Feb 28
It’s a goddamn beautiful thing when internet memes and nature collide into one glorious split-screen of a squirrel eating out of a Horse Head feeder. It just doesn’t get much better than this, people.
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Feb 24
Let this be your cautionary tale against building a pretty waterfront park on a landfill. At Cesar Chavez Park on the Berkeley Marina, squirrels and gophers are burrowing through old trash, turning the ground into toxin-leaching swiss cheese. Poison from the estimated 1.9 million tons of residential, commercial, and industrial waste is now leaching into the San Francisco Bay.
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Dec 09
Miami’s starchitect magnet, “Super Zips” for the rich, the real story behind our city-dwelling squir
Posted in: Today's Chili
Miami’s starchitect magnet, "Super Zips" for the rich, the real story behind our city-dwelling squirrels, and why Americans are driving less. Plus, a chilling portrait of homelessness in gentrified New York City—all in today’s urban reads.
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Dec 09
In most American cities, it’s hard to walk through a park without spotting a gray squirrel. Those bushy-tailed little buggers are everywhere, chomping on nuts and climbing up trees—but not thanks to nature. No sir. They’re there because we put them there to entertain us—among other things.
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Oct 20
Squirrels might be tiny, but they can be huge pests sometimes. However, for people who don’t live in countries where they’re commonly spotted, they’re among the most adorable mammals ever. Although they can be destructive sometimes, they’re also heroes in their own little way. For example, they’re responsible for planting lots of trees in various areas, as they often forget where they buried their acorns.
Depicting them in a totally different light is deviantArt artist Santiago Perez.
His Photoshopped creations don’t just depict squirrels as mere heroes. They’re superheroes, and some of the biggest ones yet. His gallery features the tiny creatures shopped to make them look like they’ve donned the costume of Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Batman. In the case of the Hulk, I’d say he decked out the squirrel in the Hulk’s typical non-costume.
And while he’s not really a superhero, my favorite from the bunch is Yoda Squirrel. Check out the complete series over on Santiago’s DeviantArt page. Which one’s your favorite?
[via Obvious Winner]
Dec 03
The military has come up with a multitude of ways to utilize robotics, from bomb disposal and recon bots to Avatar-like surrogates. But a robot that takes its cue from squirrels and African birds to deceive its enemies is decidedly novel territory. Researchers from Georgia Tech, who are also working on a MacGyver bot with AI smarts, are making inroads into developing just such a robotic trickster. The Office of Naval Research led by Professor Ronald Arkin discovered that squirrels often deceive competing squirrels by visiting fake stash locations while their real acorn collection lies elsewhere, and have developed a robotic model that utilizes the same strategy. The programmed deceptive behavior was successful, as demonstrated in the video after the break.
Another lesson from nature is from the African babbler, a species of bird that flocks and crowds around a predator without actually attacking it, with the assumption that it’ll back away from the harassing mob. Based on their simulations, the team concluded that deception of this sort is often the right move when pushed against the wall, especially in military operations. “Being honest about the robot’s abilities risks capture or destruction,” said Arkin. However, he recognizes there is a real ethical quandary when it comes to deceptive robot behavior — do we really want robots that can lie to us? It’s a question that conjures up memories of Battlestar Galactica and brings chills down our spine. Here’s hoping we can restrain the robotic deception to the good of mankind.
Continue reading Deceptive robots mimic squirrels and birds for potential military use
Source: Georgia Tech, Phys.org
Jul 25
Humiliate Your Backyard Pests With This Giant Head Squirrel Feeder [Animals]
Posted in: Today's Chili
There’s no point to deliberately feeding squirrels since those suburban rats will raid bird feeders and anyplace else they can snag a meal. But if you absolutely must feed them, at least use this giant squirrel head feeder that will humiliate the bastards while they scrounge for supper. More »
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