Octopuses, octopi, octopodes: whatever plural form used, the surprisingly smart eight-tentacled underwater cephalopods are a popular symbol of something far-reaching and sinister, both on earth and, now, above it. The National Reconnaissance Office, tasked with watching the earth through largely classified satellite programs, recently launched a new rocket into space. That rocket's classified contents were marked with an incredibly subtle image: an octopus spreading its tentacles across the globe, over the words "nothing is beyond our reach." Charming! In honor of the "oct" in octopus, here are eight images featuring an octopus--and similarly limb-surplused creatures--straddling the globe.
For further reading beyond this gallery, Strange Maps has an amazing collection of maps featuring the "Cartographic Land Octopus," and Vulgar Army is a whole site devoted to "the Octopus in Propaganda and Political Cartoons."