[Via io9]

Thanks, Martini-Corona!

For more strange and well-designed V-Day cards, check out Dooce’s collection.

Thanks, Anna!

When I highlighted Weird Bug Lady‘s work about a month ago, she mentioned that she does custom work. Aha! What else besides anatomically correct plush invertebrates could possibly commemorate my dear friend JEByrnes‘ doctorate/Very Important Decadal Birthday?

Since Herr Doktor Byrnes did his thesis on biodiversity in fouling communities, I requested that Weird Bug Lady create a diverse fouling community. And hot damn, she outdid herself. I can’t recommend her highly enough for all your nerd-plush needs.

Here is JEByrnes’ fouling community, covered in actual California fouling species.  You get a virtual cookie if you can name one! For extra awesome, the bryozoan zooids and the limpet (and possibly other critters – I haven’t seen them in person yet) are removable so you can snuggle them.

A student of the big and the small, Dr. Earle is a co-author of “Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas,” published recently by National Geographic. Its maps and graphs, prose and pictures detail how discoveries like the surprising ubiquity of Prochlorococcus are illuminating the sea, its immense impact on the planet and its habitability.

Dr. Earle, an oceanographer and former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has participated in more than a half-century of ocean exploration and protection. She has done pioneering research on algae, probed the ecology of coral reefs, set records for deep diving, tracked marine mammals and lobbied for the creation of marine sanctuaries.

The NYT article also has a photo gallery of images from the book – including some VERY attractive tunicates.

I just can’t stop posting about weird plush. It’s like some kind of a sickness. But courtesy of my new friend Boing Boing come this contest to win an adorable plush skull from designer Lana Crooks.

Although Lana has made plush skulls before (beginning with a piece for Patrick Ma), she’s never had a name for them. Since the skulls are becoming something of a staple in her art, she’s looking for a name for the series. Leave a comment with your suggestion below and you just might win this one-of-a-kind soft skull. The custom (shown above) measures 9″h x 8″w x 10″d. Lana will pick a winner from all comments received by Sunday, January 18th at 12noon PST.  We will announce the winning entry shortly before the next custoMONDAY on 1/19.

If you’ve got a bunch of cash you can also buy her snazzy squid art.

Actual red-hot octopus sex. The hectocotyl (sperm-delivery arm of the male) is the pink thing being inserted under the female's mantle.

But what actually exists in the realm of octopus-based flash drives is the Kissing Octopus.

The kissing octopodes.

Its pastel pink and blue is too self-conciously cute and irritatingly gender-coded for my taste – but as a consumer of lolcats I don’t really occupy much moral high ground. And hey, cephalopod-based technology is always good. From the Engadget writeup:

Just announced as a winner of an iF Design Award, this 8-legged drive comes in light pink and sky blue hues, and 2 / 4 / 8GB varieties. The two-piece contraption consists of the octopus body as well as the USB / nose part, which has a magnetic end which can be used to make a pair of octopuses a couple (or be used to stick love notes to metal surfaces as pictured above).

Thanks, Martini-Corona!

Or for those who like the sub-organism side of biology, Martini-Corona sent us to the Museum of Fabric Brain Art. How very frustrating for zombies.

Does the lack of plush morbid in this post mean that my heart has gone all soft and fuzzy? Nope, it’s still hard and metallic.

Via Martini-Corona, who really should just take over the whole blog