FSogol

FSogol's Journal

February 27, 2014

"Life Down on the Click Farm" - Tom the Dancing Bug

February 26, 2014

“Fortunately for police, the chips floated,” the news release said.

A married couple that tried to bluff Maryland’s largest casino with counterfeit $100 chips was caught and charged, and charges are being sought against two others for a similar fake-chip scheme, Maryland State Police announced Tuesday.

Rosa A. Nguyen, 36, and her husband, Vuong Q. Truong, 37 — both of Annandale in Northern Virginia — were charged with one count of theft and two counts of conspiracy to commit theft, after allegedly putting doctored chips into circulation at Maryland Live Casino. Additionally, Truong was charged with two other theft-related counts, according to a news release.

SNIP

The investigation led to Northern Virginia, where search warrants were served last week by Virginia State Police. In Fairfax County, investigators discovered that “many of the counterfeit chips had been discarded by one of the suspects in Lake Accotink,” not far from Nguyen and Truong’s home in the 4000 block of Estabrook Drive in Annandale.

“Fortunately for police, the chips floated,” the news release said.

Authorities recovered about $115,000 worth of counterfeit casino chips from the water.

Whole sorrid tale by By J. Freedom du Lac at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/02/25/two-charged-two-others-sought-for-passing-fake-chips-at-maryland-casino/?tid=hpModule_99d5f542-86a2-11e2-9d71-f0feafdd1394

FYI: Lake Accotink is a small man-made park lake, which thanks to over-fertilization of lawns, fills up with sediment making it about 12 inches deep in places.

February 25, 2014

Robot Termites Build Complex Structures with Amazingly Simple Rules

From Meeri Kim, Washington Post

"The termite, typically reviled as the wood-eating nemesis of buildings and homes, has ironically inspired a new batch of construction robots. The automated machines, each about the size of a small brick, can work as a team to build any predefined structure given to them — without a leader or step-by-step instructions, as termites are thought to do.

Instead of communicating directly with one another or following a central command, the robots coordinate their actions by assessing what work has already been done and adding to it. So, say the first robot puts down a block. As it leaves the site, another comes along and senses the block’s location. Based on this local information, as well as knowledge about the end product, it decides to put down its own load on top of the first."

Whole article and video here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/termites-inspire-construction-robots/2014/02/13/e6ef44ce-941f-11e3-83b9-1f024193bb84_story.html

Embedded video at

Building with blueprints or designs? That'll be the end on my career one day.

February 21, 2014

Prepare to have your mind blown: Jodorowsky’s Dune

A documentary about Alejandro Jodorowsky's unfilmed version of Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic premired at Cannes last year and will be released in the US this March. Was to star David Carradine, Mick Jagger, Salvador Dali (as the mad Emperor of the Galaxy), and Orson Wells. Set design by an unknown H.R. Giger.