Category Archives: Emus (the bird)

Once again, rarely about Emus

A loyal reader sent me this fairly pathetic Emu-oriented article, “Man headed to trial in emu killing” from the South Bend Tribune. To quote:

A New Carlisle man testified Tuesday that he and a friend went to a Buchanan-area farm in late October to ride an emu after a night of drinking. Jack Keldsen went on to testify that his friend, Thomas Clark, killed the emu with a baseball bat and the two dumped the dead bird on a friend’s doorstep as a prank.

Keldsen was on the witness stand Tuesday during a preliminary hearing for Clark. Clark is charged with killing and/or torturing an animal and larceny over $200 and under $1,000. Keldsen pleaded guilty in March to attempted killing and/or torturing an animal and agreed to testify against Clark.

The whole thing kind of goes downhill from there. Ick.

Rarely is this site about emus…

I’m going to be at the main academic conference in my field the rest of this week, so posting here on the site might be on the slow-side for a couple of days.  But in the meantime, I’ll leave you with two stories of the birded type:

“Emu on the loose in the east,” or really, in the “east” down south in North Carolina.  Nothing too unusual; just a classic story of an emu having escaped and being mistaken by an ostrich.

Second, there’s this from a web site about neighborhood news in New York City, “$20 Emu Eggs Fly off Shelves at Farmer’s Market.”  Essentially, emu eggs are novelty items, a giant egg in a very tough dark green shell.  What’s it taste like?  Well, judging from the video, a “good egg.”

Perhaps NSFW Emu/flightless bird news?

From Nature comes “Ostrich penis clears up evolutionary mystery.” To quote:

A long-running question about how the largest species of birds achieve erect penises seems to have been settled. In a study published this week in theJournal of Zoology1, researchers report that male ostriches and emus enlarge their penises using a burst of lymphatic fluid rather than a blood vascular system like that found in reptiles and mammals.

The finding, based on dissections, matches what is known about other species of birds — only 3% of which have penises — and could have important implications for the understanding of the shared, and divergent, evolutionary heritage of birds and reptiles.

I guess something to share with others at the Holiday cocktail parties.  And yet another reason why we should be the emus and not the eagles.

Just want to point out: I’ve been saying we ought to be the Emus for years and years

While looking for an article in the Eastern Echo about the new head in my department, I came across an op-ed piece by Michael Cassar,  “Eagle overused as a mascot; Should Eastern reconsider?” It’s dated 2010, but I have a feeling that’s an error– you’d think someone would do a little proof-reading over there….

Anyway, it’s kind of a gentle suggestion that as campus is being renovated, we ought to consider renovating the mascot.  I say “gentle” because Cassar isn’t saying we ought to go back to the Hurons nor is he suggesting what is the obvious choice of the Emus.  He does have a good point about the problem of being the Eagles:

According to my count, based on a list compiled by Adam Joshua Smargon, there are no fewer than 59 different colleges using the eagle as a nickname, and this doesn’t include variations like the 15 schools named the Golden Eagles. Bluntly, donning the eagle is so generic and bland that EMU might as well have for its motto “Because you’d rather be a Spartan.”

Good point.

Anyway, I have of course long advocated for a change to the Emus, though not the wimpy logo advocated by the folks behind thingsemu.com I’m talking an emu logo that is more in line with the news items I post here which usually involve an escape involving one of these birds that are notoriously tough and difficult to catch.  I’m talking a bad-ass emu kinda logo.

 

Rarely is this site about Emus, or dodgeball

A former colleague of mine saw my recent “TRUEMU” parody and said she wanted it as a bumper-sticker.  This got me to thinking of ways I would want to change it, how I’d want to use the money as a fundraiser for the site, etc.  Anyone else interested in that?

And it also drove me to do a search as I do once in a while for “emus in the news,” and for whatever reason, I today came across this, the Facebook Page for The Emus– Australia’s Only Professional Dodgeball Team.  I don’t know exactly what they mean by “professional” dodgeball, but they have some nice logos and such.

Rarely is this site about emus

I’m procrastinating a bit on a soggy Saturday morning, so I thought I’d see what’s new in emu news:

  • “Trestle-trotting emu hit by car on US 2″ is a fairly familiar story about an escaped emu who found his (I presume, since it was named “Curious George”) onto a freeway. Though sadly, the emu didn’t make it. Interestingly though, it sounds like the emu was struck by one car, maybe have been struck by others, and he managed to injure a state patrol officer before going down. Again, evidence that emus are tough.
  • “Chehaw asks public to name new emus” is about a zoo/animal park of some sort in southwest Georgia that is having a contest about naming its new emus.  I’m going to suggest “Ypsilanti” and “Huron.”
  • Emu farms begin mushrooming in state” is about emu farming in India. Huh. Well, maybe tandoori emu would be tasty….

Again, this site is rarely about emus

But this story of another escaped emu confused for an ostrich is pretty because of the attached video and the confused and alarmed 911 calls.

Anyone missing an Emu?

No football game this weekend, but there is still plenty of news about Emus out there, and once again, I have come across a story about the frequently escaping third largest bird.  From the Oregon Live web site (and I believe The Oregonian newspaper) comes “Police are still looking for owner of emu found wandering on U.S. 26 near Sandy.” Here’s a quote from the story:

Police still are looking for the owner of an emu found wandering in traffic on U.S. 26.

The bird remains on an emu ranch near Estacada, where authorities brought the big flightless, ostrich-like bird Wednesday.

“I sure would know if I were missing an emu,” said Lt. Nick Watt, Clackamas County sheriff’s spokesman. “It’s not like it’s a robin.” Watt said police are calling emu ranches in the Mount Hood corridor to see if any big birds got away.

I really like that quote:  indeed, an emu is not like a robin; and yet, both being birds, it is like a robin. I will let you contemplate the emu/robin zen koan over the weekend instead of watching the Emus lose at football…..

Rarely is this site about emus…

When the Emu Says Hello. . .

I was looking for something else when I came across this awesome emu picture.  And that took me to a search for emus in the news, which brought up another story that is run of the mill by now: “Elusive Richland County Emu captured.” It’s surprising to me how common it is for these unusual birds to escape.

I did learn this from the article though:  “An Emu is a flightless bird that looks much like an ostrich. It is the world’s 3rd largest bird behind the Ostrich and Cassowary and can run upwards of 30 miles per hour.”  I had never heard of the Cassowary before; who knew there were two large and flightless birds in the Australia area?  And they are apparently the worlds most dangerous bird.

A short break followed by a longer one; and once again, rarely is this site about Emus

I will be out of town at a conference starting later today, and thus not posting to EMUTalk.  Along these lines, I’m planning on taking a complete month off from the site in June.  No particular reason, and I don’t plan on taking a month long computer “fast” or anything like that, but I will be doing some more traveling then too, and a little “va-kay” seems in order.

In the meantime, let me pass along the latest story of an Emu on the loose, this time in South Carolina.  I came across a number of articles that included photos like this one, and even this one from The State that includes both a slide-show of photos and a video! (Apparently, not much has been happening in South Carolina lately).  I can’t embed the video, but do take a look.  It is rednecky hilarious.

Oh, if only the EMU Eagles had a running back as elusive as this thing….

See y’all next week.