Piglet Squid

During our Open Ocean Plankton Class, CMA recently collected a live specimen of a Helicocranchid squid known as the “piglet squid.” Although the animal unfortunately died, it is preserved for our research and teaching collections (Helicocranchia pfefferi, CMA 2006.4.16) and is available to view in our information booth. The photo might suggest the reason for its common name.

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium

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Bag of Randomness

  • I just realized this is the first year I haven’t used my Halloween header.
  • ANNOUNCEMENT:  It’s going to be a very busy week for me, so I’m not sure how dedicated I can be to BON this week.  I may post as normal, but then again, I may not be able to make any posts at all for a few days this week.
  • This article [Survey: Half of US doctors use placebo treatments] made me wonder if this can be related to all the prescription drug commercials that tell use to ask our doctors about said advertised drug.
  • At work a person’s cube is usually decorated for a birthday.  Usually it’s decorated with a plethora of balloons and streamers and stuff right after they go home the day before the birthday.  One of my coworkers whose birthday was the next day decided to rig an alarm when something was moved on his desk which emitted a loud and high pitched beep that goes on for minutes.  But the kick was, he even set up video surveillance and was able to capture the whole thing on tape.  Impressive, eh?
  • I sent the following text to my closest family and friends on Friday around noon, “I’m eating in an Indian restaurant right now.”  The majority of them wondered if this was code for something else like “I’ve been kidnapped by they Taliban” since they know I’m really just a meat and potatoes kind of guy and I’m not one to try new food, not to mention, they all know how I can’t stand the smell of curie.  But a lot of my coworkers are Indian and they really wanted me to experience a little bit of their culture, so I decided to drop the selfish attitude and put my friends first in this case.
  • Did I like it?  Well, not really.  I don’t plan on going back ever again unless it’s some special occasion.
  • After eating Indian food we passed by the Salvation Army headquarters and saw them getting the kettle buckets red and shinny.
  • I was taking a dump at work Friday afternoon, and as soon as I sat down and opened my ESPN The Magazine the fire alarm went off.  I hate being rushed.
  • Speaking of ESPN The Magazine, I saw that the city of Clyde, Texas was mentioned in there.
  • One of the perks of being loaded is the ability to buy a fighter jet just for the heck of it.  Link
  • I”m not sure sure about the interactive mirror.  It’s cook, but is it really functional or needed?
  • Conservative Christian organization Focus on the Family is focusing on political attacks.
  • During the Oklahoma State/University of Texas football game on Saturday I saw a David Garrard commercial for a restaurant called Zaxby’s.  First of all I thought it was weird to see a Jacksonville Jaguar on our airwaves, so I decided to visit the restaurant’s website.  Turns out they don’t have any locations in Oklahoma or Texas.  Must have been some sort of advertising glitch on ABC’s part.
  • I think I have a new favorite Cowboy – our new punter.  Not only did he make the hardest kit and most textbook tackle I’ve seen all season from this team, but he’s bound to get more playtime because of the ineptitude of our offense.
  • During the Bucs/Cowboys game on Fox I saw a gamebreak highlight of another gamer, Chiefs/Jets on CBS.  It’s normal to see these gamebreak highlights of other games in progress, but what made this notable was this was the first time I saw another network game highlighted in progress.
  • Shadows makes watching a Cowboys home game a bit hard to watch.  I have a feeling it will only be worst at the new stadium with that ginormous HD jumbotron that will hover over the field.
  • The lucky Staubach shirt came through.
  • I really don’t like the NFL playing a regular season game in London each year.  Baseball get 81 home games a year, and each NBA team gets 41 home games a year.  Compare that to the 8 home games each NFL team gets a year – it’s a shame that the home team fans get cheated.
  • If Europe brought two of their best teams to play in the Cotton Bowl I would have absolutely no desire to check out the event.
  • NYU students found that Bush’s body signature is closer to McCain than Obama.  Link
  • Pepsi (which I can’t stand to drink, but appreciate their commercials) has a new logo.  Not much different, but different enough that I don’t like it.
  • Pladroid – convert your digital pics into Polarids.  Link
  • For my Twitter friends, this site will grade your Twitter.
  • The church history stuff I’ve been checking out is soooo intriguing.
  • How to carve a Death Star pumpkin.  Link
  • I was watching the Andy Rooney segment on 60 Minutes last night and I saw this government website about the minimum wage.  It was my assumption that the minimum wage was the absolute minimum that could employers could pay their employees, but this site lists Kansas as paying $2.65 an hour.  I thought that may have been the wait staff wage, since I know a lot of wait staff gets paid a small amount hourly but makes up the difference with tips.  So I looked up the minimum wage for Texas and there wasn’t any reference.  I feel a little confused.
  • Speaking of confused, I couldn’t decided whether to use payed or paid in that last rambling.
  • Bush voted via mail in ballot, I wonder if it was a straight ticket?
  • I’m thinking of buying some gas logs for the fireplace, any suggestions?
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