DARPA test artificial arm that gives ma his sense of touch back

Any of us that saw the 1980 sci-fi movie “The Empire Strikes Back” will remember at the end of the movie we see Luke Skywalker aboard the medical ship getting his hand replaced with a realistic looking prosthetic. We were all amazed at how Luke could feel the pain of the needle as it poked each finger of the artificial hand. We wondered how long it would be before actual artificial limbs would be able to restore the sensation of touch? Apparently the answer to that question is 35 years.

Now, 35 years after that movie, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) has created such an artificial arm that can restore the sense of touch. The arm was successfully tested earlier this month allowing the recipient to feel the sensation of touch after a spinal cord injury he suffered a decade ago.

“We’ve completed the circuit,” Justin Sanchez, Darpa program manager, said in announcing the most recent results of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program earlier this month at a conference in St. Louis, according to a press release from the agency.

The arm, that was developed at John Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, works by a sending electronic impulses through an array of sensors that are connected directly to the brain. Those signals are then sent through the spinal cord to the artificial limb. The process created by the sensor array mimics the same electronic pulses sent through a healthy nervous systems.

“Prosthetic limbs that can be controlled by thoughts are showing great promise, but without feedback from signals traveling back to the brain it can be difficult to achieve the level of control needed to perform precise movements,” he said. “By wiring a sense of touch from a mechanical hand directly into the brain, this work shows the potential for seamless bio-technological restoration of near-natural function.”

After successfully attaching the arm they tested it much the same way that the robot medics test Luke Sywalker's hand back in that 1980 movie.
“At one point, instead of pressing one finger, the team decided to press two without telling him,” said Sanchez, who oversees the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program. “He responded in jest asking whether somebody was trying to play a trick on him. That is when we knew that the feelings he was perceiving through the robotic hand were near-natural.”

5 things you didn't know about Damon Wayans

Damon Wayans has been entertaining us as a stand-up comic, writer, actor, and producer for over 30 years. He started his career in the early 1980's but it was when him and his brothers created the show “In Living Color” that Damon Wayans was thrust into the spotlight. It was on that show that Mr. Wayans was free to show his comic talents with characters like “Homey D. Clown, Head Detective, Handi-man, Reverend Ed Cash, and more. After that show ended he went on to star in several movies and television shows that he usually co-wrote with his brothers.

Eddie Murphy gave him his big break

Damon Wayans had already had a good stand-up career going but it was in 1984 that he had his first big break. That year Eddie Murphy gave him a small role in the movie “Beverly Hills Cop”. In the movie Mr. Wayans played a worker at the Beverly Hills hotel that lets Eddie Murphy's character Axel Foley have a few bananas, off of a food cart, that Detective Foley used to stick in the tail pipe of the police officers sent to drive him out of town.

He has a company that creates apps

After going to a tech show and getting several business cards Mr. Wayans saw a need for an app. He formed a company with some developers to create “Flick dat” as a way to create business cards, that can have embedded video, and share thm on your smartphones. His company also has an app called “Diddeo” that turns your smartphone into a editing studio.

He has four children and one grandchild

Damon Wayans has four children from his 16 year marriage to Lisa Thorner that ended in 2000. Two sons, Damn Jr. and Michael, and two daughters, Cara Mia and Kyla. As of 2014 Mr. Wayans is also a grandfather to Ava Marie Jean the daughter of Michael and his girlfriend Vanessa.

He was diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes

In 2013 Mr. Wayans was diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes. After the diagnosis he was forced to cancel some of his tour dates when he was told not to fly. Since the diagnosis he has also had to make some other changes to his life. One of those changes was beginning a paleo diet to reduce his sugar intake. “No fruit, alcohol, soda, cake,” he says. He was off insulin within a month.

“I honestly don’t know if (my doctors) were impressed,” Wayans says. “I was at the hospital, and they said, ‘Don’t worry about nothing. You can still eat whatever you want, just take your insulin.’ I’m from the streets of New York. I know a drug deal when I hear one.”

In 2010 he became in author

In 2010 he wrote a fictional novel about a woman who's life is changed for the better when the Red-Hat Society, a real women's organization, come to her aide. The book has several good reviews including one by a lady of the real Red-Hat Society.

The U.S Air Force set to launch drones from AC-130

Flying above cloud cover to remain hidden from the enemy and being able to detect those target has always posed a problem military pilots. To resolve the problem the United States Air Force told their Special Operations Command to come up with a solution. The answer was small, portable drone that could be deployed from the AC-130 gunship.

“Right now today, in many cases, we’re giving the cover of weather to the enemy,” he said during a briefing with reporters this week at the Air and Space Conference near Washington, D.C. “The enemy is maneuvering, massing against an objective often times because of the weather. We need to take that away.”
The gunship will deploy the drone through their 8-inch diameter launch tubes. The drones wings will then unfold so the drones can fly below the cloud cover. The drones will fly a pre-programmed grid pattern. Then, once the enemy targets are located the drones will then transmit the coordinates back to the AC-130.

“It’s tethered — not physically tethered, electronically tethered to the gunship,” Heithold said. “Now I’m seeing below the deck, feeding coordinates.”

He added, “Once I’ve got the coordinates, it directly feeds it into my fire control system. I can shoot. I can put a small diameter bomb on those coordinates … I can shoot a 105mm [cannon] at a set of coordinates — which I can do today, I just can’t see where they go. So I put a sensor below the deck [and can] adjust fire. It’s like boring your rifle.”

Drones have been used in several different ways by our military forces. They have used as aerial and ground intelligence gathering mission. Foot soldier have used mini drone to scope out buildings before going inside. Sometimes drones have been used in areas deemed to dangerous for troops. There have been the infamous seek & destroy drones we have heard about that took out several insurgents. This is the first time that drones have been used as extensions of an aircraft's sensors. 

Georgia honors Otis Redding

On the evening of September 18,2015 at 7:00 p m EST the city of Gary, Georgia will honor Otis Redding. They will unveil a 7 foot x 7 foot banner that will be displayed on the corner of Highway 129 & Highway 11. The marker that looks like a giant album will have an interactive panel where fans can stop and hear some of the songs and see photos of the late R & B singer/songwriter.

The unveiling will be part the city's spoons & tunes festival. The festival is catered by local restaurants and features local bands. This year the Redding family will attendance as tribute is paid to the cities favorite son.

“My father loved Jones County just as we do,” said Redding’s daughter, Karla Redding-Andrews. “We work in Macon, but when we leave Macon, we are so ready. We’re ready to get back to what we call ‘God’s country.’ ’’

Mr. Redding was born in the small town , in Georgia, on September 9, 1941. He then became one the biggest names in Rhythm & Blues in the 1960's. He was best known for his hit “Dock of the Bay” that was released after his death in 1967. In his short career he had 6 albums and another 5 that were released after death.

In 1967 he was named vocalist of the year before a plane crash tragically shortened Mr. Redding's career. Since that time he has had several honors. Among those honors was being inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the Songwriter Hall of Fame. He has also been honored by the United States Post Office when they released a commemorative stamp in the mid 1990's.

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman announces more layoffs

Last year, Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman announced a two year plan to layoff 50,000 employees and split the company in two. After the first round of the layoffs Ms. Whitman said that even more layoffs might be on the way. Those more layoffs she hinted at back then become a reality on Tuesday when Ms. Whitman announced 25,000 – 30,000 additional layoffs would be needed in their restructuring.

HP CEO Meg Whitman said the latest job cuts will "enable a more competitive, sustainable cost structure" for the new company.

Hewlett-Packard hired Ms. Whitman in 2011 to turn around the struggling company. Upon her hiring she went to work on a plan of action that would once bring the company to the promonant level they enjoyed for much of their almost 8 decade history. A little over three years since her hiring she announced that plan that her & her staff had been working on.

"We've done a significant amount of work over the past few years to take costs out and simplify processes and these final actions will eliminate the need for any future corporate restructuring," Chief Executive Meg Whitman said.

Ms. Whitman will retain control of the business software & cloud storage parts of the business. That part of the business will be renamed Hewlett-Packard Enterprises. The PC &mobile devices along with printing will become the second business called HP Inc that current Vice President Dion Weisler will become CEO.

Before Hewlett-Packard Ms. Whitman spent 10 years as the CEO of Ebay, the online auction site, before leaving in 2008. She then became a candidate in the 2010 California gubernatorial race where she lost to former governor Jerry Brown.

Other articles on this topic:

• http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/15/investing/hp-job-cuts-hewlett-packard/
• http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/hp-says-it-will-cut-25000-jobs/ar-AAekL2A?ocid=ansmsnmoney11
• http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/16/restructuring-needed-because-market-is-changing-so-rapidly-hps-whitman.html

5 things you didn't know about Steve Allen

In his 50+ year career Steve Allen has been a writer, composer, actor, radio & television personality, and author. After just a few years in radio Mr. Allen made the jump to television. In 1953 pioneered a new format of show when he created “The Tonight Show” as a local late night variety/talk show in New York. The following year he went national with the show that has become the standard for late night television. He left the “The Tonight Show” in 1957 but went on hosting more shows of his own. He was semi-regulator panelist of the game show “What's my line” in the 1950's & 1960's. Mr. Allen also appeared on several television shows into the 1990's.

He had a brief stint in the military

Depending on the source, Steve Allen either enlist or was drafted into the United States Army in 1943. Either way his job as a radio DJ was cut short as he reported for basic training. After training he was stationed at Camp Robert in California with thousand of other infantry men waiting for deployment overseas. Mr. Allen never went overseas though when frequent asthma attack cut his military career short. He was given a medical discharge after 5 months.

He was a wrestling announcer

In 1949 Steve Allen was hired to be a wrestling announcer on television. At the time that he was hired there were not formal names for the different holds in professional wrestling. So, Mr. Allen would make up names for the moves and some of the names he came up with are still used to this day.

He was a prolific songwriter

Steve Allen has written thousands of songs in his career. Most of the songs he wrote have been lost to history. Some of his song have been sung by the likes of Judy Garland, Perry Como and Mel Torme. One of his songs, “The Gravy Waltz”, won a Grammy Award in 1964 for “best original Jazz composition”.

He authored several books
Mr. Allen has authored or co-authored over 50 books. Most of the books are comedy-based but he also wrote about religion, education, and a few other subjects. 9 of his books where mysteries that were co-authored by ghostwriters, Robert Sheldon and then Robert Westbrook.

He died shortly after a car accident

In 2000 Steve Allen was driving to his sons house when he was hit by a car backing out of a driveway. He didn't appear to be injure'd and went on to his destination. Shortly after arriving at his son's house he said he was tired and went to lay down. His son eventually went to check on him to ind him dead of what appeared to be a heart-attack. In an autopsy later it turned out that he had died from internal bleeding as a result of a ruptured blood vessel that he sustained in the car accident.

The Amazon Fire phone finally sells out

It was looking as though it would not happen but earlier this week Amazon finally sold the last of their Fire smartphones. When the smartphones first came out, in June of 2014, it quickly became a top seller for the Seattle-based company It was not long thou before the sales started to dry up and Amazon slashed the price. After that it was looking as though Amazon would be stuck with a warehouse full of the smartphones.

"We don’t plan to replenish stock at this time," said Kinley Pearsall, a spokeswoman for Seattle-based Amazon. "We will continue to support our Fire phone customers."

From this statement from Amazon and a similar one by AT&T, along with an article by the Wall Street Journal, the possibility of a new version of the smartphone is looking rather bleak. According to the article the Seattle-based company laid of several engineers at their Lab126, where the Fire phone was developed. Along with the layoffs the company also announced they would be suspending many of their planned projects. The second generation of Fire smartphone was include among those projects and there is no indication it will be started up again anytime in the near future.

When Amazon first came out with their Kindle Fire tablet it started people asking if there would be a smartphone to follow. Unlike the mini-tablet market, the smartphone market was already heavily saturated. So, to make their smartphone stand out Amazon loaded it with unique features that did not exactly go over as planned. There was the 3D perspective that looked spectacular but was not a feature that anyone was clamoring to have in a phone. The fact that Amazon has their own variant of the android operating system did not thrill many users. Many of the other features; size, display, cameras, processor, and battery; were average or just above. Possibly the biggest problem with the smartphone was that Amazon tried pulling the same move Apple did with their smartphone years earlier and limit it to just one carrier.

Other articles on this topic:

• http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/09/09/amazon_stopped_selling_the_fire_phone_because_no_one_wanted_to_buy_it.html
• http://www.geekwire.com/2015/amazon-finally-stops-selling-the-fire-phone/
• http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/9/9292695/amazon-fire-phone-sales-end