Oh, Debian GNU/Linux! You've done it again!

Worth a closer look, eh?

 Here's something I found interesting enough to pull me out of my melancholy long enough to cut and paste it into this site.

ENJOY!

Robotic Submarine Running Debian Wins International Competition

October 8th, 2009

This August, a team of 35 undergraduate students from Cornell University sank the competition at the 12th annual Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition, sponsored by the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and the Office of Naval Research. The competition takes place in a large acoustic testing pool operated by the US Navy SPAWAR Systems Center. It calls for entries to pass through a gate, follow a path, ram a submerged buoy, fire through a square target with small torpedoes, drop markers into bins containing simulated targets, recover a PVC target and surface through an octagon shape, all without human intervention. The Cornell Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Team (CUAUV) took first place by completing the entire course at the competition, a feat not seen since MIT won in 2002. This was Cornell's first victory since 2003.

Cornell's vehicle, named Nova, runs a custom software stack on top of a single board computer running Linux and relies heavily on Debian. Debian works amazingly well for us, said Benjamin Seidenberg, CUAUV's new software team leader. Not only do we use it on the vehicle, we also run it on the computers in our lab and our servers, and use it to develop our custom electronics. Seidenberg, who also handles IT issues for the team, said that they consolidated on Debian three years ago. When I joined the team, we had computers running Windows XP, Windows Server, Debian, Ubuntu, FreeBSD and Gentoo. Now we've settled on Debian for the sub and the servers; our lab workstations dual boot Debian and Windows. It's a lot easier to manage, and it's great to be able to develop in the same environment that the submarine runs.

The team also uses other open source software on their vehicle such as OpenCV for image processing and libdc1394 for video capture. According to Arseney Romanenko, another member of the software team, these libraries are essential for doing vision processing in an embedded environment; they are fast and lightweight which translates into significant power savings.

About Debian

The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly free, community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of the largest and most influential open source projects. Over three thousand volunteers from all over the world work together to create and maintain the software included in Debian. Translated into over 30 languages, and supporting a huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal operating system.

The above article lives here: Debian.org

Straight from the Labs

WOW! When the Economy tanks it really tanks.

Hello from the Edge of the World Studions SFCA 2009

FLASH! We are still here, true believers! Though this World does not love us we are taking and holding our position in Union Square.

Convention of Clauses

'What's it gonna be like tomorrow?'

Click To Play

The Minister of the Beginning of the End stands wide legged

Ladies & Gentlemen, please allow the Edge of the World Production Studions, located conveniently to maximize your articulation into the literary environs of SF/CA during WW3 with the present offering {for a modest price} of....

Libro de Esperanza - Sonic Version

If you or one of your bohemes have spotted PMPope around town scripting in his pad THIS IS IT! The verses poured over @ cafes/piers/venues round town. The Edge of the World Production Studions has taken the difficulty of processing this alien/angelic script into a sonic format for easy digestion. If you or someone you know is looking for a truly unique gift that verifies the cutting edge literary trombone plays through the streets of the city even now... during the 3rd world War of oil & financial decay... you can put their fears to rest with this utilitarian gift and its' ability to say the things the corporate &/OR alternative media has decided to ignore... Why not?


PEACE TO THE PEOPLE
Don't Panic! Keep it OUTER*National & Gratefully ORGANIC

Soma Literary Review & LitCrawl!

Well! I'll be. This is the final product from the night of October 11th
over yonder at The Dark Room for the LitCrawl which is part of the LitQuake 2008
My gratitude & fondness go out to everyone involved & a GIANT 'Thank You!' to Kemble Scot & the Soma Literary Review for inviting me to be a part of this. I hope we have many more opportunities for writers & their ilk to come together for massive literary festivals in San Francisco!

LitQuake 2008!

---

LitQuake is a new literary festival in San Francisco. Authors and readers have the opportunity to meet and discuss one of the world's most underdocumented subjects: Literature. This event was held in the Opera Plaza over there on Van Ness. Kitty Clark was gracious & friendly in her treatment of the attendees. I had a beautiful time talking with many wonderful readers, writers, thinkers, photographers,... and employees.

I hope Some of these will show up at my reading which will happen @ The Dark Room, 2263 Mission Street in the 6-7pm slot of the LitCrawl on Saturday, October 11th.

But for now let's bask in the glow of our friends over @ Books Inc. Thanks Book Inc.!



 

Who Put the Grease on the Amerikan Baton?

Tyson Gay stuck his left hand behind him, waiting to feel the red baton's cool metal make contact.

Still
waiting, Gay looked ahead and began to take off. Now accelerating, he
glanced back at Darvis Patton, his U.S. teammate in a 400-meter relay
preliminary heat. A moment later, Patton let go of the stick, and Gay
squeezed his hand shut — empty.

Why did the Women's Relay Team Flub the Passing of the Baton?

One racer says ' Someone must have have some voodoo dolls of us.' Huh, interesting... Maybe we can all use that excuse anytime we flub.... oh well back to the Water Cube... A 15 year old Chinese diver vs. some big legged women from the Americas. Who will win? OK Chinese Sports Academy means NO SPLASH FOR CHEN! She has been diving at the professional level since she was 4 years old & dancing to the techno, mindblowing beats of Comminist China's most fashionable Bejing's late night tourist havens. At least there's no chance of being hit by Godzilla shaped cloud of pollution if your working out in the Chinese Sports Academy. Somewhat Kafkaesque, no? Chen, a somewhat boyish looking androgyne, has taken the lead for the Chinese gold rush out there in the Water Cube. And the Amerikans...? God bless 'em,...

Those Freakin' Guys @ the FCC have Decided to PLay A Game called: Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots

Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s Android operating system
is one step closer to commercial availability as the first
Android-powered handset has been given the green light by the Federal Communications Commission.

The handset is being made by High Tech Computer, and the documentation confirms that the device is being called the "Dream." Keeping in line with recent reports, the handset will support T-Mobile's 3G network.

But don't take Our word for it head over to Information Week for the full story...