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Paleontologists Unearth Giant Fossilized Penguin
Ponca City, We Love You writes "The BBC reports that scientists have discovered the 36-million-year-old fossil of a penguin nearly five feet tall and almost twice the weight of an Emperor Penguin, the largest living species. 'The heavier the penguin, the deeper it dives,' says Julia Clarke, a palaeontologist at the University of Texas. 'If that holds true for any penguins, then the dive depths achieved by these giant forms would've been very different.' The bird, named Inkayacu paracasensis, or water king, lived during the late Eocene period and had a long, straight beak, much longer than that of its modern relatives. But, most surprisingly, the giant penguin's feathers were brown and gray, distinct from the black 'tuxedo'"
Reader SpuriousLogic notes that it's also getting easier to keep an eye on modern penguins, since Google has extended Street View to Antarctica.
Why aren't there giant penguins around today? It must be due to global warming...
And this relates to Linux... how?
Were these giant penguins blind and albino?
No sig for the moment.
We need to clone it. We need 5ft killer penguins with long beaks and mean attitudes in our fight against proprietary software.
"Reader SpuriousLogic notes that it's also getting easier to keep an eye on modern penguins, since Google has extended Street View to Antarctica." A penguin waved at me! How polite.
Didn't I see this on a Monty Python episode? Except, the penguin was more like 50 feet high . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
In a related news, archeologists excavated a giant window in northern Canada. More at eleven...
...Go, Go, PengZilla!
...before we start seeing pictures of Jesus riding one of these?
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/episode/2010/10/02/october-2-2010/
Reader SpuriousLogic notes that it's also getting easier to keep an eye on modern penguins, since Google has extended Street View to Antarctica.
Not so much "street view", more like a "tourist with a camera taking photos of penguins along with some other tourists view".
Imagine cleaning up after a Beowulf cluster of those...
When I saw the tux icon and the fossil tag and immediately thought free /open source software-il. What's wrong with me?
Big penguins in the past doesn't seem to be totally unheard of. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palaeeudyptinae
But, most surprisingly, the giant penguin's feathers were brown and gray, distinct from the black 'tuxedo
Why is that surprising? It was 36 million years ago. There were big furry elephants and lizards the size of houses in prehistoric times.
Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
Finally, I have reason to point out that despite this being slashdot, I didn't choose this name because I like linux (although I do, the name came from before I started using it or signed up for slashdot), I chose it because I like penguins!
I have a degree in geology but never took any paleontology courses... I knew I should have, then I'd be able to comment on this important scientific discovery... er... make that, this important... linux development? I'm confused.
Looks like we horribly miss-calculated the year of the penguin!
OK, so how is the discovery of a new penguin species in any way relevant to Linux? What was the submitter (or the editor) smoking?
Lets face it, Apple with a bite out of it might be a clever logo but it is hardly going to get "Awh's" from the girls is it. And the windows logo? Most people don't even know what it is. Those who know fear to mention it afraid of any linkage between broken windows, the fragility of glass and MS software.
But Linux, we got the tuxedoed one. And every single time penguins are in the news, we can link it to linux. And giant killer penguins are awesome things!
Oh yeah, I forgot the BSD people. A naked underaged devil. Least said...
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
No, not Linux.
This is just a cover story. For beyond the giant penguins resides the Plateau of Leng, the long-forgotten city of the Elder Things.
Beware! BEWARE!!!
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
"Holy shitballs Ricky, they discovered a PANSQUANCH!!"
War as we knew it was obsolete
Nothing could beat complete denial
- Emily Haines
Its a sign for this year will be the year of linux on the desktop.
OK, a broken window may not be such a great logo, but do you know anyone who has a Linux tattoo?
Oh, noes!!! That's Tux's great grandpa removed 800 times, at least.
I for one welcome our new Giant Penguin Overlords...
Enthusiastically. Let me tell you why.
I'm always interested to see a new discovery like this in the Eocene.
The Eocene is such a cool epoch (and by cool I mean hot, followed by less hot) that I get excited whenever there's something newly discovered. In part because through modern technology, it really isn't so remote.
Through the miracle of anthropomorphic global warming the kind of world in which creatures like this thrived is within reach of our descendants, possibly within living memory.
Tropics replacing deserts. Habitable northern latitudes and even poles. Longer growing seasons. Greater biodiversity, and greater biological productivity on the whole.
The ability of our species to bring about a radical change in climate should be incredibly compelling to us. It presents an amazing opportunity to transform our world for the better. How many of us read and dreamt about terraforming other worlds as youth? Our generation has the capacity to terraform our own.
We are really at a turning point as a species. Either we can continue to wallow in the current ice age or we can take the reigns of destiny and propel ourselves and our world to a better future.
The kernel is pure Linux, no GNU involved there. It's the operative system that uses GNU.
I think this penguin was first discovered by geologist William Dyer from the Miskatonic University. Shoggoths, fishmen and madness cannot be far behind.
And it would CRUSH a telly! (Obligatory Monty Python reference)
Penguin Computing had foretasted this:
http://www.commodore.ca/misc/jokes/Linux-vs-Microsoft.jpg
Table-ized A.I.
Except that GNU tools, including gcc, were used to create the Linux kernel.
No, not Linux.
This is just a cover story. For beyond the giant penguins resides the Plateau of Leng, the long-forgotten city of the Elder Things.
Beware! BEWARE!!!
The best part about this is that someone modded you informative. I'm scared now...
"Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
Actually, it seems that apples are a bit older: "The genera of Maloid Rosaceae radiated an estimated 48-50 million years ago (Campbell et al. 2007)" (Source)
I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is an imaginary number. Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and dial again.
TEKELI-LI!
I really love the fact that this is posted as Linux news.
batman killed it in 1992
The lunatic is in my head
coming soon to a theater near you.
TEKELI-LI!
Damn, beat me to it. All I can say is "but these penguins were brown, not white". But that probably only means that these penguins spoke it with an accent. "Tekeli-li, y'all!"
But, most surprisingly, the giant penguin's feathers were brown and gray, distinct from the black 'tuxedo'
Surprise, surprise! A fossil is rock-colored! Maybe the original bird that got replaced by the fossil material was black and white?
Your point being? If I write a book on a Mac, is Apple a co-author of that book?
-- listen to interesting music, support independent radio... WPRB
Brown and gray? After 36 million years you can still see the color? Quick, analize the pigment for house-paint. "You won't have to repaint for MILLIONS of years!!"
Yes, and it should be called a GNU/Mac Book.
In soviet russia the government regulates the companies.
I've got nothing to say, I just wanted to see my user name in this article.
No pics? I'm shocked. Here's one.
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.
No, Apple isn't.
A while ago, I decided that insisting on calling the operating system GNU/Linux was not a good idea. As some have pointed out, there are a lot of FLOSS projects that are critical to contemporary Linux, and stringing together a list of those projects would end up with a ridiculous name. Linux is short, clear, memorable, and understood, and it refers to the kernel, the one common component that will be present in any Linux distribution. The "GNU/Linux" argument seems petulant.
On the other hand, some of the arguments I've read against using "GNU/Linux" go too far, in denying that the GNU project has any significance. It is important; Linux couldn't have been created without the GNU tools, and the kernel is licensed under GPL 2.
That's not just some historical accident; as much as Stallman and the FSF can be a petulant pain in the ass, by launching the GNU project to begin with, they made a major breakthrough, on which the entire FLOSS enterprise depends.
Not sure what all of the excitement is about, my kids found a 7" penguin fossil in our backyard while we were digging holes to secure a trampoline. It cost me $85 to rent a Bobcat and over $100 to have some day workers haul it away to the dump.