Robots gives restaurant futuristic feel in China

Robot waiters in China never lose patience
JINAN, China - Service with a smile also comes with an electronic voice at the Dalu Robot restaurant, where the hotpot meals are not as famous yet as the staff who never lose their patience and never take tips. The restaurant, which opened this month in Jinan in northern Shandong province, is touted as China's first robot hotpot eatery where robots resembling Star Wars droids circle the room carrying trays of food in a conveyor belt-like system. More than a dozen robots operate in the rest...

Robot waiters in China never lose patience
JINAN, China — Service with a smile also comes with an electronic voice at the Dalu Robot restaurant, where the hotpot meals are not as famous yet as the staff who never lose their patience and never take tips. The restaurant, which opened this month in Jinan in northern Shandong province, is touted as China’s first robot hotpot eatery where robots resembling Star Wars droids circle the room carrying trays of food in a conveyor belt-like system. More than a dozen robots operate in t...

Class vs. Crass: Lucy Hayes vs. Michelle Antoinette Obama; Christmas Edition
Posted by kevindujan01 under Class vs. Crass, HillBuzz, Kevin DuJan, Michelle Antoinette Obama Tags: Did Michelle Antoinette Obama really put Obama on Mount Rushmore for Christmas ornament?, Lucy Hayes China, What sort of china did Lucy Hayes buy? In 1879, First Lady Lucy Hayes commissioned beautiful china for the White House emblazoned with images of the flora and fauna of America, as well as our gorgeous natural landscapes, to celebrate our country at the dinner table when foreign heads of ...

Robot waiters in China never lose patience
FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2010 file photo, a robot resembling the star of... JINAN, China (AP) - Service with a smile also comes with an electronic voice at the Dalu Robot restaurant, where the hotpot meals are not as famous yet as the staff who never lose their patience and never take tips. The restaurant, which opened this month in Jinan in northern Shandong province, is touted as China's first robot hotpot eatery where robots resembling Star Wars droids circle the room carrying trays of food i...

Robot waiters in China never lose patience
FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2010 file photo, a customer collects a drink from a robot waiter cycling around a restaurant in Jinan in eastern China's Shandong province. The restaurant, which opened earlier this month, is touted as China's first robot hotpot eatery. Service with a smile also comes with an electronic voice at the Dalu Robot restaurant, where the hotpot meals are not as famous yet as the staff who never lose their patience and never take tips. Service with a smile also comes with an el...

Enthralled White House Press Corps Pose Sycophantic Questions to Comeback Kid Obama
“There weren’t a lot of hard questions in this news conference,” FNC’s Bret Baier observed on Special Report in the understatement of the night. Indeed, in the first question posed at the late afternoon session, Caren Bohan of Reuters reflected the collective glow of the White House press corp basking in Barack Obama’s glory: You racked up a lot of wins in the last few weeks that a lot of people thought would be difficult to come by. Are you ready to call yourself t...

Enthralled White House Press Corps Pose Sycophantic Questions to Comeback Kid Obama
“There weren’t a lot of hard questions in this news conference,” FNC’s Bret Baier observed on Special Report in the understatement of the night. Indeed, in the first question posed at the late Wednesday afternoon session, Caren Bohan of Reuters reflected the collective glow of the White House press corp basking in Barack Obama’s glory: You racked up a lot of wins in the last few weeks that a lot of people thought would be difficult to come by. Are you ready to call ...

If Every Rich Person Were Larry David, I'd Feel Better About Cutting Their Taxes
The Qatar Model: A New Way Forward for the Middle East? Derek Thompson - Derek Thompson is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he writes about economics, business, and technology. Derek has also written for BusinessWeek, Slate and The Daily Beast. Derek Thompson is a blogger at TheAtlantic.com and an associate editor for the Business Channel, where he writes about Economic Policy, technology, and the media industry. He is also a visiting research fellow at the Committee for a Responsible ...

If Every Rich Person Were Larry David, I'd Feel Better About Cutting Their Taxes
The Qatar Model: A New Way Forward for the Middle East? Derek Thompson - Derek Thompson is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he writes about economics, business, and technology. Derek has also written for BusinessWeek, Slate and The Daily Beast. Derek Thompson is a blogger at TheAtlantic.com and an associate editor for the Business Channel, where he writes about Economic Policy, technology, and the media industry. He is also a visiting research fellow at the Committee for a Responsible ...

Lucasfilm agrees to stop anti-competitive hiring
WASHINGTON — The film studio that produced the popular "Star Wars" movie series has agreed to end anti-competitive hiring practices as part of a settlement with the Justice Department. The Justice Department filed the settlement along with its complaint against Lucasfilm Ltd. on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington. The government accused the San Francisco-based firm of agreeing with Walt Disney Corp.’s Pixar Animation Studios not to recruit each other’s employees, to ...

Larry David: A Sarcastic "Thanks" for the Tax Cut
Larry David has an op-ed in the New York Times today expressing gratitude for the just passed Tax Cut Compromise --- which will extend the breaks for upper income earners like him. He writes, "To begin with, I was planning a trip to Cabo with my kids for Christmas Vacation. We were going to fly coach, but now with the money I’m saving in taxes, I’m going to splurge and bump myself up to first class. First class! Somebody told me they serve warm nuts up there, and call you “...

Extra, Extra
Photograph by stoone on Flickr Remember to follow Gothamist on Twitter and like us on Facebook. From the Gothamist Newsmap: An all-hands in 132nd St & South Conduit Ave in Queens, an MVA overturn on Staten Island, and a Suspicious Package at E 170st & Findlay Ave in The Bronx. A NJ man rubbed deer meat on his car to cover up hit-and-run. (Why does this remind us of Goodfellas a little?) Larry David uses the NY Times Op-Ed platform to express his joy at the Bush Tax Cuts extension. Cherry Lane...

Not All Global Warming Skeptics Are Crackpots?!?
The NY Times has a long feature appraising the science, economics, and politics of Carbon Dioxide and Climate Change.  The most surprising bit is this: Climate-change contrarians do not accept these numbers. The Internet has given rise to a vocal cadre of challengers who question every aspect of the science — even the physics, worked out in the 19th century, that shows that Carbon Dioxide traps heat. That is a point so elementary and well-established that demonstrations of it are routi...

Music to his ears
Comedy actor Matt Lucas has revealed that musicals became his "refuge" from the world when he lost his hair and suffered Health Problems as a child. Lucas says he fell in love with musical theatre after being "blown away" by his first experience of watching Oliver! at the age of six. "It just felt like a safer world to me than the one I was in because I was six years-old and my hair fell out. "I'm atopic (allergic hypersensitivity) so I had asthma and eczema....

Soybeans, corn rise on Argentina weather concerns
NEW YORK — Grain prices rose Wednesday as investors worried that a drought in Argentina might damage soybeans and corn growing in that country. Argentina is the world’s second-largest exporter of corn and the third-largest exporter of soybeans. The country has had dry weather for the past seven weeks. If that keeps up, it could reduce the size of the country’s harvest. "The fear is the pattern is going to continue," said Tim Hannagan, senior grain analyst for brokerage PFG Bes...

Christmas Canon Trans-Siberian Orchestra
I can’t listen to this song without my eyes welling up with tears or a lump forming in my throat. I can’t say one Christmas Song or another is my favorite, there are so many that I love. But this one is right up there. Beautiful. Merry Christmas. Via Pop Modal Related posts: Schedule of Christmas Movies and Shows Merry Christmas! Christmas Shopping FCC May Move on Net Neutrality Right Before Christmas If Only He Sounded Like He Cares Categories : music, religion Leave a Reply Click...

Obama savors year-end victories
WASHINGTON — Seven weeks after using the word "shellacking" to describe his political condition, President Obama left for his annual Hawaiian Vacation in a vastly different place, with a litany of accomplishments and his party seizing the high ground on issues relating to Civil Rights, National Security and the Sept. 11 attacks. At his first news conference since the day after Midterm Elections, in which Republicans won control of the House, Obama claimed Wednesday he had heard the messa...

Revived Obama celebrates year-end wins (AFP)
WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama capped a crisis-strewn first two White House years flexing restored power at home and abroad after securing big wins from a supposedly "Lame Duck" Congress. Obama won Senate ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, which he said sent a "powerful signal" to the world, and fulfilled a Democratic dream by signing a bill allowing gays to serve openly in the Military. On both issues, the president took on and beat fie...

Poll Watch: CNN/Opinion Research Political Survey
CNN/Opinion Research Political Survey Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president? Approve 48% Disapprove 48% Do you think the policies being proposed by Barack Obama will move the country in the right direction or the wrong direction? Right direction 55% Wrong direction 42% Do you think the policies being proposed by the Republican leaders in the U.S. House and Senate would move the country in the right direction or the wrong direction? Right d...

Obamas Approval Rating With Moderate Republicans Rises 9 Points
Yahoo Politics: President Obama remains hugely unpopular with Republicans, but a new Gallup Poll finds that he’s gained a little ground among moderate members of the GOP. According to Gallup, Obama’s Approval Rating among moderate Republicans jumped 9 percentage points in the last two weeks, to 29 percent. That’s still a dismal number, but as Gallup notes, that’s the highest number Obama has banked among swing Republicans since May. Gallup credits the bump, in part, to ...

President signs repeal of ‘don’t ask’ policy
WASHINGTON — President Obama signed into law yesterday a policy that will allow gays to serve openly in America’s Military. Framing the issue as a matter of Civil Rights long denied, Obama said that “we are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot . . . a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal.’’ Repealing the 17-year-old policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ in a ceremony that was alternately emoti...

Revived Obama celebrates year-end wins
President Barack Obama capped a crisis-strewn first two White House years flexing restored power at home and abroad after securing big wins from a supposedly "Lame Duck" Congress. Obama won Senate ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, which he said sent a "powerful signal" to the world, and fulfilled a Democratic dream by signing a bill allowing gays to serve openly in the Military. On both issues, the president took on and beat fierce obstruction by Republicans just six weeks a...

Revived Obama celebrates year-end wins
President Barack Obama capped a crisis-strewn first two White House years flexing restored power at home and abroad after securing big wins from a supposedly "Lame Duck" Congress. Obama won Senate ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, which he said sent a "powerful signal" to the world, and fulfilled a Democratic dream by signing a bill allowing gays to serve openly in the Military. On both issues, the president took on and beat fierce obstruction by Republicans just six weeks...

Obama signs 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal
(12-22) 07:38 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- Declaring that members of the Military will no longer be asked to lie, President Barack Obama fulfilled a campaign promise Wednesday and signed a landmark law repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the armed services. "This is a good day," a beaming Obama said. "This is a very good day." The new law ends the 17-year-old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that forced gays to hide their Sexual Orientation or face dismissal. Its Repeal comes as p...

China says Vatican criticism 'imprudent'
The comments from China's State Administration for Religious Affairs came on Wednesday after the Vatican accused Beijing of "unacceptable and hostile acts", following a high-level meeting earlier this month of state-approved bishops. "The Vatican's position is well-known. It works to promote political ideas under the pretext of religious belief, which is very dangerous and will seriously harm the healthy development of Chinese Catholicism in China." The Chinese bishops elected a new chairman - B...