As a person who actually grows much of my own produce, I can say definitively that many of their numbers are WAY off. They require one to pay one's self $100 per month for produce shopping to come up with their $1400 per year 'savings', but claim 5 minutes a day for 'harvest time'...good luck with that if you're not living on just lettuce and cauliflower...peas and beans will take 3 times that. They claim $6 for seeds, but the seeds I buy are over $3 per packet, so that's only 2 vegetables at a time...not much variety. I also note they have no cost for soil, the bed, fertilizers, pest control methods/time, disease control, etc. They also arbitrarily put the maintenance time at :30 min per month...that doesn't seem really realistic for an outdoor robot. Keep in mind that a single break down can mean the loss of an entire crop, depending on how it malfunctions. They also don't give an expected lifespan...or guarantee/warranty, so there's little way to know yet if it will last a single season, much less the 4-5 they say it takes to pay off.

It would have made much more sense to me if they had compared it to growing a home garden by hand, as that's what it's replacing, not the grocery store.

Don't get me wrong, I love this idea and would take one in a second if someone offered, I just don't see it as cost effective at $3-4K. Once the bugs are worked out so it lasts 10 years and the DIY cost is down to $1K(+-), then I'll think they have something pretty good that could also save people money. Being totally open source, I have hope that it will evolve quickly and be clearly viable in the near future. The time is coming when I won't be able to do the home farming I do today...it would be great to have a metallic yard slave to take over for me when that time comes.

I can't take someone seriously when they have one of those 12.95 hollow handled 'survival' knives and a non-functional Rambo style headband.

Here is an actual outdoor gal talking about dandelions for reference.

I'm not sure why this guy is such a target. The neighborhood just doesn't look that bad. It probably has to do with the fact that to the right of this house the street deadends at the parking lots for a secondary school and the local outdoor community pool. I'm guessing that all the lowlifes for a large area congregate there at night to hang out. He has made the news before:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/b-c-couple-fights-back-against-thieves-with-paintballs-1.1865097

There are definitely a lot of legal issues, the problem is the location. I can't be reasonably certain that a jury would convict the parents and the kid is a juvi at worst, again assuming you can get a judge in that area to convict.

I would suspect the worst damage that could be done would be for the thief to sue them in civil court for pain and suffering. That is something that might actually push through the system, given the lower standard needed for victory.

But yeah, the first things that went through my head when I watched this were:

A. What kind of family leaves a loaded 9mm laying around with an 11 year old in the house?
B. Shooting at a fleeing criminal is definitely a huge no-no in any state.
C. Where the hell did the other 11 rounds go? I mean, full metal jacket rounds fucking BOUNCE when they hit anything remotely hard. I've shot them before at an outdoor range and watched them hit the backing wrong and veer wide of the berm, I cringe at thinking where they were ricocheting with Billy the Kid popping them off like caps.

@Gratefulmom

People who disagree with science generally don't come out so well in the end--see anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers, etc. I'd change my mind about these kindergartens if there were solid science behind them.

And if you look into it, you'll see there is very little good science to support this style of kindergarten (i.e. the sample sizes are small, no case studies or longitudinal studies, studies rely heavily on self-reporting of either parents and children, etc.) whereas there is a lot of well done research that shows the lifelong benefits of "traditional" pre-schooling (i.e. longitudinal studies that show demonstrable effects even after controlling for external factors).

I would love to see a well thought out longitudinal study that compares how the outdoor kindergarteners fair against those from traditional classrooms but unfortunately the only research I could find compared the outdoor kids to kids who had never been to kindergarten at all.

And of course comparing kids who went to any sort of kindergarten to kids who haven't is going to favor the kindergarten kids if you're looking at things like social skills, ability to take direction from adults, etc. (which is exactly what the studies done on the outdoor kindergartens do).

So it's not about disagreeing with you so much as it is not finding any evidence that this style of pre-school is better than going to a traditional preschool that includes a healthy amount of outdoor playtime (at least 1 to 2 hours a day if not more).

@Gratefulmom

Hey, if parents want to send their kids to a completely unregulated daycare where the "education" is having kids swing sticks around in the rain and -20 degree weather, that's their choice (though it sounds to me more like ancient Sparta than a modern Kindergarten).

As for me, on the other hand, I prefer my daughter get the scientifically proven lifelong benefits of a proper preschool education. See this book for an example of the scientific evidence I'm talking about.

All the science I've seen on kids playing outdoors (including that on outdoor kindergartens: see for example this article) shows that around 1-2 hours a day outside is enough to see significant results. My daughter gets at least that much in the park after kindergarten most days when the weather is nice, so I'm not so worried about her development.

It seems that every news outlet characterizes it as white noise pumped through speakers. The whole LRAD angle apparently come from youtube, with this page being the top result for "LRAD Clinton".

Once you remove the element of it somehow being dangerous, I don't think it's any more unethical than holding a speech behind closed doors. But the use of technology does make it a bit creepy.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/clinton-team-blasts-reporters-with-noise-machine-during-hillary-fundraising-speech/article/2587996

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3530065/Clinton-campaign-blasts-reporters-white-noise-machine-t-hear-comments-outdoor-campaign-fundraiser.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-static-noise-speech_us_570930dae4b0836057a16748

That was him! Dude, he was big and popular outdoor. I totally loved him.

Oh that. I think I saw that in person too. What was the name of that robot moving around outdoor?

Is that the outdoor mascot robot?

I don't remember any holograms since I was a callow ant back then. I do remember that outdoor mascot robot, rollercoasters, Popeye arcade game, etc. Is there a video of this hologram somewhere?

Please explain.
The priority is clearly to save injured and/or abandoned animals and make them happy and healthy. They seem to be doing a GREAT job of that, at the expense of a cheap couch. What's the 'upside down priority' or 'lack of foresight' you speak of?
Are you suggesting the cheap outdoor couch is more important than the baby elephant's happiness and well being? THAT sounds like an upside down priority to me.

Top tip. If you're going to do this, you can reach around and have the pad of your finger just visible on the far side of the bottom of the gap.

It takes a little contortion, and someone else has hold the camera (or supply the finger), but it makes it just just that bit more genuine and creepy looking.

Also, outdoors. Always take the picture outdoors. Preferably with people around. You get some strange looks, I can tell you, but that can make it all the better.

That's very interesting for movies, I think. This shit runs with batteries and weights just a few pounds. Just think of the applications regarding lighting movie sets, especially outdoors at night. Could be a big cost and time saver.

You may not have words, but the youtube link has PLU-ENTY:

www.snuffpuppets.com

Everybody’s born

Everybody cries

Everybody shits

Everybody dies

Conceived in 2012, Everybody is a giant 26.5m human puppet with articulated, detachable and interactive body parts and organs. Ambitious in scope and subject, it is the largest human puppet on the planet and represents the essential humanness of everybody.

Everybody‘s build is experimental; it’s kind of unimaginable, so big and complex but without high-tech design. Its creation is brute, rough, handmade. Everybody is all genders and multi-racial.

Everybody lies down indoors in theatres, outdoors in parks and in open public spaces. In repose, Everybody sleeps, breaths and stirs. Everybody is not just one puppet but a multitude of independent, roaming human body parts and organs; they are characters in their own epic tale of human existence.

Everybody is an immersive experience. Audiences can walk around, sit on, lie against, get inside, and cuddle up to Everybody and all its beautiful body parts. The giant human puppet is viewed in 360 degrees. Everybody, the experience, is a six-hour interactive art installation, or a 90-minute stage show.

The piece begins with the death of the giant human puppet via a brick thrown at Everybody’s head. The head cracks and its brain oozes out. Everybody watches its life flash before its eyes, from birth through life and ultimately death. Everybody’s now independent body parts and organs perform the journey of its life stages. Everybody is in 4 Acts: Everybody’s Born, Everybody Cries, Everybody Shits, Everybody Dies.

Human performers play audience members or passers-by who find themselves transported into, then flung out of, the brain of Everybody. Everybody is made up of: Mouth, Eye, Poo, Foot, Ear, Nose, Brain, Lungs, Baby, Penis, Vagina, Bum, Skin, Heart, Hand, Guts, Breast and Hair. And with guests, Pig and Brick.