[R] How about a mascot for R?

[Thomas Yee]

On Fri, Dec 03, 2004 at 03:04:52PM +1300, David Scott wrote:

 >As to an animal mascot, I think a New Zealand mascot is a must, and
 >suggestions of Australian ones would not be warmly received by New
 >Zealanders. (To clarify, despite the address, I am Australian.)
 >
 >My suggestion is the Kea: inquisitive and intelligent. See:
 >
 >http://www.doc.govt.nz/Conservation/001~Plants-and-Animals/001~Native-Animals/Kea.asp


Hello,

I endorse David's comment that an Australian mascot chosen for R would
not be warmly received by New Zealanders!  But at the end of the day,
Ross and Robert ought to give whatever choice the definitive yes or no.

ps. Ross has Maori origins, so a native NZ animal is a better idea
than usual. One good thing about the Kea is that another native NZ bird,
called a
Weka, is the name of a well-known machine learning software package
(also free) which was developed about 100 miles south of Auckland,
at the CS department of Waikato University.
See http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~ml
However, having R indirectly associated with a similar free software package
has its good and bad points.

cheers
Thomas


Thomas W. Yee,               Telephone: 64 - 9 - 3737599 extn 86857 or 85055
Department of Statistics,    Fax:       64 - 9 - 3737000 or 3677149
University of Auckland,      E-mail:    t.yee at auckland.ac.nz
Private Bag 92019,                      yee at stat.auckland.ac.nz
Auckland 1001, New Zealand.