…and this is a 
The Koufaxes are much more respectable
Category: Weblogs
Posted on: November 15, 2006 8:00 PM, by PZ Myers
I see that Phil and I are going to be in competition: we've both been nominated in the new Best Science Blog category of the Weblog Awards. This is one of those awards I don't quite get: apparently, the organizers will just choose a subset of the nominated blogs in some way or another, and I seem to recall that voting is weird, too—you get to vote once a day in each category. It's also run by a very conservative group blog that I've only interacted with because there is a loud-mouthed putz of a creationist in the group…I will be very surprised if a certain cranky liberal evolutionist gets his name pulled out of that hat.
Comments
I will crush you! Tentacles be damned!
And it's not like creationists have a lot of love for me, so we're even there.
Posted by: Phil Plait | November 15, 2006 8:21 PM
It's not just the tentacles you have to worry about. It's the beak, and the neurotoxins. And the affectionately placed spermatophores.
Posted by: PZ Myers | November 15, 2006 8:35 PM
D'oh. Thanks for the visual, PZ.
Posted by: Inoculated Mind | November 15, 2006 8:44 PM
Ha! Neurotoxins, shmeurotoxins.
They're proteins, and easily defeated.
Phil, just soak the affected anatomy in EXTREMELY hot water.
Immediatley.
Then the only lingering effect of a cephalopod bite will be the the wound from the beak, and the minor scalding. Minor concerns.
If you let *any* time elapse between bite and treatment, some toxin will escape the treatable (heatable) anatomy into your system, and will wierd you out for a while. If the biter is a small or tropical octopus (or both), "wierd you out" is more unpleasant. If it's a blue-ring, "wierd" can mean "stop your breathing by paralyzing your chest muscles," and "dead."
OK, be careful after all. Or bring scalding hot water wherever you might encounter octopodes.
Posted by: Steff Z | November 15, 2006 8:53 PM
Gee, that brings to mind as First Aid for Snake Bite: "Apply TASER to affected body part until blood boils."
Posted by: Monado | November 15, 2006 8:58 PM
Easy for you to say the Koufaxes are more respectable. You won one. Doesn't that mean they were respectable?
I have finally decided I can't beat you at your own game, winning. So I will beat you at my game: losing.
Posted by: revere | November 15, 2006 9:47 PM
Hey, don't rouse my competitive instincts, or I might just have to lose more better than you.
Posted by: PZ Myers | November 15, 2006 10:45 PM
I will be very surprised if a certain cranky liberal evolutionist gets his name pulled out of that hat
And you think the winner instead will be a cranky liberal Big Bang proponent? I predict Gregg Easterbrook will win it with write-in votes.
Posted by: fyreflye | November 16, 2006 12:42 AM
Nah. Scott Adams will win it by write-in votes sent by bot... and will then subsequently have 3/4 of his votes stripped for the second year in a row.
Posted by: IAMB | November 16, 2006 4:32 PM