Invisible Octopus

Looks fake to me. Still, it is A) cool and B) octopus, so into the blog it goes!

Japan surrounded by plagues of gigantic jellyfish

Nomura's Jellyfish gets takeout

They might as well surrender. All hail our Scyphozoan Overlords! Really, tabloidy news doesn’t get any better than “Japan surrounded by plagues of giant jellyfish” unless we could somehow work KFed and Posh into it.

From the Daily Yomiuri Online, via Japanprobe, who blames it on China. I thought everything was Korea’s fault?

Doctor, there’s trouble! The sea is full of jellyfish!” the student shouted…

Full! I tell you! Full, I say!

300 million to 500 million Echizen jellyfish were flowing into the Sea of Japan from the Tsushima Strait every day. After moving northward through the Tsugaru Strait, the jellyfish swam into the Pacific Ocean, ringing the coast of the nation. During their seagoing voyage, the jellyfish grow up to 1.5 meters in diameter and 200 kilograms in weight…

“The only solution seems to be to contain the source of the plague. We urge researchers to determine the cause of the plague. We also ask officials involved in the industry to hold talks with their counterparts in neighboring nations to tackle the plague,” Nishiyama said.

Ah, isn’t this the point at which the smart people start ignoring the experts and invading radio stations with old 78’s of Indian Love Call? Buy land UPHILL, people, buy land UPHILL.

And here, Nomura's Jellyfish attends a buffet

Twinkle, Twinkle, little bioengineered superweapon

Porcupine, Bitch!According to this report from ABC News and the BBC, the United Kingdom has perfected a radically new and different weapons system.

While both Canada and the US sat by, lulled into complacency by the sheer numbers of their old-skool artillery, the Brits have been bio-engeneering a groundbreaking (literally) new weapon, cleverly tucked away on an ostrich farm where nobody would think to look for it.

The Poisonous Porcupine.

People in north-west England are being warned not to approach a porcupine which burrowed out of a farm visitors centre and is now on the loose, BBC Online reports.

Twinkle, a 0.9 metre long female, escaped from her enclosure at Eden Ostrich World near Penrith on Saturday, prompting warnings because her detachable, poison-filled quills can become embedded in skin.

Jim Peet, from the centre, was quoted as saying that Twinkle was normally "cool" but was classed as a dangerous wild animal because of her spiky appearance.

"She could make a real mess of someone's garden and she should not be approached as her quills contain poison and she could become flustered if backed into a corner," he added.

Twinkle's disappearance came after some British newspapers said police had received reports of a tiger on the loose in Yorkshire, northern England.

Any bets on what kind of poison they're using? Ricin? Strychnine? Insulin megadose? I pick my fallback fave, sodium fluroacetate.

Just look in them beady little eyes; they may be the last thing you ever see, bitch.

Porkypine

peregrine falcon cam

Peregrine FalconLet the Americans have their "Live from New York, it's one has-been host and a bunch of regulars you never heard of."

We've got our "Live from the rooftop of the Radisson Hotel in beautiful downtown Winnipeg, it's a pair of nesting Peregrine Falcons" cam.

And raincoaster must remark on how other countries may have rooftop gardens, rooftop dancefloors, rooftop lidos (whatever the hell they are) but leave it to Canada to not only reserve the rooftop for a pair of unhousebroken predators, but to also name the whole damn hotel chain after a stinky old canoeist.

Streaming Eagle Cam roundup here.

Peregrine Portrait

the T-Factor: the Grandfather edition

I don't really think you can do better than the Sploid headline:

Crazy grandad throws girl to elksDamn Tourists

A maniacal grandpa determined to capture a magic moment on film tossed his granddaughter into a herd of elk and then attacked onlookers who tried to save the little girl…

As witnesses watched in horror, one of the massive beasts reared up on its hind legs. The little girl started sobbing, tears of fright running down her cheeks…

Wellsted faces two counts of child abuse as well as charges of third-degree assault and second-degree assault on a police officer.

One worries about the little girl, more because of the eventual fate dictated by her shallow gene pool than for the trauma of the incident. No money for guessing it'll be elk and not deer in the remake of Deliverance.

Elk vs car