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Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

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Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#111

Post by TeMPOraL »

kortilla wrote: post #53
jedberg wrote: post #38

I grew up in LA and while I don't live there anymore I've seen pictures from the last few days. Never in my life have I seen such blue skies over LA. And my parents don't ever remember it being clearer either. At least this shows what some stricter climate controls can do to both the climate and the economy and the tradeoffs involved.

Keep in mind stricter climate controls wouldn’t even hurt the economy this bad. A harsh carbon tax on all fossil fuels in exchange for COVID-19 to disappear to be gone would be a welcome relief to the economy.

That's true, but I think the point is: people will witness first-hand how reducing pollution and emissions leads to much better environment in the span of weeks.

I also hope that there will be some dip in relevant global climate measurements, so there will be something to point to and say: "here's direct empirical evidence that climate change is man-made and that reducing emissions helps mitigate it".

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#112

Post by philwelch »

jessaustin wrote: post #76
yters wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if humans are a unique higher lifeform that will never be matched in the history of the universe?

That seems really unlikely. That is, it's like the reciprocal of the Drake equation, multiplied by some additional infinitesimal factors.

If you assume humans are not unique in the universe, you're immediately confronted with the Fermi paradox. If the universe is filled with sapient life, wouldn't some of that sapient life be hundreds of thousands of years ahead of us--a tiny amount of time on the astronomical timescale, but more than enough for them to be observable in some way? Ultimately we're left with the unsatisfying task of speculating without evidence, at least for now.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#113

Post by zentiggr »

irrational wrote: post #105

I live in the PNW. Every few days someone gets on nextdoor.com freaking out about having seen a coyote. My response is always the same. They were here long before humans were ever here and will still be here long after we are gone.

> ... in the PWN

I think we all got PWNed this time.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#114

Post by philwelch »

macintux wrote: post #96
state_less wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I follow. How is it gone? We have fusion (solar) and fission. And we may find out how to more directly harness energy as we progress. I think our access to energy is limited by our lack of knowledge. I agree though, we should get out on some new space vessels soon to buy some insurance and project ourselves into the far future.

If we go extinct, the next intelligent species (if there is one) won’t have the easy reserves we used to get started. You can’t jump directly from fire to fusion.

Give it a few million years and they'll have hydrocarbons the exact same way we got them.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#116

Post by zentiggr »

Talanes wrote: post #52
simonw wrote: post #7

The first time I saw a Coyote was in broad daylight up on Corona Heights in San Francisco. I'd never even seen a photo of one before, but I knew what it was straight away because its face looked like Wile E Coyote!

I grew up in the rural deserts of Eastern California where coyotes are abundant, and never directly saw one once. Just the occasional rustling in the brushes and darting glances, and sometimes the flick of a glowing eye. And then I come to San Francisco and one just walks past me and sniffs my hand while I'm going to the 7-11. Didn't even register that it wasn't just a dog until it had walked past. It's crazy how muc…

Last summer my wife and I took pictures of one in a parking lot in the 3400 block of Avenue of the Cities, Moline, IL... middle of downtown, a mile south of the Mississippi.

Did not expect that.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#117

Post by rodgerd »

as-j wrote: post #37

As an early morning runner in SF, I see coyotes in SF every week or two, including at Twin peaks as mentioned in the article. One morning in Golden Gate Park I warned a few people walkings dogs since there were about 4 coyotes around the corner. From my first hand experience, I'd assume any wooded area with cover in SF has a coyote living there.

I took the opportunity to visit Glen Canyon Park last time I was in San Francisco, after a local recommended to me, and it was a wonderful interlude in my visit; they had signs up noting that there would be coyotes about at twilight; alas I was there mid-day and didn't get to see them.

I did, however, get to see hummingbirds for the first (and so far only) time in my life.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#118

Post by irrational »

zentiggr wrote: post #113
irrational wrote: post #105

I live in the PNW. Every few days someone gets on nextdoor.com freaking out about having seen a coyote. My response is always the same. They were here long before humans were ever here and will still be here long after we are gone.

> ... in the PWN I think we all got PWNed this time.

Ha ha! Fixed ;-)

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#119

Post by tjr225 »

RandallBrown wrote: post #41
phaser wrote: post #23

Here in Santiago, Chile, where many neighborhoods are in complete lockdown, a wild Puma was seen roaming the streets[1]. This was their natural habitat before the city was established, and many of them still live in the mountains, which are not far from the busiest streets of Santiago. https://www.france24.com/en/20200324-wild-puma-captured-in-d...

Seattle has occasionally gotten mountain lions and bears in the city. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/discovery-parks-co...

I used to live in Olympia before living in Seattle and wash pretty shocked to see a coyote casualty walking down the street one morning when I was drinking coffee. Turns out it is pretty normal.

Re: Coyotes are being seen on the empty streets of San Francisco

#120

Post by russell_h »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #110

Just wait until the mountain lions and brown bears start prowling around looking for snacks :-) For folks further out into the 'human/wildlife interface' as the Forest Service calls it (or the 'cafeteria' as I call it) sightings of all wildlife is up. Some friends who retired out in Brentwood[1] (not the LA neighborhood, the town outside of Livermore CA) They now have nearly continual deer presence and multiple daily…

For what it’s worth, there aren’t thought to be any brown bears left in California; the closest ones are in Washington or maybe Idaho.
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