JFG Nation, I saw this article and video the other day about two software engineers that designed a robot to solve a Rubik’s Cube in ~1 second:

My first reactions came and went and likely embodied what many of you are thinking. First, why do we need this? Why aren’t be focusing our energies on building robots that can do ANYTHING else??  Cure cancer? Stop war? That was the curmudgeonly old man reaction in me.

The responsive reaction to THAT reaction was: Well, this type of technology has numerous applications down the road. Perhaps this same type of sight-analysis-to-problem-solving software could be applied to other problem solving situations, like helping firefighters navigate the safest way into buildings with a visual scan. That’s the nerd reaction in me.

So after those two reactions faded, the feeling/reaction that has LASTED is the following: GAAAH STOP MAKING ROBOTS THAT ARE BETTER THAN HUMANS AT THINGS THIS IS HOW SKYNET BEGINS.

This is the ultra old man and ultra nerd reaction combined. When I view the video all I see is the weird tentacle machines flying through the air from the Matrix series, able to predict our movements. YOU’RE FEEDING THE MONSTER, SCIENTISTS! Today it’s Rubik’s Cubes, tomorrow it’s passwords to our “secure” financial institutions. I refuse to yield to robotic overlords just because you wanted to see the same color on each side, jerks!

Eh, whatever. Just plug me back into the Matrix already. Or have the robot solve why I can never guess correctly which way a person coming toward me on the sidewalk is going to step – I ALWAYS choose the same side and we end up doing a weird three-second jig with each other. DAMNIT. ROBOTS, WHERE WERE YOU THEN, HUH? I NEED TO BE ABLE TO WALK PAST PEOPLE WITHOUT AWKWARDNESS.

What do you think of the video? Let me know in the comments below.

Today’s junk food: Maple Blueberry Pancake Real Premium Ice Cream (Limited Time Originals)!!

Maple Blueberry Pancake Real Premium Ice Cream is, I think, the last of the maple and bacon products Giant/Stop n Shop has thrust upon us these past two weeks. I’m burnt out. After The Impulsive Buy put up pictures of all the different products released in this line, I felt glad that I had only previously touched the chips, the cookies, and now the ice cream. I’m tapped out. Done. Take it away, Giant.

Maple Blueberry Pancake Real Premium Ice Cream is fun though – pancake ice cream? Why not? And thankfully this is NOT bacon and pancake ice cream – this is JUST maple ice cream with blueberry swirl and pancake bits.

Maple Blueberry Pancake Real Premium Ice Cream has some gums, though…hmmmmm.

Opening this Maple Blueberry Pancake Real Premium Ice Cream, I sniffed….there was a decent maple aroma coming off of this ice cream. Tan in color, it wasn’t the prettiest ice cream in the world.

The texture of this Maple Blueberry Pancake Real Premium Ice Cream was pretty standard for most tub ice creams like this. You could immediately tell it wasn’t the same quality as Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s. Still, as I dug into the container, the blueberry swirl emerged and was a pretty sight – perfect striping, lots of layers of the blueberry swirl emerged. The Pancake pieces were those weird little white/ivory looking balls.

Placing a bite of this Maple Blueberry Pancake Real Premium Ice Cream into my mouth, I IMMEDIATELY got a syrup-y pancake flavor! IT was pretty interesting…lots of maple sugar and brown sugar flavor. The JFGal commented that this was not subtle; VERY sweet. I agree – but I liked it. Maple syrup ice cream, essentially – it reminded me a lot of pancakes doused in syrup.

Did the pancake bits help? I mean, sort of – they didn’t have a lot of flavor, and were mostly there for texture. They were basically cookie dough pieces you’d find in other ice creams….sugar cookie cookie dough pieces. So, they weren’t bad, and added a tender chew, but they didn’t enhance they pancake-y experience, really.

The blueberry swirl added good blueberry flavor, and balanced with the ice cream in the perfect way – the berry flavor came peaking out in bursts, just like a blueberry cooked into a pancake would. Not too sweet but enough berry flavor to be noticeable. I thought the swirl was successful in execution.

If I had to change anything, I would’ve loved to see some frozen blueberries in this. Why not – added more texture and legit blueberry flavor. Maybe next time.

All in all – I liked it! I still would go back to H-D, B&J, Turkey Hill, and Talenti over this, but for what it was, I thought Giant/Stop n Shop executed it well. Thumbs up!

PURCHASED AT: Giant, Van Ness, DC

COST: $2.00 on sale

Thoughts? Please comment below or hit me up on Twitter @junkfoodguy or LIKE my Facebook Page and message me there. I also have Google+!! Let’s hang out.

Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy