the singularity begins....@#^%!!$^^&*

with props to the 'bumbot'......


Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP.
"They pose a threat to humanity," said University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey ahead of a keynote address Wednesday before Britain's Royal United Services Institute.

Intelligent machines deployed on battlefields around the world -- from mobile grenade launchers to rocket-firing drones -- can already identify and lock onto targets without human help.

There are more than 4,000 US military robots on the ground in Iraq, as well as unmanned aircraft that have clocked hundreds of thousands of flight hours.

The first three armed combat robots fitted with large-caliber machine guns deployed to Iraq last summer, manufactured by US arms maker Foster-Miller, proved so successful that 80 more are on order, said Sharkey.

But up to now, a human hand has always been required to push the button or pull the trigger.

It we are not careful, he said, that could change.

Military leaders "are quite clear that they want autonomous robots as soon as possible, because they are more cost-effective and give a risk-free war," he said.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080227111811.y9syyq8p&show_article=



this just in:

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Quirks/2008/02/27/beer_aficionado_wins_lifetime_supply/1941/

YORK, Va., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A York, Va., man named the nation's top beer fan by a Colorado-based brewery has been awarded a lifetime supply of his favorite beverage.

Matt Venzke, who was named the winner of the "12th Annual Search for America's Ultimate Beer Fiend," which was carried out via a series of question-and-answer sessions with contestants, won "free beer for life" from Wynkoop Brewing Co., as well as a $250 beer tab at his favorite bar and the chance to design his own custom-brew alongside the company's top brewer, the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press reported Wednesday.

Venzke explained that his new found title was not based on the quantity of beer he drinks, but rather on the variety of brews he enjoys and his level of fandom.

"It's not about drinking high quantities of beer, it's about enjoying the diversities of beer," Venzke said.

Wynkoop said Venzke was chosen for his "humor" as well as "a combination of impressive beer drinking experiences ... and beer ambassadorship."



authorities in Grant Park have heard reports of a grown fat man weeping uncontrollably.