Meet the penguin with a heart-shaped breast

Meet the penguin with a heart-shaped breast

While most of us might wear our hearts on our sleeve, this little chap shows it off in just the right place.

He is an Emperor penguin chick whose change of plumage into adulthood was brrrrrilliantly blessed by Mother Nature.

The white heart-shaped patch on his chest is a natural formation due to the moulting of his feathers.

The baby penguin is blissfully aware that not only is he the focus of a heart-warming image, but that he is also literally one in a million too.

Award-winning photographer and wildlife film-maker Sue Flood said that in the 20 years she has been taking pictures in the Arctic and Antarctic, and on more than 30 trips to the frozen plains, she had never picked up such a penguin phenomenon.


She said: 'It's the only one I have ever come across with a bib of this shape.

'I took the picture at a time when Emperor penguin chicks are gaining their adult plumage and are a mix of grey baby down and "penguin suit" colours.

'This one is one in a million and in all my time as a photographer he's the only one I have seen with a bib of this shape - when I saw it, I just couldn't believe it'.

The Emperor penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species.

Its diet consists primarily of fish but can also include crustaceans, such as krill, and squid.

While hunting, it can remain submerged for up to 18 minutes, diving to a depth of 535m and is able to reduce its metabolism and shut down non-essential organ functions in order to do this.

The Emperor penguin is perhaps best known for the sequence of journeys adults make each year in order to mate and to feed their offspring.

The only penguin species that breeds during the Antarctic winter, it treks as many as 120 km over the ice to breeding colonies which may include thousands of individuals.

The female lays a single egg, which is incubated by the male while the female returns to the sea to feed.

Mrs Flood, who has worked on some of the BBC's most successful natural history programmes including Blue Planet and Natural World, has won a clutch of awards for her photography.

Some of her amazing pictures have now been drawn together for her first book, Cold Places, which is published later this month.

It coincides with an exhibition - Cold Places: From Pole To Pole - of 50 of her photographs at London's prestigious Getty Images Gallery.

She said: 'There are times when I question why I'm so drawn to the Poles - for instance, when camping in -40 degree temperatures, enduring the hardships of macho ice-breaker life or when my eyes won't open because my eyelashes have frozen together.

'But there is something magical about the light, the isolation and the stillness, and something inspirational about how resolute animals and people have to be to survive there.

'Yes, the Poles are cold places but they also warm the heart, as I hope my book and images show.'







Source: Dailymail

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Sex and the City 2 stars named worst actresses at Razzie Awards

Sex and the City 2 stars named worst actresses at Razzie Awards

It is the one Hollywood awards ceremony where no celebrity wants to win.

But this year the cast of Sex and the City 2 were among those who were called out at the 31st Annual Golden Raspberry Awards at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in LA.
The satirical ceremony, traditionally held the night before the Academy Awards, honour the year’s worst films and actors. Sex and the City 2 opened last year to lacklustre ticket sales and even worse reviews.
And all four of its stars – Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon – collectively took the worst actress category during the event.
The film, which saw the New York ladies head to Abu Dhabi for a girls’ holiday, was also named worst sequel and took out the worst screen ensemble gong.
‘It was released in the middle of a period of American history when everyone’s scrounging not to lose their homes,’ Razzies founder John Wilson said.
‘And these women are riding around in Rolls-Royces, buying expensive shoes and just throwing money around like they’re drunk.’
Parker said this month that she is open to the possibility of Sex and the City 3, telling the LA Times: ‘I would go back. I think there’s one more story to tell. I know there is.’
Read More: Celebritieszone

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Sex and the City 2 stars named worst actresses at Razzie Awards

Sex and the City 2 stars named worst actresses at Razzie Awards

It is the one Hollywood awards ceremony where no celebrity wants to win.

But this year the cast of Sex and the City 2 were among those who were called out at the 31st Annual Golden Raspberry Awards at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in LA.
The satirical ceremony, traditionally held the night before the Academy Awards, honour the year’s worst films and actors.
Sex and the City 2 opened last year to lacklustre ticket sales and even worse reviews.
And all four of its stars – Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon – collectively took the worst actress category during the event.
The film, which saw the New York ladies head to Abu Dhabi for a girls’ holiday, was also named worst sequel and took out the worst screen ensemble gong.
‘It was released in the middle of a period of American history when everyone’s scrounging not to lose their homes,’ Razzies founder John Wilson said.
‘And these women are riding around in Rolls-Royces, buying expensive shoes and just throwing money around like they’re drunk.’
Parker said this month that she is open to the possibility of Sex and the City 3, telling the LA Times: ‘I would go back. I think there’s one more story to tell. I know there is.’
Read More: Celebritieszone

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Surprise! Man proposes to girlfriend with bus ad

Larger-than-life question popped during a Valentine's Day lunch date 

CANTON, Ohio — An Ohio woman has said yes to a marriage proposal that arrived by bus.

Laura Kalamets looked out a Canton restaurant window during a Valentine's Day lunch with her boyfriend and saw a public bus with an ad on its side that read: "Laura, Will You Marry Me?" It was signed "Mark" and included in smaller letters the words "and make me the happiest man in the world."
Kalamets says she thought she'd have a heart attack.
Mark Rose paid the transit agency $300 for the special ad and arranged for the bus to be parked in the right spot around noon on Monday.
Read More: MSN

 

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The 10 Most Irritating, Least Helpful Parenting Tips Ever

I have nothing against friends and family offering advice when you come to them with a dilemma. It's the people who pipe up, unbidden, because they see you with a child and assume you have no idea what you're doing. Too often these people are elderly great-aunts. Fortunately those ladies are afraid of the Internet, so I can rail against them and they'll be none the wiser! Thanks, ladies.
1. "Sleep now, because once that baby comes you'll never sleep again." Technically this is a pregnancy tip, of course, but I'm shoving it in here anyway. Yes, Great-Aunt Hildy, I will sleep throughout my entire third trimester. Because I am part bear.

2. "Sleep when the baby sleeps." Everyone gives you this one — annoying relatives, pediatricians, the cashier at the drugstore where you were buying newborn diapers. Are these people all robots, capable of instantly dropping off to sleep whenever their child is unconscious? Do they not have other things to do, like bathe, or simply relish the rare moments of silence you get when you have an infant?
3. "I think your baby's hungry." Whether you're nursing or bottle-feeding, everyone assumes you don't know how to feed your child. And every time your child cries, whines, grimaces, or squirms, they are going to assume you are starving your poor baby and you need reminders to feed it. Lest you forget! This advice is especially maddening when they turn out to be correct.
4. "Relish every moment of your baby's first years, because they'll be grown before you know it." You mean, time only moves forward? I had no idea! I thought we'd be like this forever and ever! This sort of advice, obvious and innocuous as it seems, always put me on the defensive, as if I had just been carrying my baby under my arm like a football, muttering, "Grow up already, why don't you. Just GROW UP."
5. "I hope you're sleep training that child. Do you WANT him to be spoiled?" Oh, distant relative/person whose aisle I shared at the supermarket, I'm so glad you know exactly my child needs. And that you know, from your years of scientific research, that any child not allowed to cry it out will be a horrible waste of flesh! (See #6 for this parenting tip's counterpart.)
6. "I hope you're not doing that 'crying it out' thing. It's so barbaric. Enjoy your baby all through the night!" Again, kudos to you, whoever you are, for knowing what's best for our unique family situation! I will be calling you at 4 a.m., so you can enjoy our baby as well.
7. "Why are you bringing your child outside when it's so cold out?" It never ceased to amaze me that, no matter what my child's age, total strangers will express alarm and revulsion that I dared expose him to the elements. "And WHY ISN'T BE WEARING MITTENS? He's going to get consumption!"
8. "Your child isn't really sad/angry/injured. He's just manipulating you." There's no doubt that children can push our buttons as if they've had professional training in it, but the notion that my kid's authentic feelings are in fact manufactured to elicit a reaction really chaps my hide. If that were always true, he'd be a pint-sized sociopath. I'm pretty sure that's not the case.
9. "Schools are just glorified prisons. If you loved your child, you'd homeschool." Oh, if only I loved my child enough to abandon my livelihood, tear him away from the community he so enjoys, separate him from the professionals who have dedicated their careers to childhood education, and forced him to stay home all day with me, where we'd be at each other's throats for hours! If only! Please note: I am not opposed to homeschooling, at all — in fact I wish it would work for us, but it would not.
10. "If I were you, I'd just—" OH NO YOU DON'T. I know where this is going. Listen, unnamed distant acquaintance who last parented in the 19th century (it's true — I often get my unwanted advice from ghosts) you don't know diddly about my kid, and our relationship, and what works for us.
Read More: Yahoo

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valentine's gift hissing cockroach new york bronx zoo

Finding the perfect gift for your Valentine can be a very tough challenge at time. How about a Valentine’s gift of a hissing cockroach at the New York Bronx Zoo? The gift may sound a bit strange, but the hissing cockroach is romantic creature.If preserving forests and wildlife by naming a hissing cockroach doesn’t sound quite like your cup of tea, there are other ways to say “I’m thinking of you.” A good gift for Valentine’s day, if you have a significant other, is one that has meaning of some kind. Try a trinket that reminds you of your first date, an evening of undivided attention with no smartphones or televisions, or even just the traditional home-cooked dinner. If you don’t have a special someone, keep in mind that Valentine’s Day is about saying you care, so call your parents or go out for drinks with your friends.

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Groupon users FTD deal

Groupon users are reportedly upset with FTD over a deal offered this week. Users claim that FTD raised prices just for groupon users. The website has reportedly offered refunds.

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The Most Iconic Kisses of All Time

What's in a kiss? These smooching milestones will inspire you to pucker up.

A.D. 300: The original Breathalyzer 
Roman husbands kissed their wives when they came home from work, not as an ancient version of "Hi, honey; I'm home" but rather to determine whether the missus had been hitting the bottle during the day.

1590s: Romeo Dies with a Kiss
The first known performance of Shakespeare's famous play concludes with the lip-locked demise of two star-crossed lovers.

1763: Kissing gets X-ed 
Kissing is first symbolized by the letter x, as in xoxo.

1896: First Movie Kiss 
The first on-screen smooch happened between John Rice and May Irwin in the movie The Kiss. This less-than-a-minute film was shown during the closing scene of the Broadway play The Widow Jones and caused outrage at the time.

1907: Invention of the Hershey's Kiss 
It's rumored that the candy was named after the sound the machine made as it dropped the chocolate onto the conveyor belt.

1923: The French Kiss Catches On 
When British and American women got wind of this sensual kissing style, they soon dubbed it the "French kiss," intended as a slander toward their oversexed European sisters. But it didn't take them long to realize that French women were on to something good.

1937: Prince Charming Awakens Snow White
Take one princess who's the fairest in the land plus one Prince Charming, and you have the classic Disney love story.

1945: Life Magazine Sweeps Us off Our Feet 
Its famous cover photo of a sailor kissing a nurse on the street became an iconic image of true romance.

1990: Most Kisses per Minute
Alfred Wolfram kissed 8,001 people in eight hours (that's more than 16 people a minute!) at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.

2004: The World's Longest Kiss 
A couple in Italy, Andrea Sarti and Anna Chen, set the record on Valentine's Day after locking lips for 31 hours, 18 minutes, and 33 seconds. They beat the record held by Americans Rich Langley and Louisa Almedovar, who kissed for 30 hours and 59 minutes in 2001. Andrea required oxygen treatment after the kiss.

You Kiss Your Guy — Right Now! 
Make a little history of your own.

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