[seul-edu] Re: [school-discuss] [Fwd: Fwd: penguin (OT everywhere!)]

[Leon Brooks <leon@brooks.fdns.net>]

On Wednesday 29 January 2003 09:48 pm, Doug Loss wrote:
> [Raphael sent this to me a few days ago.  It seems like something
> that would be of interest to many people and groups, so I'm
> forwarding it here.--Doug Loss]

> we had to realize a suit of penguin. It's big, it's nice, it's
> handmade in an Italian workshop, it has a not-for-profit cost. Of
> course it is not for everyday use, but for the some rare
> occasions in which it could be useful to have it, for an install
> fest or a photo with your computer.

> Body, head, feet, full with mousse. Photos of the prototype on
> http://potenzataf.com/pinguino/

A few photos of Linus wearing the only penguin suit he's ever worn can be 
found here:

    http://linux.org.au/~leonb/lca2003/20030122/

The parent page...

    http://linux.org.au/~leonb/lca2003/

...has a link to a story in a local newspaper that shows Linux holding the 
head:

    http://www.thewest.com.au/20030128/business/tw-business-home-sto85965.html

My wife, her sister and a (Chilean) neighbour built it. It took them forever. 
In a couple of weeks, they will get together again and set about documenting 
what they did. A link to that will appear on the "parent page" above.

They aimed to make the penguin as Tux-like as possible, to match Linus' 
description "It's not an anatomically correct penguin, it looks more like 
Daffy Duck had a wild night out with a penguin."

For example, they used the foam insert from a bicycle helmet to give the head 
a nice round shape and also a convenient scaffold for attaching the skin and 
beak. The head moves independently from the body to allow the wearer to look 
around.

The body has a foam lining to give it that floppy, fat-satisfied-penguin look, 
and the feet are made from blocks of foam with an indent and elastic straps 
underneath to contain the wearer's shoes and give them good control (other 
suits we tried had flat, lightweight feet that flipped about all over the 
place, looked terrible and were difficult to control.

We would be happy if Sart'arte manufactured this penguin, or a compromise 
between theirs and ours. We suspect that ours is harder to make (meaning, 
more expensive), but perhaps if penguin suits are going to be popular a 
choice of penguins would be appropriate.

Because Linus has worn this suit, and it's the only one he's ever worn, we're 
half-considering auctioning it on eBay... (-:

Cheers; Leon