Quite a few people sent me a link to this Foxtrot comic with the remote-controlled squid.
They were all just trying to tease me cruelly, because they knew it would be my favorite summertime pool toy, and they don't exist. I looked everywhere, but the closest I could get was a remote-controlled robot shark, which is only almost as good.
Although, if we could mount laser beams on their heads…
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Anne Dillard said "You can't test courage cautiously," but Institute scientists have found a way to test it fairly safely, at least.
Dear Reader, remember the remote-controlled Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity? How long is it since the last time you thought of them? Spirit landed on Mars five Earth years ago today, Opportunity on 25 January -- and both are still going strong!
It shouldn't be too hard to make a remote-controlled squid, should it? That bunching motion looks fairly replicable.
But how do squid turn corners?
Seems to me there ought to be a research grant in creating a robot that accurately replicates squid movement, both forward and back. :-)
Squid are jet-propelled, with an exhaust that swivels.
They have to be frikkin laser beams, which I think is a technical term about their frequency or something.
Actually, "frikkin" may be a brand name like "Acme"...
Any squid robot had better have a better run-time that that shark - it only lasts 15mins on the one battery!
That's just not enough time for squidly fun...
Are they ill tempered?
That's almost as cool as a snake that can change colors.
What is the familial adjective for squids? If things related to cows are bovine, and things related to wolves are lupine, and things related to horses are equine, then things related to squids are...?
"Squiddy" just doesn't give these cephalopods the dignity they deserve. "Cephalopodal" sounds contrived. Surely squids have an adjective!
How about a non-remote controlled, but still motorized, squid?
A jet-powered squid that can envelop and drag-to-the-deeps any Fisher Price boat would get my consumer dollars!
Are they ill tempered?
"Perturbed," I think.
If things related to cows are bovine, and things related to wolves are lupine, and things related to horses are equine, then things related to squids are...?
Cephalopodine, perhaps? Whereas those things only comparable to squids (and octopi) would be cephalopodesque.
Let's take an example and look at the classification:
Dosidicus gigas - Humboldt Squid
Pick your level of taxonomy and turn it into a modifier.
Teuthidatonic!
I kind of like decabrachine, which is nicely parallel to octopine. Are there decabrachines that aren't really squid? Of course, I guess that's sort of like asking what's really a zebra.
Pick your level of taxonomy and turn it into a modifier.
For sheer euphony, I like coleoidean. As in, "Wow, that's wicked coleoidean, dude!"
What is the familial adjective for squids?
I vote for teuthine.
It's short and sweet, and goes well with bovine, ursine, ovine, etc.
Alternatively, how about calamarine?
How about knitted nautiloids (via BoingBoing)
Robotic squid, hell! I'm still waiting for my Tyrannosauruses in F-16s!
Of course, why restrict ourselves to taxonomic items. I vote for krakenic or inkfishy.
For what it's worth, there are squidy pool toys. Not remote controlled though.