The Short List: Amazon's robot fleet; NFL stands behind Rams on Ferguson; Obama girls
Cyber Monday: Amazon does the robot
What's geekier than a fleet of delivery drones? A fleet of 15,000 robots. That's the news today from Amazon, which has unleashed a veritable army of cute little orange Kiva robots just in time to get all those Cyber Monday Gold Box buys to your doorstep. Here's how they work: The little dudes (they look kind of like flattened pet carriers on wheels) follow bar-coded stickers on the floor to the correct shelving unit and scoot underneath it. Then they bring the shelves to the person who's packing the boxes, stopping just long enough for the correct item to be plucked from the shelf. A Christmas miracle! Amazon bought Kiva Systems for $775 million. The robots are one part of a complex software and hardware system that simplifies picking and packing at warehouses that can contain literally millions of items. Also in Cyber Monday news: Great deals, fewer shoppers.
Rams take a stand on Ferguson, and the NFL doesn't seem to mind
"Hands up, don't shoot." It's been a rallying cry across the country in support of slain teenager Michael Brown, and five St. Louis Rams players raised their hands in the pose as they walked onto the field for Sunday's game. The St. Louis Police Officer's Association asked the NFL to discipline the players, but the league declined to do so. Paste BN Sports columnist Jarrett Bell says more power to them. He writes, "I'd much rather see the type of gestures coming from the Rams players on Sunday than some of the silly gyrations that are put on display in end zones after any given touchdown." More of his thoughts here. The city of Ferguson is doing some introspection, trying to figure out why protests turned violent. President Obama called for tighter standards on federal money that local law enforcement agencies use to buy military-style equipment and proposed a body-camera program.
GOP aide makes dig on Obama girls, eats her words, quits her job
We all know it's not nice to pick on teenage girls, except apparently Republican Party staffer Elizabeth Lauten, who said some not-so-nice things about first daughters Sasha and Malia Obama. In a Facebook post, she needled them about their appearance at the Thanksgiving turkey pardoning, telling them to "show more class," among other things. Back at you, Ms. Lauten. No one was surprised when she resigned today from her post as — wait for it — the communications director for U.S. Rep. Steve Fincher, R-Tenn. Paste BN columnist DeWayne Wickham thinks that even though she's out, she's not going to go very far away.
Bill Cosby's legacy takes another hit
The Bill Cosby saga goes on. Facing a growing chorus of rape allegations, Cosby resigned his seat on the board of trustees of his beloved Temple University in Philadelphia. Last week, Temple said it was sticking by Cosby. Today, the university thanked him for his service and said it wasn't commenting further on the resignation. Cosby's image has taken a big hit over the past few weeks. Case in point: Given the choice of Cosby or cash back, a good chunk of ticketholders for his upcoming shows are taking the cash.
Get ready to kiss some of your favorite car models goodbye
We hate long goodbyes. Except when they keep our favorite car models alive. Mitsubishi officials said last week at the Los Angeles Auto Show that they're going to kill off the little Evo after the 2015 model year. But don't fret if you want one. Automakers are fine keeping outgoing models alive just long enough to squeeze a few more sales from buyers. Volkswagen is also saying "adios" to the Eos hardtop convertible, and Mercedes-Benz is saying "so long" to the AMG SLS brute. Here's our full list of models on their last legs. Just in time for Christmas. Oh, and those giant car bows you see on TV are a real thing. Just sayin'.
Extra Bites
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This is a compilation of stories from across Paste BN.
Contributing: Elizabeth Weise, Yamiche Alcindor, David Jackson, Maria Puente, Chris Woodyard, Paste BN; Paste BN Sports; Peter D. Kramer, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News