Penguin Sex!

Got your attention didn't it? :P

The weather yesterday was horrible. It was cold, and rained buckets. I went out once and got soaked coming back, so I just stayed bundled up. I watched March of the Penguins last night. It's pretty entertaining (maybe because I just like penguins), and the cinematography is spectacular. The emperor penguin is a beautiful creature, and it's vivid orange/red markings really stand out against the white of Antarctica. Morgan Freeman does an awesome job as narrator, he's got that soothing voice, and his accent makes him sound like he's weaving a fairy tale rather than talking about birds.

In other news, I've been reading this really cool book called 1421, about how the Chinese navigated, mapped, and colonized the world before Europeans ever did. I recall a National Geographic article a year or two ago about Chinese ships that were the biggest ever built until the advent of the aircraft carrier in WWII. The author, Gavin Menzies, asserts that these ships, accompanied by fleets of dozens of support ships (much like modern-day carrier groups), travelled the world and were responsible for the introduction of chickens into the Americas, as well as mapping almost the entire world. He also claims they were probably the first to reach Antarctica, and probably left settlers in various places in both the Americas and Africa. He comes up with some improbable ideas, such as the Bimini Road being a repair ramp for Chinese junks, but he does lay out a convincing case. I'd advise seeing for yourself.

In any case, we've all been brainwashed in elementary school about certain 'facts' (Washington and the Cherry Tree for one), and I'm all for having the truth be known, as long as it really is the truth.