Cephalopodcast

I have an avatar in Second Life called Calamari Ricardo. He wandered into the lair of Grendel’s Children the other day and came across a new undersea option for avatars (see below).

Randy Olson cheekily suggested that the next Science Blogging Conference be conducted in Second Life. If so, maybe we could hold it on the newly expanded NOAA sim and all the ocean bloggers could go dressed up as Vent Nymphs.

Vent Nymphs
MiniHUD controls the black smoker effect & sound, and includes a unique skin and sculpted tubeworm growths! Both genders included. Created by Flea Bussy.

See also:

• NOAA in Secondlife via Hack’s Haven
• The Abyss of Secondlife

Some of the kids over at Metafilter are suggesting that today is Giant Squid Day. Others suspect it maybe Cloverfield virality. Either way, get your ink on over here:

• Real Giant Squids
• Vertebrae not required

Back in February I cheekily proposed a new Internet adage called Gorton’s Law. It was an allusion to the more well-known Godwin’s Law and is the notion that in any discussion of sea life, no matter how rare, strange or repulsive, some knucklehead will quickly sour the conversation by asking how well it goes with lemon or butter. An addendum to this is that it will usually happen within the first 10 comments and that they might also propose some other condiment.

My intent was to highlight how prevalent the attitude is that sea life is there merely for us to “harverst.” That the primary purpose is for our consumption and not for any intrinsic value or ecological roles those flora and fauna may contain.

Deep-Sea News has now officially formulated this notion into an actual equation.

Gorton’s Measure states that the time for someone to ask “Can you eat?” when discussing a marine species is directly proportional to the rareness, strangeness, and repulsiveness of the species.

where theta=time for someone to ask “Can you eat?”
t=total people in room
alpha=species’ rareness
sigma=species’ strangeness
delta=species’ repulsiveness

This is related to Gorton’s Constant (Gamma) that states that the question “How well does it go with lemon and butter?” will occur at a very high percentage approaching infinity despite relative changes in audience size (n).

My thanks to Craig for working out the maths. Of course, now that it is officially formulated, I regret a little going for the more amusing Gorton’s Law and not the more eponymous Robertshaw’s Law. At least that way I would have been know for something. Oh well.

See also:

• Another most excellent World’s Fair meme. Give us your personal scientific eponym.
• HOW TO GET YOUR OWN SCIENTIFIC EPONYM, AND, INTRODUCING THE ARBESMAN LIMIT

Yesterday, the aquarist at work carved pumpkins while underwater in the Mote shark tanks.

• See also: Tirck-or-Treat [sic]

As mentioned on Cephalopodcast #6, anyone who needs a last minute costume for Halloween can try this Instructable from Tool Using Animal. You can probably assemble it in less than 30 minutes out of commonly available office supplies. Plus an option for glow-in-the-dark action!

• Super quick last minute Squid costume

Another more involved invertebrate Instructable is the Halloween LED Jellyfish Costume.

It’s National Chemistry Week from October 21-27, 2007. And October 23 is an especially auspicious day, since it is Mole Day.

Celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m., Mole Day commemorates Avogadro’s Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry. Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Schools throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles.

For a given molecule, one mole is a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the atomic mass of the molecule.

• Wikipedia: Mole Day

[via neatorama]

Something fun from the Wildlife Conservation Society: Build Your Wild Side. It’s a marketing gimmick, but a wild one.

And in the tradition of infecting other bloggers, I challenge the following to build their wild self too and pass on the meme:

• Laelaps
• Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, and Sunsets
• Invasive Species weblog
• The Other 95%
• Bioephemera

Many visitors to this cephaloblog are probably already aware of the plight of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. However, there is another, rarer species said to lurk in the farm country of the northeast. And the first photographic evidence of the elusive seven-legged Vermount tree octopus has recently been released. It is an enormous beast which obviously has binocular vision and a hardened siphon. Be aware folks. Be very aware!

- -

All kidding aside, this concludes my posts for the first annual International Cephalopod Awareness Day. Thanks again to everyone who participated. If you are interested in planning events for next year, head on over to TONMO and join the conversation. And remember, next year it will be 08-October-08!

Sheryl is a sculptor with a couple of quirky works on display. Some are fluffy fantasy while others are bare reality. But the ones that caught my attention the most are her Perma-Pet “cuddlefish”, nudibranchs and octopuppy.

• Octopuppy, Mixed Media Fantasy Sculpture
• YoutTube: Octopuppy Sculpture
• Available as a T-shirt
• Permapets: cuttlefish and nudibranchs
• Cthulhu’s Gems, One of a Kind Fantasy Tentacle Pendants
• Baby Rat, One of a Kind Polymer Clay Sculpture

Related items:

• Different kind of “octopuppy”: Six-legged puppy found in Malaysia (2005)
• How the Moon got its Craters
• oopsy the octopuppy infant and toddler shirts

Celebrate Cephalopod Awareness Day, October 8, 2007

AKA: World Octopus Day, Squid Appreciation Day

We begin our celebration of the First International Cephalopod Awareness Day with a look back. I found this little carbuncle on the Internet Archive, and it proves you can mix the great taste of peanuts butter and octopus. It’s a 1950s show called You Asked For It, and it features a moment in the life of Ben Frick, octopus trapper, Washingtonian and “delightful fella.” Skip the knife thrower and fast forward to minute 07:00 to see all the action.

EDIT: Sorry folks. Internet Archive embedded player isn’t playing nice with Wordpress. Click the image above to open the movie in a new window.

Apparently, octopus wrestling used to be pretty popular in the States around this time, as evidenced by this 1949 article in Modern Mechanix: Octopus Wrestling Is My Hobby. And this one from a 1965 edition of Time, Adventure & the American Individualist:

Merely to minnow about underwater is no longer enough, and such sports as octopus wrestling are coming increasingly into vogue, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, where the critters grow up to 90 Ibs. and can be exceedingly tough customers. Although there are several accepted techniques for octopus wrestling, the really sporty way requires that the human diver go without artificial breathing apparatus.

It would seem that the Japanese continue this tradition, albeit with less lively opponents and the disadvantage of being on land.

• Read more about International Cephalopod Awareness Day, including posts by other bloggers
• “You Asked For It” (ca late 1950s)
• Previously: Vintage Ocean and Science Fair Footage

[via Megaconference]
Sure, nations of the world have their flags to fly. But what if you want to consider yourself a citizen of planet Earth? There is a flag for that too.

Created on May 17, 1970 by James W. (Jim) Cadle of St. Joseph, Illinois

Jim designed the Flag of Earth, then hand crafted sewn flags of various sizes, and sold them on his website. Many of the radio observatories around the world, particularly those involved in SETI (the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) fly a Flag of Earth as a reminder of the purpose of the searches.

Officially, The Flag of Earth, while on Earth, has had no display protocol. On November 1, 2003, the Flag of Earth became part of the public domain.

• Flag of the Earth
• Free FotE image download
• Order the FotE in various sizes, from $20-$50 US
• SETI and the FotE
• Fictional Flags of the Earth from SF and television

Various tentacly things aggregating in my inbox:

• Lovecraft x Sendak = Where the Great Old Ones Are
• Michael Leavitt’s Octogirl, an Audrey Kawasaki 10″ art action figure
• Williams-Sonoma: Octopus Cake Pan
  [tip of the tentacle to Karen]

Be sure to also check out Mike Levitt’s DIY Action Figure video. Fascinating.

There are many things to dislike about this video. Mixing limnetic and stenohaline fishes. Confusing a Holocentrid for a Salmonid. Undergravel filters. But then you realize the kid is probably just tripping and the beatbox blowfish is really amusing. So don’t sweat the details and just give it up for Sammy the Salmon and his amazing salmon dance…

mild profanity

• Chemical Brothers
• Alternate encoded version: Chem1_FactoryWeb.mov
• The Fish and the Forest

[via Glenn]

Today’s Too Much Coffee Man comic by Shannon Wheeler is indeed cephalopodtastic. Thanks Glenn!

Anyone else know of funny cephalopod-inspired comics?

• Previously: Cephalopods in the hen house
• Previously: Life of the Giant Squid (cartoon excerpt from The Mr Hell Show)

It’s Microbial Week over at Deep Sea News. They’ve kicked it off by linking to Ode To The Microbe by Daniel Pie.

Here are some other gems inspired by germs.

• The Other 95%: O Bacteria [mp3]
• Jonathan Coulton: Bacteria [mp3]
• Food Safety Music: We are the Microbes, a strange little animated music video that combines germs and World of Warcraft set to Queen’s “We are the Champions”
• Look Around You: Germs

Know of any others?

[via Practical Fishkeeping]

The way that taxonomy normally works, the person that describes a new species also gets to give it a new name. This bit of binomial classification is often a staid affair, although sometimes it can get a little silly. However, some researchers have cottoned on to the idea of selling off the privilege of naming rights to raise funds for more research. And this scheme recently gained a little more chic with the addition of Chrisite’s as the auctioneer and the patronage of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.

The Blue Auction is an historical event offering individuals, companies and organizations the opportunity to bid for the privilege of having their name (or a name of their choice) forever attributed to new marine life species recently discovered off the coasts of the Bird’s Head Seascape in Indonesia by Conservation International.

A total of 12 lots shall be auctioned by Christie’s, and the proceeds will benefit marine conservation programs associated with the long-term preservation of such species as well as other environment and biodiversity-related programs. Participation to the gala event is for qualified bidders and by invitation only. Donations from interested parties and unsuccesful bidders are welcome.

Auction lots include:

• Melanotaenia _____, a freshwater rainbowfish
• Pseudochromis _____, a saltwater reef basslet
• Paracheilinus _____, a flasher wrasse, very striking
• Pterocaesio _____, a saltwater fusilier
• Corythoichthys _____, a pipefish
• Pictichromis _____, another beautiful basslet
• Pseudanthias _____, a fairy basslets
• Chrysiptera _____, a damselfish
• Pterois _____, a lionfish
• Hemiscyllium _____, a shark
• Also opportunities to name a patrol vessel and a research expedition

To see the habitat that these funds will be used to protect, check out the interactive photo essay over at National Geo.

So how much would you pay to name a new species? Which of these organisms do you think will get the highest bid? I reckon the shark will be the most sought after. And what about this whole notion about selling off naming rights? Is nothing sacred? Or is the whole notion of binomial classification fundamentally flawed anyway?

• The Blue Auction
• Christies opens auction to name fish species
• I dub thee Hemiscyllium vanschagenii
• Photo essay: Indonesia Undersea
• Previously: Curiosities of Biological Nomenclature
• Previously: Buy a New Species Name for a Loved One
• If You Need To Ask How Much, You Probably Can’t Afford The Cost Of Conservation
• Want to save the world? Sponsor a shark
• New Species Owe Names to Highest Bidder