There have been many ideas for returning grizzly bears to California. Most of these ideas, such as the Center for Biological Diversity's legal petition in June 2014, focus on the Sierra Nevada. That is understandable, because that is where the most famous and scenic wilderness is, and that is where the last California Grizzly was seen only 90 years ago. Only 90 years ago! But it misses other opportunities and skips a logical selection process that this thoughtful article touches on (see also Wikipedia for other references). In fact, many areas of the state have less people now than there were 90 years ago. These areas are worth considering without putting the Sierra blinders on.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
Man Accidentally Tears Online Map
BREAKING NEWS: Today a 53-year old man in Los Angeles, California, tore Google Maps while trying to unfold it. He had previously worn thin a section of Google Maps right on the fold by pacing back and forth while leaving his smartphone GPS tracking turned on. The next time he opened Google Maps, it tore in that location.
"Since the tear is right on my house, now I can't read the map there," the man complained. "If I try to navigate home from somewhere, the navigation system gets lost and circles my block forever because it can't find my house. If I want to navigate to somewhere else from home, I have to start the navigation a block after I leave my house--but sometimes I start off in the wrong direction."
One day, the edges of the map didn't match up along the tear, and he was instructed to navigate from one street instantly to the adjacent street.
"I couldn't get the map to tell me how to get over there," he said. "It just wanted me to beam over to the other street, like on Star Trek."
He has tried contacting Google to get them to repair his map, but according to the man, they told him to buy a new one. A Google spokesperson contacted for this story commented: "We are concerned about breaks in the space-time continuum due to improper handling of Google Maps. But we've discovered that instead of expending resources on repairs, it is best to reboot and buy a new map. If your flash memory is worn out from accessing the same data sectors over and over again, you may have to buy a new device."
The man planned to sell his phone on Ebay, to someone he doesn't know that would never need to come to his house. But he lamented the risks: "What if a Pizza delivery person buys it? Then I can't ever order pizza again."
"Since the tear is right on my house, now I can't read the map there," the man complained. "If I try to navigate home from somewhere, the navigation system gets lost and circles my block forever because it can't find my house. If I want to navigate to somewhere else from home, I have to start the navigation a block after I leave my house--but sometimes I start off in the wrong direction."
One day, the edges of the map didn't match up along the tear, and he was instructed to navigate from one street instantly to the adjacent street.
"I couldn't get the map to tell me how to get over there," he said. "It just wanted me to beam over to the other street, like on Star Trek."
He has tried contacting Google to get them to repair his map, but according to the man, they told him to buy a new one. A Google spokesperson contacted for this story commented: "We are concerned about breaks in the space-time continuum due to improper handling of Google Maps. But we've discovered that instead of expending resources on repairs, it is best to reboot and buy a new map. If your flash memory is worn out from accessing the same data sectors over and over again, you may have to buy a new device."
The man planned to sell his phone on Ebay, to someone he doesn't know that would never need to come to his house. But he lamented the risks: "What if a Pizza delivery person buys it? Then I can't ever order pizza again."