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On display at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, in October was a computer-controlled self-service milking system, introduced in the U.S. this year by the Swedish company DeLaval. Once trained to use the system, cows in need of milking simply walk one by one into a stainless-steel booth, where a laser-guided robotic arm attaches milking cups to their teats. And the new Pronto condom, packaged in a combination wrapper/applicator, went on sale in South Africa in November; spokespeople claimed it could be put on in one second.
Christmas Mania
An appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled in November that Brandon Sample, an inmate at a federal prison in Georgia, was entitled to receive documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act in the form of computer disks, as he’d wanted, rather than as printouts, as the Bureau of Prisons had insisted. However, Sample still has no computer to access the disks with, and the judges ruled that the bureau had no obligation to let him use one.
The Continuing Crisis: UK Edition
