July 2008 Archives

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.")