LORD PENGUIN

The Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian Army, Nils Olav, has been knighted in a high class ceremony.

Sir Olav is a penguin. Sir Olav, prior to being knighted, has held many ranks within the Norwegian armed forces, including the aforementioned Colonel-in-Chief, having enjoyed a very successful career as an officer in service to the king. Sir Olav, upon being knighted, calmly inspected the 130 guardsmen assembled which are ostensibly under his command.

Sir Olav, at one point during the ceremony, poo'ed on the ground.

Nils Olav is apparently also an imposter of the original Nils Olav, put in place by Norwegian intelligence and the National Zoo to replace the original Nils Olav, who had died years before. Their intent remains shrouded in mystery.

Update: There is now video footage of the procession. I must say that Sir Olav looks to be conducting himself in a manner far more dignified and majestic than a few current heads of state I will not care to name.

Google Challenging Iphone

T-Mobile's first onboard for development of smartphones running Google's Android mobile OS. The platform is being made available for free to a large number of service providers, and sports a featureset that, by all accounts, surpasses that of Apple's proprietary offerings. Open third party development is possible using a set of Java libraries in the free Android SDK, and allows for complete replacement of virtually every aspect of the default application stack (for example, the dialers), with third party apps. This is the perfect storm of brand name power, features, and standardization that will make for a true Iphone killer.



It's great to know I'll soon be able get a high-end phone without feeling like I'm supporting terrorism, well, at least not supporting it any more than I already am. *looks at Ipod.

Writing so bad it could make baby Jesus cry

I love these contests that encourage people to be the worst at something. Here's one from San Jose State University that gives a cash prize to whoever writes the vilest opening sentence to an imaginary novel. It's called the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, after the author of the 1830 novel that actually begins "It was a dark and stormy night..."

Here are some notable 2008 entries as listed in a brief in the Herald-Leader, starting with the winner:

Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped "Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J."
—Garrison Spik

"Toads of glory, slugs of joy," sang Groin the dwarf as he trotted jovially down the path before a great dragon ate him because the author knew that this story was a train wreck after he typed the first few words.
—Alex Hall

Like a mechanic who forgets to wipe his hands on a shop rag and then goes home, hugs his wife, and gets a grease stain on her favorite sweater - love touches you, and marks you forever.
—Beth Fand Incollingo

In case you're a literary masochist (and not the kind who reads Finnegans Wake for fun), here's the full results page.