Saturday, October 17, 2009

Television Shows With Penguins: "Now with Feathers!/A Frill a Minute" episode of Dinosaur Train

Dinosaur Train is a great new PBS show. The "Now with Feathers!" part of the episode is about why Velociraptors have feathers, but cannot fly. As part of the educational segment after that part of the episode, animals with feathers that cannot fly are named including the penguin.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Movies with Penguins: The Pebble and the Penguin

The Pebble and the Penguin is sort of an educational animated movie with an Adelie Penguin named Hubie as the star. It is not a horrible movie, but the whole musical aspect seems too forced and really detracts from not only the educational value, but the entertainment value. I was quite disappointed in the movie, as it not only was not all the educational with the whole plot of the penguin being able to escape capture from a zoo ship and then making the journey back to Antarctica successful being a major stretch of reality, but it was not even that entertaining.

I do not mind penguin movies that are not realistic, as I do love the penguins in the Madagascar movies and Mary Poppins, but then it has to be a fun movie to watch. I will be honest that I did not even pay much attention to it after the first half, as it was rather boring. Also, disappointing was I ended up with the plain DVD with no special features. That is what Netflix mails out, but there is a Family Fun version that has two featurettes and 8 games that might be more enjoyable, however the special features cannot make up for the boring movie entirely.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Chinese and Taiwanese to Work Together in Antarctica

Here is an interesting article about the Chinese and Taiwanese working together in Antarctica. Collaboration between countries happens a lot in Antarctic research along with the sharing of bases and such, but it certainly is unique to hear about two such rival countries (well, actually China still sort thinks Taiwan is part of their country) working together in the Antarctic. The working together is mainly having 3 Taiwanese biologists on the latest Chinese mission to the Antarctic. More on the 26th Chinese expedition in this article.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

South African Dies in Antarctica Climbing Accident

Another sad news story related to Antarctica today. This article is about a South African that died in Antarctica on Sunday, October 4, 2009, in a climbing accident. The man was a 25-year-old meteorologist working at the South African Antarctic Station. The accident occurred during crevasse rescue training. Due to the base being inaccessible at this time the body will not be returned home to South Africa until November at the earliest.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Korean Base Cook to Sue Govenment

Sure, Antarctica may be the most crime safe continent, but that does not mean no violent crimes ever occur down there. No I am not talking about the crazy recent movie Whiteout. This article is about a woman who was a cook at Kejong Station of Korea. She is suing the Korean government for the cover up of her being beat by men at the base and supposedly others at the base have also been assaulted including a case several years ago that was known yet they tried to cover up the new incident as well.