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Penguin Poop Seen From Space
Scientists have found ten new emperor penguin colonies by spotting their skid marks on the Antarctic ice from satellite images (video on page). The ice around the penguins gets very dirty because they congregate in a small area in very large colonies for months. Peter Fretwell, Mapping Expert, British Antarctic Survey says, "What we find is that we can see the guano (excrement) from space. They stay in the same space in very large colonies for eight months of the year and the ice around them gets very dirty, and it's that that we can see on the satellite images."
...to automatically purge their logs.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Another reason why gentoo is shitty.
Object within the resolution limit of space camera is observed! Gasp!
I modded-up the article as "fresh."
Not sure if that helps.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
Holy crap! you gotta be shitting me!
And somehow, we're the ones blamed for polluting the planet.
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
...must bow their head in awe at a poop that's visible from orbit.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
...the BBC documentary Planet Earth skipped over. No, it was all pristine, white landscape with cute penguins huddled together. Not once did they show a dirty red-brown shitty trail aftermath of their voyage. Next time I watch that, I'm going to look very closely at the background.
"Engineering. Where the noble, semi-skilled laborers execute the vision of those who think and dream." -Sheldon
I think there's an emperor penguin colony in my underpants!
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
You should see the mess penguins make man, we can see that shit from SPACE!
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
Too much poo in Mellon arena!
Penguin shiat FTW.
Actually, to dirty water ice enough to darken it considerably takes only a very small proportion of contaminants. Next winter, collect one of those dirty, nasty tire-bergs off of a car and melt it down. See how much of it is water and how much is dirt. For all it's nastiness, it's almost all water. (More broadly, this is true of planetary surfaces. The colors we generally associate with various surfaces are often due to trace components on otherwise white material.)
Your tax dollars at work....finding poop from space.
Thank God there's TANG to fall back on.
WTF? Over?
Since the average satellite can read the words on a stop sign, is this really a surprise?
... Or it didn't happen.
The average satellite probably doesn't have a camera on it. In fact, even the average *spy* satellite can't read the words on a stop sign... They're looking from the top down. It would have to be at the very edge of the horizon, and they would have to be pointed that way.
Sorry to be pedantic, but guano comes out of a cloaca, which is kinda like a combined urine/feces vent. Humans, and most placentals, have separate urine and feces vents.
We usually equate urine with water and salt regulation, but it's also our way of getting rid of nitrogenous waste (ammonia mostly), which we expel as urea. (Incidentally, the word 'urea' derives from 'urine,' and not vice-versa.) Since birds don't urinate, they convert their nitrogenous wastes into uric acid, which is what stains rocks and statues white. So, especially given the point of this article, the guano/feces precision is relevant.
a similar observation could be made about Congress.
...what color is penguin poop before. It's slippery and stinky and either green or red...
Non-Linux Penguins ?
... are you just happy to see m.. WAIT, that IS an emperor penguin colony
http://www.ratemypoo.com/
I hate being bipolar; it's awesome!
I think there's an emperor penguin colony in my underpants!
It's HOT GRITS :/
I shudder to think what would happen if these images fell into the wrong hands! This must be classified Top Secret immediately!
Can we estimate how many of these penguins there are in a colony based upon size and density of the guano? Does it allow us to calculate how many of these birds are eaten by polar bears each year? Can we judge overall health based upon color?
There's nothing else to see here, move along.
or maybe you just ate some taco bell
I think there's an emperor penguin colony in my underpants!
Bow before the emperors in my pants!!!!!
Test me and I will chronicle your pain - The Archivist (Diablo 3)
You now forget that penguins eat fish. Fish eat all kinds of small plants, etc. which help slow down global warming.
Penguins are thus enemies of our enemies.
That is alot of poop! Maybe a researcher could study this a go for the igNobel award.
http://improbable.com/ig/
That dark guano is going to absorb more sunlight and accelerate global warming and the melting of the ice!
We must preserve the home of the penguins, or they'll have nowhere to live.
Oops, we just shot them all.
Never mind.
...the bullshit in Washington D.C. must be visible from Mars.
...wish we could have given the presentation, just so we could stand up there and say "This, gentlemen, is a load of crap"?
They're setting up their next April Fool's joke early. Come 4/1/2010, they'll be announcing a new guano-based music storage system for everyone to use, with files retrieved by high-resolution shots from Orbital GoogleCams, under the new trademark name of 'iPood.'
Long? What do you mean the signature at the bottom of every comment I post on Slashdot is too lo
Penguin poop... from... SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE.
(Followed by obligatory non-caps message to defeat the lameness filter.)
www.eissq.com/BandP.html Ball and Plate System. Amuse your friends. Crush your enemies.
I poop therefor I exist!
Be seeing you...
I think it speaks volumes that our poop can be seen from space. Let us know when Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer poop can be seen too.
<1% market share indeed.
Who needs GPS when they already have a built in PPS?
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