Recon 6.0 Programmable Rover hopes to make coding appeal to the younger set (hands-on)
February 16, 2011 No Comment
SmartLab’s Recon 6.0 Programmable Rover is an interesting little toy-gadget we found while perusing the floor at the International Toy Fair. Designed as a teaching tool for basic programming skills, this little bot comes with an owner’s manual that’ll teach your little tyke basic programming concepts in an easy-to-use package. All coding is done right on the front panel itself using easy-to-understand arrows and symbols, and you can make it do things like deliver sodas, guard a bedroom, or recite pre-recorded messages to unknowing family members or pets. We wish it had a video camera up top rather than just a microphone and speaker, but maybe letting Junior start out with just the basics isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s available now for around $60, so if you’ve had enough dominos maybe give this a once-over. Gallery: SmartLab ReCon 6.0 Programmable Rover Recon 6.0 Programmable Rover hopes to make coding appeal to the younger set (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …A US marshal is dead and two fellow marshals injured after a gunman opened fire inside his West Virginia house when they tried to serve a warrant. The gunman was killed in the ensuing shootout, reports the Charleston Gazette . Marshals were at the home of a 51-year-old man accused of…
Continue reading …Host a Party, Help Oscar-Nominated Sun Come Up Raise Money For Climate Change Refugees
February 16, 2011 No Comment
While all the green-themed films currently up for Academy Awards are worthy contenders, and I’d really encourage you to see all of them if you get a chance, the producers of Sun Come Up –a beautifully shot documentary which follows the relocation of the Carteret Islanders to neighboring islands as their ancestral home gets submerged by climate change–recently contacted me to give a plug for their House Raiser campaign to raise money fo… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …A fake Twitter feed that has fun with Rahm Emanuel’s fluency in f-bombs is taking off. The feed @MayorEmanuel has more than 26,000 followers, triple the number of the Chicago candidate’s real feed . Even Emanuel says he checks in, and the tweets usually make him smile, notes the Huffington…
Continue reading …Shocking Vid: Wis. HS Students Admit Teachers Bringing Them to Protests but Don‘t Know Why They’re There
February 16, 2011 No Comment
As Wisconsin unions rally to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s emergency budget proposal that would get rid of most of the state workers’ collective bargaining privileges, video posted on YouTube appears to show teachers pulling high school students into the conflict. The video, taken by Wisconsin’s conservative MacIver Institute , shows students from Madison’s East High School claiming their teachers brought… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Blaze Discovery Date : 16/02/2011 20:11 Number of articles : 4
Continue reading …Rerun: Liberals Pose With PBS Kids Characters, Ernie and Bert Get ‘GOPink Slip’
February 16, 2011 No Comment
Every time someone Congress considers reducing federal funding for public broadcasting, PBS lobbyists and liberal Democrats trot out Muppets and lovable cartoon characters in their defense. Chris Moody of the Daily Caller reported that a human-sized Arthur the Aardvark stood behind liberals today on Capitol Hill as they pledged to protect PBS. The friendly but silent aardvark joined Democratic Reps. Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and others to hit back against Republicans who have pledged to cut the funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the next budget. “We need your help today,” Markey said as a person dressed as the character walked toward the Capitol building. “We can’t leave Arthur and all of his pals in the lurch.” The members stood behind dolls of Sesame Street’s Big Bird, Grover and Elmo. Behind them, House aides held up signs showing Bert and Ernie being handed a letter that reads, “GOPink Slip: You are fired,” and another that showed cartoon characters being tossed away from a scale weighed down by “Big Oil.” “We’re here to create jobs, not lay off Bert and Ernie,” said Rep. Nita Lowey of New York. Rep. Lowey used the same tactic in a January 1995 House hearing, putting Ernie and Bert puppets on her hands. (I was there. She and Nancy Pelosi talked to each other throughout most of the conservatives' testimony.) In fact, Lowey's website claims her puppet act was recognized worldwide for saving PBS: When GOP leaders threatened to eliminate the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in the 1990s, Lowey “invited” puppets Bert and Ernie to a Congressional hearing.
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An exclusive first look at the professionally designed envelope for the Academy Awards, to be used for the first time at this year’s Oscars, set for Feb. 27 in Hollywood. (Feb. 16)
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Jay Carney, the new White House press secretary, opened his first formal briefing by assuring reporters he’s there to help them do their jobs. Carney is a former bureau chief for Time magazine. (Feb. 16)
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Jay Carney, the new White House press secretary, opened his first formal briefing by assuring reporters he’s there to help them do their jobs. Carney is a former bureau chief for Time magazine. (Feb. 16)
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enlarge Philadelphia attorney Irv Ackelsberg. Doesn’t this story warm your heart? I know it does mine. The attorney on this case is my friend Alex’s father, a lifelong public interest lawyer who’s really, really good. Philly represent! Patrick Rodgers, an independent music promoter in Philadelphia, has won a judgment against his mortgage lender, Wells Fargo, which Wells hasn’t paid, and so he’s foreclosed on them and arranged for a sheriff’s sale of the contents of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, 1341 N. Delaware Ave to pay the legal bill. Rodgers made all his mortgage payments on time, but Wells decided out of the blue that he had to carry insurance for the full replacement value of his home — $1 million — and started to charge him an extra $500 a month in premiums. When Rodgers sent a formal letter to the lender questioning this, they did not answer in good time, so a court awarded him $1,000 in damages, which Wells wouldn’t pay. So the court is allowing him to sell the contents of the lender’s office to make good on the bill. Hoo-ah! “It’s a completely unreasonable demand,” says Irv Ackelsberg, a mortgage expert at the Philadelphia law firm Langer, Grogan & Diver. “Their interest is in protecting their mortgage, not ensuring that the house is rebuilt.” Rodgers’ next step put him at some risk, he concedes now. He refused to renew the higher-cost policy. Instead, Wells Fargo bought him so-called forced-placement insurance – a policy that typically costs much more than ordinary coverage and only protects the mortgage-holder’s interests. But he fought back with his suit under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). Last month, Wells Fargo sent him more than $1,000, and Menke says it intended to fully satisfy the judgment. “We had considered this matter closed,” he says. What about Rodgers’ four-page letter demanding answers about how much Wells is trying to charge him – charges that have added $500 a month to his statement? Menke says Wells Fargo sent a written response “within the last month.” As of Monday, Rodgers hadn’t seen it.
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