IRL

So, admittedly, I love baby animals. Well, to make that more clear, I love fuzzy and furry animals.

You probably guessed it would come to this, but I joined a small listserv put together by a friend, and friends of friends, about animals. So throughout the day, I get a steady stream of animal news. It's awesome.

For example, I learned about this fuzzy creature:



Seriously, a snowboarding possum...

This week is the first episode of what promises to be the greatest show ever: Frozen Planet, narrated by Alec Baldwin.



In fact, it's so awesome that TWO penguins were flown to New York to see it



HOW DO PENGUINS FLY??? ON A PLANE! HAHAHAHAHAHA

So, natch, Animalist is getting together IRL as Howard Rheingold put it, to see the screening of Frozen Planet at my house. I don't know if I've messed up by inviting one or two other people to Frozen Planet - if it will mess up the vibe - but I'm pretty stoked about Frozen Planet. It will be, in a word, awesome.

But it will also be one of those great examples that is so rare now where I've heard people's names, don't know them on facebook, and only know most of them from their good humored postings on animalist. So this is online community circa 1993.

Baby Polar Bears

This is a totally unserious post. But the most important thing about social media, to me, is that it can spread and share not just information, but emotion. And for me, that emotion for the past few weeks has been pure joy as I have learned about two little polar bears, abandoned at birth by their mothers in their respective zoos. I have been watching these baby bears grow up over YouTube, but lest you worry, there are still some mockeries of these adorable bears.

First, let me introduce you to baby Siku. You can like Siku on Facebook. Note that he has public figure status. Siku was born in a Danish zoo, and has been hand raised after his mother could not provide him with milk. As the Today Show and AFP described him, he has become an internet sensation with adorable Siku videos hitting the web.

The second is the unnamed bear at the Toronto Zoo, but I've just overwhelmed this post with baby polar bear videos, so I won't post more of these. But the Toronto Zoo is using a social media campaign to name its adorable baby bear (born October 11, 2011). This one actually has a very sad story, as three bears were born and only one survived.

Translated - an internet show. Rock the Danish.

How freaking adorable is that cooing?

Here is Siku at 16 days.

Here is Siku at 32 days.

Here is Siku on the Today Show:

Here is Siku at 66 days old (he's a little less of an internet sensation now) (only 4,000 views)...

BUT, I learned today that he's getting his OWN web camera, courtesy of Polar Bears International.

And here we have the amusing Mockmentary videos of Siku: Siko (which means Angry Drunk).

"Siko wants Jim Beam"

And here's Siko and Jim Beam and Super Bear....with Siko threatening to shave Justin Beiber's hair