cephalopods

[solipsistnation]

creeepy octopus video. Elicited a "Holy shit!" and a lot of back-and-forth slider-woggling from me.

Blatantly stolen from Dan's page, although he got it from elsewhere anyway.

Octopi are really really smart, and people who eat them bother me. I suspect that they're sentient, just very very alien.

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

"Keptin! Octopus decloaking off of the starboard bow!"

I mean, that's FREAKY.

[dasubergeek.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, scungilli...

I was wondering what to have tonight for dinner.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Why do people think this is funny?

It's like usagijer, who finally got sick of people seeing pictures of his pet bunnies and making stupid "Yum yum! Tastes like chicken!" jokes and stopped being polite about it.

[frozencapybara.livejournal.com]

Three thoughts:

1. I blame PETA. Of course, I blame PETA like other people blame sunspots - kind of an all-purpose blame sink - but I think I have a valid point here. The small number of very loud vegetarian twits (you know the kind I mean - the "meat is murder and people who eat it deserve to be shot!" crowd) ruin it for the rest of us - they've put anyone who actually likes to eat meat (and doesn't feel it's wrong) on the defensive, so when a rational vegetarian makes a point like this, it's likely to be shouted down by threatened meat-eaters. Sigh.

2. Nevermind allegations of cephelopod intelligence, why do people eat octopus anyway? Yeeugh. Disgusting stuff.

3. We can still joke about eating babies, right?

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

I had a piece of octopus sushi once. (Blame trystero! He made me try it!) The skin bit with the suckers on it is all chewy and weird. The rest of it wasn't bad. I doubt I'll eat it again.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

1. Yeh, unfortunately, they're WAY over the top. It should be something people can figure out by context, though. If somebody says, "Wow, this is really neat. These things are smart! I think they're intelligent!" instantly responding with "I like to eat them!" is simply rude.

2. I dunno. Plus, it's intelligent. That kinda squicks me right there.

3. Sure. They aren't sentient until they've been around for a while, and I'm not in awe of them. There are way too many of the amn things, after all. (No offense to friends who have bred-- yours, of course, are exceptions, and are born every bit as bright and wonderful as you, their parents. I'm talking about other people's babies.)

[z-gryphon.livejournal.com]

Hey! It's not my fault he likes to keep food animals as pets.

[dasubergeek.livejournal.com]

I never really thought about octop[i|uses] being intelligent. I suppose they could be trained in the same way that a dog can be trained or a cow can be trained... but the fact remains that to me, they are food.

(Rabbits are also food to me, not pets. I suspect this business of animals-principally-as-food comes from the constant "do not treat this steer like a pet 'cause it's heading to Chicago next year" admonishments.)

I apologise for the ill timing of the statement... but the fact remains that reading your post did occasion an "mmm scungilli" response in me. I probably should have just kept it to myself.

(Also, on my squick-list is tripe. I can't eat it, because all I can think is "so wait, how does the food it eats proceed through all these little rubbery white spongy bits?")

[quaintance.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yes, stuff like this is highly annoying. I also hate the brand of humor that involves injury to animals, like jokes about drowning cats, or what not. There is so much else out there that is funny without resorting to that.

However, at the same time, I am vastly amused that after spending a day once staring at tenticle-like plant samples through a microscope, I craved nothing more than a plate of calamari.

[usagijer.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yes, stuff like this is highly annoying. I also hate the brand of humor that involves injury to animals, like jokes about drowning cats, or what not. There is so much else out there that is funny without resorting to that.

Even "Your Momma" jokes are more funny than that
brand of humor.

(dasubergeek apologized, so I won't unleash the string of 'mom' jokes I had planned on him. besides, he looks like Chibi-CookieMonster. just imagine what his mom looks like. )

[awfief.livejournal.com]

What if I just eat a hot dog that LOOKS like an octopus? is that OK?

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Sure, that's more of a tribute.

Or something like that. I should go to sleep, I think. Yeah.

[usagijer.livejournal.com]

"Don't Eat Me! I'm just a harmless Sea Creature!"

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

"Octopi" really isn't correct, you know (except through that scourge of proper English, 'usage').

Anyway, i think it's squids who are smart, not octopuses.

[solipsistnation.livejournal.com]

Hm, okay. Right, the same thing as viruses, yes?

I think they're both smart, just differently.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Same but different... virus is Latin, octopus is Greek.

If you object to eating intelligent animals, what about eating members of the Christian Coalition? [RIMSHOT] I bet they taste like pork, the other White meat! [RIMSHOT] Before the meal, it says Grace so you won't have to! [RIMSHOT]

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

To me, camouflage, that's hard, but not all that intelligent. But they can -- maybe -- learn by observation. *That*, to me, would make them pretty frickin' smart, smarter than dogs or horses.

For more see, as you link to, here, or here, and especially the transcript of Alan Alda meeting an intelligent octopod here (video available here, if you have Real or WMV -- scroll down to Spineless But Smart).

TMH

[oldest-song.livejournal.com]

But they can -- maybe -- learn by observation

They can. They're also independent problem-solvers. Never seen the Discovery Channel shots of an octopus opening a jar?

[cdr.livejournal.com]

That's so ghetto

creepy cephalopods

[oldest-song.livejournal.com]

They are, apparently, the only invertebrates that are known to dream.