The Latest in Electronic Telepathy

dave — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:40:51 +0000

Utah researchers use a machine interface to turn signals from the brain into speech.

“In an early step toward letting severely paralyzed people speak with their thoughts, University of Utah researchers translated brain signals into words using two grids of 16 microelectrodes implanted beneath the skull but atop the brain.”

Coincidentally, September is the 50th anniversary of the word “cyborg.”

Here’s a report from DARPA, released last week, but presented six years ago, on the military applications of direct brain-machine interface. It starts getting interesting around slide 8.

Note that there are non-invasive BMI contraptions that use EEGs, like this one, or this one.

And then there’s the Neuromancer, sticking-electronics-directly-into-your-gray-matter BCI like this.

Here’s Robert Schneider using his brain to make music in 2010.

“Robert Schneider (The Apples in stereo singer/producer) practices using the Teletron, a modified Mattel MindFlex toy that uses EEG sensors, to play a Moog analog synth with his thoughts.”

As far as I know Alvin Lucier was the first composer to use brain waves as a way to manipulate sound in his 1965 piece “Music for a Solo Performer (for enormously amplified brain waves and percussion).” Unfortunately I couldn’t find a video clip of that performance. There’s a 2-hour documentary of Lucier here, which includes his 1976 performance of “Solo” starting at 57:43.

NFL Kickoff Open Thread – Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints

Craig T — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:30:23 +0000

More photos » Tom Olmscheid - AP

I told Percy I'd do this. Woooooo!

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Freaking finally. Real NFL football is upon us.

For those that feel like chatting about this game, the Bucs, or football in general, consider this your hub to do so. Enjoy.

Sunday’s game against the Browns is officially blacked out

Sander — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:34:12 +0000

Sunday's game against the Browns is officially blacked out

This means that those in approximately a 75-mile radius around the stadium won't be able to view the game live on television. If you live a bit further away, but your local network affiliate's signal also services homes within the 75-mile radius, you will also not be able to view the game.

However, there are a few methods to catch the game later on. The game will be available on NFL.com
for 3 days, starting midnight after the game according to ProFootballTalk. Moreover, the NFL RedZone channel will also incorporate incidental highlights of the game as they happen.

Time for Newly-Enacted Captain Barrett Ruud to Lead from the Front

Craig T — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:39:53 +0000

More photos » Hans Deryk - AP

9 months ago: Miami Dolphins' Ronnie Brown (23) tackled by Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Barrett Ruud (51) during the first quarter of an NFL football game in Miami, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Hans Deryk)

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On Wednesday, the Buccaneers named their five captains for the 2010 season: Josh Freeman and Jeff Faine on offense; Barrett Ruud and Ronde Barber on defense; and Andrew Economos on Special Teams. These are players who have earned the respect of their coaches and teammates and, for the most part, the fans. After all, who doesn't high five and talk about the old times when Ronde Barber makes a splash play? Who doesn't talk optimistically about the future when Josh Freeman hits on a beautiful deep ball? Who doesn't cheer RUUUUUUUDDDDD when Barrett Ruud makes a tackle 7 yards downfield?

It's the latter I want to talk about a little bit.....

Barrett Ruud impressed everyone in 2007 with a solid performance that ranked him in the top-10 for LB in stop rate % against the run. Behind Jovan Haye and a still-productive Chris Hovan the interior of the defense was well-protected. He excelled in coverage, making splash plays like a third safety in the middle of the field. He had the flexibility to read the play free of blockers and roll to the football. He was certainly a fish in water.

However, following a down 2nd half to the 2008 season and a painful 2009 campaign, Barrett Ruud remains a somewhat unkown commodity and one without a contract extension in the face of a Buccaneer front office that's shown it's willing to lock up players it feels are fits with its future. What does the team have in the middle of the field? Does it have a guy who's a victim of poor play around him? Is Barrett Ruud not physical enough of a player, or a "thumper" as some call it, to handle the MLB position as some people have mused?

One thing is for sure....Barrett Ruud has plenty of reason to show that he's a leader on the field this fall. Forget being named a captain....he's already a player that young guys are going to look at because of the length of his service on this defense. It's that leadership on and off the field and his play that will determine whether or not Ruud gets his payday that he's longed for, and the respect as a solid inside linebacker that's eluded him the past couple of seasons.

Based on what I've seen early out of this defense, the excuses for poor play are disappearing. For those who point to the system around Ruud as the main culprit, he has a pair of young Tampa Towers and an admittedly leaner and faster Roy Miller manning the interior of the defensive line. The secondary should be solid again this season, with Sean Jones increasing the range from the SS position and Biggers and Mack putting together nice preseasons to compliment Talib, Ronde, and Tanard Jackson.

Most importantly to me, he needs to show me he's able and willing to step into the hole, blow up a blocker, and shut the play down near the line. This team needs to rediscover a level of physicality that the league's top defenses have, and that starts with Barrett on Sunday against the Browns.

$9,000 stolen coin sold for $167

Times Editor — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:26:42 +0000

A gold coin worth more than $9,000 was stolen from a Vero Beach store, but quickly reappeared after it was sold for $167, TCPalm reports.

The thief obviously didn’t know how much the coin was worth, but neither did the antique dealer who bought it. That dealer took it back to the coin store for appraisal.

Until then, the coin store owner didn’t know it had been stolen. The guy who sold the coin to the antique dealer has been arrested.

Maybe he thought it was kitty porn

Times Editor — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:23:41 +0000

A Jensen Beach man who said his cat downloaded child pornography onto his home computer gave up that defense and pleaded no contest, TCPalm reports.

Keith Griffin, 49, was sentenced to more than a dozen years in prison on 100 counts of possessing child porn.

Initially, he said the cat would jump on his keyboard while he was away.

The Rapture Starts Tonight at Sundown

dave — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:11:48 +0000

It’s about time.

“September 2, 2010

“It should be pretty clear that the studies found in the book and this website look to this Feast of Trumpets 2010 (September 9th) as the time of the Rapture of the Church. That is less than a week away. Time is quickly running out.

“The observed calendar places Trumpets as starting September 8th at sundown and the first day runs to sundown September 9th. The next day is also observed by Judaism in case the 9th was declared in error by being too early. However, there are also those who hold to the first observable sliver of the moon as the first of the month. There is a remote possibility of it being viewed on September 9th at evening, but is more likely t be seen on September 10th, making September 11th the Feast of Trumpets according to this view. It may be the best approach to remain alert through all of these days, watching for all sets of possibilities. However, it is believed here that September 8-9th will be the proper day (depending on location).”

(via J-Walk blog)

Motor Mania starring Goofy

dave — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:00:34 +0000

This 1950 Disney cartoon explores the radical personality change some people undergo when they get behind the wheel of a car.

Bomb squad blows up stuffed pony

Times Editor — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:23:20 +0000

An Orange County grade school was on a “modified lockdown” while the sheriff’s office investigated and then exploded a “suspicious device” that was found near the school, OrlandoSentinel.com reports.

After blowing it up, officials deemed the toy stuffed pony “nonthreatening.”

It only bit like a piranha

Times Editor — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:55:25 +0000

If you think Florida has too much imported wildlife, you might be glad to hear that a fisherman in Deltona thought he hooked a piranha but really got only a poor cousin.

The wildlife commission determined it was merely a pacu, which isn’t a native but is relatively common in Florida (at least when measured against the piranha), wftv.com reports.

Tom Cornell said he reeled in the 14-inch fish with a piece of snake as bait. He said it nipped his finger when he caught it and nipped him again an hour later. “I said, ‘I can’t believe this thing is still alive,’ ” he told the TV website.

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