Wasn’t there a story awhile back about the development of some strange robots with teddy-bear heads designed to walk into dangerous areas and rescue injured soldiers?
I don’t think I dreamt this…
Nup, Night Rabbit, you weren’t dreaming.
[QUOTE=Sunrazor]
Aussie commits suicide by robot! No, really!
[/QUOTE]
That’s what we want you to think.
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
I don’t for a moment doubt that the guy was messed up or in some kind of pain, but jeez, arranging to shoot yourself repeatedly in the head because you know workers are nearby to discover your corpse? Damn. Call 911, explain what you’re doing and then do it, so at least the cops and EMTs will know what to expect when they arrive.
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I just wanted to mention that ringing 911 won’t do you a lot of good in Australia; the emergency number here is 000.
I can’t even begin to imagine how depressed and miserable this guy must have been, and it can’t have been pleasant for the tradies who found him, either. What’s sadder is that no-one noticed how he was so they could help before it got to this… Poor guy. 
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield]
I just wanted to mention that ringing 911 won’t do you a lot of good in Australia; the emergency number here is 000.(
[/QUOTE]
Don’t quote me on this, but I heard that, owing to sheer numbers of fuckwits, 911 will actually be diverted to 000 here.
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir]
I don’t for a moment doubt that the guy was messed up or in some kind of pain, but jeez, arranging to shoot yourself repeatedly in the head because you know workers are nearby to discover your corpse? Damn. Call 911, explain what you’re doing and then do it, so at least the cops and EMTs will know what to expect when they arrive.
[/QUOTE]
I wonder if they had to bring in a bomb squad or swat team to disable the robot before approching the body. If I looked out my window after hearing a gunshot and saw my neighbor dead in the driveway and a robot with a gun, I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t go check on him for fear of being shot myself.
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
Don’t quote me on this, but I heard that, owing to sheer numbers of fuckwits, 911 will actually be diverted to 000 here.
[/QUOTE]
Interesting, but it doesn’t seem to be the case, except for some mobile phones.
Thank you, O wise one.
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
Thank you, O wise one.
[/QUOTE]
Nah, not really. I checked 'cause I thought it’d be a good idea here, as saturated as we are by American telly shows (our code is 111). Shame that the diversion isn’t a happening thing.
[music]This is the Day
The Teddy Bears staged
Their Res…cue…[/music]
Re: Ice Wolf’s link… you can also dial 112 on a GSM phone in Canada and get emergency services. It forwards to 911. I don’t know whether the same holds for CDMA mobile phones here.
But you can’t dial 000 or 111.
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog]
…Aside from the fact that he was suicidal and probably not thinking straight, he was 81, and a man of that generation would think of the workers next door as being MEN and able to handle it. …
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I gotta say if he’s 81, able to find the plans on the internet, build the robot and carry this out, his thinking seems very clear to me. That’s really quite an intellectual and physical accomplishment.
I believe people have the right to end their own lives. More power to him.
[QUOTE=CalMeacham]
[music]This is the Day
The Teddy Bears staged
Their Res…cue…[/music]
[/QUOTE]
My God, this gave me a hefty case of the giggles. What an adorable way to be rescued.
[QUOTE=Danalan]
Basically, the only things we’ve built robots to do so far is vacuum our floors and kill people. Plus some light manufacturing. The ‘three laws of robotics’ don’t apply until the robots can think for themselves, but I suspect the first practical application for thinking robots will be to kill people.
That’s where the research dollars are going, anyway.
[/QUOTE]
Not true at all, they’ll also clean your gutters, clean your pool, or let you chat with your family while you’re off in a hotel room with a $1K/hr hooker. Not to mention there’s a prototype which one day might be able to write science fiction novels. 
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf]
Nah, not really. I checked 'cause I thought it’d be a good idea here, as saturated as we are by American telly shows (our code is 111). Shame that the diversion isn’t a happening thing.
[/QUOTE]
I seem to recall in NZ when the first American reality/rescue shows started being shown that dialing 911 would get you to a recording reminding you that the nZ emergency number is 111.
Maybe he had seen the automatic murder-by-Glock robot that the gang had set up aimed at tied-up Nick Memphis’ (played by Michael Pena) head before he was saved by Bob Lee Swagger (played by Mark Wahlberg) in the excellent 2007 sniper-turned-assassin-stooge flick, Shooter.
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”]
I seem to recall in NZ when the first American reality/rescue shows started being shown that dialing 911 would get you to a recording reminding you that the nZ emergency number is 111.
[/QUOTE]
You’re right, I remember that. That recording may still be around – dunno, because I use 111.
BTW, according to this site, our 111 code pre-dates 911 by nearly 10 years (British 999 in 1937, NZ 111 in 1958, and American 911 in 1968). Just a bit of trivia this Easter weekend.
How 'bout this guy?
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/14099445/detail.html
[QUOTE=UncleBeer]
How 'bout this guy?
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/14099445/detail.html
[/QUOTE]
His friends described him a as a real pain in the neck, I’ve heard.
[QUOTE=Sunrazor]
Oh, crap! I just realized that I put the wrong link in my previous post. What a maroon! This is the link. Sorry, it sorta’ loses its punch this way.
Note to self: “Preview Post” exists for a friggin reason!
If a moderator can fix my fuck-up, I’d be deeply grateful.
[/QUOTE]
I wonder how long it’ll be before they disable THAT feature too…