robochoppers, robobugs, radiohead & rudy

boeing robo-chopper for darpa's super-spyeye
from uk register: Arms'n'airliners behemoth Boeing has announced that its autonomous robotic stealth chopper, the A160T, will be the initial carrying platform for a new US airborne surveillance payload. The radical new spy system will not be so much an aerial camera as an all-seeing insect-style compound bugeye able to simultaneously look at many different things.

The spy machinery, dubbed ARGUS-IS, is under development by DARPA (596kb PDF) - the Pentagon deathboffin apparat where ideas need to be off walls, outside boxes, and well to the left of any field...

dragonfly or insect spy?
scientists at work on robobugs
from washington post: Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month. "I heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,'" the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?'...

That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insect-like drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.

'dangerous' new music from radiohead
from afp: Fans of British rockers Radiohead yesterday took advantage of the band's offer to let them pay what they want for their new album, In Rainbows, with one third deciding to pay absolutely nothing for the download, reports said today.

The hit art-rockers, already authors of six albums, drew widespread publicity when they announced earlier this month that fans could decide the price themselves, saying “It's up to you” on their website...

giuliani visits portland, gets 9/11 truth on local tv
from 9/11 blogger: Rudy Giuliani made a surprise visit to Portland, Oregon. Word got out to the Portland 9/11 Truth Alliance, who demonstrated outside the restaurant where Giuliani was. Local TV news caught the action...

from katu: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ducked into Portland Saturday for a private fundraiser at a supporter's home, then headed to a New York-style delicatessen to mingle with voters, where he was met by dozens of anti-war protesters equating him with the Bush administration. Portland is traditionally Democratic country, as evidenced by the jeers that greeted Giuliani.