Re: intrinsic advantage of Latin alphabet over bopomofo (for Chinese)??

In message <87abxxi9i8.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, LEE Sau Dan <danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
"Richard" == Richard Herring <junk@[127.0.0.1]> writes:

>> How many people know what an aeroplane looks like from a bird
>> eye's view? Most people usually see aeroplanes from the side
>> or from below

Richard> What makes you think the stylised silhouette you see on
Richard> road signs (I assume that's what you're referring to) is
Richard> a bird's-eye view, and not what you see from below?

Because I can't see the wheels. :)

Do you understand the meaning of the word "silhouette"?


(Or you're suggesting that the sign indicates the site of a tragedy in
which a plane crashed/landed tummy up?)



>> If birds can learnt to recognize the stars to navigate at
>> night (according to biologists),

Richard> I doubt if any self-respecting biologist would describe
Richard> what birds do as "learn[ing] to recognize the stars".

If not by learning,

Well, they certainly don't spend their free time poring over star charts, reciting lists of stars or taking tests on their knowledge of them .

then what is it? That's incarned

"Incarned"?

into their
genes?

Ask a neurobiologist. I suspect he'd be more helpful than a geneticist.


Richard> The traditional way to find Polaris is to use the _Big_
Richard> Dipper, which would leave a lot of empty space in the
Richard> pictogram. And which way up would one draw it?
>> The same problem has been resolved when Australia and New
>> Zealand designed their national flags.

Richard> So why not use an outline of Australia or New Zealand
Richard> instead?

Ask them.

I'm asking *you* why the outlines of those countries wouldn't be an acceptable alternative to *your* proposal of the constellation Crux to denote "south".

They designed their national flags, not me.

And they can't even agree on how many stars to include.

Richard> In any case, neither Ursa Major nor Crux is really a
Richard> particularly good ideogram for its respective pole, since
Richard> both have low enough declinations (+50, -60) that at some
Richard> times and places they appear in the opposite direction.

Opposite direction? You mean it can appear in the northern
hemi-celestrialsphere?

I'm not sure what you think you mean by that. It can appear to the north of an observer, if he's sufficiently far south.

See for example this view of the sky from Halley, Antarctica, for midnight about two months from now.

http://www.heavens-above.com/skychart.asp?Y=2007&M=5&D=29&H=0&N=0&Lat=-75
..5&Lng=-26.65&Loc=Halley&TZ=CET&SL=on&SN=on&BW=0&SZ=500

--
Richard Herring
.

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