One of my favorite sites on the web, a new picture posted each day. Might be a nebula, a galaxy, or something closer to Earth. The beauty of this picture is beyond words to describe, they have to be seen. As I have said before, our greatest artists, through out our history create wonderous works of art, that some, thousands of years later still inspire and awe us. And then we have Nature, who is her spare time or as a by product of her workings, creates art that we are do not even have the words to describe.
"The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands."
Psalm 19:1
ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY
Dark Clouds of the Carina Nebula Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (Univ. of Calif. -Berkeley), and the Hubble Space Heritage team
Explanation: What dark forms lurk in the mists of the Carina Nebula? These ominous figures are actually molecular clouds, knots of molecular gas and dust, so thick they have become opaque. In comparison, however, these clouds are typically much less dense than Earth's atmosphere. Pictured above is part of the most detailed image of the Carina Nebula ever taken, a part where dark molecular clouds are particularly prominent. The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 Light Years, and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebula. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramaticaly.
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If you would like to add Astronomy Picture Of The Day, a new picture each and every day, and a wonderful archive to search through, to your favorites and share in the beauty, the APOD home page address follows:
We have A Day to remember those who died in service to this country and to us. We have enjoyed freedoms for longer than most countries because of such men and woman. Everyday should be A Day where we stop for a minute and think on them, and their families who serve too. Being old enough to remember, I think The Day has lost some of its' reverence over the years since Congress made it part of a three day National Holiday. In our history it seems that Congress for the most part tends to forget our military when they are not needed, (In this world I cannot think of time we do not need them). We should have all read the reports of pay rates, army wives going on food stamps, their for life Health Care costs being raised. How sad it is that a man or woman serving this country for over 20 years gets less in retirement than a congressmen who served 6. Of course Congress makes sure they get their yearly pay raise, and the best medical coverage for life, and an ungodly retirement package. This poem was written over 100 years ago, for a different army, in a different nation, but says it best.
TOMMY
written in 1892 by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer, The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here." The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die, I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I: O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away"; But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play, The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play, O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.
I went into a theatre as sober as could be, They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me; They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls, But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls! For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside"; But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide, The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide, O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.
Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap; An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit. Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?" But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll, The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll, O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.
We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too, But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you; An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints, Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints; While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind", But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind, There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind, O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.
You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all: We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational. Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace. For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!" But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot; An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please; An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!
And this week we have Dangerous Love & Games. Do people think when they drink? I do not think so, probably the reason the guy asks the girl if she wants to go out for drinks.
It just goes to show, do not drink and try something new, like during sex, these two were experienced, look what happened to them. Makes me wonder of the good old days when leaving a hickey was pushing the envelope.
But always always, safety first, remember to put your knife in a sheath. And just for future travel plans, is there something in the water in Winnipeg? --JohnOh--
Woman Admits 'Rough Sex' Stabbing
By: Mike McIntyre -- Winnipeg Free Press Online Edition
A Winnipeg university student who nearly stabbed her boyfriend to death during a bizarre act of consensual “knife play” has been spared a jail sentence.
C. McCoubrey, 25, was given three years of probation after pleading guilty to assault for the February 2007 incident in Osborne Village.
The 24-year-old victim received a puncture wound to his heart and was given little chance of survival when he was rushed to hospital. He has since made a full recovery and is fully supporting McCoubrey, court was told.
As the Free Press first reported last year, the couple had been drinking alcohol and beer and were engaged in so-called “rough sex” when the boyfriend asked McCoubrey to carve a heart-shaped symbol on to his chest. She agreed, but accidentally pushed the knife too deep.
Defence lawyer John McAmmond said Tuesday the victim introduced his client to “body modification” and they had previously engaged in knife carving.
McCoubrey, a University of Winnipeg student, had known the man for years but only started dating him weeks earlier. She has no prior criminal record.
The slight, blond woman appeared distraught during her initial court appearance, prompting the judge to ask Remand Centre
officials to check on her well-being and ensure she was OK.
She was released on bail, with conditions to have no contact with her boyfriend. McCoubrey admitted Tuesday to breaching on one occasion by having contact with the man. Her guilty plea means they can legally resume their relationship without fear of arrest.
Although a person can consent to some degree of physical abuse, such as with piercing and tattooing, there is no allowance in law for agreeing to have bodily harm done to yourself. That is based on a 1991 Supreme Court of Canada ruling.
David Deutscher, a law professor at the University of Manitoba, told the Free Press a person doesn’t have to intend to cause harm in order to commit a crime, and even so-called “accidents” could result in charges.
“It could be similar to a case of criminal negligence,” he said. Deutscher said the issue will likely boil down to actions leading up to the harm and whether those actions are acceptable in law.
“The question of criminal culpability is coloured by the nature of
the original act. You could have a case where a person gives actual consent to something, but that is still not consent in law,” he said.
In 2001 a Winnipeg man was convicted of assault causing bodily harm despite the fact his longtime lover agreed to be hit on the buttocks with a wooden chair leg and spanked with a leather belt during a sexual encounter.
A whole new meaning to "Lucy I'm Home!"
The woman’s injuries required treatment in hospital and were reported to police despite her protests. The case made national headlines.
Life is strange. Thankfully no one was hurt badly, and no one evidently ended up pregnant. Just what was he thinking? Or not? -- JohnOh--
OH DEER!! MAN COPS WRATH OF AMOROUS STAG
( Reuters; reporting by Jonathan Standing, editing by Miral Fahmy)
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man was gored in the thigh on Friday by an amorous stag (I so wanted the reporter to usethe phrase 'horny stag' !) after entering a deer paddock in the middle of the breeding season.
The 26-year-old worker at the tourist farm near Sydney ignored signs on the paddock gate warning people to keep out and was charged by the stag, the husband of the farm's owner told Reuters. "It was the middle of the rut (breeding season), that is why the animal was acting like it did," Barry Hibbard told Reuters.
The man, who was apparently trying to feed some grass cuttings to the deer, (Sure, that is what he told the EMTs!) was taken to hospital after the incident and is expected to be sent home later on Friday, Hibbard said.
"Not tonight BillyBob, I have a headache"
Hibbard said the animal was usually very docile, but did not take kindly to the intrusion of another male into its territory."He had six or seven girlfriends, you can imagine he would be protective in those circumstances," Hibbard said.
So many things to chose from!! Being on the coast I took the easy way, fun on the beach and in the water on a very glorious day!! And for me, there has to be watermelon somewhere in the day!!! (Taken today at Lovers' Point in Pacific Grove, CA. Camera used was a Kodak EasyShare Z612. The watermelon pic was also taken today, after slicing off the piece I used in the photo, I had to eat it, waste not want not!)
"Watermelon -- it's a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face." --Enrico Caruso--
" Remember, two watermelons cannot be held under one arm. " -- Turkish Proverb --
If you are not a part of Picture Perfect Friday,
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Something is so wrong with this story. Human Nature some say? If that is the case, I am surprised we have survived this long. Sad to think, he probably also has a license to drive, and can vote. My Dad was a hunter and shooter, and I target shot and competed over the years, and I can never think of a time where I walked into a room where the first thing handy was a revolver or any kind of firearm. Now I am not saying I am from the deep end, but at the very least the gene pool was up to my waist!! I think there is more to this story than Jorge says there is. --JohnOh--
"YOU'RE NOT DRUNK IF YOU CAN LIE ON THE FLOOR WITHOUT HOLDING ON." --Dean Martin--
MAN USES GUN TO SCRATCH BACK, SHOOTS HIMSELF
by Kimberly Durnan The Dallas Morning News
FORT WORTH — A Fort Worth man trying to scratch an itch on his back used a revolver and accidentally shot himself.
Jorge Espinal, 44, was drinking beer and playing poker around 3 a.m. Sunday morning in his home in the 3500 block of Montague Street, when he got up from the table and walked into another room, said Fort Worth police Lt. Kenneth Dean.
“He told officers he had an itch on his back and grabbed the first thing he could get a hold of, which was a revolver,” Lt. Dean said. “The gun went off."
Espinal went back and told his buddies that he shot himself. “They didn’t believe him until they saw the blood coming down his back,” Lt. Dean said.
Espinal was taken to an area hospital where he was treated and released with non-life-threatening injuries.
When I read articles like this, I understand why Nature has to be female, would Father Nature have ever tricked males like this? Or make Praying Mantis with the mating habits they have? Or some female spiders finishing their love making with a midnight snack of their partner? Or perhaps it is just the insect world's equivalent of human Mothers' yelling, " LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO ME!! YOU EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN AND I WILL KILL YOU!!!" during birth. Mother Nature has a warped sense of humor, but you still have to love her!! --JohnOh--
TEMPTRESS ORCHIDS DO MORE THAN JUST EMBARRASS WASPS
Science News -- (Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Eric Beech)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orchids that mimic female wasps may not only waste the time of the male wasps they lure into spreading their pollen -- they also seduce them into wasting valuable sperm, Australian researchers reported on Wednesday.
A montage of orchids are on display at the 2005 Taiwan International Orchid Exhibition. Orchids that mimic female wasps may not only waste the time of the male wasps they lure into spreading their pollen -- they also seduce them into wasting valuable sperm, Australian researchers reported on Wednesday.(Richard Chung/Reuters
And the flowers benefit twice -- getting help in their own reproduction, and perhaps indirectly producing more male pollinators in the process.
Some of the most exotic orchids are known to have evolved their convoluted shapes to attract insects, who unwittingly collect and transfer pollen as they try to mate with the flowers.
"The effect of deception on pollinators has been considered negligible, but we show that pollinators may suffer considerable costs," Anne Gaskett of Macquarie University in Sydney and colleagues reported.
"Was it good for you?" National Geographic Photo
"Insects pollinating Australian tongue orchids (Cryptostylis species) frequently ejaculate and waste copious sperm," they wrote in a report in The American Naturalist.
It is not harmless to the wasps, who may suffer more than an inconvenience. "Male pollinators can prefer orchids to real females, prematurely end a copulation with a real female to visit an orchid, or be unable to find real female mates among false orchid signals," the researchers wrote.
"Unquestionably, producing sperm, ejaculate, or seminal fluids is costly for many animals. The energetic demands of sperm production can result in reduced body mass, a shortened life span, or limited lifetime sperm production," they added.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." If it was good would they care? -- ScienceNewsOnline photograph --
But this arms race of sexual trickery works in more than one way for the flower. "We also show that orchid species provoking such extreme pollinator behavior have the highest pollination success," they added.
"How can deception persist, given the costs to pollinators?"
They found that the wasps who frequent these flowers are haplodiploid species. Like bees, ants and similar species, offspring produced by sexual unions are female, while females can also produce males asexually.
"Therefore, female insects deprived of matings by orchid deception could still produce male offspring, which may even enhance orchid pollination," the researchers wrote.
Gaskett's team examined flowers after wasps visited them and found the hoodwinked males did eventually learn their lesson.
"With experience, male Lissopimpla excelsa wasps become less likely to copulate with and pollinate sexually deceptive Cryptostylis orchids," they wrote.
I started with a picture of a cave wall inside of Jean Dot Cave.
Then in EFFECT BRUSH I used the INVERT tool, set to a 76 brush size, the med. splatter brush, and a 98 intensity setting, and this was hidden in the rocks.
Then I used a TOUCH UP BRUSH in TINT setting, a 54 med spray brush, and the opacity set to 72 for a monochrome effect on the rest of the orginal color.
Then to the ERASER tool at 39 with a small spray brush, and 32 opacity to give a bit of depth between the water line and the stone wall.
And lastly I used the AUTO ENHANCE tool.
From a dry vertical cave wall to a white water fall around a river rock. I was completely amazed at how a simple thing as a invert tool could change the pattern in a rock from virtually a dull nothing to such detail and a confused state of beauty. Mother Nature sometimes hides her creations from us, and not in a mean way, but just to awe us once in a while. Thanks Gary, this was a kick, has gotten me to experiment more with my editing program more than I have since buying it!! I am using an older MGI PhotoSuite 4 editing program.
In this time of gas supplies and prices going up, food shortages and their prices going up and a lot of the food prices being blamed on our mega farmers being subsidized by Government money (ie: YOUR MONEY) to plant, grow and produce ethanol crops and fuel; we have many Americans who still have the do it yourself attitude trying to help in small ways, THIS is a sad comment on how the government bureaucracy wants to "help" in any and every way they can. Follow the Money Trail!! Read and weep.
ALTERNATIVE FUEL USERS IN HOT WATER
State tax board has processed fewer than 70 of the required "fuel supplier" licenses
By EVAN HALPER Los Angeles Times
Dave Eck, a Half Moon Bay mechanic, attracted a media spotlight with his fleet of vehicles fueled by used fryer grease from a local chowder house. So when Sacramento called, he figured officials wanted advice on promoting alternative fuels.
Not at all. The government rang to notify Eck that he was a tax cheat.
He was scolded for failing to get a "diesel fuel supplier's license," reporting quarterly how many gallons of grease he burns, and paying a tax on each gallon.
"All of a sudden they nailed me for a road tax," said Eck, who drives a Hummer converted to run on vegetable oil. "I said, 'Not a problem. I'll do my part. But what do I get? At least let me into the carpool lane.'"
No such luck. The state offered Eck only a potentially large fine — and not just for failing to pay taxes. He can get in trouble for carting kitchen grease away from eateries without a license from the state Meat and Poultry Inspection Branch.
Or for not having at least $1 million in liability insurance, in case he spills some of the stuff. Or for not getting permission from the state Air Resources Board to burn fat in the first place.
The regulations are so burdensome that even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, trying to set an example for Californians by driving a Hummer that burns cooking oil, has not complied. Schwarzenegger, who has said that the exhaust from his Hummer smells so much like French fries that his passengers get hunger pangs, was unaware that he was required to send Sacramento an 18-cent road tax for every gallon of kitchen oil he burned, said spokesman Aaron McLear. After the Los Angeles Times raised the issue, McLear said the governor would pay the taxes he owed.
The governor's staff says it is working on making it easier to drive using vegetable oil without being an outlaw.
"We are very interested in making sure people who have these kinds of vehicles are able to comply as easily as possible," McLear said.
But environmentalists are frustrated.
"It is ridiculous that we live in what is presumed to be one of the greenest states in the nation, yet we have the most antiquated laws to deal with green energy," said Josh Tickell, an alternative-fuels advocate and filmmaker whose documentary "Fields of Fuel" recently won the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival.
"Everyone I know wants to do the right thing by the law," he said. "But the state is not set up to even clearly provide information to folks."
The veggie oil crowd is hardly on the radical fringe anymore. Garages report being overwhelmed with conversion business, and restaurants throughout Southern California are contending with raids on their used-grease tanks.
Advocates say more than 250,000 Americans are running their vehicles on cooking oil, with the biggest concentration in California.
Drivers do it for different reasons: to protect the environment, to reduce dependence on foreign oil or to save money. Those using vegetable oil say they do so for as little as $1 a gallon, even though grease yields better mileage than gasoline and about the same as diesel fuel.
Almost all of them are doing it underground. The state tax board has processed fewer than 70 of the required "fuel supplier" licenses, according to a spokeswoman. Most of those are for businesses selling commercial biodiesel, a more mainstream fuel that is typically mixed with as much as 80 percent petroleum.
State agencies say they have reasons for doing things the way they do.
Tax authorities say biofuel drivers need to pay for using California's roads, just like everyone else, and there is no simple way to collect from those who don't go to the gas pumps, where road taxes are normally levied.
The meat and poultry agency is worried about toxic spills. Officials with the air board are troubled by kitchen-grease emissions, especially when spewed by vintage diesel Mercedes-Benzes, the make of choice for many vegetable oil converts.
Matthew Tiffany, a 26-year-old student and environmentalist in Monrovia, Calif., tried to help some 20 veggie oil drivers go legal and found the task nearly impossible.
Tiffany, who fills his 1981 diesel Mercedes with fryer grease from a neighborhood Japanese restaurant, launched a cooperative called Good Earth Grease Haulers. His mission was to bring veggie oil drivers into the mainstream.
But Good Earth Grease Haulers quickly collapsed, after Tiffany got tangled in red tape trying to help members comply with license requirements.
"They want us to follow all these rules that were set up to regulate people who transport hundreds of gallons a day," Tiffany said.
He recently appeared before a legislative committee to urge lawmakers to exempt veggie oil users from having to pay for a license after the Meat and Poultry Inspection Branch raised the cost from $75 to $300.
State Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, a rice farmer who is handy with car engines, expressed bewilderment at the hoops Tiffany had to jump through to get permission to transport a few gallons of used fryer grease.
"Why do you even tell anyone you are taking it?" he asked.
Tiffany reminded the assemblyman that it was required by law.
Although most drivers burning kitchen oil have managed to evade enforcement -- government agencies say they have handed out few citations -- those who attract attention to themselves by promoting the alternative fuel tend to hear from regulators.
Craig Reece, owner of PlantDrive in Berkeley, which sells kits to convert diesel engines to run on vegetable oil, said he got a call from state officials about paying the road tax. He has since been sending the tax forms to all his customers, but he figures only a few are actually registering with the state and keeping logs of how much oil they burn.
"A lot of my customers think this fuel should be exempt from taxes," he said. "They feel they ought to get something for the climate-change-neutral aspect of it."
Illinois, North Carolina, Texas, Rhode Island and Indiana have exempted drivers burning kitchen grease from paying such a tax. In North Carolina, the move came at the behest of a state senator who motors around in a small car powered by soybean oil. The legislator said it wasn't paying the taxes that bothered him so much as the hours required to do the paperwork.
Terry Tamminen, an adviser to Schwarzenegger on energy and environmental policy, acknowledged that California has been slow to adapt.
"When you go through a period of change, there is always a clunkiness to the bureaucracy," he said.
But he said the state should not overlook the value of alternative-fuel pioneers.
"Our mentality is to look for the next silver bullet" to replace petroleum, Tamminen said by telephone while driving a car fueled by compressed natural gas. "But there is no silver bullet, only buckshot. We are going to need every one of these silver buckshots to be developed as best it can."
Finally, an article on global warming I thought I could get my teeth into, but I just could not get a firm grasp on the global warming part. I will try to get a better hold on this subject later, and if find my grasp slipping, I may have to sleep on it, and dwell over it again in the morning. I may have to look into this closely, look behind the article to find what supporting facts are holding up this matter. Oh well, sometimes, things are not as they sound. --John--
GREAT TITS LOVE GLOBAL WARMING
by Roger Highfield, Science Editor, Telegraph.co.uk on line
Climate change has already produced shifts in the distribution of some species, such as amphibians, grasses, migratory birds and butterflies, and by one estimate around one million species worldwide are in danger of extinction over the next half century.
But the great tit (Parus major) has changed its behaviour to take climate change in its stride, according to research by scientists from the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh.
Great tit nestling ready to leave the nest. Synchronization between the date of hatching and the date of caterpillar peak abundance in the environment is very important for the survival prospects of nestlings
The reason for extinctions are many fold. For some species there will no longer be anywhere with a suitable climate for them to survive; in other cases they may be unable to reach distant regions where the climate is suitable.
Other species may survive elsewhere only to face new threats, notably if the new area is covered by crops or urban sprawl.
But the study of data that goes back 47 years on the great tits in Wytham Woods, (Wytham Woods must be a very popular Great Tit watchingarea, wonder if you have to make reservations?--John--) near Oxford, published in Science by Anne Charmantier and colleagues shows that the birds have modified their breeding schedule over the years to adapt to the warming climate.
The birds are now laying their eggs, on average, two weeks earlier than half a century ago. The change enables them to make the most of seasonal food: a bonanza of caterpillars that now also occurs around two weeks earlier due to warmer spring temperatures.
Newly hatched great tits. Syncronisation between the date of hatching and the date of caterpillar peak abundance is very important for the survival prospects of nestlings
In this great tit population, female birds are able to adapt their behaviour from year to year to respond to changing environmental conditions," says Prof Ben Sheldon, senior author of the study.
"They have been able to keep track with the changes that have happened over recent decades, showing that population responses to climate change can be driven by the adaptability of individuals rather than genetic changes."
Population numbers have roughly doubled since 1960, in line with a general increase in numbers of great tits across the country. (Like thesound of that--John--) While the data from nearly 10,000 breeding reports shows an overall trend of birds laying eggs earlier in response to warmer spring temperatures, there is surprisingly little variation between individual females as their behaviour closely follows the 'early bird' trend, as if all the birds "know" how to cope
But not all great tits are responding the same way. (Tell meabout it!--John--) Prof Sheldon comments: "While our study shows how important it is to be able to adjust behaviour from year to year, the lack of variation between individuals in their response to climate change is surprising and contrasts with a recent study of Dutch great tits - which found a much greater variation in flexibility between individual birds. (I for one would welcome more study on Great English Tits and Great Dutch Tits--John)
Little is known about the basis of this sort of behavioural adaptability and why it can vary within species. More work is also needed to discover whether the close matching of the changing environment found by the birds in our study is, indeed, unusual."
Co-author Dr Loeske Kruuk of Edinburgh adds: "If temperatures continue to rise, we do not know whether the birds will be able to track the advancing food peak so closely; although up to now they have kept up remarkably well, we don't know what will happen once temperatures rise to yet higher levels."
One recent study in the journal Nature predicted that climate changes over the next half century will eventually make a quarter of land animals and plants extinct, unless greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced.
"Although the current study shows that some populations may have the innate ability to respond immediately to changing environmental conditions, it is very likely that there are limits on this ability to change, and we may well soon reach a point at which populations fail to keep up," says Dr Kruuk.
The bird is a common species throughout Europe and Asia in any sort of woodland and is found throughout the UK (except for the Northern Isles and Western Isles of Scotland). (This cannot be right, I have it from reliable sources that there are Great Tits inScotland!--John)
There are somethings that are just not right!! So you won't have to wait until the very end of this article, the penquin survived.
'SEX PEST' SEAL MOLESTS PENQUIN
By Matt Walker BBC Science/Nature
An Antarctic fur seal has been observed trying to have sex with a king penguin.
Sexual coercion among animals is extremely common
The South African-based scientists who witnessed the incident say it is the most unusual case of mammal mating behaviour yet known.
The incident, which lasted for 45 minutes and was caught on camera, is reported in the Journal of Ethology.
The bizarre event took place on a beach on Marion Island, a sub-Antarctic island that is home to both fur seals and king penguins.
Why the seal attempted to have sex with the penguin is unclear. But the scientists who photographed the event speculate that it was the behaviour of a frustrated, sexually inexperienced young male seal.
Equally, it might be been an aggressive, predatory act; or even a playful one that turned sexual.
"At first glimpse, we thought the seal was killing the penguin," says Nico de Bruyn, of the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
PINNIPED BEHAVIOUR
The brazenness of the seal's behaviour left those who saw it in no doubt as to what was happening.
De Bruyn and a colleague were on Trypot beach at Marion Island to study elephant seals when they noticed a young, adult male Antarctic fur seal, in good condition, attempting to copulate with an adult king penguin of unknown sex.
The 100kg seal first subdued the 15kg penguin by lying on it.
The penguin flapped its flippers and attempted to stand and escape - but to no avail.
The seal then alternated between resting on the penguin, and thrusting its pelvis, trying to insert itself, unsuccessfully.
The seal may have been frustrated in its attempts to find a partner
After 45 minutes the seal gave up, swam into the water and then completely ignored the bird it had just assaulted, the scientists report.
Why a fur seal would indulge in such extreme sexual behaviour is unclear.
Sexual coercion among animals is extremely common: males of many species often harass, coerce or force females of their own kind to mate, while animals are also known occasionally to harass sexually a member of a closely related species.
Harassment is common among pinnipeds, the group of animals that includes seals, fur seals, and sea lions; and occasionally it happens between related species.
Male grey seals have been known to harass and mate with female harbour seals, for example, producing hybrids.
"Sexual harassment is often more commonplace in non-monogamous mating systems, and in species where males are physically much larger than the other sex and thus physically capable of coercion or harassment," says de Bruyn.
But this is thought to be the first recorded example of a mammal trying to have sex with a member of another class of vertebrate, such as a bird, fish, reptile, or amphibian.
"TOO YOUNG "
Chinstrap penguins occasionally indulge in homosexual behaviour, and adelie penguins sometimes "prostitute" themselves to get stones for nest-building; while one in seven emperor penguins will change partners from one year to the next.
But generally, king penguins lead straightforward sex lives: males and females pair up for years on end.
Marion Island is the only place in the world where Antarctic fur seals are known to hunt king penguins on land, so the idea that the fur seal was trying to eat the object of its attention made sense.
"But then we realised that the seal's intentions were rather more amorous."
The researchers speculate that the male seal was too young to win access to female seals, and in a state of sexual excitement, looked elsewhere.
But the mating season was nearly over when the incident took place, leading the scientists to also wonder whether the seal's natural predatory aggression toward the bird became redirected into sexual arousal.
Equally, the incident may have arisen because the seal was "play-mating".
"It was most certainly a once-off and has never previously or since been recorded anywhere in the world to our knowledge," says de Bruyn.
The penguin did not appear to have been injured by the seal, the scientists report.
So many things are magical. For me most of them revolve around Nature, from the flight of a butterfly, a shooting star, the ever changing masterpiece of a setting sun, the birth of a foal, rain on a sunny day, clouds, rainbows, even a chicken laying an egg. This picture was taken from inside the Jean Dot Cave near the Lava Beds National Monument, Modoc County, CA. in 2006.
can be clicked on for larger view --There are more pictures of the cave in the photo album on the home page, and the original picture of the above too, if you care to look.
When experimenting with MGI PhotoSuite for Gary's Monochromatic Monday, I used the mirage/mirror tool and this was the result, making a magical picture more magical. Hope you enjoy the view.
can be clicked on for a readable view
"THAT'S THE THING WITH MAGIC, YOU'VE GOT TO KNOW IT'S STILL HERE, THAT IT'S ALL AROUND US, OR IT JUST STAYS INVISIBLE FOR YOU.” Charles De Lint Celtic Folk Musician/Story Teller
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A montage of orchids are on display at the 2005 Taiwan International Orchid Exhibition. Orchids that mimic female wasps may not only waste the time of the male wasps they lure into spreading their pollen -- they also seduce them into wasting valuable sperm, Australian researchers reported on Wednesday.(Richard Chung/Reuters
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." If it was good would they care? -- ScienceNewsOnline photograph --
But Good Earth Grease Haulers quickly collapsed, after Tiffany got tangled in red tape trying to help members comply with license requirements. 
