In early 2007, fishermen patrolled the Antarctic's Ross Sea looking for Patagonian toothfish (aka Chilean Sea Bass and please stop buying and eating it if you are so inclined; not enough is known about how it survives and it is being illegally caught and sold by less-than-honorable people in many cases...) when they noted an odd tug on one line. When they hauled it in, they found a colossal squid (note photo) making a nice repast of hooked toothfish. Colossal squid deserve some moment of admiration. They are thought to be generally as long as a school bus and almost nothing is known about them. Why? They are rarely seen. In 2003 one washed ashore in New Zealand, in a "guess what lives off your coast" sort of way. Otherwise, the squid keep to themselves.   In the U.S., we busy ourselves with reflections on how McCain lost, why Palin turned out to be a dud, and how much Barack Obama can accomplish given this mess that is Washington and Wall Street. In times like these, there is nothing else to do but think about Antarctica and its inhabitants. The colossal squid, the giant squid, the Adelie penguin, the Emperor penguin (the only two "true Antarctic penguins in that they breed there), the many lichens. To name but a few.