Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot to ferry wounded to safety

I wonder why they needed to make him look like Bear? Why not make it look like a CareBear?

Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot to ferry wounded to safety

The U.S. Army is currently testing a robot designed to locate, lift and carry wounded soldiers out of harm’s way without risking additional lives. With feedback from its onboard sensors and cameras, the Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot (BEAR) can be remotely controlled through the use of a special M-4 rifle grip controller or by hand gestures using an AnthroTronix iGlove motion glove. This equipment would allow a soldier to direct BEAR to a wounded soldier and transport them to safety where they can be assessed by a combat medic.

Patent Office Agrees To Facebook’s “Face” Trademark

Nice one Zuck. I understand the protection of IP, however there are some limits on what is reasonable.  Like how the name "the Facebook" is actually stolen from the halls of residence's facebooks. Funny enough you didn't actually trademark the name "book", which would have been better in attacking Lamebook.


"The U.S. Patent And Trademark Office has sent Facebook a Notice of Allowance, which means it will grant the 'Face' trademark to the popular social networking site. Facebook now has three months to pay an issue fee before they officially own the word. From the article: 'For all intents and purposes today’s status update bodes well for Facebook’s hold over “Face” usages in “Telecommunication services, namely, providing online chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among computer users in the field of general interest and concerning social and entertainment subject matter, none primarily featuring or relating to motoring or to cars.”'"
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/24/2040247/Facebook-To-Own-the-Word-Face

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Lamebook

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Jury orders Seagate to pay $1.9M to former employee - Computerworld

We have a lot of wrongful dismissal cases in Australia, but I have never heard of wrongful employment.


Jury orders Seagate to pay $1.9M to former employee - Computerworld

"The jury in a Minnesota-based wrongful employment case delivered a verdict ordering disk-drive manufacturer Seagate to pay $1.9 million to a former employee who uprooted his family and career at Texas Instruments in Dallas to move to Minnesota for a job that did not exist. The man was supposed to be developing solid state drive technology for Seagate but was laid off months later. 'The reason that was given is that he was hired to be a yield engineer but the project never came to fruition,' the former employee's attorney said. 'They didn't care what effect it had on his career.'"

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Scientist Prof Frank Fenner dies aged 95

Scientist Fenner dies aged 95 - ABC News

"One of Australia's most renowned scientists, Frank Fenner, has died aged 95.

Professor Fenner is best known for his work in eradicating smallpox and the control of Australia's rabbit plague.

He and fellow researchers famously injected themselves with the myxomatosis virus to show it would not harm humans while devastating rabbit populations."

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This guy is one of my heroes.  I lived at Fenner Hall for 5 years, and I find this humble ultra-achiever nothing short of inspirational.  The Emeritus Professor is dead, long live is work and his memory. 

Textbooks should be included in tuition fees

What to do about students who refuse to buy their assigned text books?

There are a large number of students that photocopy text books wholesale. Is this any better/worse then downloading a DVD? Probably not. I am writing a text book of my own now, so I my position may might be biased. 

Yet I find the position somewhat conflicted.  While for many years I have been a fan of the GNU GPL (freesoftware) movement, and copyleft ideals. I have written about the creative commons before also. 

I am a big supporter of applying as much of these ideas to education.  Wikipedia is of course the biggest example of open sourced knowable. MIT open courseware is another great example. The University of Michigan has yet another like portal of their own. Closer to home, USQ is also jumping on the bandwagon . Maybe legally free is the way to go. 

Sometimes, you have to find away around the attitude
rather than try to fight it head on.

Even still, I don't feel so good when I see students with 500 pages of photocopied text book in class.  But then at the same time I think "at least they turned up and at least they've got something in their fingers."  Most students are too lazy to even turn up to class. 

Moreover, I am sick of trying to  teach students without text books. They damage their own learning, and failing them is not sufficient incentive to change behavior. As it is, we (educators) are pressured not to fail too many. So even if the entire bell cure is poor, that does not mean we can afford to fail everyone that is "not yet competent". Only the most poor portion will fail. It is quite common to see educators try to jocky everyone else across that magical pass line. 
So I propose this, FORCE new text books on everyone and include it in the cost of tuition. To make it more appealing, we should ensure that as this is a mandatory requirement it is likewise included in your HELP loan, meaning that your education isn't draining up front to those that can not afford it. Indeed, this is more inline with the spirit of the HECS system anyway. 

Potential problems:
* This may/will create an oversupply of used text books. An immediate counter argument is that students really ought to be keeping a professional library if they are serious about their education and their profession anyway. 

* What if a student fails and must repeat? - Then you ought not have to repurchase, this can be found from internal records however. 

* Other pros/cons listed below by your comments. Email me at phillipjustinwong@gmail.com

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Typing exams is better than handwriting?

Why can't students type their exams
under normal exam conditions?

I am thinking that we should allow our students to type their theory examinations. At work we have the facilities to lock the machines down so they can't communicate, block the net, limit USB access or do anything other than type in Word. 

It might be an optional thing. Students that WANT to type, can. Those that WANT to write, can. That way there is no penalty from switching from one system to another. A friend has raised the issue that the examiner (ie myself) may have a bias towards marking the typed essays.I personally don't feel that way because already as it is, some students have clear hand writing and others do not. Unless I really can not read what is written, I don't penalize messy hand writing. And there certainly isn't any bonus to writing crap responses in beautiful and clear script. 


My only concern would be, what would be the educational impact of this??