The comment from the local PETA people is interesting, especially the syntax
Steven

>~~~~~~~~~~~~
>   Pigeons Beam Air Quality Info to Blog
>
>August 14, 2006 — By Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press
>
>SAN FRANCISCO — Pigeons with backpacks and cell phones will be taking to 
>the
>sky and sending air quality data to a blog as part of a whimsical project 
>that
>blends science, art and activism.
>
>Investigators at the University of California, Irvine hope the winged
>researchers will fill in gaps in knowledge about the air we breathe, and 
>bring
>nonscientists into the debate on air quality.
>
>"They transmit in real time, and all the information is available to the
>public," said Beatriz da Costa, a UC Irvine professor of arts, computation 
>and
>engineering.
>
>The pigeons will fly over Silicon Valley Saturday as part as ZeroOne San
>Jose, a technology and art exhibit.
>
>Da Costa said the project was inspired both by the haze she saw hovering 
>over
>Los Angeles when she moved to the city three years ago, and by a 
>century-old
>photo of a pigeon carrying a spy camera around its neck.
>
>"They were heavily used in World War II by several European countries," da
>Costa said of homing pigeons. "So I started thinking, what could we surveil
>right now that would be in the social interest?"
>
>The birds will carry miniature backpacks equipped with a global positioning
>system monitor, pollution sensors, and cell phone transmitting equipment 
>that
>can send the data directly to a blog where it is overlaid on Google maps.
>Visitors then can roll over the maps and learn about air pollution in the 
>area.
>
>It took da Costa and two graduate students working with her a year to 
>develop
>equipment that is small and light enough, at 1.3 ounces, for the one-pound
>birds to carry.
>
>Still, the project has drawn opposition from animal rights advocates, who
>questioned its scientific validity in a letter to UC Irvine's chancellor 
>last
>week, saying the experiment could "result in injury and exhaustion for the
>birds."
>
>The Bay Area Air Quality Management District already monitors air pollution
>at 28 different stations, and the data gathered by pigeons would be 
>redundant,
>said Holly Mattern, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of
>Animals.
>
>"It's an experiment with animals that is unnecessary," Mattern said. "It 
>just
>shows bad decision-making on a lot of people's parts."
>
>UC Irvine's animal ethics panel reviewed the project, and found it was
>harmless.
>
>"It's not that they don't feel it at all, but they're capable of carrying
>it," da Costa said of the pigeons. "They're trained to do it, and the worst 
>that
>can happen is that they fly, then take a rest."
>
>The birds fly for about half an hour at between 300 and 500 feet. Their 
>value
>to air quality researchers comes from their mobility, since they could
>potentially fill in pollution information between the stationary monitors
>researchers have to rely on, investigators said.
>
>"This is about raising awareness, and rethinking the way we gather data," 
>da
>Costa said. "In this case, we're doing it in a fun way, using homing 
>pigeons."
>
>Source: Associated Press
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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