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"Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future,
and live in the only moment of time over which you have
any control: now."

- Denis Waitley

3,000 More Combat Robots Ordered

Submitted by MichaelVail on Thu, 2007-12-20 00:34.

Strategy Page
Posted at Thought Criminal: 2007-12-19 18:30:40

The U.S. Army has ordered another 3,000 Packbot combat robots. This is the second generation Packbot 510, which is lighter, faster, stronger, more rugged and reliable than the thousands of existing PackBots. The army already has about 4,000 of these small robots in Iraq and Afghanistan. While they are mainly used to deal with roadside bombs and booby traps, they are becoming more popular as infantry scouts and sentinels. In this role, the PackBot can explore caves or buildings suspected of containing enemy troops or booby traps, as well as stand guard in dangerous locations.

The PackBot 510 weighs 42 pounds, and can carry up to 46 pounds of equipment. It uses a new controller that looks, and operates, very much like a video game controller. This makes training, and use, of the PackBot much easier. Most troops have video game experience. The wireless controller can operate a PackBot at a distance of up to 1,000 meters. The battery lasts 2-12 hours, depending on mission. The longer time is for when you are using the PackBot as a sentinel, just sitting there with its camera on. It's a compact device (28 inches long, 16 wide and 8 high). It can be tossed through a window into a room, and quickly get to work. Top speed is about 2.5 meters a second, and it can climb stairs. It's waterproof and can travel up to ten kilometers on one charge. This model will cost about $90,000 each. Police departments are also big customers, using the PackBot for checking out bomb threats, and in SWAT type situations.

Robots help elderly when humans cannot

Cincinnati Enquirer Dec. 14, 2007
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If you grow old in Japan, expect to be served food by a robot, ride a voice-recognition wheelchair or even possibly hire a nurse in a robotic suit--all examples of cutting-edge technology to care for the country's graying population. With nearly 22
percent of Japan's people aged 65 or older, businesses have been rolling out everything from ... continue

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"Having kids has been a fantastic thing for me. It’s meant that I’m a little more balanced. In my twenties I worked massively, hardly took vacation at all. Now, with the help of my wife, I’m always making sure I’ve got a good balance of how I spend my time."

Bill Gates

The Way You Work Could Be Working Against You

By Michael Masterson

"If I had more time, I’d have more fun," we tell ourselves. Or, "If I had more time, I’d knit/ paint/ write a novel/ [fill in the blank]."

Time is an equal opportunity provider. Every one of us, regardless of age, sex, race, or religion, has the same 24 hours a day. How we use those hours determines our success.

On the one hand, we know that working long, hard hours is a characteristic of most successful people. On the other hand, we understand that working that way gives us little pleasure and less time to pay attention to family, friendship, intellectual stimulation, etc.

"Workaholism is an addiction," Julia Cameron says in The Artist’s Way, "and like all addictions, it blocks creative energy." Cameron’s concern in the book is to find time for creative writing. But her advice is useful for anyone who is fighting his or her workaholic streak.

You can be successful in business without sacrificing personal relationships. You can make money and art too. You can accomplish your major goals in all of life’s four most important dimensions:

1. Your health-building goals
2. Your wealth-building goals
3. Your social responsibilities
4. Your personal aspirations

To do so, you’ve got to follow a productivity plan that recognizes (1) achieving any important goal takes time, (2) at any specific period of time in your life you must establish priorities and give primary attention to your top goals, (3) many of the problems prioritizing may cause can be limited by respectful scheduling and thoughtful communication, and (4) as opportunities change, so must your objectives.

You must also recognize that the way you work right now may be working against you. A workaholic pattern might help you accomplish your primary goal, but will usually leave your other goals in a shattered heap.

Begin, today, with this self-administered evaluation - from Julia Cameron - to help you figure out if you have workaholic habits. Answer "seldom," "often," or "never" to the following:

• I work outside of office hours.
• I cancel dates with loved ones to do more work.
• I postpone outings until the deadline is over.
• I take work with me on vacations.
• I take work with me on weekends.
• I take vacations.
• My intimates complain that I always work.
• I try to do two things at once.
• I allow myself free time between projects.
• I allow myself to achieve closure on tasks.
• I procrastinate in finishing up the last loose ends.
• I set out to do one job and start on three more at the same time.
• I work in the evenings during family time.
• I allow calls to interrupt - and lengthen - my workday.
• I prioritize my day to include an hour of creative work/play.
• I place my creative dreams before my work.
• I fall in with others’ plans and fill my free time with their agendas.
• I allow myself down time to do nothing.
• I use the word "deadline" to describe and rationalize my workload.
• I go everywhere, even to dinner, with a notebook or my work numbers.

"There is a difference between zestful work toward a cherished goal and workaholism," says Cameron. "That difference lies less in the hours than it does in the emotional quality of the hours spent. There is a treadmill quality to workaholism. We depend on our addiction and we resent it. For a workaholic, work is synonymous with worth, and so we are hesitant to jettison any part of it."

Your answers to Julia Cameron’s self-evaluation questions will give you a quick sense of whether you have a problem with workaholism. But don’t just test yourself. Do what I did. Ask a few members of your family, or a few friends, to answer those questions for you. You may be surprised by what you find out.

It can be hard to make time for your personal life when you’re trying to prove to your boss that you deserve a raise… when you’re busy building your business… or when you just plain love what you do. But don’t work so hard or so long that you neglect your family and friends. If you do that, you will eventually regret it.

Here’s how I keep myself from falling into that trap:

• I don’t take work home at night. I put in my time at the office, and then I come home… without my laptop and papers.
• I don’t take work home on weekends. If I want to put in a few extra hours on Saturday, I clear it with my family in advance. But, again, I don’t pull out the computer or papers in front of them. It sends the wrong message.
• Away from work, I try my best to stay "in the present." For me, this was the hardest lesson to learn, because my mind is always jumping from one topic (the story someone is telling me) to another (something related that happened at work). When I feel myself drifting - and it happens frequently - I pull myself back.

When I follow these rules, I am happier twice - at work and at home. I recommend that you do the same.

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This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.