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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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How can you have order in a state without religion? For, when one man is dying of hunger near another who is ill of surfeit, he cannot resign himself to this difference unless there is an authority which declares 'God wills it thus.' Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet.
[Napoleon Bonaparte]
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Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: April 20, 2007 10:10 AM, by PZ Myers
By the way, did you know that creationists hate cephalopods because they can't stuff them in a sack and throw them in the water to drown? Also because they're cute and lovable and beautiful.
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
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Comments
Posted by: Christian Burnham | April 20, 2007 10:54 AM
OK- somebody explain it to stoopid here....
Can all cephalopods change color? What about the one above? Is she changing her pattern to mimic the sand grains?
Posted by: Mike Haubrich | April 20, 2007 10:56 AM
Are you saying that cephalopods are the Creationists' Worst Nightmare?
Consider calamari - it is rubbery, hard to peel and doesn't have a "pop-top." Clear evidence that Natural Selection didn't have humans in mind as our food evolved.
Posted by: Whatever | April 20, 2007 11:12 AM
Christian, most cephalopods can change color, in fact I think all of them can but I'm not a expert. However, they don't always change color just to camouflage themselves, they can also do it for communication, defense, or courtship rituals. Depending on the species involved these can be extremely flamboyant, or mildly amusing. Use google video or youtube to do some searches on cuttlefish, they have a lot of good videos demonstrating the effect.
Posted by: David Marjanović | April 20, 2007 11:57 AM
Any color-changing in Nautilus? I suppose the shell would make it difficult to see and therefore pointless...?
Posted by: RCP | April 20, 2007 12:10 PM
Wouldn't putting them in bags and taking them out of the water have the same effect?
Posted by: George | April 20, 2007 1:27 PM
I agree with RCP.
I think the important thing is really the bag.
That way they can't see the frightened little faces of the kitties (and cephalopodies) as they await their brutal death.
Posted by: George | April 20, 2007 1:39 PM
Can all cephalopods change color? What about the one above? Is she changing her pattern to mimic the sand grains?"
My guess is she probably sees a hand coming at her with a bag.
That cephalopod undoutedly has a recessive trait -- bag avoidance.
But pretty soon the creationists will undoubtedly have to use something else (a box?) since the "bag-attraction" gene (that makes animals curious about bags) will have been eliminated from the gene pool and the bag-avoidance gene selected.
Posted by: arby | April 20, 2007 2:29 PM
There was a new one announced this week, found near some black smokers that doesn't seem to be pigmented, and may be blind. But I may be mistooken. rb
Posted by: wolfwalker | April 20, 2007 4:02 PM
Hey, PZ, I saw this entry in a recent Worth1000 contest, and immediately thought of you.
Posted by: Bourgeois Nerd | April 20, 2007 4:53 PM
He or she looks like they're meditating. Positively Buddha-like!
Posted by: quork | April 20, 2007 5:01 PM
Coming Monday, April 23, 2007:
Bill O'Reilly interviews Richard Dawkins
Posted by: Steve_C (Secular Elitist) FCD | April 20, 2007 5:36 PM
PZ... I think you want this.
http://www.uncrate.com/men/style/tees-polos/oddica-octopus-trilogy/
Posted by: K | April 20, 2007 6:37 PM
We like to go to Epcot and, "annoy," the cuttlefish. Flash our bright clothing against the tank and make them change colors. "Green! No, FUSCHIA! No, blue!" It's a very light color change, but they do it when they swim by...I guess we're easily amused.
Posted by: Jerry D. Harris | April 20, 2007 6:54 PM
Too bad PZ didn't get to this domain name first...
http://www.squidsquid.com
Posted by: twincats | April 20, 2007 10:33 PM
My SQ is 162.5!
Posted by: autumn | April 21, 2007 1:33 AM
Don't creationists also hate cephalopods because the glaring FACT of their independantly evolved eyes gives lie to creationist stupidity?
Oh, and the whole Cthulu, elder gods, nameless, timeless, eldrich horrors from beyond time.