This Is A Sad Comment On the State of Affairs Here In the United States...

All the places HitchBOT went before it got here with no problem; it was in the United States for all of two weeks and it has been completely destroyed! What kind of people do we have here in this country???


From NBC News, U.S. News:

HitchBOT, Hitchhiking Robot, Meets Demise in Philadelphia After Two Weeks in U.S.

by ELISHA FIELDSTADT

Philadelphia may be the City of Brotherly Love — but that compassion apparently does not include robots.

The child-sized robot, hitchBOT, had hitchhiked across Canada and parts of Europe, was damaged beyond repair in Philadelphia, according to its creators.

HitchBOT and Family

The robot had set out to travel cross-country. It was immobile on its own, relying on the kindness of strangers. Those who picked it up often passed it to other travelers or left it where others might notice it.

From Tweet by @HitchBOT

It began its American odyssey in Marblehead, 
Massachusetts, on July 17. It made it to the Boston 
area and even took in a Red Sox game.

@HitchBOT with @AirCanada

                                 But after just two weeks in America, hitchBOT was "vandalized" in Philadelphia on Friday night, according to a statement from the team monitoring the robot's travels.

The creators were sent an image of the vandalized robot Saturday but could not track its location because its battery was dead, according to The Associated Press.

"Sometimes bad things happen to good robots," the statement said.

The robot was designed to be a talking travel companion. It could throw out random factoids.

"We want to see what people do with this kind of technology when we leave it up to them," Frauke Zeller, one of the creators and an assistant professor in professional communication at Toronto's Ryerson University, told the AP. "It's an art project in the wild — it invites people to participate."

The robot, wearing yellow wellies, attended a wedding in Germany, had its portrait painted in the Netherlands and was making big plans for its cross-country tour of the U.S., including taking in some jazz in New Orleans and snapping a selfie with the Hollywood sign.

From Tweet by ryan sokolowski @sokmelousy

The creators of the robot did not say whether the machine would try to complete its bucket list in the U.S., but promised that they would keep the project alive.

"We know that many of hitchBOT's fans will be disappointed, but we want them to be assured that this great experiment is not over," they said in a statement.

Why Is the First Word in This Headline the Word LESBIAN????

What does her sexual orientation have to do with it? Do we know for sure that it had anything to

Kim Jones, 56, killed while at the bus stop

do

with her being gunned down? I was getting undressed to go to bed, and happened to glance at the computer;  it made me so angry I just dropped everything and had to sit down and write this post.  Come on people!! 

If we don't know that being a lesbian had anything to do with why she was killed, then the word 'lesbian' shouldn't be in the headline AT ALL, let alone be the first word!! In doing that, the media has made the article all about ‘a lesbian'; not about a woman, not about a Philadelphia resident, not even about a black woman! It's simply about 'a lesbian', and that's what everyone is going to jump on. The reason I saw this is because someone I know posted it on her Facebook and was talking about how angry she is about this lesbian being killed. Not about a human being that was just shot while standing at the bus stop waiting to go to work, but about a lesbian being 'gunned down'. Do you ever see articles reading "Heterosexual man hit by a car while crossing the street" or "CIS woman stabbed while grocery shopping"?? For some reason, the "gunned down" part irks me too, because it sounds like what mobsters do to each other, or gang members. Straight people who live in North Hollywood don't get "gunned down", they get "fatally shot", so why is a black lesbian from North Philly "gunned down"?? The majority of the people who read this article won't know Kim Jones, her wife, or her family, but what they will remember in the future when anyone brings this up will be that a lesbian was killed. She was a mother, a daughter, and a wife. People loved her for being Kim, not just for being lesbian. She was a human being, and all human beings deserve more respect than that.

  Lesbian gunned down in North Philly

A North Philadelphia lesbian was shot in broad daylight Tuesday morning while on her way to work.

Kim Jones, 56, was shot in the head at 9:30 a.m. while she was standing on the corner of 12th and Jefferson streets near Temple University, waiting to take the bus to work, police said.
The gunman came up behind Jones, who was wearing headphones, and shot her point-blank in the back of the head.
Investigators believe Jones was targeted, but a motive had not been announced as of presstime.
"She had her purse, she had her cellphone, she had jewelry on, none of which was taken, none of which was disturbed," said Homicide Capt. James Clark in a press conference Tuesday.
Officer Tanya Little, a police spokesperson, said investigators are aware that Jones, who married her partner last month, was a lesbian, and do not yet know if that could have played a role in her killing.
“Investigators have not ruled out anything at this point,” Little said.
The gunman is described as a heavyset black male wearing black clothing and carrying a black duffle bag. Investigators are reviewing video footage from SEPTA, Temple and city cameras to continue looking for clues.
"Someone knew her routine, knew she waited for the bus and waited for her," Clark said in a press conference Tuesday. "For whatever reason, she was targeted."
David Fair, deputy CEO of Turning Points for Children, a service and support organization for youth where Jones worked as program director of the Families and Schools Together initiative for the past seven years, said Jones was an exemplary employee.
“Extremely smart,” he said about her. “Always thinking about how to address the challenges in her job.”
Jones' work focused on providing parent education and support services to families of children in city schools to enhance academic success.
“She lived and breathed the children and families she worked with. When it came to the kids, she was everyone’s mother and grandmother,” Fair said. “That’s what I will remember most about her. She was one of the most caring people that I met.”
Jones, who earned a master’s of business administration, had been divorced from her ex-husband for more than 25 years, and had two adult sons.
The city is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.