JOHN FENZEL

What Money Can Buy...

Money couldn't buy you friends, but you get a better class of enemy.

-Spike Milligan

When it's Over...

Don't Cry because it is over...
smile because it happened.

-Gabriel García Marquez

When Should You Retire?

Click the chart for a full-size, better image....

Source: The New York Times: A Contrarian on Retirement Says Wait

Some Advice on Dealing with People...

People don't change that much. Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. That is hard enough.

Source: First Break All the Rules, by Buckingham & Coffman, p. 67

The BEAR: A Robot that Rescues

Here is a robot developed for military search-and-rescue missions that can negotiate terrain that's too dangerous for people. Designed by Vecna Robotics , the "Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot" or "BEAR," is an agile, powerful mobile robot capable of lifting and carrying an injured human. It's equipped with hydraulic arms that can support injured soldiers with full battle gear (weighing up to 500 lbs), a gyro system and tracked base with road wheels and joints to give it maximum mobility. It can move in a "standing," "kneeling" or even a "prone" position to climb steep slopes and travel over rough terrain. The photos below demonstrate its uses for hospice, medical and logistics support (i.e., loading and offloading supplies from trucks, etc). Add a kevlar skin to this robot, an autonomous drive that doesn't rely on humans to drive it remotely, and this technology has the real potential to revolutionize battlefield recovery and combat search and rescue (CSAR)!

Available and Field Ready in 2010.

Additional Links and Sources:

Vecna Robotics

Robotics Demonstrations of the BEAR

Click Here to view BEAR Video Clips in the Robotics Video Clip Archives

Time Magazine Best Inventions of 2006

Real Simple: The Mysteries of Love

A good article for Valentine's Day...

Ten reasons why we fall so hard, commit reluctantly, cheat (or are cheated on), but are inclined to stay bonded forever

What rules attraction?
In general, you gravitate toward people like you. Good-looking people tend to go for similarly good-looking types, and those from a particular socio-economic background favor their own. Experts believe this happens because perceived equality contributes to a stable union. Well-known actresses pair up with rock stars, for example, because such men tend to be as rich and famous as they are. But once you get past the bone structure and bank account and into personality attributes, opposites often attract. “We’re apt to fall in love with those who are mysterious and challenging to us,” says Helen Fisher, a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and the author of Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love (Owl, $15, www.amazon.com). “This pull to another biological type could also be adaptive,” says Fisher. “If two very different people pool their DNA, they’ll create more genetic variety, and their young will come to the job of parenting with a wider array of skills.”

To Read the Rest of the Article, CLICK HERE

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Amazing Time-lapse Video

What are the Odds of Dying?

Here is National Geographic Magazine's "Ways to Go" chart based on the National Safety Council's Odds of Dying statistics. For a more in-depth view, go to the NSC.org's site and find the article, What are the odds of dying?

To get a clear view of this chart, right-click the photo and then maximize it by right-clicking it again.

Bottom-line: "No one gets off Planet Earth alive...."

My Public Pageflakes Page

This is still a work in progress, but here is My Public Pageflakes Page!

I've found this to be the best launching point for a tailored series of RSS updates to start each day. Feel free to bookmark the page for your own use; or better yet, start your own page!