Squid and Octopus spotting

[Clem]

The online version of the Fortean Times is of no use if I want to freak people out on the train while reading it!

Yes, but pretending to read it off an imaginary computer monitor, clicking an imaginary mouse and cursing the imaginary modem's slow speed would really freak them out.



Clem

 

[Phil]

Speaking of Fortean Times, a magazine to which I am a regular subscriber, this months copy plopped through my letter box yesterday morning. Steve and Kat have a full page to themselves with an article written by Karl Shuker (Cryptozoologist and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? winner) about the manner in which the media pounced on all the sensational aspects of the Mesonychoteuthis story and exaggerated all the reported facts about the creature.

Somehow, I think all of us who saw the news breaking here could see events unfold in this manner. Tabloids are not particularly interested in facts, merely in sensationalism, it seems. Dr Shuker's article was interesting and well balanced, in my opinion.

However, one element did slightly grate with me, that Dr Shuker claimed that the reports of Messie being only half-grown were seemingly untrue and that the recovered specimen had potentially reached its maximum size. This was based on alleged discussions on the ceph-list that during latter stages of squid development energy tends to be channelled into sperm and egg production instead of further growth. I do not recall Steve or Kat ever claiming that it was half-grown, but that it had not reached maturity. Indeed, we know from Steves interesting post yesterday that Mesonychoteuthis presumably does grow larger based on the size of the beak in comparison to others recovered from whale stomachs. In fairness though, Dr Shukers comments were written without the benefit of yesterdays post!

 

[Phil]

I watched an old episode of 'Dr Who' the other day (did you have that in the USA?) which was called the 'The Power of Kroll' and was one of Tom Bakers stories from about 1978, I think. It was terrible but strangely hypnotic.

There was this enormous Cthulhu-esque ceph/god creature that appeared out the water on an alien planet with a clear blue screen matt line dividing it and the horizon. It menaced a plastic model drilling rig for some reason causing the extras to wrap rubber tentacles around themselves whilst screaming.

The beast itself....I was convinced by it!

(Dr Who is back next year after being off the screen since 1987. Wonder who will be cast?)

 

[cthulhu77]

I think Dr. Steve would be perfect ! Kat can be his Emma-Peel-like sidekick (tight leather, etc) and they can fight cardboard robots and foam space squids to save all of humanity from the dolldrums of another season of Survivor and the Sharon Osbourne show !
Greg
p.s. Um, calm down...you don't need to have a heart attack.

 

[um...]

Great idea! Tight... leather...

My heart can't be attacked (again), Greg, until Kat gives it back.

 

[Tintenfisch]

Great idea! Tight... leather...

... creaks WAY too much to be a sufficiently stealthy uniform for a defender of the universe. Sorry.

 

[um...]

Cellophane, then? Hm, probably still a little too noisy. How about a tracksuit? would be just as alluring in a tracksuit, and waaaay more comfortable.

 

[WhiteKiboko]

i heard this guy named milligan once said cellophane could be fun.... why dont you pursue it um?

sorry to cause trouble ttf but, if leather is out what about pleather?

 

[um...]

i heard this guy named milligan once said cellophane could be fun.... why dont you pursue it um?

Will do. Photoshop time, as soon as I get home. Alas, I cannot post work of that nature here any longer. I was going to do a nice little Katwoman thing with the leather, too.

 

[WhiteKiboko]

i was watching 'good eats'... when alton was discussing the maillard reaction, he said that you want the meat "brown, not black... black is for coffee, (something i cant recall) and squid ink"

if you dont know what the maillard reactions are, watch more deep fried live....

 

[WhiteKiboko]

there was a bio on donald trump..... comments on him aside.... his head bodyguard is matt calamari.... nicknamed 'matty the squid'

when enlisting help for a mission to cut his hair and trim his eyebrows, i guess ill have to find some real hardchargers.....

 

[WhiteKiboko]

caught an episode of "Emeril Live" (a cooking show by a subtlety challenged chef)... he was focusing on molluscs... had an octo sitting on the counter as well as a nautilus shell.... didnt use the octo, but he did put squid into a stew....

 

[Wartooth]

I remember watching the tail end of many Dr. Who episodes as I waited for the Uncle Floyd show to get on the air (not only is that not heard of in the UK, but probably nowhere outside of the tri-state NJ/NY/CT area).

Oogie

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I was a huge fan, when I lived in Jersey. Grew up with Uncle Floyd. Even had one of my drawings on his wall in one of the episodes! Last year, my brother met him and had him autograph a photo for me. Ahhhh ... cheap Hoboken television!

Richard

 

[WhiteKiboko]

its plaster cast of some shelled animal, but in the beginning of star trek: first contact, picard has something on a desk behind him when he's talking to the admiral.... the shell looks rather circular, an ancient ceph perhaps? ill keep watching and see if they offer a better look...

 

[Phil]

its plaster cast of some shelled animal, but in the beginning of star trek: first contact, picard has something on a desk behind him when he's talking to the admiral.... the shell looks rather circular, an ancient ceph perhaps? ill keep watching and see if they offer a better look...

Here we see Captain Jean-Luc Picard in his ‘Ready Room’ onboard the USS Enterprise ‘E’ taken from a Starfleet webcam during the second Borg incursion into Federation Space in 2373, documented in a file known as ‘First Contact’. We can clearly see the ammonite behind Picards’ shoulder.

The ammonite appears to be a fine example of the Upper Jurassic (Portlandian) species Titanites giganteus, and clearly meant a lot to Picard filling valuable space in a cramped environment. Picards’ interest in archaeology has been extensively documented. According to Starfleet records Picard was born at LaBarre in France in 2305, LaBarre being a small village with vineyards presumably located near Lac LaBarre in the Pyrennes, close to the town of Foix.

One may assume that the young Jean-Luc collected this ammonite before enlisting in Starfleet near his home, hence he has retained it in his journeys into space for sentimental reasons. Here we have a problem as the rocks around the Eastern Midi-Pyrenees area of Southern France around his hometown are primarily volcanic in origin and clearly do not lend themselves to fossil preservation. May one assume that Picard journeyed further a field in his fossil hunting days? The correct period geology is exposed at Haut Marne near Chateauvillain near Troyes, 220 km SE of Paris. This would imply a major expedition by the young Picard as Chateauvillain is over 400km NE of Foix.

If anyone is interested, a monograph pertaining to Late Jurassic heteromorph ammonite suture analysis correlated to septal wall strength is available in Klingon on request.




"Nurse, nurse, where are you? I need my pills!"