Lrbever

another one, because Rarity is cool

We’ve all heard about Google’s self driving cars, but the company recently took one step closer to creating a mass consumer automotive that has no need for human control. Earlier this week Google unveiled its latest self driving car prototype and it ditches the parts that we’re all used to, like steering wheels, accelerator pedals, brake pedals and more. Why? Because Google thinks they’re no longer necessary.

“Our software sensors do all the work,” Google’s director of the self driving car project Chris Urmson said. “The vehicles will be basic – we want to learn from them and adapt them as quickly as possible – but they will take you where you want to go at the push of a button. And that’s an important step toward improving road safety and transforming mobility for millions of people.”

The company envisions self driving cars being useful for everyone from senior citizens to folks who have imbibed too much at the bar. The most recent prototypes cap out at 25mph, so you won’t see them flying down the highway anytime soon, though that might not be too far off.

The vehicles are outfitted with sensors that are capable of viewing up to about 200 yards in all directions, which Urmson said should be helpful in places like crowded intersections. The interiors are also super basic: there’s room for two passengers and there are two buttons, one to start the car and one to stop it, in addition to a single screen.

Google has big plans for the project. “We’re planning to build about a hundred prototype vehicles, and later this summer, our safety drivers will start testing early versions of these vehicles that have manual controls,” Urmson explained. Later, Google wants to launch a California pilot program, hopefully to get the public involved. This is a future we can get on board with.

Source: Google

You can tell these two people are making a good call by marrying each other. They're obviously both Harry Potter geeks so judging by these pictures they're perfect for each other.

It is stunning right?

This is apparently from a biology textbook and has long repeated what I have said about creationists. Ignore reality and substitute for religion.

“Forget for a while all your knowledge of Physics. Remove from your mind all objections that may occur. Never Reason for six weeks. Be very Credulous, be very Persevering, Reject all Past Experience and do not listen to Reason” – Franz Mesmer

Apt I think

 

Reader Dan Krauss‘ grandmother died about three weeks ago and he was tasked with the unenviable job of delivering the eulogy on behalf of his family. Dan’s not religious but his grandmother was Catholic and he wanted to strike a balance between the two worlds that wouldn’t disrespect her beliefs but also wouldn’t compromise his own.

What he came up with was, I think, a perfect combination:

I’ve been doing a lot of what some people would call soul searching lately. I’ve looked at many religions and learned a lot about science. Bev, known to many of us as Mom or Grandma, was a Catholic. If she were to speak, I think she would state her excitement at going to Heaven. She would be glad to see all of her friends that parted with our world before her. She would be able to see Grandpa again. She would live in eternal happiness, waiting for us to join her. And all of us who believe similarly should be glad that she’s there. We should be happy that she’s been re-united with her loved ones and will be waiting to welcome us home when our time comes, likely with plenty of the chocolate and desserts she loved! (Hopefully you don’t gain weight in Heaven!)

For those who don’t believe in Heaven, there is still a better way to look at this than as a tragedy. Grandma lived a wonderful, fulfilled life. She had seven children, who mostly turned out okay. She has more grandchildren than I care to count. She has friends in this room that I’ve never had the pleasure to meet and likely many more. And what’s important to us is that her passing will not go unremarked. We all speak to that. All of us were touched by her and will all remember her. So if you don’t think we will all meet again in heaven, then keep this in mind:

In our universe, energy never disappears. Everything that made up grandma is still around; she is now among us, a part of our planet, our Sun, our galaxy, and our Universe. She is among the stars!

And never forget! Never forget that all of the photons that ever bounced off of Grandma’s face, all of the particles of light that were interrupted by her smile, the twinkle in her eye as she cheated at another game of Chinese Checkers, and the spoon of ice cream she raised to her mouth in joy; all of these particles of our universe ran off like little children in delight at having encountered her, their paths changed forever by her touch.

And that energy that was Grandma will go on forever inside of all of us as well. In our memories are the photons of light that reflected off of her smiling beauty into our eyes. We will always have some of her energy inside of us and that’s a scientific fact.

According to the Law of the Conservation of Energy, not a bit of Grandma is truly gone. She’s just less orderly, her energy spread out to encompass us all.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Meet “Happy”, McDonald’s new Happy Meal mascot

Oh god, someone shoot it in the face before it murders us all.

Via

If you're Daniel Ingram, Stefan Andrews, or Will Anderson, you probably don't have too many problems getting noticed by the fandom every time a piece of music you compose ends up in the show. There are, however, a bunch of other folks involved with the melodic side of things in the show, and one Kelly Davidson among them just tossed up a bunch of demo tracks on SoundCloud with pony stuff in the mix.

Go stroll through Kelly's work here! It's a good thing we have her on board -- imagine all those Season 4 scenes playing in your head without these lovely choral arrangements "ahh"ing in the background.

Thanks to OrchestralDesign for sending it! 

Hai guys!  ^.^

So.... I finally decided to mane/tail my Sweetie Bald ^^".  I couldn't resist after seeing how cute my Sweetie Belle commission for was!  Honestly!  I LOVE Sweetie's colour scheme, it's sooooo pastel and pretty!  :3 

I decided to use the new shannon purple - Lilac for her hair I think it suits her very well!  All the curls are 3D (ie: not just stitched in) and they were SO MUCH FUN to make!  (One step closer to Princess Cadence!  )

The Sweetie Belle with the squee eyes is mine ^.^, the other Sweetie Belle is a commission for .  Thank you so much for commissioning me!  I hope you like her!!!  :3

Details:
*Materials: cuddle 3 minky by Shannon Fabrics
*Minky colours: snow white, lilac, blush
*Stuffing: premium polyester fiberfill, craft foam and poly pellets in hooves
*Thread: gutermann polyester sew-all thread, gutermann rayon embroidery thread, madeira polyneon embroidery thread
*Eyes/Cutie marks: machine embroidered
*Embroidery thread: threadelight rayon embroidery thread
*Size: Approx 11" tall, 11" long
*She has my signature embroidered into the bottom of her front right hoof

I still have 1 more commission to go then I'll be done with this round!  Thereafter, I plan to finish off Mardelia and Autumn Orchid, then work on some princess/alicorns for Ebay/myself - I'm thinking Princess Luna for Ebay, Princess Cadence for myself.

Also, a quick reminder that there's about another month to go before my free plushie contest closes!  Read here for more info:

moggymawee.deviantart.com/jour…

[vine]

Good news for those of you collecting this line of ponies, and fans of The Greatest and Most Powerful one.  Build a Bear has release a bit of signage revealing the release date on all three of these guys.  Expect to find them on July 11th!

It's starting to look like Rarity is their last in line pony on most of these merch lines.  I wonder why that is?

Thanks to everyone for sending it!

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