This clip was featured in the middle of an episode of NOVA that I saw late last night on PBS while I was up late doing some busywork. Sleep-deprived, brain-numbed from several uninterrupted hours of supertedious laptop labor, and then this friggin' shape-shifter octopus scares the living beshizzle out of me.
It was a show about the possibility of life on other planets and whether they'd necessarily be bibeds in jumpsuits. The guy's point was, it takes a huge cognitive capacity to process the information necessary to see and then spatialize and replicate a complex color pattern (and texture: these bastards can flex subdermal muscles to create 3-D bumps and ridges!). So, the guy says, if their brains can do that, they could probably eventually learn how to type qwerty and drive stick.
Alls I'm sayin is, when those sonsabitches stark crawlin out of the swamp, watch your ass and put on your infrared goggles.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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Porter showed that to me, and me not knowing what I was seeing thought, "Why did they photoshop in that horrible looking blob? That looks so fake, it's laughable...."
Amazing. Truly.
And why are chameleons famous, again, for the thing for which octopuses put them to shame?
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Stevie's project that won the ribbon, but the teacher gave him a bad grade on, and the only correction on the paper was changing "octopuses" to "octopi", an incorrect plural.
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These things are even more amazing than that clip demonstrates. I saw the discovery channel special on these guys.
They can mimic sea snakes, starfish, flounder, rocks, a whole crapload of other things as well. I was mesmorized the entire show.
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Those are amazing feats of imitation. Such a variety! I wonder, do they instinctively know how to do those things? Is it programmed in their genes? Do they learn it from a parent? Or do they figure out new tricks over time through their own genius?
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quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Stevie's project that won the ribbon, but the teacher gave him a bad grade on, and the only correction on the paper was changing "octopuses" to "octopi", an incorrect plural.
Did the teacher deduct any points for putting the comma outside of the quotation marks?
quote:Originally posted by beverly: According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, both plurals are valid.
And thus if I, or someone in a work of fiction, were to correct a person who said "octupuses", scorn and derision would fall upon their family unto the seventh generation.
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Disney's The Living Seas in Epcot had a wonderful exhibit on Cuttle fish, with live critters swimming across various substrates. They would change patterns to match. Very cool.
And there's a video of them doing visual communication that is just stunning.
One question -- do octopus eyes look like goat eyes to anyone else? That strange horizontal pupil just is weird.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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quote:"octopuses" to "octopi", an incorrect plural.
I always thought that using commas outside quotations to name a word was alright... but I guess not (I looked it up). It looks totally wrong to me, though.
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Wow! That was amazing. Gosh, after seeing that other clip of the squid killing the shark, I'm not sure I want to go swimming in the ocean anymore.
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Our very own cuttlefish. I think he looks irritated, don't you? This was one of 3 guarding a slew of babies. The whole scene was awe-inspiring.
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Dag, I didn't see your request for the video of the octopus walking on two tentacles until just now. I linked to it in this thread back in March. New Scientist's site has gotten even slower than usual though, so it's possible that your browser will time out before the video has time to load.
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