Intensity Is Everywhere!

GUEST BLOGGER ALERT! One of my favorite people in the world …Ms. Saskia van Gendt! A couple things about Saskia. 1) She is one of the original ii party planners. 2) She can make a mean sandwich especially when it entails gouda cheese. 3) Has a strong love for the planet Earth 4) Is working with me on a list of words that are hard to spell. On it: cinnamon and thorough. Thanks, Sas for your contribution to Ocean Week on Intense Individuals! 

Warning, you’re probably going to want to keep yesterday’s happy little guy at your fingertips because this one’s kinda grisly.  (While I’m passing out tips, never ever Google Image “goiter”!!!)

Announcing the Osedax, also affectionately called the zombie worm and snot flower, the Chim Chimney sweeps of the ocean floor.  As Steely Dan would say, “They’re a fool to do your dirty work.”

These 2 centimeter long worms swoop in after a “whale fall”, the rare event when a whale carcass falls the 4,000 meters to the ocean floor.  An 80 year old whale can provide nourishment for dozens of species for 50 to 100 years.

The Osedax smell the rotting remains from miles away and descend by the thousands to feast on the oil in the whale bones.  A 40 ton whale skeleton can contain 3,000 kilograms of fats inside their bones. Talk about doubling down!

That’s not all.  When scientists first discovered the Osedax in 2002 they thought there were only females, but it turns out that the females had 50 to 100 microscopic male worms livinginside of them.  Go figure!  That’s awkward.  Anyway that’s their deal – cleaning up all the mess on the ocean floor and probably dancing a dandy jig as they do it.  Chim Chimney!

Also 2 facts to keep in mind for your ocean creature research:

Behind every interesting sea creature is an enticing band name.

And a great craft project.

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It’s almost hard to pick just one Intense Individual Under the Sea every day because….THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON DOWN THERE. But I will stay true to Ocean Week and only pick one. Today, it’s the Axolotl. Destined to be a Hollywood Star in the next Pixar movie if I had my say in it. This little guy is off the charts. Happiest creature in the deep blue? I think so!

Sometimes when I am driving I see those stickers on cars that say No Bad Days and now I know what they are talking about….Axolotls! There is no way if you look like this you would ever in your life have a bad day. I imagine the sea creatures swimming among the Axolotls just bowing down to them as they float on by. These little guys are so freakin’ cute you almost need to take a cute break and just google Nick Nolte’s mugshot.

Now the only thing this dude needs to do is get a new name for the stage. If Cherilyn Sarkasian La Pierre (Cher), Cordazer Calvin Broadus (Snoop Doggy Dogg), and Demetria Gene Guynes (Demi Moore) can do it…so can you Mr. Axolotl. So far the one name that I think would be a perfect stage name for this guy is Cody Rain. What do you think?

Very open to suggestions….

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There is some serious Intensity going on in the ocean.  Weird things are happening down there and it’s time we discuss them.  Each day this week we will be posting an Intense Individual living below us and give a little street cred that is long overdue. We will also have a guest blogger on the site on Wednesday! Stay tuned!

First ii under the sea…the Napoleon Wrasse also known as the Humphead Wrasse. They are about 3-4 times the size of a human as you can see in the pic below.
My friend Dug actually saw one of these in the ocean during a diving trip in the Great Barrier Reef. This fish is one of the coolest fish I have ever seen as it looks like it should be the size of a little goldfish but really it’s massive! Wikipedia notes that some males grow very large, with one unconfirmed report of a Humphead Wrasse that was 7.75 feet long and weighed 420 lbs. Oh how I love unconfirmed reports…but this one I will just believe because this fish is so unbelievable anything people say about it could most definitely be true.

Now that I know this individual exists, I will forever believe all scuba divers are out to find one thing and one thing only…

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The annual Turkey Trot that raises money for Father Joe’s Villages goes off the hook in Balboa Park every year. Lots of dogs in costumes and lots of people dressed like Turkeys and Indians. Here are some pictures of the Intensity! Happy Thanksgiving!
A bride and pirate ran together this confused me in a good way.

Santa crashed the party early.

Hey Dinosaurs might not be thankful they are extinct but they are thankful for Steven Spielberg.

Man dressed as a turkey.

Run then eat pie.

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