Monstrous Furniture

Sin Based Oeconomy

Mass wedding in Egypt aims to avert sin

1 hour, 29 minutes ago

CAIRO (AFP) - Shy beneath her pearl-dotted veil, Zeinab clutched Reda's arm as they made their entrance as man and wife for the first time to the raucous cheers of all the other brides and grooms.

Some 200 couples had gathered in a Cairo stadium to tie the knot in a mass wedding organised by an Islamic charity whose main goal is to promote lawful unions between men and women in a bid to save them from sin.

"It is firstly a religious duty," said Hamdi Taha, head of Karam al-Islam and a professor of communications at the prestigious Al-Azhar university, stressing the importance of instilling religious values in young couples.

The alternative, he says, can be disastrous.

"Celibacy in Egypt is nothing but a time bomb ready to explode and tarnish the image of my country," said Taha, who is also a member of the ruling National Democratic Party.

He believes that "not getting married can lead to deviant behaviour" such as sex outside marriage, or to even the greatest taboo of all in this conservative society: homosexuality.

Taha's aim is to tackle what he sees as a worrying phenomenon developing in Egypt -- the ever-growing number of unmarried people.

For the mass marriage, busloads of brides and grooms headed for the stadium to the amused and sometimes confused looks of passers-by.

On arrival, the couples made their way to a rug-covered floor to a singer's repetitive chants in praise of God.

Several thousand family members packed onto the stadium benches watched from behind a police cordon as loved ones celebrated their union.

Since 2002, Karam al-Islam has organised collective weddings for a growing number of young people in need -- 2,300 couples across the country this year alone, including for around 100 Coptic (Egyptian Christian) couples.

Seventeen Egyptian businessmen donated furniture and household appliances for the newlyweds in a country where the exorbitant cost of marriage can delay the whole affair for years.

Tradition dictates that a man must offer his wife-to-be gold jewellery, pay the dowry, buy most of the furniture and also find housing before a father accepts to let his daughter go.

Such a financial tall order for young couples deeply affected by high rates of unemployment often means that tying the knot has to take a backseat in the list of life's priorities.

"We offer everything from lingerie to the wedding dress, so that nothing can prevent the marriage," Ibrahim Higazi, one of Karam al-Islam's patrons told AFP.

The charity says it received applications from 6,000 couples but that it gives priority to the poorest and to orphaned young women in a society where a traceable lineage is valued.

"We even had a 42-year-old bride this year," said one of the organisers.

"And look, we even have disabled couples," he said pointing to Mustafa Saad, 31, who was paralysed by polio, and his bride Naglaa Hamdi, whose arm was amputated after a work accident.

Mustafa, an economics graduate, is unemployed, and Naglaa works in a gas bottle factory.

"We received a kitchen with appliances, a bedroom set and curtains," said an excited Naglaa, her hair hidden beneath a white headcover like the vast majority of the brides.

Abdelsalam Ahmed 32, and his bride, Sahar Ettawwab, 26, say there was no chance that they could have got married without receiving financial assistance. "Maybe in 10 years' time," he said with a shrug of the shoulders.

A blast of music saw Hamdi Taha, not only the charity's president but also a star of the event, make his way through the benches to bestow a final act of goodwill for the day.

"All those who are unemployed, come and see us in a week," he told the happy crowd. "We will find you work opportunities."

The wedding guests filling the stadium cheered for that too.

Sex for survival
By Afif Sarhan in Baghdad

The US invasion and the sectarian war have
created thousands of widows in Iraq [AFP]
When Rana Jalil, 38, lost her husband in an explosion in Baghdad last year, she could never have imagined becoming a prostitute in order to feed her children.

A mother of four, Jalil sought out employment, but job opportunities for women had decreased since the US invasion.

She begged shop owners, office workers and companies to hire her but was treated with what she calls chauvinistic discrimination.

Within weeks of her husband's death, a doctor diagnosed her children with malnutrition.

Fighting tears, she recalled the desperation which led her to the oldest profession: "In the beginning these were the worst days in my life. My husband was the first man I met and slept with, but I didn't have another option … my children were starving."

She left the house in a daze, she recalled, and walked to the nearest market to find someone who would pay her for sex.

She said: "I'm a nice-looking woman and it wasn't difficult to find a client. When we got to the bed I tried to run away … I just couldn't do it, but he hit and raped me. When he paid me afterwards, it was finished for me.

"When I came home with some food I had bought from that money and saw my children screaming of happiness, I discovered that honour is insignificant compared to the hunger of my children."


Iraqi widows desperate

Prior to the US invasion, Iraqi widows, particularly those who lost husbands during the Iran-Iraq war, were provided with compensation and free education for their children. In some cases, they were provided with free homes.

However, no such safety nets currently exist and widows have few resources at their disposal.

According to the non-governmental organisation Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), 15 per cent of Iraqi women widowed by the war have been desperately searching for temporary marriages or prostitution, either for financial support or protection in the midst of sectarian war.

Nuha Salim, the spokesperson for OWFI, told Al Jazeera: "Widows are one of our priorities but their situation is worsening and we are feeling ineffective to cope with this significant problem. Hundreds of women are searching for an easy way to support their loved ones as employers refuse to hire them for fear of extremists' reprisals."

She said the NGO has documented the disappearance of some 4000 women, 20 per cent of whom are under 18, since the March 2003 invasion.

OWFI believes most of the missing women were kidnapped and sold into prostitution outside Iraq.

Although few reliable statistics are available on the total number of widows in Iraq, the ministry of women's affairs says that there are at least 350,000 in Baghdad alone, with more than eight million throughout the country.


Bitter trade

As Iraqi families continue to fall on hard times, some have been forced to make the most painful of decisions – selling their daughters.

Abu Ahmed, a handicapped father of five who is himself a widower, sold his daughter Lina to an Iraqi man who came to Iraq to "shop" for sex workers. Abu Ahmed said he could not afford to buy food for his other children.

He told Al Jazeera: "I'm sure that whatever she is, at least she is having food to eat. I have three other girls and a son and what they paid me for Lina is enough to raise the remaining ones."

Abu Ahmed had been initially approached by Shada, the alias of a woman living in Baghdad, who sought young women for Iraqi gangs running prostitution rackets in neighbouring Arab countries.

She told Al Jazeera that her role was to convince young women from impoverished families that a better life awaited them beyond the country's borders.

She said: "Families don't want them and we are helping the girls to survive. We offer them food and housing and about $10 a day if they have had at least two clients."

"Our priority is virgin girls; they can be sold at very expensive prices to Arab millionaires."

Shada said she sleeps in a different house every few nights as armed groups have marked her for trial and assassination.


Escape from Jordan

OWFI's Salim says cases like Lina's have become very common as poverty is increasing in Iraq and desperate families sometimes sell their daughters for less than $500 to traffickers.

But increasingly, young Iraqi women arrive in neighbouring capitals to find that prostitution carries a heavy and dangerous price.

Suha Muhammad, 17, was sold to an Iraqi gang by her mother, herself a prostitute, after her father was killed.

When she arrived in Jordan, she was gang-raped by four men who told her they were teaching her the tricks of the trade.

She told Al Jazeera she had been sold to a gang that caters to VIPs in Syria and was often shuttled to Amman, the Jordanian capital, for high-profile clients.

After six months, she escaped: "I ran away and an Iraqi family helped me by driving me to the immigration department where they helped me get a passport to return to Iraq.

"My aunt is now taking care of me in Baghdad. She never imagined that my mother could sell me, but unfortunately women in Iraq are not important and respected."


Traffic

Mayada Zuhair, a spokesperson for the Baghdad-based Women's Rights Association (WRA), said Iraqi and Arab NGOs are trying to monitor the trafficking of young women from the war-ravaged country to neighbouring destinations.

She told Al Jazeera: "We are trying to find out the fate of many widows and teenager girls who were trafficked. Unfortunately it is not an easy process and without international support, funding, and resources, we fear more young Iraqi women will be taken abroad to work in the sex trade."

In the meantime, however, prostitution remains the only option for Nirmeen Lattif, a 27-year-old widow who lost her husband in an attack on Shia pilgrims south of Baghdad.

When she turned to her husband's relatives for financial support, they could not afford to help her.

She says she tries not to think of the gravity of what she does or the dishonour it carries in conservative Muslim society.

"I think of my children, only my children; without money we starve in the streets."

Source: Al Jazeera

Momus Koons

Passions: Deferred patricide = absent motherhood

The Cult of Differentiation

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Doctors at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital said they would attempt to separate two-year-old twin girls who are conjoined at the chest and abdomen.

Surgery on Yurelia and Fiorella Rocha-Arias of San Jose, Costa Rica, is expected to take place in late November, after their skin has been stretched to cover the large gap where they have been connected.

The survival rate for separation surgery for twins joined primarily at the chest - known as thoraco-omphalopagus twins - is about 50 per cent, doctors said Thursday. But rates vary widely, depending in part on the extent of heart defects.

"We hope to send home two girls who are healthy and happy," lead surgeon Gary Hartman said. "I can envision these girls, a few years from now, flipping through a photo album and calling mama and saying, 'Look mama! This is a picture of us when we were connected."'

Since arriving in San Francisco on July 25, the girls have been receiving weekly injections of sterile saltwater into balloons placed beneath their skin. This procedure should stretch their skin to compensate for the hole that surgeons will cut into their abdomens.

The girls are connected at the right atria of their hearts, the chamber that receives blood from the rest of the body, and they share some blood and a single liver.

At their age, Yurelia and Fiorella may be stronger and quicker to recover than younger twins; before coming to California, they were only hospitalized a few times for colds and respiratory infections.

But, doctors warn, their muscle and skeletons had more time to fuse than younger twins who undergo surgery, possibly complicating the procedure.

Because of their face-to-face positioning, the girls are unable to walk, and their backs are becoming crooked. Although they reach for things together and play peacefully, caregivers say the toddlers are increasingly willful and want to do things by themselves.

Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Frank Hanley said it was impossible to say how long the twins would live if the surgery did not take place.

"It's an unfathomable question," he said. "As they mature, one is probably going to grow faster than the other, and the discrepancies will grow. They can't even walk together now, just stand up. It's more about quality of life."

If the surgery goes well, the girls face more operations to correct heart and lung problems, and psychological care. Costa Rican media have followed the girls, and it's unclear how they would adjust to relative normalcy.

About five separation surgeries are performed annually in the United States, according to Packard data. On Aug. 29, doctors at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia separated one-year-olds Matthew and Andrew Goodman, who shared a liver, pancreas and other organs.

The Genital Cloak

Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
LiveScience.comSat Sep 22, 9:20 AM ET

Scientists have discovered a real gender-bender of a bug, a species in which most females impersonate males.

Past research had already revealed the male bugs possessed fake female genitalia.

"We ended up uncovering a hotbed of deception," said evolutionary biologist Klaus Reinhardt at the University of Sheffield in England. "Nothing like this exists anywhere else in the animal kingdom."

Reinhardt and his colleagues investigated remote and dangerous bat caves in East Africa for the bloodsucking African bat bug (Afrocimex constrictus), a close relative of the bed bug. The bats were reportedly hosts for Ebola and other lethal viruses.

"We had to work in containment suits with full-faced respirators in sweltering temperatures for hours at end," Reinhardt said.

Sex among bat bugs (as with bed bugs) is violent. During copulation, males of these species pierce the abdomens of their mates with their genitals and ejaculate directly into their blood.

The researchers originally set out to investigate bat bugs in the hopes of shedding light on "one of nature's strangest phenomena — why males had female genitalia," Reinhardt said.

Unlike bed bugs, male African bat bugs have bogus female genitals—a fact the scientists freely call "bizarre." Past research found they mate with each other as well as with females. Although the sham genitals are convincingly intricate, they do not have a covering over them as real female genitals do.

Surprisingly, the scientists have now discovered that female African bat bugs practiced gender-bending also by impersonating males. Only one out of six females possessed conventional female genitals, while the rest had genitals resembling the fakes seen on males.

By masquerading as males, females enjoy less sexual attention. Given that sex leads to wounding in these bugs, Reinhardt and his colleagues suggest avoiding the trauma of sex makes sense. Indeed, the researchers discovered females that impersonated males had far less fewer than more conventional females.

As to why any females still retain conventional genitalia given the wounds they accrue—"no idea," Reinhardt told LiveScience. Normal females might lay more eggs, "but in order to address this question you would need controlled lab studies, and we have not yet succeeded in breeding these animals."

It also remains a mystery as to why males possess sham female genitals. Scientists think the males might genitally stab any adult bat bug, so one conjecture as to why males evolved bogus female genitals involves guiding stabs to relatively safe parts of the anatomy.

"Our results suggest that the battle of the sexes is a very powerful evolutionary force which can result in very bizarre adaptations," Reinhardt said.

Reinhardt and his colleagues will detail their findings in a forthcoming issue of the journal American Naturalist.

Sperm Import Controls

Fri Sep 21, 10:36 AM

By Maria Cheng, The Associated Press

LONDON - For American parents looking for donor sperm to produce blond, blue-eyed Scandinavian babies, the search just got a little trickier. A ban on sperm from all European countries with exposure to mad cow disease means U.S. sperm banks are running low.

The May 2005 decision by the Food and Drug Administration effectively blocked donors from Denmark to the United Kingdom. And while some sperm banks have had enough frozen stocks to cope with demand, they are now facing shortages.

"We still have a little bit left, but not much," said Claus Rodgaard, manager of Cryos International, a Danish-based sperm bank with an office in New York.

"We're not here to promote people to have blond, blue-eyed babies, but if those are the kinds of characteristics you're looking for, then Danish sperm is good for that," Rodgaard said. "That's all we have in Denmark."

Scientists say the ban is not justified.

"The consensus in the United Kingdom is that this is a silly ban," said Dr. Allan Pacey, an andrology expert at the University of Sheffield and secretary of the British Fertility Society. "There's no evidence to show that mad cow disease can be transmitted in human semen."

The human form of mad cow disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, is mainly transmitted after people eat infected meat. In rare cases, the disease has been spread by contaminated surgical equipment or in transplants of brain tissue. There has never been a documented case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob being passed on after a sperm donation.

Pacey said concerned doctors could always screen potential donors to see if they might be at high-risk for mad cow disease, but that a blanket ban was unnecessary.

Dr. Gianpiero Palermo, an associate professor at Cornell University's Center for Reproductive Medicine, agreed. "I'd be more worried about genetic diseases," he said.

Diseases including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, or bacterial infections like chlamydia would be far more likely to be spread by sperm donors, doctors said.

Rodgaard said the FDA has been asked to reconsider the ban, but there has been no sign it will be lifted soon. "It's a completely random decision," he said, pointing out that even though Canada has reported mad cow cases, "you are still allowed to import all the tissue you want from Canada."

For the moment, the best option for American parents desiring children of European stock may be to travel to Europe. "We just have not been able to import any more Scandinavian sperm," Rodgaard said.

Palermo said the ban has not had a big impact.

"There's absolutely no difference between American and European sperm," he said. "If you are looking for a specific type of donor, we can find whatever genetic qualities you want in the U.S."

When Wars Save Lives

50 minutes ago

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) - A 10-year-old hunting ban and the ongoing insurgency have brought about a boom in the populations of animals including leopards and bears in Indian Kashmir, wildlife officials say.

A crack down on gun ownership at the start of the rebellion and the risk of being caught in the cross-fire between militants and troops have largely kept poachers out of the forests in the revolt-hit region.

As a result, "there has been (an) increase in Kashmir's wildlife, leopards and black bears in particular," said wildlife warden Rashid Naqash.

Naqash said the numbers of rare bird species were also increasing and a scientific survey would be launched to provide figures.

"The reason being a strict ban on hunting, besides (which), poachers no longer dare to go into the forests for fear of getting caught in the cross-fire between militants and security forces," he said.

The latest assessment provides some rare good news for the Himalayan region, where demand for items such as bear skins and shawls made from the hair of antelopes had left a number of mountain species seriously endangered.

The anti-India Islamic insurgency that broke out in Kashmir in 1989 has left more than 42,000 people dead by official count. Human rights groups put the toll at 70,000 dead and disappeared.

At the start of the rebellion, locals were ordered to hand in their guns or run the risk of being caught with them and treated as insurgents.

"It meant there were few weapons left to shoot animals and birds," says Naqash.

In 1997, the government banned hunting and the trading of endangered animal furs. In May this year fur traders were ordered to hand over rare hides to be destroyed.

"This step will further protect the wildlife as poachers know even if they kill an animal they will not be able to sell its hide," said Naqash.

Other wildlife officials said there had also been a marked rise in the numbers of rare musk deer and markhor goats.

They said that although it was difficult to count birds, "rare and indigenous species like the black partridge and the pheasant have increased by a minimum of 50 percent since 1990."

Last year a record high of more than 600,000 migratory birds visited Kashmir.

But the population increase some animals have enjoyed has meant others, such as the rare Kashmir stag or hangul, face more predators.

"Leopards are praying on hangul as their (leopard) population has increased. We will not be able to stop these attacks unless some measures are taken," said A.K. Srivastava, the region's wildlife chief.

He said his department had asked the federal government for approval to fence protected areas after the hangul population dropped to just 150 from 200 in the past decade.

A rise in attacks on humans is another negative effect of Kashmir's increasing wildlife population.

Srivastava said animals had killed some 36 people over the past two years and wounded 217, resulting in eight orders to kill leopards and bears.

"My men could kill only one leopard. They have failed to kill others as leopards are very fast runners," he said.

Your New Slave

Anthropological Humour

God sued over pestilence and terror

Wed Sep 19, 11:32 AM


WASHINGTON (AFP) - A court in Nebraska is being asked to cast judgement on the ultimate judge -- God.

State lawmaker Ernie Chambers filed a lawsuit Friday against the Almighty -- acknowledging he/she goes by numerous aliases -- for causing "fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues" and other alliterative catastrophes.

The suit, Chambers vs God, asks the court for a "permanent injunction ordering defendant (God) to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terrorist threats" which affect innumerable persons, including Chambers's constituents.

It asserts that God is "the admitted perpetrator" of such acts and said that God's omnipresence gives the local Douglas County District Court jurisdiction in the suit, adding that God's omniscience eliminates the need to issue a formal notice of the lawsuit.

Chambers told local media he filed the suit to make a point about frivolous lawsuits frequently seen in US courts, citing a recent one against a judge.

He asked the court to award him an unspecified summary judgment against God, or, in the alternative, issue a permanent injunction against God engaging in the damaging acts cited in the filing.

Neither God nor his/her spokespersons could be contacted for comment.

The Scent of Apocalypse

Mystery illness strikes after meteorite hits Peruvian village

2 hours, 30 minutes ago

LIMA (AFP) - Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area, regional authorities said Monday.

Around midday Saturday, villagers were startled by an explosion and a fireball that many were convinced was an airplane crashing near their remote village, located in the high Andes department of Puno in the Desaguadero region, near the border with Bolivia.

Residents complained of headaches and vomiting brought on by a "strange odor," local health department official Jorge Lopez told Peruvian radio RPP.

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized, Lopez said.

Rescue teams and experts were dispatched to the scene, where the meteorite left a 100-foot-wide (30-meter-wide) and 20-foot-deep (six-meter-deep) crater, said local official Marco Limache.

"Boiling water started coming out of the crater and particles of rock and cinders were found nearby. Residents are very concerned," he said.

...at no time are we ever in such complete possession of a journey, down to its last nook and cranny, as when we are busy with preparations for it. After that, there remains only the journey itself, which is nothing but the process through which we lose ownership of it.

--Mishima Yukio Confessions of a Mask

Vegetable Teratology

Please visit this website. It made us feel optimistic.

The intangibility of miraculous natural phenomenon that occur in remote, exotic places is where I depart as a creator of objects of simulation. These objects represent physical fantastic experiences, uncommonly encountered and predominantly unknown by the world today.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - No More Workhorse Blues

The Latest Conspiracy Against America's Only Great Politician

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
September 11, 2007 12:50 PM

Proving that anyone really can file a lawsuit, serial plaintiff and convicted online ID thief Jonathan Lee Riches has launched a claim against the U.S. Open and tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams.

In handwritten papers filed last week in U.S. District Court in Virginia, Riches claims that the tennis balls used at the recent U.S. Open in New York were comprised of "electrons and neutrons stolen from my head" and that Venus and Serena Williams "told me they want to eat my head for supper." Riches also says he taught Venus to play table tennis in county jail.

Riches currently resides in federal prison in Salters, South Carolina, where he is serving time for his role in an Internet identity theft scam that lured its victims to a phony AOL site. He has become so infamous for whiling away his days in the slammer by filing outrageous lawsuits that there is now a Wikipedia page devoted to his efforts.

Riches previously sued Michael Vick, claiming the disgraced Atlanta Falcons quarterback helped bring down Pan Am Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland. He's also filed claims against President Bush for implanting a computer virus in his body and sued the entire Internet for abetting identity theft -- the crime of which he is convicted.

Riches may be an unsuccessful Web scammer, but he's not lacking for imagination. He once sued Barry Bonds, claiming the San Francisco Giants' slugger used Hank Aaron's bat to crack the Liberty Bell.

Riches will have lots of time to dream up more lawsuits. He's not scheduled to be released from prison until 2012. Carlos Fleming, the Williams sisters' agent, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

To read a list of his crimes and lawsuits, visit here

Technology for a Gerontocratic Society part II

Japan eyes robots to support aging population

Wed Sep 12, 11:44 AM

By Masayuki Kitano

TOKYO (Reuters) - It looks like a washing machine on wheels, but the bulky contraption vacuuming the hallways of a Tokyo high-rise is a robot.

Japanese researchers hope that robots like this one will be the answer to a pressing question hanging over the country -- how to cope with an aging population and a declining labor force.

The vacuuming machine developed by Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd is already cleaning floors in about 10 buildings around the country, including a 54-floor skyscraper in central Tokyo.

The device operates at night after office workers have gone home. It takes elevators to move from one floor to another.

"The elevator is in cleaning mode. Please do not board," an automated message warns human passengers as the droid's wheels whir to life and the robot rolls inside.

Such robots capable of operating in homes, offices and other venues outside factories are still rare even in Japan, a powerhouse in the field of robotics and home to roughly 40 percent of the world's industrial robots.

Japanese researchers are racing against time to build robots smart enough to serve the needs of the elderly in a country in which 40 percent of the population will be over 65 by 2055.

As Japan's population grows older and its labor force shrinks, researchers say new types of robots will play a major role as there simply won't be enough people to do these jobs.

"In the type of aging society that we foresee, the situation will likely get to the point where there will be little choice but to get some help from them (robots)," said Isao Shimoyama, dean of the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Information Science and Technology.

SMART ROBOTS

Shimoyama is among a group of University of Tokyo researchers who are working with counterparts from seven leading Japanese firms -- including Toyota Motor Corp, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd -- to develop robotic and information technology that will lead to a new generation of robots in the next 15 years.

"If you leave clothes lying around, a robot might pick them up for you and put them in the washing machine," Shimoyama said. "Once they are dry it might fold them up and put them away."

Prototypes of new robots capable of performing mundane tasks will be unveiled in 18 months.

Such machines do not need to be humanoid, although robots that resemble people have some advantages, said Shimoyama, who researched humanoid droids earlier in his career.

Two-legged, humanoid robots such as Honda Motor Co Ltd's ASIMO would likely have an easier time climbing up stairs inside homes than a robot that moves on wheels, developers say.

But it will be some time before such devices make their way into people's homes.

"They may look smart, but they are still quite stupid," Shimoyama said. "I don't think they will ever be as smart as humans."

While safety is an obvious concern, robots also need to be sensitive to people's needs.

Researchers at Fujitsu Frontech Ltd and Fujitsu Laboratories responsible for developing "enon," a guide and patrol robot designed for use in shopping malls and corporate facilities, are working on this.

Enon, which has a humanoid upper body but no legs, is equipped with a touch screen on its chest and space in its belly to carry loads weighing up to 10 kg.

In guide mode, it will detect a newcomer and approach the person with a nod and a greeting: "Are you a visitor? Hello."

Visitors requiring directions can point to icons displayed on enon's chest screen. If the restroom icon is pressed, the screen will display a map that shows the way.

The robot will then face and point in the direction of the restroom, although it won't actually walk the visitor there.

Enon is now in use at four locations in Japan, including a shopping mall near Tokyo. One goal might be to make it more helpful for the elderly.

"People who work in the transportation sector often ask whether we can build a robot that will find elderly people who look lost in train stations, and ask them if they are all right," said Toshihiko Morita, director of Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd's autonomous system laboratory.

"Actually that is hard to do, very hard," he said.

(Additional reporting by Emi Foulk)

Technology for a Gerontocratic Society Part I

Wed Sep 12, 7:04 PM

By Matt Slagle

RICHARDSON, Texas (AP) - David Hanson has two little Zenos to care for these days.

There's his 18-month-old son Zeno, who prattles and smiles as he bounds through his father's cramped office.

Then there's the robotic Zeno. It can't speak or walk yet, but has blinking eyes that can track people and a face that captivates with a range of expressions.

At 43 centimetres tall and about three kilograms, the artificial Zeno is the culmination of five years of work by Hanson and a small group of engineers, designers and programmers at his company, Hanson Robotics. They believe there's an emerging business in the design and sale of lifelike robotic companions, or social robots. And they'll be showing off the robot boy to students in grades 3-12 at the Wired NextFest technology conference Thursday in Los Angeles.

Unlike clearly artificial robotic toys, Hanson says he envisions Zeno as an interactive learning companion, a synthetic pal who can engage in conversation and convey human emotion through a face made of a skin-like, patented material Hanson calls frubber.

"It's a representation of robotics as a character animation medium, one that is intelligent," Hanson beams. "It sees you and recognizes your face. It learns your name and can build a relationship with you."

It's no coincidence if the whole concept sounds like a science-fiction movie.

Hanson said he was inspired by, and is aiming for, the same sort of realism found in the book "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," by Brian Aldiss. Aldiss' story of troubled robot boy David and his quest for the love of his flesh-and-blood parents was the source material for Steven Spielberg's film "Artificial Intelligence: AI."

He plans to make little Zenos available to consumers within the next three years for US$200 to $300.

Until then, Hanson, 37, makes a living selling and renting pricey, lifelike robotic heads. His company offers models that look like Albert Einstein, a pirate and a rocker, complete with spiky hair and sunglasses. They cost tens of thousands of dollars and can be customized to look like anyone, Hanson said.

The company, which has yet to break even, was also buoyed by a $1.5 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund last October. The fund was created by Gov. Rick Perry in 2005 to improve research at Texas universities and help startup technology companies get off the ground.

Hanson concedes it's going to be at least 15 years before robot builders can approach anything like what seems to be possible in movies. Zeno the robot remains a prototype.

During a recent demonstration, Zeno could barely stand and had to be tethered to a bank of PCs that told it how to smile, frown, act surprised or wrinkle its nose in anger.

Robotics, Hanson believes, should be about artistic expression, a creative medium akin to sculpting or painting. But convincing people that robots should look like people instead of, well, robots, remains a challenge that robot experts call the "uncanny valley" theory.

The theory posits that humans have a positive psychological reaction to robots that look somewhat like humans, but that robots made to look very realistic end up seeming grotesque instead of comforting.

"Nobody complains that Bernini's sculptures are too darn real, right? Or that Norman Rockwell's paintings are too creepy," Hanson said. "Well, robots can seem real and be loved too. We're trying to make a new art medium out of robotics."

So just how did Hanson end up with two Zenos, anyway?

It all goes back to when his wife, Amanda, gave birth to their first child and Zeno the robot was already in the works.

They rattled off several names to their baby boy, but it wasn't until they whispered "Zeno" that "this look of peace fell over his face; it was like soothing to his ears," Hanson recalled.

"There was no way we could give him any other name. He chose Zeno as his name," he said.

That was just fine with Amanda.

"I thought that it was very endearing, very sweet," she said.

The similarities go beyond the name. Though Zeno the robot was built to resemble the animated Japanese TV show character Astro Boy, his plastic hair and saucer-shaped eyes bear a striking resemblance to the curly locks and wide-eyed smile of the real Zeno.

"So by coincidence they're both Zeno, and in other ways this robot has become more of a portrait sculpturally of the son, although it's almost coincidence," said Hanson, whose previous jobs include working as a character sculptor for The Walt Disney Co. "We didn't consciously sculpt this robot to look like him. It's the way things filter through the hands of the artist."

Hanson says one of the robot Zeno's biggest advancements is that its brains aren't inside the robot. Instead Zeno synchs wirelessly to a PC running a variant of Massive Software - the same Academy Award-winning code that enabled the fantastical battles among humans, orcs and elves in the "Lord of the Rings" movies.

Like some modern version of Geppetto's workshop, Hanson's office is crammed with rows of shelves stacked with books about robots next to toy robots and plastic skulls. Notes ranging from mathematical formulas to design sketches cover several white boards like high-tech graffiti.

There are scattered bits from Hanson's previous creations, including Albert Hubo, a white robotic body topped with a realistic head of Albert Einstein that has graced magazine covers and even shaken hands with U.S. President George W. Bush.

Hanson has been recognized for his work, garnering accolades from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence in 2005 and a "best design" award at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Triennial last year.

But Hanson is most proud of the real Zeno, a rambunctious toddler who frolics with free rein among priceless electronics.

"If the robots become popular I suppose it will pose an identity crisis for my son," Hanson said. "But I think that the amount of love that he receives will make him feel like an individual no matter what."

The Eugenic Illusion of Choice

Mon Sep 10, 7:42 AM

PARIS (AFP) - The brain neurons of liberals and conservatives fire differently when confronted with tough choices, suggesting that some political divides may be hard-wired, according a study released Sunday.

Aristotle may have been more on the mark than he realised when he said that man is by nature a political animal.

Dozens of previous studies have established a strong link between political persuasion and certain personality traits.

Conservatives tend to crave order and structure in their lives, and are more consistent in the way they make decisions. Liberals, by contrast, show a higher tolerance for ambiguity and complexity, and adapt more easily to unexpected circumstances.

The affinity between political views and "cognitive style" has also been shown to be heritable, handed down from parents to children, said the study, published in the British journal Nature Neuroscience.

Intrigued by these correlations, New York University political scientist David Amodio and colleagues decided to find out if the brains of liberals and conservatives reacted differently to the same stimuli.

A group of 43 right-handed subjects were asked to perform a series of computer tests designed to evaluate their unrehearsed response to cues urging them to break a well-established routine.

"People often drive home from work on the same route, day after day, such that it becomes habitual and doesn't involve much thinking," Amodio explained by way of comparison in an e-mail.

"But occasionally there is road work, or perhaps an animal crosses the road, and you need to break out of your habitual response in order to deal with this new information."

Using electroencephalographs, which measure neuronal impulses, the researchers examined activity in a part of the brain -- the anterior cingulate cortex -- that is strongly linked with the self-regulatory process of conflict monitoring.

The match-up was unmistakable: respondents who had described themselves as liberals showed "significantly greater conflict-related neural activity" when the hypothetical situation called for an unscheduled break in routine.

Conservatives, however, were less flexible, refusing to deviate from old habits "despite signals that this ... should be changed."

Whether that is good or bad, of course, depends on one's perspective: one could interpret the results to mean that liberals are nimble-minded and conservatives rigid and stubborn.

Or one could, with equal justice, conclude that wishy-washy liberals don't stick to their guns, while conservatives and steadfast and loyal.

As to the more intriguing question of which comes first, the patterns in neuron activity or the political orientation, Amodio is reluctant to hazard a guess.

"The neural mechanisms for conflict monitoring are formed early in childhood," and are probably rooted in part in our genetic heritage, he said.

"But even if genes may provide a blueprint for more liberal or conservative orientations, they are shaped substantially by one's environment over the course of development," he added.

Obscuring causal links even more is the fact that the brain is malleable and neural functions can change as a result of new experiences.

Russian province gets set for 'Conception Day'

Mon Sep 10, 8:20 AM

MOSCOW (AFP) - A Russian province is readying for "Family Contact" day -- unofficially being called "Conception Day" -- in an effort to boost flagging birth rates, officials said on Monday.

The special day for encouraging procreation was dreamt up by the governor of Ulyanovsk province, Sergei Morozov, who this year awarded prizes ranging from a television to a Russian-made all-terrain vehicle for giving birth on Russia's Constitution Day on June 12.

President Vladimir Putin has made fixing Russia's ongoing population slump a national priority.

This Wednesday's event is timed precisely nine months ahead of next year's Constitution Day so that mothers "ideally should give birth on June 12," said a spokeswoman for the administration, speaking by telephone to AFP.

A series of concerts and exhibitions are being organised to promote family values and employers are being encouraged to grant a discretionary day off, said the spokeswoman.

"The purpose is to improve the demographic situation and support family values," she said, adding that a four-year programme of building and improving kindergartens was under way to support families.

On Monday, the independent national paper Novye Izvestiya reported that local people had taken to referring to Wednesday as "Conception Day," although it also noted some dissent.

"We've already sunk to the level where the governor is ordering us on what day to conceive a child and on what day to give birth," the paper quoted local human rights activist Alexander Bragin as saying.

The administration spokeswoman said that next year's prizes for giving birth on Constitution Day had not yet been decided but underlined that "there definitely will be prizes."

The tradition of awarding prizes for giving birth dates back to Soviet times, when women could be named "Hero Mothers" for having especially large families.

The city of Ulyanovsk, previously Simbirsk, located 900 kilometres (560 miles) east of Moscow has a special place in national mythology as it was named after the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, whose real surname was Ulyanov.

The two fallacies which form the essential basis and engine of religion are:
(1) That death is possible
(2) That humanity actually exists

This is the essence of Canada.

Paleo-Futurist Imagining of the Internet