Things that make you go "Hmmmm…"

[Xyzzy]

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/roof...-gun-1.1883839

[ewmayer]

When You Give a Tree an Email Address | The Atlantic

“My dearest Ulmus,” the message began.

“As I was leaving St. Mary’s College today I was struck, not by a branch, but by your radiant beauty. You must get these messages all the time. You’re such an attractive tree.”

This is an excerpt of a letter someone wrote to a green-leaf elm, one of thousands of messages in an ongoing correspondence between the people of Melbourne, Australia, and the city’s trees.

Officials assigned the trees ID numbers and email addresses in 2013 as part of a program designed to make it easier for citizens to report problems like dangerous branches. The “unintended but positive consequence,” as the chair of Melbourne’s Environment Portfolio, Councillor Arron Wood, put it to me in an email, was that people did more than just report issues. They also wrote directly to the trees, which have received thousands of messages—everything from banal greetings and questions about current events to love letters and existential dilemmas.

"My dear Sequoia - I don't mean to come across as needling you, but is it true you were once in trouble with the city for violating their anti-barking ordinance?"

I wonder if there were any especially naughty (or perhaps knotty?) arboreal come-ons among the mails - "the sight of your plump bulging fruits almost bursting out of their tight straining husks has prompted me to leave my wife," that sort of thing.

Sign me,
- Chloro Phil

[davar55]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

When You Give a Tree an Email Address | The Atlantic
"My dear Sequoia - I don't mean to come across as needling you, but is it true you were once in trouble with the city for violating their anti-barking ordinance?"
I wonder if there were any especially naughty (or perhaps knotty?) arboreal come-ons among the mails - "the sight of your plump bulging fruits almost bursting out of their tight straining husks has prompted me to leave my wife," that sort of thing.
Sign me,
- Chloro Phil

Dear Phil: Go back to your wife. You've contacted an e-male. We sequoia are as straight as they come. -- vty, Jack Lumber.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

When You Give a Tree an Email Address

I think that I shall never see
An e-mail lovely as a tree.

[jasong]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

When You Give a Tree an Email Address | The Atlantic

"My dear Sequoia - I don't mean to come across as needling you, but is it true you were once in trouble with the city for violating their anti-barking ordinance?"

I wonder if there were any especially naughty (or perhaps knotty?) arboreal come-ons among the mails - "the sight of your plump bulging fruits almost bursting out of their tight straining husks has prompted me to leave my wife," that sort of thing.

Sign me,
- Chloro Phil

I think I may have figured out where one of the heroes in Guardians of the Galaxy came from.

[ewmayer]

Nudist resort owners charged with stealing water | San Jose Mercury News

Such naked criminality must not stand!

[science_man_88]

http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-dis...175437977.html

Geneva (AFP) - Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have discovered a new kind of particle called the pentaquark, they announced Tuesday.

Physicists had theorised the existence of the pentaquark since the 1960s, but had never been able to prove it until its detection by the LHCb experiment at the LHC, the world's most powerful particle smasher.

[davar55]

DO you think eventually the collider will discover a Mersenne Prime?
If so, which one?

[jasong]

Quoting science_man_88's quote.

Geneva (AFP) - Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have discovered a new kind of particle called the pentaquark, they announced Tuesday.

Physicists had theorised the existence of the pentaquark since the 1960s, but had never been able to prove it until its detection by the LHCb experiment at the LHC, the world's most powerful particle smasher.

I picture scientific research as an infinitely large maze with rare treasures hidden inside. Every success and non-stupid failure is progress that describes how the maze is mapped. Even failures can be good because people can then block off "dead ends."

[only_human]

Hitchhiking robot embarking on coast-to-coast tour across US

So far, there are no signs of anything nefarious done to the robot, but there's also no proof. Its creators intentionally cast their gaze aside.

"We want to be very careful to avoid surveillance technologies with this; that's not what we're trying to do here," Smith said.

A GPS in the robot can track its location, and a camera randomly snaps photos about every 20 minutes to document its travels. But the team behind the robot seeks permission from people in the photos before posting them to social media, where hitchBOT has built a devoted fan base.

More than 30,000 people follow the robot on Twitter, and dozens have posted their own selfies with it. Researchers are culling data from social media to study how people interact with a robot that needs their help, unlike traditional robots designed to help them.

Among the chief questions researchers are asking, Zeller said, is whether robots can trust humans.

During past travels, the robot has attended a comic convention and a wedding, and it had its portrait painted in the Netherlands. It once spent a week with a heavy metal band.

The cross-country tour of Canada took 26 days, spanning more than 6,000 miles. As for the U.S. trip, researchers don't know how long it will take, or what will happen along the way.

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by only_human

So far, there are no signs of anything nefarious done to the robot, but there's also no proof. Its creators intentionally cast their gaze aside.

The delicate phrasing here made me immediately think of 'nefarious' activities such as described in the love machine (official title: "Sy Borg") segment of Frank Zappa classic Joe's Garage:

This is the central scrutinizer... you have just destroyed one model xqj-37 nuclear powered pan-sexual roto-plooker and you're gonna have to pay for it! so give up, you haven't got a chance.