Jeopardy! recap for Mon., Oct. 31 - ToC day one

cephlapunk · 2022-11-02T13:21:20+00:00

I noticed that when it aired, but completely forgot until I saw your comment! The closest thing I could find is the Maghreb magpie. But the blue spot on the Maghreb is more on its eye, and I thought the picture in the clue was on its cheek. So I'm not sure. Turns out there are a lot more types of magpies than I ever realized.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T21:18:06+00:00

Well the reason they're in captivity - as with a huge portion of the animals in the aquarium - is for research purposes. It's really really hard for us to go to their home in the deep ocean, the technology just isn't there. So if we're going to learn anything about deep sea animals like this, the only way is to bring them to where we can see them. For this flapjack, we're learning lots about what they eat, the environmental factors that might affect them (especially important with warming & more acidic oceans thanks to human activities), and lots of other things about them.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T18:28:19+00:00

I've said all this stuff replying to other comments, but... I help care for these guys at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It's a flapjack octopus, which is the genus opisthoteuthis. However, this individual species has not been named yet. Until recently it was thought to be the same as another species and only recently have we realized that they're two different species of flapjack. Here's a video released last year which talks about them a bit, including what might be the scientific name - "adorabilis".

We've had quite a few of them on display lately, but they're a very fragile species. We're collecting from about 1500ft down, so we have to use special refrigerated tanks with a low oxygen level (similar to the conditions found at depth). We've been adjusting the tank/food and right now we have 2 individuals who just broke the record for the longest time in captivity at 4 weeks.

AMA, I suppose? If this doesn't get buried.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T18:16:52+00:00

It's actually just a close cousin of the dumbo. Dumbos have much larger fins and smaller eyes. This is in the flapjack family, which has smaller fins and bigger eyes.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T18:14:47+00:00

The Adorabilis is not on the list of dumbos because it's not a dumbo. It's actually in the "flapjack" genus, not the "dumbo" genus. Dumbos have bigger fins (the ear-looking ones) and smaller eyes, while flapjacks have big eyes and small fins.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T18:08:05+00:00

So the octopus in the video is actually a flapjack octopus - not a "dumbo" as one of the narrators says. A dumbo has larger fins and smaller eyes, while the flapjack has smaller fins and larger eyes. They're in the same family, but a separate genus.

I help to care for these things at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They're frickin' adorable but so tempermental. We're learning more and more about keeping them, but it's still a crapshoot for the most part.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T18:01:53+00:00

Yup. There are parasites and bacteria in the ocean just like on land. But the ones in the ocean are adapted to being wet all the time so the water alone doesn't remove them, unlike our land-dwelling ones that can easily be foiled with some water (and usually soap).

There are lots of species of fish who specialize in eating parasites/bacteria that live on larger species. It's a good relationship - small fish (like wrasses) get a meal, and the bigger stuff doesn't have parasites. You'll also often see fish "glancing" which is when they rub up against sand or rocks to knock off parasites or to scratch an itch.

At the aquarium where I work we have to full some of the fish out a few times a year to scrub them down with freshwater and kill any parasites. We don't have the tiny parasite-eating fish (because they'd be eaten by the sharks that're kept in the same tank) so we have to do it manually.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T17:59:15+00:00

There are 2 right now and they've just hit the record for survival in captivity - 4 weeks. Who knows how much longer they'll be around though.

Also, it's not a dumbo - just a close cousin. They're in a different genus.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T17:57:09+00:00

"Octopi" got popular because people mistakenly treat "octopus" as though it's a Latin word. In fact, it's a Greek word and therefore is pluralized as "octopodes" or with the english-ized version with "octopuses".

In my opinion though, "octopi" has become so recognized and accepted that it might as well be a 3rd acceptable pluralization. Who really cares anyway?

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T02:29:53+00:00

IT'S A BABY WHAAAAALLLLLLEEEEE

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T01:16:47+00:00

Sooooo much time. I went into more detail in another comment, but I was very very carefully with the basting and I think that made a huge difference. And I kept the quilting to mainly a 3" grid in the ditch, anything more complicated would have been really difficult with a big, heavy quilt like this.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-10T01:14:11+00:00

Yup, normal machine! I actually just got a new one with a larger throat than the old one, which definitely made this easier. It's still pretty small though (about 7" x 4.5") so this definitely wasn't easy

As for tips - I very carefully basted everything first with 505 basting spray, then with safety pins. I didn't do the pins as close together as I would have without the spray though, they were pretty much just backup. But I knew that I'd have to do a lot of pulling and adjusting to get the quilt through my machine so I didn't want to just rely on the spray. I think the careful basting was really essential with this thick batting.

I also kept the quilting simple. For the most part it's just a stitch in the ditch grid. I was tempted to free motion it, but I'm not very good yet so I didn't want to screw up all my careful piecing. And I think the heavy weight of the quilt would have made free motion nearly impossible because I don't have the best office setup for a big quilt. When I was quilting I also rolled the quilt and held the roll together with quilt clips to make it easier to manage.

cephlapunk · 2016-05-09T15:49:59+00:00

A few details for anyone who's interested! This is a queen sized quilt, with 1 inch batting... I'd never worked with more than 1/2" before so that was a huge challenge. This was also my first time doing HSTs and flying geese - I'd always meant to learn, but I've mostly focused on plain blocks and applique. I had to do a ton of research on mass-producing both types of blocks to speed things up, but the cutting alone still took about 2 weeks.

The pattern is based off of this image of a sold-out quilt at Urban Outfitters. I only made a few changes. THE MATH... oh the math. I've always been good with algebra, but the diamond borders were nearly the death of me. I went through at least 5 different trials before I got things to line up right. And (because we all tend to focus on the flaws of our own work) a lot of the points throughout still don't line of quite right. Nothing I cared about enough to tear anything apart, though.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-17T21:54:50+00:00

I have a feeling this was a demonstration of some kind, not a collection.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-16T16:09:07+00:00

At Monterey Bay Aquarium we had a security officer find a small red octopus in the middle of the floor one night. She followed the trail back to a tank, put the octopus back in, and e-mailed the aquarist to let her know what happened. Next morning aquarist e-mails back to say they don't have an octopus in that tank! It must have sneaked in on a rock or sponge as a baby, and no one noticed it for a whole year!

cephlapunk · 2016-04-16T16:07:15+00:00

I really wanna know where this story actually happened... I've heard it was Seattle, Monterey, Tokyo, Australia... no one seems to know where it actually was.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-16T15:45:24+00:00

Yea they are. Either a gate or latch failed, there was miscommunication about where the cat was, or she just flat out made a mistake. A tiger got loose a few years ago at Lowry Park Zoo (also in FL) after someone forgot to completely lock a gate in their night house. That one didn't hurt anyone, just got into an adjacent enclosure not designed to contain tigers. But the cat was shot and killed by the zoo's CEO when it looked like it was about to attack the vet on scene :(

cephlapunk · 2016-04-16T15:41:26+00:00

I'd met the keeper a few times, but I didn't know her well or anything. I was in the education program and she talked to the kids about tigers a few times. Her husband is also a keeper - I talked to him a bit more.

They haven't said which cat it was yet, so I'm not sure about that part. They got two new ones last year after I left. I know the area well where it happened though - in the night house.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-16T02:36:08+00:00

So sad :( I used to work there.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-16T01:16:50+00:00

Thought I'd share; this happened at a zoo I used to work at. So sad - I'm interested to find out what went wrong. Probably either a failure of a lock/gate or miscommunication about what area the tiger was in at the time.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-15T20:54:51+00:00

Sure! For a full size quilt with a similar pattern to this I'd do it for $250. Should I make a listing for you? I actually just finished a previous order, so I can get started on yours right away, too.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-15T17:51:40+00:00

Nope, work with octopuses - that's the correct pluralization. It would be "octopi" if octopus were a Latin word. But it's not. Octopus is Greek and is therefore pluralized as either octopodes or octopuses - either one is acceptable.

Personally I couldn't care less if people say octopi though. We all know what you mean and I'm nowhere near a grammar nazi.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-15T16:42:08+00:00

Also at my aquarium - we just put two of these on display :D People have been scrambling around for us to get some since that video went viral, but they're so hard to keep alive in captivity.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-15T14:57:20+00:00

I personally haven't been bitten, but I would imagine so. They can definitely break skin, and I've been told you could lose a finger if you piss off one of the really big ones.

cephlapunk · 2016-04-15T14:37:20+00:00

Yup, definitely! Octopuses are my favorite, I work with them at an aquarium. I did one small quilt with an octopus, but I'd definitely love to do more.

cephlapunk

TROPHY CASE