Cephalopodcast

It’s Deep-Sea Coral Week over at the Deep-Sea News blog, from April 27-May 3. It’s worth a look, with many interesting posts already up and many more to come each day.

Coral Reefs and Creatures of the Deep Sea

One of the podcasts I enjoy listening to is the Naked Scientists. Back on 23rd April 2006 they did a show featuring not only deep sea corals but giant squid too. It’s two great tastes that go great together, and you can check it out yourself. Skip the boring stuffastrophysics at the beginning and forward the transport controls to minute 32:00 to hear the interesting stuff.

Delving into the dark depths of science this week is Dr Ron Douglas from City University in London, who describes the fascinating world of deep sea fish, bioluminescence and the sights from a deep sea sub, Dr Jason Hall-Spencer from the University of Plymouth talks about cold water corals and the threats posed by fishermen, and from slightly warmer waters Dr David Kline from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama reveals how Caribbean corals are suffering due to sugar pollution. Also in the show, Fran Beckerleg interviews John Ablett at the Natural History Museum in London about a giant squid called Archie, and getting the low down on the high seas, Derek Thorne finds out how a submarine works in Kitchen Science.

• Naked Scientists Podcast: Coral Reefs and Creatures of the Deep Sea

Siesta Key self-portrait, © Jason Robertshaw

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Most are pretty much topical ephemera. I would expect them to enter into my brain and depart as quickly as a joke on late night television. But there is this weird phenomenon whereby I remember segments from certain podcasts as I am walking through my day. It is as if the memory of the audio is stimulated by being in the place where I first heard it. For instance, here I am in the condiment aisle of my local grocer, deciding on which brand of mayo to buy and vividly recalling Robert X. Cringely talking about how Cisco reinvents the mainframe. Or back in 2006, here at this spot on the nature boardwalk, I remember listening to Richard Vobes mentioning his trip to Arundel Castle. Or a few steps later, recently hearing Ira Glass talking about getting his Testosterone checked. But if I try to recall them later, at a different place than where I first heard them, it is not nearly so clear or intense.

To me it is a sensation akin to Déjà Vu. Or is it Jamais Vu? Or something? Anyway, I need a name for this experience and for lack of a better appellation, I am calling it Déjà Entendu (not to be confused with the band).

And I am curious if anyone else has experienced this too. I also wonder if there is anything neurologically interesting about it that is worth considering. There is already plenty of evidence for the linkage between smell and memory. Can the same be true for audio?

Cephalopodcast - The Ocean Podcast

 

 Cephalopodcast 08 January 2008, Episode #7: Happy Blue Year: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (215)

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated the blog and the podcast. Here’s a new episode. My thanks go out to Mark Powell from the Ocean Conservancy for taking time out to share his thoughts about the Carnival of the Blue. The interview was recorded back in November, shortly after CotB #6.

Show Notes

00:00 www.cephalopodcast.com
01:08 Happy Blue Year: 2008 Color Trends, Pantone color 18-3943
02:12 LivBlue
03:00 Sea Notes
03:38 Center for Ocean Solutions
05:06 Carnival of the Blue #8 at I’m a chordata, urochordata!
06:00 Interview with Mark Powell from blogfish
14:38 International Year of the Reef
15:11 ICRI IYOR Mini-Symposium, Washington, DC, January 25, 2008
15:35 11th International Coral Reef Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 7 July 2008
15:54 Coral Discovery Kits from NOAA
16:31 Coral Reef Conservation Fund from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, 20 Feb 2008
17:05 Year of the Frog
18:16 New frog species in North America, Cajun Chorus Frog, Pseudacris fouquettei
19:15 Some mammals smell underwater
21:05 Underwater text-messager for safer SCUBA
22:10 Underwater camera in SCUBA mask
23:25 NC Science Blogging Conference, 19 Jan 2008, Real-time blogging in the marine sciences. Discussion leaders are Kevin Zelnio, Karen James, Rick

Thanks for listening. If you have ideas for future programs or feedback, please send me a message at cephalopodcast [at] gmail [dot] com, or call the Cephalo-Hotline at 1-941-256-0097. Also be sure to check out the cephal.icio.us links to see what’s coming for future shows.

–

New Ocean Music: Jonathan Coulton, OCTOPUS [5:43]

–

cephalopod070912.mp3 [8.5MB 00:36:38]

 

 cephalopod070912: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (343)

It’s good to be back behind the mic again. This episode has an interview with Dr. Clyde Roper, world-renowned teuthologist. We get into a brief discussion about the recent efforts to capture a living giant squid. Also the ethics of seeking these mysterious beasts and the practical considerations of trying to keep one alive in captivity.

My thanks go out to him and Debi Ingrao for their time and interest in the show. Hope you enjoy it too.

Show Notes:

01:50 Cephalopodcast Events Calendar
02:30 Now Reading plugin by Rob Miller.
03:00 The Unnatural History of the Sea
03:30 Reef by Scubazoo
03:55 Microbial Week @ Deep Sea News
05:40 Deep-sea vents ‘no climate haven’
07:50 Carl Safina, Baked Alaska. See also, Whale ’success story’ questioned
10:05 2007-2008 is the International Polar Year
10:25 NSTA Webinars: The Role of Polar Regions in Earth’s Changing Climate System
11:10 Bowhead Whales May Be the World’s Oldest Mammals and 19th Century bomb found in whale
14:15 NOAA Biofact Loan Program
15:50 Marine Mammals Ashore Stranding Field Guide, Special Pricing Through October 2007
16:41 Science Daily, Migrating Squid Drove Evolution Of Sonar In Whales And Dolphins, Researchers Argue and Whales evolved biosonar to chase squid into the deep. Compare How sperm whales use echolocation to catch prey.
18:30 Interview with Dr. Clyde Roper
29:50 Super quick last minute Squid costume
30:18 Reef Fest needs your help

–

Thanks for listening. If you have ideas for future programs or feedback, please send me a message at cephalopodcast [at] gmail [dot] com, or call the Cephalo-Hotline at 1-941-256-0097. Also be sure to check out the cephal.icio.us links to see what’s coming down the ol’ Esox sp.¹ for future shows.

–

A MARINE BIOLOGIST [4:14]

Band: The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets
Rock

.

Last Sunday was International Rock-Flipping Day. I made another 60 second video highlighting some of our discoveries. It’s a little choppier production, since I only had the Powershot A95 (movie setting). Once again, edited with iMovie and scored in Garageband.

Click To Play

Blip.tv | YouTube

• Official IRFD declaration
• Flickr: International Rock-Flipping Day photo pool
• Previously: International Rock-Flipping Day is September 2

Sticking a tentative tentacle into the world of video podcasting. This first one is something of a test.

60 Second Sunset, Siesta Key, Sarasota, FL

Click To Play

Shot on 07/28/2007 with my peewee Canon ZR500. Edited with iMovie and scored in Garageband. Inspired by this series 60 Seconds in the Life of the Galapagos Islands over at Ironic Sans.

• Cephalopodcast on YouTube
• Cephalopodcast on Revver
• Cephalopodcast on Blip.tv

BTW, my buddy SB just coined a new word tonight. I was asking him about youth culture and the balkanization of all these social networking sites. He said that geeks go to blip.tv and the “general public & yutes go YT [YouTube].” So there you have it:

yutes |yoōts|
noun
1. [informal] plural for young adults.
2. [slang] YouTube enthusiasts (often obsessive youths).

youts
British spelling of yutes

During Skype, podcast and webcast sessions, I needed a way to let other folks know that the microphone was hot. I wanted a minitature on-air light flashing so they’d know they could be overheard. But where could I find such a device?

I considered all kinds of crazy schemes, from wiring up LEDs to sacrificing my moribund Palm Tungsten T3. But then it hit me. I already had an auxillary 320×240 LCD screen sitting right next to me in the form of my 5G iPod with video. Why not use the photo slideshow feature in that? So here are the steps to making your own miniature on-air light for podcasting, etc.

1. Download the following graphics (available under Creative Commons license). You can customize them or make something similar on your own.
   
2. Open up iPhoto and create File>New Album. Call it ONAIR or something similar. Alternatively, you could skip iPhoto and create a folder for the images. ITunes accepts either solution.
3. Upload the graphics and move them into the new album/folder.
4. Connect your iPod and under the Photos tab in iTunes, select the new album/folder for synchronization.
5. Then under the iPod itself, select Photos>Slideshow Settings.
6. I changed the following settings:
   Timer Per Slide: 2 sec
   Repeat: On
   Shuffle Photos: Off
   Transistions: Dissolve
7. Back out one click to the Photos submenu, highlight the ONAIR album and press play. You should now have your own miniature on-air sign to warn your mates that the microphone is hot.
8. Adjust the backlight timer to keep the images bright.

Other Uses

This might also be useful in public areas or when recording at conferences. You could create additional graphics with an advert for the show or details about the current recording session.

You could also sychronize it with an audio file, set it up remotely and send out a warning message. The TV out option also allows you to display it large.

This technique has an additional psychological effect for me. When the on-air light is lit, I know it is time to record. Now I just need an elegant way to display my iPod so people can see it.

• iPod: Viewing a slideshow
• Brenthaven Flip Case for 30GB iPod

Download the mp3
cephalopod061224.mp3 [14.4 MB 00:30:24 ]

Show Notes:

• Intro
  • Cephalopodmas
    • Cephalopodmas origins
    • cephalopodmas.org
    • HPLHS CD, A Very Scary Solstice, Tentacles
• Features
  • Point of Rocks Sound-Seeing Tour
    • Stephen B., Augmented Reality and Apollo Beyond
      FWIW, 300 yards = 274.32 meters
    • Cephalophotos of Point of Rocks
    • Origin and distribution of “beachrock”, Point of Rocks, Siesta Key, Florida by Spurgeon, Darren L. (1997)
    • Belkin TuneTalkâ„¢ Stereo for iPod® video
• CephaloNews
  • Live Giant Squid
    • More living giant squid images, a Cephalopodmas miracle
    • Giant squid caught on video by Japanese scientists
    • The Octopus News Magazine Online discussion
    • Brokentype.com, The Age of Architeuthis and Architeuthis redux
      “Every time a giant squid turns up, thousands of people link to it from their weblogs, or forward it to their friends along with a calamari joke.”
    • R.I.P. Giant Squid commemorative T-shirt
• News
  • Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act
    • Scant coverage on Wikipedia
    • The actual legislation
    • Senator Ted Stevens PR
• Resources
  • SciGirls
    • SciGirls and DragonFly TV
    • Mike the Mad Biologist
  • theexplodingwhale.com
  • Two-Fisted Science comicbook
  • Delaware Sea Grant
    • SeaTalk Radio
    • 3-D Dogfish Shark Model

–

Thanks for listening. If you have ideas for future programs or feedback, please send me a message at pulpodcast [at] gmail [dot] com, or call the Cephalo-Hotline at 1-941-256-0097. Also be sure to check out the cephal.icio.us links to see what’s coming down the ol’ Esox sp.¹ for future shows.

–

I CRUSH EVERYTHING [4:42]

Band: Jonathan Coulton
Pop


See also: Areas of My Expertise, by John Hodgman.

I’ve spent that last couple of days learning how to play with WordPress. Also teaching myself the not-so-subtleties of recording and syndication. The test message is out there. The first episode should be available soon. Please standby.