot going for it. In our case, we have solar panels on our house roof and a hybrid electric car — a Chevy Volt. Five years of trouble-free driving and no stopping for gas.
Before this car, we had a 2007 Prius that was passed on to a grandson for college. Still running on the original battery.
Needless to say, our electric bills are a pleasure today.
We recycle everything possible and don't pollute our earth, which makes us feel good. Hope this lifestyle becomes the norm.
Being fairly new to Mountain Home, I was very disappointed in The Baxter Bulletin for not publishing any articles on the local candidates, other than the mayoral candidates.
I'm sure you're thinking I could have done my own research. But what is I didn't have access to the internet? I would prefer to get my information from my local newspaper.
I did vote, but not know what some of the records and ideas of the candidates are, it was a stab in the dark.
Another thought on voting, I would like to see states go back to paper ballot, mailed out to all registered voters. We fill out the ballots and mail them back in. Think of the money saved, not to mention we wouldn't have to worry about machines being hacked or tampered with.
Now that the hysteria of the elections is over, I have two requests: 1) Has the America I love so much, really stooped to the level of spoiled brats by allowing their elected officials to call their opponents names in paid TV Ads?
And 2) Is our previously respected FDA now no more than paid monkeys of the Pharmaceuticals? We already have a major opioid epidemic in America; so the solution is to make a new tablet that is 1,000 times stronger. God help our precious children.
Do you ever wonder why we need Term Limits? So politicians begin to put the people and the Country they are hired to represent ahead, of their wallets.
Obscure DC "Machine-Funk" channels Miles, Funkadelic, and Prince to "Wicked" Effect.
Wicked Witch, aka Rick Simms, was Washington DC’s answer to Prince in the late Seventies/early Eighties. Simms is a multi-talented musician who has been recording and releasing his own material since 1978. Chaos 1978-82 contains seven tracks, including two remixes, all exhibiting the distinct talents of Wicked Witch.
“Fancy Dancer,” which was recorded in 1985, kicks things off in high style. It is a roiling groove somewhere out of the depths of Miles Davis’ Pangaea, updated for the electro-funk era. Simms plays everything on this track, and it is definitely one of the highlights of the collection. The sticker on the front of this CD describes the music as “machine-funk” and I would agree with the statement for this track especially.
“Erratic Behaviour” was recorded in 1983 and displays a strong Funkadelic influence. “Wars of Armageddon” from Maggot Brain specifically, which is certainly as good an influence as any. “X-Rated” was the B side to this 1983 single, released on his own Infinity Records. “X-Rated” shows a pronounced Funkadelic influence as well. It could be an outtake from their final LP, The Electric Spanking of War Babies (1981).
“Vera’s Back” is a tour de force, clocking in at 12:02. It was recorded in 1978 by Paradiagm, Simms’ six piece fusion outfit at the time. It sounds very 1978 fusion to be honest, with some confusing outer-space spoken word business about “Vera” coming back. An interesting period piece to be sure.
Two versions of “Electric War” round out the seven tracks, and it really is not Wicked Witch’s finest song. I prefer the instrumental version with prominent Bootsy Collins’ style bass poppin’, to the tortured vocal version. “Electric War” was recorded in 1984, which was a strange year for music, despite the huge hits of Springsteen and Prince. I think Wicked Witch were searching for “their” sound at the time. The final song on this collection, a previously unreleased remix of “Fancy Dancer” shows them finding their groove in glorious fashion.
Wicked Witch was probably a sensation in DC back in the day, I wasn’t there to know. But listening to these tracks gives the uninitiated a glimpse of a truly individual talent.
NEW YORK – August 22, 2012 – Syfy will develop the cult UK classic adventure-sci-fi series Blake’s 7, teaming with Georgeville Television and producer Marc Rosen.
Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Green Lantern) will direct the script by Joe Pokaski (Heroes, CSI).
Originally created by Terry Nation (Dr. Who), Blake’s 7 premiered on the BBC in 1978, running for four seasons (52 episodes). The series centered around hard-core renegades and criminals who escape from a prison planet, battling humans and aliens alike – and becoming heroes.
Google’s Play store now features audiobooks. There is a good chance that you only think of the Play store as Google’s app store for Android, but it has long features support for movies, TV shows, magazines and ebooks, too.
The new audiobooks feature is launching in 45 countries and nine languages.
Like on similar platforms, you can hear a preview of the audiobook on the Play Store and audiobooks are automatically part of your family library, so you can easily share your audiobook copy of “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” with everybody in your household.
One nifty feature here is the integration with the Google Assistant on your phone and on Google Home. Using this integration, you can simply ask the assistant to read you your book and it’ll do that. You can also ask some basic questions about the book (“Who is the author?”).
Google’s pricing looks to be competitive with similar offerings from Amazon, for example, and — at least for the time being — many of the most popular titles are available for under $10, including Michael Wolff’s Fire & Fury ($8.99) and John Grisham’s The Rooster Bar ($9.99).
The supported languages are English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, Korean, Japanese and Polish. The 45 countries where the service will be available include most of Europe, as well as North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, India and a select number of Asian countries.
The KULR-8 sales team is among the most experienced and professional in the business. We can help you utilize the power of television and the World Wide Web to reach your target consumer. Our SWX channel, which stands for Sports & Weather Right Now, is rapidly growing. We're committed to providing Montana and northern Wyoming with the best in local sports coverage and continuous weather updates from the best meteorologists in the area. SWX broadcasts local high school sports, such as football, basketball, volleyball and a host of local events in our community. In addition to advertising your products on the air, we also have a variety of sponsorship opportunities, banners, pre-roll and mobile ads that can showcase your business 24/7 on KULR8.com and our KULR-8 News mobile app. Establish your brand in the marketplace, and let people know about your products and services through a company that strives to help your business grow. For more details on cost-efficient advertising with KULR-8, please call our General Sales Manager Tim White at (941) 662-6530.
Iceland's central bank chief David Oddsson has refused to step down despite calls from the prime minister and the public for him to quit over his role in the country's financial collapse.
One of the three governors resigned on Friday and the prime minister told state radio the government would not tolerate the other central bankers remaining.
Prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir has asked Mr Oddsson in writing him to leave. In a letter posted on the bank's website on Sunday, Mr Oddsson said he would not do so.
He said he had personally warned repeatedly of an impending crisis for the banking system.
Mr Oddsson was previously prime minister for more than a decade before becoming the head of the central bank.
Iceland's financial system collapsed in October after its leading commercial banks failed and trade in its currency virtually ceased. Since then it has received a $US10 billion financial aid package led by the International Monetary Fund.
Following a series of violent protests, the government collapsed in late January and was replaced by an interim centre-left government formed by the Social Democrats and the Left-Greens.
If you can't beat them, mock them.
Apparently that's the theory behind the new advertising campaign for WNET, the PBS station that broadcasts on channel 13 in New York, that launched this week.
Posters for mock-reality shows like "Knitting Wars," "Bayou Eskimos," and "Married to a Mime" are on rotation at approximately 185 New York subway stations. The shows have promotional Twitter feeds, too. Like for @RonPickles, star of "The Dillionaire."
To make the ads seem authentic, WNET even invented channels that the imaginary series could plausibly air on like "Insight and Arts," "The Know Channel," and "Wonder Network."
The copy that alerts viewers that the series are not actually airing reads: "The fact you thought this was a real show says a lot about the state of TV. Support quality programming. Join us at thirteen.org."
Jeff Anderson, an executive creative director at CHI & Partners New York, decided to take on the WNET campaign as pro-bono work. "It's pretty scary when you look out there and see what's on television these days," he told TV Rage. "If New Yorkers want an inspiring and educational option, they need to get behind a network that we sometimes take for granted."
WNET senior director for communications Kellie Specter told the New York Times that she hopes this campaign presents Channel 13 as "an island in a sea of madness."
The public broadcaster spent an estimated $45,000 on the campaign in honor of its 50th anniversary.
An ad for "Knitting Wars."
Ball position doesn't change much with irons, woods, as long as you have the ball left of center (if you are right-handed), you're in good position to hit all short and mid irons.
Q: In your article about topping woods, you say position the ball back in your stance; for instance where you would play you play your 5-iron. Where is the proper place to play all your irons? Some say it should be in the middle of your stance and some say it should change with every club. Bill.
A: The ball position doesn't change that much with your irons, as long as you have the ball left of center (if you are right-handed), you're in good position to hit all short and mid irons.
When you start to get to your longer irons the ball is positioned a little more left of your short- to mid-iron position.
The only time the ball needs to be moved forward is when you're hitting your driver and then the ball position is off your left instep.
A good thought is when you're taking your address position to the ball, look at the buttons on your shirt. The buttons on your shirt should be behind the ball at your setup position. By having this position you know that the ball is left of center.
So when taking your setup, have your buttons right of the golf ball and you are all set to go. If you don't wear a buttoned shirt, center of your chest.
An investigation into President Trump's sister Maryanne Trump Barry's finances came to a close upon her retirement as a federal appellate judge, the New York Times reports.
Background: Barry's finances came under scrutiny when an investigation by the New York Times alleged the Trumps were involved in tax schemes that increased their inherited wealth. Barry was co-owner of a company established to have the family's money flow through, per the New York Times. She was also nominated to an appellate court by President Clinton in 1999.
Depending on its upkeep and historical significance, a haunted house can actually be sold for a substantial amount of money.
For example, in 2010 the famous Amityville Horror House was put on the market for $1.15 million and was sold in less than three months.
On the other hand, some homeowners find it difficult to sell a property that supposedly houses uninvited guests. A 2000 study from Wright State University found that haunted properties are on the market an average of 45% longer than comparable properties.
If you truly believe your house is haunted, don't disregard your beliefs before looking into state laws. Over twenty states across the US currently require all parties associated with a home's selling process to disclose any information about its past, whether the house has experienced a fire, mold, or something more ghostly. Failing to do so could result in a lawsuit because while some home buyers would be thrilled at the idea of living in a haunted house, others would just as soon run in the other direction upon hearing the news.
Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters!
If you find it difficult to sell a haunted house, consider ways of de-spookifying it. Sometimes just sprucing up the yard or applying a fresh coat of paint to the home's exterior will do the job, but if all else fails, contact a medium that can visit your home and "clear" out the space.
In an article by HGTV Front Door, David Franklin Farkas, owner of househealing.com, devotes his time to ridding residential and commercial properties of spooky specters. Thanks to services provided by Farkas, owners who were previously struggling to sell their home have received offers in sometimes only a matter of days.
According to Reuters, haunted properties typically sell for ten to twenty percent less than comparable homes in the area. Depending on the prospective buyers though, a haunted house may, in fact, be in demand. Ghost hunters or Halloween enthusiasts have been known to offer well above the asking price to grab hold of home with a ghostly past.