Moth Eyes

Juvenile yellow boxfish (Ostracion cubicus), photographed in the waters off Pelorus Island, Queensland.

Yellow boxfish have four life stages, each very differently coloured.

Longfin grouper (Epinephelus quoyanus), photographed in the waters off Pelorus Island, Queensland.

I love these fellows. Their habit of finding a bit of sand or a bit of rock and sitting around on it, instead of darting all over the place like most fish, makes them terribly easy to photograph.

Phyllidia ocellata, photographed in the waters off Pelorus Island, Queensland.

Nudibranchs (including Phyllidia ocellata) form a “clade” (meaning that all species of nudibranch descend from a common ancestor that no non-nudibranch descends from) of predatory sea slugs. Nudibranchs tend to be vibrantly coloured, and there is a great deal of variation between species in not only the colour patterns but even in the anatomy – which makes them great photography subjects!

Blue-spotted stingray (Dasyatis kuhlii), photographed in the waters of Pelorus Island, Queensland.

Black flying fox (Pteropus alecto), photographed on Magnetic Island.

In other news, it turns out I’m still alive. Who’d have thunk it?

For Dawn of War II, Gravecat posted a list of wargear unlocks for each race. The Retribution expansion adds a new last stand map (with harder waves – the original map and waves are also retained) and the Lord General as Imperial Guard hero. The other heroes seem to retain their old wargear lists. I’m yet to see a list of wargear unlocks for the Lord General, so I figured I’d start one. I’ll update this as I get new information, and if you’re ahead of me please post in the comments!

	Level	Description
	2	Refractor field: Reduces ranged damage on you and allies around you
	3	Medallion Crimson: Combat expert (+30% ranged and melee damage)
	4	Master-crafted Carapace Armour: 79 armour rating, immune to suppression, can place a tarantula heavy bolter turret (25 energy)
	5	Guardsmen: Deploy a squad of guardsmen (35 energy). If you are armed with a bolter, flamer, grenade launcher or plasma gun they get two of them.
	6	Protective Power Sword: 10 DPS, armour piercing (to 100), clear out (knocks back and damages enemy troops), +50 armour
	7	Repair: Lord General can repair structures and vehicles (20 energy).
	8	Artificer Carapace Armour: 72 armour rating, immune to knockdown, can place a tarantula missile turret. Turret has difficulty with cover but has area of effect and can knock down enemy troops.
	9	Sergeant: Adds a sergeant to your minion squads. Grants Battle Hardened (increased defense) to minions.
	10	Catachan: Can deploy a Catachan devil squad, which has the Knockdown and Explosives Expert attributes (they have shotguns and frag grenades). They are a commander item, so you can’t use them with guardsmen (35 energy).
	11	Reinforce: Reinforce nearby allied minion squadrons (seems to include allies – 10 energy).
	12	Mordian Pattern Carapace Armour: 37 armour rating, can deploy executioner turret.
	13	Grenade Launcher: 5.5DPS, Area of Effect, Blind Grenade Volley, Knockdown. Equips Guardsmen with grenade launchers as well.
	14	Commissar: Increases the damage inflicted by nearby allies, and can be stacked with the sergeant.
	15	Ogryn: Tough, resistant troops.
	16	Armageddon Pattern Carapace Armor: 30 armour rating, can place Vanquisher Heavy Turret.
	17	Take Aim!: Gives ally a temporary damage boost
	18	Plasma Gun: 7.3 DPS, armour piercing up to a rating of 100. Equips guardsmen squads with plasma guns as well.
	19	Rocket Run: Devastates a strip of ground with rocket pod runs.
	20	Storm Troopers: Deploy a squad of elite troops. Can’t be stacked with other minion squads. Allows the general to make a tactical withdrawal (fast run). Also reduces his energy costs by 25%.
	Achievement	The Black Plate: 125 armour rating, reduces melee damage. Unlock: Beat 10 waves in a single match whilst holding both strategic points.
	Achievement	Duelist Honours: Increases melee damage by 40%. Unlock: Kill 2500 enemies as Lord General

Update: Gravecat’s listing has now overtaken mine.

Some humourous and oh-too-true links for you:

If I were an evil genius, how could I go about melting the ice caps? (a must read!)

Jaws: A Movie Review

Republicans Vote To Repeal Obama-Backed Bill That Would Destroy Asteroid Headed For Earth

Anthony Watts:

This isn’t a “Sputnik moment” Mr. President, it’s a “shit or get off the pot” moment for US energy policy. The US excelled at the space race, partly because of the swift kick in the pants that Sputnik provided. Perhaps this announcement will be the embarrassment like Sputnik for the US government that will compel them to finally do something about our energy future besides tilt at windmills.

Anthony Watts, everyone!

For any tea partiers reading this, the “Sputnik moment” refers to the Americans being kicked into action by the Soviet launch of Sputnik. Or you could just go on getting your views on science, history, and the English American language from Sarah Palin.

Hypolimnas bolina, photographed in Townsville, Queensland. This species is sexually dimorphic (that is, the different genders look very different to each other) – this is a male.

At this point, I think we can all agree that I’m rather bad at blogging. I recently moved to Townsville, and have more or less settled in by now – so hopefully I can get something a bit more regular going here!