Rainbow Hector Weblog

My Seton Hill colleague Anastasia Tircuit went to Vegas and checked out the Star Trek exhibit. I talked her into bringing a friend, but didn't get it to her office in time... Geoff Atkinson kindly offered to ferry the payload to her house for me.

Thanks, Anastasia and Cyril, and Geoff (and Gene Roddenberry)!

Rainbow Hector would be interested in these heroic efforts to save the Pacific Northwest Tree Ocotopus:

The history of the tree octopus trade is a sad one. Their voracious appetite for bird plumes having exhausted all the worthy species of that family, the fashionistas moved on to cephalopodic accoutrements during the early 20th Century. Tree octopuses became prized by the fashion industry as ornamental decorations for hats, leading greedy trappers to wipe out whole populations to feed the vanity of the fashionable rich. While fortunately this practice has been outlawed, its effects still reverberate today as these millinery deprivations brought tree octopus numbers below the critical point where even minor environmental change could cause disaster.

I think it has five legs rather than six, but it's still worth a link.

Thanks for the suggestion, Rosemary.

Beautiful art installation.

	Try twisting the middle segment anti-clockwise

It may be an infuriating puzzle which has baffled and defeated countless children and their parents over more than two decades, but this octopus appears determined to solve the Rubik's Cube. (UK Telegraph... thanks for the link, Rosemary, who doubtless knows that I prefer the plural form "octopodes.")

Rainbow Hector's eight-legged cousins are pretty cool, too. See an octopus solving a maze. (Via.)

AFP:

A hectopus should be enjoyed on top of furniture such as this.

Hi Dr. Jerz!

Attached are a couple photos of what Mike and I thought was a Hectopus wannabe. (Yes, we think of you when we see octopus toys, haha.) We were out shopping after Christmas and when we walked into a toy store this struck us as odd. The thing (erm, "Squiddo") has a zipper for a mouth. A bit disturbing, really... And it only has four legs (for stability or tunnel-like appearance, perhaps?). Maybe he's 50% off because he only has half the legs of the mighty Hectopus.

I asked Mike to take photos of it on his cell phone since he can transfer them without incurring a fee. I hope the quality is acceptable. Enjoy! :)

Karissa (and Mike, in absentia)

Rosemary Frezza writes: "Here is a picture of Rainbow Hector's Christmas loot - it looks like either he was very good this year or fooled Santa very well indeed!"

Thanks for the photo, Rosemary.

Futuregirl writes:

Last January, I got the sweetest email from a woman named Lenore asking for the pattern for Octophrost. She told me:

"Every year I make a Christmas ornament for my grand and great grand children. I would love to make this little fellow. For Christmas 2006 I made 90 ornaments. Three more babies are expected that I know of so I may need to make near 100. That means starting early."