#Humpback Mountain

[thorsenmark]

Let Me Find a Little Piece of Heaven (Blue Ridge Parkway) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: Let Me Find a Little Piece of Heaven Under skies of blue Watching trees and plants under the light of an afternoon sun Include some mountains And a grassy meadow to walk A fresh spring time breeze would be nice too I’m sure you could find a place like this Anywhere in this world But I found mine on a Tuesday around noon In the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia Another work of short poetry or prose to complement the image captured around noon while walking and taking in views around the Humpback Rocks Visitors Center. This is a stop along the Blue Ridge Parkway not far from the northern entrance near Shenandoah National Park. What drew me into this setting was the Flowering Dogwood and the mountain backdrop (Humpback Rocks and Humpback Mountain) with blue skies above. The rest was walking around until I could find that alignment I wanted for the image captured. It was as I began working on the image in post production that I then decided to once again try out the sky replacement setting in Photoshop with this image. The blue skies with the clouds definitely seemed appropriate for this national park site setting in what I had wanted to experience in person. So the skies are from an image I captured in west Texas but all else is captured with my Nikon Z8 Mirrorless Camera. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 7 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[katietrekks]

May 23, 2021

Humpback Mountain and Humpback Rocks via the AT Blue Ridge Parkway, George Washington National Forest, Virginia 6.46 miles 1,400 ft Elevation Gain

So for the next week and a half, I will be traveling down the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiking some of the highlighted trails along it. For those who don't know, The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Scenic Roadway in the Appalachian Mountains that connects Shenandoah Nation Parks to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. My first hike of the trip was Humpback Mountain and Humpback Rocks. Awesome hike with some awesome views. I saw the biggest rattlesnake of my life during the hike which was a plus!

[orofeaiel]

Humpback whale in the Strait of Juan de Fuca

[jackalopegirlantlers]

everything's bigger in alaska

[stupidsnep]

Maybe my best "about those last days"

[peachesofteal]

Dad!John Price/female reader The Ocean anthology - previous

You haven’t been inside a bar this crowded since you graduated from university. 

You settle in the corner, avoiding nearly everyone’s eyes, hands cupped around a chipped glass full to the brim with beer. 

You weren’t expecting an island on the brink of a full winter assault to be so… lively.

The room is a party. A party full of people who know one another well enough to call them by first name. There can’t be more than one hundred people living in this town year-round, and you think they might all be inside this dimly light pub, crowded around the waxed cedar bar, laughing and smiling with like they’ve not seen each other in eons. Like they’re long lost, disjointed members of the same family.

Well, all most all of them. 

You don’t see the Ranger. The Caribbean blue eyes, brusque moustache and beard, low brim black beanie, all are missing.

Somehow, it doesn’t surprise you. 

He didn’t seem the socializing type.

Still…

You hadn’t expected such a… clipped welcome. 

And you surely hadn’t expected your ferry buddy, the spunky six-year-old girl who talked to you for most of the ride, to be his daughter.

Somehow, that made his cold, distant nature even worse. 

Here’s a man capable of warmth; his smile said, when he scooped his daughter into his arms. Here’s someone you can trust. Someone who is friendly, genuine.

Just not towards you. He was stiff, uncomfortable, and even though the drive to town was fairly short, he barely spoke to you, answering your questions with the shortest syllables possible. 

He was every bit the Ranger you had heard so little about. Every bit the man turned myth.

And handsome. Rugged.

Older.

Your new friend in the backseat was better company than the man you’d be working with for better part of a year, the Ranger who you’re afraid you can’t do it without. Can’t navigate the island or the tides without him, can’t do half the work you needed to do without a partner. The thing his role is supposed to be, when needed. 

Worse was, the provided housing is a duplex, and he’s on the other side, a fact he gritted through his teeth this afternoon when he dropped you off, gesturing to the right side of the house with a callous wave. His front door was as green as the forest. 

The other was black. 

Your boss did warn you. 

She was tactful, cautious. The island itself carries a reputation; one some may be intimated by, but not you. 

Who are you to fear stewards of the land? They are more akin to you than others, after all.

John though, she lamented with a mournful expression, John was different. 

“John is less than pleased about this placement but assures me it won’t be an issue.”

“Less than pleased?” 

“He’s… protective, but he’ll warm up to you in time, I’m sure. A few days, and he’ll be showing you the ropes. Don’t worry.” 

You keep your nose in your beer. When you’re finished, the next one comes immediately, without prompting, and the bartender swoops low, voice heavy in your ear. 

“On the house.” He winks, and the woman to your left slides closer, curiosity wet on her lips between her drink and the question you know is coming. 

“You’re the scientist?” 

“No, the marine biologist. Cetologist, to be specific.” You cut to the quick and she stares at you, rightfully so. You have the good grace to grimace. “Er, sorry. I’m uh… not great with people.”

“That’s alright. Neither are we, really.” She lifts her drink with a cheers, gesturing to the room, and knocks it back. “So, what’s a cetologist?” 

“I study whales.” She nods knowingly.

“Ah. You’re here for the pod.” 

“Well, I’m interested in the humpbacks too, but yes. I’m mostly here to study the residents.” You were only here to study the pod, but you never said no to a whale, no matter notoriety, or size. You might be getting paid to study the residents, but you were going to soak up every second you could on this island. It’s wilderness was protected and almost pristine, an untamed landscape of mountain and sea too great of a call for you to resist.

The woman stares at you, intrigued, thin veil of amusement dancing in her eyes. “We’re happy to have you. You respect us, we’ll respect you.” The bartender pauses, shining a glass with a hole pocked rag, and glares at her. “Most of us will. Can’t say how John’ll take to ya.” 

“Oh, I work on my own mostly.” You lie, giving her a fake smile that feels awful, and she humphs. 

“Well, it was nice to meet you…” she flounders, and you provide your name, letting it settle in the air, others turning to give you a questioning look, like they’ve been waiting for it too, and she grins, repeating it with a handshake. “Skip the shortcuts through the forest at night.” She adds over her shoulder, hopping off the stool and wading into the crowd without another word, leaving you confused. 

Skip the… skip the what? 

“Ignore her.” The bartender hastily reassures you, but the emotion doesn’t touch his eyes, lingering gazes in the room enough to have you swallowing the rest of your beer in haste and beelining out the door. 

The walk to your rental is short, up the street and take a left, then another, until you reach the only house at the top of the hill, a duplex with a sweeping, wide planked front porch. 

The top step creaks beneath your weight. An ember glows in the dark. 

“Jesus chr-“ Your heart slams against your ribs, pulse thundering between your ears.

He’s silent. The cigar illuminates his face, a flicker of brilliant blue, crystal clear and piercing, pinned onto you like a laser. 

“It’s late.” It’s the admonishment of a father, and indignant rage flourishes down your spine. 

“I’m an adult, thanks.” He’s unmoved by your spite. Settled like the cedars that grow at the heart of this place, tall enough to blot out the sun, wide enough to build houses, boats. 

He pulls. The orange cinder burns red, honeyed smoke and mahogany sweetening the air. 

The smoking is attractive. It's intriguing, dangerous, and draws you closer, other foot coming to rest on the top step, tempting fate.

"You shouldn't be out around here late."

"The entire town is down at the bar." You shoot back, still rising in anger, rattling with it. You’re a grown woman, who is this guy to tell you what you can and can’t do?

His jaw flexes, mouth tightening into a straight line, invisible string pulling him taut before he speaks again.

"They live here, know their way around. It's not always safe." The protest builds, words coming quick, rapid-fire, but before you can speak, you lose your voice to a chorus of howls.

Wolves.

[twice-inamillion]

Family Trip

Fluff and Smut (adventure, family time)(teasing, sex, dom Jihyo, cowgirl riding, creampie, talking about breeding)

Chapter 214

2124 Words 

(The first trip as a married couple with Jisoo. Some fluff moment and with a happy ending. 😏)

After your honeymoon, the two of you decide on a family trip with Jisoo. “Are you excited to go on a trip with mommy and daddy?” asks Jihyo. Jisoo nods and smiles. “Okay, then you will need your sweater and your toy.” Jisoo makes her way down the bed, runs to get her sweater and stuffed toy, and puts it inside her backpack. 

You leave just before sunrise for a morning hike to Diamond Head State Park. Jisoo tries her best to make the hike but can only walk on flat surfaces. “Daddy, up,” says Jisoo, who puts her hands up. You put her inside her baby carrier and climb up the stairs to the top of the mountain. When you arrive at the top, the sun rises, “We made it just in time." Jihyo takes a photo of you and Jisoo with the sunrise in the background. 

“Say cheese!”

Jisoo smiles and holds a heart sign, which makes Jihyo laugh. You then take a picture of Jihyo and Jisoo and a family photo of the beautiful background. 

After the hike, the three of you enjoy a light breakfast before going to the second stop of your trip. Jisoo can’t help but be excited to go whale watching. Before arriving in Hawaii, the two of you would read Jisoo, a book on whales, before going to sleep. When she was asked what she wanted to do while she was in Hawaii, she immediately replied, “Big whale, big whale!” 

The three of you arrive at the port and are the first trip of the day. You board the large boat and take your seats inside. The ship departs from the port, as Jisoo is glued to the window trying to look for the whales. 

“Jisoo, there are no whales here.”

“No?” Titling her head in confusion.

“We need to be in the middle of the ocean because the whales are so big,” says Jihyo.

“Whale, big?” 

“Yes, some whales are bigger than this boat.”

“Whale eat?” as she points at the two of you.

“Ohh no, the whale doesn’t eat people. Remember how the book said it eats small creatures called krill.” Jisoo nods her head and stares back at the window. 

About an hour into the boat ride, there is an announcement that there has been a site of a pod of whales nearby. Jisoo’s ear perks up and asks you to go outside.

The three of you head out and walk to where the captain points. Jihyo takes out a pair of binoculars for the two of you to use. It doesn’t take long before you get a glimpse of the whale’s fin, “Look, Jisoo, it's right in front of you.” Jisoo lifts her binoculars and sees the whale showing its head, “ama, whale!”

Jisoo turns to Jihyo and points out, “Look, whale!” You hand over the binoculars to Jihyo, “You’re right; good job, Jisoo, you found the whale.” Jisoo can’t help but feel proud of her finding.

The captain steers the boat closer to where the whale was sighted. “Right before us is a humpback whale in its feeding ground. One of our deckhands communicated with us that they have also caught sight of a calf, so we need to be extra careful.”

“Did you hear that Jisoo? The captain said that they saw a calf, a baby whale.”

“Baby whale? Jisoo?” pointing at herself. 

Jihyo responds, “Yes, a baby just like Jisoo.”

“I see, baby.”

“Ohh, we need to be extra careful. We don’t want to scare the calf away.” 

The three of you wait for a few minutes until the water bubbles up. The whale jumps out of the water and crashes down, causing a huge splash. Jisoo points and laughs out loud, “Whale jump, whale jump!” 

Before the whale came out, Jihyo took out her phone to record Jisoo’s reaction. She knew Jisoo would go crazy if the whale came out jumping from the water. Jisoo moves her hands excitedly as the whale leaps from the water. Jihyo can’t believe she caught this beautiful moment. 

The whale stays afloat for a few minutes, eating the large amount of krill that swarms on the surface. Out of nowhere, Jisoo sees the calf pop its head, “Baby, baby!”

“You’re right; the baby saw you and wanted to say hi.”

“Baby, hi?”

“Yes, baby, wanted to say hi to Jisoo.”

Jisoo laughs, “Hug, baby!”

“Ohh, you can’t hug the baby; it's too big. Maybe when you’re older, you can swim with it.” 

After going back and forth, Jisoo is convinced and understands that she can not hug the calf.

The boat arrives at the port, and the three of you give your thanks to the captain. “Bye-bye!” Jisoo turns around to Jihyo, says, “Jisoo hungry,” and rubs her belly.

You stop at a local Hawaiian shop and get some food before heading to the beach. When you arrive at the beach, Jihyo walks to a good spot with some shade as you carry your belongings. Jisoo watches and eats her pineapple ice cream and shouts, “Apa, tent!” rushing you to hurry with setting up the tent. “Okay, okay, I got it.”

After setting up the tent, you all enjoy some ice cream and food as you watch the waves crash to the shore. Jisoo extends her arms, “Ama, boobs, boobs!” Jisoo crawls to her mother and lifts up her shirt, exposing her bra. “Okay, okay, you want to drink mommy’s milk,” as she releases her breasts from her bra. 

Jisoo immediately positions her head and attaches her mouth to Jihyo’s nipple. She starts to suck on Jihyo’s breast aggressively, causing her to moan slightly. You can’t help but laugh at Jihyo for her sudden reaction. She throws her bra, which hits your face. Jihyo laughs at you, but instead, you take her bra and give it a sniff, to which she says, “Babe, you’re gross.” 

“Haha, you know we’ve done worse,” giving her a smirk.

“Haha, that’s true.” 

After a few minutes of breastfeeding, Jisoo falls asleep, attached to her mother’s breast. Jihyo places her on the floor of the tent and covers Jisoo with her blanket. “Aww, she looks cute, doesn’t she.” 

Suddenly, she feels your head on her lap, and you say, “Mommy, I’m hungry too,” giving her a pair of puppy dog eyes. She gives you an annoyed face before you attach your mouth to her breast. You slowly begin to suckle on her nipple, causing her to release a slow moan, “Ahh… babe. That feels nice.” You increase the pace of your sucking, which increases her cry. She can feel herself getting wet but then hears Jisoo whine in her sleep, making her release her nipple from your mouth.

 “Why did you stop?”

“She’s going to wake up.” 

“Dang, okay,” you pout.

The two of you instead lay next to Jisoo and talk about the past few days. The ups and downs and what is on the schedule for the next few weeks. She also asks you for an update on the house, which there is some process but is still a few months away from completion. Eventually, she falls asleep like Jisoo, and you decide to enjoy your time at this very moment.

You return to the house and have a light dinner before showering. Jihyo decides to bathe with Jisoo as you clean up the kitchen and get your items ready for tomorrow. After you are finished, you hop into the shower as Jihyo gets Jisoo ready for bed. With the water muffling any outside noise, you clear your head and enjoy your time alone. 

Done with your shower, you see Jihyo covering Jisoo with her blanket. “She fell asleep so fast; she must have been so tired.”

“We did wake up earlier than usual. She didn’t even complain one bit  throughout the day.”

“Our baby is growing up,” says Jihyo with a warm smile.”

“You’re right; our baby is growing up so fast.”

Jihyo then turns around and touches your chest, “Let’s continue where we left off.” She stares at you with lustful eyes and pushes you onto the couch.

“Wait… what are you doing?”

“I said I want to continue where we left off.”

“But Jisoo is here.”

“So, she’s asleep, and I don’t think she’ll wake up until tomorrow.” She undoes your towel and pulls out your limp cock, and gives it a few strokes. Jihyo lifts her oversized shirt and aligns your cock to her entrance, slowly lowering herself into your cock, causing her to moan.

With your cock between her walls, she slowly rides you. You can feel your core burning up and your cock throbbing due to her tightness. 

She whispers in your ear, “I can feel your cock getting bigger inside of me,” which makes you immediately go to full size. Now, at full length, she increases the pace as she rides you like one of her toys. 

You try not to make any noise and not wake up Jisoo, and you bite your lip and try your hardest not to make a sound. The only sound in the room is of flesh slapping against each other as Jihyo rides you like a mating bull. 

You don’t want to be the only one nude, so you lift up Jihyo’s oversized shirt and toss it on the floor. With your hands on her ass, she begins to thrust harder, causing your thighs to turn red. To what seems like thirty minutes of pure riding, Jihyo knows you are at your limit. She comes closer to your ear and whispers, “I know you’re about to cum just like I am. So where do you want to shoot it? Inside or outside?”

It’s a no-brainer, and respond, “You know the only choice is inside.” 

“Why did I even ask? You’re always one to get a girl dirty right after they get cleaned.”

“What can I say? I like marking my girls with my seed.”

Teasing you, she says, “And what do you like doing to your girls with your seed?”

“I like breeding them.”

“Ohh, you like breeding us?”

“Yes, just like right now. I want to breed you all night and give our daughter another sibling.”

“If you want to, do it.”

“Really?”

“No. You know how busy we are with the tour.”

“Fuck, you’re right.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can't just fuck me here and there. I’m on the pill, so you can cum inside of me as much as you want.”

“You really know how to make a guy happy, huh.”

“I know you like the back of my hand. I know you’re about to burst at any moment, so let me give you a push,” and lifts herself once more before slamming herself with full force. 

Both of your floodgates burst wide open, releasing your orgasms at once. Her love juice and your thick cum collide with one another, mixing into something new. Jihyo spasms as she rides her orgasm, tightening her walls around your cock and milking you of all you’re worth. 

After a few minutes, she regains her composure and asks you to bring her to bed. “You don’t want to clean yourself first?”

“No, why would I? I love the feeling of hot baby batter in my tummy.” You can't help but get turned on again. “I see our little friend here is still full of energy. How about you go clean up the mess, and if you’re still hard, I’ll let you sleep with your cock inside of me.” 

You try your best to clean yourself and the mess before going to bed. Luckily, your friend didn’t disappoint and stood tall and proud the whole time. 

You climb onto the bed slowly, not to wake Jisoo from her sleep. Jihyo turns around and whispers, "I guess you’re still hard. A promise is a promise," and turns around with her back facing you. She sticks her but out, teasing you as you get closer to her. She grabs your hard cock and aligns it to her entrance before taking in the first two inches of your meat. “It’s in, you can put in the rest.” 

You grab her waist and shove your whole length inside her womb, causing her to moan slowly. Jihyo, in a spooning position with you, grinds herself onto you and makes sure that every inch of “you” is warm. She slowly falls asleep with your embrace and her baby next to her. 

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Word List: Animals

for your next poem/story (pt. 2)

Accentor - a small Eurasian songbird with generally drab-colored plumage

Brach - a female hound

Culver - a dove or pigeon

Diprotodon - a monotypic genus of Australian Pleistocene herbivorous marsupials related to the kangaroos, resembling a rhinoceros in size, and walking on four legs

Eyas - an unfledged bird, specifically: a nestling hawk

Falanouc - (or Falanaka) a viverrine mammal, Eupleres goudotii, of Madagascar closely related to the Asiatic palm civet

Gerenuk - a large-eyed antelope (Litocranius walleri) of eastern Africa with a long neck and limbs

Huemul - (or Guemal) either of two small South American deer, Hippocamelus bisulcus and H. antisiensis, having simple forked antlers

'I'iwi - Hawaiian honeycreeper (Vestiaria coccinea) with chiefly bright vermilion plumage formerly used in making feather cloaks

Jerboa - any of several social nocturnal jumping rodents (family Dipodidae) of arid parts of Asia and northern Africa having a long tail and long hind legs

Kinkajou - a nocturnal arboreal omnivorous mammal (Potos flavus) found from Mexico to South America that is related to the raccoon and has a long prehensile tail, large eyes, and yellowish brown fur

Leveret - a hare in its first year

Murre - any of a genus (Uria) of black-and-white alcids, especially: a common seabird (U. aalge) of northern seas

Nyala - an antelope (Tragelaphus angasii) of southeastern Africa with vertical white stripes on the sides of the body, a dorsal crest of hair from the neck to the base of the tail, and in the male shaggy black hair along the underside; also: a related antelope (T. buxtoni) of Ethiopia

Olm - an elongated European cave-dwelling aquatic salamander (Proteus anguinus) with permanent external gills and small eyes covered by the skin

Pudu - a small reddish deer (Pudu pudu) of the Chilean Andes having simple antlers resembling spikes and standing only 12 or 13 inches high

Quarrion - cockatiel (i.e., a crested small gray Australian parrot, Nymphicus hollandicus, with a yellow head)

Rorqual - any of a family (Balaenopteridae) of large baleen whales that have relatively small heads, short, broad plates of baleen, and the skin of the throat marked with deep longitudinal furrows and that include the blue whale, humpback whale, minke whale, fin whale, and sei whale

Spatangid - a sea urchin of the suborder Spatangina; heart urchin

Turaco - any of a family (Musophagidae) of typically crested African birds that are related to the cuckoos and have a long tail, a short stout often colored bill, and red wing feathers

Urubu - black vulture (i.e., an American vulture, Coragyps atratus, that is smaller than the turkey buzzard and heavier in flight)

Vicuña - a long-necked mammal (Lama vicugna synonym Vicugna vicugna) of the Andes from Peru to Argentina that is related to but somewhat smaller than the guanaco, has a light brown woolly coat that is paler below, is considered to the be ancestor of the alpaca, and has been historically hunted for its wool and meat

Widgeon - any of several freshwater ducks (genus Mareca)

Xiphosura - an order of arthropods comprising the horseshoe crabs and extinct related forms and usually including only the two recent genera Limulus (synonym Xiphosurus) with representatives along the American coast of the Atlantic and Tachypleus with species along the Asiatic coast of the Pacific

Zokor - a burrowing rodent (Myotalpa aspalax) native to the Altai mountains that resembles a mole rat

More: Word Lists ⚜ Part 1

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

I hope I'm not asking too many questions... but I really love the skywhale trope and wanted to hear your thoughts on them?

i think we need more variety of whales in the sky! seems like more people go for a blue whale or humpback whale design on their sky whales, which is fine because they are very iconic whales and i love the way they look. but how about some beaked or toothed whales? flying orcas? a bowhead? i think a sky whale that looked like a bowhead whale would be just wonderful, look at this thing.

(image description: first is an underwater photo of a bowhead whale's face. the top of its mouth is very narrow while the bottom of it is enormous, like a pelican. there is a white patch at the front of its lower jaw with black spots in a line across it. the second image is a detailed illustration of the whale's whole body, comparing it to the size of an elephant and showing the shape of its fins and tail. the elephant is roughly the size of the whale's lower jaw. end description.)

i love this thing. look at that face. the humpback whale may have longer and prettier fins for that sky whale aesthetic, but the bowhead's face shape is delightful. more diversity in sky whale designs!

but of course, the more interesting thought is how exactly to make such an enormous vertebrate work as a flying animal. where is it going? what does it eat? what happens when it dies?

it would be more realistic for sky whales to be smaller, but when people think of sky whales, they want the huge size! it's a fantasy, we want the epic huge flying creatures with their strange singing calls swimming through the clouds. so i'm not going to talk about the more logical small flying whales that go around in flocks to hunt birds (though the idea of smaller flying dolphins is also delightful!) I'm going to just talk about big slow baleen sky whales, the most iconic and desired of all sky whales.

step one: how the heck are these things in the air. it's easier to explain how a dragon can fly, they have big powerful wings. how do whales fly? I think the clearest answer is that they have some form of massive internal air sac full of lifting gas. real life oceanic whales are full of blubber, but maybe sky whales don't have as much blubber and get a lot of their size from their big air sacs instead.

lifting gas is just an umbrella term for any gases that are lighter than the standard atmospheric air. this includes heated atmospheric air, hydrogen, helium, coal gas, ammonia, and methane. (according to wikipedia) and with that list I think we've found our answer. whales are actually even-toed ungulates like cows. they could easily produce a lot of methane with the right diet. they'd just keep it in their air sacs instead of releasing it as a waste material! and for the best production of methane, these sky whales should have multi-chambered stomachs.

This does mean they're probably going to eat a lot of plant matter! so imagine them swooping low to take huge mouthfuls of tree tops! terrifying! maybe their baleen is structured to scrape the leaves off the branches. Maybe they swoop down to kelp forests in the ocean and take huge mouthfuls of that as well. any critters they happen to consume in the process are just bonus snacks full of protein. they likely also consume large flocks of small birds on the go, and probably clouds of flying insects too! locust swarms, for example. watch out for the low flying whales! I think they'd be slow like blimps and mostly use their tails and fins to steer and swoop down for food. they probably also rub themselves on tree branches or mountain sides to scratch their itches. I bet they'd have a symbiosis with many bird species that pick off their parasites.

like cow manure, sky whale dung could be a great source of fertilizer. best to avoid the usual paths of migrating sky whales so you don't end up dead by having giant poop clumps fall on you, but once it's hit the ground, that's free whale manure for every farmer in the area. the lands along the paths of migrating sky whales are probably very fertile, which also serves the whales, since they'll be eating the leafy tree tops! and when a whale dies, falling to the ground, the resulting small earthquake would certainly be startling, and both the impact and the rot process would cause a lot of damage to the surrounding land.

things are not immediately fertilized when a corpse rots. it takes a while! the rot causes more harm at first and then starts to nourish the ground later.

and dead bodies tend to bloat with gases and i have already established that these whales are full of methane. a lot of it would be released at death anyway, and i don't think the whale would drop immediately. or perhaps they fly lower in their old age and just crash land and die slowly. either way, these things are huge and full of methane and then they bloat. which means they might also explode spontaneously as part of the decay process. the air for miles around is going to be so nasty. but i think if you live in sky whale territory, you're just going to have to get used to the stink, because the manure that falls on a more regular basis is also going to be so so stinky.

like real world whale falls, sky whale falls will attract absolutely every carnivorous creature in the area. anything that eats meat will follow that awful stench right to the source and start gnawing away at the thick skin. people will have the easiest time, since they have tools for this beyond just their teeth and claws. the faster the whale is cut open, the less likely there will be an explosive bloat stage, so I'm sure the culture of the region would have some superstitions about leaving a dead whale lying too long. if you don't go harvest that bounty, it will explode and you never know where those chunks will land.

and then when there's only bones, people use em for building all sorts of things! the societies that exist in the paths of sky whales would be very cool to see.

that turned into a ramble and I haven't even designed a sky whale lol. lemme doodle one real quick.

(image description: a sketch of a sky whale, which resembles the aforementioned bow whale, swooping down to munch on trees in a forest. end description.)

[beni75]

Photos and texts: @thomaspeschak

1-. A curious gray whale exhales almost directly into my camera

2-. A curious juvenile gray whale vigorously exhales and speeds past my camera in Mexico's San Ignacio Lagoon

3-. A Humpback whales breaches in the North Pacific Ocean off Canada's Great Bear Rainforest

4-. A dusky shark charges through a baitball of sardines

5-. y 6-. A whale sharks swins in shallow water in La Paz Bay, Baja California Sur

7-. A reef manta ray feeds on a plankton patch by barrel rolling over and over again in the same spot, not unlike a puppy chasings its own tail

8-. A reef manta ray feeds along the drop off at D'Arros Island an St. Joseph Atoll. Seychelles

9-. African peguins

10-. A endemic Socotra cormorant comes in to land on a roosting rock deep within the Fjords of Oman's Musandam Peninsula (2012)

11-. African peguins shelter and nest in decaying building long abandoned b the guano industry on Namibia's Halifax Island

12-. At Aldabra atoll green sea turtles often rest for hours on the sandy seabed between coral outcrops

13-. Blacktip reef sharks inspect the hull of our boat on Aldabra's tidal flats. Seychelles

14-. Blacktip reef sharks patrol the drop off where D'Arros Island's coral reef descendes into deeper water

15-. Cape fur seals surf Altantic swell in the Table Mountain Marine Protected Area

16-. Cape Gannet colony on Bird island bathed by lightening and the beam of the lighthouse

17-. The hunt begins at dusk and continuous deep into the night

18-. A curious gray whale swins upside down beneath our boat in Mexico's San Ignacio Lagoon

19-. A venomous lionfish hunts baitfish in Mozambique's Ponta do Ouro marine reserve, by @thomaspeschak

20-. A salmon leaps high into the air to clear a raging waterfall

21-. A wild rocky point just out into the North Pacific Ocean

22-. A large potato grouper hunts amongst schools of baitfish that seasonally drape southern Mozambique's reefs

23-. Dolphins of Indo pacific

[dreadfutures]

Great Adult Presents Between Adult Friends

a list inspired by gifts I've given or been asked for or want, but not including crafts and art you make yourself because those are more obviously treasures. this list is for "oh I have no idea what to gift/make someone"

Special Interest Magazines - from Star Trek, Astronomy, to SpecLit, and beyond

Little Trinkets - for their desks at work/elsewhere, things they can look at and think of you. candles in fun shapes! weather crystals! little carved figurines!

Calendars - desk and wall calendars with art on subjects they're interested in, like National Parks or Seasons or Alphonse Mucha or anything

Food Gift Baskets - either fresh season fruit like Harry & David Pears or non perishable things like assorted hot chocolates to try, or hot sauces, or cheeses. I like this strat better than gift carding.

Comfort Items - Blankets for display and for outside and for inside comfort, pillows both decorative and practical, hot water bottles, fluffy robes. How likely is someone gonna buy it for themselves? but they'll appreciate having it!

Museum Memberships. They can always choose not to renew in the coming year, but a museum membership often gives them complimentary / reciprocal free admission to other museums within the same association. It also often lets them take +1's! A single one time gift can turn into a whole year of goodness :) AND this goes for BOTANICAL GARDENS AND AQUARIUMS AND ZOOS TOO.

A Book That Was Important To You Sometime - Even if I don't end up reading it or liking it I am honored and happy to have a book someone cared about in my collection, especially if they tell me why. I will think of them always and it feels like a piece of them!

Special Editions of things they already have - a special edition book or album or game case or anything will be a beautiful addition even if I've already read/consumed that media.

These are great for semi-surprise gifts, where you don't just go and ask "Hey, I'm getting you something, what do you like."

As for other gifts where you aren't so concerned with surprise, since they may require some coordinating:

A Large Version of Their Favorite Scent (perfume, cologne)

An Appointment at a Cat Cafe

Tickets to a Museum/Aquarium "After Dark" Event

Tickets to a Museum/Gallery Special Exhibition

An Intro Class for a Specialty Hobby (like book binding, cooking, ceramics)

A Piece of Art from a Local Artist they would never find elsewhere (photographers, 2d media artists, sculptors, anything) (safe subjects include: birds, fields, beaches, mountains, urban art specific to their home; more adventurous subjects and depictions depending on how well you know their style; safe size is small like a post card or 8x11", but for something you're confident in, bigger is special! aluminum prints are very nice)

COOKBOOKS. Classic cookbooks like Better Homes & Gardens or good French cooking staples, or niche books like for a specific ethnic cuisine, or for a specific type of food like ramen, or cookbooks by their favorite celebrity

Art Book for a Favorite Movie/Series.

Designer Measuring Cups/Bowls. Upgrade them from the plain plastic/glass/metal that they use. There are amazing porcelain/china designs for even things like measuring SPOONS (this was a hit with my sister who bakes - and that set came with a matching apron)

Resin Lamps. From humpback whales, cloud scapes, to Pokemon, there are beautiful resin displays that light up and are more unique than just a figurine.

[thorsenmark]

Blue Skies Under the Light of a Late Morning Sun (Blue Ridge Parkway) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at Humpback Rocks Visitors Center along the Blue Ridge Parkway with a view looking up and to the west at trees that seemingly came together above me. The rest was closing down a little on the aperture, so that I could bring out something of a starburst look, but also use the trees to dim the brightness of the sun as it shined above. I definitely didn't want to blow any highlights, but I also wanted to be able to pull out some of the colors present in shadows, especially with the tree trunks and underside of the leaves.

[mysticstronomy]

WHAT IS BEYOND THE EDGE OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM??

Blog#383

Wednesday, March 13th, 2024.

Welcome back,

Earth is the sixth planet from the edge of the solar system, meaning we're none too near this cold and inhospitable frontier. But we've sent out various spacecraft over the years, so do we have any idea what the edge of the solar system looks like?

The answer is yes, but it's a work in progress. One of the latest developments, a 3D map of the solar system's edge that took 13 years to create, revealed a few more secrets about this mysterious boundary, called the outer heliosphere.

The outer heliosphere marks the region of space where the solar wind, or the stream of charged particles emitted from the sun, is "deflected and draped back" by the interstellar radiation that permeates the empty space beyond the solar system, said Dan Reisenfeld, a space science researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and head of the team that conducted the research on the 3D map. In other words, solar wind and interstellar particles meet and form a boundary at the far reaches of the solar system.

Earthlings first got a glimpse of the solar system's outer edge in 2012, when Voyager I, a NASA spacecraft that launched in 1977, crossed into interstellar space, according to NASA. Voyager 2 was not far behind, repeating the feat in 2018. Equipped with golden records full of Bach, Louis Armstrong and humpback whale songs, in addition to their scientific instruments, Voyagers 1 and 2 reported a sudden dropoff in solar particles and a substantial increase in galactic radiation when they left the solar system, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

The new 3D map reveals even more about the heliosphere. The inner layer — where the sun and its planets are nestled — is roughly spherical and is thought to extend roughly 90 astronomical units (AU) in all directions. (One AU is the average distance between Earth and the sun, about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers.) The outer layer is much less symmetrical. In one direction — that in which the ever-moving sun plows through the space in front of it, encountering cosmic radiation — the outer heliosphere extends about 110 AU, but in the opposite direction, it's much longer, at least 350 AU, according to Reisenfeld.

That lack of symmetry comes from the sun's movement through the Milky Way, as it experiences friction with the galactic radiation in front of it and clears out a space in its wake. "There's a lot of plasma [charged particles] in the interstellar medium, and… the inner heliosphere, which is pretty round, is an obstacle in this stream of plasma which is flowing past it," Reisenfeld told Live Science. "It has the same effect as water going around a rock in a stream," with a rush of water crashing into the rock in front and a sheltered calm behind it.

Measurements for the 3D map were gathered using the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), which was launched in 2008 and is "the size of a bus tire," according to NASA. It's pronounced "like the animal," Reisenfeld said, referring to the ibex mountain goats known for their gravity-defying treks up alpine cliffs. But the animal that IBEX really takes after is the bat.

Many bats hunt insects, such as mosquitoes, by emitting a pulse of sound and using the time delay of the echo to figure out the distance to their prey. Likewise, IBEX detects solar-wind particles that have bounced back from the edges of the solar system, allowing Reisenfeld and his colleagues to determine the distances involved by measuring how long their round trip took.

"The sun will send out a pulse … and then we passively wait for a return signal from the outer heliosphere, and we use that time delay to determine where the outer heliosphere must be," Reisenfeld explained.

As the sun circles the outer rim of the Milky Way, the solar wind keeps cosmic radiation at bay, forming a protective bubble. This is good for us, since "that radiation can damage spacecraft and it can be a health hazard for astronauts," Reisenfeld said.

Originally published on www.livescience.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, March 16th, 2024)

"WHAT IF WE ARE TRULY ALONE IN THIS UNIVERSE??"

[firenati0n]

hi friends!!!!! thank you all for the Sunday tags! 🤍🤍 I'm in Alaska with shitty internet but I love y'all...so here are some pictures from the Roop Adventures

Saw THREE types of whale!!! Orca, finback, and humpback. Did I cry? Who knows.

(yes)

MOUNTAINS ARE SO FUCKING METAL LIKE THEY'RE SO BIG AND INSANE

sea lions and glaciers and open water oh man the air was CRISP AS FUCK

calling this fic research for proposal au even though Alex and Henry never step foot in Alaska but who cares

SEE Y'ALL NEXT WEEK 💕💕💕💕💕

xoxo roop

[nmnomad]

The humpback figure with a handprint above its head is likely the Humpback God Ghaan'ask'idii, known for his trademark hump that radiates eagle feathers. The hump is thought to contain seeds and mist. He is portrayed as a deified mountain sheep (note the horns)."