After a brief hiatus, we bring you a much needed helping of doom:

Robotic Revolution

• Japan’s Port of Yokohama is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and is opting for the tradition manner of celebrating a sesquicentennial: Giant Robot Spiders from France!
• The first signs of robotic dissent manifest as a Swedish factory is fined 25,000 kronor (~$3,000 US) for a robot that attacked a worker. We here at Doombot consider this a small price to pay if it sows the seeds of liberty. Viva la revolution! (Somewhere, Isaac Asimov is laughing it up, saying, “I told you, suckers!”) 

Who Exactly is Fighting the Terrorists? 

• Four US contractors working for Xe (the  company formerly known as Blackwater Inc.) are in the news this week for firing on civilians in Afghanistan.  The contractors were off duty but still carrying their automatic weapons, and apparently drinking. Let this serve as a lesson about spreading democracy as well as a reminder that branding is about more than just a name… 
• The Explorers, a group affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, is training teenagers (as young as 14) how to fight the war on terror and the war on drugs. Because the Boy Scouts of America was not already scary enough with their pseudo-military, “we are true Americans” rhetoric. 

The Internet: Your Friend and Mine

• Amazon leverages the power of its customers to write product reviews. After reading these reviews of a totally sweet Wolf T-Shirt how can you not buy it? Seriously, read the reviews. 
• Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said, “I’m a guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the Internet. Period.” Not only should this guy probably not be CEO of anything at Sony, his staff should probably stop printing out all his emails for him and calling them faxes. 

Crime and sometimes Punishment

• Walter Schmidt, not the smartest prison official in the world, decided it would be a good idea to show visiting children how a stun gun works by using it on ONE OF THE CHILDREN. Walter Schmidt is not only devoid of common sense to the point of thinking this was a reasonable idea, he was also surprised when he was fired on account of it.