Penguins mess with camera, appear to pose for selfie
A pair of penguins were captured on camera appearing to pose for a selfie in Antarctica after one of the aquatic birds discovered the filming device. The footage, filmed at the Auster Rookery near Australia’s Mawson research station, was shared on Twitter by the Australian Antarctic Division.
The penguins are seen tilting the camera over and examining it in a way that makes them appear to be taking a selfie together. The video also gives viewers a close view of the penguins and their facial features. Australian Antarctic expeditioner, Eddie Gault, had left the camera after visiting the Auster Rookery, the Australian Antarctic Division said.
(UPI)
Machine solves Rubik’s cube in 0.38 seconds flat
A masters student constructed a machine capable of solving a Rubik’s cube in a fraction of a second. Ben Katz, a student at MIT’s Biomimetic Robotics lab shared video of the machine completing the puzzle in 0.38 seconds.
“The time is from the moment the keypress is registered on the computer, to when the last face is flipped,” Katz wrote in a blog post. “It includes image capture and computation time, as well as actually moving the cube.”
The machine is made up of six Kollmorgen ServoDisc U9-series motors with U.S. Digital optical encoders on the back, six custom motor drivers and two PlayStation Eye cameras. Katz said the actual motion time is about 335 milliseconds, with each 90 degree move taking about 10 milliseconds. “The machine can definitely go faster, but the tuning process is really time consuming since debugging needs to be done with the high speed camera, and mistakes often break the cube,” Katz said.
(UPI)
Toddler locks mother’s iPhone for 47 years
A woman in China’s iPhone will be locked for 47 years after her two-year-old repeatedly entered the wrong passcode to unlock the device. The woman, identified by her family name lu, explained to Chinese media that she left the iPhone with her son so that he could watch educational videos. The son then accidentally activated the iPhone’s security system which extends the amount of time the device is locked every time a wrong passcode is entered. lu came home to discover that her phone was disabled and unusable for over 25 million minutes, or a total of 47 years.
lu then brought the phone to an Apple store in Shanghai where a technician explained that she could either wait to unlock her phone or reboot the iPhone which would erase all of the phone’s data. “I couldn’t really wait for 47 years and tell my grandchild it was your father’s mistake,” the mother said.
(UPI)
Smoking orangutan riles UP anger against Indonesia zoo
A video of an orangutan smoking has brought more criticism of a zoo in Indonesia infamous for past animal welfare troubles. In the video shot Sunday, a young man flicks his half-smoked cigarette into the primate’s enclosure. It’s picked up by the reddish-brown primate, who expertly puffs on it to laughter from the crowd.
Activist Marison Guciano said Wednesday the smoking ape is further evidence of a lack of supervision and education at Bandung Zoo, about 120 km southwest of the capital, Jakarta. Guciano said the man committed a crime but the privately owned zoo is mainly responsible because of its “ignorance of supervision and education for visitors.”
The zoo has repeatedly made headlines for starving and sick animals. It was temporarily closed in 2016 after a Sumatran elephant that died was found to have bruises on its body.
A change.org petition calling for Bandung Zoo to be closed has nearly 1 million signatures. Visitors who review the zoo on TripAdvisor describe a dirty facility and sadness and anger at seeing the condition of the animals. Zoo spokesman Sulhan Syafi’I said “we very much regret that such a thing happened” and the incident was reported to police. Signs at the zoo warn visitors to not feed animals or give them cigarettes, he said. Substandard conditions are common at Indonesian zoos and Guciano blamed the government for being slow in establishing animal welfare standards.
(AP)
Putin says grandfather cooked for Stalin, lenin
Vladimir Putin’s paternal grandfather worked as a cook for both Vladimir lenin and Joseph Stalin, the president said in a film posted on the internet on Sunday. In the two-hour documentary, called Putin, the president said Spiridon Putin was a valued member of Stalin’s staff. The wartime Soviet leader, who died in 1953, conducted extensive purges during his around three decades in power. “(He) was a cook at lenin’s and later at Stalin’s, at one of the dachas in the Moscow area,” Putin said in the film seen by Reuters.
Interviewer Andrey Kondrashov, who became the president’s election campaign spokesman in January, said Spiridon Putin continued to cook for the Soviet establishment until shortly before he died in 1965, aged 86. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the information in the film was accurate.
(Reuters)