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Elektro, the Oldest U.S. Robot
Roland Piquepaille writes "If you happen to be around Ohio this coming fall, don't miss an exhibit at the Mansfield Memorial Museum featuring the 7-foot-tall Elektro, the oldest robot in the U.S.. "Elektro is the only survivor of a group of eight robots created by Westinghouse in Mansfield between 1931 to 1940 for several hundred thousand dollars each," according to the article from the Plain Dealer, Cleveland. Back in 1939, Elektro was able to walk, talk, raise and lower his arms, turn his head and move his mouth as he spoke. It used a 78-rpm record player to simulate conversation and had a vocabulary of more than 700 words. It even appeared in a long-time forgotten movie, "Sex Kittens Go to College," also known as "The Beauty and the Robot." Primidi.com has an overview containing other details, references and pictures."
Why does sex and technology mix so well? Just think of the internet.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
I think The Tick said it best: "Science in those days worked in broad strokes! They got right to the point! Nowadays it's always molecule, molecule, molecule... "
"Why can't everyone just be straight with me?"
"Because we live in a bendy world, dear."
1940 = "Robot able to walk, talk, raise and lower his arms, turn his head and move his mouth as he spoke."
2005 = "Robot able to walk, talk, raise and lower his arms, turn his head and move his mouth as he spoke, AND, look cool, run and have a processor core that can calculate integrals if needed but unable to prove where 65 years of research have gone
It's an automaton, like the show at Chuck E. Cheese or Vauban's duck.
Why not support Roland? He spent some time finding the article and submitting it. For which he makes a little money, at no cost to you. What's your problem with that? You're so vehement about getting stuff "for free" that you can't stand someone else benefitting, though you're still getting it for free? That goes beyond cheapness - you're a thief, who wants to steal from someone, even when it doesn't benefit you in the least. You'll even do the extra work of posting the full text to steal without benefit. You're really sick. BTW, why don't you avoid Slashdot altogether, as its staff and owners make a pretty healthy living off exactly the same kind of work as Roland, but with a guarantee.
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make install -not war
Frankly, I can't fathom why you're even concerned with this. Lots and lots of sites out there base their sole existence (and advertising revenue) from rehashing others work. Slashdot, is in fact one of those sites. Why should Cmdr Taco make so much money of merely linking to other sites information, using your logic. Oh, sure, they provide a useful discussion forum on the topics, but so what? I'm certain Slashdot makes far more money than Roland does.
Frankly, the fact that he actually DOES get a lot of hits tells me that he's providing a useful service, and $80 an article does not seem like a lot of money (considering it probably takes him at least an hour or more to organize, maintain, and submit them).
I'm not in any way connected to him, in fact this is the first i've even heard about it. It just seems like such a non-issue to me and I can't fathom why you and others get your panties in a bunch over it. There are much more important thing to worry about than whether some guy squeeks a few bucks off submitting articles that are clearly enjoyed by a large number of people visiting Slashdot.
Hell, I say good for Roland. If someone can make money AND provide a useful service to people like us, more power to you.
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No, actually, it doesn't stand to reason at all. In fact, i'm not even sure I can see how you can jump to that conclusion.
Maybe he's just good at formatting his articles in such a way that he piques the interest of the editor. Maybe he's good at chosing content the editors like.
Slashdot doesn't usually edit articles. They would be much more likely to just reject an article rather than go through the work to track down the originals and rewrite the submission. They rely (mostly) on use submission.
This whole conspiracy theory really makes no sense to me.
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