Helmet Radio

helmet radio Video Review

463.5125 MHz From the December 28, 2008 Lions/Packers game. Third and fourth quarters. Includes...

Did This Terrifying Robot Kitty Helmet Just Wink at Me?

So much for getting a good night's sleep tonight. Researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan University have created this disturbing robot cat mask that's able to mimic the movements of the wearer's eyes and mouth using a non-contact interface to measure the movements of the muscles in their face.

The masks worn by people dressed as cartoon characters usually require a separate operator to have any kind of motion or movement. But this system allows the person wearing the costume to control their own facial expressions, without tying up their hands. The research of course has applications for amusement parks, finally giving some life and emotion to Mickey Mouse and other characters.

Skydiving: For Some it’s GRAB a Wing and a Prayer

One of my favorite parts in my novel Brass Monkey is the high altitude skydiving scene. The scene itself isn’t unique, I’m sure lots of thriller writers have had characters jumping out of planes at thirty thousand feet. But have they had that character be an amateur who has never done it before? And have they had that character panic due to something as trivial as not finding the toggles?

This little tidbit adds a dose of reality to the situation, and is based on something from my own life.

I was nineteen, working as a university co-op student on the Space Station Project at the Canadian Space Agency in Canada’s capital, Ottawa. I was sharing an office with another co-op student named Kevin, who coincidentally lived on the same floor of the same dorm as I had during our first year. One day during lunch another co-op student, a particularly attractive one from what I remember, poked her head in our office, and mentioned that some of the students were going skydiving on the weekend, and wanted to know if we would join them.