It is rare that I post a blog entry of little to no worthy intelligence, relevance, thought, or otherwise proving content. However, this is going to be one of those, mostly because the picture on the left is one of The World’s Absolutely Cutest Penguin and I can’t stop the unbelievably horrible feelings of affection rising from my inner cockles at the sight of this little bugger. I have desires to go out and pet bunny rabbits, coo at newborn babies, and tie little pastel bows on every passing car antenna. He’s so terribly cute that I just want to stare at him all day long until my eyeballs dry up and crack.
I know — this is really, really sad.
I am very, very fond of penguins, however, and since I’m a Linux geek, it works out pretty well. (Linux’s mascot is a penguin named Tux, if you didn’t know.) In some ways, this little guy makes me giggle because I’ve had that same sort of expression on my face once or twice, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it on my wife’s face, too. I’ve made him my desktop background so I can grin at him on regular occasion.
I wouldn’t feel quite about posting this like a giggling schoolgirl without attempting to justify it in some fashion. You’re going to get an educational experience even if I have to make it amusing for you, so brace yourself:
But Were Afraid to Use in Normal Conversation:
A penguin’s average speed under water is 15mph. When greased with lard, they can hit speeds upwards of 25mph. One does not want to attempt to catch a lubricated penguin.
A penguin’s normal body temperature is a balmy 100°F. Fish in the neighborhood hold BBQs in between their legs because it’s so comfy.
Penguins have bristles on their tongues that face backwards so food can’t get away. This also makes French kissing in the penguin world an extreme sport.
Penguins drink salt water — they have a special gland that extracts the salt and pushes it back out of their bodies through grooves in their bills. Cracked pepper emits from special bumps behind their ears.
Penguin parents recognize which chick is theirs by the chick’s voice — it’s usually the one that grates on their nerves the most.
There. I feel justified now in sharing my extreme and unnatural love of that group of pixels in the upper left-hand corner. Enjoy the saccharine.
[...] started with an account of my trip back from the Land Down Under, then quickly followed with some very cute penguin pictures, a musing about being mentally hardwired to have religion, and a whack at the stupidity over the [...]
Hey where did u get that penguin pic i love it?