In a previous life, I was...

Absolutely beautiful!!!!!

PZ wrote:

If I'd been around 2500 years ago, there's something I could have gotten into.

Umm, I don't think they are big enough. :-)

"...there's something I could have gotten into."

You mean the bare-breasted Cretan dancers?

I have been to Crete, too, and the Minoans' obsession with cephalopods is not limited to the pottery. There are some beautiful murals in the palace at Knossos. You really should visit. The barebreasted Cretan dancers are beautiful, too. I think they were in a procession, though, not dancing.

I remember seeing those vases in Jacque Cousteau's book, "Octopus and Squid: A Soft Intelligence."

Where are the pics?

Complex_field: PZ was referring to the fact that these "octopus jars" were in fact used for catching octopi. They don't even need bait -- just lower it into the water and wait for some gullible octopus to hide in the nice comfy "lair"....

A lighter note:
The Berkeley Kite Wranglers set a world record by flying 10 octopi kites at the Berkeley Marina's 20th annual kite festival Saturday. Chronicle photo by Kurt Rogers

http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/07/30/ba_kites30_0179_kr.jpg

Back then, you'd have been a Cretan. Today, you're a cretin. Ironic.

Back then, you'd have been a Cretan. Today, you're a cretin. Ironic.

Yeah, coming from Jason.

Maybe rather more than 2500 years.

The Cretans still make them, for the tourists. They're rather pretty. I bought one the first time I visited Crete. It came with a certificate to confirm that it's a fake, so to speak.

[I wonder if Jason has ever considered the origin of the word cretin, by the way. Probably not.]

I wonder if Jason has ever considered the origin of the word cretin, by the way. Probably not.

Ah, the possible origin from the Latin for "Christian." Yeah, nevermind those other possible etymologies. If there's one that [supposedly] debases Christians, that's the one that is true.

Jason sez...

"Back then, you'd have been a Cretan. Today, you're a cretin."

Goodness, Jason. Are you a nice person? WWJD?
Uncle Don