PENGUIN BOOK BARRED FROM LIBRARY SHELVES: PC GONE AWRY?

NOTE TO SELF: A FAMILY IS A FAMILY IS A FAMILY...SOME PEOPLE SEE SUBVERSIVE PLOTS EVERYWHERE, ESPECIALLY IN LOUDON

Given the fact that this is a place where there is reading matter covering a wide variety of subjects, one parent whose sensitivities were obviously jarred by the prospect of gay penguin parenting, has managed to get a book pulled from the library shelves. Some people see subversive plots at every turn, even within the pages of a children's book.

A children's book about two male penguins that hatch and parent a chick was pulled from library shelves in Loudoun County elementary schools this month after a parent complained that it promoted a gay agenda.

The decision by Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III led many parents and gay rights advocates to rush to the penguins' defence. Many say that the school system should not have allowed one complaint to limit children's literary choices. Some are calling for an overhaul of the book review policy. Besides, many say, what could be wrong with a book about penguins?

"The book is based on a true story . . . of what happens in the animal kingdom," said David Weintraub, director of Equality Loudoun, a gay rights organization. "It's about the joy of being part of a family. These penguins love each other. They take care of each other. The book, "And Tango Makes Three," by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, draws on the real-life story of Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in New York. It also appears to make a point about tolerance of alternative families.

As the book says, Roy and Silo were "a little bit different" than the boy and girl penguins who noticed each other and became couples. "Wherever Roy went, Silo went too." After they tried to hatch an egg-shaped rock together, a zookeeper gave them a fertilized egg to nurture. Experts say male chinstraps typically share incubation duties with females.The 2005 book, written with simple words and colorful pictures and dedicated "to penguin lovers everywhere," topped the American Library Association's list of banned or challenged books in 2006. Parents challenged the book in Shiloh, Ill., and Charlotte. Administrators in Charlotte initially yanked the book but later restored it, according to news reports.

Read the whole story here:

http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/news/2008/feb/16/tango/

Extra Information regarding penguins found on the Sea World site: http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Penguins/hatching.html:

"Care of the chicks
1 . Chicks require attentive parents for survival. Both parents feed the chick regurgitated food. Adults recognize and feed only their own chicks. Parents are able to identify their young by their chick's distinctive call (Marchant, 1990; Simpson, 1976).
2. Male emperor penguins exhibit a feature unique among penguins. If the chick hatches before the female returns, the male, despite his fasting, is able to produce and secrete a curdlike substance from his esophagus to feed the chick (Marchant, 1990; del Hoyo, et al., 1992) allowing for survival and growth for up to two weeks (Pr6vost and Vilter, 1963-1 Stonehouse, 1975).

Authorities worry about worm abuse

NOTE TO SELF: DON'T JUDGE A WORM BY ITS LOOKS


A New Zealand inventor of the "wormorator" has been forced to defend the use of worms in a composting toilet he has developed after officials became concerned that the creatures might become traumatised by the procedure. Coll Bell was told to get an expert's report on the mental impact on the tiger worms being used after an official became concerned during a site visit.He says the official felt that the worms were being unfairly treated, being expected to deal with human faeces, and that it could affect them in a psychological way.Mr Bell was told he had to get someone with the necessary qualifications to say the worms were happy. A vermiculture consultant was called in and she has found the worms are in excellent health and breeding happily.

In Bell's invention, a colony of worms filters solids from the toilet waste and the leftover water is filtered into underground trenches.

When you think about it and some would rather not and for sure some don't care one way or the other (most likely the latter), the mere fact that they are turning...you-know-what into rich loam could be an indication that they i.e. the worms, enjoy the process. Or...on the other hand and we don't really know since the worms, can't express their true inner feelings, their action and end result could be a result of the trauma of having to deal with human feces. I mean - it's totally understandable.

So my next question is: just where does one find somebody with the right qualifications or indeed any qualification to deal with worm trauma? Can the testimony of a vermiculturalist be believed? What does she/he do to test out her/his theory? Pull a worm out of the earth and have a conversation with it?

"Hello worm," she would probably say. "How 'ya doin' today? I'm fine! So...how d'ya like dealing with all that sh**?"

How could the vermiculturalist know the difference between an unhappy and happy worm? More to the point, does a worm know if its happy or unhappy? Do worms suffer from depression?

Also, in as far as hygeine is concerned, who would sit on this compost toilet?

The Auckland Regional Council's concerns went down the pan after vermiculture consultant Patricia Naidu found the worms in excellent health and breeding happily. I guess one has to take her word for it.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/071216/oddities/nzealand_animals_offbeat_worms