Five Minute Friday :: Penguins

Penguin Group Small with legal reuse rights
by Antarctica Bound on Flickr

• Five Minute Friday :: Penguins Linkup at Andrew's Place

It's no surprise I immediately thought of last spring's Penguin Tariffs and the intelligence those penguins and seals displayed navigating such a clueless injustice.

Here's part of an AI overview:

"Penguin tariffs" refers to tariffs imposed on the Australian territory of Heard and McDonald Islands, an uninhabited island chain populated by penguins and seals. This occurred as part of a broad tariff policy announced by the Trump administration in April 2025, which was criticized as illogical and based on inaccurate data, as the islands have no human population, commercial activity, or trade of their own. The issue gained public attention due to the nonsensical nature of taxing a territory of wildlife, prompting confusion and a viral social media reaction. The hashtag #PenguinsAgainstTrump gained traction on social media. Australia's government called the tariffs "unwarranted" and "not the act of a friend."

Five about Penguins

Although Andrew had predicted he wouldn't be writing sonnets on his weekly host posts, he wrote one this week, and what fun! He observed how South Pole and North Pole are many miles apart, so at first glance, that means penguins don't participate in Christmas festivities featuring Santa, Reindeer, and Polar Bears. Or Elves. "At first glance," because penguins are a major theme on Nativity tide paper products (wrapping paper, greeting cards, retail store displays, home decor) and apparel for all ages. Penguin Tariffs may have been paradoxical, but despite their South Pole geography, most people don't consider penguins incompatible with Christmas.

To redirect this narrative, black and white long has been considered a color palette that always works. (Another is permutations of red, yellow, and blue.) Does that mean you need to like them? No, of course not. Does it mean they can't be done badly? Both of those and some others definitely can be done up disastrously! In addition, formal tuxedo and ultra-formal white tie attire comes to mind with black and white. Some make a lot of the contrast between white and black, and even assign positive traits to white, negative ones to black.

What more can I say about penguins? They impress me as smart, fish-loving, and friendly, but probably not cuddly. They're picturesque and appealing. And penguins are an out of the ordinary Five Minute Friday prompt.

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