the Murdoch screech, even Cameron's office says there is "no evidence of anyone being harmed."

As for your weather situation: it could be worse. In Georgia (the country) floodwaters washed out the zoo, and now lions and tigers and bears walk the streets. Like in Twelve Monkeys. Seen any hippos on the road, have you? ; )

Meanwhile:

—Mad scientist wants to build dinosaurs from chickens.

—Mad doctor loaded up government serial killers on drugs and liquor, then had them insert penile catheters in one another.

—Mad prosecutor disbarred.

—Mad government begins declassifying Guantanamo minds.

"How not to build the Terminator" - two disturbing days at the 'world cup' for robots - What really happens at the US Defence Agency’s annual robotics showdown, and what are Uber, Amazon and Elon Musk doing in the crowd?
Long article that creeps me out. How long will it take that someone programs a robot to torture a prisoner?

“There’s a lot of teams who don’t have the engineering expertise to build a robot, but they do have the ability to programme one,” Daniel Reyes Duran, a Spaniard on the team from the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, or IHMC, in Florida, says. “It’s all in the control systems. And we have a really good walking algorithm.”

At one point in the proceedings, John Markoff, a veteran technology correspondent for the New York Times, who has a book on robots coming out this summer, Machines of Loving Grace, says: “It’s not about the machines. It’s about us.” What did he mean? “We can impute human qualities on to almost anything. Look at how people treat their dogs.” And this perhaps, is what the contest is ultimately about: human-robot interaction, the next frontier.

Out in the expo area, I come across Pepper, a “social robot”, that is about to be launched as a “domestic companion” in Japan next month. It’s about 4ft high with huge eyes, programmed to track your own and the voice of an enthusiastic but possibly not very bright female cartoon character. “Can you make me a cup of tea?” I ask it. “I could try,” it says. “But I would rather be a friend.” The kind of friend who doesn’t listen to a word you say, it transpires, and busts out the disco moves at the slightest opportunity. The kids clustering around it give it hugs on command, however, and are utterly transfixed. A few stalls along, I find Nasa showcasing its Valkyrie robot, which flunked out of an earlier round of the challenge. It looks like a super-sized version of the Stig in an all-white body suit with a helmet head. But then I notice it has swellings in the chest area. Does your robot have breasts?

“We are entering an age of robots,” John Markoff says. “These machines will live among us.” But whose robots will they be? They’ll reflect the biases and values of whoever codes them and my piffling concerns about sexism are just the start of it: there’s not even any real debate about whether we should allow robots to start wars or not.

Autonomous weapon systems are inevitable, says Ron Arkin, the how-not-to-build-the Terminator professor. Because they already exist. And recently the voices warning about the potential consequences of AI have grown: Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates and Elon Musk, have publicly warned about the consequences – and dangers – of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence will become strong enough to be a concern, says Bill Gates

“In Terminator, they didn’t create AI to have some sort of Terminator-like outcome,” Musk has said. “ It’s sort of like the Monty Python thing. Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition.” Nobody does expect the Spanish inquisition. Least of all, roboticists. “They’re the most recalcitrant people I know,” says Arkin. “Maybe it dampens this thrilling joy of discovery. But there’s no doubt that they’re sticking their heads in the sand.”

What Darpa’s 2015 robotic challenge has made clear is that it’s a Brave New Robot World. And since Darpa and Google and Amazon and Foxconn aren’t going to, we should probably be talking about it, human to human. Before they steal our jobs, or rescue us from nuclear meltdown, or start firing laser missiles from their enormous robot breasts.

Thinking of Hannah Arendt's quote in my sig: Thinking itself is dangerous. I think I am going to fall in love with 'dumb' people, intelligent ones are so unhealthy and dangerous to our peaceful survival.