Itsy Bitsy Imposter
Paul Vance, co-writer of the song 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' was slightly startled to read his own obituary - the result of an imposter.

Robot Art Goes On Display
A Portugese artist has devised a robot that creates its own paintings.

Teddy Bear Causes 2,500 Trout Deaths
A teddy bear that fell into a pool at a Fish and Game Department hatchery earlier this month clogged a drain, and suffocated a large number of trout in New Hampshire.
A written warning has been given: "RELEASE OF ANY TEDDY BEARS into the fish hatchery water IS NOT PERMITTED."

(Thanks, Accipiter.)

I'm really interested in this robot's painting. I wish they had pictures. I want to actually see how similar its paintings are to one another, and if it only uses geometric (as opposed to random) shapes.

I guess it's safe to say the news of Vance's death has been greatly exaggerated.

I feel sorry for the widow though, being deceived for 40 years. It looks like she still doesn't quite believe it.

Being an artist, the concept of a painting robot is unsettling. Of course, considering I'm going into illustration instead of oils, or some realistic artform probably means taht I won't have to deal with creative robots who can draw styilized stuff.

Still unsettling to the artistic world ^^;

The bereaved wife seems to think it's Mr Vances fault that her husband lied to her for 40 years! Poor lady.

I am also fascinated that the woman seems to think that the real Paul Vance is at fault by coming forward to clear things up and say he's not the one who died (not to mention, it's pretty funny/sad that she's still hanging onto the idea Vance is lying despite proof of royalties received and all). How dare he tell his family and the rest of the US that, after an article through the AP said otherwise!

That must be annoying on a monumental scale for him; bad enough when someone who isn't a celeb finds they've accidentally had their obit run in the paper...

I don't think she really think he's at fault here, she seems quite prepared to believe him.

You have to remember that her husband just died, and something fundamental that she always knew about him turned out to be a lie. She wishes she had never found out about it as it's easier to live in ignorance of such things. People say stupid things when they're emotional that they wouldn't say or feel at other times.

Yes, I agree with Charybdis; her husband just died and what she says is out of emotions. But she shouldn't wish that the real Paul Vance not come out and say what he did. He has to. That way no one thinks he really died (so the calls would stop coming) and that way he would not be liable for everything the imposter did.

Picture of RAP: http://www.leonelmoura.com/rap.html

Picture of RAP and one of the paintings it's working on: http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/008455.php

It appears that there are quite a few "art bots" out there.

One of RAP's finished paintings: http://robotgossip.blogspot.com/2006/05/robot-as-artist.html

Thanks usuallydark for the links. That's pretty weird. I also agree with the unsettling thoughts Mera has on a painting robot, but it's a good thing that I'm working in ceramics. It does look pretty cool from those links, though.

Actually, upon seeing the robot's "art" I feel less worried, as it's like... a lot of scribbles. Reminds me of those old scribble art sets you would buy where various gears would get you different patterns of scribbles.

Besides, Modern art isn't my forte... Our old neighbor with the chrismas tree covered in gloves, however, might be daunted by the robot more than I.

I thought we have robots that can paint for years now.

It's called a pen plotter.

Back when I was younger, I took a field trip to COSI, and there was a robot that could draw pictures. It drew a dog for me.

Sakano, did it come up with the drawing all by itself, or was it a drawing that was programmed into the robot by a human and then copied out for you by the robot?

I'm not sure. A bunch of kids were asking it for different things, like cats, bears, ect, and it could draw all of them. It was probably programmed though.

You know, the claim that the fake made - about having sold his rights when he was 19, make sense. Not that I'm saying I believe him, but if I didn't know the real Paul Vance was still alive, it would have been believable. Record companies, book and magazine publishers, etc have tried to grab the full copyright from anyone they deal with for decades, usually with minimal payment, so I wouldn't have been surprised that a 19 year-old would have been taken.