Well bloggies, it is my pleasure to announce that this question will be answered by me to give insight into some information that you may or may not have known. A website that has gathered steam over the last couple of years is our EBAY alternative know as Craig’sList. It is a garage sale type search for classified advertisements to turn one persons’s  trash into someone else’s treasure. Well it appears that anything goes as far as buying and selling in light of the recent Craig’sList Killer, but there are a few things that inquiring minds might want to know. So I will ask the question(s):

WHO IS CRAIG AND WHERE DID HE COME UP WITH HIS LIST?

Well, Craig’s full name is Craig Alexander Newark. He is 56 years old and Graduated from Case Western Reserve University (located in Cleveland, OH and I have never heard of it until now) with a BS in Computer Science. Craig actually has a great outlook on things if you consider the fact that he appears to be unaffected by greed. He is an advocate in keeping the internet free which is why the premise of his site is essentially free, at least the buying and selling part of it anyway (there is a charge for job postings in certain cities and the erotic ads are $5 with the proceeds going to charity and can be subpeoned in court). Craig and the “list” are housed in San Francisco, CA. His role in the company is active and in the capacity of customer service where he deals with “spammers and scammers”. Craig is also against removal of the “erotic” section of the site which has been under fire recently with prostitution and a killing spree linked to the site’s listings.

Where did Craig come up with “The List” ? This can be answered in the history of the site. In 1995, Craig decided to create an email list of friends in which he would circulate information regarding local events in San Francisco. He then converted it over to a web-based system a year later. Craig incorporated his list as a private profit making entity in 1999 and it immediatelyexpanded because of its lack of moderation (all types of ads were being circulated). The company is currently operated with 28 employees and has since sold 25% of the company to EBAY who has filed a pending lawsuit against Craig’sList accusing them of diluting their interest down to 10%. Criag’sList is currently available in 570 cities in 50 countries.

I commend Craig and I guess his List as well for following his ideals in keeping the internet free. His site has no banner advertisements or annoying pop-ups. In 2002 they posted ads on the site for an April Fool’s Day joke. So, I guess the real question is: How often do you use Craig’sList? You comments are welcome.

PEACE

There is a serious problem that needs to be addressed so that we can get on with things. Over the weekend a boy was Tasered by Warren police after he ran from them on foot after a car chase. The specifics of the situation have not been unfolded yet but I would like to address certain aspects of them anyway.

I will first examine the word “law enforcement”.

LAW – according to dictionary.com is:

the principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and applicable to its people, whether in the form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized and enforced by judicial decision.

ENFORCEMENT – according to the same source as above is:

To compel observance of or obedience to (enforce a law).

COMPEL – same source but I will include all variations:

–verb (used with object)

OBEDIENCE – same source:

The act of obeying, or the state of being obedient; compliance with that which is required by authority; subjection to rightful restraint or control.

Now upon my interpretation of the above meanings it is visibly clear that if I disobey or break a law I will be  forced to obey or be subjected to restraint by an overpowering force until I submit or I am subdued. I can continue in with more definitions but I am under the assumption that their meanings are implied. Now, if a law enforcement officer is in the presence of a law being broken and visually observes me breaking this law, the law must now be enforced and according to the definition of the law enforcement, which I already explained, it is in my best interest to obey or I am at risk of being taken by force. If I run, then it is assumed that I understand the meaning of law enforcement or I would have no reason to run and I am attempting to evade or elude police causing the force factor to become substantially larger. Am I making any sense here?

Please Read:  http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-750-479

The above Michigan law states:

 “Obstruct” includes the use or threatened use of physical interference or force or a knowing failure to comply with a lawful command.

Pay attention to the part reading “…failure to comply with a lawful command.” The “knowingly” part is the fact that I am not accidentally running from the officer and he is most likely not whispering for me to HALT or STOP!! When the officers finally catch me, which would be like 7 steps in reality, and they rightfully plow my face into whatever is in front of me I would prepare to be officially subdued which falls under the definition of compel which is further defined by enforcement. I would much rather be Tasered than shot at this point even though I think that it should be at the discretion of the officer on how much force is needed to overpower me. Overpower is above and beyond the capabilities of my power (e.g.  AIR TASER M18L). Just for the record, every time I run from a police officer I expect to be Tasered and it is not their fault if I die.

GEEK SECTION:

Please read again: http://www.taser.org/voltage.html Be sure to click on Advanced Tasers to see the latest and resembles the type of Taser used in the story I spoke of earlier.

Being an electrical engineering major I can attest to the fact that voltage is a potential to provide electrical shock which is like holding a brick over your head. If I let the brick fall directly onto your head then it would hurt as gravity smacked you with it at 22mph. But if I slid the brick on an angle down a ramp into your head it wouldn’t hurt so bad. Both bricks have the same potential (voltage in electricity) but different velocities which acts like current in electricity. Power is voltage times current so if voltage is really high but current is really low the power is still low but it will travel farther through air or cloth which is a non-conducting material which is why there is a need for the high voltages. In the case of the brick the higher I put the brick up on the ramp will determine how far it will travel but the strength of the smack into your head will be determined by the steepness of the ramp. I am trying to dispel the media myths of the Taser type weapons and keep them in the hands of law enforcement to keep me safe.

PEACE

In my field (electrical engineering), I am exposed to many interesting things. One of my favorites is robotics. Robotics is the fusion of mechanical and electrical technologies which is recently been referred to as mechatronics. Now WSU doesn’t offer a mechatronics degree program (although they should), they do have a design course I and II by the title. This is a course of which I plan to attend next winter. Well, enough about me, let’s get back to the robots. As robotics technology becomes more advanced the products are getting closer and closer to having actual human attributes. This has developed an area of study that is attempting to determine if there is a limit as to how close we as humans are willing to comfortable accept the realism of robots. They have termed this dividing line the “Uncanny Valley”. So I will now ask you:

DO YOU FEEL THAT ROBOTS CAN BE TOO REAL FOR COMFORT?

Please take the time to watch some video footage to test your uneasiness towards the realistic features of some advanced robotic demonstrations.

Now the "Uncanny Valley" hypothesis was introduced by roboticist Mashashiro Mori in 1970 and is based on the study that the reaction towards human-like objects is increasingly positive and empathic to a certain point at which the reactions turns to a strong repulsion. The point in which the negative reaction appears between the life-like object and a real living person on a graphed response is known as the "Uncanny Valley". This can be notices in the computer animated games and movies as well like Polar Express and Beowulf. I have read that the movie Watchmen has crossed into the "valley" as well.

I would have to agree that there is a limit to whether I get "creeps" over watching a life-like image depending on how "real" it actually looks. While watching the robot Asian woman, I get freaked out at certain parts of the video depending on how real she looks or acts. At the end of the clip when her profile is shown I get the sense that she is real as can be and for a moment I feel freaked out. Another example that I agree with the hypothesis is that when I watched the Big Dog (very cool by the way) I found myself upset that the guy kicks the thing to demonstrate the balance. This is at the line of empathy towards the robot as the hypothesis states. Now, if the robot had a realistic head on it I would probably get freaked out by it because it would place it into the "valley". This is an interesting topic and I would like to hear your thoughts.

In the graph seen above I noticed a place where a bunraku dummy is mentioned just at the end of the "Uncanny Valley" is ending. I decided to see what this was and I have posted another video below in case you were wondering the same thing. It is actually fascinating to watch.

Until Next Time,

PEACE