I Almost Filed This Under Octopus October 25, 2010
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but I realized that hands are not feet.
Flying Monkeys October 25, 2010
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[pithy comment here, usually. Today I’m too tired. Cute though, isn’t it?]
Another Harmonic Convergence October 23, 2010
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I found this on BoingBoing.net, which is a garden of delights on weekends. You all read BB, right? Don’t make me come out of your monitor and force you.
Dumbo Octopus Navigation October 21, 2010
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Beautiful, isn’t it? This Cirrate octopus, a bit more benthic than your run-of-the-mill octopus, was videoed off the coast of San Francisco, in the darker, chillier, non-coastal depths. He (she?) doesn’t jet about, but flaps the fins on the side of his head a la Dumbo. Neat.
My Office Park October 17, 2010
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has turkeys
and geese
like other places have rats (we must have rats too, because I see lots of cats in the parking lot).
Violating the Benthic Treaty October 17, 2010
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The headline is only funny if you have read any of the Laundry series of books by Charles Stross
, the best science fiction/horror writer I have ever read. This fish is, however, a true horror from the deep, being found 7 kilometers down in a trench, using a baited camera rig made by a collaboration between Japan’s Ocean Research Institute and New Zealand’s National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research. They found a supporting ecosystem feeding off carcasses of critters from warmer, shallower levels, but no Elder Gods this time.
You will love the name; New Scientist reported it as a Sméagol. The source press release doesn’t use that name, but I like it.
This is my blog, damn it. It’s a Sméagol.
My Morning Commute Through a Fog Stream October 15, 2010
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Click on the photo for a full-screen scrollable view.
Not an Octopus, But Still… October 15, 2010
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Just another part of the undersea crime wave.
Golden Gate Park in a Heat Wave October 14, 2010
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About what you would expect. Click on the photo for the scrollable widget.
This Has to be a Photoshop Job October 11, 2010
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It’s too perfect.
Why I Want a Better Camera October 10, 2010
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…because I suck a color correction. Amazingly, the photo on the right has the correct color for the flower. Notice how much I had to vary the hue in Photoshop on the white and blue envelope. Here’s the second fix, with desaturation before hue enhancement, and the third fix, with additional hue enhancement. That’s pretty close, but I feel as if my camera should be doing a lot more of this by itself.
My Wife Wants to Travel When We Retire October 6, 2010
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I find the security theater performed at SFO annoying in the extreme, but is apparently no match for the response a cow-orker (hyphenation intentional) has to traveling by air.
http://c1262832.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/closr.swf?name=DQ8MtJSOQjq&cidin=c0044992
I didn’t realize there were that many airlines still left in the world, but apparently every podunk country has one. And turbulence enough to justify customized air-sickness bags.
A Fistful of Yen October 5, 2010
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I have little respect for Bruce Lee’s fame, since his first tactic of martial arts was to induce mind-fogging pain on his opponent and then defeat him. For me, martial arts were a very friendly sport with little personal animosity attached, so I’m appalled by what I learned about him.
Still, anyone who can win at ping-pong with nunchuks is a serious badass.
Meerkats Are Not Lemurs, Either October 5, 2010
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I understand the confusion. A meerkat (Suricata suricatta) is a member of the mongoose family native to the Kalahari Desert. Scientists call a group of meerkats a “mob”, “gang” or “clan”, although I’m sure that’s because most scientists have never lived in Oakland (or its European equivalent, Scotland). And, like other sub-human groups[1], they consist of a dominant mating pair who attempt to control the sex lives of their subjects, going so far as to kill and eat the product of non-approved matings.[2]
And you thought they were cute.
Well, that’s ‘cause they are:
Wikipedia loves these little critters: “According to African popular belief (mainly in the Zambian/Zimbabwean region), the meerkat is also known as the sun angel, as it protects villages from the moon devil or the werewolf which is believed to attack stray cattle or lone tribesmen.”
That would explain this statue. I think anything this size could protect anything it wanted, and could certainly eat the young of any un-approved matings with impunity.
In fact, it could eat just about anything at all.
[1] This is sarcasm. Some people can’t tell; they often fall into said sub-human category, and want to regulate your sex life.
[2] The meerkats, not the scientists. Try to keep up, OK?
Exciting update:
More Exciting Update:
This is Only Here Because I Like It. October 2, 2010
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