To the sea!

A couple of interesting ocean related things.

Yay Target!
Target has decided to stop selling Atlantic farmed salmon and will be stocking Pacific Alaskan salmon instead. This is exciting. "Why should I be excited?" You ask. Alaskan salmon are very well managed. They cost a bit more, but you'll still be able to buy them in fifty years. They contain only natural ingredient (free of pink dyes used by farms to make the flesh pink), and they haven't been swimming in their own concentrated excrement most of their lives (MMmmm farmed salmon D:). Also, salmon farming practices produce a great deal of waste and pollution directly in the ocean (see excrement).

For more fun food facts, and to see the best choices in seafood, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program. You can print out a pocket guide, or checkout the bestest seafood for you and the oceans :D
/plug


Yay Octopus!
Did you know that octopus use tools?... Actually, if you've spent any time at all reading about octopus, this should come as no surprise to you, but here's a cute little guy who carries around a coconut shell. The veined octopus (from Indonesia) picks out coconut shells discarded by humans. The cephalopods carry them along until they feel a need to hide. Then they make like a turtle and climb into a little coconut shell box. Silly Cephs o=


Pacific Travelers:
Finally, I give you the real time tracking site, TOPP for tags on Pacific pelagic animals. You can see the tracks of different species of sharks, seals, albatross (ALBATROSS!), and a sea turtle. Also some maps of sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a. I recommend pushing all the buttons :B


Other News:
The continuing saga of my moving has found me opening some boxes I haven't seen since I packed them a year an a half ago when I left Davis for parts unknown (the East Coast). I have found some lovely things such as my pencil cup, my floppy disk collection, three stuffed animals, artwork, notes, drawings, and some old cartoons. Over the coming weeks and months, I'm going to share some of these since they are either cool or hilarious, so stay tuned.
Otherwise, I have about three commissions and an auction I'm juggling amongst other things. I'm putting some pieces together for The Works Anti-Valentine Auction in San Jose... I must buy a frame tomorrow.