I would suspect 'something ... wrong with [your] brain' is your experience with Japanese. :) Isn't Japanese for penguin 'pengu'?

Same thing happened to me, and, yes, because of Japanese influence.

I actually had to double-check the spelling of 'pingo' just to make sure no Japanese words floating around in my head were confusing me before posting this. :)

I thought of the old arcade game Pengo.

http://www.taiga.net/yourYukon/col171.html

Contains correct visual image and supporting facts :-)

Cool! I wonder if I can make an exploding pingo?

And? Did you?

I personally would consider that to be the BEST housemate response in this situation. :)

Is the garden soil sandy? Can you grow a pingo without permafrost?

Actually, that sounds like a good housemate to me. Housemates that come up with ideas like exploding pingos may not ensure predictable consistency like weeded gardens, but they make life more fun!

Besides, temporary pingos can be melted back to vegetable gardens in the spring. No worries!

I've been meaning to try growing a (very) small pingo ever since finding out about them. I think it might be possible in a freezer, though finding a workable medium might take some doing. I suspect the insulative and mechanical deformation properties of soil don't scale well.

It's really too bad I'm 27 -- it could make a most interesting science fair project. :)

Yeah, we no longer get to do nifty things for science fairs - but at least, as adults, we can get our own supplies and often have a bigger budget.

What else could you call the zero-g robot? :-P

As for scaling soil, usually it doesn't, well, but if you find a civil engineer, they do dirt very well and might be able to help with figuring out a way!

I will designate you a section in the garden, if you like.