SquidGem

Octopus and Coconut shells

2009-12-14T22:29:00.003-05:00

Prove that Octopi are smart animals, even if they have no bones....

Here is a recent news article :
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091214-octopus-carries-coconuts-coconut-carrying.html
that describes how one species of octopus uses coconut shells as environmental protection. Even chimps only use tools for food, not protection.

Very enjoyable videos in article :D

Nature around me...

2009-11-24T14:08:00.008-05:00

Animal, Plant, Food game

When visiting some place new, or when taking a walk, I like to play this gamge: animal/plant/food. I usually have my camera with me and I try to find three of each. You would think in a city it is hard to find different animals, but really they are around us (sometimes they are the creepy animals..... :O ). Plants are usually pretty easy, and there are so many interesting flowers and seed pods. Who doesn't like food!? ok, that was not one of my original categories, but really, when you eat something so delicious don't you with you had a picture to remind you?

Here are some recent photos... (maybe a bit animal heavy this time... but i found such awesome animals!)

frog on house window
slug on side walk
turtle crossing my path on side walk
strange berry on box shurb- the seed in middle is surround by goo
dried critter shell on beach, and finally chocolate!! really really good chocolate in the shape f a hedgehog and frog :P

bah... I have so many more... that's right, I keep a photo folder on my computer just for this....

Note to Self

2009-11-02T10:42:00.010-05:00

Think of this post as a note to myself to remember a few random facts, and also a "OMG-I-read-some-books-lately---and-why-were-they-only-so-so"

I just read David Quammen's "The Boilerplate Rhino: nature in the eey of the beholder" and it is filled with short stories/essay on fun facts in nature. Things to remember:

1) the island of Run is known for nutmeg (nutmeg found on one island? Dutch owned/treasure, part of spice islands),

2) chimpanzee's DNA is 1.6% different to homo sapiens - we are not 99% similar to chimps, but 98.4%. Where did T-shirt designers learn to round or are we so in love with the metric system we would rather incorrectly round up to 1% different to chimps than down to 2% different to chimps. 0.6% is moot.

3) Are the 3,000 or 5,000 chimps in biomedical research less valuable than the 6 billion units of human? The market teaches me that more means less valuable.

4) May 20, 1515 a rhino arives in Lisbon Portugal as a gift to the king, and Durer (umlatt on "u") draws a woodcut based on what he read/hear about the rhino--he never saw the animal, and the guttenburg press spread this image throughout europe. (Seems europe was starved for exotic animal images even into the 1800s, my opinion, and the British Museum has the imaged - the BM also has one of the best illustration displays I've seen, but only displace a scant 100 or so images at a time out of there huge thousands of images... a read shame). Back to the Rhino, this "fasst, cunning, and daring" beast image looked like a large "freckled toad... covered by a hard, thick shell" and is drawn with German armour and a large horn. Actually it was a Rhinoceros unicornis having one horn from West India and the imagery wasn't that bad. (note to self to compare images)

5) Tyrannosaurus rex is unique to western North America N. and S. Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado and Montana) !! I know, we all hear about this amazing dinosaur, but it has very limited region or fossil survival; did it have a limited environment due to the rockies or are the geat Cretaceous record of western N. Amer. that good? So T.rex uncovered in 1902 by Barnum Brown, and as I type this I wonder why the T. rex doesn't have an unlatin name for un-italicizing purposes.

... well, there are many little facts in each story, and it has taken my about a year to slowly read each or the 26 story/essay. I always read books because I like the cover or title, in truth, I like this book because the cover says, "Author of The Song of the Dodo and Monster of God" -- I want to read the Dodo book but they didn't have it at the time and so i settled.

Also just read half of the book, "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks, an Australian. Book about a book, the restoration and story of Sarajevo Haggadah, a jewish text from 1480 that is illustrated with fabulous colors and figurines of humans and animals, uncommon in that day for such a text. The novel flipped between modern day restoration and the main characters story to about 5 past sequences that involved the Haggadah. When I say I only read half to 3/4th of the book, I mean I skipped all but the first historical sequence, because when I read a book I want plot and not some side story, even if it is good history. Well, the conclusion or note to self after reading this book is that I like old books and that I want to learn more about Bosnia and Sarajavo 1996 civil war.

Perhaps I just like old book because 2 days before I read Brook's book I read "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield, a 2006 gothic suspense novel that incorporates such stories as Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Woman in White and other 1860s period pieces to make a somewhat predictable end twist, but perhaps that is what they call foreshadowing a twist... Yet, I enjoyed the book because it was about twins, well written, the author showed a knowledge and love for books, and the book never told me the year or setting. The mystery of this book was that I believe it must have been set in 1950s, give or take a decade or two; the date was never made clear and it was not modern day. My note to self here is to read the novel "Woman in White" by Wilkie Collins, the same author who wrote the "Moonstone" that I really enjoyed and an early precursor style to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Homes detective mystery fiction and style.

p.s. Why can I make text bold and italic, but not underlined? google fail...
p.p.s. Why does spell checker want me to capitalize gothic--is Gothic a proper noun named after a person?
p.p.p.s. Did I write too much?

Zombies

2009-09-30T10:49:00.003-04:00

When a Giant Squid interest isn't enough, let's add ZomBies to the mix!

New Zombie entertainment:
Zombieland movie out this Friday (Oct. 2)
Also check out Max Brook's novels, The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

I read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies recently (by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith). Overall, I enjoyed the zombie infection disease. It is a slow disease that was well portrayed and that slowly manifests, reducing the day till apocalypse and total zombification. A new class of aristocrates, and some commoners, like the Bennet sisters, have become zombie hunters and train in the orient to gain zombie fighting skillz. Fun and quick read; I've proabably read original P&P too often and could tell what parts were changed, so I can't tell you how this book would read if you picked it up fresh. I wouldn't mind more blood and gore for zombie fight scenes, but there were plenty and they were well worked in.

Zombie's in the News:
swine flu vs. bird flu vs. zombie infection! - great chart ~ makes swine fly and bird flu sound like chump-change....

as always, keep up with http://zombies.dammgo.com/ for new zombie updates.

A Canadian group publish a mathematical model of how zombie infection will spread, i haven't read the full article, potentially too much math, but absolute genius to make and publish....

"When Zombies Attack! Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection"
Munz, et al.

Abstract
Zombies are a popular figure in pop culture/entertainment and they are usually portrayed as being brought about through an outbreak or epidemic. Consequently, we model a zombie attack, using biological assumptions based on popular zombie movies. We introduce a basic model for zombie infection, determine equilibria and their stability, and illustrate the outcome with numerical solutions. We then refine the
model to introduce a latent period of zombification, whereby humans are infected, but not infectious, before becoming undead. We then modify the model to include the effects of possible quarantine or a cure. Finally, we examine the impact of regular, impulsive reductions in the number of zombies and derive conditions under which eradication can occur. We show that only quick, aggressive attacks can stave off the
doomsday scenario: the collapse of society as zombies overtake us all.

Giant Squid Glow-in-the-Dark Puzzle

2009-09-30T10:34:00.002-04:00

48 Pieces and 2ft x 3ft !

This Giant Squid Pic never looked so good:

(picture coming up after I surface...)

~thanks S. for the gift

2009-03-27T19:57:00.003-04:00

Giant sQuid attacks boat ! BBC news article Jan 15, 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2661691.stm

I give you my highlights:

" French sailors taking part in the round-the-world Jules Verne Trophy say they have come across one of the most elusive monsters of the sea: the giant squid. Veteran yachtsman Olivier De Kersauson, ..., said that several hours into his voyage he found that a giant squid had clamped on to the hull of his boat. "

Jules Verne Trophy --> giant sQuid !! sounds fishy to me...

"Olivier de Kersauson said the sighting occurred off the Portuguese island of Madeira. "I saw a tentacle through a porthole," Olivier de Kersauson said from his boat. "It was thicker than my leg and it was really pulling the boat hard." The squid has long flaps of muscle attached to each arm Mr de Kersauson says two of the tentacles were blocking the rudder. ... The French sailor says the squid released its grip when he stopped the boat.

Note to self: sail near Madeira island for sighting. The sQuid must have really been wrapped around the boat with 2 arms around rudder and 2 around boat portholes (for the record squid have 8 arms and 2 tenticles that are longer than arms, so I think this article isn't being very clear on arm/tenticles). But how amaZing to see a live and active squid taking you on! I can only assume the boat reminded the squid of sperm whale. Guess the sQuid like wriggling whales, and not dead ones... quick release, or the rudder and pulling caused some damage. Article includes picture of dead squid, but lets make it clear, the real culprit is out there, swimming free and ready to strike a new boat.

"Mr de Kersauson says the squid must have been seven or eight metres (22 to 26 feet) long. ... Only about 250 sightings - mostly of dead animals - have ever been recorded."
250 recordings ever!! and this sailor was one of them. ~jealous~
Truthfully, what would I do in this situation? 1) observe and photograph (keeping boat moving apparently is key) 2) slow boat and see if sQuid goes away 3) do not fight squid - i think the squid vs. boat would win, and tipping a sail boat is bad, very bad....

Well, it has been a long time since I have added to this blog. Giant sQuid story has re-energized me :)

Giant Squid in the news....

2008-11-16T20:11:00.003-05:00

I always find random reference to the giant squid, maybe for it's mystery yet popularity.
The Onion has a lot of references ~will find the links later.

But here is one from iPhone use:
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/11/15/iphone-has-google-lost-its-voice-search/

2008-10-13T16:01:00.004-04:00

Giant Squid joins the View !
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/900_pound_giant_squid_joins_cast

More fun websites (less squid related!)
Ink Scape - a free vector program similar to illustrator (GIMP style)
http://www.inkscape.org/

Fun community of on-line artists
http://www.deviantart.com/

depthCORE - some amazing graphical artwork
www.depthCORE.com

Soccer and more soccer
http://www.uefa.com/

Badass of the week, a new fun way to learn history
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/list.html

See your night sky by entering your ZIP
http://www.wunderground.com/sky/index.asp

Cephalopod Facts

2008-09-07T20:19:00.006-04:00

Octopus or (Octopuses/octopi/octopodes)

The have a very short lifespan!
Smaller pygmy octopuses live around 6 months (these types are usually your pets) and the Giant Pacific Octopus lives between 3-5 years, possibly longer in colder water !!

The mother octopus lays eggs, stops eating, hides in her den, and withers away ~tear.

Squid or (Squid/squids) - squid can be plural, squids usually refers to multiple species

Skin:
- have chromatophores - produce color changes
- photophores - produce light (believe this if for group communication)

Blood:
- have hemocyanin (instead of hemoglobin) which provides oxidation by using copper (instead of iron) as a carrier of sulfide H2O (instead of oxygen)
- this "blue blood" is less viscous, making it very efficient at oxygenating gills.

Movement:
- Jet propulsion - water pushed through funnel in mantel, very efficent at pushing water over gills.

Cephalopods

gelatinous tissue - filled with ammonium ions - to approximate sea water buoyancy !!

GIMP

2008-08-31T23:59:00.002-04:00

Just discovered GIMP
- a free image compostion and photo touchup program.

It is very similar to photoshop, especially since I have an older version - photoshop 5.0 LE, which won't update :,(

Here's what I've made so far (but I'm still learning layers and filters and effects... )

Giant Octopus (eating shark! ) and Squid blog

2008-08-29T20:37:00.005-04:00

Giant Octopus is placed in a large aquarium shark tank
- see what happens:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaOWJxEr3U0&feature=related

Wow, it's bIG! new respect for the octopus!

Squid blog - fantastic resource for all things squid related!
- educational and cutsie

Squid - a San Francisco blog site
http://squid.us/
- I found squid blog by Laughing squid through twitter
--> try twitter, it's fun!

Giant sQuid song!

2008-08-27T01:31:00.000-04:00

Jonathan Coulton - I crush everything !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RFEzpUsUBk

... mean dolphins!

Giant Squid Book

2008-08-13T13:38:00.000-04:00

So I'm searching for a fun and entertaining book about the Giant Squid, and BAM! it exists! Thank you Richard Ellis!!

(btw, he has more books about sea monsters and the deep to read! wow)

Fun Websites

2008-08-12T23:09:00.007-04:00

Classic Websites:
www.imdb.com
en.wikipedia.org

Useful sites to remember:
www.goodreads.com
www.bbc.co.uk/languages
www.gimp.org
www.instructables.com
xkcd.com
www.ted.com
twitter.com

Giant Squid Sites:
www.squidsquid.com
squid.us
museumvictoria.com.au/About/MV-News/2008/Giant-squid-public-dissection-at-Melbourne-Museum
'--> Live Video Dissection of Giant Squid!! (1hr 12min)
www.tonmo.com/science/public/giantsquidfacts.php

Temporary Fun sites (they amuse me for now...):
www.irregulargames.com
tigglet.labrute.fr

Welcome

2008-08-11T23:31:00.000-04:00

The Giant Squid is the most amazing animal out there! To commemorate the Mr. G. Squid, and many other countless wonderful facts and finds, I'm starting this blog. For myself, I am collecting those eclectic facts, and I believe others may find them interesting too.

Shown is my picture of a Giant Squid, based off the first images of a Giant Squid, captured and accidentally brought aboard a boat, where it died in minutes. The first-ever oservations of a live squid (in the Deep Deep Ocean!) comes from work by Tsunemi Kubodera in Japan.

The Paper:
"First-ever observations of a live giant squid in the wild."
Tsunemi Kubodera, of the Department of Zoology at the National Science Museum in Tokyo Japan
and Kyoichi Mori, from Ogasawara Whale Watching Association, Tokyo, Japan
Proceedings of the Royal Society, No 272, pg2583-2586 (September 29, 2005) (doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3158)