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Review: ‘Happy Feet Two’ should have been about krill

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Happy Feet Two

There's a long tradition of horror stories set in Antarctica. H. P. Lovecraft set In the Mountains of Madness in the white continent, featuring a race of giant cave-dwelling albino penguins who shrieked “Tekelili!” over and over.

Happy Feet Two continues the tradition of Antarctic penguins repetitively crying out horrific noises. Instead of shout-outs to Edgar Allan Poe, however, these penguins cry out dated pop songs. The horror, the horror.

Robotic Dogs and... Lobster?

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The field of robotics has long taken cues from the natural world in the goal to create a versatile, able machine, and has found it exceedingly difficult to match the functionality which we take for granted in living organisms.

Two of the more recent ventures into the field of biomimetics - the mimicry of biologicals - include BigDog, a dane-sized canine-copy slated to be born in 18 months. If the design pans out, the motorcycle-powered creation should be able to run at over 15 MPH, and jump over three feet high.

Even further removed from the consumer-friendly world of the likes of Asimo is RoboLobster, a clawed creature complete with hard shell, eight legs, and antennae, purpose built to hunt for mines in shallow water.

Both are designed with the military in mind, and recieve funding from DARPA and the Navy. If you're seeking more "human" robots, a list of the most ambitious projects is here.

How to upstage an awards ceremony in three easy steps...

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1)Attend ceremony
2)Become overwhelmed by cute lobsters
3)Grab them from the pot before they're boiled and run down the driveway shouting "I'm saving the lobsters, I'm saving the lobsters!"