Monday, November 03, 2008

Lights out, plskthx



An octopus at the Sea Star Aquarium in Coburg, Germany is annoyed by a spot light over his tank and turns it out himself.

"We knew that he was bored as the aquarium is closed for winter, and at two feet, seven inches Otto had discovered he was big enough to swing onto the edge of his tank and shoot out the 2000 Watt spot light above him with a carefully directed jet of water."

Thursday, October 25, 2007

More knit cephalopods


Hansigurumi sells patterns for knitting all sorts of cephalopods and other creatures on Etsy.

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Saturday, October 06, 2007

little Window

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Washington Post Goes to the National Aquarium

I try to get to the aquarium when I visit different cities, mostly to check out the cephalopods. I was told that the National Aquarium in Washington D.C. is amazing. I'll be there the first week in November for CSI, so I am hoping I can sneak away for a few hours to visit.


This caught my attention:

There are even hints that octopuses have a sense of humor, Linden [author of The Octopus and the Orangutan: More True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence, and Ingenuity] says.

He talks about the finicky octopus who, in a lab in Pennsylvania, was served slightly spoiled shrimp. The octopus refused to finish its dinner, and when the feeding researcher returned to its tank, the octopus made eye contact with her, then meaningfully pushed all the shrimp down the drain.


This reminded me of the cuttlefish at the Seattle Aquarium that seemed to be mimicking the way people were walking behind me, on two legs as humans often do. He moved two of his tentacles walking them across the gravel at the bottom of the tank.
He moved his body forward as he moved his tentacles and really appeared to be walking.

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Saturday, June 09, 2007

Cape Cod

Restricted Area

Road End 1.3 Mile

Pink Sky

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Equality Now

This morning I got sucked into a broadsheet post about Joss Whedon's rant on Whedonesque about misogyny. It's worth reading.

If the story of Dua Khalil isn't enough to move you to action, visit equalitynow.org.


Human rights violations against women have historically been denied the attention and concern of international organizations, national governments, traditional human rights groups and the media. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of girls and women around the globe continue to endure debilitating and often fatal human rights abuses.

India: A 10-year-old girl is rescued by a flight attendant who notices her crying. Her father has sold her to the 60-year-old Saudi Arabian man sitting next to her for the equivalent of US$240.


Kenya: At a boarding school, 300 boys attack the girls' dormitory. Seventy-one girls are raped. Nineteen are trampled to death in the stampede to escape. The school's vice principal remarks, "The boys never meant any harm against the girls. They just wanted to rape."


Brazil: A man who confessed to stabbing his wife and her lover to death is for the second time acquitted of murder by an all-male jury. The acquittal is based on the argument that he acted in legitimate defense of his wronged honor.


Ireland: A 14-year-old girl, raped by the father of her best friend, learns she is pregnant. She is prohibited from travelling to England where abortion is legal. Only when she indicates she will commit suicide if forced to carry the pregnancy to term does the Supreme Court allow her to proceed.


United States: A 51-year-old woman is stabbed 19 times and killed by her former boyfriend as she waits inside a courthouse to extend an order of protection. Twice before he had been charged with harassment. Both times the charges were dropped.

These are only a few instances of abuses which occur every single day. Human rights violations against women must be documented, publicized--and stopped. We need Equality Now.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Free Ms. PAC-MAN

A little chunk of childhood is free on iTunes right now.