Tickling a Penguin

This may be the cutest thing I've seen all year. The Penguin is named Cookie.

Here's the short version that's been all over the 'net they past couple days:

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6479500/penguin-getting-tickled

Here's a slightly longer version that's higher quality on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/3wTWWjYTe1I

The cutest 25 seconds of the week

Okay, this is just adorable.  It's a Dreaming Kitten.







I first saw this on "The Daily Onigiri."

Olympic Game Farm -- Sequim, WA

While many folks may not believe it, there are plenty of non-Twilight related activities on the Olympic Peninsula.

On 2010-08-28, The GF and I hopped on the Edmonds-Kingston ferry to head over to Sequim and visit the Olympic Game Farm. It started as a training and storage facility for animal actors from Disney movies.  While the farm doesn't do much with the movie industry these days, there are still plenty of animals at the farm waiting for people to visit.

Unlike many zoos, most of the animals aren't in cages.  They roam free and visitors drive throuh the area.  The staff will be happy to sell you loaves of bread at the gate (I recomend you get at least 5) so you can feed the animals. That's right, you can actually feed them by hand.  The critters will lumber up to your car window to take the sliced bread right from your hand.

There are really three sections to the drive.  The first section is filled with bears, llamas, zebras, yaks, and more.  The second section isn't as much fun.  It's a caged area for big cats like lions and similar animals.  That part actually looks like a zoo from years ago.  I imagine the animals are well cared for, but it seems a little more depressing.  The third part is another drive thru zone, but the animals are bigger and potentially more dangerous, so you are supposed to keep your windows closed an not feed the bison.  This three minute video shows parts 1 and 3.  

You can also see the video here, on YouTube.

We had a great visit.  And despite the ability of many of those anamils to kill people if they chose, they are still adorable.

You can see more of my pictures of the Olympic Game Farm here.  A few of them also appear below.

One of the first things visitors see is a prarie dog mound.

The prarie dogs apparently decided to entertain some birds, too.

Llamas were some of the most aggressive animals.  Or maybe it's just because they were so many.  They walked from car to car looking for bread. 

Several zebras sought out their own bread, too.

The yaks certainly enjoyed their snacks, but they were less assertive.  Instead they just milled about.  Once they would get their bread, or realize they weren't getting any, they just sort of leaned against the car or stood in the middle of the road until they came up with something better to do.

The Shoebox Chef decided she was running low on chicken stock while we were there and decided to do something about it.





I'm guessing Peacocks don't make the best soup, and that they are not prey for llamas, zebras, or yaks.





Of course, the bears stole the show.


















The Olympic Animal Farm isn't that many miles from Seattle, but because all that darn water and those mountains tha get in the way, it takes several hours to get there.  If you've got a free day in the Seattle area, and like to get close up to animals beyond cats, dogs, and squirrels, be sure to visit.  Just keep the top up on the convertible.

More pictures available here.

Back Yard Burial

A reader recently asked the Seattle PI if people could bury their pets in the backyard when the die.  That answer was that they could, as long as it didn't pose a nuisance. Apparently, the law also pets under 15 pounds to be disposed of with "household waste" which, while logical, seems all kinds of wrong.

I had gerbils for several years when I was a kid, and a few of them did make it to the back yard after they lived out their gerbil lives.  Joe The Gerbil had  a crazy long tooth that really was never right. He was the first to come into the house, and the first to make it into the back yard.  I remember packing him in a Maxwell House coffee can with woodchips when it was time for his burial. 

I also remember taking and old, heavy, slate, stepping stone of some sort and working on it with a hammer and chisel to carve his name into it.  Now, it feels like that was a project I spent days or weeks on, but it could easily have been just an afternoon. I must have been in that 10-13 year old age bracket at the time.

Writing this, it almost seems like a sad story (I suppose I could punch it up and make it a real tear jerker (the handicapped gerbil with the weird tooth would put it over the top)), and I was probably sad at the time.  But it wasn't a traumatic experience; it didn't scar me.  Carving that tombstone wasn't a labor of love.  It was just what you do.  It seemed natural, and I took to it like the project it was. 

Over the years, there were several more gerbils, and several more backyard burials.  They came in and lives through their normal gerbil lives.  I think there was only one more tomb stone, though.

I'm not sure what the point of this story is.  It started off as a tale about paint, but I guess that will have to be a future post.  I can't always be certain just which story will want to be told. 

Friendly Pets

The Fremont Solstice Festival is always entertaining.  It's best know for the parade and its collection of naked bikers (mildly NSFW pictures here). While looking at the "official" entertainment, though, don't ignore the crowd.  The people watching is awesome.

For example, folks crowded around some beautifully (and weirdly) decorated cars at the Art Car exhibit.One woman had a cat on her shoulders.  The cat was very calm, climbing all around her head.  That started to draw the crowd away from the vehicles as people wanted to pet the cat.  She smiled gleefully.  Suddenly her other pet poked out from her hair and crawled around her neck. 

Then it started to lick her teeth.  Woman, cat, and rodent all seemed quite happy and pleased with the attention.  And the gathered crowd tried to make sense of this alternative little family.

Victoria Part 03: An Aquarium to make fish rights activists cringe

On our first day in Victoria, after nearly falling into a deep, day-wasting, nap state in the hotel, the GF and I headed out to the Inner Harbor to see what sort of trouble we could get into.

The Undersea Gardens captured my attention. It's a 150 foot vessel in the harbor itself. You pay the admission fee, and climb down a set of stairs into a steel tank.

We end up inside an aquarium, with local marine life looking in the windows at us. At first I was a little disappointed because I expected it to be an undersea window into the Harbor. Instead, the part with the fish is also enclosed in a tank. They share water with the Harbor but are isolated from predators, or the tendency to swim off on their own.

The advantage of this kind of set up is that you know you will see a lot of fish. And despite the cramped quarters, it turned out to be a pretty awesome place.

There were a couple things I didn't quite expect.

For one, they have an unattended petting pool. Visitors can touch and pet the star fish and anemones. There's no one there to keep folks in line. The folks visiting while we were there were gentle with the critters, though.

The were beautiful creatures. The purple starfish didn't look real. They actually looked soft like a stuffed animal, but they were actual sea creatures.

This one appears to be holding hands with a smaller star fish.

They also have a theater show. It's the only place with seating and you look into a wall of windows on the big tank. There you can see giant eels (with nearly human looking faces), crabs, more star fish, and octopi.

Of course they had a show. In most places that would be a movie. Or a brief talk describing the facility and its mission. Here it was more of a show-and-tell.

A SCUBA diver in the tank joined the presenter who was in the room for a joint discussion. The presenter talked about a fish, and the diver search the tank, found the fish the presenter was talking about, picked it up and brought it to the windows to show off.

So all of a sudden, there's a guy in a tank sticking a starfish in your face.

They did this with the bigger critters as well. It was particularly entertaining watching him carry the octopus around.

I don't have any entertaining anecdotes about this anemone, but it is one of my favorite pictures from the visit. These things just seem so artificial or alien, and yet they are all over the Puget Sound.

It was dark inside, so I was surprised the pictures came out. But I had a good lens on the camera - the Pentax 50 mm f/1.4. I also had the ISO cranked up to 1600.

I'm glad we visited. If you like fish (looking at rather than eating (well, okay, eating too) and have 45-60 minutes in Victoria, check it out. And stay for the fish show and tell.

You can see a few more pictures from this trip here.

Amused and Apalled

Satire is best when your not sure at first if it is satire. But what if you are convinced it's satire and then -- just maybe -- it's actually real?

The GF sent me a link to this product:


Yes. That is the Snuggie for Dogs.

You may recall the original Snuggie. It dominated the night time airwaves a few months back. It's a blanket with sleeves. It's a great purchase for the person who can't figure out how to wear their robe backwards. I guess I can see the appeal, though. The commercials do make it sounds compelling.

But now someone may have actually made a blanket with sleeves for dogs.

When I started watching this, I thought it was a great satire of the commercial for the regular Snuggie. But now I'm not so sure. The order form and other links look legit.

I'm afraid -- so very afraid -- that this might actually be real.

Please, restore my faith in humanity and tell me this is fake. Or at least that he product bombed.

Because I don't know if I want to live in a world where the Snuggie for Dogs qualifies as a million dollar idea.

Life in the Garden Part 20: Friendly visitor comes back

About a month ago, I found a visitor in my plants. I told her she was welcome to visit my outdoor plants. And today, she came back to check out my Flat Leaf Parsley.



(Larger version here)

She'll always be welcome out there.

Lady Bugs = Good
Aphids = Bad

Hitchcock tryouts

View Larger Map

Who owns this pier in SoCal?

The US Government?
The State of California?
The County of Los Angeles?
The City of Redondo Beach?
The local fishermen?

No.

It's clearly this guy.

I certainly wouldn't want to take his fish.

And here are his associates.

Virtual Pet Hamster

This little guy is pretty cute.

And kind of mesmerizing...

Real penguin gets a stuffed penguin -- the cutest story I've seen all week

I found this story from the UK's Daily Mail through Fark.com. It's got things like tragedy,triumph, cute stuff, and a penguin.

Lonesome penguin cheered up by his new friend... a stuffed toy

A baby penguin which had to be separated from its family after a greedy sibling continually ate all its food has found companionship - with this stuffed toy.

The penguin - called Pingu - began to lose weight and appeared weak after its bigger relative regularly helped himself to all the fish on offer.

...More

Northwest Trek near Tacoma is awesome

On Thursday, my GF and I visited Northwest Trek in Pierce County.

Northwest Trek is, for lack of a better term, a zoo. But it's not a traditional zoo. The highlight of the park is the free roaming area for large large animals native to the northwest. Bison, moose, deer, elk, sheep, and goats share 400+ acres where they roam freely. Smaller animals live in the areas as well. Some of them were brought in, and others wandered in to the park on their own from the neighboring forests.

I have been to a lot of zoos and animal parks, and never have I gotten as close to as many animals or seen as many of the featured animals as I did at Northwest Trek. At most parks, you might get a glimpse of fur. Here you get the whole beast. And admissions is only $15.

Admission to the park includes a tram ride. For about an hour, the tram driver takes park visitors on a drive through the free roaming area, answering questions, talking about the animals, pointing out interesting features, and telling jokes.

The animals are used to the tram and will often walk right up to it as it cruises through the park.

If you ride the tram, I recommend sitting in the middle or back of it. There are excellent views no matter where you sit, but because of the way the angles work out in the vehicle, it will be more difficult to take pictures and see the beasts from the forward rows of any of the tram cars.

These are some of the pictures we shot from the tram:

After the tram ride, don't miss the exhibits along the trail.

In these they highlight different animals in large enclosures. I guess they'd rather not mix the bears, bison, coyotes, and lynxs in the free roaming area.

These enclosures are amazing. In the bear exhibit, for example, the only thing separating the viewer is a ditch that looks a lot smaller than it likely is. One of the bears came within 15 feet of us.

The wolves stayed further away, but still checked out the crowd watching them.

We tried to see the big cats, too, but they acted like cats do, and decided to ignore everyone who was watching.

There was a coyote enclosure as well, but he was nowhere to be seen. He was probably busy with an Acme deposition.

In an area focused more on the small critters, we did see come beavers as work, and some wolverines. The Wolverines make Logan look positively mellow. One was intent on breaking a branch, and another did nothing but run back and forth like he was doing laps.

The park feels small. It doesn't try to show every kind of animal in the Northwest, and you can comfortably see they whole thing in a 3-4 hours (less if you hurry). There is some walking among the enclosures, but the walks aren't nearly as far as the seem to be on the maps.

We had ideal weather conditions for viewing the animals. It was cooler today, overcast, and occasionally rained. If you come on a really nice day, the animals are likely to stay hidden in the brush. But if you have a cool summer day, be sure the check out Northwest Trek.

A science question

If someone managed to cross a pig with a duck, would that be just the tastiest animal ever?

New animals

From the Seattle PI:

Nutria -- a voracious herbivore as big as a large housecat and prone to molelike digging that turns lakeshores into Swiss cheese -- are enemy No. 1 for some Seattle residents and businesses.

...More

Oh, come on. Now they're just making stuff up. A cross between a beaver and a rat is eating the shore line? That's just silly.

They're 20 pounds and eat five pounds of vegetation a day? And we brought them in decades ago? Why is this just making the news now?

If these critters are as nasty as the article says they are, then I'm sure we need to solve the problem.

But I can't help thinking this is all some weird practical joke.

Just then, a grebe paddled by.

"They could build a nest and a nutria buzzes through and they're a goner," she said of the small bird. "I can't help but thinking this bird-nesting habitat is significantly affected."

A grebe? Seriously?

Don't tell PETA

Who would have though that bugs getting hit with pies would be so awesome? I found the link at fazed.net.

Roaches and Metropolis

On Thursday, KUOW aired an NPR story about robotic roaches. Scientists built a fake roaches and introduced them to actual roach communities, to see if they could alter the roaches natural behavior.

"I think it's a really fascinating idea to integrate robots within animal groups. In actual fact, I really feel that this is the future of doing this kind of research," said Iain Couzin, a researcher at Princeton University who studies how large-scale biological patterns can emerge from individuals' actions.

...More

They were able to influence the behavior of the entire roach community by altering the behaviour of the robots.

The story reminded me of the 1927 Fritz Lang movie, Metropolis.

In this film, commonly described as the first robot science fiction movie, society is divided between the working class and the upper class. The workers operate the machines below ground that drive the entire society. They pray with a priestess.

A mad scientist who has a vendetta against the person who owns the machines, extracts his revenge. He creates an android that looks exactly like the priestess. He kidnaps the priestess and replaces her with his own creation.

Instead of promoting peace and love, the android advocates the violent overthrow of the society, and calls on the working class to rise up, throw off their chains, and smash the equipment.

The workers, like the roaches in the study, do just that, even though it destroys their society. Their homes are flooded; their children are nearly killed.

The film is a fascinating story about coopting the influencers of public opinion for nefarious purposes.

Had a rough day?

Here's a dancing cockatoo to cheer you up.

The Fair at Puyallup Part 03

Draft horses once were as important to the economy as automobiles are today. Now, their main purpose is to deliver Budweiser and appear in Superbowl ads. Nevertheless, this year at the fair they held a demonstration of horse teams.

They brought 6 teams and carriages into an arena. The first team was a single lead horse followed by two others, all pulling the same wagon. Next, there were two 4 horse teams, and then 2 six horse teams. The final team was a wagon pulled by 6 ponies.

They galloped around the area kicking up dirt to the cheers of the crowd. Then they came to the skill demonstration.

Each driver had to drive his team in a circle around each of the three traffic cones. Then, they had to stop the team, get the horses to back up the wagon so it turned 90 degrees, and then stand off to the side. Basically, they had to execute a K-turn. This is was to show what horse trains used to do every day to back a wagon up to a loading dock.

I always though of horse drawn wagons as clumsy contraptions that did their best when going forward. I never knew they could be handled with such precision. At times, different horses actually need to walk in different directions to position the wagon just right.

The 6 horse teams were the most impressive. The managed turns that would challenge a Honda Civic. The backed the wagon up smoothly and perfectly. And they did it quickly.

The drivers showed amazing skill. It's one thing to pop a car in reverse and turn the wheel. These guys got the same results from 6 strong willed animals who could, at any time, decide they wanted to do something else.

It's been said that small companies are much more nimble than big companies. Large organizations are ultimately doomed to failure in the face of spry competition.

But maybe that perception comes from thinking of large companies as though they are trains or oil tankers. Changing direction takes plenty of time and planning. A lone, nimble rider or sailor has much more flexibility.

But if a company structures itself more like a 6 horse wagon team, then perhaps they can survive in a challenging field. Large numbers of independent characters can work together with the right driver and deliver amazing results.

I think there's a motivational poster in there someplace.

Fark Caturday Threads

I mentioned LOL Cats and Fark.Com Caturday threads a few weeks ago.

Here is a list of the recent cat threads.

2011-03-19

2011-03-13

2011-03-05

2011-02-26

2011-02-19

2011-02-12

2011-02-05

2011-01-29

2011-01-22

2011-01-15

2011-01-08

2011-01-01

2010-12-25

2010-12-18

2010-12-11

2010-12-04

2010-11-27

2010-11-20

2010-11-13

2010-11-06

2010-10-30

2010-10-23 Part II

2010-10-23 Part I

2010-10-16

2010-10-09

2010-10-02

2010-09-25

2010-09-18

2010-09-11

2010-09-04

2010-08-28

2010-08-21

2010-08-14

2010-08-07

2010-07-31

2010-07-24

2010-07-17

2010-07-10 (Part 2)

2010-07-10 (Part 1)

2010-07-03

2010-06-26

2010-06-19

2010-06-12

2010-06-05

2010-05-29

2010-05-22

2010-05-15

2010-05-08

2010-05-01

2010-04-24

2010-04-17

2010-04-10

2010-04-03

2010-03-27

2010-03-20

2010-03-13

2010-03-06

2010-02-27

2010-02-20

2010-02-13 (Part 2)

2010-02-13 (Part 1)

2010-02-06

2010-01-30

2010-01-23

2010-01-16 

2010-01-09

2010-01-02

2009-12-26

2009-12-19


2009-12-12

2009-12-05

2009-11-28

2009-11-21

2009-11-15

2009-11-14

2009-11-07

2009-10-31

2009-10-24

2009-10-17

2009-10-10

2009-10-03

2009-09-26

2009-09-19

2009-09-12

2009-09-05

2009-08-29


2009-08-22

2009-08-15

2009-08-08

2009-08-01

2009-07-25

2009-07-18

2009-07-11

2009-07-04

2009-06-27

2009-06-20

2009-06-13

2009-06-06

2009-05-30

2009-05-23

2009-05-16

2009-05-09

2009-05-02

2009-04-25

2009-04-18

2009-04-11

2009-04-04

2009-03-28

2009-03-21

2009-03-14

2009-03-07

2009-03-01

2009-02-28

2009-02-21

2009-02-20 (RIP, Socks)

2009-02-14

2009-02-07

2009-01-31

2009-01-24

2009-01-17

2009-01-10 Part II

2009-01-10 Part I

2009-01-03

2008-12-27

2008-12-20

2008-12-13

2008-12-06

2008-11-29

2008-11-22

2008-11-15

2008-11-08

2008-11-01

2008-10-25

2008-10-18

2008-10-11

2008-10-04

2008-09-27

2008-09-20

2008-09-06

2008-08-30

2008-08-23

2008-08-09

2008-08-02

2008-07-26

2008-07-19

2008-07-12

2008-07-05

2008-06-28

2008-06-21

2008-06-14

2008-06-07

2008-05-31

2008-05-24

2008-05-17

2008-05-10

2008-05-03

2008-04-26

2008-04-19

2008-04-12 (Part III)

2008-04-12 (Part II)

2008-04-12 (Part I)

2008-04-05

2008-03-29

2008-03-25

2008-03-21

2008-03-15

2008-03-08

2008-03-06

2008-03-01

2008-02-23

2008-02-16 Part II

2008-02-16 Part I

2008-02-09

2008-02-02

2008-01-26 Part II

2008-01-26

2008-01-19

Why 2008-01-12 was cut short (or Fark farks Fark, as one poster put it.)

2008-01-12

2008-01-05

2007-12-29

2007-12-22

2007-12-15

2007-12-08

2007-12-01

2007-11-24

2007-11-17

2007-11-10

2007-11-03

2007-10-27

2007-10-20

2007-10-13

2007-10-12

2007-10-06

2007-09-30

2007-09-29

2007-09-22

2007-09-15

2007-09-08 Part II

2007-09-08 Part I

2007-09-01

2007-08-25

2007-08-18

2007-08-11

2007-08-04

2007-07-28

2007-07-21

2007-07-14

2007-07-07

2007-06-30

2007-06-23

2007-06-16

2007-06-02

2007-05-19

2007-05-12

Sleep 04: What is it?

I've been posting more about sleep these past few months. I suppose that means I should be getting more.

Regardless, WNYC's NPR program, Radio Lab, recently did a show that focused on Sleep.

Radio Lab is a fascinating series. They take a big topic like Morality, Mortality, or Sleep, and spend an hour exploring what it means from a scientific and metaphysical perspective. It's framed with two hosts chatting with one another about what they just learned about the topic. They ask questions and joke, but they do it all in a respectful and profession manner. It comes across as two guys, who love learning about things, having a conversation over a beer.

In Sleep, I found the animals stories fascinating. I learned that dolphins, for example, can put half their brain to sleep, while they other stays awake. This way they don't drown. Ducks can do the same thing. They tell the story of 4 ducks on a log. The two ducks in the middle go completely to sleep, with both eyes closed. The two on the ends, however, keep their outside eye open to watch for predators. When the do this, the half of their brain connected to the closed eye sleeps. After awhile, they get up, turn around, and let the other half sleep.

Somewhere in the evolutionary chain, land based mammals lost the ability to sleep just one hemisphere at a time. I don't know if that's a good thing.

You can download the audio from the entire show here. You can also just stream it. And, if you'd rather, you can download just individual segments.

If you like Radio Lab, you can also subscribe to the free, weekly netcast through iTunes.

It's fascinating stuff.