It’s Mark’s 30th birthday today – what a fantastic way to spend your birthday! If you’re watching SquidCam he’s the one in the tank. The bald one he called himself yesterday.
30 April 2008
Happy birthday Mark!
Posted by Te Papa under Colossal squid | Tags: birthday, Colossal squid, mark fenwick |[30] Comments
30 April 2008 at 8:01 am
Ha Ha try adding a few more numbers to his age… He had hair when he was 30.. Have a great day… Love Rochelle
Happy Birthday Daddy.. You not bald your hair just flew away in the wind… Love Ella
30 April 2008 at 8:02 am
Happy Birthday Mark!
30 April 2008 at 8:03 am
Happy 30th Birthday Mark !
I’m watching the webcam from the UK, it’s Brilliant.
30 April 2008 at 8:04 am
Happy Birthday from California, USA!
Absolutely amazing work you all are doing!
30 April 2008 at 8:06 am
Happy Birthday I am in Arizona I just Cant seem to pry myself away from this all!! Great work you are al doing!!
30 April 2008 at 8:10 am
Happy Birthday Mark. Awesome that you are involved in this special day on your birthday. Good luck and thanks to you all!!
30 April 2008 at 8:18 am
Don’t get to cold… love Ella Bella Cinderella Galla Fenwick
x
30 April 2008 at 8:30 am
It sounds like a very interesting dissection going on right now….we can hear perfectly clear audio on camera 4, but can’t see any of the action. It’s not happening on camera 2 either.
30 April 2008 at 8:43 am
Happy Birthday Mark,
Has anyone there baked you a cake for you birthday lol?
30 April 2008 at 8:55 am
You guys the cams are all messed up and keep freezing!! The top left one is a mess!
30 April 2008 at 9:05 am
The guys are off for a briefing at the moment – it’s a big day today. We’ll get the cameras sorted as soon as possible.
Anyone having any access issues? It seems all OK at our end but let us know if you having any troubles -we are monitoring bandwidth but it’s good to hear from you folk
30 April 2008 at 9:19 am
I’m in NW Scotland and the cameras keep freezing and the audio comes and goes. But what the heck this is brilliant and Happy Birthday Mark. Helen
30 April 2008 at 9:19 am
Happy Birthday Mark, all the way from Aberdeen, Scotland. I wish i could do this on my birthday.
30 April 2008 at 9:20 am
I think most of us are having issues of one kind or another, at least the Tonmo folk checking in are. Sound is very intermittent, cameras seem to be freezing, then jumping, if you can figure out what I meant by that. Would have been nice to be able to see what was going on while Steve was working/ talking about one of the beasties.
30 April 2008 at 9:22 am
Happy Birthday Mark, from down south in Dunedin!
30 April 2008 at 11:03 am
Happy Birthday, Mark!
30 April 2008 at 11:15 am
Happy Birthday Mark!!
Mind your fingers on that beak
Whitstable, UK.
30 April 2008 at 11:29 am
Happy Birthday Mark!
Is that the sick squid (six quid) you borrowed from me!
Ha ha. just a birthday joke.
How’s it feel to stand in a bowl of fish soup?
Thanks for the fascinating pics and videos, I’m watching from Bournemouth, UK.
Best wishes to all the team at Tepapa.
Pete
30 April 2008 at 11:33 am
Access problems here too, audio only on camera 4 and that’s intermittent. All cameras jerking and freezing. Guess we observers are using up too much bandwidth!
Best wishes!
30 April 2008 at 11:52 am
Thinking about the temperature those beasties operate in, in the Antarctic, wouldn’t you be shocked if he/she suddenly woke up, having been defrosted as if in hibernation!!
30 April 2008 at 1:01 pm
haha scotty, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!!!! what an awesome present!!
30 April 2008 at 2:20 pm
Happy Birthday, Mark, from Tampa, Florida! Remember, it’s not the years, but the miles that age you! Thanks for your, and the team’s, dedication and hard work on providing this bit of history to us all. Completely FASCINATING!
30 April 2008 at 3:16 pm
Happy Birthday Mark
Hope you have an awesome birthday and this is i bet very exciting for you and the team their
from Nicole
30 April 2008 at 4:01 pm
Happy Birthday Mark! What an exciting time. I’ve are watching the web stream from Harrisburg, North Carolina, USA with my 12 yr.old son. He finds this so cool that he wanted to share this with his science teacher and class so we emailed her the link. Of course you’ll be asleep when he’s at school but they will hopefully be able to see the squid completely thawed. You and your team have made a young man very excited about science. Thank you and lots of blessings, from Maria and David
30 April 2008 at 4:14 pm
Enjoying the sights and scenes of the collosal squid – exciting stuff!!!
Well done Mark – you got to where you wanted to be – you must be in your Ellament – congratualtions on all fronts
PS you where never 12 years my junior only a few days younger – 30 my foot!!!
30 April 2008 at 4:19 pm
Oh and Happy Birthday
2 May 2008 at 8:47 pm
Hi all,
I have finally managed to get home after the busiest week of my life!
Thank you to all of you for the birthday wishes, its been awesome to share this with you and a real kick to know that people who i haven’t seen or heard from are enjoying my little swim.
Cheers to you all, I am having my very overdue birthday drink tonight then crawling into bed because I have to help get the pigmy right whale out for next weeks dissection.
Its the craziest life I have ever lived and I am so glad you guys came along for the ride
Thanks for watching
Mark
2 May 2008 at 9:33 pm
hi Mark
Can you please reassure everyone that that the reason for the discoloration of the water in the tank has nothing to do with excess urea …..
4 May 2008 at 4:29 pm
hi guys,
yep there are a few things going on here, we have a brine mixture that we have added freshwater to that might be making the water cloudy as it mixes, and then all the chemicals that were associated with the specimen and its journey on the boat (i.e. slime and ink and fish oil from the specimens digestive tract).
This defrost is quite different too in that we are using a closed system. Normally we just run water over the specimen and all the waste drains away but to have more control over the tank environment we used pumps and a heating/chiller unit.
The important thing to know is that we are using a special meter to check the PH of the fluid and we are constantly adding buffers to the tank to keep the PH at 7. This means that the fluid isn’t to acid, that would be bad for the suckers, or to base, that would be bad for the tissue condition.
Also we have had agitators stirring the fluid. As the squid defrosted more and more particles were released and instead of getting a chance to settle out they keep being resuspended.
Hope that helps everyone worried about our squid dissolving away, i am monitoring our baby daily so will try to keep you all up ot date
Cheers
Mark
8 May 2008 at 2:28 pm
Hi all,
just thought I would let you know that i have been monitoring the ph on our baby over the last week or so and currently the fliud is sitting at between 6.65 and 7.25 which is good.
So it looks like the buffering process has worked and now its a clean run until we start to think about a more permanent home for her,
watch this space
Mark