More on Penguins

Anita fwd me the article "March of the Conservatives: Penguin Film as Political Fodder". Well well well! I never thought of the political debates that can arise or how this film can be (mis)used for political agenda. But neither am I too surprised.

Issue 1: Monogamy
The penguins stick to one partner for one season only! & you call that monogamy?!!!!

Issue 2: Intelligent Design vs Evolution
I don't understand ID very much & have every reason to believe there was & still is evolution. BTW, I also believe in God.

Issue 3: Abortion
Please don't compare human society with any animal no matter what. We are far far more complex & have to deal with w-a-y more varied & difficult & complicated situation than any other animal on Earth. If you are interested do try to watch this Sri Lankan film "Wind Bird". & please don't make any "pro-life" or "pro-choice" debate out of it or try to judge what the film preaches.

Issue 4: Global Warming
This is something I'm alarmed by. That is how fast will our urban civilization (as a cancerous growth) completely kill the planet. Yes, it would have been good if the film had something about that. But I kinda understand why the film makers didn't do much about it & just kept to the penguins.

BTW, I couldn't help finding certain similarities of penguins with indigenous people around the world & differences from the more modernized people. More on that in another blog.

Penguins

(moving from friendstar)

Finally after a lot of planning, double checking with people (since I got ditched once!) etc etc I saw March of the Penguins. So if you haven't seen it yet, read that rest after watching it.

In a way this blog is inspired by Amlan's. It seems that this very very old ritual is driven by the need to propagate the species. So I don't see how that can facilitate GLTB penguins. But I can be wrong. One thing that's not clear for me is that do the parent go back to the see if the egg breaks during the transfer? If so, then how come there were some male penguins without eggs during the winter storm? & of course I too am curious about adoption in penguin society. What happens to babies if their mom doesn't come back? Once possible solution that comes to my human mind (assuming the broken couples stay back @ the breeding ground):

Why don't the males of the broken couples return to the sea with the females & come back & then adopt any orphaned chick, so that the dad can go to eat? Yep, this would lead to "gay" parents & also to higher chances of survival for the chicks. Similarly for chicks that loose their dad, who looks after them when the mom goes to eat? The community or any particular mom?

But what I understood is that no matter how much a broken egg means, a dead chick means a lot more. A chick talks back, they recognize voices - in a sense its more living than an egg. So a chick dying makes it hard enough for the mom to try to fill the void. But may be loosing a "non-talking" egg not resulting in a chick isn't hard enough for the female to adopt an orphaned chick. Do the dad play any role in trying to find a mom among those who lost their eggs/chicks?

Also it seems impossible to have twins as penguins! Siblings? Does it even matter? On a very light note: the birth dates for all penguins must be in the same month! Wonder what would have happened if they wanted to celebrate birthdays. May be from their 5th birthday they celebrate it by trying to bring new lives to Earth.

It was also interesting to see how the chicks take to the ocean all by themselves - learn to feed & protect themselves out there without any training from there parents. Also that leads to another question: Do the children ever end up mating with their parents? & where is the "home" where they stay during the summer? + since the parenting is so specialized how does the chicks learn those tricks before they try to find a mate? How do they learn to rehearse the "transfer"? Is it simply by watching the more experienced couples? Is the compatibility in doing this "transfer dance" any factor in choosing a partner?

Needless to say its simply amazing how the team made this movie & that its a must see for everyone especially new parents or would be parents. It was amazing to see how the penguins body is adapted to the weather they endure & the terrain they use to bring life to Earth. & I guess their breeding ground really don't have anything with which they can build a nest. From that perspective they are extremely self-reliant & self-sufficient. They use themselves to beat the cold + eat to stalk up energy & then go without food for months!

On a lighter note, no one should try to walk a marathon with a penguin! ;)

My 1st Pulao

(moving from friendstar)

Well, this is another blog-able incident which had a very positive long term impact on my day-to-day life.

One fine Saturday I decided to resume cooking after quite a long break. So to start with something simple yet substantial I decided to make khich(u)ri. I was very confident that I had all the ingredients & without double checking started the process. Within few minutes it dawned on me that I don't have "dal". I spent some amount searching all obvious places without any luck. So I banked on my creativity & decided to substitute the pulses with equal amount of rice. Accordingly the cooking time should reduce to 1 whistle (I was using a pressure cooker) - since that's how much it takes for the rice to cook & the veggies (all frozen) take very little time.

Amlan came for dinner as planned. I gave him a warning that whatever he will eat is experimental! Well, it turned out OK. & so I this is how I got a short cut to cooking my lunch & dinner for the 5 workdays in the shortest possible way & have been surviving on slight variations of that ever since. If you don't get bored, its a pretty healthy & substantial meal.

Recipe:
Medium heat. Heat oil (as little as 2 teaspoonful), add cumin seeds, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves & cardamom (in short garam masala). Fry a little. Add rice - 2 cup for a 3 litter pressure cooker. Add any combination of the following - mushrooms (sliced), chick peas, different types of kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, lima beans, bell peppers (different colors look good), chopped broccoli (this is my secret - well, no more, I guess - ingredient for most dishes), green beans, peas. You can add other veggies like diced potato or sliced carrot etc. Fry a little. Add cumin & cardamom powder + salt. Stir the whole thing. High heat. Add 4 cups of water & close the lid of the cooker. As soon as the whistle blows, turn off the heat. Now wait for the cooker to cool off so that you can open the lid. Its best to let stay on the stove itself for a while. Ta da!!

Now what I do is store this pulao in small margarine (or similar) tubs. Typically I fill the tubs as much as possible & one tub suffices for one meal (lunch or dinner). Most of the times I separately fry ground turkey with turmeric, cumin & cardamom powder + salt & spread a layer of this on each tub before closing. This the contents of each tub is almost air tight & stays fresh for at least a week in the refrigerator.

Coming back to the story: On Sunday I found where I had kept the "dal"!

A Seattle Adventure

(moving from friendstar)

Finally today something happened - & I got a nice story to blog.

I was on my way to Shoreline Community College (SCC) in the afternoon. This was a diff route. Route 67 to Northgate Transit Center (NTC) & then 10 min later board 345 which would take me to the college.

This is the end of the qtr & I was happily finishing the last bit of grading in the bus. It seemed my cell rang. But as I picked it up, it turned out that the lady behind me got a call. Oh well! I got back to grading. While getting down or when I returned my cell to my pocket, I heard a small thud. Did something fall? I didn't see anything & so I collected my bag, the papers, the solution key & with the pen in my mouth, got down from the bus.

I continued grading @ NTC till 345 came. & then as I got up the stair I realized (with a shock) that my bus pass is not in my pocket!! I immediately knew what that "thud" was. But what to do now? As usual I only had few cents in my pocket & the bus driver asked me to pay since I lost my pass. So I turned to my co-passenger & fortunately got a dollar & a quarter from 2 of them. That + the coins added up to $1.48 & (again) fortunately that was good enough for the driver & he gave me a transfer valid till 6:00 - a good 2.5 hours. At least I can get back from college without trying to find an ATM.

Immediately I called Metro's Lost & Found & being on hold for quite sometime (which I utilized by grading some more - thanks to my head set) got to know that they could tell me only after 9:30 tomorrow morning. Well, that meant that even if they found it, I have to get someone u-pass or go to an ATM & then get $1 changes to go & retrieve the pass. I was not ready to take that much trouble!

So after reaching office & posting the grades for one class, I called up Metro. Before I could explain everything fully they send me to Lost & Found (again). So I called again & told them that I want to track that particular bus. So this time they patched me thru rider info & the guy told me the bus would reach NTC @ 5:29. OK, now it was easy for me to track the route of the bus through Metro's website. The online schedule said the bus will be @ NE 75 & Roosevelt @ 5:04 i.e. in U dist around 4:55. I decided to board it @ HUB. So I took my favorite 330 (direct - SCC to U dist). I was the only passenger & started chatting with the driver. She pointed out that since its Summer & hence less people using the bus I have a good chance of retrieving my pass. We both agreed that if someone got it they might not return it since it means unlimited free rides this month.

The card was valid till this month. I was supposed to get a new one for Sep 05 - Aug 06. I started thinking: well, if I didn't get it back (ever), would SCC fine me? How much? Would they give me the next one without any trouble? Would I be able to use the Sep 05 - Aug 06 pass for the remaining of this month? & if these don't work out, how will I survive this month? As usual, I have lot of bussing involved in almost every aspects of my life. Fortunately I was focused on finishing my grading & didn't start to panic too much. + some where deep down I hoped that cracked, faded, inconspicuous card wouldn't draw much attention.

@ the HUB bus stop my grading continued. Then as I got into the 67 there was a pleasant surprise! No, its wasn't my card. The driver was very familiar. I met him every morning in Fall 2004. But, it wasn't my bus. That was a double one, & this is single! So did the Metro guy gave me wrong info? I consulted the printed schedule & it seemed that I got onto the earlier bus. My target (bus) was supposed to be @ HUB @ 5:04, not @ NE 75 & Roosevelt. Oh well, I might have misread the online schedule. There's still hope!

The grading was over. So I swung by my studio, dropped off the papers & next qtr books, quickly entered the grades into the spreadsheet & checked emails (old habits die hard - even under time pressure!). Then again off to bus stop. There were several people & they informed that 67 hasn't gone yet. Phew!

Then they both came one after the other - 66 followed by 67. I got in. No one had turned anything to the driver. I went to where I sat & looked under the seats. Nothing! Hm!! Things were not looking good! I looked under all seats, up & down the bus. Nothing still! I thought if it fell through the gap near the door - i.e. no hope of retrieving it. Or whether I dropped it @ NTC & should get off there to look around. But this bus would reach NTC @ 5:29. I wasn't sure if I'd get a bus back in time. I had no change & the transfer was valid till 6:00.

A lady was sleeping where I had sat in the afternoon. As a last attempt, I woke her & she moved aside to let me look. & - YEPPIE!!! There was my dear little pass between the seat & the wall of the bus! Saved @ last!!

& Metro rocks!!

(I had some experience with my cell phone falling out of my pocket into that particular spot. With the cell, I usually feel it immediately since the weight & volume of my pocket change perceptibly. Unfortunately the card is too thin & light to raise such a red flag by its absence. But now with the lesson learned, I will check my pocket for my "travel"-line as well as my "life"-line = cell - t least for few weeks now!)

"E-Moving"

Though I like the email notification feature of Friendstar it doesn't let a non-member post comments like Blogger does. + I think Blogger will give me greater freedom to format the pages. However I'll continue to put the blog links in the Friendstar blog so that some of my friends can continue to get the emails.

Interestingly I forgot that I had a Blogger account for Sangati. Thankfully my web id is still unique!

Now let's see how this new things works!