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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by Betty Cracker|  December 27, 20128:44 am| 28 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Lovely, persistent sea turtle pesters diver:

h/t: Jezebel

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Reader Interactions

28Comments

  1. 1.

    gene108

    December 27, 2012 at 8:50 am

    This is 14 the sort of spoof of the sort of sequel to Knocked Up.

  2. 2.

    gravie

    December 27, 2012 at 8:54 am

    Ah, thanks for that. One of my favorite critters but I’ve never seen one in action.

  3. 3.

    Betty Cracker

    December 27, 2012 at 8:57 am

    @gravie: I’ve seen turtles come ashore to lay their eggs, and once I saw dozens of baby turtles emerge from the sand and scramble into the Atlantic Ocean (I personally escorted a few who were heading toward some dunderhead’s porch light by mistake). They are one of my favorite critters as well.

  4. 4.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    December 27, 2012 at 9:02 am

    Great video. Makes you wonder what on earth the beastie thought he was doing. I envy you seeing the turtles, Betty – where, approximately, do you live in Florida?

  5. 5.

    dmbeaster

    December 27, 2012 at 9:03 am

    Seen plenty diving but never that behavior. Kinda reminded me of the dog humping my leg.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    December 27, 2012 at 9:05 am

    Betty, How are you feeling?

  7. 7.

    Boudica

    December 27, 2012 at 9:07 am

    The diver’s first mistake was to pet the turtle. Now he’ll never get rid of him!

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    December 27, 2012 at 9:09 am

    @The Fat Kate Middleton: I live on the west (Gulf) side of the state, and that’s where I’ve seen turtles come ashore to lay their eggs (loggerheads). I saw the hatchlings while visiting a friend on the east coast of FL years ago. I just happened to be in the right spot and was very lucky — lots of people live at the beach their whole lives and never see that.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    December 27, 2012 at 9:10 am

    @JPL: Tons better! Thanks for asking!

  10. 10.

    WereBear

    December 27, 2012 at 9:24 am

    @Betty Cracker: Glad to hear it. I’m still worn out (though not as sick as you) but there’s a blizzard going on… and I’m on vacation. Excellent timing!

  11. 11.

    Todd

    December 27, 2012 at 9:25 am

    @The Fat Kate Middleton:

    I’m assuming he’s a male, and is going for the tank, which has a mottled appearance due to wear (it appears to be steel). The aluminum bottles I use are larger and don’t get that sort of age pattern.

    Basically, he thought it was a girl. The turtles I’ve interacted with are always a little shy – this is definitely out of the ordinary.

  12. 12.

    Svensker

    December 27, 2012 at 9:30 am

    @Todd:

    Basically, he thought it was a girl.

    I agree. The male turtles I’ve known have been the horniest critters I’ve ever seen. A friend had some big turtles as pets and she had to keep the male separated from the females because he literally f**ked the females so often that their back legs got infections from being bent in that position so long.

    She put the male in with a concrete “turtle” and he spent the whole day boinking THAT.

  13. 13.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    December 27, 2012 at 9:31 am

    @Todd: Interesting! I thought maybe he was showing territorial aggression, the way he kept trying to bite the diver … but attempts at mating might explain that, too.

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    December 27, 2012 at 9:48 am

    @Svensker:
    It’s kind of depressing to learn that there are some among my fellow males who either can’t tell a live female from a concrete dummy or just don’t care.

  15. 15.

    Raven

    December 27, 2012 at 9:52 am

    Apparently the light switch in the freezer was stuck on and the bulb burned the housing and the wall of the freezer. Posting away on Samuri Appliance Repair to see how I can fix it!

  16. 16.

    Alexandra

    December 27, 2012 at 10:07 am

    Bow ties sea turtles are cool.

  17. 17.

    Waldo

    December 27, 2012 at 10:07 am

    The turtle was cool, but the Litter Genie ad I accidentally clicked on was awesome.

  18. 18.

    RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    December 27, 2012 at 10:19 am

    My turtle Porky was put out to stud this year. He seems to be enjoying himself.

  19. 19.

    shortstop

    December 27, 2012 at 10:22 am

    The first time I came close to a sea turtle (green) while snorkeling, I thought I would die of happiness. I’ve been fortunate to be close to many of these wonderful critters (greens and hawksbills) since, and the excitement hasn’t waned. Once spent a cool midnight on a Costa Rica beach near the Panama border, waiting for leatherbacks to lay. We just missed one, and it was even thrilling to see her tracks. As we left, my husband looked out at the whitecaps touched by moonlight–I swear you could feel those girls out there just off shore–and whispered, “Good luck, ladies!” They are just fantastic animals.

  20. 20.

    Amir Khalid

    December 27, 2012 at 10:25 am

    I saw Les Miz today. Good thing I brought tissues. I have to see it in the cinema again. It doesn’t try to be subtle; but then, musical theatre generally doesn’t so one couldn’t call that a flaw. Anne Hathaway’s performance of I Dreamed A Dream — wow. I’d never heard the song before in its dramatic context, so her performance hit hard.

  21. 21.

    Amir Khalid

    December 27, 2012 at 10:38 am

    I remember when it was still legal in Malaysia to harvest turtle eggs — way back in the 1960s. (It was banned here in the early 1970s.) The eggs were the size and shape of ping-pong balls, with shells that were like thick paper rather than oval and rigid like bird eggs. They didn’t taste all that great, and the ban was no real culinary loss.

  22. 22.

    Punchy

    December 27, 2012 at 10:39 am

    The turtles Ive swam upon have been pretty shy and aprehensive about the bubble stream from my reg. This dude seems too horny to care, which is both funny and depressing….

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    December 27, 2012 at 11:03 am

    Loved the turtle video, even the music. Is the diver repairing an oil rig platform?

    Surprised to find myself rescuing fish off a paved bikepath today.

    In Northern Virginia, we had snow, then sleet, then torrents of rain yesterday.

    Out this morning at first light for a walk along a creek’s floodplain, to try to catch the sunrise.

    Found 2 enchanting tiny irridescent purple and white fish pirouetting in a large puddle on the bikepath. It was maybe half an inch deep.

    Then they’d rest, exhausted and vulnerable.

    Escorted one all the way to the creek; it seemed too long a trip for the fish, although I think it survived. Tossed the other one into a huge trough of water that stays for days after a downpour, hoping he could find his way back to the creek. We’re expecting more rain soon.

    Then noticed more fish in the surrounding puddles, stranded. Rescued about seven that were under an inch, and two that were 2-3 inches. They were very still in their disappearing puddles, but struggled when picked up. Anything bigger had been out of water too long and expired.

    Must remember to bring a plastic baggie on future walks, so that I can return them all to their creek.

    The creek had risen at least 4-5 feet; you could see where it had flooded the bridges and flattened the surrounding flora.

    Also saw a fox. It and the birds will have an automat with all those stranded and dead fish.

  24. 24.

    PurpleGirl

    December 27, 2012 at 12:36 pm

    @Elizabelle: Rather than a plastic bag, how about a plastic box/container? That may be easier to scoop up some water with the fish. And good on you for thinking about returning the fish to their creek.

    The turtle video was cool. Watching the diver pet the turtle was nice.

  25. 25.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    December 27, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    I wish I was enjoying this visit with my parents more, but staying in a hotel room by myself is like having all the unpleasant parts of being single all at once.

    I did get to eat ham and potato chips in bed last night, so there is that.

    (G and I are fine, couple-wise — it’s just that he had to go back to work yesterday and I’m staying through Saturday. So it’s like having all the crappy parts of being single with none of the fun ones.)

  26. 26.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    December 27, 2012 at 1:03 pm

    Also, in animal news, my brother spotted a bobcat hanging around on Christmas Day, so now I’m peering out of the windows to see if it makes another appearance. Apparently there are some tasty rabbits in the scrub behind my parents’ house that it likes to try and eat.

  27. 27.

    Ruckus

    December 27, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    I think it has value that they don’t know the diff. Makes my chances of meeting a wonderful woman that much better.

  28. 28.

    West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)

    December 27, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    As most of you probably know, the music comes from Enya. That was a great video — thanks for posting! My wife and I saw a leatherback in the water on a whale-watching tour we took off the Farralon Islands (near San Francisco). Even the boat operator was stoked because said turtles are quite rare. It looked to me to be a little smaller (from end-to-end, side-to-side) than a VW Bug. I hope we can save such creatures from ourselves and our wicked environmental ways.

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