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A palaeontology student living in West London funding my own part-time PhD because it's cheaper than going full-time.
Sunday, 31 December 2006
New Year New Blog
posted by Julia @ 8:15 PM
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Happy New Year to you all. Well, in three hours and 45 minutes at least for the British readers and anything between eight and 11 hours for my trans-Atlantic friends.
This is a bit different. I decided I was fed up with the hassle of formatting the hard HTML code for my blog every time I wanted to make a new entry, but fortunately Google's Blogger software allows me to put my blog on my own page through the wonders of FTP.
I've transferred all the archive entries over, but the comments aren't here. I might be able to get them transferred - I'm not sure how easy it'll be to transfer it all via Haloscan. I have kept all your comments though, so I can always manually insert them (wouldn't that be a boring task?).
Still, at least now you can easily browse through the archives. I did mention I might do something like this. It seems to work very nicely.
Wednesday, 27 December 2006
Righting A Libel
posted by Julia @ 6:45 PM
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On 8 December, LouE made the following libellous comment on my blog comments:
PMSL, gonna sound bitchy here, but what the heck, why is Paul the pretend lawyer having to keep running to your defense Julia? I showed the whole hoo-haa to my husband and he laughed, he cannot understand why you have allowed your H to be so involved! Anyways think of it as normal life, people fall out all the time, you were unkind about people, some people were unkind back, fair enough, but this tittle tattle back & forth is stupid. let it go, I have only read this for a laugh, cant understand why you are so pissed off with it, you didn t appear to like many people so why miss us??? Oh and i am intelligent, got a degree and various other complications, when you gonna start up your studies again? Its the internet, I can google as much as the next person if i want to "appear" over-intelligent!
My husband made an official allegation of libel against LouE. On 18 December, she sent an indirect apology to Paul and me, via a third party:
Carly could you pass on to both Julia & Paul my apologies for any comments I left on Julias webpage, which may have upset or angered them. I do appreciate that my comments were both inaccurate and untrue, and hope that they can be removed so as to not have a detrimental effect on Julias webpage. I can assure them both that i will not be on their websites again and hope that they can put this behind them. Once again I appologise. Lou
Despite our annoyance that the apology was not made directly (for which there is no excuse as means of contacting both of us are openly available on our homepages), we have accepted this apology. The original comment has been removed from Haloscan so that the libellous comment cannot be read without the full apology.
I have decided not to allow comments on this blog entry. If you have anything you wish to say, please contact me directly.
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
Set Up For 2007
posted by Julia @ 6:47 PM
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I'm off work recovering from gastric flu. Who needs a "Drop A Dress Size" diet from the tabloid newspapers when you can be sick every half hour for six hours - it purges and detoxes, and it's a great workout for the abdominal muscles. So because I'm bored (well, I say bored - I could sort my taxes, complete that bit of work I asked my boss to send home, wrap up Paul's stocking fillers, change the bedding, but where's the fun in that?), I've archived the majority of my blog. But it's okay, it's just on a different part of the site - all the wonders of 2006 are still available for you to read. The old archive is now 2005's archive, and all this year's posts have been moved to a 2006 page. This one will be too at the end of the year, but it serves a useful marker (it's a lot easier for me to work the HTML if I have an existing post in place already).
Tuesday, 19 December 2006
BigDog + Pleo = The Awesomest Museum Exhibit Ever!
posted by Julia @ 6:50 PM
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A few months ago I was shown a link to the Boston Dynamics BigDog robot. I can't remember who showed it to me - it might have been on one of the palaeontology e-mail lists, it might have been the B3TA newsletter, it might even have been the BBC News. The BigDog is "the most advanced quadruped robot on Earth", by Boston Dynamics' own admission, and I believe them. I understand BigDog is set to be used in combat situations, to carry heavy equipment for soldiers. Most impressive is how difficult it is to topple BigDog. Twice during the video, a researcher kicks BigDog hard in the side, and with only a little skid, it rights itself and carries on running. BigDog at top speed has two feet on the ground at any one time - a classic trot (for a horse at any rate). Another robot made by Boston Dynamics, LittleDog, appears only to be able to walk (three feet on the ground at any one time). Still, very realistic gaits all round.
Hold that thought.
More recently, Paul found my perfect birthday present - Pleo by Ugobe. Pleo is a one-week-old Camarasaurus "calf" robot. Have a look at this demonstration video. Pleo is the most lifelike miniature dinosaur robot I have seen to date (although I'm sure my professional colleagues would query the lurid green). Pleo will interact with his environment and will learn about his surroundings (well, the software will update). The expected software update coming soon will enable Pleo to return to his recharging bed when he's tired, without his owner having to put him there. All in all a very independent little robot.
So the technology developed by Boston Dynamics is highly sophisticated, and will for now only be used in military conditions. However, with time almost all technology filters down to day-to-day use, e.g. walkie-talkies, non-stick frying pans, fireworks. Sooner or later the technology will be affordable enough at least for a large government organisation - I'm thinking the Natural History Museum, the American Museum of Natural History or the Smithsonian Institution. They always have the most high-tech displays and it's a joy to visit them at any age. The NHM has had animatronic displays for at least the past 10-15 years. All of these are through its partnership with Kokoro Dreams, a Japanese company. The one complaint I and my colleagues have had is that the dinosaurs' feet can't move. They are necessarily pivoted at their hips, and they can look most uncomfortable. Amazingly detailed actions everywhere else though. Could, many years down the line, a combination of the stable walking technology developed by Boston Dynamics, the interactive technology of Ugobe and the brilliant electronics and skins of Kokoro result in the most realistic museum exhibit yet?
Now picture this - an Alsatian-sized dinosaur trundles through the museum corridors with its "keeper" not far behind (with the all-important remote control override device!). It walks around visitors, negotiating steps and ramps, is careful not to knock into anyone, and gives the occasional grunt or roar to delighted schoolchildren. With time it learns its route through the museum, and at the allotted time for its rounds it is already up, out of its recharging bay and ready for walkies!
Wednesday, 6 December 2006
Gullible Info
posted by Julia @ 7:07 PM
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So, according to Gullible Info, 18 percent of blog posts indexed by Google blog search begin with the word "so". I enjoy not conforming to statistics, so am delighted that out of 15 posts on this page, this is the only one that begins with the word "so". And that's deliberate.
I'll be archiving this lot over Christmas, so there'll be an Archive 2006 and an Archive 2005. Maybe I'll even shift the blog onto my MySpace, but I'll keep it open. The other blog is fine where it is. It's so well-hidden that even if I type in the full title of the blog Google can't find it. That one's being saved for the lucrative book deal.
In other news, I just listened to the Newsnight Podcast from a week or two ago and have wept for the state of science education in this country. Click here to download the MP3 if you like. You'll need to listen to the end for the evolution/creationism debate. And the Pre-Budget Report didn't help matters either. To quote my brother-in-law (a history student) "We all be fucked, hey-nonny-nonny".