Meet Pepper, Japan’s robot priest that can now conduct funerals

Japan is already known for being at the forefront of humanoid robots that take over traditionally human jobs ( hotel concierge and elderly companions , for instance). Now they can add robot funeral priests to their list. Japan’s telecommunications company SoftBank just unveiled “Pepper,” its robot priest, dressed in Buddhist robes, that can chant Buddhist scriptures, play the drum, and livestream the ceremony for people who can’t attend the funeral in person. The demo took place at Japan’s “Life Ending Industry Expo” in Tokyo last Wednesday. According to The Guardian : The robot was on display on Wednesday at a funeral industry fair, the Life Ending Industry Expo, in Tokyo, shown off by plastic molding maker Nissei Eco. With the average cost of a funeral in Japan reaching in excess of £20,000, according to data from Japan’s Consumer Association in 2008, and human priests costing £1,700, Nissei Eco is looking to undercut the market with Pepper available for just £350 per funeral. Pepper (not a name I’d expect a Buddhist priest to have, but this is a robot we’re talking about after all) has not yet been hired for a real funeral.

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Meet Pepper, Japan’s robot priest that can now conduct funerals

Wikipedia’s mindblowing timeline of the far future

Wikipedia’s prediction of far-future events really makes me wish I could stick around to see the red supergiant star Antares go supernova in 10,000 years. “The explosion is expected to be easily visible in daylight.” I’m happy I’ll miss the 1km asteroid that’s likely to hit Earth in the next 500,000 years. Looking farther out, the moon Phobos will collide Mars in 50 million years. Anything alive 2.8 billion years from now will need good air conditions because “Earth’s surface temperature, even at the poles,” will be 300 °F. This list “Technological Projects” below is just one of the many different tables in the Wikipedia article:

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Wikipedia’s mindblowing timeline of the far future

Watch hard candies get made on a candy press from 1871

Producing hard candy in bulk still required a lot of skill in Victorian times, as Lofty Pursuits demonstrated by making cinnamon hearts on this hard candy press from 1871. (more…)

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Watch hard candies get made on a candy press from 1871

Daniela Forti’s stunning glass jellyfish tables

Italian sculptor Daniela Forti makes gorgeous jellyfish tables from colored glass. Here’s a photo of how she creates the dramatic pieces, drawing out individual globs of glass into long tendrils: (more…)

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Daniela Forti’s stunning glass jellyfish tables

Dogs in Navi Mumbai are turning blue

A number of very unusual-looking blue dogs have been spotted in Navi Mumbai, India. Sadly, the cause is industrial waste in the Kasadi river where stray dogs often wade. From the Hindustan Times : A water quality test at Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation found the waste treatment was inadequate. The levels of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) — the concentration of oxygen required to sustain aquatic life — was 80 milligram a litre (mg/L). Levels of chloride, which is toxic, harms vegetation, aquatic life and wildlife, were also high…. “It was shocking to see how the dog’s white fur had turned completely blue,” said Arati Chauhan, resident of Navi Mumbai, who runs the (Navi Mumbai Animal Protection Cell). “We have spotted almost five such dogs here and have asked the pollution control board to act against such industries.” MPCB officials said they had taken cognisance of the complaint. “Allowing the discharge of dye into any water body is illegal. We will take action against the polluters as they are destroying the environment,” said Anil Mohekar, regional officer, MPCB, Navi Mumbai. “We have directed our sub-regional officer to investigate,” he added. Animal rights activists have, however, wondered whether the move comes too late. “We have only spotted blue dogs so far. We do not know if birds, reptiles and other creatures are affected or if they have even died owing to the dye discharged into the air,” said Chauhan.

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Dogs in Navi Mumbai are turning blue

Every judicial decision has been liberated from the US court system’s paywall

US court records are not copyrighted, but the US court system operates a paywall called “PACER” that is supposed to recoup the costs of serving text files on the internet; charging $0.10/page for access to the public domain, and illegally profiting to the tune of $80,000,000/year . (more…)

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Every judicial decision has been liberated from the US court system’s paywall

Watch: Stunning rare white moose caught on video

A white moose is rare, with only about 100 of them in Sweden. But Hans Nilsson, who has been tracking them for three years, according to Inhabitat , caught this moose on video on August 11 in Varmland, Sweden. The moose is not an albino, but its white fur is a genetic mutation. Or magical, to be more exact.

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Watch: Stunning rare white moose caught on video

Hundred-year-old fruitcake found in Anarctica in "excellent condition"

Researchers from the Antarctic Heritage Trust turned up this 100-year-old fruitcake in a Cape Adare hut. From their report : Made by Huntley & Palmers, the fruit cake is still wrapped in paper and encased in the remains of a tin-plated iron alloy tin. The cake probably dates to the Cape Adare-based Northern Party of Scott’s Terra Nova expedition (1910 – 1913) as it has been documented that Scott took this particular brand of cake with him at that time. Although the tin was in poor condition, the cake itself looked and smelt (almost) edible… “It’s an ideal high-energy food for Antarctic conditions, and is still a favourite item on modern trips to the Ice,” said the Trust’s Lizzie Meek.

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Hundred-year-old fruitcake found in Anarctica in "excellent condition"

Tinyworlds: gorgeous forest photos released under the Creative Commons

Rick “Tinyworlds” Hoppmann has released all of his wonderful forest photos under a non-commercial Creative Commons license. You can use it, remix it and share it yourself so long as you credit him and so long as you don’t profit from it. If you want to use my photos for commercial use (e.g. album covers), please send me an email: rick.kelgar(at)web.de https://twitter.com/Mezaka_/status/739439204883697664

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Tinyworlds: gorgeous forest photos released under the Creative Commons