Day: May 22, 2007

More painting w/ prayer

So….Now I have to go back and put second coats of paint on LOTS of cupboards.  My back really hurts, but we’re SO close to being done.

Had a very long and very pleasant (with tense interludes, due to content…) chat with Glenn last night.  I called him at 11:30 and then walked over to see him, and we sat and shot shit until about 1:30 this morning, and then he walked me home.  There are distinct advantages to living and working on campus.

Big hug to my mom who innocently asked on the phone yesterday, “Am I worrying enough?”; I controlled my immediate and unprintable response and said, “Yeah, ’bout enough.”  The unprintable response I will pass over, but, “Sheesh, mom, I’m 48” will cover for the meantime.  PS.  A DVD with the best of LaughIn is now available.

Katie is exhausted.  Shout out to Paul for standing the two of us to a meal yesterday – lunch at Chong Lum Hin.  I gave her 20 bucks for bug spray. 

I have new folks to light candles for.  I light a candle for a certain incarcerated man, and pray for his rehabilitation.  I light a candle for Beacon’s minister Katie Stein Sather, whose father is coming to the end of his long and productive life, and for him and his comfortable passing.  I light a candle for Maggie’s dad and his swift recovery from his surgery. 

And I light a candle for my apartment, which looks like a well behaved grenade went off in it.  Dang!

Snerk.  My clothes are fitting better….. Glenn laughed last night and said, “Isn’t the first thing a woman does when she leaves her husband is drop 20 pounds?”  I have dropped maybe two, but I can live in hope.

Unintentionally hilarious research abstract (Doc Ock approves…)

Robotic tentacles provide an interesting alternative to conventional rigid-link robotic arms; in certain situations, they may even be more capable. Kinetic Sciences Inc. has developed a hybrid electric-pneumatic tentacular robot called the KSI tentacle manipulator. It has variable compliance, can bend independently in two or more regions, and can extend to more than five times its contracted length. In total, the Tentacle has six degrees of freedom-or seven with the addition of a distal wrist-rotate joint. The Tentacle’s unusual kinematics and inherent compliance demand new approaches to control. Three schemes are considered here: joystick-based teleoperation, inverse kinematics-based tendon length control, and machine vision-based fine position control. Under control, the Tentacle has broad potential in many applications, including teleoperated vacuuming and spray washing (for nuclear hot cell decontamination), general materials handling, agricultural harvesting, robotic refueling, and endoscopy.

What about …. telesex???  I zoomed in on the “extend five times….” right away.  Okay, now it’s time to go give my dirty mind a shower.