Why the penguin?

Thanks for the cool anecdotes. I thought it ironic that I got into Linux
because we also have a penguin fixation at my house. I've always been a big
Monty Python fan (though my wife is a bit puzzled as to what I see in them.)
Years ago I bought her a big inflatable penguin as a gag gift so she could
have a penguin "for the telly." Our cat popped the thing, but other people
assumed she was collecting them, and eventually gave her penguins of all
descriptions - ceramic, glass, wood, metal, stuffed toys, you name it. There
was even a penguin sculpted from lignite coal! Her penguin collection
suffered a great loss when our son, who was one year old at the time, tried
to climb a shelf which contained many of the fragile ones - it was an event
we called "the great penguin massacre." Although she enjoyed collecting
them, she finally told everyone to stop giving her "knick-knacks", as it was
getting to be too much work to dust around all of them!

Vaughn

P.S. As for Linus being from Finland, you could hardly get further from the
bird's native habitat. :-)

P.P.S. Was the penguin that attacked Linus ten feet tall, electric blue,
with tentacles? For you who are not Python-literate, see the sketch "Scott
of the Antarctic."

On Thursday 17 July 2003 15:43, you wrote:
> Actually... It's a two fold story...
>
> The first half of the lore is that Linus was bitten by a penguin. Ever
> since that time he kind of "liked" penguins. This was a kind of an early
> Linux Kernel list explanation for choosing Tux.
>
> Today Torvalds is claiming it as myth, but its a great story none the
> less. I believe Larry Ewing (the creator of Tux) went largely on some
> suggestions of Alan Cox.
>
> Supporting Stories:
> http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,42209,00.html
> http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~lewing/linux/
>
> Torvalds "biting" transcript with MSNBC:
> <Chris_MSNBC> CyberYoda: How did the Penguin become the Linux mascot?
> <Linus_Torvalds-> Partly accident, partly because I like penguins. Partly
> because I was bitten by a penguin.
> <Linus_Torvalds-> It was at an open zoo. I made my finger look like a
> herring - and the penguin fell for it. It was a very very timid bite.
> <grin>
> Source: http://farcaster.net/linus.html
>
> I spent a good deal of time with Larry at a Comdex a number of years back
> and we talked about Tux. At that time The Linux Store was still around
> and he was teasing Mark, the owner, they he still owed him a 48" Stuffed
> Tux. Because early on the usage rules for Tux, were that you could use it
> as long as you gave one of whatever you used it on to Larry if he asked
> for it. :) I think he had realized this wasn't a good way of doing things
> about that time and had already stopped, but it was funny to see him give
> Mark a hard time about it. Now I think he just requires attribution to
> himself and the gimp.
>
> -Derek
>
> Alan Dayley said:
> > This is the best explaination that I can find. The bottom line is that
> > it is what Linus wanted.
> >
> > http://www.linux.org/info/penguin.html
> >
> > Alan
> >
> > -------Original Message-------
> > From: Vaughn Treude <vltreude@deru.com>
> > Sent: 07/17/03 07:59 AM
> > To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > Subject: Why the penguin?
> >
> >> This is a question that has been bugging me for some time - why is the
> >
> > Linux
> > mascot a penguin? I've googled it, only to find repetetive quotes from
> > Linus
> > Torvalds saying how he wanted the penguin logo to look (cute, cuddly,
> > satisfied as if it just filled up on herring) but not WHY the penguin.
> > Perhaps he's a Monty Python fan like me ("There's a penguin on the
> > telly!")
> > Don't get me wrong, I think Tux is cool. I was just wondering why he's
> > a penguin and not a badger or an ocelot.
> >
> > Vaughn Treude
> > ---------------------------------------------------
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings:
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss