Day: January 28, 2004

In Search of the Perfect Portable Writing Device

Like me, sci-fi writer Charlie Stross has some ideas and speculation about the perfect portable writing device. Namely a high resolution PDA with a portable keyboard.

Stross notes that soon — probably sometime in 2005 — PDAs with 640 x 480 resolution will likely be common and (relatively) affordable and at that resolution on, say, a 4″ screen, you’ve got an ideal portable writing platform when combined with a portable keyboard.

On the keyboard front, Stross points out that Think Outside is promising to ship a Bluetooth version of their Stowaway keyboard in May. That solves one of the drawbacks of buying portable keyboards for PDAs — having to shell out $80 or so every time you switch brands (hmmmm…okay, this probably isn’t as big of an issue for people who don’t buy new PDAs every six months).

Things get even more exciting when you combine this with other shrunken technologies.

For example, take a HP iPAQ 4155, a Stowaway XT keyboard, and a Pentax Optio S4, and for under $1,000 (well, at least before adding in the requisite SD cards for the camera and PDA), you’ve got an 802.11b-compatible PDA with a foldaway keyboard and a 4 megapixel camera that occupies less than two inches in depth for all three devices. You should be able to find a holster-style PDA carrier that can accomodate all three with no problem.

That’s moblogging in style.

Colorado Bans Feeding of Fox and Coyotes in Urban Areas

On January 8, the Colorado Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to prohibit the feeding of fox and coyotes in urban areas of the state.

Mike King, regulations manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, told The Rocky Mountain News,

We have prohibited feeding coyotes and fox in any area where shooting a gun is not allowed. . . .We want people to stop feeding wildlife, especially animals that could be dangerous.

According to the Rocky Mountain News, the rules change follows a 2002 incident in which a woman was bitten by a coyote that a restaurant kept leaving out food for.

Violators of the ban will be fined $68 for each offense.

Source:

Request now a rule: Don’t feed the wildlife. Gary Gerhardt, Rocky Mountain News, January 9, 2004.

South Dakota Proposes Allowing Aerial Hunting on Public Lands

In March the South Dakota state Game, Fish and Parks Commission will consider a regulatory change to allow aerial hunters to hunt foxes and coyotes on public land. Current regulations allow hunting over private land, but forbid it over public land and water.

If approved, the change would open up an additional million acres for aerial hunting of foxes and coyotes.

Not everyone who hunts coyotes is happy about the proposed rules change. Coyote hunter Jerry Pier told the Rapid City Journal that he was afraid aerial hunters would accidentally shoot hunters on the ground, as well as fears that aerial hunters might be too efficient, leaving few coyotes for hunters on the ground to shoot.

Those favoring the change, however, argue that it’s already extremely difficult for aerial hunters to distinguish between public and private land, and that the change is needed to keep coyote numbers in check.

Doug Hansen, Game, Fish and Parks Wildlife Director for Pierre, South Dakota, told the Rapid City Journal,

It’s kind of a classic conflict between interests. If you’re out there as a predator hunter, I can see how interference from an airplane and gunner would affect your interests. On the other hand, if you’re a producer losing sheep to coyotes and public land is a safe haven for coyotes, your interests are a whole lot different.

Sources:

Aerial hunting rules may be changed. Associated Press, January 8, 2004.

S.D. aerial hunting law concerns coyote hunters. Kevin Woster, Rapid City Journal, January 15, 2004.

Attacks on Cheshire Farms Blamed on Animal Rights Extremists

On Christmas Eve, 17 farms in Cheshire, Great Britain were attacked and the victims suspect anti-hunting activists are responsible.

A similar set of attacks occurred in November when 12 farms in the area were vandalized, with fences being cut and hunt jumps destroyed. A number of farms were vandalized in both the November and December attacks.

Richard de Prez, of the Cheshire Forest Hunt, told the Chester Chronicle,

There appears to have been a direct correlation between the farms that were attacked and our program of hunt meets over the Christmas and New Year period. As with the attacks in November, there was damage caused to hunt jumps, fencing to protect livestock was ripped out and cut and gates were lifted from their hinges and discarded.

In these later incidents, pipes bringing water to water troughs for cattle and sheep were severed and livestock strayed into fields growing winter cereals.

But Jeremy Wilson of the North West Hunt Saboteurs Association told the Cheshire Chronicle that if hunt saboteurs had carried out the damage, they would have taken vocal credit for it,

We would quite happily admit it. I have no problem with disruption being caused either to the day’s hunting or farms that support hunting, as long as it is not endangering animal or human life and it is not significant criminal damage.

Sources:

Hunt saboteurs blamed for spate of attacks on farms. David Holmes, Chester Chronicle, January 9, 2004.

Anti-Blood Sports Campaigners On Wrecking Spree. Daily Post (Liverpool), January 8, 2004.