Looking for decorating ideas? This photo series shows how to make a beautiful squidmas tree.
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Here’s wishing you the very best this holiday season, with a fractal Christmas tree:
Now, wait.... shouldn’t the lights on the tree be blinking?
Merry Christmas!
Update: A few people have expressed interest in decorating their own pages with this tree. (It certainly is easy to put up!) For…
This post is very delayed, but things have been busy.
I'm working my way up to finger trees, which are a wonderful
functional data structure. They're based on trees - and like many
tree-based structures, their performance relies heavily on the balance
of the tree. The more balanced the tree is,…
I remarked to Kate the other night that it's a shame we don't have any science-themed ornaments for the Christmas tree. She responded that I just wasn't thinking hard enough about what we do have, and she's right-- with a bit of effort, it's not hard to come up with scientific symbolism for the…
When Kate and I were looking for a house back in late 2002, one of the things that sold us on this place was the back yard. The lot is very deep, unusually so for this part of Niskayuna, so there's a lot of space in the back yard, and it was pleasantly shaded by trees. We've since taken down the…
An ammonite! :-) :-) :-)
The Star Trek one is a must-have.
One? I count three (Guardian of Forever; Borg cube; original Enterprise). I want them all.
According to Memory Alpha, the Star Trek ones are Hallmark ornaments - the Borg cube was released in 2000, the Guardian of Forever in 2004, and the original Enterprise in either 1991 or 1995.
This year's ornaments are a TNG Enterprise and a scene from the Wrath of Khan.
I apologize in advance if my links don't work. I suck at HTML.
Some more Expelled footage is out. No PZ in this footage unfortunately, but we DO get Dawkins saying:
"As a scientist, I am pretty... hostile to, a rival doctrine..."
Something tells me we're sort of missing some key lines from the beginning and end of that thought...
PZ liked my tree! :)
Nadai is right, but the original Enterprise is not the light-up one (which is now rare and expensive) but the pewter ornament that was part of a set with a base from 1996. I don't have the set - just the Enterprise ornament.
For those who want their own ammonite, I got it at the Fernbank Museum in Atlanta over Thanksgiving.
These pics are great! I'm always looking out for animal ornaments - I'm trying to get my Solstice tree to look like the "tree of life". Can't believe I don't have a cephalopod yet!
David, that's a lovely and opulent tree. I really like the crab, and the astronaut with (I'm guessing) Laika reposing at his feet. Oh, and all the rest, too.
Squidmas tree of your dreams? I figured such a "tree" would be decidedly more...squidlike. How about a tree skirt that looks like a mass of rubbery tentacles? There should be a pair of large, light-up "eye" ornaments, too.
Every year's tree has to surpass last years Josh: you've got to give David someplace to go next year instead of just having the coolest ever right off the bat. :)
Wow, that is an amazing tree! I like the critters - chicks, eagle, hammerhead shark, fish, ammonite, grasshopper, little green crab, wiggly things, and that lovely gilded octopus and armored (reticulated?) lizard. The original trees had fruit on them to remind them that they were supposed to shake off that winter nonsense and start producing again, so a "tree of life" could actually be quite traditional.
I didn't recognize the Borg cube specifically. I thought it might be a time cube.
Very neat!
Thanks everybody.
Bee, the astronaut is another Hallmark - it's supposed to be Neil Armstrong (he talks!). I have to start looking for a Laika ornament for next year.
Until I found the octopus, I thought the spider was going to be the big find for this year.
David please tell me I can get the hammerhead online. I must own it.
My favorite part of xmas day is the home baked octo-pie.
Very nice tree. I have the octopus and the shark, too, got them at the Seattle Aquarium. They've been hanging on my bedroom wall until I get my tree up. The nautilus, though, I'm going to have to be on the lookout for one of those.
Great stuff! I like the green crab the best - where did you find it? I'd love to have one on my tree!
I got the shark, octopus, crab and lizard at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago (not all this year, so I don't know what they actually have now). I don't know who made the crab and lizard, but the shark and octopus are from a company called December Diamonds. Here's a link to the Hammerhead Shark for Niobe.
http://www.diamondsofthesea.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=43
(Hope that works.)
Oh, my comment above was directed at David, who apparently HAS the green crab on his tree. :)
David you're a gem.
That looks suspiciously like a Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus; perhaps you should notify these people:
http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
Hope I'm not too late to ask a question of David!
Where did you get the lemur? All I want for Squidmas is a lemur ornament.
For those looking for ornaments, I suggest searching eBay.
My favorites:
Lobster
Octopus
I have several of the ornaments from that Squidmas tree, but the first image, the octopus, is great. I must have it.
Caitlin - I got the lemur last year at the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza in Chicago. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of the shop or who made it, except that it's German.
Thanks! That will help!
Beautiful!
A more literary fellow here.
It is lovely, but where are the STARFISH? They are natural ornaments.
Lucy, I'll remember that image when someone asks, "But why do you read?"
I think the decorated plastic critters would be fairly easy to make. They look like toy-shop models that have been sprayed with thin glue, then dipped into tiny glass beads (like the ones that optometrists heat glasses in so that they can bend the earpieces), and then had a few larger rhinestones glued on for extra sparkle. Of course it's easier just to pay the $15.
An ammonite! :-) :-) :-)