More random thoughts about bartending
11 years ago
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Rose Bowl Parade will feature Penguin them float
Float soars with humor
Rose Float
The Rose Float Clubs of Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo came together to create “Tuxedo Air,” a penguin theme float that will debut Jan. 1, 2013 at the Rose Float Parade in Pasadena,source
Photos: Penguin Paints Pottery For Annual Penguin Run/Walk Awards
African Penguin, Blue Blue, painted tiles at Get Fired Up in Pawcatuck.
The tiles will be given as awards during the Sixth Annual Penguin
Run/Walk.
The painted tiles will be given as awards the top runners in eight age divisions at the Penguin Run/Walk.
SeaWorld releases information on penguin attraction
Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin will give guests a penguin's perspective
Published On: Sep 18 2012
The new attraction, a first-of-its-kind family ride, will let guests experience Antarctica through a penguins’ eyes and connect with a penguin colony above and below the water.
The website, launched Tuesday, includes a live "Penguin Cam" where viewers can observe penguins residing in SeaWorld San Diego. Visitors can also learn more about the icy continent of Antarctica and sign up for email updates.
The website also is host to "webisodes" from SeaWorld that will update fans with behind-the-scences video with designers and animal experts as the attraction is built. The first webisode provides the first sneak peek into the Making of Antarctica
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Penguin paints pottery in Pawcatuck
Updated: Monday, 17 Sep 2012
Blue Blue is putting more than just blue paint on some tiles. The five-year-old African penguin is a trained artist. Well at least he's trained to extend his feet so trainers can put paint on them for creations.
"It can take many years for some of the penguins to get to the point where we can do something like we did today," said Sarah Dunn, Mystic Aquarium.
The training is tough because penguins don't eat much so they are not motivated by food rewards. They just need to get used to people.
The ceramic tiles and vases the penguins paint will be given out as prizes during Mystic Aquarium's annual penguin walk/run in October, which raises money for research and conservation efforts for these endangered sea birds.
"I know that the ones wearing blue bracelets are a boy and the ones wearing pink bracelets are a girl," said Keira Poquette, of Westerly.
Poquette usually makes her own creations at 'Get Fired Up' in Pawcatuck. Monday Poquette learned from a master.
"And they all have to catch him because they didn't want him to fall off the table," said Poquette.
There was no disturbing the artist at work. After the master pieces were created Blue Blue then went around letting the kids touch him.
It was a moment many had been waiting for.
"Well he was so soft," said Poquette.
Each tile will be glazed and then put into a Kiln so all Blue Blue's hard work will be baked on permanently.
"Goes up to 1,800 degrees and once it cools down a bit we take it out," said Jen Gale, Get Fired Up. "Everything is food safe, microwave safe, if it is a dish."
A place where everyone is an artist, even the little guy dressed for a much more formal occasion.
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Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Rare penguins star in show
17/09/2012
BIRD POWER: Visitors to Milford Sound with Southern
Discoveries Encounter nature cruises are enjoying sightings of
Fiordland crested penguins nesting.
Visitors and guides aboard Southern Discoveries' Encounter Nature Cruises have spotted the rare Fiordland crested penguin, or tawaki, this month.
Nature guide Dave Newman says he's thrilled to see the Fiordland crested penguins back in Milford Sound again for the nesting season and encouraged by the number of birds spotted.
"There's more penguins this year than we saw last year, which is really positive for the colony and great for our guests as there are only up to 3000 breeding pairs in existence," he says.
Visitors have a good chance of viewing the "wildlife show" over the coming months aboard an Encounter Nature Cruise as it comes close to the colony in Penguin Cove on its way to the entrance of Milford Sound. The aptly named cove is where the penguins live during the breeding season from July to November, and again between January and March to moult. "We'll expect to see the penguins here until November when their chicks are ready to head out to sea," says Newman.
"There's a real buzz when we first start seeing the penguins. They're a very special bird as they're so rare, we're so lucky to be able to see them. They come ashore and work their way into the thick rainforest, building nests in natural cases or hollowed out trees and forming colonies of up to 10 years."
Penguins seen from the cruises in Milford Sound are often on the exposed rocky shorelines inside the fiord or sometimes spotted on calm days swimming around on the surface of the water in small groups.
Cruisers were also seeing a lot of bottlenose dolphins around the boats.
"They love to play around the bows of our catamarans as well as our Encounter Nature Cruise boat, the Lady Bowen, or swim behind or beside the boats," he says.
A Southern Discoveries kayaking trip into Harrisons Cove is another great way to get really close to wildlife at water level.
“We see penguins and dolphins in this cove all the time and from your kayak you can see straight through the crystal clear water, even spotting starfish lying beneath you,” says Newman.
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Plans for giant Antarctic marine sanctuary falter
Antarctic
A small group of emperor penguin stand on the edge of an ice drift Dec. 1, 2006, in the Ross Sea in the Antarctic. Antarctica’s Ross Sea is often described as the most isolated and pristine ocean on Earth, a place where seals and penguins still rule the waves and humans are about as far away as they could be.
Posted: Saturday, September 15, 2012
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Antarctica’s Ross Sea is often described as the most isolated and pristine ocean on Earth, a place where seals and penguins still rule the waves and humans are about as far away as they could be. But even there it has proven difficult, and maybe impossible, for nations to agree on how strongly to protect the environment.
The United States and New Zealand have spent two years trying to agree on an Alaska-sized marine sanctuary where fishing would be banned and scientists could study climate change. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton took a strong interest in the outcome, regularly prodding diplomats, and New Zealand recently sent a delegation to Washington to reach a tentative deal.
That compromise, over a region that accounts for less than 2 percent of New Zealand’s fishing industry, flopped this month when senior New Zealand politicians rejected it behind closed doors.
The U.S. and New Zealand have now sent competing plans to the 25 countries that meet annually each October to decide the fate of Antarctica’s waters. Their inability to agree greatly increases the chances that nothing will get done.
Evan Bloom, director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, said the U.S. put a great deal of effort into its reserve proposal because it believes the Ross Sea is the best place on Earth for scientists to carry out studies away from the influence of mankind.
“If you can’t do it in Antarctica, where can you do it?” said Bloom.
Both countries advocated for marine sanctuaries. The differences between the two plans seem small on a map, but they center on the areas of the sea where marine life is most abundant.
The U.S. does not have fishing interests in the Ross Sea, though fish caught there often end up in high-end American restaurants, marketed as Chilean sea bass.
The species is actually an ugly creature called the Antarctic toothfish. Fishermen from New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and other nations have been catching them in the Ross Sea since the 1990s. They use lines that can stretch more than a mile to catch about 100,000 of them a year.
The U.S. aimed to reach an agreement with a nation that fishes the Ross Sea in hopes it would lead to a broader deal to protect marine habitats there.
New Zealand wanted to minimize disruption to its fisheries, but also wanted to burnish its conservation credentials. The country not only prides itself as an environmental leader, but it also makes money by marketing its clean, green image to trading partners and tourists. And it has criticized other nations’ environmental records at sea, particularly nations that allow whaling.
Clinton urged diplomats to craft a deal. When she visited the Cook Islands last month, she described the Ross Sea as “one of the last great marine wilderness areas on the planet” and said the U.S. was working with other countries, “in particular New Zealand,” to establish protected areas. Murray McCully, New Zealand’s foreign affairs minister, echoed her comments.
Late last month, senior New Zealand diplomat Gerard van Bohemen led a team to Washington that spent four days grinding out the details of a compromise. After he brought the proposal back to New Zealand’s ruling National Party, its senior Cabinet of lawmakers met in a closed session and rejected it.
Exactly why, they’re not saying. Van Bohemen and Cabinet minister Steven Joyce declined to give interviews.
McCully also declined to discuss what happened, although he said in an email that New Zealand will keep working closely with the Americans.
The Ross Sea fishery is small on a global scale, worth about $60 million per year. The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council says New Zealand’s Ross Sea catch accounts for just $16 million of a national industry worth over $1 billion.
But council spokesman Don Carson said New Zealand relies on dozens of species being fished in dozens of places. “None of them are huge, but they are very diverse, and we are keen not to lose any of them,” he said.
Carson said the Ross Sea is being fished conservatively and sustainably, so further restrictions are unnecessary.
“We fish in a very limited area for a very limited season,” he said. “We don’t want to be buffeted by the winds of popular sentiment when that sentiment is based on a misapprehension of what’s going on.”
Antarctic fishing is regulated by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the 25-nation group scheduled to meet next month. Its executive secretary, Andrew Wright, said fishing in the Ross Sea is carefully regulated with quota limits set each year, and that available science points to the fishery being sustainable.
Peter Young, a New Zealander who recently directed an environmental advocacy documentary on the sea titled “The Last Ocean,” said an international agreement that protects Antarctic land from exploitation should be extended to its seas.
“Almost every other ocean on earth has been impacted and affected by humanity,” he said. “We’re down to the last few places, and we’ve got to protect it and have something to hand on to future generations.”
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Saturday, September 15, 2012
Zoo To Celebrate Last Days of The Penguin Plunge
FROM THE TOPEKA ZOO -- If you haven't seen the African Penguins of Penguin Plunge at the Topeka Zoo, then you have just a few short weeks to do so. The Topeka Zoo has several upcoming events that are sure to get your tail feathers shaking!
Saturday, September 15th, is declared a Day Of Play At The Zoo for both visitors and the animals from 9:00am till 3:00 in the afternoon. Activities include a variety of inflatables for the kids and kids at heart to play on, giraffe feeding, and a watermelon lunch for the orangutans, elephants, hippos and more. During the day, the penguin zookeepers will be doing penguin keeper chats at 11:30 and 2:30 and penguin feeding at 10:00 and 3:00.
A "Penguin Send Off Party" will happen next Sunday, September 23, also from 9:00 to 3:00. From 9:00 to 1:00 the zoo will offer FREE pony rides. Penguin feedings and keeper chats will be be offered during the day and several of the zoos carnivores, including tigers, north American river otters, and bears, will be treated to fishcicles. At 10:00 a.m., guests can enjoy the ever popular Storytime with Kyler who will share stories and songs about animals at the zoo.
At 1:00 a puppet show presented by StoneLion Puppet Theatre will take place. The StoneLion puppeteers are Smithsonian Institute touring performers and will bring the magic of world class puppet shows right to the Topeka Zoo presenting their show "It's A Jungle Out There". The show is part of StoneLion's animal conservation series which has played since 1986 in zoos across the country.
The final event celebrating the penguins is ZOObilee. This annual fundraiser is the largest fundraiser for the year for Friends of the Topeka Zoo with this years theme being appropriately called "Party With The Penguins". The adults-only fundraiser features grazing stations, watering holes, live and silent auctions, animal encounters, and live entertainment. Tickets are $75 each and available by going to www.topekazoobilee.com
"This has been a tremendous year and the addition of the penguins has increased zoo attendance significantly" said Brendan Wiley, Zoo Director. "But we know there are still people that have not had the opportunity to make it out to the zoo and these events really offer something for everyone".
Wiley encourages the community to come out and enjoy these final weeks at the zoo before the penguins leave. The Topeka Zoo is open daily from 9:00 to 5:00 with the last guest admission at 4:30. Zoo admission is $5.75 for adults, $4.75 for seniors, and $4.25 for children 3-12. Children 2 and under are free. As always, Friends of the Topeka Zoo members are FREE.
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