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Plus one. And where are these floors that generate such hypervigilance? Unless you are keeping livestock in the house or have birds flying freely around or are running some kind of sickroom where bodily fluids are getting on the floor, I can't see what the fuss is about. Our immune systems are built to handle most bacteria that land on household surfaces and there have been studies that excessive disinfecting can lead to immune problems later. It is true that cats can shed toxoplasmosis cysts, but it's also true that most cat lovers have been exposed throughout their lives, carry some inactive cysts in their tissues, and are never troubled by them. The germophobia, especially in America, has gotten way out of hand. And it's been linked with increasing rates of immune and allergic problems in children and younger adults. The stuff that the plastic bottle leaches into its contents should be of far more concern. Ditto one-serving frozen meals that are boiled in a plastic dish in a microwave. That's what people should be avoiding.

Personally I'd be more worried about the chemicals allowed in bottled 'beverages' than either salt, soap or vinegar. More especially if you drink a lot of them.

Diver too. The only way I know of is to not use a wet/dry suit. Weights requiered would be then minimal or null. Which can bring complains of cold instead of weight. And a diver in a proper physical fitness to do the sport/work that is bothered by wearing a weight belt is unheard of 🤫. Attaching weight to the tank instead of waist is not a contemplated alternative. If your aim is comfort and not exactly the weight itself, my 3 hollow belts are filled with lead shot instead of the 'bricks', making then more manageable. Modern ones use removable lead shot pockets, have those too, sewn by me. If any of those are not of your approval, let the weights drop to the bottom of the sea when you climb back to the boat. Buy more for the next dive$.

I had a second look; a salamander body is a good guess. It seems like the front legs are positioned further back from the head than on a real one. The head of the creature could be modelled from a combination of a catfish (front tentacles and mouth) and a ceratopsid / Centrosaurus (back section of head).

When I said my takeaway (from various earlier discussions) was that it was wrong to think that a field was a physical object I was only saying that that interpretation seemed most persuasive to me I didn't mean to suggest that I had weighed the evidence personally as that would be well beyond my competence.

I have heard differing descriptions or definitions of a "gravitational field" and my takeaway is that it is wrong to think of it as a physical object Rather I have been assured it (like any field) is just a set of measurements in space and time . I am not sure ,given that definition it can be said to mediate a force between two massive bodies (if that was what you were saying)

And Chimps, Magpies, and Orca's just off the top of my head. But building, operating, navigating as space travellers? That's what I mean by dramatic overkill. Funny my favourite animals, other than my dogs, are Elephants. I watched a doco entitled "Love and Bananas: An Elephant Story" Literally had me in tears. Another good doco on Orcas is entitled "Blackfish" The Elephant doco is very much also about a Thai woman named Lek Chailert, pictured here......

It looks to me like a giant salamander. https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/japanese-giant-salamander They're amphibian, but can survive on land.

I've found this 13 cm snail crawling at the depth of 3 m not far from shore. I didn't tattoo it.

Look, I agree totally that we do under-estimate the intelliegence of animals. I have had dogs all my life, and after their initial training, they are treated as my equal...particularly the two 55kg plus Rottweilers I had.😉 But I see it as drawing a very long bow to suggest octopuses will ever become space travellers...or colonising Mars, partly because of the reasons you nominated, that they seem to have hit an revolutionary wall with the whole mate and die thing....unless of course they are already present in some as yet to be discovered underground Ocean/water source on Mars...or Europa! No probs, I have always reasoned that way, and see the often used comparison of Aliens and us, as analogous to us and ants, as dramatic overkill...sure they would be advanced, but that same advancement would enable them to recognise our own intellgence, (albeit limited as compared to theirs) but advanced enough to accomplish what we already have. That same level of intelligence on both sides would also see reasonable communication between them and us, (probably helped via mathematics and geometry) as not too great a problem. My apologies this time...the joke went way over my head. I probably have expressed this to you before, but my greatest wish in life is for the extraordinary evidence needed to confirm ETL, be discovered before I kick the bucket. That and putting boots on Mars, and I can then die a happy little vegemite!😁 While that discovery of life elsewhere (in the first instant) will probably be the most simplest form/s of life, any confirmation of an advanced species, will obviously be much further afield. Our two great barriers prohibiting contact between two species of advanced life, is of course time and distance. But wouldn't it be great if in another few hundred years or so, some distant species intercepts one of the Voyagers, interprets the maths and geometry and replies back!! I also, (as I expressed earlier and supplied a link) see the humanoid form, roughly speaking, as beneficial for advanced intelligence and space travel, and that space faring aliens certainly would not be octopuses!...or tomato plants. In fact I see it as far more likely that we could be exchanging banter with an Alien species a few hundred light years distant, rather than actually them crossing the enormous distances and shaking hands with us. ps: Good to see you back!