Cordite's stories

Tue 25 Feb 2003 - 11:47

Artist David Hanson has created a robotic talking head which mimics human emotional response. Named "K-Bot", the head has 24 facial "muscles", making it the most expressive of its kind to date.

An earlier article, here, has photos as well.

Tue 25 Feb 2003 - 11:45

Summit and Alcon Entertainment have teamed with Warner Bros. to solidify the release of a film next year entitled Racing Stripes, which will feature a CGI/animatronic talking zebra.

"The screenplay... tells the story of a zebra abandoned on a farm in Kentucky and follows his adventures to fullfill his ambition of becoming a champion racehorse."

Sat 22 Feb 2003 - 12:19

A long time in coming, the computer strategy game Impossible Creatures offers the chance to combine over fifty animal species to create combat-ready hybrids.

According to a Reuters news release: "Impossible Creatures" makes it easy to combine a coyote with a skunk to create a coyunk, or a lobster and a hippopotamus to get the lobstopotamus."

Official game site here

Wed 19 Feb 2003 - 11:12

Police are trying to find out who is stealing (and why) the mane and tail hair from horses in Edmonton, Canada. While the horses have been left unharmed by their shear-wielding assailants, authorities are most confused as to the motive for the thefts.

"There is speculation that it (the hair) is being used for jewelry, to make flies for fly fishing, for makeup brushes or for violin bows. But none of that seems to make much sense. It could also be just senseless vandalism."

Fri 14 Feb 2003 - 11:09

Neurobiologist Lawrence Katz and his colleagues have been conducting research on the pheremonal responses of mice, measuring the impulses from individual neurons in their brains.
Katz's team were able to observe the activity of the "auxiliary olfactory bulb", which receives information from an "auxiliary nose" that detects pheremones.

Fri 14 Feb 2003 - 11:08

"Old Baldy" - the horse of Civil War General George Meade - continues to wade through battle 121 years after his death. The Grand Army of the Republic Museum and the Civil War Library and Museum both claim ownership of Old Baldy's head and want it for their own.

Wed 12 Feb 2003 - 17:35

School officials in Minnesota were a bit taken aback by a fifth-grader's explanation of his inability to keep awake in class, and of the scratch marks covering his body. Apparantly, the tiger in his bedroom was keeping him up at night.

The 3 or 4 month old tiger - named Anna by the boy - has since been secured by a Humane Society.

Tue 11 Feb 2003 - 18:58

In celebration of the festival of Eid al-Adha, Muslims sacrifice cows, sheep, goats, and bulls, whose meat is given to the poor. In Istanbul today, the bulls weren't going to take it anymore and broke out, running loose through the city.
More than 600 people were injured
either attempting to sacrifice, or trying to capture the escaped animals.

Sat 8 Feb 2003 - 15:01

This article discusses some of the randier television programming planned for Valentine's week on Canadian television.

"The Discovery Channel, meanwhile, is offering a full line-up of humping critters including Out in Nature: Homosexual Behaviour in the Animal Kingdom, Weird and Wild: Wild Sex and a lovely little David Attenborough documentary on the peculiar seduction rituals of bowerbirds."

Thu 6 Feb 2003 - 14:07

Pixar, producers of Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo, is looking for a distributor to replace their long-time partner, Disney.
Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, and Sony Pictures are thought to be among the top candidates.

"I think they're in discussions with everybody," said Jeffrey Logsdon, an analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison. "There's a lot of guys who want to take the girl to the prom."