Eudyptes cuteness, courtesy of outlanderssc and baaaaabyanimals:

Put us down! We gots some rockhoppin' to do!

Noooooo! =snif, snif=

Indy zoo penguins killed in highway crash
By Tammy Webber
Tammy.webber@indystar.com

A refrigerated truck with 25 penguins from the Indianapolis Zoo crashed on the way to a Texas aquarium today, killing four of the birds.

One rockhopper penguin died from the impact of the crash and three gentoo penguins were struck and killed by other vehicles, zoo officials said in a written statement. The two zoo staff members driving the truck suffered minor injuries.

One of the birds sustained a broken wing and the others are being checked at the Caldwell Zoo in nearby Tyler, Texas, before continuing to Galveston.

The accident happened about 5 a.m. on a state road just outside Marshall, Texas.

"The truck flipped onto its side after catching the edge of the roadway," the zoo's statement said.

The truck was carrying the penguins and several types of fish and aquatic invertebrates to the Aquarium at Moody Gardens. The Indianapolis Zoo’s penguins were going to the aquarium temporarily, while the local penguin exhibit is renovated. They are scheduled to return to Indianapolis in the spring.

You are a Rockhopper penguin! Other penguins see you as being loud, noisy, and feisty! By nature you are very curious and outgoing, but you may have a quick temper. You are provoked very easily and will attack if you get too aggravated. Most overlook this flaw because you are just so darned cute!

What kind of penguin are you?

(OK. So I'm not really much like a Rockhopper penguin. Let's just say I'm working on nurturing my "Inner Rockhopper"!)

Magellanic Penguin
Pablo Neruda

Neither clown nor child nor black
nor white but verticle
and a questioning innocence
dressed in night and snow:
The mother smiles at the sailor,
the fisherman at the astronaut,
but the child child does not smile
when he looks at the bird child,
and from the disorderly ocean
the immaculate passenger
emerges in snowy mourning.

I was without doubt the child bird
there in the cold archipelagos
when it looked at me with its eyes,
with its ancient ocean eyes:
it had neither arms nor wings
but hard little oars
on its sides:
it was as old as the salt;
the age of moving water,
and it looked at me from its age:
since then I know I do not exist;
I am a worm in the sand.

The reasons for my respect
remained in the sand:
the religious bird
did not need to fly,
did not need to sing,
and through its form was visible
its wild soul bled salt:
as if a vein from the bitter sea
had been broken.

Penguin, static traveler,
deliberate priest of the cold,
I salute your vertical salt
and envy your plumed pride.

----------------------------------------------

(Def: verticle -- An axis; a hinge; a turning point.)

OK, so it's a baby Eudyptes chrysolophus, or Macaroni penguin, while I'm a Eudyptes chrysocome, or Rockhopper, but that's close enough!



All together now ... AWWWWWWWWW!!!!! He (yes, it's a boy) is at the Detroit Zoo and they're having a naming contest! Unfortunately, it's only open to Michigan residents. I just hope they don't name him "Fettuccine" or something noodle-ish like that. (He's a "Macaroni" penguin, after all. But the "Macaroni" in question has more to do with "Yankee Doodle" than with any kind of pasta!)

Plus, there's video while it lasts! (Note: The first adult penguins in the video are King penguins, Aptenodytes patagonicus, more closely related to the familiar Emperor penguins of March or the Penguins fame. Who ever was shooting the video was a penguin noob! =snort=)

Thank you, Patrick McDonnell!
Peace. Love. Mutts. Yesh!

More old news....



Source: This Modern World archive on WorkingForChange

OK. So now I'm probably gonna be in real trouble with the "Honorable" Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General of the US. First, I post a link to bomb making instructions (sort of). Now I'm posting stuff about penguins with a homosexual lifestyle. And probably a homosexual agenda too!

Worst of all, the story's from Aljazeera. For real. Gitmo, here I come!

Oh well. At least I can take comfort in the fact that I can be sure that I have readers, now. Of course, they're all at Fort Meade ....

( Gay penguins shun Swedish mates )

Well, if you were a penguin, what would you put on your fancy hat?
(from ursulav at deviantart.com)

( Cuttlefish Hat )

I know it's completely wrong ... but I can't help it! It's just too funny!

(Besides, I have a bad feeling that I'm gonna end up needing a really good laugh later today ....)

Egg joy for parents of stolen penguin
Tue Jan 24, 2006 11:55 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - The parents of a baby penguin, whose theft from a British zoo just before Christmas attracted worldwide attention, have produced a new egg.

Toga, a three-month-old Jackass penguin, was snatched from Amazon World zoo on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, after thieves broke in one night last month.

Pictures of his crestfallen parents Kyala and Oscar made the front page of many newspapers while donations and messages of support flooded in from all over the world.

Despite a number of reported sightings, Toga, who could only survive a matter of days without his parents, was never found.

"There's some good news at last," zoo manager Kath Bright told Reuters Monday after staff discovered Kyala and Oscar were expecting their second offspring.

"They have been very lovey-dovey," she said, adding the egg should hatch in about 40 days' time.

Toga, zoo staff believe, might have been stolen for a private collector or by someone who thought he would make a good Christmas present, perhaps inspired by the hit documentary film "March of the Penguins."

There is still an outstanding 25,000 pound ($44,440) reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible.

"It would be nice to know what did happen to him and why he was taken," Bright said.

(Original article can be found here.)

I found where I got the "Only If" video from!!!!! Wheee!
Here it is! Thank you Matthew Weeks! http://www.archive.org/details/Only_If

And here's the other video staring "The Adelies" that I never got around to uploading: The Next Door Neighbor

http://eclectech.co.uk/2006happynewyear.php

And finally, a song about PENGUINS!!! It's about time!
http://eclectech.co.uk/penguinsong.php

This is very, very weird. I found a video on my computer's hard drive that I have absolutely no memory of having ever seen before. Normally, that wouldn't mean much, since I have the short term memory of Silly Putty -- put me back in my egg and all the events of the last few minutes and hours just flow together into a smooth, creamy mass.

This is different. I would have remembered this. Absolutely. And I don't remember it at all. {queue Twilight Zone music} And if you don't know why I would have remembered it, look at my user icon. And I honest to god have no idea where it came from. Which is more than a bit scary. But I love the video. And I now have a new favorite song.

The storyline speaks for itself. The background music is, of course, by Eithne Ní Bhraonáin. (That's Enya to you) The words are a little hard to understand -- if the words were totally intelligible, it wouldn't be Enya, now would it? -- so I've put them below.

If this is your video, or if you know where it comes from, please let me know.

Video -- Only If ... (Note: this is a big file - around 15MB. Be patient.)

Only If
When there's a shadow,
you reach for the sun.
When there is love,
then you look for the one.
And for the promises, there is the sky.
..And for the heavens are those who can fly.

Chorus:
If you really want to,
you can hear me say
Only if you want to
will you find a way.
If you really want to
you can seize the day.
Only if you want to will you fly away.

When there's a journey,
you follow a star.
When there's an ocean,
you sail from afar.
And for the broken heart,
there is the sky.
..And for tomorrow are those who can fly.

Chorus

(Ooh go doe bay mwa.)
(Ooh go doe bay mwa.)

Chorus

Ah! Je voudrais voler
comme un oiseau d'aile
Ah! Je voudrais voler
comme un oiseau d'aile, d'aile...

(Ooh go doe bay mwa.)
(Ooh go doe bay mwa.)

Chorus

If you really want to
you can seize the day.
Only if you want to will you fly away.