Hardly any wind today, makes a change, so the gang set about practising. Sparky, as always, went first. A little tail shake, a little dive into the chute. He must have been doing 60kph when he shot out into clean air, wings extended. Went for 45 metres in what can only be described as a 'power glide'. Awesome! The flurry of snow as he skidded to a halt! Jean Claude Killy would have been proud!
Also managed to get the 'lube' out of the station yesterday. I'm just glad they're mostly Brits at the station. It means they get supplied from the UK. It's an awful lot easier getting a tube of KY out under your wing, undiscovered, than the bl**dy bottles of Dr Johnson's the Americans use. Mind you, I was surprised at the variety of 'items' in the good Frau Doktorin's cupboard, fair made my eyes water! Well at least I now know what the lube's for! And all this time, I've been thinking electric toothbrushes............
Spent most of the day milling around on the periphery so I could watch the gang. By the end of the day they'd all got the basics off pat. Sparky said it was so like swimming in the sea, just faster. It was more a 'mental' thing, he said, rather than physical. It was so much easier to get it right if you just 'believed' you were in water, not air. Tomorow they start on the tricky stuff. I also have to find a stop watch for Cozy. He needs someone to time him with lube and without. No, I've told you, all in good time.
Most of the newbie Brits went off on their skidoos this morning. It's a kind of ritual every year. One of the experienced researchers gathers them all up and they go off to Scott's base camp. Paying homage, I think they call it
Funny sub species, the Brits. Now, as a whole, homo sapiens are about as arrogant as orcas, maybe even more so. Always so superior, always demonstrating how wonderful they are. How they can damn or save the planet whenever they like. But the Brits? They're emabrrased about being successful. No, honestly! The only real historical date the Brits remember is 1066. Why? Because King Harold Godwinson whipped the arse off the invading Vikings at Stamford Bridge, having marched his army 200 miles in a couple of weeks? No! They remember it because three months later they FAILED to do the same thing to the invading Normans! They don't remember the year, but they do remember that day and month when someone FAILED to blow up their parliament. They go and pay homage to a man who FAILED to get to the South Pole first. Why?
Does anyone remember Crecy? Agincourt? Do they remember the year of Trafalgar? Nope! But they'll tell you when the Yanks landed on the moon. When D-Day was (mostly Yanks, just a few Brits). So what is it about losing that attracts the Brits so much?
Is it really about 'playing the game', win or lose? Or are they so embarrssed by the bloody mess they made by being successful, empire, Rhodesia, Pakistan, Israel etc etc that they want to forget all that and concentrate on being losers?
I know you're just dying to ask so...................Yes, had a toboggan down the test rig this afternoon! Only one, mind. I have responsibilities! Truly awesome. Now that was so much closer to what I imagine flying to be like! Dream on, Kiwi!
Showing posts with label penguin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label penguin. Show all posts
Monday, 24 March 2008
Friday, 14 March 2008
Ah....bless. Moko and the Whales.
Spent the morning with 'the gang', the non-breeders. It's funny, I don't know why they don't stay at sea, it gets pretty boring here after a few weeks. Nothing much to do but scratch your arse and read books. Anyway, there's a long standing tradition that the non breeders have to do something for the 'newbies'. The newbies are those graduate students, fresh off the boat, here for some 'original' research into us lot.
We came up with a few ideas but we're all going to sit on it a while and see what else we might come up with, there's no rush after all. Last year was great! The 'gang' did the conga every day, at exactly the same time, all the way around the outside of the rookery. After about 4 weeks half the rookery was snaking around kicking their legs out! They nearly wet themselves at 'Nature' and 'Scientific American' when the newbie submitted his paper about 'previously unseen mating rituals of emperor penguins'
Anyway I promised you dolphins and whales.
So, did you all go "ah bless" at the tale of Moko and the two whales? Well I didn't! I'm not saying that it wasn't all a bit cutesy but from my perspective it's just another two predators out there. We have enough trouble as it is with Mr Dolphin's cousin, Orca, round here to feel any kind of sentiment for either dolphins or sperm whales. Even if the whales are pygmy ones, they're still big enough to bite your bum off. Rorquals, fine. I like rorquals. But the toothed whales? Too much like orcas for my liking.
Talking of Orcas, Havelock tells a great story about how some killer whales who were wave hunting him and a seal on an ice floe - they swim around creating waves so you end up getting washed off the floe by the waves - washed them both off only to put them back on the floe and do it again. They weren't hunting, they were teaching the youngsters how do it, he said. Havelock says it was the luckiest day of his life and he's never, ever having lunch with a seal again!
But little Moko got me thinking. A big part of the story centred around the dolphin's 'conversation' with the parent whale - almost like it was saying 'follow me'. And oh, how you'd love that to be true!
Humans are social animals, they don't like being alone and, like penguins, seek out others at every opportunity. That's all fine and dandy and to be expected. So why on earth do they have this raging desire, as a species, to want to socialise with other animals? And they do! A big part of the dolphin's attraction is that they are intelligent, seem to have ways of communicating with each other and humans think they sense a 'culture' there too. Humans would just love to get in the water and talk to the dolphins. Same with ET. Obsessed with communicating with aliens, you are. Hands up if you're part of the SETI network! Why?
What on earth would you say to a dolphin? What possible topics might you have in common? Sea water's wet and salty? Having a shag is nice? That's about as far as it goes, unless you're into sushi without wasabe. What possible meaning could the transubstantiation have for a dolphin? How would you start explaining the current economic downturn in the US? What would Shakespear mean to a dolphin?
(Actually, nothing. I know. I tried discussing Macbeth with a bottle nose once, he just told me to push off or he'd bite my bum)
Finally finished 'Rising' by Norman Davies, about the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 - and that's the Home Army rising not the one in the ghetto the year before. Just as well really, because Shaky in front was starting to get a bit tetchy, 650 pages is a lot of weight on your back. Need to find something slimmer for the next one. Aristophanes, perhaps?
Ah well, it's Saturday tomorrow so I can have a bit of a 'stand in'. Maybe get Havelock to mind the egg and go for a bit of a bellytoboggan down the bluff, we'll see.
We came up with a few ideas but we're all going to sit on it a while and see what else we might come up with, there's no rush after all. Last year was great! The 'gang' did the conga every day, at exactly the same time, all the way around the outside of the rookery. After about 4 weeks half the rookery was snaking around kicking their legs out! They nearly wet themselves at 'Nature' and 'Scientific American' when the newbie submitted his paper about 'previously unseen mating rituals of emperor penguins'
Anyway I promised you dolphins and whales.
So, did you all go "ah bless" at the tale of Moko and the two whales? Well I didn't! I'm not saying that it wasn't all a bit cutesy but from my perspective it's just another two predators out there. We have enough trouble as it is with Mr Dolphin's cousin, Orca, round here to feel any kind of sentiment for either dolphins or sperm whales. Even if the whales are pygmy ones, they're still big enough to bite your bum off. Rorquals, fine. I like rorquals. But the toothed whales? Too much like orcas for my liking.
Talking of Orcas, Havelock tells a great story about how some killer whales who were wave hunting him and a seal on an ice floe - they swim around creating waves so you end up getting washed off the floe by the waves - washed them both off only to put them back on the floe and do it again. They weren't hunting, they were teaching the youngsters how do it, he said. Havelock says it was the luckiest day of his life and he's never, ever having lunch with a seal again!
But little Moko got me thinking. A big part of the story centred around the dolphin's 'conversation' with the parent whale - almost like it was saying 'follow me'. And oh, how you'd love that to be true!
Humans are social animals, they don't like being alone and, like penguins, seek out others at every opportunity. That's all fine and dandy and to be expected. So why on earth do they have this raging desire, as a species, to want to socialise with other animals? And they do! A big part of the dolphin's attraction is that they are intelligent, seem to have ways of communicating with each other and humans think they sense a 'culture' there too. Humans would just love to get in the water and talk to the dolphins. Same with ET. Obsessed with communicating with aliens, you are. Hands up if you're part of the SETI network! Why?
What on earth would you say to a dolphin? What possible topics might you have in common? Sea water's wet and salty? Having a shag is nice? That's about as far as it goes, unless you're into sushi without wasabe. What possible meaning could the transubstantiation have for a dolphin? How would you start explaining the current economic downturn in the US? What would Shakespear mean to a dolphin?
(Actually, nothing. I know. I tried discussing Macbeth with a bottle nose once, he just told me to push off or he'd bite my bum)
Finally finished 'Rising' by Norman Davies, about the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 - and that's the Home Army rising not the one in the ghetto the year before. Just as well really, because Shaky in front was starting to get a bit tetchy, 650 pages is a lot of weight on your back. Need to find something slimmer for the next one. Aristophanes, perhaps?
Ah well, it's Saturday tomorrow so I can have a bit of a 'stand in'. Maybe get Havelock to mind the egg and go for a bit of a bellytoboggan down the bluff, we'll see.
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Language. What's going on?
Tried the Kiwi's trick off the Larsen Ice Shelf this morning. Only 300m but......I have to say it didn't feel a bit like flying, well it didn't feel a bit like I imagine flying to feel. Maybe I've got a bit more imagination than the Kiwi. What did Buzz Lightyear say? "We're not flying. We're falling with some control.' Or some such. No, it's ok, I didn't hurt myself (much). I managed to keep my beak pointing to the water from about 100m down and we're a lot more streamlined than kiwis. Just a bit of a sore head, that's all. Now a 'belly flop', that would have been painful!
Funny thing language. (Well it would be I suppose, being invented by humans) I was reminded of this because finding the kiwi film only came about because I was looking for an alternative site for the 'Do penguins fly?' animation after the whingeing minnies closed down the 'Stage 6' DivX site and, after I found it on youtube, the kiwi was in the list of 'related movies' so.......
Anyways, it got me thinking about the unstoppable rise of the one adjective/adverb dialogue. No, I don't have to spell out exactly what adjective/adverb I'm talking about, lets just call it f*****g or fg for short, this IS a family blog, but its almost like we'll have to invent a new part of speech because adjective/adverb doesn't really describe it anymore. It used to have meaning, it meant you were angry, hostile, agitated. "The fg trains's late again." "Don't fg push me!" Now, it's just inserted in front of any old noun or verb and conveys absolutely nothing. Perhaps in the future the 'F' part of the OED will just be 10 volumes big. Every single noun will start with 'F' as the noun and the adjective get joined together, forever, as one word. Can it be stopped? It seems such a pity. English, with Anglo-Saxon, Latin, French, Asian, is such a rich language. All those nuances of meaning, the subtle differences between words that all fall under one entry in a thesaurus.
So why did I think about that?
Oh by the way, I did not ignore my parental responsibilities when I dived from the ice shelf. (A) I knew I could do it - we used to do it as a dare before I reached breeding age and (B) I left the egg with 'the old one', Havelock, who, too old to breed, still joins the rookery every year and helps out where he can, although he's now too old to take his place on the outside.
So, the reason I thought about this is because the French have this thing about trying to control their language. It goes by the name of 'The French Academy'. They try to ban things like 'le weekend', 'le picnic' etc and it just never works!
The original French animation is called 'Stupide question 1. Les pingouins volent-ils?' You don't need much French, if I tell you 'volent-ils' means 'do they fly' to get the gag. Unfortunately, according to the Academy, they do! All the time! Because contrary to the animators' belief and probably most of the French nation's, 'pingouins' does NOT refer to penguins!
Some etymology. Penguin is thought to derive from the Welsh for 'white head' and was probably first applied to the 'Great Auk', a flightless northern seabird, now extinct. (It went the way of the dodo and the passenger pigeon, a victim of a man-made holocaust.) Unique among auks, it had white patches on its head and the name was extended to the whole auk family which DO fly. When (English) sailors first encountered penguins in the southern oceans, they looked and behaved like great auks so they called them 'penguins'.
The birds are in no way related (they just fill a similar ecological niche and so are similar morphologically) and the English ended up reverting to calling 'auks', auks and 'penguins', penguins. The French, however, had a problem. They just didn't call the whole group 'pingouins', they called a specific auk 'le petit pingouin' (the little penguin) which interestingly enough is known as guillemot in English (a corruption of little 'Guillaume' - which is French for William) so the Academy decided all southern 'pengiuns' would be called 'Manchots'. Did it work? Well the animation title says it all! As does 'Le Pingouin' by Picasso
So you can't control it by diktat! Are we linguistically doomed? Probably. But if you have kids, make them aware that fg in front of every noun is unnecessary. Not because it's obscene and refers to things we Anglo-Saxons like to keep behind the bedroom/car/garage door but because there are so many other words that you could use!
Oh and just in case you might think I'm avoiding it because I think it's rude, obscene, taboo etc etc etc
FUCK, FUCKING, FUCKWIT, Situation Normal All FUCKED Up, FUCKED Up Beyond All Recognition:-)
I just hate people debasing MY language!
Funny thing language. (Well it would be I suppose, being invented by humans) I was reminded of this because finding the kiwi film only came about because I was looking for an alternative site for the 'Do penguins fly?' animation after the whingeing minnies closed down the 'Stage 6' DivX site and, after I found it on youtube, the kiwi was in the list of 'related movies' so.......
Anyways, it got me thinking about the unstoppable rise of the one adjective/adverb dialogue. No, I don't have to spell out exactly what adjective/adverb I'm talking about, lets just call it f*****g or fg for short, this IS a family blog, but its almost like we'll have to invent a new part of speech because adjective/adverb doesn't really describe it anymore. It used to have meaning, it meant you were angry, hostile, agitated. "The fg trains's late again." "Don't fg push me!" Now, it's just inserted in front of any old noun or verb and conveys absolutely nothing. Perhaps in the future the 'F' part of the OED will just be 10 volumes big. Every single noun will start with 'F' as the noun and the adjective get joined together, forever, as one word. Can it be stopped? It seems such a pity. English, with Anglo-Saxon, Latin, French, Asian, is such a rich language. All those nuances of meaning, the subtle differences between words that all fall under one entry in a thesaurus.
So why did I think about that?
Oh by the way, I did not ignore my parental responsibilities when I dived from the ice shelf. (A) I knew I could do it - we used to do it as a dare before I reached breeding age and (B) I left the egg with 'the old one', Havelock, who, too old to breed, still joins the rookery every year and helps out where he can, although he's now too old to take his place on the outside.
So, the reason I thought about this is because the French have this thing about trying to control their language. It goes by the name of 'The French Academy'. They try to ban things like 'le weekend', 'le picnic' etc and it just never works!
The original French animation is called 'Stupide question 1. Les pingouins volent-ils?' You don't need much French, if I tell you 'volent-ils' means 'do they fly' to get the gag. Unfortunately, according to the Academy, they do! All the time! Because contrary to the animators' belief and probably most of the French nation's, 'pingouins' does NOT refer to penguins!
Some etymology. Penguin is thought to derive from the Welsh for 'white head' and was probably first applied to the 'Great Auk', a flightless northern seabird, now extinct. (It went the way of the dodo and the passenger pigeon, a victim of a man-made holocaust.) Unique among auks, it had white patches on its head and the name was extended to the whole auk family which DO fly. When (English) sailors first encountered penguins in the southern oceans, they looked and behaved like great auks so they called them 'penguins'.
The birds are in no way related (they just fill a similar ecological niche and so are similar morphologically) and the English ended up reverting to calling 'auks', auks and 'penguins', penguins. The French, however, had a problem. They just didn't call the whole group 'pingouins', they called a specific auk 'le petit pingouin' (the little penguin) which interestingly enough is known as guillemot in English (a corruption of little 'Guillaume' - which is French for William) so the Academy decided all southern 'pengiuns' would be called 'Manchots'. Did it work? Well the animation title says it all! As does 'Le Pingouin' by Picasso
So you can't control it by diktat! Are we linguistically doomed? Probably. But if you have kids, make them aware that fg in front of every noun is unnecessary. Not because it's obscene and refers to things we Anglo-Saxons like to keep behind the bedroom/car/garage door but because there are so many other words that you could use!
Oh and just in case you might think I'm avoiding it because I think it's rude, obscene, taboo etc etc etc
FUCK, FUCKING, FUCKWIT, Situation Normal All FUCKED Up, FUCKED Up Beyond All Recognition:-)
I just hate people debasing MY language!
Monday, 10 March 2008
Why?
What's a penguin with too much time on his flippers to do? Exactly what everyone else does, start a blog! I'm not sure how regular this will be. Can I generate one idea a day? Can I generate one idea a month? When will I get time to fish? We'll see................
Interesting little film,Kiwi. What seems strange is how it seems to be an animation version of a Necker cube. There are seemingly two separate interpretations which are essentially at 180 degrees to each other and you can't hold both in your head at the same time.
On the one hand we have a pathetic little obsessive/compulsive bird who spends its life creating the illusion, note it's only an illusion, that just once it will fly....and it kills it. Why didn't it just get a life?
On the other hand, we have a single minded little bird who simply won't let its dream of flying die, however impossible it seems and it (almost) succeeds. Is that inspirational? A lot of people seem to think so. And after all, we don't actually SEE him hit the ground.
Does the bird cry in sadness half way down because it sees its own death or in joy because it's realised its dream and so, what harm in death? Don't you just love it when we get all serious like this. IT'S ONLY A CARTOON, for Pete's sake!
From what I can glean Permedi the animator seems to have used the first premise as the basis of the 'story'. He seems attracted to the psychologically challenged. His first animation, 'Pony' was about a seriously disturbed little girl........
So where does the second interpretation come from? Did Permedi put it in, consciously or unconsciously and if the latter, well done! It's always good to produce something that you never intended, thatta way lies Art!
And if not?
Perhaps, we just don't like to think that interpretation one could apply to anyone or the kiwi, though it does often, so we just invent something suitably uplifting to make US feel better and ignore the very real problem of mental health? Dunno. Probably reading far too much into this but, as Borges pointed out, art lies not in the object but in the interaction between the object and the spectator (citation needed)
The nice thing about being a penguin is that I don't have to go through all that rigmarole of nailing trees to the side of the cliff. Down here, there's just ice and ice and ice and...........makes it all a lot easier!
Interesting little film,Kiwi. What seems strange is how it seems to be an animation version of a Necker cube. There are seemingly two separate interpretations which are essentially at 180 degrees to each other and you can't hold both in your head at the same time.
On the one hand we have a pathetic little obsessive/compulsive bird who spends its life creating the illusion, note it's only an illusion, that just once it will fly....and it kills it. Why didn't it just get a life?
On the other hand, we have a single minded little bird who simply won't let its dream of flying die, however impossible it seems and it (almost) succeeds. Is that inspirational? A lot of people seem to think so. And after all, we don't actually SEE him hit the ground.
Does the bird cry in sadness half way down because it sees its own death or in joy because it's realised its dream and so, what harm in death? Don't you just love it when we get all serious like this. IT'S ONLY A CARTOON, for Pete's sake!
From what I can glean Permedi the animator seems to have used the first premise as the basis of the 'story'. He seems attracted to the psychologically challenged. His first animation, 'Pony' was about a seriously disturbed little girl........
So where does the second interpretation come from? Did Permedi put it in, consciously or unconsciously and if the latter, well done! It's always good to produce something that you never intended, thatta way lies Art!
And if not?
Perhaps, we just don't like to think that interpretation one could apply to anyone or the kiwi, though it does often, so we just invent something suitably uplifting to make US feel better and ignore the very real problem of mental health? Dunno. Probably reading far too much into this but, as Borges pointed out, art lies not in the object but in the interaction between the object and the spectator (citation needed)
The nice thing about being a penguin is that I don't have to go through all that rigmarole of nailing trees to the side of the cliff. Down here, there's just ice and ice and ice and...........makes it all a lot easier!
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