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4" Penguins in Safety Sweaters Need Help
chrisd writes "We all give lip service to how much we like penguins and such, well a bunch of the "little" penguins (4 inch tall little guys) have been spooged by an oil tanker in southern australia. They need cash to help them take care of the little fellas. They put them in little sweaters and such to keep them from preening the oil off thier wings into thier stomaches, which causes them to die. A picture of them in thier protective gear can be found there or at a my mirror."
Wouldn't they sink like rocks?
Now's your chance to do some good with those zillions of dollars you made from the RedHat and VA Linux IPO's. Let's make some donations.
(I say "Let's", even though I didn't get in on the IPO. )
What's your damage, Heather?
Aww, they are so cute. Looks like a good cause, just dont come running to me for help when some un-cute (bsd?) demons get burnt in the fire!
Maybe this should be the logo for the "sysadmin at the south pole".
But go ahead and help if you can (meaning you're not a poor college student like me).
"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
It took a bit of reading to find anywhere to send money to, but I finally found this:
Donations can be sent to: Phillip Island Penguin Parade, ATT: Penguin Hospital Support Fund P.O. Box 97 Cowes Phillip Island. Victoria. 3922. AUSTRALIA.
The didn't have anyway that I found, in the amount of time I had, to give money online or anything. Darn it those things are cute. Easy to want to help.
4 *INCH* tall penguins?
Homey don't play that.
Like much in our world, the merchant shipping industry is a haven for jobsworths, tightwads and schemers. Rather than have tanks cleaned properly in port (at a cost) unscrupulous shipowners encourage crews to simply flush them at sea. Stand on any beach near a shipping lane, and you can guarantee there'll be tar-like deposits everywhere from this heinous practise.
... Well, almost every large merchant vessel flies under a flag of convenience. This enables the captain or owners to say ``well, sue me in Liberia''.
There's little governments can do even if they have a fair idea which ships or copmanies are to blame. Do it in international waters, and no-one can get you. And if you get caught
A friend who works as a deck oficcer commented to me once that another problem is hopeless crews. OFficers tend to be trained and conscientius(sp?),
but crews often don't speak the same language as the officers and have no training. In the British merchant navy, many crews are Philipino simply because the owners can get away with paying them shit wages.
Anyways, enough of the ranting. I just hope no more of these little penguins succumb to the oil.
Chris Wareham
It is interresting how the hearts of all the techno-loving, junk-food-n-plastic eating hackers all feels sad for an animal. Perheaps not as strange, an OS has done it. But, to be honest, there are a lot of spiecis suffering from unlawfull chasing and from environmental destroying garbage. Please, everyone, try to help all of them, not just the one lyckily selected as the logo for Linux. They do have the same right to a good life filled with gras and baths (Or what the speiece in question values), as you have to one filled with cool hardware and free software!
--The knowledge that you are an idiot, is what distinguishes you from one.
And remember, folks; if you're trying to attract women, having a soft spot for cute little penguins always helps.
Money is everythingin a case like this - perhaps some of the newly succesful Linux companies could use this to boost their image? :)
Sounds disgustingly corporate, but I dont see any international agencies that arent charities/enviro groups that have guaranteed funding existing to take care of this.
The penguins wont care where the money comes from, I can tell you that.
Dont you all know its the corporations that have to take care of our environment and community now? Havent you seen those Saturn commercials?
Just to make a really unpopular but important statement while Im at it: wasnt it found to be a waste of money to save animals from the Valdeez spill? Didnt they die anyway? Couldnt that money be used better to cleanup the spill unless saving these few animals will keep a population from crashing or becoming endangered?
Remember, CUTE AND CUDDLY doesnt important make. Just cuz they're cute penguins doesnt matter as much as their position in the food chain and how other populations rely on them. Money should go where its really needed, not where the population, guided by what animals make cute stuffed toys, thinks it should.
Math
Instead of sweaters, perhaps they could try ponchos instead?
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
A company was recently hired to produce thousands of 4 inch tall sweaters specially designed to fit penguins. Sweaters, Inc. was listed as having better than expected earnings for the 4th quarter. The President of the U.S. has been quoted as saying, "The influx of new jobs that have been created because of the penguin crisis has been a boon to the international community."
printf("Why have a signature?");
I have heard that more often that not, "tar-like deposits on the beach" are caused by undersea oil deposits leaking naturally.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
Phillip Island's penguin colony is a great place to visit (I was there many years ago). The penguins all come from the sea to feed their chicks at roughly the same time in the evening. You can watch this from bleachers at the beach.
Whoever dumped the slick off Phillip Island should be fed to sharks.
That's only in places like the Gulf of Mexico
where there are such deposits.
Phillip Island Penguin Parade
att: Penguin Hospital Support Fund
P.O. Box 97
Cowes
Phillip Island. Victoria. 3922. AUSTRALIA.
But it would also be interesting to make sure that this
doesn't continue to happen -- for any animals! What
organisations exist that help prevent that these polluters
get away?
So what is being done to punish the oil company? Which company is responsible, are they investigating the cause? Who is being held accountable for this? Someone needs to get their ass handed to them on a platter for dumping a bunch of oil in our ocean!
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
to have a pet pengiun or 2. Are they hard to take care of? :)
Has anyone thought of cleaning them off with a solvent and letting them go? I suppose that isn't an option because of the tree huggers involved. Better to whine about oil companies I guess.
Mad props to you guys for getting this story out.... I know some people bitch and moan when there is a "non-techie" article posted, but screw it. We Slashdotters have a LOT of power in our little mouse-held hands, and it's time we put it to good use (instead of just taking down servers-grin!).... Those little guys break my heart. I'm sending a check right now!
Siobahn
http://www.siobahn.com
I made a point of going to Phillip Island when I was in Melbourne a couple of months ago, just to see the penguins. I froze my butt off on the beach right after sundown, but it was worth it to see them all march up the beach and head for their nests--one of the highlights of the trip. I even have a little stuffed fairy pengin gracing my monitor right now.
:-)
The original URL has directions on where to send the donations. And, if you're in the US, your US dollars go a long way in Aus. dollars
We really need to jump up and down screaming about this to the right organization.
I just visited webcertificate.com and got my free webcertificate which comes already charged with a free $5 worth of credit. If ThinkGeek could set up a SKU, I'd be glad to donate the $5 to the cute little guys.
As mentioned in another post, this would be great way for anyone who is now filthy rich due to the Linux related stock craze to ease their open source conscience.
(By the way, is conscience the opposite of science?)
Work for Change & GET PAID!
FYI -
According to a colleague of mine who lived for a time in Oz, it is possible to send U.S.-drawn checks to Australia. The recipient, however, will have to pony up the exchange rate difference and possibly pay a fee to their bank to take the deposit.
Note that large banks (Citibank, Harris, etc.) usually will sell you a money order drawn in foreign currency, if you want to save the Penguin People from the evil bank fee collectors.
Really big banks can probably even sell you authentic Australian currency, but we cannot recommend sending that by mail.
-Sharv
Orwell, I tried my best! :)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
"We all give lip service to how much we like penguins and such"
Which is about all you give.
Release he source Taco/Slashdot/Andover.
Your answers to the questions provided to you for the interview show that you do not practice what you preach. Put up or shut up. Release the source or stop with the lip service.
Posted by a REAL OpenSource author/advocate.
They are a threat to free speech and must be silenced! - Andrea Chen
Fish! LipHo
Why don't we nominate the penguins for the "Most deserving to win $2000.00" beanie thing? That'd certainly help them out, and they'd probably put it to very good use. Even if the awards are distributed after the crisis is over, the association which is taking care of the penguins will be in the middle of a major cash crunch and I'm sure that they could use it.
disclaimer: opinions contained therein are not neccessarily those of my employer.
The Little Penguins are actually about 12" high, not 4" (I've been to Philip Island myself). Perhaps this is another metric to imperial conversion error, like the one which killed the NASA mars probe? Good cause anyway - the Philip Island folks are doing great work.
I'm a dedicated linux user, and even though i'm :) and not being able to help.
insulted by your statement, I do agree with you.
I wouldn't feel right looking at my tux alter
i've already sealed my envolope to them, which contains 100 dollars.
I hope all the linux users out there make a contribution also.
Gentleman, you can't fight in here, this is the war room..
who sez death can't be funny....www.endlesssorrow.com
Poor little guys. And a cause as worthy as any.
/. voting box on a secure and validated site. You select the amount to donate, click the donate button, and your contribution is added to the fund.
On the off-topic side though, I wonder what the result of the slashdot effect would be when applied to charitable donations... Say, $10 from everyone who visits the site. Maybe even less.
Has anyone out there done any work with electronic cash? Say: putting an amount into an online account, and then clicking on a URL to have a certain amount transfered to the cause..
I know, the fraud potential is huge, so security comes up, but consider... Something a'la
Even contributions of e-pennies per person would amount to considerable funds when coupled with the slashdot effect.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
This may be a worthy cause, but how the hell do I know what they'r doing with the money? Any background info on how they spend the money? What pct goes directly towards the penguins and what pct goes to admin?
I know CmdrTaco thinks he's doing a service, but I don't need him telling me which causes to support. I'm sure there are some people who will give money because CmdrTaco thinks its a good idea. That's a shame. Besides, how much cash is CmdrTaco giving?
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
They should be thanked, for bringing about the greatest fashion breakthrough in Penguin history.
**>>BELCH
-dB
"It if was easy to do, we'd find someone cheaper than you to do it."
If an entity set up a site with credit card verification or a current online vendor took donations via credit card, I for one would donate right now. The exchange fee problem would be overcome and the act of donating would be so easy there would be no excuse NOT to send a few bucks.
Human laziness coupled with the "SlashDot Effect" could save a whole hell-of-alot of penguins.
~Any apparent grammatical or typographic errors are caused by defects in your display device.
If you all make your checks out to me, then i can travel to Australia, hit the little birds with a fire hose (or power washer) and enjoy a good vacation.
sound good?
What does a stoopid article about penguins have to do with anything that the Slashdot community is interested in?
If Linus had stuck with the original Duck-Billed Platapus mascot for Linux, would we be reading countless articles about the plight of that animal instead of this stuff about a bird species so stupid it forgot how to fly?
Fucking evil Corporations killing the planet. They don't care as long as it makes them $$$
Glad to see that thousands of us feel for the cute pengi-wengies.
However, I have to remind you that there are thousands of poor, homeless, destitute people around the world, dying in streets, suffering in refugee camps, and there are hundreds and thousands (no, that's not a gross over estimation ) of children orphaned by wars and natural disasters.
I believe we should think about those people too. They may not be as cute as penguins, but they sure need our help.
One source that confirms this
if it is, then somebody with more time and resources than me should find out in what way Microsoft owns that oil tanker. (we all know that M$ owns part of just about everything, there has to be a connection here somewhere)
Probably none, or not much. Most oil spills are cleaned up by NGO environmental groups, volunteers, and by state/federal governments. Usually the companies responsible for the spill gets off with at most a slap on the wrist. The one case where the oil company actually got a little more than a slap on the wrist (Exxon for the spill in Alaska) they still haven't paid their fines. They keep appealing and getting out of some fines. Besides, the amount they got fined was no where near the cost of cleanup or the cost of the destruction. The entire area had it's ecosystem destroyed, the economies of several towns were destroyed. The way of life for many native american people in the region was destroyed. Exxon should of had it's chartered revoked, it's assets liquidated, and that money should of gone to clean up and repair the region. People in America seem to have forgotten, there once was a time when the people had power over the corporations. http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/28/usa.html
There are much more worthy causes to which to donate money. For instance, there's the Red Cross, The Cancer Society, Ronald McDonald House, United Way, Heart Foundation (not to be confused with "Hart Foundation"), Diabetes Association (either Canadian, American, or other if any others exist). The list goes on.
And YES, I know this could perhaps be considered a bad comment to some moderators out there, but this is kind of pathetic, where there are more deserving charities in the world, and someone wants us to start worrying about 4" tall penguins??!?!!
Good idea! If I had any mod points I'd moderate
you up!
Here's a link to a larger picture and more information from an ausie newspaper. /news/20000104/A5181-2000Jan3.html
http://www.theage.com.au
Subject only message....
;)
C'mon, moderate me up, you were thinking it too when you saw the photo...
I noticed a few different people complaining about how people were being shafted here, how there is much suffering a poverty among people and, for some reason, they think that it must be addressed at the expense of the animals.
Now, before you jump to the conclusion that I'm some maniac tree-huggers, let's look at this plain and scientific.
Case 1: The suffering people, lacking food, shelter etc. Who screwed them over? Who benefited from their misery? Well, other people. So people caused the problem there. We did it to ourselves. We are all equally guilty.
Case 2: The animals have no involvement, they don't squander resources, kill for no reason, elect republicans, or hurt homosexuals. They are therefore innocent, as a species, and by the same speciest reasoning that people use to put them last, they should be put first.
The same is true of most other species we consider "cute": "Babe" wouldn't have half its resonance if it were about a wild boar raised by a wolf pack who learns wolflike methods of hunting rams. Up until the century just passed, most children's stories, either "Western", or traditional, rarely cast wild animals as sympathetic characters: they were usually cast, even in vegetarian India and hunter-gatherer tribes, as being caricatures of humanity's gross and ignoble nature. A hundred years ago, educators warned parents that buying their daughters "Roosevelt's cubs" would pervert their maternal instinct away from their future roles as wives and mothers. (Sorry, guys, you're about 90,000 years too late...) Today, teddy bears share their toy chests with such perverse beasts as mandrills, owl-like Furbies, seals, and even (gasp!) penguins with Linuxmall buttons on them, as concerns as diverse as The Nature Conservancy and Mc Donald's find that the best way to popularize the plight of endangered species is to make plush animals in their image. Deer are now a problem in many suburban neighborhoods -- no one wants to shoot Bambi's mother. (Mice, which eat everything, crap everywhere, and spread fleas and microbes, are a sore point with many people, thanks to the same concern -- we now project our disgust on rats.) Bears are dangerous, destructive, beasts, who also invade human settlements -- who wants to draw a bead on Pooh?
True, there aren't many ways of cutesifying snail darters. Most of the animals who occupy an important position in the food chain aren't all that glamorous (with the exception of rodents). But who wants to read zoological data to their kids at bedtime, or snuggle up to an ecocensus report at the end of the day?
In keeping with the communitarian spirit of Linux, perhaps there ought to be a permanent Penguin fund set up with the Audubon Society, with contributions from Linux-minded people and groups. Such proposal has been made before, and would do much to popularize both causes in a way that would be truly commensal.
"'Cause penguins are so sensitive, to my needs." --Lyle Lovett.
teleny, friend of cats.
people are asking on the ranger list how to send money, and they give an address, but what is the best method?
... (well, you know).
money order, personal check, etc?
no one seems to be able to answer this rather basic question...i've never sent money overseas.
who would i even make the darn check out to? can someone from slashdot find out and update the post?
i hate to whine (not really) but to ask for help with so many basic details missing is kind of
Im stuck at work, someone be a hero for the little penguins, eh?
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
See my user info for links.
well, if you can't sue them you can always stir up some public outcry and boycott them.
- passion
too bad Linus didn't choose a starving kid as the mascot.
People can get up and move, people can adapt. Animals don't share this mobility. They are frequently tied to the evironment of specific regions. Since we (I'm assuming you are all people) are the dominant species, we have a certain obligation to help ensure habitat for less advanced species. I suppose it doesn't hurt to mention that people cause the oil slick in the first place? It's a shame that some individuals have incurable diseases, etc. But people (and the foundations you mention) are working on this, right?
I too visited Phillip Island, when I was a kid. I've loved penguins ever since. It's really an incredible sight, seeing all of these little penguins come wattling out of the surf. They make their way up the sandy beach and to the burrows in the dunes where their noisy, braying, fluffy, and impatient chicks - often bigger than the parents - are waiting. I'm so sorry to see that they've been hurt by an oil slick, and I sure hope this will have no serious impact on the Philip Island population as whole. Does anyone know anything about that, one way or the other????
Oh, and with regard to the comment:
Whoever dumped the slick off Phillip Island should be fed to sharks.
I concur. One limb at a time.Let's face it, if we coordinated the worlds resources so there weren't thousands of children dying every day, in a couple of decades we'd reach the point that there were thousands of children dying every day again. And the world would be a lot more crowded.
Nobody likes pain, misery, and death, but they are always going to be there. You can shift them around to someone else, or save them up for the next generation, but you can never really reduce them. Everyone must die, and most will go kicking and screaming.
You might say that birth control is the answer, but it will only ever be a temporary solution. There will always be those who don't comply, and their exponential population growth will eventually displace the "responsible citizens." Natural selection favors the breeders. If they are kept in check by force, that is just more of the same misery and death.
You might say that space travel is the answer, but assuming that any human can travel for free at _any_ constant speed, exponential population growth will overtake the cubic growth of the volume humans have reached. Even if humanity achieves methods of instantaneous travel, few believe in an infinite universe; it will get filled up. Something has to keep it in check, and that something will always be death; given that people will almost always accept pain to avoid death, and very few humans have the cold style of mercy (if it is worthy of that name) that would kill people just because they would starve eventually, that means misery.
I help my family, I help my friends, I obey agreements I have made for mutual benefit, but I do not give charity, nor do I agonize over how the money I spend on a snack could have fed some distant family for days (as I used to when my morality was based on the value of survival and happiness of conscious minds). Nor do I care when I hear that some distant people are killing each other, except so far as it may destabilize the world and possibly cause nuclear war.
You may consider this an evil morality, but pure altruism through charity is ultimately a lie, if you look at enough of the world and over a long enough period of time. There are many "positive sum games" out there to encourage cooperation (indeed, expansion into the universe is a worthy accomplishment that would be impossible if we all truly lived "every man for himself"), but remember that ultimately we are all competing for resources. If not in this generation, or the next, then five or fifty down the road.
The standard of living can be raised across the board only by improvement/preservation of the environment. Beauty is a consolation to the hopeless. Nothing is more universally beautiful than nature.
Saving the penguins preserves a beautiful part of the world that is no threat to anyone. As population pressures grow there may be no room for the planet's other inhabitants, but we should preserve what we can. I would rather live in a dangerous, beautiful, interesting world than a safe, boring, comfortable one. I would rather be born into a world of misery and have any slim chance to struggle for life than not be born at all.
Not only penguins but also seagulls and similar, they get this oil on the feathers and then they die.
And now comes the unpopular part of what I feel I have to say: big chunk of responsibility is on US materialistic, consumistic mentality. Do you know that the average US citizen consumes more than twice as much resources as a European, and hundreds of times more than an Indian.
Look, I know you americans like cars, but I have never seen so many and so big cars like in US. Many of you people have more than one car, and in many cities a pedestrian has a tough time. In US the public transportation is pathetic compared to Finland or Germany. And that, dear friends, makes a difference. Public transportation, expecially trains and metros, have proven to be a great means to protect the ambient. And to consume less oil.
I have asked many US friends why is the public transportation so bad in US (not everywhere, of course, but in the great majority of towns) and the cars so big? It turns out that the US oil and car companies are strongly connected to lobbysts and very politically influencial in general.
Sorry if I have offended anyone living in US; I am actually very fond of Americans and the US, but if we talk about ambiental problems, the US is partly to blame.
Maybe you think this issue is not important. However, today we have already exterminated many animal specias, polluted the air, the rivers and the oceans very significantly, and there is a very important phenomenon of global warning. Many forests in south america and in other parts of the world have been burnt, and the ozone layer that protected us from damaging UV rays is thinned. And all these processes are just aggravating. If you have a vision and not only live for today, you will think about what is going to happen to our home, the earth, some 50 to 100 years from now. I am afraid it will look more and more like Mars, without a sheltering atmosphere that would protect from extremely cold and hot weathers, poor of oxigene and with a very limited variety of wildlife. That is scary.
Sigged!
my god, this is pretty damn bad. This story doesn't deserve it's own place to thrive. It should've been slapped in with all those links last night ... you know, the story that had that wu-name generator link in it.
don't have the url now, too lazy to look for it, and besides, I've already wasted enough time even posting a comment about this lame-ass story.
As much as I'd like to help every single animal directly, I cannot. I do not have the resources for that. But what I *CAN* do is focus on just a few things to help directly. And I can also help all animals and the environment indirectly by not making things worse. For example, getting a better car that is more effiecent and scrubs it's emissions much better for going to CONs would be a start:) And not tossing my Jolt cans in the trash(damn California has a poor bottle system, Michigan's is far far superior in many ways)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Wouldn't it be easyer if they just posted an account number where we could wire funds to? And it would probably be quicker than sending a check too.
Say no to software patents.
Release the source of what? /.? That's already been done.
Penguin DNA? Talk to God.
J.
damned vulpine http://sb.drtwister.com/
Or if we can't now, when will we ever be able to? All we need is data. Providence (and ARPANet) have given us a tool. How are we going to use it? We need :- type of Oil (grade, colour, suplhur content). Weather for last few days in area. Local sea currents and Winds for last few days. From people down-under, recent port movements (surely they must be logged somewhere). HF and radio hams in the area - transmissions made on marine band. I think a co-ordinated (and ass-kicking) team effort could seriously zoom in on the ship that did this. It shouldn't be too difficult to then get the parent company and which load / cargo they were carrying and for which company. Last step, tell the news organistaions, link to sites containing the facts, link to pictures of penguins and bingo! New World Order. I want to make it happen. I want to make it happen. I want to make it happen.
Keep your insane life-hating socialist eco-religion to yourself, you miserable feminazi stormtrooper.
(I say "Let's", even though I didn't get in on the IPO. )
Of course you didn't. You're a parasite, a whining animated stomach that's totally incapable of creating wealth. The IPO millionaires should (and will) keep their wealth and do as they please with it. They will not waste it trying to kill off the human race by worshipping animals.
Each of us gets a choice in this life: We can work for the human race, or against it. Animal-worshippers like you have made their choice. In choosing to destroy human wealth (fossil fuels are a key component of the modern world economy) you have become a traitor to your own species. I know your kind. I don't doubt that you also support the forced abortions in China. That's right up your alley, isn't it? Murdering human children in order to "protect the environment".
You disgust me.
Not to mention you have to keep them in your refrigerator...
> 10 go to 20 20 go to 10
...otherwise known as "while (1);"
:-)
--
- Sean
It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
- Sean
A top level post got me mad and I responded with the post one level up from this one. But you guys moderated the original (top level) post down. Good. Thanks for that. BUT if you don't moderate all the child posts / responses they move one level up. In my case my response is now at the root level of the story. Its now totally out of context. Please therfore moderate down all child posts if you moderate down a parent.
are you serious dude? humans ARE animals too you know? I mean, we are part of this whole ecosystem thing... if we break the ecosystem we ultimatly kill ourselves. current human practices are doing a lot to break the ecosystem, thus it makes sense for humans to learn how to make the global ecosystem as healthy as possible and then to do whatever they can that is reasonable to maintain a balanced and healthy ecosystem. You sound like some greedy Republican type. Money=God. Humans=Owners of Earth. You=Stupid. http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/28/usa.html http://www.the-revolution.org
Those charities also have massive advertising budgets and huge corporations donating stuff. If you want to help them, fine, go write a check, but please will all you people STOP WHINING ABOUT WHERE WE CHOOSE TO SEND OUR MONEY!?!?!?!
I mean, what're we going to do? Buy them new clothes the next time we spill a little oil on em?
sKitZ
...would be to develop some kind of device that could be placed near the oil-slicked areas to keep the seals and penguins from trying to swim in the poisoned water in the first place. Something like the nifty black box that keeps mice from wanting to live in my basement. It probably couldn't be done in time for these particular birds, but you could save their children.
I would personally like to help these penguins, but I don't think sending money or knitting sweaters will help much; this spill seems relatively small from the reports and should be old news long before the sweater I knit gets to Australia. The best way to help is to pay attention to which environmental groups gave money to the rangers on day one, and/or sent people to help clean up, and reimburse them for their diligence. Or put your EE/biology skills to good use and design a better beeper, and make saving them cost less the next time around.
Rev. Neh
... and there is no doubt, that one day he will be
where the eye of his telescope has already been
tar -xvf fairy_penguins
This was Australia. Australia does not export oil. (IIRC, there isn't any oil in aus). That tanker was carrying oil for Australian consumption.
Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) are 14" (35cm) tall - not 4" tall! While they look cute, these guys bite - just ask Linus. ;-)
While the oil slick is relatively small (e.g. the French spill), it has come at a particularly bad time for the penguins - they have chicks in their burrows, so Mum and Dad need to fish twice as often. While the number of dead adults is known, I haven't heard how many chicks have starved in the burrows; expect this number to be high.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our American dead!
If I can only save my dog or my baby from a burning house, the dog's gonna roast. Sorry.
However, that ruling status brings some responsibility with it.
Bingo. My thoughts exactly. The extremists on the right-wing end of the spectrum like to pretend that we must choose to annihilate either the human race, or all other life on Earth, and the Earth First! viewpoint is only slightly more nuanced than that. The problem is, it's a false opposition. It's total crap. But extreme views are usually like that; extremists spend the majority of their time trying to convince the mushy middle that it doesn't exist, basically
I've seen the exact sort of insane animal rights mindset that has driven you to make such an angry bitter post.
That's not what drove me. I was driven by needing to take a break from coding some weird shit that pulls apart executable files and hashes certain parts of them. So I posted some crazy gibberish on Slashdot for laughs.
I have indeed encountered the sort of super-extreme animal-rightsers of whom you speak, but I borrowed the right-wing anti-animal-rights schtick from some idiot I once saw on Slashdot who accused Al Gore of being that kind of an animal-rightser -- you know, the reductionist non-sequitur thing: "Earth First! is called 'environmentalist', and so is Al, therefore EF! and Al are identical." Um, yeah, whatever, heh heh.
They are really senseless people who would sell out their own species in a heartbeat
True. And so would their opposite numbers in the extreme fringes of the right wing. Extremists "is mostly scoundrels", if you ask me. Gotta run and take my cat to the vet. Later.
MELBOURNE, Australia (./) -- Wildlife officers Monday were trying to save more than 100 fairy penguins covered in thick black oil from a slick that washed up on an island off Australia's southeast corner.
Dick Smith, general manager of the Phillip Island Nature Park, said six penguins had died so far and another 110 were being treated at an animal hospital.
First reports indicated an unidentified ship dumped the oil several days ago. However, it was learned from defense department sources that a U.S. spy satellite was observing the area and was able to read make out the ship's name - "MS Redmond".
Based upon this evidence, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno is preparing an investigation to see if Bill Gates, founder of the Redmond, WA based Microsoft Corporation was involved. "The government has reason to suspect that Microsoft is involved", said Reno. Penguins are the mascot of the Linux operating system, which is a competitor of Microsoft and poised to take its market share. The Attorney General is also preparing to file charges for six counts of murder, for the penguins that have been killed to date.
In a related note, the vessel MS Redmond was discovered late last night in the mid-pacific, circling out of control, before incinerating into a large fireball, killing the entire crew. The last known radio contact with the vessel indicated its primary domain controller (PDC) crashed shortly before the explosion.
Australia has a capital 'A', you tool.
From the news report I saw, they were trying to find the culprits. That was a few days ago. Not sure if they've found them yet.
Well, once again it looks like we've been able, or will be able, to make a difference! From the penguins' web site:
PINP Release (Park Ranger) Fri 9:28amThis response is really fantastic - we are doing up a form page for those wanting to help out. And all the rangers here are *genuinely* moved at this overwhelming show of support. Wish we could show you the Penguin Hospital which is currently crowded by so many Little Penguins, and we will try and get some more pics online in our News Release service. And please keep the notes/emails coming in - this week has been very tiring and stressful. The Island and the Penguins (plus koalas and seals) are more than a job to everyone here. Its hard to explain, but these "wild animals" are very much a part of the life of our Island Community. I hope one day the Linux folk and others will join us for a celbration down here!
All monies raised will be going directly to improving the Little Penguin Hospital facilities in the here and now. Everything IS helping - and your words of encouragement are as meaningful to us as the donations being received. Thankyou! PS Could someone please post this thankyou somewhere ALL the Linux folk etc. can read it? Ta muchly!
and...
Amazing to see the replies coming in from the Linux community - what can we say? Thanks all!
Donations are very much appreciated as th enumber of affected penguins grows over 200 now, and sadly the number of dead is also rising :(
You can send a donation via cheque, postal or money order (probably travellers cheque as well) to:
Phillip Island Penguin Parade
att: Penguin Hospital Support Fund
P.O. Box 97
Cowes
Phillip Island. Victoria. 3922. AUSTRALIA.
Email to: penguins@penguins.org.au (we WILL reply ASAP to all enquiries)
On the programming side, we have just installed three (3) live online internet "kiosks" in our Visitor Centre. These are due to be up and running this week, delayed a little by the current crisis. Currently the three PC's are networked to a UNIX server, however we have been seriously investigating how to get a Linux box in place.I'm still on a learning curve with Linux, and must confess that it was Linux's use of the Little Penguin that first attracted me to the free/community OS. Programming enquiries to: penguins@ozgurus.com
Thanks and have a good one all!
From the site in the article:
http://www.penguins.org.au/chat/index.html
there is now a link near the top to a form for online donations by credit card. If you don't want to look at the news and chat page on the penguin site, you can go direct to
https://www.penguins.org.au/medi a/helpinghand.html
No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.
Should get a brain for christmas and start moderating posts intelligently instead of whatever else is inside your head. Moderate me down but a lot of people would agree with me, slashdot needs new moderators.
damn, i want a "4 penguin as a pet!
Is it possible to mail order them things through the mail?
hehehehehe (j/k btw)
The Philip Island Nature Park now has a form available for credit card donations. That should take care of the currency-conversion problems.
According to the rangers on the site, " All monies raised will be going directly to improving the Little Penguin Hospital facilities in the here and now."
The doomsday millennium; Bob Carr, Premier of New South Wales.
I hear they've now banned cameras all together, because despite repeated warnings in many languages, people kept using their flashes/video camera lights. That was certainly the case in August, when I was there.
I wrote about it at the time, see this page for a description and a picture (taken without a flash or light, of course): http://www.toxiccustard.com/diary /1999/08.html#01
If you're ever in Australia, don't miss it - they are so damn cute!
The Moderators on this site unfortuantly seem to have no social life what so ever. They seem to moderate the funny post down and the flamebait post up.
The Moderators on this site unfortuantly seem to have no social life what so ever. They seem to moderate the funny post down and the flamebait post up.
Me very poor starving child. I am forced to use windoze on a 386. I support my 18 siblings by emptying bit buckets and selling the contents at recycling centers. My mom smokes crack and my dad was killed by a runaway oil tanker. Pleaz send me your money. And tell Linus I want to be his poster boy. Or just send us penguins to roast.
(Voluntarily forgoing my +1 because I know this is on the edge of flamebait
"People" suffering from "diseases" NEVER bring it on themselves, EVER? Wake up and smell the cigarettes burning.
My mom's best friend has two inoperable tumors on her lungs. She's about 50 years old. And the crazy woman is still smoking!
And more to the point, have fun telling your doctor that you're an innocent victim when your fast food, Mountain Dew, and lack of sleep catch up with you
I'm sure doc will be doing his/her very best not to laugh.
(And yeah, I know, I'm something of a hypocrite here, since I'm starting to be a bit of a caffeine addict and I'm theoretically 20 or so pounds overweight
"Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today
Each time you click the button, you give about 4 or 5 cents. Sending $20/year directly to the UN World Food Program is more effective than visiting the Hunger Site every day (and lets face it, you'll miss days), and takes less effort.
However, the site itself says that 3/4 of the people starving are children under 5. Practically every mouthful goes directly into increasing overpopulation in areas where people can't feed themselves. Feed one starving child today, watch six children starve twenty years from now.
(BTW, I think the suggestion was that sending money to wash off penguins was not as good as sending money to feed starving children)
Charity, too, is oppression.
- the following
- link suggest this may not be the case...check your sources first.
...It is believed the oil came from the pumping out of a ship's bilge, rather than a tanker spill, though neither the Environment Protection Authority nor the Maritime Board was able to confirm this yesterday. An EPA analysis of the oil is expected today...
links:if you want to ask questions go to the source...here - (http://www.penguins.org.au/chat/index.html)
http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000104/A5181-2000
http://www.penguins.org.au/chat/index.html
peterrenshaw ~ Another Scrappy Startup
The extremists on the right-wing end of the spectrum like to pretend that we must choose to annihilate either the human race, or all other life on Earth, and the Earth First! viewpoint is only slightly more nuanced than that.
I'm concerned that you're operating with a caricature of Earth First!, which is actually a very diverse, radically decentralized organization, with incredible folks like Judy Bari who organized and worked to protect the ancient redwoods in her home with great success because she pointed out that clear-cutting was destroying the jobs of loggers as well (and so they worked together). Earth First! is not an anti-human movement; rather, it's a diverse movement of people protecting the land from profit-seeking corporations who, legally, must maximize profit rather than considering the long-term consequences of destruction of wilderness and natural systems. Of course, the major media, controlled by companies like Disney, GE, etc, present Earth First! as a collection of nuts, rather than the incredibly brave, loving people that they are, people who have not forgotten the tradition of civil disobedience in opposition to unjust laws.
Oh, incidentally, Judy is dead. She was car-bombed in 1990 during a campaign to save the redwoods in Mendocino County, then framed for her own bombing (the facts are clear on this), and died of liver on March 2, 1997. She will never be forgotten.
They should bring a couple of the dead ones to a taxidermist so they can be stuffed. Beanie Penguins.
Great job, everyone!!! I just stopped by the Phillip Island site again, and there are scores of slashdot readers who have stopped by, taken advantage of the on-line credit-card-based donation form, and chipped in for this great cause, just the last few hours. Of course I did the same.
More feedback from the rangers as well; this one made my whole day. The rangers there write:
PINP Release (Park Ranger) Fri 11:08amSome orgainations (community aid abroad f'instnace) actually buy things like hoes and spades and teach permaculture, and actively take steps to produce long term infrastructural change to combat famine.
Hey ppl, if you guys want more pix I discovered the Australian (Aussie paper) has a "Newspix" section. Do a search on penguins and you should get some really cool pics!
Legend has it that it's this species of penguin (fairy penguin) that bit Linus on the finger when he was at Philip Island, thus inspiring him to adopt a penguin as the logo for Linux. It's unlikely due to the probable lifespans of these birds and that there's so many of them, but wouldn't be ironic if the same penguin that bit Linus was saved by Slashdot donations? If God existed and had a wacky sense of humour, then it could well happen....
:)
As for me, because I live only about 70 kilometres from Philip Island, I think I'll drive down and donate some Australian currency to the penguin hospital in person if they'll let me.
If you ever get your hands on some genuine Australian currency, don't be surprised when you find that the banknotes are made of polymer. The polymer notes last longer than paper money, but they do shrink when you put them in the oven....
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke
I checked back that invalid certificate thingy which makes some users hesiate from donating. The cert is invalid because it was issued to the domain: www.labyrinth.net.au
i ns&domain=.org.au&moreinfo=1)
.org.au
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 6
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 4, AUTHORITY: 4, ADDITIONAL: 4
;; QUERY SECTION:
;; penguins.org.au, type = ANY, class = IN
;; ANSWER SECTION:
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
;; Total query time: 271 msec
;; FROM: vserve4.netregistry.au.com to SERVER: munnari.oz.au 128.250.22.2
;; WHEN: Fri Jan 7 20:33:39 2000
;; MSG SIZE sent: 33 rcvd: 273
When checking DNS entries a little you can find that they are the providers for penguins.org.au. (See the domain info taken from http://www.nic.au below or online at ht tp://www.nic.au/cgi-bin/multisearch.pl?name=pengu
--------- snip ----------
nslookup -type=NS penguins.org.au
Source: Authorative server for
Server: munnari.OZ.AU
Address: 128.250.1.21
Non-authoritative answer:
penguins.org.au nameserver = rip.psg.COM
penguins.org.au nameserver = warrane.connect.COM.AU
penguins.org.au nameserver = yarrina.connect.COM.AU
penguins.org.au nameserver = minotaur.labyrinth.NET.AU
Authoritative answers can be found from:
rip.psg.COM internet address = 147.28.0.39
warrane.connect.COM.AU internet address = 192.189.54.33
yarrina.connect.COM.AU internet address = 192.189.54.17
minotaur.labyrinth.NET.AU internet address = 203.9.148.2
dig -t any penguins.org.au
; > DiG 8.2 > @munnari.oz.au penguins.org.au -t
; (2 servers found)
penguins.org.au. 1D IN NS rip.psg.COM.
penguins.org.au. 1D IN NS warrane.connect.COM.AU.
penguins.org.au. 1D IN NS yarrina.connect.COM.AU.
penguins.org.au. 1D IN NS minotaur.labyrinth.NET.AU.
penguins.org.au. 1D IN NS rip.psg.COM.
penguins.org.au. 1D IN NS warrane.connect.COM.AU.
penguins.org.au. 1D IN NS yarrina.connect.COM.AU.
penguins.org.au. 1D IN NS minotaur.labyrinth.NET.AU.
rip.psg.COM. 1d21h55m26s IN A 147.28.0.39
warrane.connect.COM.AU. 1D IN A 192.189.54.33
yarrina.connect.COM.AU. 1D IN A 192.189.54.17
minotaur.labyrinth.NET.AU. 1D IN A 203.9.148.2
Actual Server Reply
[ns.aunic.net]
domain: penguins.org.au
descr: Phillip Island Penguin Reserve
descr: (ACN)
descr:
descr: ACT
admin-c: KD202-AU
tech-c: EH201-AU
zone-c: KD202-AU
remarks: Created 19960824
changed: register@aunic.net 19960918
source: AUNIC
person: kieran davies
address: 13/68 gould street
address: frankston
address: VIC 3197
phone: +61 9769 6966
fax-no: +61 9769 6472
e-mail: manmor@labyrinth.net.au
nic-hdl: KD202-AU
remarks: (Organisation) manmor
remarks: (position) manager
remarks: Created 19960918
changed: register@aunic.net 19960918
source: AUNIC
person: Elizabeth Hemphill
address: Level 10, 99 Queen St
address: Melbourne
address: VIC 3000
address: AU
phone: +61 3 9642 4222
fax-no: +61 3 9642 4955
e-mail: domainmaster@labyrinth.net.au
nic-hdl: EH201-AU
remarks: (Organisation) Labyrinth Connections Pty. Ltd.
remarks: Created 19960725
changed: register@aunic.net 19991014
source: AUNIC
--------- snip ----------
Greetz
I've already posted this on the Phillip Island page, so maybe I'll get a response from there. As we've suddenly all become so 'concientous' (sp?), is there anywhere that we can adopt/sponsor a penguin via a zoo, wildlife center or similar?? Surely having a picture of a real-life Tux would be far better (if not more cool {sic}) than having a stuffed toy by your monitor. Also, we would be paying your sponsorship each year, thereby ensuring the continued survival of these little critters for years to come and doing our bit to 'save the planet'. Just a thought - maybe someone out there has some knowledge or a contact for this sort of thing. .sig removed by humor-detector. Can't have any of that around here!!
I certainly won't donate jack shit to the penguins. They can rot.
I encourage you all to do the same.
These little creatures are our mascots,
let us show them that we care.
www.6502asm.com - Code 6502 assembly or.. DIE!!
The better/correct term for a bunch of Little Penguins is actually a "raft" :))
:)
Least thats what they are called when they come home each night, and leave each morning in the waters of Bass Straight
kd (Phillip Island Nature Park)
(Score: 0, Redundant)
--
"I personal[ly] think Unix is "superior" because on LSD it tastes like Blue." -- jbarnett
You're right, Earth First! is a lot of people and by assuming them to be monolithic/homogeneous, I'm being just as reductionistic as the "extremists" I'm snarling about.
it's a diverse movement of people protecting the land from profit-seeking corporations who, legally, must maximize profit rather than considering the long-term consequences of destruction of wilderness and natural systems.
The depressing part is that they don't just have to "maximize profit"; they have to maximize short term profit. Bari was right about clear-cutting destroying the jobs of loggers; if there are no trees, you can't very well cut them down. There are cause-and-effect relationships here. From a hard-core free marketist perspective, it's "politically incorrect" to admit that bare topsoil will erode and turn into a wasteland, but the laws of nature don't pay much attention to ideology.
By the way, I happen to know a "hard-core free marketist" who's pretty much a single-issue pro-environmentalist voter. He has (IMHO) exaggerated faith in the market in some respects, but in a few limited respects he recognizes that it's not the right tool for the job. It's nice to know that those guys aren't monolithic, either.
Hah. You scammed me. I'll get you for this!
I've been trolled, too, actually. Half the people who agree with my trolls are trolls themselves, and sometimes they're so scary I end up falling out of character and trying to talk sense into them.
Wait'll I hit you with my latest patent I got for posting crazy gibberish on Slashdot for laughs!
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Not that it really matters. I never much liked the guy; he always seemed like he was sort of riding on WSB's coattails . . .
Too often in this world we forget about the big picture. The oil companies want money. Spilling oil saves money. This seemingly simple explanation can destroy the lives of living things. Personally I dont know where these people get off. Havent they ever seen a pic of a 4" penguin? You have to wonder about someone who would conciously KILL one of Tux's own. I think whoever is responsible for this should be covered in oil and put in a swimming pool. They can give it but can't take it. I remember when oil spills were very rare. now oil companies are DUMPING oil on PURPOSE? Will somebody tell me whats wrong here? Eventually they'll get the oceans so gunked up that they wont be able to get ships through them. What kind of sick eorls are we living in? On the bright side, it is great to see that the entire open sourde community is pitching in. maybe there is still hope for society.
My mom smokes crack
:-)
Are you sure it was your mum?
To the this-is-not-techo-news AC: haven't you ever been rebuked by MAILER-PAENGUIN for getting an address wrong? Keep on insulting them, and the Paenguins will get you! (-: So play n-i-c-e, Sid...
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing