nils olav

we being well satisfied with loyalty, courage, and good endowment of our trusty and well-beloved nils olav and proposing entire trust and confidence in you, as a penguin, in every way qualified to receive the honor and dignity of knighthood.



the funniest thing about this absurdist scenario is the fact that nils is not really nils - he's the penguin the zoo got to replace the penguin they got to replace nils. in other words, this is nils, take three.

apparently, the original nils was adopted as the norwegian guard's mascot during a trip to the edinburgh zoo, an outing that often punctuates their attendance at an annual music festival. is the norwegian guard really a legitimate branch of the army? do they have real weapons? or are they armed with those little guns with "bang" flags? and do they skip instead of march?

apparently, these guys are the primary defensive line for oslo and are equipped with rifles and totally awesome plumed hats. some woman of royal status decided that the hats on the italian bersaglieri alpine troops were pretty sexy and stole the idea.

this is what happens when you listen to women who wax poetic about uniform fashionability. the fighting peacocks!