Are Farmbots the Future of Agriculture? Lots of people think that farming has gotten too industrialized. But there are others who believe it’s not nearly industrialized enough—such as the Iowa inventor who envisions armies of robots growing our food in the future.
It’s easy to turn away. It’s much easier than looking directly. He walks quickly with his head down, arms stiff at his sides. Or he paces the room and is unable to stop. Unable to stop making repetitive motions and sounds, fragments of sentences, noises that have no connection to the context (screech, yelp, pop, clap). He hits himself in the head. Stupid. Retard. When strangers come, he keeps to the corners, twitching and grinning wide, but unable to approach. It’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed for him, for them, for myself. A brave stranger holds out his hand and walks toward Micah slowly, speaking evenly, as if he were a stray dog let into the house. My father says, amused, “Say hi, Micah.” Micah grins like a stray dog let into the house.
We may be a little biased, but this is one of the most powerful stories we’ve published in a long time.
(via Des Moines Register)
So it’s come to this: A recently renovated arts center in Cedar Rapids is selling the naming rights to its shiny new toilets.
For just $1,000, donors can name one of six urinals or 15 commodes in Legion Arts’ 110-year-old social hall, which recently underwent a $7 million renovation prompted by the floods of 2008. Each tax-deductible donation will be recognized with an engraved plaque over the fixture of the donor’s choice.
Tonight the GOP candidates prepare for a Debate in Iowa. As debates begin, the facial coding experts at Sensory Logic examine the looks of Republican hopefuls. Find out what emotional reactions—and votes—their faces are likely to garner. See the whole graph here!
(via fastcompany)
I take a drag of my cigarette and say, “Dale Irwin, 36, originally of Mount Vernon, jumped to his death from a hot air balloon outside of Denver.”
“Wow, that’s a good one. That might be the best one yet.”
We are collecting the best ways to die. That sounds cynical, but it doesn’t feel that way. No one wants to rot away from cancer or keel over from heart failure. Those benign-sounding sisters, brief illness and long illness, are the most perverse because of what they aren’t saying, especially in this conservative corner of the Midwest. Drug addiction, mental illness, AIDS. We respect the death notices that tell the truth, even if we don’t usually publish them.
From “Services Pending”, a long read in which one woman stares down death at an Iowa obituary desk. Read more …
"Nothing is off the table. The congresswoman is excited about her first trip to Iowa this year."
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Rep. Michele Bachmann’s chief of staff, Andy Parrish • Suggesting that Bachmann may be interested in running for president in 2012. And you thought Sarah Palin was bad … (thanks apsies) source (via)
Worth mentioning to all of our Tumblr-friends …
(Source: shortformblog, via minnpost)
