Same-sex Penguins Hatch Their First Chick at New York Zoo

Same-sex penguin pairs aren't unusual.

A pair of same-sex penguins hatched their first chick at Rosamond Gifford Zoo in New York and the parents are caring for it like pros.
The two male Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) named Elmer and Lima were given an egg to incubate because the egg's biological parents have a history of accidentally breaking them. A chick hatched from the egg on Jan. 1 and is doing just fine with its same-sex parents, who keep the newborn penguin warm and fed. 

Hi Folk,

Last Saturday morning I woke-up, did my Transcendental meditation, got out of bed and turned on NPR (radio). I then heard most of a program on various trans topics. Here is a link to this podcast:

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/trans-form...

Now, some of the mustard in our front yard is going to seed. To thrive in their nitch as a weed they, of course, have lots of seeds. Seeds are 1.0 mm by 0.5 mm. The cylindrical seed pods are about 4 cm long and about 0.8 mm in diameter. In the plant I picked, seed pods extend 20 cm below the initial flower every 8 mm or so. The flower has petals and male parts that look like pollen sacks. Since the plants are in seed, the pollen must have been released weeks ago.

Here's an interesting story from Science Friday, a show on many NPR stations.

http://sciencefriday.com/segment/12/05/2014/you-are-when-you...

I'm a supporter Sky Pro Cycling, Wiggins, Froome, Richy Port, et al, at least for the last 2 years.

-or- Imagined origins of large monster/creature myths.

Dear Authors,

For your holiday pleasure or need for nerdiness: This relates to a recent story, but also any story with small or shrinking beings/characters. This is just biophysics, no magic used!   The first part was written for something else.

I've blogged and commented about how some foods, that are greatly enjoyed by characters in many stories, are unhealthy. I've singled out bacon, because of it's additives, it's fat content and it's high heat preparation. I'm not really trying to save American Hogs; I'd rather help out and reduce the suffering of BCTS readers.

Today the temp at 9:30 AM was 85 ° F and the sky was completely cloudy. Usually, even with cloud cover, the temp would be in the 90s. Right now, at noon, the temp is 75 ° and we've had light rain with little wind for 2 hours. I think most Arizonans who've been here more than a few years aren't too surprised by this weather, but I figure most of the country expects us to always have daily highs of 105 to 120 °.

Yeah! 20 years ago today, I was having GRS done by Dr. Stanley Biber at Mount San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad Colorado. This time of day, too.

I was just reading Huffington Post science stories and found two about sexual behavior some might find interesting:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/01/bonobo-sex-turns-so...

http://www.livescience.com/16138-gay-animals-bonobos-dolphin...

Enjoy and learn!

A persistant problem of mine is when I feel bad, I retreat into myself. Depression itself seems to be a forced retreat from the outside world. It makes sense, in a way; depression can come from injury, problems with others, etc. (This is excepting biological/genetic based depression, which actually is just a tendency to become depressed more easily.) When one has health or interpersonal problems, it might be better to withdraw and heal or let group tensions ease.

Greetings family, members, people, and others;

I've noticed that many blogs relate significant life events. I have good news. This hasn't happened since 2000. Probably most of you won't be especially interested, but maybe Angharad will care.

Rebecca Allison, MD of Phoenix AZ, a cardiologist, and transgal is the new president-elect of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. www.glma.org

This is what I first wrote as a comment to: Pen Pals, 13 by Anistasia Allread. She wrote: "Hello again from St. George, the hottest place on Earth." This was my reaction. Title was "Hotter elsewhere in AZ"