Further Proof that the Japanese Will One Day Rule the World
From PinkTentacle.com:
Robot goat feeds on gambler misfortune
02 Nov 2007
Unlucky gamblers at the Edogawa Kyotei boat race course in Tokyo have a new way to ease their frustrations after botching a bet — they can feed their losing tickets to a robotic goat. Edogawa Kyotei enlisted the help of the ticket-munching robo-goat at the end of last month in an effort to reduce litter inside the facility. The 1.6-meter tall Rocky Mountain goat, which has a thick coat of white fur and ticket-detecting sensors in its mouth, devours about 500 tickets per day — many of which would otherwise end up on the floor. The goatkeeper says, “It eats up your frustrations so that you will have better luck with the next race.”
Oh, how happy this makes me. Such complete and unabashed weirdness.
I love to think about the inventor’s overwhelming joy when the idea first occurred to him. I also like to imagine his wife’s earnest efforts to shut down the idea before he went public with it. How much more bizarre it must have sounded on paper. And that’s really saying something.
Will post progress pictures of the knitted skirt soon – am nearly halfway done with the main panels. Knitting has recently come to a screeching halt and will not resume until after I take the GMAT this Friday. Wish me luck.
If anyone wants to go dancing, I’m sure that will be occurring over the weekend as well. There has been plenty in my life lately, and it somehow never seems to be enough.
Back from the dead
There has been a bug which has kept me from accessing the administrator part of my blog lately. It is apparently resolved and we’re back on track. Sorry for the complete silence. Probably best since things in my life have been overwhelming lately.
In my absence I have:
(Finally) finished my niece Amelia’s dress:
Ends sewn in, blocked, ribbon threaded, and DONE. Got it finished in time for this Memorial Day BBQ. Gosh she’s cute. I used CottonEase since it is washable and chose a grosgrain ribbon so it wouldn’t have to be removed for washings. I’m curious to see how normal wear & tear treats this yarn.
Ended up filling in only every other row of the bodice with the strips of elastic – this dress was getting HEAVY, and it didn’t really need the reams and reams called for anyway. Found a cotton covered elastic which was perfect since I couldn’t imagine the normal rubber kind on her sensitive 2 year old skin. Overall I’m very pleased – it looked comfortable. Please note if you are making this pattern that the stitch count DOUBLES all at once when the bodice ends – I failed to notice this fact and severely miscalculated my time for completion. Not that it wasn’t clear – I’m just not a big reader-aheader for patterns.
At the end I used a very small picot bind off edge (not sure if it was one or two stitch picot?) just to add that little ruffle curl at the bottom. Yes the top picot cast on (which was curling like all get out) did behave much better with the addition of elastic and blocking. I would still look for preventative techniques online though.
Other things I have done:
- Went to a Braves game with Sarah on Memorial Day and then attended said Memorial Day BBQ
- Hung out with Fischer, to include painting the backyard fence with water:
*Note the patented “Gordon Scowl”
- Attended a super fun BBQ at Larisa’s last Thursday. She really knows how to throw a party. Everyone had a great time.
- BBQ’d with Sarah at midnight last Friday:
It was the most perfect, over-the-top backporch party for two that you’ve ever seen. We cranked out some Rolling Stones through her apartment window. Topics of conversation included: 1) A patient’s bulimia habits (yes, apparently you CAN give your healthcare provider TMI); 2) Heroin’s chemical makeup (which was then researched in true nerd-alert fashion) 3) People who were bullies as children/teenagers and ended up losers as adults.
- Got locked out of my apartment by my cat and had to subsequently break back in through my window. This occurred in the midst of our late-night Friday night BBQ
- Attended a lovely BBQ up in Dallas, GA at Robyn’s along with Liz, David, & their Henry. Jeremy played the banjo, and Henry stomped along. No pics from this event- Jeremy & I were much too busy drinking the delightfully strong Robyn’s Good Time Lime Margaritas (a Martha Stewart recipe), which somehow still contained one fewer cup of Tequila than the FOUR cups called for in the recipe. (I CANNOT imagine them any stronger.) That Martha, she knows how to party. Luckily the BBQ started early, so there were no lingering Good Time effects on my drive home. I will be asking much more of Robyn this Friday for my birthday when there will be dancing that doesn’t start until 11 p.m…
So do we sense a theme? I’ve probably had more beef in the last two weeks than I’ve had all year. I’m not certainly not complaining. And I’ve really gotta get that Robyn’s Good Time Lime Margaritas recipe…
