John Arthur Carradine

(December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009), was an American actor best known for his work in the 1970s television series Kung Fu the modern 90's Kung fu and more recently in the Kill Bill films. He appeared in more than 100 feature films and in every one he brought his grace of acting skill.

On June 4, 2009, Carradine was found dead in his room at the Swissôtel Nai Lert Park Hotel on Wireless Road, near Sukhumvit, in central Bangkok, Thailand. A police official said Carradine was found hanging by a rope in the room's closet, and the Bangkok Post reported that his body was found curled up in the wardrobe with a shoelace tied around his genitals and neck. The same officer said: "Under these circumstances we cannot be sure that he committed suicide." Carradine was in Bangkok to shoot his latest movie, Stretch, and was expected to join the film crew for dinner on June 3. The crew noticed his absence.

Which ever outcome is the truth or not, Mr. C is gone and has left his loyal fans to morn.

We tip our hats to you sir. I feel a Kung-Fu marathone comming on.

Breakfast

Making coffee, bacon, pancakes, croissants and a side of sarcasm

n_tesla73 is watching

A robot controled by a rat brain

Do you really want a deadly robotic chassis being controlled by the brain of a rat? Scientists at University of Reading do. They've connected a biological "brain" made of rat neurons to a robot, with a two-way link.

It gets more demented: the robot is controlled via a Bluetooth connection — which means anybody with a cellphone can probably hack its little rat cortex — and the brain is kept inside a bell jar, just like Sylvia Plath's. The rat neurons can send instructions to the robot body, but they can also get signals back. And it has a personality, say researchers:

According to Kevin Warwick, one of the researchers, "It's quite funny - you get differences between the brains. This one is a bit boisterous and active, while we know another is not going to do what we want it to." Warwick later speculates that much of the difference between rat and human brains lies in the number of neurons and not the neurons themselves. Picking on that particular statement, since I think it's a pretty bold claim, you have to wonder about animals like whales and elephants who have one to two times the number of neurons we do. If he's right and it's the number of neurons that makes the difference, we are literally killing sentient beings. Of course, to the people who are killing blue whales and elephants, that doesn't matter one bit.

[Mendicant Bug, thanks Chris!]

Charlie Jane Anders

Check it>>>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wACltn9QpCc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QPiF4-iu6g

AT&T Isn't Going To Reduce iPhone Data Plans

For a while now, there have been rumors and speculation that AT&T was considering reducing its data plan by $10 per month in an attempt to be more competitive with other carriers. Today AT&T officially put the kibosh on that scuttlebutt, which is how I write once the cocktail hour kicks in on Friday. Says an AT&T spokesman, "We've been very happy with our pricing."

"AT&T Says Forget About Cheaper Data Rates For The iPhone 3G S" [mocoNews.net]