What's Happening Today - Nov. 16

Greetings- there's a big hairy giant fellow here that insists on communicating with you all. Please bear with him...

Thanks,

Dan Fornari and Margo Edwards

As yeh know, t'day my good friend, Harry Potter, will become known to all the Muggle world. Ter honor this occasion Professor Dumbledore asked me ter interrupt the Muggle ramblin's coming from the good ship Atlantis with a special surprise. Many of yeh have read Newt Scamander's book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Madam Pince (Hogwarts librarian) just found the legendary missin' chapter on undersea creatures. Muggles might try ter explain these beasts, but Professor Scamander's book is, o' course, based on wizardin' fact and not Muggle speculation. Enjoy yer readin' and perhaps the next time yeh have extra gillyweed, yeh can visit some of these lovely magical creatures, 'specially my pal Norbert who's workin' one o' the "vents."

Rubeus Hagrid
Keeper of Keys and Grounds
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

As of this date in 1837, over 13,410 species of magical undersea creatures have been identified. Presumably there are an equal number of unidentified creatures awaiting discovery, but given that this effort would prevent one from attending the Quiddich World Cup, it's unlikely any witch or wizard will complete the list anytime soon.
When studying undersea creatures it is most important to distinguish between those that permanently reside on the deep-sea bed and those that just visit. For example, Norwegian Ridgebacks usually reside in Romania, but in their fifth year they spend 6 months at sea buried under sediments at the bottom of the ocean. The process, known as snozzing, forces these dragons to refine their fire-breathing skills as they must continually work against the water and mud that surrounds them to produce the smoky column seen in the photo to the right. Upon completion of this draconian "right of passage," a Ridgeback is considered to be an adult dragon.
Muggles have occasionally happened upon these features, which they term "black smokers" or "hydrothermal vents." They have devoted years to studying the temperature and chemical variations of the material emanating from the seafloor little realizing that it is merely a mixture of dragon breath and snot.

A near permanent resident of the deep sea floor are the Logies shown below. Muggles call these creatures "tube worms" or "Riftia," but they are in fact snakes grown for the head of Medusa and her sister Gorgons. Logies come in a variety of colors including red, blue and mauve, to suit the fashion sense of the Gorgon sisters. The color of an individual snake is based on proximity to a snozzing dragon - red Logies grow closest to the heat source. Logies reach maturity three months after birth at which point their heads pop out and they immediately swim towards the Mediterranean Sea where they are collected by Greek fishermen friendly to wizards.
Ironically, Muggle scientists were unintentionally exposed to the term "Gorgon" and used it as a name for underwater Walking Sticks, much to the amusement of wizards everywhere.

Meemees (left) are the evolutionary ancestors of the land-dwelling mandrakes and thrive as permanent residents of the deep-sea floor. Like their counterparts on land, only their hair is exposed above ground. The rest of the baby is content to live covered in muck. As school children, wizards and witches learn the importance of covering their ears before repotting mandrakes. Fortunately, no such precaution is necessary in the deep ocean as the meemee's relentless screaming when they are unearthed from the sediments produces a mere, "glug, glug."

Muggles believe the "creatures" below-right to be living beings and have given them the name "sea fans." If Muggles were more observant they would realize these "fans" only occur in fields of debris. They are, in fact, the discarded toilet bowl brushes of the merpeople.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program...

Steve Eykelhoff, one of the SSSG techs, working today in the Main Lab. Steve is helping the scientists with one of their computer programs.

Jerry Graham, an Able Seaman, and Sallye Davis, the 3rd Mate, on the Bridge of R/V Atlantis.

Jim McGill sharpening his ping-pong skills today.

ABE being launched this morning after breakfast. As you can see the weather is very nice, only 10-15 knot winds and sunny skies.

ABE about to be released.

Mitzi Crane, the 1st Mate, and Rod Catanach are all smiles after the successful launch of ABE this morning.

Kate Buckman wishes her Dad a Happy Birthday.