It's all starting to come true
[Posted Thursday, July 30, 2026 7/30/26 8:35 am]
This is a real headline from Google News yesterday:
On Tuesday, the Trump Administration through the FCC banned new humanoid and quadruped robot imports from foreign manufacturers, saying they pose "unacceptable risks" to US national security.
I warned about this in a recent blog post and now it seems to be happening for real.
 | EngineAI T800 humanoid robots
in Zhengzhou, China |
Our government has finally stepped up to state these robots are going too far. They fear these Chinese humanoid robots will collect data and send it back to China, virtually spying on us.
In addition, this week Delta and United Airlines have banned humanoid and animal robots from their flights, citing safety concerns over their large lithium-ion batteries, and how they pose additional challenges when it comes to emergency procedures and evacuations if the robots are located in the passenger area.
Although humanoid robots remain rare outside laboratories and factories, numerous companies are developing the technology, with robot evangelists such as Elon Musk predicting that they will eventually become common.
Isaac Asimov wrote about the human fear and distrust of humanoid robots in the 50s, and now that fear is becoming a reality.
First, spying on us. What's next? What's to prevent these robots from being aggressive towards human beings upon instructions from their foreign builders?
All this from a potentially world-dominating power that we know does not have our best interests at heart. AI is progressing too fast and finally the US government and some private companies are taking some kind of preventative action. But will it be too little too late?
Another vintage landline phone
[Posted Sunday, July 26, 2026 7/26/26 9:25 am]
I love vintage electronics from the 60s and 70s, especially telephones. This is another of the vintage telephones that I use on my working landline.
This telephone is more recent than some of the others in my collection, but it was made in 1977, which makes it almost 50 years old.
This dark red is my favorite Bell System telephone color, reminiscent of the President's cold war Kremlin hotline phone.
It's also the color of the Batphone.
Off the hook
[Posted Wednesday, July 22, 2026 7/22/26 10:15 am]
This is how we blocked people in the 1980s.
This is how we turned off call blocking.
The phone in these pictures is a Dutch T65 made in the 1970s in the Netherlands by Ericsson. The white button was used on some lines to transfer calls and for most users it had no function.
Quote of the day: Paul McCartney
[Posted Saturday, July 18, 2026 7/18/26 7:55 am]
"My grandkids always beat me at Rock Band, and I say, 'You may beat me at Rock Band, but I made the original records, so shut up.'"
- Paul McCartney (NY Times, 2/13)
Telephones of the future
[Posted Tuesday, July 14, 2026 7/14/26 6:55 am]
This guy made some incredibly accurate predictions more than seventy years ago:
Pet Peeve: Cars not pulling up to stop line
[Posted Friday, July 10, 2026 7/10/26 9:45 am]
Near where I live, there's a left turn that I have to make every morning, and this left turn lane has an arrow signal.
The problem with this signal is if you don't pull up to the white line, you don't activate the sensor and the arrow signal NEVER turns green.
Invariably, I get stuck behind someone who's laying back on the intersection preventing anyone from making the left turn. I wish I knew why people do this.
These are the same people as the ones who don't know how to form a line at the counter inside McDonald's. They also hang back and ask you if you're in line.
When I stop at this left turn, I've gotten in the habit of leaving enough space between me and the car ahead, so I can exit the lane to the right and go through the intersection if I need to, bypassing the idiot blocking the left turn lane.
I know, I'm now hanging back just like the offending driver. But it's the only way to get around the car that's waiting for a light that's never going to change.
I hate it when people don't pull up to the line, especially at this left turn!
|
Adam Forrest: 
