Jellyfish and the Obscenity of War

 A brand-y new (to us human types) jellyfish with MAYBE shitloads of venom (in the bright red cross of its belly) and 240 tentacles has been discovered. It’s home is the hydrothermally active Sumisu Caldera near the Ogasawara Islands, 600 or so miles southeast of Tokyo. 

Ogasawara, by the by, consists of more than 30 subtropical and tropical islands. Only two, Chichijima and Hahajima, have human occupants—2,600 of 'em.

The St George's Cross Medusa’s science name is Santjordia pagesi.

…researchers named the marine animal "Santjordia pagesi" after the Cross of St. George because of the striking X. The "pagesi" suffix was given in honor of the late Dr. Francesc Pagès, a jellyfish taxonomist. (source) 

We’ll call them Fran though.

I only mention it but the Ogasawara Islands include Iwo Jima (now known as Iōtō—硫黄島, "Sulfur Island"). You remember Iwo Jima don'cha? It was the locale of one of World War II's nasty Pyrrhic victories. This small volcanic island was the site of 24,053 American casualties. Of those, 6,140 died.

"For every plot of ground the size of a football field, an average of more than one American and five Japanese were killed and five Americans wounded.”
~ historian Dr. Norman Cooper

Approximately 22,000 Japanese soldiers and sailors were killed. Only 216 Japanese humans, 0.98%, survived and were taken prisoner.

In 36 measly-ass days, on an island slightly smaller than Salem, Massachusetts (8.28 sq mi—compare that to Boston, the second smallest U.S. major city, at 48.4 square miles), more than 28,000 people died heinously and violently. That’s enough dead humans to fill a college football stadium.

RAH RAH SIS BOOM BAH GO USA, USA!

Back to Fran though—who needs science fiction when we have reality? Me. I need sci fi and I'd be awfully grateful if Mister John Scalzi would come out with a new book soon (NOW would be nice).

 In the meantime, I’m gonna dive into Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus.

In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities—gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan; jetting water to bounce balls; and endlessly tricking companions with multiple “sleights of hand” to get food.

Scientists have only recently accepted the intelligence of dogs, birds, and chimpanzees but now are watching octopuses solve problems and are trying to decipher the meaning of the animal’s color-changing techniques. With her “joyful passion for these intelligent and fascinating creatures” (Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick), Montgomery chronicles the growing appreciation of this mollusk as she tells a unique love story. By turns funny, entertaining, touching, and profound, The Soul of an Octopus reveals what octopuses can teach us about the meeting of two very different minds. (source)

Yeah baby, bring it ON!