Exoskeleton Allows Anchorage Man to Walk (+video)

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Photo Credit: Ekso Bionics

The idea of “wearable robots” may seem like something out of a movie, but this technology is already being used in real life.

Started as a project for the military, the exoskeleton has transformed from a device designed to allow soldiers to lift heavy loads and walk further to one that enables people with disabilities to step out of wheelchairs and stand upright.

The “Ekso” is a bionic exoskeleton developed by Ekso Bionics that gives paraplegics upright mobility. While the commercial version of the Ekso has recently been made available to hospitals and rehabilitation centers, the company hopes to make the technology more accessible so that people can use it at home and in their everyday lives, with a personal version releasing in 2014.

CEO Eythor Bender sat down with CNN to talk about Ekso, the bionic exoskeleton he helped develop.

CNN: How many years have you been working on exoskeletons?

Bender: We have been working on exoskeletons for the last 10 years. It started as a project with the military and it was funded by DARPA, the same people who funded the Internet and GPS systems. So it was groundbreaking technology, and in the year 2005 we had a breakthrough in terms of making sure that the weight of the exoskeleton transfers all the way down to the ground. So the user who is wearing it — it usually weighs up to 50 pounds — doesn’t feel the weight at all. And that’s so important because obviously you are trying to make their lives easier, not more difficult.

Watch video here:

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Baseless: Insecure NASCAR Announcers Pick On Palin For Comments She Never Made

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Photo Credit: AP

During Fox’s telecast of the Kobalt Tools 400 NASCAR race in Las Vegas on Sunday, Fox’s NASCAR commentator Michael Waltrip and studio host Chris Myers displayed their ignorance by ridiculing former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin over words she never even said or that have never even been associated with her.

After getting tongue-tied on live television when attempting to say that Brad Keselowski’s crew chief Paul Wolfe was a master strategist, Waltrip mistakenly said Wolfe was a “master strategery.” Clearly embarrassed, Waltrip, like any insecure man, then immediately tried to make himself feel better by referring to Wolfe as someone who had “Palin strategery,” linking “strategery” to Palin.

One huge problem.

Waltrip made a fool of himself again, for Palin has never been accused of making up the word “strategery.” Will Ferrell, in a Saturday Night Live episode in October of 2000, used “strategery” in a skit about the presidential debate between Bush and Al Gore to mock Bush.

What Ferrell did to Bush was similar to what Tina Fey did to Palin when Fey, playing Palin in a Saturday Night Live skit during the 2008 election, said she “could see Russia from my house.”

Palin never said those words, but the NASCAR commentators apparently believed she did as well, for Waltrip (@mw55) and Myers (@The_ChrisMyers) then brought up that reference while they laughed at Palin’s expense when they should have been laughing at themselves.

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Nine Southeast Communities Oppose Revised Sealaska Bill

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photo credit: roy.luck

Ketchikan, Alaska – Nine communities in southeast Alaska said they oppose a bill by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to allow an Alaska Native-owned corporation to acquire some 70,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest, arguing the bill could threaten their livelihoods. A February letter from the nine communities have asked the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy Committee, Ron Wyden, to kill “special interest legislation” for Sealaska Corporation.

Calling the bill introduced by Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski “unfair and morally repugnant,” the towns pointed out that the bill would “create a new injustice against us” in the name of righting a wrong against them that was settled in 1971 when ANCSA passed. The towns pointed out to Wyden in a letter two weeks ago, that the best solution is for BLM to finalize Sealaska?s designation of land in 2008 which was put on ice.

History shows federal cases dating to the 1940s holding that compensation for aboriginal land could only be for lands actually occupied and courts and judges who conducted extensive testimony finding that actually occupied lands only existed “around Native villages as they were in 1907, according to the letter.

“Instead of taking land around their villages, Sealaska wants to take land around our villages. Where is the fairness or justice in that said Myla Poelstra, the postmistress of Edna Bay.

“We relied on law that was 77 years in the making . Now Sealaska wants Congress to rewrite the law. Our towns are having none of that, “Poelstra said.

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Jury: Homer Police Not Responsible for Boy’s Injury

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A federal jury decided Thursday that Homer police were not responsible for the gunshot that left a Duluth woman’s young son brain damaged.

The boy, Jason Anderson Jr., was shot in 2006 at the Homer airport when marshals and Homer police officers tried to arrest his father, Jason Karlo Anderson, 31, a violent drug dealer who was hiding in Alaska. There is disagreement on whether the shot was fired by police or the boy’s father. Police say Anderson, a fugitive from Duluth, shot the boy and shot at police, then killed himself.

The boy’s mother, Cherry Dietzmann of Duluth, sued the city of Homer and its police department for more than $23 million, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Dietzmann settled out of court with the U.S. Marshals Service for almost $3.5 million in 2011. But the jury in the case against the city issued a verdict of not guilty on all counts, city manager Walt Wrede said in a statement.

Dietzmann’s lawyers said the city should pay more than $23 million to help the boy, now 9, and his mother with medical bills and future care and to compensate for his suffering. The boy is confined in a bed and lives with a feeding tube and ventilator.

The boy’s father served time in federal prison for kidnapping two men as a teenager and had been living in Alaska under an alias, Brandon Dietzmann. He was wanted on federal drug trafficking charges, and marshals initially sought to grab him while he was getting a rental car at the Homer Airport and separated from his children.

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Iditarod Mushers Welcome Rest in Villages

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ROHN, Alaska – Imagine standing on a sled behind a team of 16 dogs, traveling mile after desolate mile in the Alaska wilderness without any sign of other human life.

All of a sudden, lights shine off in the distance, the first village to come into view in a very long time.

Whether it’s a single cabin or a booming village of several hundred people, for mushers on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the villages are not only checkpoints to eat, rest and recharge, but a chance to interact with someone other than their dogs.

“There are no checkpoints that I dislike,” said defending champion Dallas Seavey. “Every time you come around the corner and see the lights of a checkpoint approaching, it’s a great sight.”

Four-time champion Martin Buser rested at the checkpoint in Rohn after a blistering fast 170-mile run that had put him hours ahead of the other teams.

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The U.S.S. Ted Stevens

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photo credit: jkbrooks85Proving once again that Congress is still about relationships, appropriators have at least found something on which they can agree: naming a warship after a late colleague.

The spending bill unveiled Monday by the House contains a provision expressing the sense of the Senate that the next large naval warship be named for former Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

Stevens, who died in an August 2010 plane crash in his beloved home state, served at various points over the decades as the chairman and ranking member on the subcommittee in charge of the Pentagon’s budget. Stevens had been in the Army Air Corps during World War II.

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Anchorage School Superintendent Looking for Exit

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The head of Alaska’s largest school district is shopping for another job less than a year after moving north.

The Des Moines, Iowa, school district announced Saturday that Anchorage school Superintendent Jim Browder is a finalist for the job there.

Browder in an email to Anchorage School District employees Friday said he was considering a move from Alaska to be closer to a daughter and grandson in Georgia, who “have been experiencing some very severe medical issues which have not gotten better.”

“I cannot in good conscience continue to live several thousand miles away when my family members need me to be closer to them as we face these issues,” he said.

Browder is the former head of the Lee County School District in Fort Myers, Fla.

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Alaska Democratic Party’s Lame Attempt at Demagoguery – Epic Fail!

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The State Senate Judiciary Committee had its first hearing on SB 49 yesterday, a bill designed to define “medical necessity” with respect to Medicaid-funded abortions. And as one might expect, the Democrats have already began their assault on proponents of the measure.

To no one’s surprise, they appear to be trying to resurrect the Demogogue-in-Chief’s manufactured “war on women.”

The five-member panel made up of two Democrats and three Republicans includes just one woman, a fact opponents of the bill appear eager to exploit for political purposes.

For a brief period, part way through the hearing, Senator Lesil McGuire stepped out of the room. While she was gone, someone in the room snapped a picture of the four male members of the Committee, which the Alaska Democratic Party was happy to tweet.

Clearly, they were trying to lead folks to believe that it was an all male panel. Well, we’re onto them.

As if reverse sexism is somehow relevent to the facts of medical science anyway . . .

Not only was the Democrat Party’s insinuation false, if anybody cares, the hypocrisy of it all was compounded by the fact that two out of the three doctors who testified on behalf of the legislation were women.

Apparently, Senator Bill Wielechowski had no legitimate objections to the bill either, as he spent almost all of his time cross-examining the expert witnesses, obviously trying to discredit them by scoring cheap political points.

Nice try.

When will the Democrats step up to the plate and actually engage in the public policy debate, instead of playing sophmoric games in an attempt to emotionally manipulate public perception?

Chances are, it won’t happen any time soon. That’s just how they roll.

Palin Donates Iron Dog Winnings to Chris Kyle Memorial Fund

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Todd Palin, the husband of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, donated his winnings from the Iron Dog race in Alaska to the Chris Kyle Memorial Fund. Todd raced with a Chris Kyle decal honoring the fallen American sniper and hero on his snow machine.

“Todd’s race winnings are donated to The Chris Kyle Memorial Fund,” Sarah Palin wrote Saturday evening in a Facebook note. “For the kids and me, we’re proud of our Iron Dogger, especially his dedication to family and freedom.”

. . . The Palins attended Kyle’s funeral on February 11 at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas and Sarah said President Barack Obama should “pay his respects” to the fallen American hero with a “gesture of condolence,” which Obama has yet to do.

Read full article HERE.

It’s Time to Stand Up for Alaska’s Children

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On February 25 beginning at 9:30 a.m., the Alaska House Education Committee will hear testimony on HJR 1, an act to amend the Alaska Constitution to allow public funds to flow to parents so they can choose the best educational fit for their children. It is important to note that this resolution only amends the Constitution, it does not provide for “vouchers” as stated by the opposition.

The Alaska Constitution has Blaine Amendment language in it which prohibits any state funds from directly supporting religious or other private educational institutions. This wording was required by the Federal government if a territory wanted to join the Union-kind of an overreach by the Federal government. That is why, most Western states have this prohibitive language in their constitutions.

The history of the Blaine Amendment, however, is somewhat sordid and ugly. Congressman Blaine gathered support from the anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic and anti-Irish segments of society. Later on, even the KKK supported the Blaine Amendment in many states. This wording should be removed because it is a very bad reflection on Alaskans.

The Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that even indirect support of private or religious educational institutions is prohibited (Sheldon Jackson College v. State of Alaska, 1979). This would seem to prohibit local school districts from transporting students to/from non-public schools, even if by coincidence.
You have your chance to voice your opinion on February 25. You need to go to the Legislative Information Office (LIO) or call in for testimony. You can google “state of alaska lio” to find where the nearest LIO is located. If inconvenient, just email your legislator with your beliefs. If you have any questions, go to www.akchoice.org for more information or email Tom Fink at [email protected]. Testimony will also be taken on March 1 at 9:30.

It’s time to take a stand for our kids – your voice needs to be heard. The Alaska State Legislature must allow us to vote on whether or not, we the people want to amend OUR Constitution. Allow us to vote-it is our right as stated in OUR Constitution.