A Snootful of Penguin News

I've been putting off all sorts of penguin-related news for some time now. Many a reason for neglecting my favorite subject (other than myself). Most reasons include being too busy or depressed to post anything. Another good reason? I forgot. :(

Anyway, let's start with this lovely photo of a Humboldt Penguin. This was taken by Cathy (you know...the porn buyer) when she and Bud were here visiting the Brookfield Zoo with me. Great little photo and a great way to segue into a link provided by Bud.

He found a great little article about how penguins are safely making homes in fields filled with LANDMINES.

Sadly, many a patch of land is still filled with thousands of landmines so many years after the Falklands Islands War. However, the penguins are too light to set them off and can make their homes in the Islands without worry. Therefore they are among the few animals on Earth with a modern-day security system.

Many people, not the least of which, Bitchitude, have brought my attention to a story about how the Christian right have been trying to use "March of the Penguins" in order to reinforce family values, disprove evolution, prove intelligent design bullshit, eliminate abortion, prove that homosexuality is immoral and against God's plan, and generally promote their agendas at every turn. I apologize for taking so long to comment about this, but I thought it was so absurd it would go away quickly. It hasn't.


I am not even going to honor this ludicrous notion with a link. I will, however, give you a link talking about how STUPID this crap is!

I will also say that some of the things the Christian right has cleverly forgotten about Emperor Penguins when making their arguments include the following facts.

The penguins fuck like rabbits with many anonymous partners before choosing a suitable mate for the duration of their long mating season. Some even [GASP!] fuck independently from the mating season.

The penguins ABANDON their young several times in order to find food for themselves and the chicks. There are periods of weeks where their young chicks have no more protection from predators. Good parents to be sure.

Some penguins (younger ones mostly), abandon their eggs in favor of relative warmth found back in the waters. In effect they are terminating their pregancies voluntarily for self preservation.

Penguins of all species have exhibited homosexual behavior. I won't bore you with a link about the gay penguins at the zoo hooking up and then breaking up. We've all heard it. I'm just reminding you of the fact.

The adult penguins jump ship and head back to the sea long before the chicks are old enough to completely fend for themselves. They've never even been given a swimming lesson by the time the folks take off. How do the chicks even know how to swim? Could it be...Inherent knowledge from years of...EVOLUTION???

NOOOOOOOO!

Speaking of which, if watching how these creatures have adapted to the harshest climate on Earth isn't an example of evolution I can't imagine what is. I could see the Christian right using this as an argument against evolution if they would just say something clever like, "If evolution exists why didn't the penguins evolve into a species smart enough to get the fuck out of Antarctica?" Instead, they let assholes like Michael Medved say things for them about family values, intelligent design and the like.

Hey Michael! Let me say something to you. Nobody listened to you when you & Jeffrey Lyons were the hack replacements for Siskel & Ebert on "Sneak Previews". Nobody listens to your crappy radio show. I'm surprised you haven't figured out that nobody is really listening to you now. OK, I listened long enough to figure out you're the guy I should make fun of, but really...shut the fuck up!

Lastly, since I'm speaking about a film that came out this year, let me show you a photo sent to me by Eric of the Louie Louie blog. This pic is a great example of what unfortunate things can happen when a theatre marquee is too small to accommodate the complete titles being shown. Many thanks, Eric!