It's a very sweet article, but also a continually unfolding description of penguin courtship and parenting rituals that make you go, whAAAAaat.
Bowing to each other as a sign of interest (oddly formal, but then again, they do wear tuxedos). 'Singing' to each other (if you can call sounds like "rrAAWRK!" singing). Bringing each other special pebbles to make a nest—and what makes a pebble 'special' in the eye of a penguin? Perhaps it's more about the ritual itself. If the other penguin pushes the pebble away with its beak, it's a bad sign. If it seems to appreciate the pebble, that indicates consent to be courted, and suddenly it feels like you're in the middle of a Jane Austen novel. :O
Having seen March of the Penguins, about Emperor penguins who tend their eggs by parking them on their feet and then draping their blubber over the top, I hadn't realized that some penguins actually do make nests. There was an article years ago about a pair of gay male penguins at a German zoo, and it described the pebble ritual. I realize now that those were probably also nesting penguins, similar to the ones in Australia above, so the pebbles are used to create a nest and actually serve a purpose. Because otherwise, that seems awfully random. Special pebbles! Huh?
The German male penguins were trying to hatch a rock together (how sweet, but also... wow. That "bird brain" phrase exists for a reason). They were later given a neglected egg by the zookeepers. For the penguins in Sydney, their species usually lays two eggs and only one typically survives, so the zookeepers gave a 'spare' to the male penguin couple.
The online article is longer than the one that ran in our paper, so we also find out that the younger penguin parent had the occasional problem equivalent to, "But honey! The guys called and asked if I could come over and watch a game. It's only for a few hours!" Also that the hatching process for this type of penguin can be a multi-day effort. I guess the baby isn't in a hurry, and the parents don't help? Huh.
The real question I had overall was, what kind of a name is 'Sphen'?
Boy, it is really hard to shake the funk I've been in since our daughter went off to college. My husband's feeling it, too. Our daughter, OTOH, is having a marvelous time.
Speaking of things watched... we're not sure yet how we feel about Minority Report or Blindspot (the fact that I can never remember the name of that second show is a bad sign), but we're definitely enjoying Limitless. I wasn't even sure I wanted to watch that, because we've seen the movie! Plus, it seemed as if there was the potential for a lot of smugness, which... meh. But what's really winning us over (besides the supporting cast) is the snarky humor. I have to stop multitasking when that show is on, so I can fully absorb the fun of things like the You're fired! song. :D
Still binge-watching Fringe with our son. We're in S3 now, [Spoiler (click to open)]and how are people not more suspicious of Fauxlivia? Her personality is totally different, not to mention the way she talks, the major increase in eye makeup, and—as my son pointed out—that she undoes one more button on her shirts. (I kidded him about noticing that, as a teenaged boy, but his response was, "The regular Olivia isn't sexualized. She dresses for comfort, not attention." You know, he complains about all the "Tumblerinas" at school, who are alienating him with their politics, but he's clearly listened to some of them. He explained that better than I would have).Universe One Olivia will always be my favorite. Her pain makes her so compassionate.
Now, for the utterly random: I was wondering a few weeks back what it would sound like if a Scot were to say "Six sexy saxophones"—because of the migrating vowels in the dialect. I knew what the first two would be, but I've never heard a Scot say "saxophone." An Irish friend posits that it might have a very long 'o' at the end, so... "Sex saxy soxophones" is what I'm guessing? I'd still like to hear it, of course.
Hey, where would life be without those random questions?
So, good weekend? We had rain, thunder and lighting last night, with the thunder so loud it rattled the windows...
