#Bats of the Eastern Hemisphere

[brothermoth]

Highly recommend this book to folks interested in precolumbian history —its one of my textbooks for Latin American studies and it's really fascinating. The author goes to bat for the indigenous people that he discusses and debunks a lot of outdated ideas (man calls people out by name, I'm serious). I'm not too far into it yet, but it's a great read so far!

I love seeing mainstream classes standing up for the dignity of the precolumbian civilizations because they're just so incredible. The amount of innovative things that the Maya and Méxica did are ingenious, genuinely. Floating farms! Terrace farms! They managed to feed millions of people on crop agriculture alone, which "developed" countries are unable to do in modern times. The Maya worked with the concept of zero hundreds of years before the eastern hemisphere did. Absolute fucking tragedy that so much of their written work was lost. Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, and Arab scholars did literally all of the heavy lifting until Europe got their shit together but the Maya did it BEFORE! (Not undermining the other regions y'all kicked ass for so long). They literally INVENTED CORN. Corn didn't exist! They took some random ass plant and literally made fucking corn. Just made it. Every single species of corn was cultivated entirely by the hands and skills of indigenous people. You folks are amazing I love you. Don't ever forget that you're descended from incredible, talented, and dedicated people (which makes YOU incredible talented and dedicated by proxy). It's the crops that your ancestors developed that literally make the world go round. Tomatoes, potatoes, motherfucking corn!!!! Incredible. Effervescent.

[todaysbat]

I posted 641 times in 2022

That's 17 more posts than 2021!

146 posts created (23%)

495 posts reblogged (77%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@todaysbat

@icouldkillyouwiththistray

@naturallyoccurringminotaur

@bunjywunjy

@antiqueanimals

I tagged 632 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#bat art - 66 posts

#mod post - 54 posts

#self reblog - 54 posts

#not bats - 47 posts

#bat science - 38 posts

#how you can help - 33 posts

#video - 25 posts

#conservation - 25 posts

#bat biology - 22 posts

#anonymous - 20 posts

Longest Tag: 91 characters

#as we're getting into the season when the pups start flying in the northern hemisphere soon

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Kitti's Hog-Nosed Bat (Craseonycteris thonglongyai)

This species is found only in restricted parts of western Thailand and parts of Myanmar, roosting only in limestone caves near rivers.

Image Source: Yushi & Keiko Osawa

Image Description: A greyish bat in midflight in a limestone cave

281 notes - Posted January 21, 2022

#4

This is Cookie, a rescued bat at Bat World Sanctuary. This video is a recording of an attempt at teaching Cookie how to feed themselves.

If you're triggered by mealworms wriggling, I'd recommend not viewing this video.

304 notes - Posted February 17, 2022

#3

“Because bats drink while in flight, they must have pooled or slow-moving water to get a drink,” says BCI Restoration Team Lead Ethan Sandoval. “Their ability to use these pooled water resources is determined by each species’ flight maneuverability, as well as the size and length of a pool and the flyway surrounding it. A stretch of riparian habitat with long, reliable pools is where you see the most bat activity.”

Sandoval and his team are currently working on projects to restore water sources and riparian habitat for bats and other wildlife in Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah. The team partners with state and federal agencies, other non-profits, private landowners, and local communities. They seek to target resources close to known bat roosts, using years of roost survey data assembled by BCI’s Subterranean Team in collaboration with abandoned mine and cave managers. 

362 notes - Posted September 21, 2022

#2

Doughnut Bat Tom (elbows_selbo): "Delighted to discover that nature has evolved a bat that looks exactly like a jam doughnut"

This is one of two different species, either a western or eastern red bat. These two species are pretty much identical in appearance, so in fact, nature evolved a bat that looks like a jam doughnut twice.

Image source: unknown, was found on Facebook

From a Quote retweet by the PA Bat Rescue, featuring Krimpet the Eastern red bat (thanks to @nyahjima for sharing that information)

1,138 notes - Posted January 2, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

EEEEEEE! EEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEE?

Image description: a gif of a little light brown colored bat in the palm of someone's hand wiggling its ears.

2,072 notes - Posted October 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[encryptedbread]

Actual cool bat facts!

Bats aren't blind, infact, they can see in spaces we as humans would refer to pitch black, the fact they use ecolocation just means they're the best at navigating in the dark

Bats are of course the only flying mammal with 1,400 species, even the flying squirrel is a fraud, it glides short distances

Baby bats are called "pups"

Over 500 species of flowers rely on bats to pollinate them

The vampire bat is the split into three types, the common desmodus rotondus, the "hairy-legged" diphylla ecaudata, and the "white winged" diaemus youngi.

The common vampire bat desmodus rotondus, is the only bat the can run!

Vampire bats don't really suck blood, however, they so use their razor sharp teeth to make cuts in domestic animals and lick the blood that comes out. Also if you were ever bitten by a vampire bat you wouldn't know, but you don't need to worry about that because you are far from their choice of food.

Fruit bats are part of a family called Megachiroptera, which are types of bats that are larger than regular bats

Fruit bats, unlike other bats, smell their food to help find it, they can do this because fruits are easy to smell, and eat fruits like figs, mangoes, dates, and bananas

You'll mainly find fruit bats in the Eastern hemisphere in places like, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia.

The Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox bat is the largest bat in the world, weighing 2 ½ pounds, and having a wingspan of over 5 ft.

The Giant Golden-Crowned Flying Fox bat is located in the Philippines.

The Bumblebee is the smallest bat in the world, and about the size as the average human thumbnail

Found in a small region of western Thailand, they live in limestone caves and forage in nearby forests for small insects like flies, mosquitoes and, moths.

As a pollinator, the bumblebee bat fertilize crops, providing a valuable service to local farmers, on top of that, they act as a natural pest control

[the-firebird69]

There are other things too that are delineating that he will be out of here shortly. And out of Hera's hair. And yes these had to lead the way but we had did help and we hate this person he is a **** boy is he in a shit. They are cordoned off their cities are surrounded in the Eastern Hemisphere larger armies are showing up now and armies of trumps are going towards the cities to try and remove them. They don't care if you say you have the AI or not trump they're going to kill you anyways and cut your head off and flatten your brain they don't care about your dumb talk. Submusing to hear you but really if you need to shut up and they need to JC and Mary not you that's what they say

I. fleets in space are surrounded if they heat up the shall be destroyed, what is left is small due to insistnace to prusue Venus and our Daughter there.

II. your seperatist cities are surrounded in the esastern hemispher and soon the west, cordoned off. and deemed for destruction. armies of yours vanquisehd if they approach.

III. your western cities trump are cordoning off now huge armies sit outside them and tgo into tunnesl to do so bja psueodo empire msic and mac proper cut you off and cut you up now too shit ok your shit trump.

IV. your bunkers for security of your stshes and caches are all blocked. 35% re defunct and 10% are innaccessable leving only 55% totally blocked but not destroyed and with half your rmies in them than there were last week.

V. youir buners for your illegal nukes and there are plenty of the bunkers are surroudned blocked and infiltrated 97% of your devices disabled. soon all. at those locations.

VI. 90% of all devices of yours re disabled and in your ciites if they go off your cities only are destroyed. lol.

VII. your areas of operation empty fast and to the bunkers and spertist cities to hold them and take your stsh cache weaponry. forced it you say but none of yours survive. and ai we h ave itthanks. yours sucks and is that of a child.

VIII. your intermingled areas in the general populace are now raided and you flee to your cities and see armies at them so you cointinue in the west to the cities, in the east you cannot so you find weapons and try to hit them. where looting you re shot dead nd fast now by militry paramilitary cops and more. tons shoot yours dead now on site. and hate you your vulgar and idiotic shits.

your out soon in outher words. and soon. shortly. ok loser and you dont know how to read or write never did it well are blind a s a bat and mean as all heck. soon to be deead.

we thank you for the motivation and exposing yourself you are a wild card and terorrist and we take you down and due to your yap here and horrid shit with our son. you pay for it all now all of it. and tons end your life not just us or himd or she. your inane ok tons hit you for your talk trump and co. tons.

Thor Freya

good bye freak trump bye ok out you go

Hera

maybe you can go bother stan but really he wanted you out teh whole time and you forced him to raton you and yours. due to your mental illness and delusion. your a sick puppy. and yeh ok your nukes re disabled and you know it yet you think they could go off tons of tiems you say this idiot shit to me try to have me believe it and your idiot kid. now you leave trump you idiotic homo. and you are a massive fool. fell for almost all the tricks in the book andconitnue too what can is say your a pre amble and you soaked it up, failed to see it, now your dead. and in effigy geet hnks for being so fn dumb you encourage the macs vs us you ingrate shit fucker. and your the cheapest shit ever. stepped on everyone to go up ruined lives took don tons of intelligencia of your kind and youi should be ashamed....very shamed. but you are too stupid and sick to get it. your not winning i mean can you tell yet you oaf. whigger..shut it shithead.

Zues

Hera

what do you have to say for yourself fucking asshole

Zues

im mean and will rpove it to all and you

billy hicks

youi only proved it to me the ohters kill you and youirs of f take your stuff so impressive a lone child stuck and poor and weakly. how wonderfully pitiful you re bily hicks

Zues

so what i am a man and oppress people. and they were. and they felt it. for few years. but shit this is true im done due to harrnging you and hving others. this blwos andmac proper did it. and im out and it looks feels tastes like me. they hd us go to the cities and you told me to find it and i didi not the biuilt shiops this blows. we see it. now my fleeets go now your angry all are. we see why nukes and too many and die for me why i will mess it up firstly. so i get it good. and your gonna pay for it no he sys you pay had me sya most of it and your a shit loser...tons hit you macs too protect me due to their own plan ...and i settle this and not due to that i am a baby cant hold it. true. f this they die...i am at them soon.

and you fine this blows i try to nab you and im out soon. feel it. made huge mistakes. and i said it im his kid and they hate me. im doomed. i said it a lot. an im not his kid no. at all. he hates me good and such. but this blows. im out soon. need this see it toomuch on me will try here

billy hicks

traitor to you now. fitting.

Zues Hera

not a perfect anolgy and yes he is far too stupid but you see. your huge and are not and such. and he sys john r had something to prove to everyone i have it to prove to the oppressors...they know wht im about here. and shall. nad i say it he is you and such and he always syas nope diferent people group and more. and a hangup. and worth it. we see it no. he says no not htem on you lol. get out the vacuum. ok we see

but an anology no shit thanks. thank you frs. you get tht and your dick here dicked you ...we see that. is horrid. a losser dicsk all so we see. is a dead man. and you are after him well some time. after. and you say no i cant her it from you and this dolt. ...and you may go first. same treatment they are getting...no way this blows shit brick lol ahhaha lol

mac proper

they are hit by it and by the clans they say. and die and are like these farts s if we care ok we dont and your idiots we are not your loyal subjects and they dont care either biden wihses you gone only. ok you asses.

Nuada Arrianna

we are hit and a h uge emmitter. and we take it back we needhim in and try now and hit the juicy bugs here.

macs

Olympus

we see it them. hear it and aloose anology no you will hvv money companies wealth power militry stuff. and lose. and they say they pllanned to do it to them. and you there. so i get it. of but cant now. and he understands. i go down. as the lcan did and to ships no bu tok shall ihahhah

billy hicks

[allaboutcricket]

How Do I Pick a Good Cricket Bats?

Cricket is a sport that is well-known around the world, particularly in the Eastern hemisphere. A bat and a solid sphere-shaped ball are the two most necessary pieces of equipment or the most fundamental pieces of equipment needed to play this sport. The ball's quality may be determined rather easily. You must take into account the ball's size, hardness, and bounce. The primary source of misunderstanding, in contrast, arises when we must select a "High Quality" bat in order for the batter to play and be able to score more runs more efficiently.

To determine the quality of the cricket bat, one need take into account a few factors. While some of them are essential, others are only necessities.

The essential things that one should take into consideration for a good quality bat or kashmir willow cricket bats are 3 P's, which stands for "Pickup," "Ping," and "Price” to get a "Perfect" bat.

PICKUP- Given that a bat has two components—the handle, which the player holds, and the body, which he or she uses to strike the ball—pickup is based on the weight distribution of the bat. If the weight distribution is improper, that is, if the body is heavier than the handle, it will be more difficult to move the bat for shots since the body will feel heavier than the handle. The handle will be under increased pressure, which will be transferred to the player gripping the handle. As a result, more power would need to be used to move the bat in order to strike the ball. To be lifted up and moved around for photos, the weight distribution must be ideal.

PING- When a ball strikes a bat, ping demonstrates the bat's power and control. Better than a bat with low ping at rebounding is a bat with excellent ping. A bat's ping is influenced by the material it is constructed of. The ball and the surface of the bat collide when we hit the ball with a bat; as a result, both surfaces constrict. A bat with good ping will shrink less, transferring energy to the ball in the process, allowing the ball to rebound more forcefully and quickly.

PRICE- You visit a sports equipment store and see a few bats there. You choose one of them by evaluating its pickup and ping, which means you're halfway to your ideal cricket bat. But, when you learn how much it costs, it becomes too expensive, and you're left with just half of your ideal bat. Price is the key aspect taken into consideration.

Thus you can buy the perfect bat for you according to your requirements and within your budget.

About the Author-

ALL ABOUT CRICKET LLC is all about cricket equipment which offers cricket bats handpicked by BCCI level 2 coaches and Coach Venkatesh Iyer. They also have cricket balls, protection gear, Cricket footwear, kit bags, Cricket Accessories and cricket men’s clothing. They only offer cricket products which are durable and of the best quality

[woodbrookwotatt]

Places to visit in Port of Spain

1.       Reed Primate Forest Reserve, Tobago

Rich in biodiversity, the Ridge Forest Reserve is the oldest legally protected forest in the Western Hemisphere. The reserve is home to more than half of the island's bird species, including the blue-backed manakin, common grouse, and many species of hummingbird. Walking through the green foliage, you can also spot frogs, lizards, snakes and butterflies. The path through the reserve from north to south, near the eastern tip of Tobago, is one of the most scenic ways to see the forest. At the top of the hills are hiking trails and freelance guides. You can also buy some Guest houses in trinidad.

 2.       Fort King George and Tobago Museum, Tobago

Built in the 1770s and overlooking Scarborough Bay, Fort King George offers a good view of the town and park-like tranquility with some fine trees. Still surviving are remnants of the original brick and stone walls, an early prison, officers' mess, several cannons, and a lighthouse. Fort King George is the most preserved fort on the island. Also on the grounds, the Museum of Tobago displays collections of antique maps, African art, Amerindian artifacts, coins, and shells.

 3.       Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust, Trinidad

Amidst an oil refinery may seem like an odd place for a nature retreat, but this is one of the best bird watching spots in Trinidad. Surrounded by lush tropical foliage, this 30-hectare sanctuary includes an interpretive center and nature trails along lily-covered lakes, where you can spot species such as scarlet ibises, dull-black whistling ducks, and white-cheeked bats. The Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust protects the reserve and works on rehabilitation and captive breeding programs for endangered species.

[loveisinthebat]

FROM THE MOTHERLAND

[city-witch-magix]

Samhain

I’m in North America so all of the dates might be wrong if you are in the Southern Hemisphere 

October 31st

Marks a chance to reconnect with our ancestors and honor those who have died, this is a time where the veil between the earthly world and the spiritual world is the thin and allows Pagans to contact the dead. 

History: It was the most significant holiday of the Celtic year. People would lit bonfires and sacrifice animals, fruit, and vegetables to aid the dead in their journey to the other world. Samhain became Halloween when Christian missionaries tried changing the Celtic’s religious practices and as a result of trying to wipe out “pagan” holidays they tried to convert people by adapting native beliefs into Christanity (if the people worshiped a tree, consecrate it for christ). The Celtic underworld eventually became Christian Hell. Virtually all Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient Celtic day of the dead. 

Folklore/Legends: *People were often cautioned that if they heard footsteps behind them on Samhain night, they shouldn’t look back because it might be a spirit following them *If you host a dumb supper and no one speaks, spirits are more likely to show up *Ringing a bell on Samhain keeps the evil spirits away *According to some legends of eastern Europe, burying animal bones helps keep evil spirits away *A good time to reach out to your ancestors to see what you need to know and work on communicating with the dead *Black cats were seen as bad luck because in the dark ages at the witch hunting peak black cats were said to be familiars *One old folklore says that owls flew down on Samhain nights to eat the souls of the dead *If bats come down early on Samhain night it means there’s good weather coming, in the Middle Ages bats were associated with witches, dark magic, sorcery, and talking with the dead *Some people believe that if you see a spider on Samhain it harbors a dead ancestor watching over you and some parts of the world see the spider as a negative and malevolent being *Keeping a sprig of rosemary and a sixpence under your pillow on Samhain will make you dream of your future spouse *When bobbing for apples, the first girl to successfully get an apple is the first to get married *In parts of England it was believed that if a girl carried a lantern to a well on Samhain night, she would see the reflection of her future husband in the water

Decorate your altar with symbols of death, the harvest season, and tools of divination

Plan rites that celebrate the harvest season or honor the dead

To celebrate with kids you can honor the dead by holding a friendly ritual with listing the people who have died in your family, make crafts, spend time outside, or even celebrate Halloween 

You might hold a séance or a dumb supper

Harvest Prayer- Corn has been shucked, grain has been threshed, herbs have been hung to dry. Grapes have been pressed, potatoes have been dug, beans have been shelled and canned. It is the harvest season, and food is ready for winter. We will eat, and we will live, and we will be grateful.

Samhain Ancestor Prayer- This is the night when the gateway between our world and the spirit world is thinnest. Tonight is a night to call out those who came before. Tonight I honor my ancestors. Spirits of my fathers and mothers, I call to you, and welcome you to join me for this night. You watch over me always, protecting and guiding me, and tonight I thank you. Your blood runs in my veins, your spirit is in my heart, your memories are in my soul. [If you wish, you may want to recite your genealogy here. This can include both your blood family, and your spiritual one.] With the gift of remembrance. I remember all of you. You are dead but never forgotten, and you live on within me, and within those who are yet to come.

Prayer to the Gods of the Underworld- The harvest has ended, and the fields are bare. The earth has grown cold, and the land is empty. The gods of the death are lingering over us, keeping a watchful eye upon the living. They wait, patiently, for eternity is theirs. Hail to you, Anubis! O jackal headed one, guardian of the realm of the dead. When my time comes, I hope you may deem me worthy. Hail to you, Demeter! O mother of darkness, May your grief be abated when your daughter returns once more. Hail to you, Hecate! O keeper of the gate, between this world and the underworld. I ask that when I cross over, you may guide me with wisdom. Hail to you, Freya! O mistress of Folkvangr, guardian of those who fall in battle. Keep the souls of my ancestors with you. Hail to you, O gods and goddesses, those of you who guard the underworld and guide the dead on their final journey. At this time of cold and dark, I honor you, and ask that you watch over me, and protect me when the day arrives that I take my final journey.

Some Recipes: https://www.learnreligions.com/samhain-recipes-4145789 (Ghost poop dessert, Day of the Dead sugar skulls, Creamy marbled orange fudge, soul cakes [4 kinds], Roasted pumpkin seeds, Pumpkin spice cheesecake, Butternut squash casserole, Pumpkin soup) 

Source: https://www.learnreligions.com/eight-pagan-sabbats-2562833     https://www.learnreligions.com/all-about-samhain-2562691 the second link is specifically to Samhain where it is basically a link dex kinda thing where I clicked on the information I wanted and put in this

[thedetectivessay]

Highlights from the Fan Meeting

(took longer than planned. sorry..)

So, there were definitely A LOT of people watching during the event. At one point, it reached 26k viewers - but it could have been higher than that. They were also broadcasting through VLive so there were more. 

There was an earlier interview thing that was reposted later on on Instagram. I’m not sure if that was something exclusive to SK viewers or if it really was just a private interview (saw a news outlet’s watermark somewhere; Yonhap News’, I think). 

Either way, in that interview, Cho PD participated. He wasn’t there for the international fan meet, though.

Anyway, here are the highlights in a (mostly) chronological order:

• During the opening, the cast were introduced. Jaesuk or the MC did mention straight off the bat that this will be the final season. 

• Sejeong roasted Kwangsoo because of his hair 😂 It’s currently very long because he and Sehun had been filming for Pirates 2; Sehun’s hair was long-ish as well. But yeah - he got the most teasing because his hair is as long as Sejeong’s now lol

•  Okay, I gotta mention this: Jongmin was DRESSED TO THE T. He looked so nice, but it was so cute! He was just so determined to impress the international fans present. It just showed how much he cared about us and about how we felt about him. 

So yes: if you haven’t yet, give Jongmin some love. 

He was also asked at one point who he felt the closest to among the cast members, and y’all - he hesitated 😭😭 It was obvious he wanted to say he felt the closest to Sejeong, but he got scared because he thought the fans who were there might get mad at him 😭

But Sejeong, being the sweetheart that she is, kept encouraging him to pick her anyway by throwing hearts at him 🥰

Y’all, what are we gonna do once this show is over? This brOTP is the best when it came to roasting people! And they act like fr siblings 😭😭

• On the same question, after Jongmin did pick Sejeong, Kwangsoo made a remark, saying that he thought Jongmin was going to choose him. He looked hurt 😂

Side note: are we finally getting more Jongmin and Kwangsoo scenes this season?? 😃

• Not that long after, they played a game. Three of the cast members were chosen prior to the meet to draw a picture summarizing an episode. The rest had to guess where it was from. 

Kwangsoo was the first to go, and his clue - drawn nicely - pointed to S1EP5, The Last Vampire. Jaesuk was the first one to solve it, mentioning that it was the episode Park Hae-jin was in.

Seunggi was next, and it took the cast a while to figure out which episode it is. Can’t remember who solved it or if Seunggi just gave them the answer, but it was depicting one of the final scenes in S2EP10, The Flower of Death. It was that part where they were in Flower Killer’s hideout, when he finally told them who he really was while standing over Minjae. 

Kwangsoo afterwards said he was surprised by how terrible(?) Seunggi’s drawing skills were. Seunggi just laughed. 

Sejeong was next. She drew the detective team (beautifully, btw), and underneath the picture were the words versus + seven silhouettes with question marks on their faces. 

Kwangsoo praised Sejeong for her great drawing skills, and the cast agreed. 

The cast eventually figured out which episode, but they were hesitant to really speak of it.

It was then revealed that it’s an episode/case where the detective team faces off with a copycat team. We will see this and find out who the copycat seven are in S3. 

• Afterwards, they did this thing where a roulette chooses one of the members, the MC reads the messages written to them by fellow cast members, and they guess who they think it’s from. 

I’ll probably make another post later for this if you guys want since I can’t remember everything that was said, but basically...

> Jaesuk received messages from Sehun and Seunggi. Can’t remember what Seunggi said, but Sehun pretty much just thanked Jaesuk for teaching him 10% of what he needed to know about variety (he said the other 90% he learned himself lol) 

> Seunggi received messages from Sehun and Minyoung.

> Kwangsoo received messages from Jaesuk and Sejeong. Jaesuk said in his message that he highly valued him and Jongmin - and he asked them to stay with him forever (😭)

Meanwhile, Sejeong said that she’s thankful and sorry to Kwangsoo. When asked what she was sorry about, she said it was because she knew there were moments when it needed to be funny, and Kwangsoo would make a fool of himself to make that happen. 

(Side note: she interacted a lot with Kwangsoo this fan meet, too, so I have hope that I will also get the Kwangsoo and Sejeong brOTP scenes I’ve been asking for 🙌🏼)

> Minyoung received messages from Jaesuk and Jongmin.

> Jongmin received messages from Kwangsoo and Sejeong (my other brOT3 😭❤️)

> Sehun received messages from Jongmin and Minyoung. Jongmin said in his message that he was sorry to Sehun because he didn’t (couldn’t?) take care of him better. 

> Sejeong received messages from Jaesuk and Minyoung. Minyoung asked somewhere in her message for them to have a drink together some time, while Jaesuk asked Sejeong if she could help Kwangsoo land a role in her current drama 😂

Kwangsoo then revealed that Jaesuk always does that: whenever he meets with his friends and other celebrities, he always asks them to cast Kwangsoo in their drama or movie. The cast laughed. 

Seunggi then mentioned afterwards that he’s currently working on a new drama or movie (not sure which one), and he offered Kwangsoo the role of a mouse lol

• That was then followed by the Thank You messages from the fans. Some of you may be aware of this, but about a week and a half ago, on IG, the Busted Netflix official account asked fans to submit a 10 second video of themselves saying “Thank you, Team Busted!” in their native language. 

It was so cute, you guys! It just showed how much the cast and crew were loved by many all over the world. 

Although: there was one fan from Sweden or Norway who had a whole PROJECT D MARK HANGING ON HIS WALL. THE SAME ONE HANGING OUTSIDE THE MAZE IN C’S LAIR IN THE SERIES PREMIERE.

Where did he get that?? I want one, I’m so jealous!! ☹️

•  The fan meeting closed with messages from the cast. Most of them seemed so tired at this point, but Jaesuk proved to be the best leader the cast/team could ask for even in the end. 

I mentioned this on the first update, but he said he felt sad that the series was coming to an end especially since the cast had such great chemistry. It was heartwarming to hear because it personally gave me a sense of closure. 

To hear a cast member address the feelings a number of us feel is comforting, you know?

• The fan meet ended with bouquets of flowers (non-threatening kind 😏😉) and gift bags for the cast! They were all so pleasantly surprised, and it was so cute. 

Netflix seemed to be aware that the awards season just finished in SK, so they gave each of the members their own trophies bearing personalized awards! It was a weighty trophy, too; the cast commented on it.

I don’t know what the other members received, but Sejeong, I think, got the Bright Future Award. 

Myuk PD later posted on his IG pictures of this big gift bag that Netflix apparently gave him and the other PDs. One of the gifts they received contained a pair of wine glasses with an electric bottle opener in the middle. It was so classy and nice.

Bro - no one can say that Netflix didn’t love the detective team and the creators of the show. They threw all kind of love and attention on them, and they didn’t skimp on the gifts and ads either. 

There are other points from that earlier interview I was talking about, but I’ll put that on a separate post if you’re interested :) 

Detective Fam! There’s literally only two days before the final season drops! For those of you who live on the Eastern hemisphere, it’s just one day and some change! 

Season 3!! Are you guys excited??!

[valorant-omen]

Daily Omen Fact: 33

I’m not terribly fond of Halloween.  Surprise, surprise.

Though I do appreciate Autumn in the Northern hemisphere, especially around the Appalachians and Eastern Canada, Halloween is something for families with small children to experience.  Not that I have anything against that, it’s just not for me.

The spirit of Thanksgiving is something I vastly prefer to celebrate.

Coming together with those I cherish and expressing my gratitude towards their tolerance and compassion is something I would rather spend my time and effort towards.

That and I can spend an entire day cooking and no one would bat an eye.

Oh and before anyone gets out of sorts with my opinions, yes of course I am aware of the history of the holidays.  The full history.  Not the nitpicking-to-suit-an-agenda history.

I prefer to acknowledge what the past has done and move forward knowing this knowledge can be used to create a better future.

What is done, is done.  The dead are dead.

Be thankful for what you have and treat others how you wish to be treated.

Ah, this is less of a fact and becoming more of a rant I think.

Fitting for this platform.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Eurotrochilus

By Scott Reid

Etymology: European Hummingbird

First Described By: Mayr, 2004

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Theropoda, Neotheropoda, Averostra, Tetanurae, Orionides, Avetheropoda, Coelurosauria, Tyrannoraptora, Maniraptoromorpha, Maniraptoriformes, Maniraptora, Pennaraptora, Paraves, Eumaniraptora, Averaptora, Avialae, Euavialae, Avebrevicauda, Pygostaylia, Ornithothoraces, Euornithes, Ornithuromorpha, Ornithurae, Neornithes, Neognathae, Neoaves, Strisores, Daedalornithes, Apodiformes, Trochilidae

Referred Species: E. inexpectatus, E. noniewiczi

Status: Extinct

Time and Place: Between 31 and 28 million years ago, in the Rupelian of the Oligocene 

Eurotrochilus is known from the Menilite Formation, the Bott-Eder Grube Unterfeld, and Le Grand Banc locations across Poland, Germany, and France 

Physical Description: Eurotrochilus is a bird that is remarkable precisely because, to us, it is utterly unremarkable. Put in a clearer way, Eurotrochilus is almost identical to living Hummingbirds - but it’s thirty million years old. An extremely small bird, Eurotrochilus had wings shaped like hummingbirds - small, triangular, and built for hovering flight. It was about nine centimeters in length, making it as big as living hummingbirds like the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. In addition to having small, triangular wings, Eurotrochilus had tiny legs, like living Hummingbirds, and a very long beak. So, its identical nature to living hummingbirds points to the hummingbird body plan as an ancient one, that hasn’t been improved upon much during the Cenozoic era. Still, it wasn’t a true hummingbird yet - aka in the group that contains modern hummingbirds and those more closely related to one sort than the other - because it still had long finger bones, and smaller connections between those bones. So, while the general hummingbird shape was present for thirty million years, it still had some modifications left to go.

Diet: With its very long, specialized bill, Eurotrochilus would have fed on nectar, like living hummingbirds.

Behavior: We can be fairly confident that Eurotrochilus was capable of hovering, and did so with some regularity; it would hover near flowers and rarely perch on them while gathering nectar up with its long beak. The beak would go into the center of the flower to draw up nectar, and in the process Eurotrochilus would pick up pollen. Then, upon going to the next flower to drink more nectar, Eurotrochilus would drop off the pollen, thus helping the flowers to reproduce. It would have spent most of its time hovering, and when not hovering would rest on branches or in more foliage-filled areas. It would have been a fairly active animal, and loud as well, making a variety of chirps and calls to one another. They probably would have been very brightly colored, like living hummingbirds, and the males probably wouldn’t have been very involved in nest care. 

By Ripley Cook

Ecosystem: Eurotrochilus primarily lived in forested areas, near lagoons, lakes, and estruary-filled areas. These lush habitats were filled with a variety of flowering plants for Eurotrochilus to feed on, and the forests were densely populated with birches, oaks, cypresses, conifers, palms, roses, asterids, and beeches. Eurotrochilus was a common site in these environments, which featured a variety of birds that resembled living forms and yet, were not quite like their modern counterparts. In the Bott-Eder environment of Germany, a coastal bay area, Eurotrochilus lived with birds such as the barbet Rupelramphastoides, the buttonquail Turnipax, the tody Palaeotodus, the mousebird Oligocolius, the trogon Primotrogon, the loon Colymboides, the seabird Rueplornis, and the songbird Wieslochia. This is a notable environment with a variety of transitional tree and ocean going birds, making it a fascinating habitat in which to study the evolution of dinosaurs in the Cenozoic. There were also sea cows, bats, and a Hyaenodont Apterodon, though Eurotrochilus would have been so small its unlikely that the Hyaenodont would have posed a problem for it. In the dense lake environment of Menilite, Eurotrochilus lived with the passerines Jamna, Resoviaornis, and Winnicavis, as well as the woodpecker Picavus. Here there was an extensive amount of thermal activity, which would negatively affect the ecosystem with gas bubbles and oil wells. In the lagoon environment of Le Grand, there was also Primotrogon, the early cuckoo Eocuculus, the crane Parvigrus, and the stem-passerine Zygodactylus.

Other: As the oldest representative of a proper, nectar-eating hummingbird shape, Eurotrochilus is vital for our understanding of the evolution of hummingbirds. In fact, its presence points to the idea that flowers pollinated by birds co-evolved with hummingbirds in the Eastern Hemisphere, even though hummingbirds aren’t present on that side of the globe today. Hummingbirds like Eurotrochilus, however, disappeared from that half of the globe during tropical climate collapse in Europe and the effects of the ice age. Interestingly enough, they were replaced in the Eastern Hemisphere by Sunbirds, a group of passerines that convergently evolved similar adaptations for hovering and nectar-eating, and also brightly colored feathers.

Species Differences: The two species of Eurotrochilus mainly differ on the proportions of the limbs, with E. noniewiczi having longer upper arm bones than E. inexpecattus, but shorter lower arm bones. They lived at the same time and fairly close to each other, so this difference is important in telling apart the varying kinds of these early hummingbirds.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources Under the Cut 

Bochenski, Zygmunt; Bochenski, Zbigniew (19 December 2007). "An Old World hummingbird from the Oligocene: a new fossil from Polish Carpathians". Journal of Ornithology. 149 (2): 211

Bochenski, Zbigniew M.; Tomek, Teresa (10 December 2013). "A review of avain remains from the Oligocene of the Outer Carpathians and Central Paleogene Basin". Proceed. 8th Internat. Meeting Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution.

Louchart, Antoine; Tourment, Nicolas; Carrier, Julie; Roux, Thierry (27 September 2007). "Hummingbird with modern feathering: an exceptionally well-preserved Oligocene fossil from southern France". Naturwissenschaften. 95 (2): 171–175.  

Mayr, Gerald (7 May 2004). "Old World Fossil Record of Modern-Type Hummingbirds". Science. 304 (5672): 861–874.

Mayr, Gerald (March 2005). "Fossil hummingbirds in the Old World". Biologist. 52 (1): 16.

Mayr, Gerald (25 July 2006). "New specimens of the early Oligocene Old World hummingbird Eurotrochilus inexpectatus". Journal of Ornithology. 148 (1): 105–111.

Mayr, Gerald (8 September 2009). "New specimens of the avian taxa Eurotrochilus (Trochilidae) and Palaeotodus (Todidae) from the early Oligocene of Germany". Springer. 84 (3): 387–395.  

Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Mayr, G. 2017. Avian Evolution: The Fossil Record of Birds and its Paleobiological Significance. Topics in Paleobiology, Wiley Blackwell. West Sussex.

Maxwell, Erin E. (1 December 2016). "The Rauenberg fossil Lagerstätte (Baden-Württemberg, Germany): A window into early Oligocene marine and coastal ecosystems of Central Europe". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 463.  

Prum, Richard O.; Berv, Jacob S.; Dornberg, Alex; Field, Daniel J.; Townsend, Jeffrey P.; Lemmon, Emily Moriarty; Lemmon, Alan R. (2015). "A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing". Nature. 526: 569–573.

Reddy, Sushma; et al. (2015). "Why do phylogenomic data sets yield conflicting trees? Data type influences the avian tree of life more than taxon sampling". Systematic Biology. 66 (5): 857–879.

[polhsub]

Root out australia

"Since he got hit he stood up, he could have had a nightwatchman. "Joe is a leader and a strong leader in this group," Lewis said. Stokes temporarily took over England captaincy as Root had a hospital scan after being hit in the abdomen during Sunday's warm-up and he limped off the field following his dismissal to complete a depressing day for his team.Įngland fast bowling coach Jon Lewis praised Root’s character and resilience. Starc was treated for a back injury incurred while batting but showed no ill-effects. It took 12 balls for an English wicket to fall with Richardson removing Haseeb Hameed caught behind for a duck. West Indies hold the record for the highest successful fourth innings chase of 418 achieved against Australia in 2003.Įngland’s most successful Ashes chase came at Leeds two years ago when they reached their 359-run target thanks to Stokes’s superb century. Head expects spinner Nathan Lyon to play a big part on Monday.Įarlier, Marnus Labuschagne followed his first innings century with a fifty and Travis Head made 51 as Australia declared on 230-9 half an hour before the tea break.Įngland claimed three wickets in the first session but Labuschagne and Head settled any nerves in the Australia camp before stand-in captain Smith declared. "Starc on that line is never pretty and unfortunately with the day he (Root) has had it wasn't a great time to get hit." We got told to give him some space (on the pitch). "Root is a huge wicket, he is in fantastic form," Australia vice-captain Travis Head said. Starc floored Root with a painful blow to his abdomen before dismissing the England captain to cap another satisfying day for Australia. The touring side were 82-4 at stumps, losing Root in the final over and staring at a second successive heavy defeat in the five-match series.īen Stokes, whose batting heroics secured England’s most successful Ashes run chase at Leeds two years ago, was on three with his team still 386 short of their target.Īustralia showed their intent by removing opener Haseeb Hameed for a duck before tea and sent back Dawid Malan, who made 20, after the break.Įngland settled briefly as Rory Burns, who had managed 17 runs in his three previous innings on this tour, held firm before departing for 34, caught by Steve Smith in the slips off a Jhye Richardson lifter. The development of a jujube industry will be beneficial in fighting salinity and water shortages which are challenges facing sustainable agriculture in Australia.ADELAIDE- Mitchell Starc removed England captain Joe Root with the last ball of day four to put Australia firmly on course for victory in the second Ashes test at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.Īustralia declared their second innings on 230-9 before the tea break, setting England an improbable victory target of 468. The jujube industry in Australia has the potential to be a new profitable agricultural business to meet the requirements of domestic and overseas markets. Western Australia's proximity to South-East Asia and its counter season production to the northern hemisphere provides a future opportunity to market Australian grown fresh Chinese jujube for the increasing off-season demand in these countries. Plantings of jujube trees have increased in Western Australia in the last three years as awareness of the crop increases.Ĭhinese jujubes have also been successfully grown in the eastern states of Australia in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.ĭemand for the fruits continues to outweigh supply on the local market. In Western Australia, there are approximately 40 jujube growers in the Perth Hills, the Northern Rangelands and the South West region. Based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Leder Games is a board game micro-publisher making exciting, asymmetric narrative games including Vast: The Crystal Caverns and Root: A Woodland Game of Might and Right that are exciting to play as well as artistic and socially conscious. The jujube's drought and salinity tolerance, easy management and multiple uses indicates considerable potential for many areas of the state. Western Australia is currently Australia's leading jujube producing state with an estimated 12500 trees planted on approximately 20 ha. The tree is well adapted to Australia's climate and soil types, growing in a range of areas. ISHS Acta Horticulturae 1116: XXIX International Horticultural Congress on Horticulture: Sustaining Lives, Livelihoods and Landscapes (IHC2014): III International Jujube Symposium Chinese jujube industry takes root in Western AustraliaĬhinese jujube ( Ziziphus jujuba Mill.), Australia, history, distribution, production, barriersĬhinese jujube ( Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) trees have grown successfully in Australia for 20 years and the industry is developing steadily. In spring 1997, mean maximum root depth was 107 cm for a native perennial grass. Chinese jujube industry takes root in Western Australia Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 2006, 46, 337345.

[brawlite-archive]

I love, love, love bats and we have a colony in the attic but very occasionally we find a bat out in the daylight and my (grand)parents have it drilled into me that you do NOT touch a bat you find because RABIES. It's super rare in bats(as in, no recorded human infection by a bat ever, a and exterminated canines in my country. And yet I'm terrified of rabies. Even when my cat scratches me I get anxious even..

(cont.) though bat _> cat infection has neverbeen recorded and scratch infection risk is very low. Rabies is terrifying.

bats are cool. bats can also be dangerous. rabies is terrifying, but also fascinating. 

anyway, i’m not a virologist (it’s just a hyper-fixation), so some of this might not be perfect, BUT:

1. right off the “bat”: i understand that you are likely not from the united states (you mentioned ‘my country’), but that does not at all mean that you cannot get rabies from bats. for example: a large proportion of human rabies infections in the the americas are transmitted by bat bites (x): among the 19 naturally acquired cases of rabies in humans in the u.s. from 1997-2006, 17 were associated with bats (x). bat variant rabies/lyssaviruses exist around the world. 

a lot of rabies fatalities come from bats because many people don’t realize they’ve been bitten. bats have tiny teeth, so if you are walking around in the woods or sleeping at night in a room (in which a bat got in), you may not know that you’ve been bitten. if you’re bitten by a crazy foaming-at-the-mouth dog, it’s probably going to cross your mind.

2. fun fact, which i did NOT know and now i KNOW and it is neat and also horrifying: “Closely related lyssaviruses circulate among bats in the Eastern Hemisphere, andcan cause an illness identical to rabies in people and domesticated animals. Rabiesvaccines and post-exposure prophylaxis are thought to provide some protection againstsome of these viruses, but not others. Rabies-related lyssaviruses can be found even incountries classified as rabies-free.” (x)

so, even if you don’t get rabies from a bat bite, you can get a related lyssavirus, which is very similar to rabies, which may or may not be helped by the rabies vaccine or post-exposure prophylaxis. this pops up depending on where you live, i guess (eastern hemisphere only, for now). neat!

3. rabies is found throughout the entire world. some countries are considered “rabies free” (particularly islands), but they are considered “rabies free” after only 2 years of zero indigenously acquired cases in humans or animals (x). anyway, personally, 2 years seems like -- not enough years. 

“Perhaps the biggest concern is the continual threat that rabies may be reintroduced from a rabies-infected area into a rabies-free zone as a result of complacency, political instability or lack of funding for control campaigns.” (x)

4. your cat can be vaccinated against rabies. perhaps it should be, if it has not already been vaccinated against it. maybe you haven’t, if it’s an indoor cat, but perhaps consider it because: bats.

5. cats can get rabies from at least one bat lyssavirus (x) and most articles i’ve read have noted bats as a carrier of rabies for cats. but it is more important to keep in mind that, as with all viruses, rabies is adaptive: often, one variant that has one reservoir host becomes established in another. 

but yes, scratches are a very rare way to transmit rabies. the cat’s claws would have to be contaminated with infectious material (x). 

ANYWAY. 

tldr; don’t panic, just be informed. you’re right to not handle bats. maybe vaccinate your cat. bats = cute, but flying danger mice. admire form afar. 

[writer59january13]

Argh Daylight Savings Time – March 13th, 2022

Once again, yours truly

dishes out his regular dose

of literary gobbledygook

even Count Dracula

would not even bat an eye

nor give me his evil curse, butta I avoid tempting him courtesy fanged hook or crook

(albeit harmless) look

regarding feeble effort I undertook.

Don't forget hour hands

of clocks spring forward

sixty minutes 2:00 AM in Pennsylvania and other states bracketed within eastern Eastern Standard Time on Sunday March thirteenth!

Yes roundabout third eye blind -

doggone (con seeded)

melon collie month every year,

one garden variety bum

(inconvenienced truthfully)

precariously balanced

while tethered to Earth hoop fully

explains himself, hence following mishmash

divulged courtesy unnamed generic chum

purposelessly manipulating

space/time continuum hold over.

About 107 three hundred sixty five day

increments elapsed since

United States adopted

Standard Time Act of March 19, 1918

confirmed existing

standard time zone system

and set summer DST

to begin on March 31, 1918

(reverting October 27).

Rat a tat tat doth lightly drum

upon mine sixty plus shades of gray matter

i.e., a sensation of jet lag

(with earthling out of balance - an inconvenient truth)

as if aboard Herbert George Wells,

time machine – and trapped within The War of the Worlds impossible mission to escape

at warp speed from

this horrid station, where bumpy ride

invariably finds me feeling ticked off and glum

in no mood to craft reasonable rhyme,

nor be leer re: cull (lyrical) juiced barely tantamount

to gather scattered wits sin tide, and express mood

as picky hewn hoe hum

fortunate rising son, this chronological

seismic shift nada wide, ah assume

nonetheless, mein kampf

cerebral hemispheric plate tectonics

comb pluck hated off jangling

black keys helplessly boom fancifully drifting and boring

into quick ribald sand trap doom ming an inducement

for emergency convoy,

when pitched to and fro

hither and yon from sea to figurative shining sea.

Graham ma mother earth glum where live yik yak wired vanguard

trulia tried optimism to hum

nonetheless, swallowed down

reprising Tom Wolfe

("O Rotten Gotham — Sliding Down into the Behavioral Sink") her cremated inert ashes boxed

for more'n eternity

like talcum powder went – me mum

bling bloviation, once worth

matchless peerage, now pitched numb lee into morass

of temporary confusion, where plumb line delineating circadian rhythm offset,

when athwart pilot rum

man strait ting and bickering

with Lilliputians slum

bring within islets of langerhans

defiantly thumb nose, where body, mind and soul

weeknd strength (viz a bully did cower) hence mister clock,

who got hijacked

3600 seconds per hour experienced head, thorax and abdomen

diminishing in power

wrought indistinguishable

Whitsuntide as sour grapes imposing ill fitting sea legs,

which folded like a faulty tower crumbling skeletal carapace,

resoundingly surrendered, and back slid vis a vis

space/time continuum did devour.

Black hole (sun) event horizon indeed

kept lock step as das joint mill hoard

sucker punched the band

(re: oh speed) wagon of father time,

who riffs a silent chord nsync with atomic energizer bunny

fractional second bored quirky shenanigans

toying with chronometers counter point of view shifted

to oppose this minute accord.

[astrogeoguy]

The Perseids Peak over Sunday Night, the Moon Returns to Grace the Eve, Jupiter Sports Twin Spots, and the Demon Star Revives!

(Above: The path of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in the northeastern sky this week. It will be passing Casssiopeia heading downwards, shown here at 11 pm local time.)

Astronomy Skylights for this week (from August 12th, 2018) by Chris Vaughan. (Feel free to pass this along to friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics.) I post these with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory, or another in your area, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

If you’d like me to bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlanetarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

My latest column for Space.com is all about this week’s Mars opposition and closest approach. You can find it here.

My latest Mobile Astronomy column for Space.com is about the Perseid meteor shower. You can find it here. 

Public Events

Taking advantage of the moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and other bright objects in the sky this week, the RASC Toronto Centre astronomers will hold their free monthly public City Sky Star Party in Bayview Village Park (steps from the Bayview subway station), around 8 pm on the first clear weeknight this week (except Wed and Fri). You don’t need to be an RASC member, or own any equipment, to join them. Check here for details, and check the banner on their website home page or Facebook page for the GO or NO-GO decision around 5 pm each day. 

Every Monday evening, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday evenings after dark, they offer free public viewing through their telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here. 

Teachers! The York University Astronomy department will hold Astro Workshop 2018, professional development for teachers, on August 14-16, 2018. Registration and details are here. 

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday, August 15, the RASC Toronto Centre will hold their free monthly Recreational Astronomy Night Meeting at the Ontario Science Centre. The public are welcome. Talks include the Sky This Month, measuring double stars, and making your own Pluto images from free science mission data. Check here for details. Parking is free. 

At 6:30 pm on Tuesday, August 14, the S Walter Stewart Library will host a free public lecture by Dr. Renée Hložek of the Dunlap Institute at U of T (she’s fantastic!). It’s entitled The Big, Dark and Beautiful Universe. Check here for details. 

At 8:30 pm on Wednesday, August 15, the High Park Nature Centre will host a free public Urban Bat Walk followed by stargazing (weather permitting). Check here for details. 

Eastern GTA sky watchers are invited to join the RASC Toronto Centre and Durham Skies for solar observing and stargazing at the edge of Lake Ontario in Millennium Square in Pickering on Friday evening, August 17, from 6 pm to 11 pm. Details are here. If it’s cloudy, they’ll try again on Saturday. Before heading out, check the RASCTC home page for a Go/No-Go call in case it's too cloudy to observe. 

On Friday, August 17 at 8 pm, adults can enjoy some suds with their science at Astronomy on Tap T.O. at the Great Hall, a free event hosted by the U of T Astronomy Department. Talks, trivia, contest giveaways, and more! Details are here. 

The next RASC Public Event at the David Dunlap Observatory will be on Saturday, August 18. There will be sky tours in the Skylab planetarium room, space crafts, a tour of the giant 74” telescope, and viewing through lawn telescopes (weather permitting). The doors will open at 7:30 pm for an 8 pm start. Attendance is by tickets only, available here. If you are a RASC member and wish to help us at DDO in the future, please fill out the volunteer questionnaire here. And to join RASC, visit this page. 

The Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight!

Overnight tonight (Sunday) the spectacular annual Perseid Meteor Shower will reach its peak, when the most meteors will be seen per hour. After tonight, the shower will taper off until it officially ends on August 26, so you should head out on Monday night if it’s clear, and continue to keep an eye out for bright meteors for the rest of this week, although the moon will increasingly affect seeing conditions. I wrote details about how meteor showers work here last week. Make an effort to see this show; next year the Full Moon will spoil the Perseid peak. 

For best results, try to find a safe and very dark viewing location with as much open sky as possible. Even a 30 minute drive to a park or rural site away from big city light pollution will help a lot. You can start watching as soon as it is dark - to catch very long meteors produced by particles skimming the Earth’s upper atmosphere. These are rarer, but feature very long trains. Don’t worry about watching the radiant. Meteors from that position will be heading directly towards you and have very short trails. 

Bring a blanket for warmth and a chaise to avoid neck strain, plus snacks and drinks. Try to keep watching the sky even when chatting with friends or family – they’ll understand. Call out when you see one; a bit of friendly competition is fun! 

Don’t look at your phone or tablet – the bright screen will spoil your dark adaptation. If you can, minimize the brightness or cover the screen with red film. Disabling app notifications will reduce the chances of unexpected bright light, too. And remember that binoculars and telescopes will not help you see meteors because they have fields of view that are too narrow. I posted some diagrams here. Good hunting! 

The Moon and Planets

After reaching its new phase on Saturday, the young crescent moon will return to grace the low western evening sky for a short time after sunset tonight (Sunday). For the rest of the week, it will wax and slide east, lingering longer after sunset each evening. 

In the western sky on Tuesday evening, the moon will take up a position a palm’s width above bright Venus, making a lovely wide field photo opportunity. On Wednesday evening it will sit a similar distance above the bright white star Spica in Virgo (the Maiden). On Thursday and Friday, the moon will hop over Jupiter, moving from the planet’s upper right to its upper left. Using the moon as a starting point, you might be able to spot Jupiter in daylight using binoculars.

(Above: The moon and Jupiter in daylight at 7 pm EDT on August 16. The following day, the moon will hop to Jupiter’s upper left. The orange circle represents a binoculars field of view.)

This is the best week of the moon’s monthly orbit to view it in binoculars or a telescope. The moon waxes because the sun is slowly rising over its eastern horizon. The shallow angle of the sunlight casts deep black shadows all along the terminator line – the boundary between the lit and unlit hemispheres. New terrain will be showcased every night! 

Extremely bright Venus will still blaze away in the western evening sky this week – and it’s still brightening! On Thursday, Venus will reach its widest angle east of the sun. After that, the planet will begin to swing back towards a meeting with the sun in October. The descending evening ecliptic is pulling Venus a bit lower each night, but we can observe it until about 10 pm local time. In a small telescope, the planet’s disk will resemble a first quarter moon, half-lit on the sunward side (although your telescope might flip the view).

(Above: Venus reaches greatest elongation east of the sun on August 16, after which it will start to swing back towards the sun. Meanwhile the moon will look upon Jupiter as it passes close above the bright double star Zubenelgenubi,as shown here for 9 pm local time.)

We only have a few more good weeks to enjoy Jupiter this year. This week, the very bright planet will be in the southwestern sky after dusk, and then set in the west-southwest at about 11:30 pm local time. Jupiter has been slowly shifting eastwards. In the middle of this week, it will pass close above a nearby bright star. Afterwards it will start to pull away. The star is Zubenelgenubi, the brightest star in Libra (the Scales). In binoculars, you’ll plainly see that Zubenelgenubi is a pair of stars. While you have the binoculars handy, see if you can see Jupiter’s four Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede) flanking the planet. 

From time to time, the small round black shadows cast by Jupiter’s four Galilean moons become visible in backyard telescopes as they cross (or transit) the planet’s disk. On Thursday, August 16, Europa’s shadow will begin to transit at 7:56 pm EDT (in evening twilight). At 8:05 pm EDT, Io’s shadow will join Europa’s and the duo will transit Jupiter until they both move off the planet at 10:10 pm. A reasonable backyard telescope will show the black shadows, but a very good telescope is needed to see the moons themselves. More shadow transits are available in other time zones around the world, including some double shadow ones.

 (Above: A double shadow transit caused by Europa and Io will occur on Jupiter on Thursday, August 16, as shown here at 9:15 pm EDT.)

The Great Red Spot (or GRS, for short) takes about three hours to cross Jupiter’s disk. But the planet’s 10-hour rotation period (i.e., its day) means that the spot is only observable from Earth every 2-3 nights. If you’d like to see the GRS, use a medium-sized telescope (or larger). You’ll have your best luck on evenings with steady air – when the stars are not twinkling too much. Try to look within an hour before or after the following times: Sunday, August 12 at 8:57 pm, Tuesday, August 14 at 10:36 pm, Friday, August 17 at 8:07 (in twilight), and Sunday, August 19 at 9:46 pm. All times are given in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), so adjust for your local time zone. 

Around 9 pm local time, when the first bright stars appear overhead, medium-bright Saturn will appear not too high up the darkening southern sky. The yellow-tinted planet will reach its highest elevation of about 2 fist diameters above the southern horizon at around 9:30 pm, and then descend to set in the west at about 2:30 am. This summer, the ringed planet has been on the eastern (left-hand) outskirts of the Milky Way, and situated just above the “lid” star of the Teapot-shaped constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). As the sky darkens, even a small telescope should be able to show you some of Saturn’s larger moons, especially Titan. Using a clock’s dial analogy, Titan will move counter-clockwise this week from a position at 12 o’clock (above the planet) to 7 o’clock (to the lower left of it). (Remember that your small telescope might flip and/or invert the view. Use the moon to find out how your telescope changes things.) 

Mars will still be very bright and close to Earth this week. Visually, it will appear pink or orangey. It will rise over the southeastern horizon at around 8 pm local time (give or take, depending on your latitude) and then climb higher until midnight local time, when it will reach an elevation of about 20° (or two outstretched fist diameters) above the southern horizon. (That will be the best hour to view the planet in a telescope because it will then be shining through the least amount of Earth’s distorting atmosphere.) Note that 20° is lower than many trees and buildings, so a clear southern vista is essential.

(Above: Mars and Saturn dominate the overnight southern sky, as shown here for 10 pm local time this week. Tiny Pluto sits near Sagittarius, between the two naked-eye planets.) 

At visual magnitude 5.8, blue-green coloured Uranus is visible from late evening until dawn. You can see it without optical aid under very dark skies, or in binoculars and telescopes under moderately light-polluted skies. The ice giant planet is located in the eastern sky, about 4.5 finger widths to the left of the modestly bright star Torcular (Omega Piscium), which is above the “V” where the two starry cords of Pisces (the Fishes) meet.

(Above: The detailed positions of Uranus and Neptune in August, 2018.) 

Using a decent quality telescope this week, you can see the distant and very blue planet Neptune among the dim stars of Aquarius (the Water-bearer). It will rise in the east shortly after 9 pm local time. Look for the magnitude 7.8 planet sitting 1.75 finger widths to the right of the modestly bright star Phi (φ) Aquarii and 4 finger widths to the left of the brighter star Hydor (Lambda Aquarii). 

At 1:36 am EDT on Wednesday, August 15, distant dwarf planet Pluto will pass in front of, or occult, a dim distant star. The planet is positioned roughly midway between Mars and Saturn. Many serious astronomers will try to record the event to study how Pluto’s atmosphere dims the star.  

A Binocular Comet

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner has been gradually brightening for some time because it is approaching Earth’s orbit. This week, you should be able to see the faint fuzzy object in binoculars or a small telescope, if you can escape city lights. The comet will be heading downwards every night past the bright star Segin, which marks the bottom-most star in the “W” of Cassiopeia (the Queen).

(Above: This animation was assembled from a series of 55 images of Algol taken with the CHARA interferometer at Mount Wilson Observatory, using the infrared part of the spectrum (coloring the normally white star red). It shows the dimmer companion star orbiting Algol and passing in front of it - a classic eclipsing binary star system. The numerical labels range from 0.0 at the start of the orbit, to 0.868, near the end of the orbit.) 

See the “Demon” Star Brighten

The “Demon Star”, more formally known as Algol, is a star that is easy to see using unaided eyes. In Perseus (the Hero), it is among the most accessible variable stars for beginner skywatchers. Despite the connotation of its nickname (it represents the severed head of Medusa the Gorgon being held by Perseus), the star is a hot white star located 92 light-years from Earth.

Algol’s brightness dims noticeably for about 10 hours once every 2 days, 20 hours, and 49 minutes because a dim companion star orbiting nearly edge-on to Earth crosses in front of the much brighter main star – an arrangement that is called an eclipsing binary star system. On Saturday, August 18 at 9:32 pm EDT, Algol will reach its minimum brightness of magnitude 3.4 and will sit just above the northeastern horizon. By 2:30 am EDT, it will be halfway up the eastern sky and will have brightened to its usual magnitude of 2.1. The dimming periods can fall at any time of the day or night. The timing of this particular event makes watching the return to brightness a convenient project for evening observers.

Keep looking up to enjoy the sky! I love getting questions so, if you have any, send me a note.

[buticanstilldream]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Survivor Guilt, Stiles Stilinski Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Derek Hale Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Sad bois, Wolf Derek Hale, BAMF Stiles, Depression, Anxiety Attacks, Stiles Stilinski Has Panic Attacks, Coping, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Stiles Stilinski, Touch-Starved, Lonely Stiles Stilinski, Lonely Derek Hale, Older Stiles Stilinski, like college age so he's like 22-23, Alpha Derek Hale, Protective Derek, Protective Stiles Stilinski, Minor Character Death, (not Stiles or Derek), Jeep Sex, Emotional Sex, Bisexual Stiles Stilinski, Gay Derek Hale, Blood and Gore, Graphic Description, Healing, Emotional Baggage, zombies are seriously the least of their problems, POV Stiles Stilinski, Inspired by Music, Song Lyrics, not sorry, Fanart, PLEASE DO NOT REPOST FAN ART, fan art by yours truly ;), Flashbacks, Not Beta'd Summary:

It may be in the middle of a zombie fucking apocalypse, and the world may be ending... but Stiles Stilinski is just too stubborn to lay down and take it.

He's got a few states left to cross, with his ass now sitting comfy near the eastern state line of Nebraska. Roscoe is holding on as best she can without a mechanic and with Stiles siphoning what little gas he manages to find. Twinkies and coke will fuel him when he can't find anything else to garble down.

He's coming back home, dammit. End of the world be damned.

---

Or, Stiles is trying to get back to Beacon Hills from where he was at college in New York, fighting back against zombies and survivors who want him dead just the same. He's got nothing more than his guns and bat, his failing wits, and Roscoe. But that should be enough. It has to be.

That is, until Stiles makes a fateful stop in Yellowstone and happens upon a wolf that is a lot more than what it initially seems.

(includes fan art! please do not repost!)