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I've seen little kids do it... if they can, why not a pinguin?

--
Please be nice to me. I'm just an apprentice jerk.

Outland wasn't a "horrible rip off". It was a diversion from BC because Berke Breathed was tired of doing a daily.

And here's the original strip we were talking about.

...I fall over watching planes fly by!

"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency

--- Just some weird kid from New Mexico Now with new and improved "something"

Is that a word?

If not I vote it be made one immediately, so much more _emphatic_ than 'broken'

bork, borken, borked, borking

sorry, 2 hours sleep, caffeine not kicking in yet, pump faster damn you heart, faster!

~ppppppppö

I bet they like stories like this so they get posted on Linux fanatic metanews sites

:-)

--www.mp3.com/kruhft--

It was pretty much supersceded by the Annals of Improbable Research . They're the folks responsible for the Ig Noble awards.


...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."

Tuxracer. Kinda like the sound of that. Tuxracer. Tuxracer.

Alf's planet was destroyed when everyone on the planet plugged their hair dryers in at the same time.

Only those who dream can grasp reality.

Fly a helicopter slowly towards the beach, just high enough for the little darlings to not scatter and they will indeed watch it until they topple over backwards.

Just because one PR officer says it aint so, doesn't mean that those who have actually seen it are lying. Apparently it is quite hysterical (and it is sheep, not penguins that can't get up when they fall on their backs).

..d
--- EMBnet - European Collaboration in Bioinformatics Worldwide

Wow, that's interesting. I had not heard about the Brits doing a study! I wonder where I could learn more about such a study...

...ok, I'm back, and after my exhaustive search, I've found an article about the British study. You can read all about it herehere ;.

Gotta admit I don't find that as surprising as the fact penguins do, always thought penguins were quite bright.

~ppppppppö

Na, Oliver Wendell Jones used a Bananna Junior (parody of the original Mac). It's still the funniest strip ever -- "Olive loaf mime whacker" that's deranged.

Whenever something is happening in the news, I always wonder what take Berke Breathed would do on it in Bloom County. With Pat Buchannan hijacking the Reform Party, I wonder who would be hijacking the Meadow Party right now.

From: snyary@life.timeinc.com (Sasha Nyary )
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Penguins in the Falklands
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 18:06:13 -0500

I didn't see this on the UL Website, and I don't read this newsgroup often, so forgive me if this story is an old one. I recently got taken in by it and thought it was worth sharing. It's a great yarn -- too bad it's not true.

Here's the story, followed by the rebuttal:

Penguins and Pilots (supposedly from the Audubon Society magazine)

A Mexican newspaper reports that bored Royal Air Force pilots stationed on the Falkland Islands have devised what they consider a marvelous new game. Noting that the local penguins are fascinated by airplanes, the pilots search out a beach where the birds are gathered and fly slowly along it at the water's edge. Perhaps ten thousand penguins turn their heads in unison watching the planes go by, and when the pilots turn around and fly back, the birds turn their heads in the opposite direction, like spectators at a slow-motion tennis match. Then, the paper reports, "The pilots fly out to sea and return directly toward the penguin colony and over-fly it. Heads go up, up, up, and ten thousand penguins fall over gently onto their backs."

Captain Claire Lucas, RAF public relations officer in the Falkland Islands:

According to Captain Lucas, who laughed and said this is a great story but not true, this is one of those legendary tales that gets passed around and resurfaces periodically. She's heard the story before. She says the Penguins actually hate the noise and scatter as the planes approach the beach.

LeoC - posting as an AC because /. doesn't let me login anymore.

Ciao for now.

--- Just some weird kid from New Mexico Now with new and improved "something"

--- Just some weird kid from New Mexico Now with new and improved "something"

...but only in the presence of low flying penguins!

"A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
GeneralEmergency

Looks like somebody just hit up the UK government for a grant to study something that doesn't really happen, and they just rubber-stamped it.

Hey, I heard that schools of fish in Tahiti keel over in droves whenever somebody on land farts! Seriously! I heard it on the Internet, so it must be true!

Quick, let's get our proposal ready and go down there!

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, Teach him to use the Internet and keep him occupied for life.

I am now blessing your keyboard...

So why is that such a big deal? Who cares if a couple of penguins fall over due to the odd passing plane? They live in such remote locations, the small amount of air traffic surely has minimal ecological impact. The problem is, places where penguins congregate are rapidly becoming commercially viable tourism destinations. There are a number of commercial airlines operating regular flights over the antarctic for example. The increase in air traffic may well pose an ecological threat, even if they don't land. The research is directly trying to ascertain whether or not we should place limits on such commercial activity.

All we have to go on at the moment is rumour, labelled by some here as urban myth. The tourism industry certainly won't take any notice of that sort of thing. What they might pay attention to is rigorous scientific evidence which points to the ecological impact of tourist activities in these fairly fragile environments. God knows they probably won't even take notice of that (eg tobacco industry's relationship with the scientific community), but it at least provides grounds for governments to put in place regulations. The situation we have at the moment, of conjecture and rumour, does not allow for any of that to happen. Who knows? We might even find out that there are no grounds to the speculation at all - I wouldn't mind taking a holiday to Antarctica...

And HERE is a picture of the real reason why penguins can survive attacks by skuas, sea lions, and even terrorists. Sorry I couldn't find a better picture from the original series, but it's been out of print since the mid-80s.

"Aww, he's no fun ... he fell right over!"

Oh the horror!!!

admit defeat, live in decline, be the victim of our own design

After the falklands war, the RAF were left there (and still are) to, well, just in case. The pilots understandably got a bit bored by doing routine sorties etc., so they tried something.

Out infront of the officers mess was the rocky coast with penguins on it. They started to notice that the penguins did something when a plane went over.

The pilots would fly one way, and the penguins would watch the plane go by. Then they would fly the other, and the penguins did the same. Then the pilots (just to take the piss) would fly into the shore, right over the penguins, who would look up and back so far that they would all fall over.

After a 9 month tour of duty in this sort of place they found a way of entertaining themselves.

Also knew someone who died when HMS Sheffield sank out there:( Just bought back the memory:(

---
This Space Intentionally Left Blank

-- flossie
http telnet

So that's why they fall over! To mate! You genius, you've single handedly explained the whole phenomenon!

It's a good thing you posted, otherwise they might have stopped lettings planes fly over, which would put penguins at risk of never getting laid again. I doubt penguins could adjust to that as easily as you have.


My mom is not a Karma whore!
Bored? Low standards? Go here

Thank you, kind sir.