Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"We each live in a somewhat unique world of our own psychological content."
- Philip K. Dick
 |
| Municipal Cattle Remover | ||
| A device to pick cattle up and place them in a truck for later dispersion in the countryside. |
India has more cattle than the United States has people. Cows are venerated as religious symbols, a practice that started in Mesopotamia in 6,000 B.C. In India, government protection of cattle in gowshalas started under King Ashoka (269-232 B.C.), with the introduction of animal shelters. Today, in the country's 600,000 small villages, cows are treated as individuals and provide milk for families. To orthodox Hindus, killing a cow is like killing your own mother, who gives you life and supports you.
In the cities, however, cattle are a real nuisance. Protected by civil laws (the Cow Slaughter Act prohibits the killing of cattle under 16 ears of age) and Hindu religious codes, they wander everywhere, mixing poorly with mechanized traffic. In the near-future India of Sagramanda, cattle are a real problem.
| As he removed the electronic key that would unlock his front door and disarm the alarm he had to scurry sideways to avoid the familiar warning beep of a municipal cattle remover. The hulking vehicle slowed as it neared the pair of cows who had settled themselves atop and alongside the grassy median that divided the several lanes of traffic. He did not bother to stop and watch as the driver went about the business of gently slipping the teflon-coated metal scoop beneath the first animal. As its sides came up to gently enfold and secure the mildly irritated bovine, the scoop rose upward, over the cab of the mover, to deposit the unharmed animal in the holding pen in back. |
| From Sagramanda,
by Alan Dean Foster. Published by Pyr in 2006 Additional resources -
|
As far as I know, there is no real device that corresponds to a cattle remover. Cattle in India are driven to slaughter in one of the two or three states in which it is legal.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Sagramanda
More Ideas
and Technology by Alan Dean Foster
Tech news articles related to Sagramanda
Tech news articles related to works by Alan Dean Foster
Municipal Cattle Remover-related
news articles:
- Cattle Avoidance Feature In Indian Autonomous Cars
| Amazing 'Hybrid' Solar-Powered Sea Slug Does Photosynthesis |
| Should You Submit Your DNA To A Database? |
| Humans Evolve Deep Diving Abilities |
| Researchers Create Bowls, Coils, Ripples Of Living Tissue |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'I'm afraid to tell you this Mr. Quaid, but you have suffered a schizoed embolism...'
'It drew its power from six square yards of sunpower screens on its low curved roof.'
'...lifted themselves to skimming flight upon whirling helicopters."
'Twenty rocket tugs towed it from its Earth hangar out into space.'
I don't need it to go fast, it just needs to amble along.
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time, subtly smoothing, deleting and coloring.'
