#Antarctic Activity Week

[tremaghi]

Quando non senti la mancanza di qualcosa é perché ha fatto il suo tempo - IZ2ELV QRT

Il 9 aprile 2024 sarà una data che ricorderò come il mio QRT definitivo. Senza provare alcuna nostalgia o emozione, abbiamo venduto il nostro Yaesu FT-450D. Sicuramente Fulvio IZ2EXA era dispiaciuto, invano ha cercato di convincermi a ripensarci.Era nell’aria già da tempo e non sarebbe onesto imputare questa mia scelta unicamente alla mia sordità, bensì negli ultimi anni l’interesse per il…

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - March 1-7

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles! I’m almost finished with February’s doodles, sorry for the delay

1. Charles Darwin saw this Galápagos bird on Floreana Island in 1835, then it wasn't seen again for almost 200 years

“The Galápagos rail […] had been deemed locally extinct – and due for reintroduction from other Galápagos islands – until it was seen during recent fieldwork. [… “R]emove the invasive threats, and native species can recover in remarkable ways,” says Island Conservation’s Paula Castaño.”

2. Bill supporting free student meals passes through Utah legislature

“[The bill] would move thousands of students who qualify for reduced-cost school meals into eligibility for free breakfasts and lunch. […] H.B. 100 secures $2.5 million from the state’s education budget to help students from families who do not qualify for federal aid like SNAP or TANF.”

3. Indigenous leaders sign landmark carbon deal in Philippines

“[The deal establishes] the country’s first locally owned forest carbon project. The project, which places a monetary value on the potentially climate-warming carbon stored in trees, aims to halt deforestation through the sale of carbon credits — effectively making the forest more valuable alive than cut down.”

4. Powerful Speeches From Trans Dems Flip 29 Republicans, Anti-Trans Bills Die In Montana

“Transgender Reps Zooey Zephyr and SJ Howell delivered powerful speeches on the Montana House floor on Thursday. Republicans defected en masse to join them in voting against anti-trans bills. […] One Republican even took the floor to deliver a scathing rebuke of the bill’s sponsor.”

5. Illinois proves states have a lot of power to advance clean energy

“[Two new bills] aim to evaluate the state’s current power grid, make it easier to expand the transmission system, and add a ton of new battery storage[…. Illinois already] has one of the cleanest grids in the nation thanks to bountiful nuclear power.“

6. ‘I feel real hope’: historic beaver release marks conservation milestone in England

“”We are visibly, measurably recovering nature and that is so exciting[….]” [… In] recent years, beavers have been returning to our waterways via licensed releases into enclosures and some illegal releases. […] Last week, the government announced that, with a licence, it is now legal for conservationists to release beavers into the wild, with no enclosures necessary.”

7. One of South Dakota’s largest wind farms just got the green light

“Invenergy says the new South Dakota wind farm will pump $78 million into landowner payments over the next 30 years, while local governments will see $38 million in property tax revenue. [… T]he project is expected to create 243 construction jobs and support eight long-term operational roles.”

8. The Antarctic ozone hole is healing, thanks to global reduction of CFCs

“[The] new study is the first to show, with high statistical confidence, that this recovery is due primarily to the reduction of ozone-depleting substances, versus other influences such as natural weather variability[….] "By something like 2035, we might see a year when there's no ozone hole depletion at all in the Antarctic.””

9. Monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico rebound this year

“The number of monarch butterflies wintering in the mountains west of Mexico City [doubled] in 2024 despite the stresses of climate change and habitat loss[….] Tavera Alonso credited ongoing efforts to increase the number of plants the butterflies rely on for sustenance and reproduction along their flyway.”

10. Pip in final egg means bald eagles Jackie and Shadow should soon be parents of triplets

“Triplets would be unprecedented for the eagles in a decade of observation. […] The [third] eaglet is "actively working on getting out of the egg." […] The two already-hatched chicks, who will be named by the public in the days to come, are "looking much stronger than they were even yesterday[….]””

February 22-28 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[urautismdiagnosis-wistie]

Do you have any Peso headcanons? :3

yep!

Peso is a bit of a stress cleaner! Clutter just tends to make him feel a bit more stressed and overwhelmed.

You might assume its cuz hes from the antarctic, which would be a valid thought process, but in my au penguins tend to have two "family" (for the entire community) homes they alternate between depending on the time of year. So it wasn't like they didn't have homes that got cluttered from kids and whatever.

It was more that well... everyone got into EVERYONES business and family and friends just.. ARRIVING at your house entirely unprompted was totally normal too. He didn't mind it, even if being an older cousin did mean he babysat more often (which he didn't mind he loves them and prefers to be with the kids than older adults).

It was really more just that having lots of people, lots of noises, lots of little kids to worry about getting hold of breakable/valuesble things, and etc. Yeah hes so autistic.

So everything being neat and tidy and perfectly put away just makes him feel a big sense of calm and comfort. This also applies to the medbay, which makes sense cuz he was also trained to be neat and tidy.

(this is how he draws himself)

this guy also freaking LOVES romance movies and stuff. Especially the dramatic ones... he'd used to go watch them to escape the world with his mom when he was little and it was like their little secret bonding activity. But now he's just so freaking invested. He and dashi watch them together <3 (he still talks to his mom about them and they gotta deal with a plot twist every week 🙏 its therapeutic probably)

Speaking of him and dashi they're actually pretty close friends lol. Whether it's just chatting and de-stressing, making fun of inaccurate medical dramas/zombie movies, just sharing whatever family gossip they have, (maybe venting about their relationships with their older brothers everyone in a while), or just windowshopping online.

Dashi also taught peso who to meditate and do yoga. Although him being a penguin that waddles- uh hes had various levels of success and failure, (penguin bones r kinda just in a permanent squat which is why they waddle) but its still fun and ends with them both laughing. Yeh they're very cute friends <3

peso would be so feral over chiikawa, those Japanese comics about like lil creatures that cry over every inconvenience but still have human struggles and are adorable or wtv. I think its be great for his anxiety.

you can't look me in the eyes and tell me he DOESNT STIM by flapping his FLAPPITY FLIPPERS. When stressed his flappity flippers can also become slappity flippers.

Peso also LOVES physical comfort and closeness alot! Its a big love language for him. So even just close physically proximity is very comforting for him, he loves movie nights and social dinners. Another aspect of his love language is making sure to listen to small details that people mention about themselves. He likes to give very thoughtful or homemade gifts. (Like his stickers <3 its one of his favorite hyperfixations) that also extends to food too! Well made food is such a love language.

Peso also, like shellington, puts glow in the dark stars on his ceiling to remind him of the night sky. He loves little trinkets and decor too, he and dashi love looking for different ones online I mightve already mentioned that tho.

They don't always have great internet and have to basically "download" pages, articles, and etc in advance to have stuff accessible when they don't have connection. Its hard to explain but eh.

Thanks for the ask btw <3 if yall wanna know more about the specific relationships he has with the other octonauts feel free to ask

Some more uh, heavy sad headcanons under the tag? Well not headcanons but just him in my au ig

also in my au pesos dad may have or may have no been extremely emotionally and financially abusive which mightve partially contributed to his career path, self doubt, and high expectations, but when peso was out traveling in training his dad may have sort of been eaten by a leopard seal and peso did not even feel anything.

He mightve even only managed to feel a small odd sense of relief and felt bad for his mom. Whoops. Also pesos canonical brother pogo, who hasn't shown up ONCE in the series, was kinda their dads favorite oldest son so yeah there ya go they don't talk much yeesh).

I didn't set out to make this happen but as for the type of person pesos dad is lets just say he was inspired by the experiences of some people ik, so this isn't meant to be some stereotype thing I just saw his anxiety and my heart screamed to do this to him. Sorry yall I shouldn't have been mean to peso and gave him a gaslighting, blackmailing, pos dad but its already too late.at least he doesn't have to worry about pinto going through the same anymore. It was tough being a middle child trying to defend his mom from his dad.Yikeeeessssssss. his dad was probably a narcissist or at least narcissistic ngl

He probably has complex trauma and an anxiety disorder at least.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: tardigrades

Last week on Wet Beast Wednesday I covered the largest animals to ever exist on our planet. This week I'm going to pull a full 180 and cover the smallest animals yet on this series. Meet the tardigrade, the internet's favorite micro-animal the is said to be basically immortal. How true is that? Let's see.

(Image: an electron microscope image of a tardigrade. It looks a lot like a potato with eight stubby legs tipped with long claws. At the front is a small, circular mouth. It has no other discernable features. In the background are bits of plant matter that look like seaweed at this scale. End ID)

The tardigrades are 1,300 known species (and probably a lot of unknown ones too) in the phylum Tardigrada. They are also part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa, which are animals that grow by molting their outer cuticles or exoskeletons. In particular, the tardigrades are believed to be a sister group of the arthropods, the group that contains crustaceans, insects, isopods, and a lot of other things. Tardigrades are truly tiny, the largest species reaching a whopping 1.5 millimeters in length, though most species reach no more than 0.5 mm. They have round, segmented bodies with four pairs of legs that end in either claws or suction discs. The body segments consist of a head, three body segments with a pair of legs each, and a caudal segment with the final pair of legs. The first three legs are used for movement while the final pair points backwards and is used for grabbing onto substrate. All of the body segments except for the final one correspond to segments found in the head section of insects. Tardigrades are missing many hox genes, genes that direct the body plan during development. Their ancestors may have had a body plan more similar to insects, but the loss of the hox genes has compressed them into walking heads with a bit of butt. The mouth is tubular and sucks in food. In the mouth are stylets, needle-like structures used to pierce food objects. Once food is drawn into the mouth, a structure called the buccopharyngeal apparatus activates. This is a combination of spines and muscle that acts like an inner jaw that pulls food into the digestive tract. The buccopharyngeal apparatus is distinct enough to be used as a major identifying feature between species. Tardigrades are translucent and many images you've seen of them have false color to show the details or are 3D models based on scanning electron microscope imagery of them. Tardigrades molt their exoskeletons multiple times (up to 12) during their lifecycle. Some species are unable to poop normally and instead all their waste is discarded during the molt. It was formerly believed that tardigrades could exchange genes with each other without mating, a process called horizontal gene transfer that is seen in bacteria, archaea, and other micro-organisms. It has since been discovered that while still capable of horizontal gene transfer, it is quite a bit rarer in tardigrades than we thought.

(Image: an electron microscope image of a tardigrade standing on a bit of plant matter. This one has a closed mouth with a ring of triangular tooth-like structures. It also has two simple eyes that look like black dots. End ID)

The name "tardigrade" means "slow walker", which is fitting as, despite their eight legs, tardigrades have a slow and awkward gait. This is the result of their legs being unjointed, only able to pivot at their connection to the body. Their gait has been compared to that of bears, hence why they are often called water bears and their discoverer, Johann August Ephraim Goeze, called them "kleiner wasserbär", meaning "little water bear". Tardigrades are found worldwide and have inhabited virtually every habitat, from the tops of mountains to the deep sea, from hot springs to the antarctic, from freshwater to saltwater. The one thing they have in common is a need to stay wet. Tardigrades can survive out of water as long as they can stay moist and are often found in mosses, hence another common name: moss piglets. The majority either eat plants or bacteria, but some will feed on smaller tardigrades or other micro-animals. Their famous survivability makes it easy for tardigrades or their eggs to be carried to new habitats by larger animals or other phenomena. Tardigrades are one of the first micro-animals to colonize a new habitat and they are a pioneer species, the first species to colonize a new environment and whose presence makes that environment fore suitable for other species to follow. Tardigrades are a major food source to other micro-animals and larger organisms. Most species have distinct males and females, though a few reproduce through parthenogenesis. In most cases, molting female will lay her eggs in her shed cuticle and males will them fertilize them. Other species have a form of internal reproduction. Males and females will court each other before mating and females will usually allow multiple males to fertilize her eggs. Female tardigrades are typically larger and more abundant than males. Eggs can take up to 14 days (species dependent) before hatching. All tardigrades of the same species have the exact same number of cells as each other. They are also born with the same number of cells they will have as an adult. Their growth is driven by enlargement of the existing cells rather than cellular reproduction making new cells. The lifespan ranges between a few months to a few years, depending on species.

(Image: a color photo of a tardigrade. It is a pale, translucent white, making it hard to make out details. Its body is curved, with the front end pointing at the camera. It has two simple eyes. End ID)

(Image: an electron microscope image of a tardigrade egg. It is round but covered in small pores and conical structures. End ID)

The most famous feature of tardigrades is their legendary durability. It is commonly said that tardigrades can survive just about anything (except for the things that are actually trying to kill them. They are prey to a lot of species after all). Among the things they can survive is extreme heat, extreme cold, dehydration, extremely high and low pressure, exposure to ionizing radiation (that's the scary kind), low oxygen environments, environmental toxins, heavy impacts, and the vacuum of fucking space. While the can survive in extreme conditions, tardigrades are not considered extremophiles. True extremophiles thrive in extreme environments and are negatively impacted by leaving them. Tardigrades can survive in extreme environments, but are negatively impacted and can't survive as well there as they can in less extreme places. The main trait that has allowed tardigrades to survive all five mass extinctions in history is cryptobiosis. Cryptobiosis is the rare ability for an animal to enter a state of dormancy where their metabolic processes come to an almost complete stop. While in cryptobiosis, metabolic activity drops to 0.01% normal and water content drops to 1% normal. In this state, the tardigrade is called a tun. Tardigrades usually enter cryptobiosis in response to arid conditions. One experiment showed that a species of tardigrade could last for at least 30 years in this state and return to normal lifestyle functions when exposed to water. Tardigrades will also enter cryptobiosis in response to low oxygen, toxic chemical exposure, increased or decreased temperature, and excessive salt content in the water. Tardigrades also show extreme resistance to both high and low pressure. They can live in 0 atmospheres of pressure and some species can survive up to 6,000 atmospheres, more than double the pressure at the bottom of the Marianas trench. More interesting is their ability to survive dangerous radiation. They can survive 1,000 times the dose of gamma radiation that humans can. Early tests focused on tardigrades in cryptobiosis and concluded that the extremely low water content of a cryptobiotic tardigrade doesn't leave much opportunity for the radiation to react with the animal. However it was later found that active and fully hydrated tardigrades are still considerably resistant to radiation. Studies into this resistance indicate that tardigrades can very efficiently repair damaged DNA and have unique proteins called Dsup that provides additional protection. Dsup introduced to human cells has provided additional protection against x-rays.

(Image: an electron microscope image of a tun - a tardigrade in cryptobiosis. It is smaller and very wrinkly, with the legs and mouth retracted into the body. End ID)

Tardigrades were the first animals to be exposed to the vacuum of space. They were exposed for 10 days, some in a state of cryptobiosis at the time of exposure and some still active. It was found that they were able to survive the vacuum when shielded from the sun's ultraviolet radiation, with those already in cryptobiosis doing better. Upon being rehydrated, many were able to resume normal life functions and successfully reproduce, though others died after being rehydrated. Those that were exposed to UV radiation fared much worse, with only a few hydrated individuals surviving. The individuals in cryptobiosis had a lower survival rate when exposed to UV than those not exposed to UV and were less successful at reproducing afterwards. Studies of tardigrade's space survival abilities and resistance to radiation could go a long way in helping human space travel. One of the largest dangers of space travel is that space is full of nasty radiation from the sun that Earth's magnetic field protects us from. Some scientists speculate about the possibility of accidentally seeding other planets or moons with tardigrades or other space-resistant organisms. This is a problem because introducing Earth life to other world has the potential to damage any native ecosystems and if we find life in space in the future we don't want to have to figure out if it's something we accidentally put there. While tardigrades could likely survive on other planets, they would eventually die without a food source. Some sources reported that tardigrades may have colonized the moon after an experiment with them crashed. Unfortunately, the moon is not crawling with tardigrades now. It's way too dry for them to exit cryptobiosis even if they survived the crash, which they probably didn't.

(Image: art of a tardigrade floating in the vacuum of space. End ID. Source: University of California - Santa Barbara)

[dontforgetukraine]

Down in Antarctica, Ukrainian scientists and polar explorers have named this year's firstborn Weddell seal pup!

Meet "SeaBaby Svitozarovych". The name is in honor of Ukraine's marine drone. It was born on Winter Island near the Vernadskyi Research Base. Biologist Svitozar Davydenko was the first to find it and had the honor of naming it out of hundreds of suggestions.

"SeaBaby is already 10 days old. He is actively growing and will soon begin to get acquainted with the ocean. Weddell seals start living independently and feeding in the water after the weaning period is over, approximately seven weeks after birth." (September 26, 2024)

Sources: National Antarctic Scientific Center, Ukrainska Pravada

[artisticdissillusion]

Midas au where c!Tommy is blessed cursed with turning everything he touches to gold, it'd be easy to live as an everyday citizen if his hair didn't actively shine like gold. He has to wear cloaks that reach past his forehead.

Until one day he is spotted by a kings soldier, and subsequently captured and taken to the corrupt king of the empire he resides in. He is locked in a cage, his new purpose to be gawked at as he entertains guests.

He lives like this for years, forgetting what the sun looks like, his hair dimming ever so slightly. Until the Antarctic Empire delegates arrive. A couple of guys who are so odd. The oldest, a brunette with glasses, who, immediately after seeing Tommy, is filled with disgust at how easily the king keeps a child as nothing but a doll. A man with pink hair, strangely enough, who doesn't react much, but his eyes narrow ever so slightly when they land on his cage.

Over time, the two slowly grow closer to Tommy, telling jokes, singing songs, reciting poems. For the first time in years, there's someone who looks at Tommy and sees a person, not a doll, not some miracle. Just Tommy. And for a second, Tommy forgets that they have to leave eventually.

He cries to them, in the dead of night when they secretly visit him, unbeknownst to the guards. He begs and please for them not to go, for them to stay right there with him.

He doesn't get angry when they say they have to leave, because he can see just how much it hurts them, how Wilbur looks like he's about to cry, how Techno looks like he's thinking of ways to take Tommy with them, even though he knows they wouldn't make it far.

The day they leave, they sneak to his cage and make a promise to him. They promise that they'll come back for him, that they'll take him where he belongs...home, with them.

And Tommy believes them, he holds out hope, even when days turn to week, and weeks turn to months, and eventually...months turn to years. He wavers sometimes, but ultimately, he still believes they'll come back for him

His hair no longer the gold it once was, now bearing more resemblance to sand. He sits, idly in his cage, until he hears a commotion outside. He stands up, gripping the bars of his enclosure, only for the door to burst open.

The light from outside blinding him slightly, but once he regains his vision, he sees to figures standing before him.

And in that moment, he knows he'll be ok from now on. Because he's finally going home, and he'll never leave his family's side again.

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

I just finished a re-read of Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s account of his time on the nightmarish Terra Nova Antarctic exploration, and it inspired me to look again at some helcaraxë art. I think Tolkien would have been aware of all of the most prominent Antarctic explorers, who were active when he was a young man and were very famous in their time, and I wonder how much he was thinking about their specific experiences as he worked on the story of the Noldor who were forced to cross the grinding ice.

Some of the real life accounts are truly horrifying and, of course, a bunch of them end with death. You’ve got people forced into unexpected terrain without access to proper supplies, trying to cross a hellish ice plain with a single axe, 15 meters of rope and boots with screws and nails pushed into the soles. 

You’ve got people trapped away from camp and racing against starvation to get back, starting out at full rations before cutting to half and then a quarter and eventually getting down to one biscuit per day per person, and even that is sometimes given up so that the weakest among them can have a little more and perhaps stave off disaster for a little bit longer.

You’ve got groups trudging across a mountainous ice field with snow blindness, hurricane force gales, every mile of forward progress requiring 3 miles of walking because they have to keep doubling back to help stragglers and retrieve supplies, but they’re still gamely trying to sing songs and hymns that can be heard above the screaming wind to remind themselves of better times and places.

You’ve got guys walking along one minute and the next they’ve vanished, swallowed up by a crevasse that didn’t even exist 10 seconds ago and now they’re broken and battered at the bottom of it.

You’ve got people having to hole up in tiny little snow caves to wait out storms that last for weeks on end, everyone so on top of each other that they all end up with dysentery and they can’t keep a fire going because the smoke chokes them, so they’re shivering so hard that their teeth break and every humid exhalation freezes immediately into a layer of rock hard ice on their clothes, gear, sleeping bags, skin.

You have injuries that no longer heal, frostbite that deprives people of the ability to walk, malnutrition that drains people of the energy to do anything at all, and so others are not just pushing forward with the weight of their own bodies and their own gear but the weight of the makeshift sledge that’s pulling their incapacitated friends because all the ponies and dogs have long since starved or been eaten.

You’ve got people who can see clearly that their dear friends’ refusal to abandon them despite their desperately poor condition is endangering the lives of others, and so one night they make their peace with death and quietly walk off into a blizzard on their own.

But despite all of that, some of them survived to tell the tales. They made discoveries. They pushed the limits of human knowledge and achievement. They went home to have families, or not. They became lifelong friends, or forever blamed each other for decisions that were made. They were endlessly proud of what they’d done, or regretted that they’d ever become involved. They went on to great historical acclaim or relative obscurity. They lived.

I don’t know. Feels relevant.  

[antaxzantax]

Umbrella Pharmaceuticals - Chapter 45

Summary:

Alexander Ashford and Alexia land at the Antarctic base.

I

Turbulence shook the plane as if it were going through a wormhole. One of the jolts spilled Alexander's unscrewed thermos. He and Jonathan scrambled to clean up the puddle of coffee on the floor and the droplets scattered on the wooden folding table. Alexia lulled herself sleepily into her thick, hooded fur coat, indifferent to the slip.

Stress had kept her from sleeping more than two consecutive hours for the past week, and the lack of sleep sharpened her irascibility. Five days before take-off, Elizabeth insisted that her granddaughter not go to Antarctica. Alexia replied so aggressively that her grandmother was struck dumb with surprise. Alexander sat down with her on the bed in her bedroom and asked her to explain what had happened. Alexia refused to answer. Surrendered, Alexander left for a moment. Alone, Alexia activated the mechanism of the music box and sat back down on the bed to listen to Berceuse.

After the incident with Elizabeth, Alexia met Dr. Sarah Charleigh, her new psychologist and specialist in gifted children. They only met twice. In the first session, Alexia filled out a personality questionnaire. In the second, Charleigh delved into her dreams and expectations. For the third, Charleigh would contact her by radio to start working on stress management and her newly acquired insomnia.

II

Alexander wiped his coffee with the handkerchief Jonathan passed him, chalking the slip up to fatigue. The last month's preparations had exhausted him.

He had to approve several lists of employees drawn up by the Institute. A research team of young, competent, ambitious and open-minded scientists. A trusted cleaning and maintenance staff. And a cadre of subordinates who were promised a higher base salary in exchange for their confinement at the South Pole. In terms of transporting personnel and materials, Alexander cut the lower quintile's allocation to tighten the budget. Harman turned to the Wilson brothers to scavenge Newcastle's municipal rubbish dump for bunk beds and lockers. For extra pay, the Wilsons took chairs, tables, desks and kitchen appliances. For a second allowance, the Wilsons collected food from local suppliers and soup kitchens.

Alexander reinvested the savings in one last decision. He ordered Martin to fly to Antarctica to dismantle and seal that site. Martin returned with the last report of the Code: Veronica project and photographs showing the lab's demise. He had destroyed the machines and sealed off the two entrances with a thick layer of reinforced concrete. Alexander glanced at the report.

“My children.”

He felt a sudden unease, similar to that of the Spencer mansion. The words he reread choked him.

He threw the report into the burning fireplace. The flames disintegrated the document.

He would die keeping the secret for the memory of his father and to protect his family.

III

The airplane landed on a makeshift runway cleared by snowplows. With the engines shut down, the five crew members descended the ramp in a line. The cold froze the ends of their hair and flushed their cheeks. Alexia, hood up, led the group to the entrance. Alexander set the two suitcases he was carrying on the ground and helped his daughter pull the frozen latch. The metal sheet gave way, and they stepped inside a half-buried building: first, Alexia, chief researcher; second, Alexander, director of the base; third, Martin, security chief and bodyguard; fourth, Jonathan, assistant butler, domestic assistant and cook; and fifth, Michael, pilot and staff supervisor.

It was hot inside. Alexia took off her hood. Alexander shook the ice from his beard and hair.

“Ready?” Martin nodded affirmatively. “Go.”

[bopinion]

2023 / 46

Aperçu of the Week:

"How do you get revenge for killing a child? By killing other people's children? Certainly not."

(Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan. Both have lost a daughter in the Middle East conflict. And still strive for reconciliation).

Bad News of the Week:

I won't be alive in the year 2100. Maybe my children will. If they have children, they certainly will. And they will look back on their grandparents' generation. And probably curse them. Because they will have us to thank for the world they (have to) live in. It will be in a miserable state. And that is our fault.

My grandparents and parents created the German "economic miracle". Primarily with sweat, coal and steel. An industrialized nation like all developed (if you can call it that way) western countries. The environment was a resource and not a living habitat worth protecting. But these generations didn't know any better. At least not in society as a whole. That no longer applies to people my age. We know better. So we have no excuse for doing nothing.

In 2100, it will be almost 3 degrees warmer than it is today. That is the result of the so-called Emissions Gap Report presented by the UN Environment Program (UNEP). The world will look fundamentally different. Apart from a remnant of continental ice in the Antarctic, there can no longer be any glaciers at these temperatures. Ocean currents will be completely different due to the warming of the upper water layers. Or won't be at all. But with significantly less oxygen, i.e. with fewer sea creatures. Which will then not only be missing from the species balance, but also from the food chain. Etcetera.

The current German government with green participation has suffered a severe setback in its already modest plan to convert the economy to sustainability. This is because the Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that 60 billion from the "Transformation Fund" may not be used for this purpose. Because it is a reallocated budget that was actually intended to deal with the effects of the pandemic. Let's not misunderstand each other: the money is there, not some nebulous air booking in the future. It just unfortunately has the wrong label.

This frustrates me in many ways. Not that I want to question our supreme jurisdiction. But I do want to question the standards by which it is measured. Just as electric cars are given preference over petrol cars when it comes to parking spaces in the city, priority should be given to ecological and sustainable measures in budget planning. Quite simply because it must undoubtedly be the top priority. It is bad enough that the urgently needed reorientation of our society is being held back by laziness, convenience and ignorance. Then please don't add bureaucracy to the mix.

Good News of the Week:

The EU is finally getting serious about prosecuting environmental offenders. In future, serious crimes against the environment will be punishable by heavy prison sentences and fines. Representatives of the governments of the member states and the European Parliament agreed in Brussels on new rules to improve the prosecution of environmental crimes.

This includes a wide range of offenses, from illegal timber trading to violations of chemicals regulations. Environmental crime is one of the world's most profitable organized crime activities and has a considerable impact on the environment and human health, the Council of Member States said in response to the planned new directive.

The proposed penalties are severe. Individuals face up to 10 years in prison, companies at least 5% of their global turnover. Equally worth mentioning: offenders will be obliged to restore the environment to its previous state or provide compensation. A clear victory for the environment. Which ultimately belongs to all of us. Or actually to no one, because it is a greater good.

Personal happy moment of the week:

My work-life balance is currently very uneven. Because I'm extremely busy at work: several problematic and time-consuming projects are stupidly overlapping at the same time. That's why I'm almost exclusively in the office at the moment and not with my family. They are kind enough to understand that daddy and hubby have very little time - and are in a bad mood. Thank you very much for your understanding and patience!

I couldn't care less...

...that Vladimir Putin wants to take part in a virtual G20 summit. Sure, he can't be arrested there either - the International Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant for war crimes against Ukraine. The worst joke, however, is his topic. According to Moscow's announcement, he wants to present "his view of a deeply unstable world situation". Suggestion: resign. That would make the world much more stable in one fell swoop.

As I write this...

...I discover the work of Karl Jenkins. The Welsh composer is responsible for countless contemporary hits in classical music, such as Adiamus and Palladio. I know his music - from advertising and from movies and television. But I never knew that it was one and the same mastermind who created it.

Post Scriptum

Anarchy reigns in Argentina. At least Javier Milei, the winner of Sunday's presidential election, calls himself an "anarcho-capitalist". The people's longing for change was extremely strong. After all, the record of the center-left alliances that have been in power for decades is anything but brilliant: over a third of the population officially falls below the poverty line, inflation recently reached 147% and any innovation is suffocating in an over-regulating state.

Many of Milei's plans sound very radical - at least by European standards: the introduction of the US dollar as the official national currency, the closure of public institutions such as the national broadcaster or the privatization of state-owned companies. However, the political novice has neither a majority in parliament, nor a functioning party apparatus or a solid network in the regions of his country. What he can actually implement is therefore more than questionable. But he is challenging the status quo and at least bringing a breath of fresh air. And that has never done any harm.

[lucysweatslove]

10.28.2023 // I’m not quite sure where I’m going with this journal, but it’s a weird mood re: body connectivity.

Maybe I’ve been having fever dreams lately, but honestly, this is the best I’ve felt physically in a while, so I don’t think it’s quite that. Emotionally though, I’m feeling… weird?

I took two naps today (is it technically Sunday? Yes. But it’s Saturday still in terms of my days). I think the sleeping all week has helped a ton. I don’t feel 100%, but I don’t remember the last time I felt 100%.

During the last nap, the one in which my entire dream was me blogging on Tumblr specifically, I was trying to think of a title for a journal post that I dated November 2019. I don’t remember the day of the month, just 11/__/2019. I want to say it was 13, 18 or 23. Not 28 though because the cream didn’t feel like a 28th.

I bring this up not because the exact date matters, but because November 2019 was the last time I felt decently well. Not perfect, mind you, but this was before I got that upper respiratory infection that kicked off the years of illnesses.

Friday night, I had a mini-meltdown or shutdown or something… I can’t think of the words right now. I had multiple hours of extreme body dysphoria. Not gender dysphoria- it’s not about gender or secondary sex characteristics and more about… just not wanting a body or feeling like I belong or am connected to this specific body. I joke about wishing I could just be a purple sentient mist, but it’s not entirely a joke. I still want to be. I want to be alive and sentient and learning and doing and experiencing. I’m not unhappy with life in general. I love spending time with my husband and my pug and all that. But every time I look at myself, it feels wrong somehow.

Initially last night I was thinking about how much I miss my “old” body. I don’t miss the eating disorder, not really. But I miss how I looked. I never got the chance to delve deep into the pathogenesis of my ED, and I don’t really remember much at all. I think, though, that I may never have felt super connected to my body except when I was making it smaller. There were only a few times in my life where I felt like my body matched me, and they were during that pseudo-recovery period. Where my body was at it’s smallest, or nearly at its smallest, but I wasn’t actively restricting. A “best of both worlds” moment that never could’ve lasted.

I’ve realized since actually starting recovery, with every small change, I’ve become more and more distant with my body. Even though I’ve reconnected with a lot of physical cues, my body doesn’t feel like ME. It feels like a physical meat sack I’m forced to occupy so I can do things that matter to me. Like if you were from the tropics but you are venturing to Antarctica because you were really excited to do some science down there. You are only excited and fulfilled by this topic and can only do the science and gather the data down there. But, because of the cold snow, you have to wear ridiculously restricting and hideous puffy snow clothes. You know there’s no other option- you can only tolerate the Antarctic cold in clothes that feel like “you” for so long before you risk severe damage, and if you left to go back to the tropics, you would be leaving your dream or giving up on your life’s work.

I think I’ve managed the body I’m in right now by this disconnect. I’m really not sure if I CAN safely reconnect as it is- like when I imagine what it looks like, I can see it, but it still doesn’t feel like ME. I can only reconcile my sense of self and my body when I look back in time. At least pre-Covid, but honestly even earlier than that is better. Aside from that, I can’t even connect with an idea of looking like anybody else or any way else- I just want to be a purple must.

So yeah, idk where I’m going with this because it’s impossible to go back in time or become a sentient mist and none of this makes sense anyway.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.23 (after 1940)

1940 – Adolf Hitler goes on a three-hour tour of the architecture of Paris with architect Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker in his only visit to the city. 1940 – Henry Larsen begins the first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 1941 – The Lithuanian Activist Front declares independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis will occupy Lithuania a few weeks later. 1942 – World War II: Germany's latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales. 1946 – The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake strikes Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. 1947 – The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft–Hartley Act. 1951 – The ocean liner SS United States is christened and launched. 1956 – The French National Assembly takes the first step in creating the French Community by passing the Loi Cadre, transferring a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa. 1959 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career. 1960 – The United States Food and Drug Administration declares Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world. 1961 – The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force. 1967 – Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference. 1969 – Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren. 1969 – IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry. 1972 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about illegally using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins. 1972 – Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds. 1973 – A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale. 1985 – A terrorist bomb explodes at Narita International Airport near Tokyo, killing two and injuring four. An hour later, the same group detonates a second bomb aboard Air India Flight 182, bringing the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 aboard. 1991 – Sonic the Hedgehog is released in North America on the Sega Genesis platform, beginning the popular video game franchise. 1994 – NASA's Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center. 2012 – Ashton Eaton breaks the decathlon world record at the United States Olympic Trials. 2013 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope. 2013 – Militants storm a high-altitude mountaineering base camp near Nanga Parbat in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, killing ten climbers and a local guide. 2014 – The last of Syria's declared chemical weapons are shipped out for destruction. 2016 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%. 2018 – Twelve boys and an assistant coach from a soccer team in Thailand are trapped in a flooding cave, leading to an 18-day rescue operation.

[bllsbailey]

Oh, the Latest News Out of Antarctica Is a Huge Blow to the Global Warming Crowd

In high school, the doomsday scenarios regarding global warming were endless. Back in 2007, the climate change cult said the Arctic Ice Cap would vanish. It didn’t. When 2013 hit, it gained about 530,000 square miles of ice. Still, the con is on with the Green Left, who claims they were on the verge of total destruction. 

In the 1970s, global cooling and North American re-glaciation would imperil humanity. They were wrong then, and they’re wrong now. The Green Movement has been exposed as a backdoor communist push, spearheaded by the wealthy and the elites to further screw over working Americans via intentional economic sabotage. These folks can soak up the costs, and a great many love to hobnob at these exclusive global warming retreats, which also gives them an opportunity to fire up those private jets. 

Well, the doomsday global warming cult’s agenda of making us poorer to protect us against something that doesn’t exist took another body blow this week. Antarctica gained a ton of ice (via KTVU): 

A study published this week in Science China Earth Sciences finds that the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) experienced a record-breaking mass gain between 2021 and 2023, largely due to anomalous increases in precipitation. The rebound is especially significant in East Antarctica, where four major glacier basins had previously shown signs of destabilization.  […]  Big picture view: Researchers from Tongji University and other institutions analyzed satellite gravimetry data from the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions, which measure variations in Earth’s gravity to detect changes in ice mass.  They found that between 2011 and 2020, the AIS was losing ice at a rate of 142 gigatons per year. But between 2021 and 2023, the trend reversed, with the ice sheet gaining approximately 108 gigatons per year — a historic turnaround.  […]  The most notable gains were in East Antarctica’s Wilkes Land and Queen Mary Land region, including the Totten, Denman, Moscow University, and Vincennes Bay glacier basins. These glaciers had been losing mass at an accelerating rate from 2011 to 2020 — driven by surface melting and faster ice discharge into the ocean — but now appear to have partially recovered. Scientists warn, however, that this shift doesn’t mean the climate crisis is over. The gains were linked to unusual precipitation patterns, which may be temporary.

The last part kills me: it’s only temporary. Yeah, that is what we have been saying for years. It’s cyclical. It’s natural. We’ve never been more industrialized as a civilization, and the ‘ice is melting’ narrative from said economic activity caused Antarctica to gain ice.

Trending on Townhall Videos

[sarahleeardn716]

WEEK TWO: LINKED IN PITCH VIDEO

what is the goal of the pitch?

to get yourself into a second conversation

turning a monologue into a dialogue, an engaging conversation

giving enough to get them intrigued and they ask you to engage with you further

Framework:

destination

what am i excited about? What do i want to do next? what am i trying to achieve today?

The foundation of the pitch and what leads the conversation to be engaging and the most difficult part

2. backstory

picking and choosing what is on your resume.

relevant experience or transferable skills

3. connecting the dots

convincing them about my story

you need to be convinced and convince others that you are interested in what you want

You will need different pitches depending on the context.

PITCH ACTIVITY

3 image ideas with no limitations.

i have been interested in landscape and conceptual photography and have been wanting to bring both into a project. i want to create a series of images based on the Antarctic, with otherworldly landscapes and a cinematic story.

i have been a developing photographer for 3 years, having always been focused on landscapes and finding the uniqueness i bring to the art.

[swldx]

BBC 0409 4 Aug 2024

12095Khz 0358 4 AUG 2024 - BBC (UNITED KINGDOM) in ENGLISH from TALATA VOLONONDRY. SINPO = 55434. English, dead carrier s/on @0358z then ID@0359z pips and newsroom preview. @0401z World News anchored by Neil Nunes. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has addressed a mass rally in the capital Caracas, defying government calls for her arrest. Ms Machado went into hiding earlier this week after accusing President Nicolás Maduro of defrauding the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, of a clear victory in the presidential election. The president in turn has promised "maximum punishment" for anti-government demonstrators who say his re-election was rigged. More than 90 people were arrested after far-right demonstrations descended into riots in towns and cities across the UK on Saturday. Bottles were thrown, shops looted, and police officers attacked in areas including Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, Blackpool and Belfast, but not all demonstrations turned violent. Hezbollah launched around 30 rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel late Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces announced, after the terror group claimed responsibility for the barrage shortly after midnight. The Israeli military stated that air defense systems intercepted most of the rockets, though one struck near Beit Hillel and several landed in open areas. No injuries were reported. More violence in the Nigerian capital on Saturday as anger over the rising cost of living continues to grow. On Friday police fired tear-gas and live bullets to disperse protesters. More than a dozen people are reported to have been killed, in unrest during the past couple of days. M23 rebels Saturday took control of a large town in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo near the border with Uganda without fighting. Russia has pledged humanitarian assistance to North Korea after devastating floods damaged thousands of homes and caused an unknown number of casualties, with reports from South Korea that the number of dead or missing could be as high as 1,500. A23a, the world's biggest iceberg, far bigger than Greater London, has been captured in a vast pool of rotating water. It's a phenomenon oceanographers call a Taylor Column - and it's possible A23a might not escape its jailer for years. The berg's longevity is well documented. It broke free from the Antarctic coastline way back in 1986. Sports. @0406z "The Newsroom" begins. Backyard gutter antenna w/MFJ-1020C active antenna (used as a preamplifier/preselector), JRC NRD-535D, 250kW, beamAz 315°, bearing 63°. Received at Plymouth, MN, United States, 15359KM from transmitter at Talata Volonondry. Local time: 2258.

[mqsinfo]

Awesome Facts About Bird Migration :

MQSinfo.com

At least 4,000 species of bird are regular migrants, which is about 40 percent of the total number of birds in the world. (Although this number will likely increase as we learn more about the habits of birds in tropical regions.)

Top 10 Mysteries of the Universe — MQSinfo

2. Birds can reach great heights as they migrate. Bar-headed geese are the highest-flying migratory birds, regularly reaching altitudes of up to five and a half miles above sea level while flying over the Himalayas in India.

But the bird with the record for the highest altitude ever is the Ruppel’s griffon vulture, which collided with a plane at 37,000 feet (that’s seven miles!) in 1975 and was unfortunately sucked into its jet engine.

3. The Arctic tern has the longest migration of any bird in the world. These black-capped, red-billed birds can fly more than 49,700 miles in a year, making a round trip between their breeding grounds in the Arctic and the Antarctic, where they spend their winters.

The lucky bird gets to see two summers a year! And over its lifespan of more than 30 years, the flights can add up to the equivalent of three trips to the moon and back.

The tiny Northern wheatear flies thousands of miles as it migrates.

4. Speaking of long distances, the northern wheatear travels up to 9,000 miles each way between the Arctic and Africa, giving it one of the largest ranges of any songbird. What makes this an amazing feat is that the tiny bird weighs less than an ounce, on average.

5. The award for fastest bird goes to the great snipe: It flies around4,200 miles at speeds of up to 60mph! No other animal travels at such speeds for such long distances. Birds usually utilize tailwinds (winds blowing in the same direction they fly) to help them go faster, but the snipe’s speeds don’t seem to be a result of that.

Facts That Are Absolutely Mind Boggling

6. The bar-tailed godwit can fly for nearly 7,000 miles without stopping, making it the bird with the longest recorded non-stop flight. During the eight-day journey, the bird doesn’t stop for food or rest, demonstrating jaw-dropping endurance.

7. Migration can be extremely dangerous for birds, and many don’t often make it back to their starting point. Sometimes natural occurrences like harsh weather play a role, but many times, human activities are the cause of birds’ untimely demise.

In the United States alone, up to one billion birds die each year from window collisions. And approximately seven million die from striking TV and radio towers in North America annually, ABC News reports.

8. To prepare for the extremely taxing effort of migration, birds enter a state called hyperphagia, where they bulk up on food in the preceding weeks to store fat, which they’ll later use for energy on their long journeys. Some birds, like the blackpoll warbler, almost double their body weight before flying 2,300 miles non-stop for 86 hours.

Facts And Knowledge info

Quotes in urdu

Facts in urdu

Knowledge in urdu

Information in urdu

9. Even birds that don’t fly migrate. Emus, the large Australian birds, often travel for miles on foot to find food, and many populations of penguins migrate by swimming.

[unstoppable-wanderlust-blog]

Spirit of Shackleton - G Expedition - January 28, 2024 - Kayaking with whales

The morning started with calm waters and only very minor swells so I decided to be brave and jump into the kayaks for the morning paddle.  The bay was active with lots of humpbacks already so we were hoping to hang out with some.  As soon as we got on the water, we saw them in the distance and there was a pair just logging in the water so we floated along side them for 30-45 min.  It was truly magical - at one point we were only 40-50m away.  When the wind started to pick up, we paddled back to the boat - it was a wavy ride back with a bit of a workout and I think we were all thankful to be back on board without another polar dip.  

The afternoon we spent at Mikkelsen Harbour - by then the wind had picked up and we were in a bit of a snowstorm but it was our last outing in Antarctica so we had to go brave it and get out there.  Visiting the penguins and seals during a snowstorm was the perfect ending to this magical trip - thick snow falling around the wildlife - just so spectacular.  I think most of us cried a little bit on that outing - there is something about Antarctica that changes your inner soul and it is like leaving a beloved friend behind knowing you will likely never see them again.  

During our debrief they said we had set a record.  This is the first and only expedition where they have done all the landings that they had planned on!  And as we head into the Drake, well we are going to sneak in right between two storm systems and sailing most of the way through very mild waters!!!  Our luck is holding out!  We were told, however, that if we meet anyone coming on the ship in town (since we were giant red parkas that give us away), we need to tell them how horrible the drake was because the weather for these poor souls looks rough coming back down.  

We ended the night listening to the onboard musicians while watching the sunset (which we haven’t seen in 3 weeks!) and behind us the snow covered mountains glowing from the setting sun - our last views of Antarctica. 

Thanks for joining me on this journey!  It has been fun doing these updates and sharing all the experiences here and hopefully allowing others to experience a bit of this magical Antarctic and sub Antarctic world.  There will be lots more photos and videos when I am back, but for now I am signing off and setting sails across the Drake and just soaking in every last moment I can.