Number 4. Gadget Review. Human-like robot arrested for frightening elderly woman on the sidewalk.
In a technology first, but probably only the first of many, a four-foot-tall robot was arrested in Macau last week for harassing a woman on a residential sidewalk. It is not clear whether words were actually exchanged, or if the victim, a woman in her seventies, simply laid down the law for the AI-powered machine.
The unnamed female was apparently walking home one evening, minding her own business, when she became aware of a presence behind her. She turned to look, and found a Unitree G1 remotely operated robot shadowing her.
She moved, it moved. She stopped, it stopped.
She turned her back and bent to examine her smart phone. The G1 stood close behind her, idling. (Or whatever it is that powered-up robots do when not moving.)
She had finally had enough. She turned and confronted the machine in a loud voice, saying in Mandarin, or perhaps in Macanese Portuguese, something that translated to: “You are scaring me! Why don’t you go somewhere else? Is there a mental disturbance at work here?” (The loose translation is gathered from English-language reports, but it captures the essence.)
In what might be considered shock, or surrender, or perhaps preparation for striking a blow, the G1 threw up both hands in a manner that made it look as though it was signaling a touchdown.
Both the police and an ambulance were called. The woman, in some considerable distress, was hospitalized for observation. The G1 robot was escorted away by a police officer, who laid a hand on the miscreant’s shoulder to remind it who the law was in these parts.
The after-action review by the creators of the robot acknowledged the limitations of their micro processing capability. The G1 can effectively stand, walk, get up after falling, climb stairs, lift and stack. What it cannot do is navigate around a person standing in its path on a sidewalk. Nor can it stop a respectful distance from said person, so as not to scare her into a near cardiac event.
I wonder who paid for the ambulance ride. In the States, that price is well above a thousand dollars US.
Number 3. Off the Press. New York City spends $81,000 each on homeless residents.
Unsheltered persons in the Big Apple have discovered that money received as a gift is quite useful. (The rest of us know that also, but the rest of us don’t figure into this story as recipients... only as donors.)
With the latest budget for fiscal year 2025, the City spent $81,000 per homeless person on various government programs. That dollar figure is up from $28,000 in 2019. Over a seven-year period, that’s nearly a three-fold increase.
Tell me if your income has increased by 3x in less than a decade. That would be from, say, $100k in 2019 to $300k last year. If yes, congratulations. If no, maybe you ought to consider selling your house and moving to an underpass in the big city.
This article unhelpfully does not suggest why the massive increase has been necessary. I could hazard a guess about mid-level bureaucrats thinking up useful programs requiring new careers serving unfortunate people, but some might consider me churlish.
It does, however, point out that the $368 million annual spend on unsheltered persons does NOT include the unspecified budget amount spent on other persons in free or subsidized housing. They are not unsheltered, after all.
Just running the numbers, a budget of $368 million divided by $81,000 per head suggests there are 4,543 unsheltereds in New York City.
One might be tempted to wonder how much administrative cost is built into the price tag, and whether it might be cheaper to simply hand out 4,000 checks and terminate the bureaucrats who run the programs.
Speaking of churlish.
Number 2. The Kenya Times. Unusual approach to “diplomacy” by Iran.
Not everyone would make this an opening gambit in the chess match of international relations.
The new and as-yet-unseen (at least at this writing) Supreme Leader of Iran is said to have received a letter from Hamas, the Iranian sponsored organization that until about October 8, 2023 operated freely—and some would say blood-thirstily—in Gaza. Hamas insists that they be more formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement.
Before we go on, I say the new Supr Leader is “said to have received” because we really don’t know if he is in any condition to actually receive a letter, or perhaps even to acknowledge that he could have received a letter.
Nevertheless, the claim is made that a claim was made that a letter was sent by the Islamic Resistance Movement to the new Leader. The letter helpfully pointed out some negotiating points for the new incumbent that he might not have thought of.
Such points included the statement: “We affirm to you the clear and explicit position of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas): We will not accept any long‑term truce agreements with our enemy (the Zionist entity).”
Well.
At least one cannot fault the Is-Re-Mo for vague language.
I’m just trying to envision coming to a meeting in an upscale conference room with a big oak table to meet with reps of the both the Little Satan and the Big Satan. After polite introductions, my first words will be: “Whatever you offer is unacceptable. The only thing I promise is that I will keep fighting you, no matter what. Any questions?”
That seems a little awkward, particularly for one who brings a knife to a gunfight.
Number 1. The Guardian. Aussie residents urged not to swim in the water with crocodiles.
When the rainy season comes to Australia’s Northern Territory, it really shows up. Several rivers flooded earlier this month, forcing evacuations. Rivers crested at depths up to 19 meters. I have no idea how deep that is, but it sounds bad.
Towns evacuated included Nganmarriyanga, Nauiyu, Jilkminggan and Katherine. (Katherine??? Where’d SHE come from?)
Nganmarriyanga, the writer points out, was formerly known as Palumpa. (Didn’t exactly plus that one up, did they?) I’m not sure why he thought it necessary to include that bit of trivia, except that he may have found it as entertaining I did.
Because of the multi-meters deep water, various forms of reptile critters began roaming the streets of the aforementioned towns. The Bureau of Meteorology helpfully pointed out that a few crocodiles might have made it into the city limits, and therefore residents might want to consider not swimming very much in the flood-tide river.
The exact language was “There are crocs everywhere!”
Such is life in the Down Under. It makes Butler County, Kansas, look pretty tame. And it is. And I’m happy with it.
And thanks for joining The Alligator News Roundup for Friday, March 20, 2026. With warmer weather on the way, consider taking a dip in somebody’s farm creek. It might be refreshing. Or you might find a snapping turtle the size of a large pillow.
On second thought, maybe just stay inside and read a book.
Have a good weekend!
