Topic: =/\= asteroid yu55 passes earth tonight! @ 201,000m closest. asimo robot upgrade

[stoneyface]

as previously reported by yours truly, the 400m wide asteroid YU55 will be passing by earth tonight nov 8th around 6:30pm EST! NASA has two dishes aimed at it and acquired a radar image of the asteroid yesterday. so in about an hour from now, we will have a near miss! how exciting!!!! unfortunately it is cold and rainy here so no chance to see it, i doubt the naked eye could pick it up anyway despite being nearly a 1/4 mile wide
images, video and info here:
http://news.discovery.com/space/big-pic-new-nasa-photo-asteroid-2005yu55-111107.html
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/11/07/nasa-primer-on-yu55/

if you recall several years ago, honda made quite a sensation and impact on the robotics community by unveiling the "asimo" robot to the world. it caused a sensation for it's upright bipedal gait and agility. well honda today released the news with a press conference and demonstration of the new and improved "upgraded" asimo robot. it is really quite impressive. the video shows asimo running! forward and backwards, not only that but hoping on one foot! amazing stuff. they made a number of significant upgrades. he is lighter, faster, stronger (wait is the the 6 million dollar man? lol) and definitely more agile.  watch the videos and check out the pics here: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/honda-robotics-unveils-next-generation-asimo-robot

finally some very disturbing news. the washington post is reporting some findings that definitely gave me pause. the numbers for CO₂ emissions for 2010 were released and the numbers are BEYOND the worst case scenario predicted in their own 2007 report at a 6% increase last year. this is very concerning... read here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/global-co2-emissions-outpacing-worst-case-scenarios/2011/11/04/gIQA74r1mM_blog.html