http://in.rediff.com/news/2007/may/30bsp.htm
.. a good read, even though the author seems to have missed the financial/economic aspect. And I can't bring myself to agree with his argument based on historical reasons.
I think the reasons are very much related to those behind lack of good public transport system in the US.
Individualism. Capitalism. Whatever-ism you call it.
... but by a coyote.
The rather detailed Wikipedia article says :
"They may occasionally assemble in small packs, but generally hunt alone."
Okay. Good that my event was the higher probability one. The picture matches with my 'dog' yesterday. As I am confirmed ...
"Sightings now commonly occur in California, Oregon, New England, and eastern Canada."
"They (researchers) found a clear pattern of behavioral changes in coyotes in the lead-up to attacks, including increased sightings around homes (an indication that the coyote has lost its fear of people) and predatory interactions (e.g. attacks on pets during daylight, chasing of joggers and bicyclists, and stalking of children's play areas."
yay! I am not alone!
I am interning in Irvine, a beautiful city in Southern California. I got a bike, and I started biking to work daily.
The cars have an alarmingly high velocity, so I stay off the roads, even though there are bike-paths marked on almost every road. I stick to a bike/walk way next to a stream, which takes me to my workplace. The stream is quite amazing. Egrets abound, and so do cranes. So there must be fish, too. Hares jump around everywhere. And frogs croak in the night. I slowly bike along the curved path. Its a delightful ride!
Today evening, however, I was late when I left the office. I went to the bike-way, but there are no lights along the way. So I turned back, and started riding on the Laguna Canyon road, where my office is. A dog followed me from the bike-way onto the road. Lot of the residents take their dogs to walks in the evening, sometimes not on a leash. I thought it must be one of those dogs.
It was a fairly silent dog, though. It followed me for a while, and I sped, so it moved to the middle of the road, away from me. I looked at it, and kept biking.
It turned, and came towards me. Then it struck me for the first time that this might not be a dog. It had no dog collar! It was not barking, either! I could really feel the shiver in my head, right below my helmet. I shifted to a higher gear, and pedaled hard. And, yes, it chased me. It chased me as I turned from Laguna Canyon Ave onto Barranca Rd. It chased me almost a full block on Barranca. And finally it gave up.
One hell of an adventure. Ooh, my rear hurts!
So I continue.
When David MacKay finished his Dasher talk, we had a chat with him in the Wireless Foundations' lounge. Earlier in the talk, MacKay had used a light on his hat and a sensor on his computer to write using dasher, at a pretty good speed.
Venkat made a point that this was similar to a sci-fi book he had read, where the people use their eyes to communicate ideas. Not words. Ideas. He asked whether such a system was possible using Dasher.
"Absolutely!" said MacKay, pointing out that symolic language allows him to convey the idea of an aeroplane, using the symbol of a machine, and of a bird.
Underlying this scheme of communicating ideas is the assumption that all ideas can be generated by combinations of previously known ideas. I do not particularly like the assumption. It is not saying that ideas are finite, even countable. For the basis set of ideas can be infinite. Even with a finite set of symbols, much like music, an infinite number of ideas can be generated. But I believe there is much more to ideas than the combinations of some known ones.
Regardless, this is an example of how language, a tool to express and communicate ideas and knowledge, allows us to construct ideas and knowledge as well. And language is about identification, by a term for any new element, and classification, by observing similarities. (There is a structure to language as well, but that is not central to the point I am making). Again, topology (and, indeed, algebra) is a good illustration of this general principle. Whatever we learn, we store it as knowledge using a language, by identification and classification using specific terms.
I have one more issue to explore here, shall continue next week!
When Hawking was being introduced by a professor, who is a couple of years younger than him, the professor observed the enthusiasm that Hawking has, even in his sixties. Enthusiasm for science and scientific discoveries. So much so, that Hawking was planning a flight in "Vomit Comet", a zero-gravity experience.
He did it. The jet of Zero Gravity Corp. flew up from Florida to 32000 feet, and then took a parabolic dive of 8000 feet, making its passengers experience 25 seconds of weightlessness.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?alias=hawking-takes-off-for-tas&chanId=sa003&modsrc=reuters
Must have been fun!
Addendum :
Later, when asked about the prospects of intelligent life beyond Earth, Hawking said he hopes it exists.
"There is not much sign of it on Earth," he said.
