#Mohs hardness scale

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Throwback Thursday!

FRIEDRICH MOHS

In January of 1773. A man by the name of Carl Friedrich Christian Mohs was born in Germany. He studied chemistry, math and physics at the University of Halle. He became a member of the Mining Academy in 1798.

In 1801, he became a foreman for a mine and in 1802, he moved to Austria to identify minerals in a private collection. Thisbwas the beginning of hia biggest achievement yet. In 1835, he began to classify minerals by their physical characteristics, something that was at odds with the current chemical systematics.

However, ancient peoples had measured the hardness of minerals such as diamond scratches quartz therefore it is harder. This became the basis for MOHS HARDNESS SCALE and it is still used today.

[nartothelar]

Every now and then when you draw Emmet with one of his Pokemon you also show them have a nickname.

If it isn't too much to ask for I'd like to see all the nicknames you came up with for the twins Pokemon.

So far, I think they're adorable!

so many names!!

[ricky-mortis]

Hatchetfield @femslashfortnight Day 2: Retro

[octavianacidicbreastmilk]

'im about as hard as flourite right now :/' is how i respond these days when my imaginary taste dick is above limp but not quite hard, hence the thing im talking about is mid

[sxnshxnxxnddxxsxxs]

something that really pisses me off about twilight (after all that racism) is just how little effort SM put into research (unless of course it was coming up with historically accurate confederate names) because she got so close to doing something so cool.

like everyone knows that the twilight vampires aren’t really vampires in the normal sense the sparkles, the lack of fangs, that one post saying that they’re much closer to fay than traditional vampires.

but something else about the twilight vampires is that they are constantly being described as stone-like and being compared to marble which is why they’re so indestructible. and the cursed knowledge that vampires kissing sounds like teacups clinking against each other from bree tanner.

now i’ll admit it’s been over a decade since i last actually sat down and read any of the books BUT to my knowledge (feel free to come correct me) there is no explanation for how vampires actually become like living statues aside from it being from vampire venom.

so what if they were literally living stone? like what if the way these vampires had their bodies preserved through time is the transformation calcifying their bodies. because soft tissue can become calcified the famous example being mary shelley keeping her husband’s calcified heart.

and to take it a step further they’re bodies being covered in a layer of calcite would account for the sparkling.

[forgetmenautical]

[thesuntookgoodcareofme]

Got really happy searching types of minerals on my school computer today 👍would recommend

[emmamushi]

Another level of disconnect I’ve seen is how people discuss the buyers of poached items.

Just like with poaching, it’s important to understand the underlying pressures in order to stop the problem, and a lot of people fail at this by chalking it up to individual greed and callousness instead of considering the cultural pressures at play.

For example, I used to work in a job related to combatting the illegal ivory trade, and when I told people what I did for work, I’d often get some xenophobic response like “Omg why do rich people in China need to show off their wealth by owning dead elephant body parts?!”

When someone said something like this, I’d eye their left hand to see if they were wearing a wedding or engagement ring, then say “Hey, is that a real diamond?” (or “Is your partner’s ring diamond?”)

Most people would answer yes - that they or their partner owned (or expected to eventually own) a diamond ring.

I’d follow this up by asking if they’d ever consider owning/proposing with a non-diamond or lab-grown diamond. After all, most diamonds are unethically sourced, and many diamond alternatives are just as strong, beautiful, or even indistinguishable from diamonds (not to mention way cheaper!)

“Oh, I would never! It’s just not the same as having an authentic diamond!”

Bingo. There it is! That’s the same reason people justify buying authentic ivory instead of buying fake ivory or other cultural signifiers of wealth.

The same logic applies to many of the components in our electronics, but you don’t see many people batting an eye when buying the newest iPhone. Human workers are treated deplorably in the metal mining and sweatshop industries, but it’s easy to disconnect yourself from your impact on the world when you really want something.

You are not immune from propaganda strong societal pressures.

I know Tumblr loves a villain. But we can’t approach every issue like it’s 1792 and we’re tired of the French Monarchy. When combatting widespread issues like poaching, if you actually want to reduce the harm being done, you need to implement effective policies, and this requires putting moral judgements aside and acknowledging the humanity of the people taking part in the harm.

I saw this post and idk it made me feel some type of way. I may get flack for this but idc I feel it must be said. Poaching is a lot more nuanced than “bad people kill animals.”

Poaching, especially in Africa, is a byproduct of colonization and poverty. Although poaching existed prior to European colonizers, it was not done at a scale and frequency that would threaten wildlife populations. Poaching exploded under colonial rule where things like ivory, pelts, hunting trophies, and in some cases, land were prized and sought after by European settlers. This led to an initially boom that devastated local animal populations and cause some tribes to become very reliant on poaching as a means of subsistence.

Additionally, due to poverty, people are still being driven to poach animals, even endangered animals because it’s a more profitable way to support oneself and community, and predatory animals can be poached because they threaten and devastate local livestock. Anti-poaching measures rarely take into account the human and economic drive behind poaching. You’re shooting and killing poachers but what about their families and communities that they support? Are those animals in a better place when there more people waiting to hunt them? Anti poaching measures don’t actually care about eliminating poaching, if they did they’d come from the angle of human and economic development and community improvement. Because let’s be real, if those people living in their poor, rural, undeveloped, undereducated*, regions with not many opportunities turn to poaching, it’s not from a moral standpoint, they’re chasing survival.

African governments be corrupt af, keeping all the money for themselves and leaving masses in poverty then erect some anti-poaching laws to please smug westerners as if they aren’t driving people into desperation. And then poaching rings take advantage of this desperation, much like a gang would, and supply them with guns and a promise of a better life. And bam, you have a poaching problem. So long as you have people in desperation, poaching will still be a problem.

Like many social issues; drugs, violence, crime; a closer look and you’ll find that poverty and lack of opportunity are at the bottom of it...

[todays-xkcd]

Buildings constructed from softer materials were damaged by chili pepper impacts to the storm's high Richter-Fujita-Scoville-Mohs hardness rating.

Chilli Tornado Quake [Explained]

Transcript

[Close-up of Cueball, a news anchor, next to an image with a headline above it to the left of him. The image shows of black tornado descending from sky-cover above. It is striking a building that has been damaged near where the tornado hits. Two large chilies can be seen flying through the air in the foreground, with pieces of the building and more chilies flying off further away. Straight beneath the building and going up in the middle of it there is a crack, that divides into three inside the building. The ground is also higher to the right of the point where the crack enters the building. Cueball is speaking which is shown above the image and him.] Headline: Breaking news Cueball: A tornado that struck a chili pepper processing plant during an earthquake was rated 55,000 on the Richter-Fujita-Scoville scale.

[wandering-free-and-queer]

The Mundane Beside the Magical:

You want to learn magic and witchcraft, awesome! Go you! You wanna know what's important though? Learning the mundane at the same time as the magical.

I'm a firm believer in learning as much as you can about the things you're working with. To know a paintbrush, you have to paint. To learn an instrument, you have to play it. Anything you work with is a tool that, in an ideal scenario, will become an extension of yourself. You want to be in tune with your tools, you want to understand them as much as possible. It's learning how the tools respond to your interference. When you know these things inside and out, that, to me, is when you become an expert. Don't just learn the meanings of things, learn the reasons behind the meanings. Look up the etymology of that magic word you saw before you do the spell. Learn the historical uses of that herb and connect that to whatever its correspondence is. Learn why things are the way they are.

You want to learn ocean magic? Learn about the tides while you're at it. Learn how the ocean behaves, understand the sheer power behind the waves, the creatures of the ocean and all of the treasures you can find on the seashore.

Thinking about getting into green craft? Don't just learn about the magical uses of plants, learn about botany, and how to identify plants, understand how plants grow and thrive, and how different plants exist in nature.

Considering animal magic? Learn the Latin name of the species, maybe check out their anatomy while you're at it. Where does this animal find its niche? What does it eat, where does it sleep?

Getting into forest witchcraft? Learn about your local forests and trees. What kinds of forests there are, what preserving a forest can look like. Can you identify any trees of your own? How do different trees propagate?

How about weather magic? Learn meteorology, how to identify storm clouds, what atmospheric pressure does. Start to observe changes in the weather daily, how weather affects the wildlife around you.

Cosmic witchcraft more your vibe? Learn a little about space, study a map of the stars, learn the constellations in your night sky. Branch off into learning astronomy and cosmology, learn about planetary systems other than our own. If you want to keep it basic, learn the time it takes each planet to complete a rotation and revolution.

Crystals seem to be up your alley? Don't stop at the metaphysical properties, learn their scientific properties as well. Where can these crystals be mined? How rare are they? Can you tell the difference between imitations and the real deal? What's their number on the Mohs hardness scale?

Whatever you want to learn, branch out further than the magical. The mundane is just as, if not more important.

~Wander

[moon--meeks]

hello i have the geology flavor of autism an am so so normal about honkai star rail an have not stoped thinking about the myriad celestia trailer so im going to make a thread of fun facts about the gems/minerals each of the stone hearts are named after topaz: ❥ topaz is naturally colorless but gets its color from elemental impurites ❥ the word topaz comes from the greek word Τοπαζος (topazos) ❥topaz is most commonly used in jewelry ❥ its the state gemstone of Utah! Aventurine: ❥ Aventurine is a form of quartzite ❥ the word Aventurine comes from the italian word a ventura meaning by chance ❥ its a mineral! not a gem! ❥ green aventurine is the most common Jade: ❥ Jade is actually the common term two diffrent minerals, nephrite an jadeite. ❥ nephrite is usually darker than jadeite due to it haveing more amphibole an jadeite having more pyroxene ❥ the word jade comes from the french l'ejade meaning kidney area Sugilite: ❥ imma be honest i havent heard of this mineral before the trailer droped an thats probably because its very new as it was discovered in 1944! ❥ sugilite was discovered by Kenichi Sugi who it was named after ❥ most sugilite is purple or pink Agate: ❥ Agate is the common term for the banded variety of chalcedony ❥ the word comes from the ancient greek word for the dirllo river, Achates where it is said to first be discovered ❥ Agate is formed from lava an volcanic rocks Pearl: ❥Pearl is not a mineral as it comes from living creatures making it an organic material ❥ pearls are made of the same thing shells (an tums!), calcium carbonate ❥ natural pearls were most commonly found in the persian gulf Sapphire: ❥ Sapphire is the blue variety of corundum, the second hardest mineral on the mohs hardness scale ❥ the word comes from the greek word σάπφειρος (sappheiros) but back then was talking about lapis lazuli ❥ Sapphire is one of the minerals used on sand paper! Amber: ❥ not a mineral, it is fossilized tree resin so it is organic material ❥ 90% of the worlds Amber is located in Lithuania ❥ the word comes from the arabic word anbar Opal: ❥ Opal is a mineraloid because its naturally occuring but doesnt have the crystaline structure of other minerals ❥ the word opal comes from the sanskirt word upala meaning jewel ❥ Opal is the national gemstone of australia Obsidian: ❥ Obsidian is classified as a rock since it is formed rapidly cooling lava ❥ this baby is VERY sharp it was used in paleolithic times to make cutting an hunting blades and was used as surgical tools ❥ the word comes from the latin lapis obsidianus

[wafflesex]

Because I'm a massive nerd: have some character analysis involving gem language and the gems the Leech twins are named after.

Fluorite is a precious stone named after the Latin word “flux” which means “continuous change.” It is associated with growth: removing negative energy, promoting positivity, and increasing self-confidence.

When cleansing the body from stress, fluorite primarily protects the intellect. It promotes concentration, memory retention, and can be used as a learning aid or for making big decisions. Green fluorite is especially good for this.

While fluorite’s namesake refers to spontaneity, geologists consider it a stable, predictable gem used to measure the hardness of other gems and minerals on the Mohs scale. Its strength is a reliable factor in determining how resistant other minerals are. In other words: fluorite helps you discover your true limits and potentials.

Besides aiding the mind, fluorite energizes as well as grounds the heart in "the now," especially during moments of high anxiety. Not to say it disregards the past and the future; it just prefers to work on who you are at present, recognizing you as an ever-changing, inevitable, unstoppable force in the universe. It promotes compassion towards oneself and encourages one to be the best they can be by opening their heart to fun and love instead of embracing past trauma.

In this sense, fluorite is wonderful for conducting work on your inner child, and is especially responsive to younger people (or those young-at-heart).

A softer mineral, true fluorite tends to bear many natural imperfections on its surface. Some may attribute this to recklessness, hyperactivity, or immaturity. But beneath its scuffs and rough edges, fluorite is a colorful, hearty stone overflowing with positivity… that even glows under ultraviolet light! What a funky little guy.

Jadeite is a highly prized gem that promises safety and balance in one’s life. Like fluorite, it is also a cleansing stone which relies on a more mature approach to turning negative energy into self-sufficient thoughts and behaviors. However, though beautiful and reliable, jade is cold-to-the-touch, and when stowed away or left unused, can grow incredibly brittle. Therefore, it insists upon being used frequently, if not all the time.

Many believe jade jewelry should be worn for one's entire lifetime, as removing it may invite eternal bad luck.

Only diamond can be used to carve jadeite, the strongest natural stone in the world. Measuring in at around 7 on the Mohs scale, it doesn’t blemish, bend, or break easily. With such reliable strength, it can be carved and manipulated into intricate shapes without fear of shattering.

As jade naturally resists breakage, it is a protective gem that forms a special bond with its owner and is commonly used as a tool for breaking other gems. On the rare occasion it does break, however, jade produces glass-like, razor-sharp edges.

In other words: once broken, handle with caution.

Still, there is a nurturing facet to jade: it promotes vitality, youthfulness, and longevity in people while also extending that power to the earth itself. It was often used in old Chinese rituals to manifest strong crop growth. Today, having a sculpture of a jade bok choy in one’s home is considered a symbol of long life and good health.

Make no mistake: jade would rather be out and about having fun with you and others. Doing so means it can make the most out of the life you have together. Utilizing its gorgeous exterior, it invites long lasting friendships and even romance to those who wear it. People may naturally trust and be drawn to jade wearers as the gem helps create a charmingly positive and tranquil personality.

If you're included, it feels included in turn.

A Chinese saying states “you can put a price on gold, but jade is priceless.” Tied to handling matters of the heart, it is a highly perceptive gem and an invaluable treasure meant to be cherished. Generous, elegant, and fierce, it will serve you well… but only if you do the same for it.

Ok I'm done thank you for coming to my rock talk

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: parrotfish

Which fish hangs out on a mermaid pirate's shoulder and repeats what she says in a high-pitched voice? The parrotfish, of course. Or at least in fiction they should (certainly will in my D&D world). But even in real life, parrotfish are still pretty interesting.

(Image: a common parrotfish (Scarus psittacus) seen from the side in front of rocks and corals. It is a brightly-colored fish, mainly light blue but with patches and stripes of yellow and pink on the fins. Its mouth is open, revealing what appears to be a beak. End ID)

Parrotfish are fish famous for their mouths and eating habits. There are about 90 species known. While they were historically considered their own taxonomic family, they have since been reclassified a subset of the wrasse family and there is still some debate on how to classify them. Most species are on the smaller size, but a few can get very large. The largest species is the green humphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) at 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) and 75 kg (165 lbs) while the smallest species is the bluelip parrotfish (Cryptotomus roseus) reaching 13 cm (5 in). I could not find an average weight for the bluelips. What makes parrotfish really stand out visually is their colors and their mouths. Most species are very brightly colored, with distinct markings and males are usually more brightly colored than females. Their mouths are dominated by what appear to be beaks, which gave them their common name. These beaks are actually made of approximately 1,000 teeth arranged in 15 rows. As the teeth wear out, they drop off and are replaced by the row behind them. The teeth are made of fluorapatite, the second hardest biomineral int the world. To support their hardness, the fluorapatite crystals that make up the teeth are woven together in a structure very similar to chainmail, resulting in very hard teeth that measure in at a 5 on the Mohs scale of hardness. For reference, iron is a 4 and higher numbers are harder. The teeth can also handle 530 tons of pressure. You could put the weight of 200 black rhinos on a tooth and it would be fine. The beaks are powerful enough to bite through rock. Which is what they use it for, but more on that below. Another unusual feature of parrotfish is how they sleep. Some species make their own sleeping bags, which would be adorable if they weren't made of mucus. The mucus is produced using glands in the gills and looks like a transparent bubble. The fish sleeps in the mucus cocoon and when it wakes up, it eats the cocoon. There have been several proposed benefits of the cocoon. It contains chemicals that harm skin parasites while also providing a barrier that keeps new parasites from reaching the fish. It also likely blocks the fish's scent, helping it hide from predators.

(Image: a green humphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) swimming over yellow coral. It is large and mostly a uniform green color, except for the front of its head, which is pink. It has a large, fleshy lump on the top of its head. End ID)

(Image: a close-up of a parrotfish's beak. The top and bottom beaks are divided into two halves, left and right. The beak is bade of small, circular teeth that overlap each other. End ID)

(Image: another common parrotfish seen from the front. It is inside of a mucus cocoon, which appears as a transparent bubble around the fish. Bits of sand dot the cocoon's surface. End ID)

Parrotfish live worldwide, though the majority of species are found in the Indo-Pacific. They live in warm, shallow waters with lots of rocky reefs, especially coral reefs. They use those powerful teeth to eat and what they eat most is algae. There are three main types of feeding behavior: excavating, scraping, and browsing. Excavators bite into rocks to get their food, scrapers crape food off of the surface of the rocks, and browsers go after larger food sources like seagrass and sponges. Some of the larger parrotfish species also make coral a large part of their diet. When they eat, they naturally get rock in their mouths, moreso in excavators. Because their food clings to the rock, spitting the rocks out would deny them food. Instead, parrotfish use pharyngeal teeth set in their throats to grind the rock into sand, which then passes through the digestive tract. When it exists the digestive tract, it is in the form of fine grains of rock. Or to put it another way, parrotfish eat rock and poop sand. A single parrotfish can produce up to 40 kg (88lbs) of sand yearly, and bigger species can produce even more than that. The process of rock being broken down by living things is called bioerosion and parrotfish are one of the most famous sources of bioerosion. The sand they produce can serve as the basis for new growth of coral or other species and helps reinforce nearby islands. In places like Hawai'i, the Caribbean, and the Maldives, it's estimated that up to 80% of the famous white sand is produced by parrotfish and they serve as a major source of incoming earth to support the islands. This makes parrotfish ecosystem engineers. Their eating of algae is also majorly important to their ecosystems. Algae can overgrow and smother delicate ecosystems like coral reefs and seagrass beds and decaying algae draws oxygen out of the water. Parrotfish help the health of their environments by keeping the algae population at healthy levels. Parrotfish also eat seaweeds and sponges that grow much faster than coral and can smother coral reefs. Parrotfish are considered keystone species in many reefs, including the great barrier reef and their population dropping correlates with reduced health of reefs. Damaged reefs tent to have larger parrotfish populations and those populations drop as the reef recovers.

(Image: a group of many parrotfish feeding on coral. They are all the same species and are mostly blue, with yellow heads and stripes on the face. They appear to be biting the the coral. End ID)

Parrotfish are protogynous sequential hermaprodites. This means that all parrotfish are born female and can become male later in life. The transition is usually triggered when there are too many females or not enough males in a location, though in some species any fish that reaches a certain size will become male. Some parrotfish are solitary while others are social. In social species, the social groups consist of a large male and a harem of females that he protects and claims mating rights with. Other males will attempt to fight the male for dominance via headbutting and threat displays and occasionally one of his harem members will become male to challenge him. Males are usually more colorful than females, which they use to woo females, but also puts them at greater risk of predation. If the harem leader dies and is not replaces, one member of the harem will transition to male and replace him. Many species perform courtship dances during nights of the full moon. In non-social species, males will perform displays and fight with each other to attract females. In social species, the dominant male will mate with his harem while smaller males without harems will try to sneakily woo claimed females or sneak in and mate without being noticed. Parrotfish are broadcast spawners. The female releases her eggs into the water and the males releases sperm to fertilize them. The eggs will drift on the current until settling, after which the larvae will hatch. As with most fish species, only a very few of the larvae will reach adulthood.

(Image: a Mediterranean parrotfish (Sparisoma cretense). It is mostly bright red, but with a yellow patch above the tail and a yellow stripe around the eye that runs down to the belly. A large patch behind the eye is blue. End ID)

Thankfully, most parrotfish species are not particularly endangered. The largest threat to them comes from habitat loss as pollution and climate change harms coral reefs. Reintroducing parrotfish to damaged reefs helps them recover. All species are edible, though there is no commercial fishery for them. While parrotfish are capable of delivering powerful bites, there are few reports of humans getting bit. That being said, I found one case where someone had skin on his penis bitten off by a parrotfish. And yes, that link has pictures. Enjoy.

(Image: a blue parrotfish (Scarus coeruleus) looking at the camera. It is a blue fish with darker patches around the eye. Its snout is bulbous and the beak points downward. End ID).

[stargazeraurora]

Ngl that's a banger of a mnemonic device

why is my book on mineralogy dated 1957 using yuri-isms to classify hardness

[writingfromabox]

So at some point, a person left a review talking about the potential of angels having bird like courting rituals, which they meant in the context of dancing. Angels have wings like birds, angels are graceful dancers, it makes sense, and it would be super cute to have these elaborate courtship dances, or even a bower bird set-up where Lucifer feverishly creates a pretty room for Adam. But my brain just dropped the comedic idea of…the penguins that offer their mate a rock.

I just imagine Adam going about his day in Hell, and all of a sudden Lucifer is there and he just hands him a rock while giving him a piercing stare about it. And Adam is in the know about these things, like he knows about the whole rock deal, and I imagine he’s hard to please and Lucifer’s generally on his shit list, so he turns the rock down.

So he looks for more rocks. The search for rocks becomes an obsession. Every time someone sees this man he’s staring at a series of small rocks with utmost concentration. The rock must be perfect. They’re sorted in color and moh’s hardness scale order. He’s made detailed notes on which rocks Adam looks at a millisecond longer. He’s going to find the perfect rock.

But no one else aside from Vaggie knows what the rock stuff is, and she’s not telling anyone because she thinks this is hilarious, so to everyone else it’s just Lucifer trying to hand Adam a series of rocks, increasingly more desperately, and it’s always done with this really weird vibe and heavy gravitas and at some point even Alastor is like wtf is going on with these rocks.

it would only get better when Adam finally accepts a rock and I can imagine it being another perfectly ordinary looking rock, but the fallout is intense. He puts the rock in his pocket and Lucifer bursts into tears and Vaggie loses her mind, (so does Charlie because Vaggie eventually spills to her) and Adam and Lucifer start making out immediately because they’ve been courting for months so now kissing is accepted. But to everyone else it’s the conclusion to a weird rock obsession.

This is the sort of thing I think about when I’m meant to be writing other things.

[beansprean]

MORE ATLANTIS AU...

ty to @gerandor for the persian translations <3

(ID in alt and under cut)

ID: 1. Full body of Guillermo, dressed like Milo Thatch from Atlantis in jodhpurs and a tank top, sitting up against a mossy rock. The crucifix around his neck is tucked to one side under his shirt, and the strap on the opposite side is shrugged off his shoulder to reveal a small cut under his collarbone. Nandor, dressed in an Atlantic version of his usual outfit in purples and blues, leans in over him, one hand braced on Guillermo's knee, to lick the wound. Guillermo is startled at this, turning bright red.

2a. Full body of human Nadja dressed like Audrey in overalls, boots, and a flat cap. She is lounging on the ground, one elbow braced on her knee to lean her knuckles on her cheek. A voice offscreen asks, "What happened to your sister?" Nadja replies casually, "She's 24 and 0 with a shot at the title next month. In a separate bubble is a smal drawing of Dolly with her hair in twin buns, wearing a sports bra and boxing gloves. 2b. Waist up of human Laszlo dressed as Sweet, in a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck. Guillermo, the side of his face visible in the foreground, nervously asks, "...Where did you get your medical license again?" Laszlo looks at him with a confused grin, holding up a shiny metal saw in his hand, and responds, "My what?" 2c. Bust of Colin Robinson, dressed as a mixture of Mole and Vinny in a gray turtleneck, brown fingerless gloves, and leather bomber hat with goggles and a lit flex light, on a striated brown background. He is holding up one finger and explaining, "It's arkose! Appears to be made from mainly quartz and feldspar, so one can presume there was volcanic activity nearby in the last few thousand years that formed it. If the caldera is still present, it's almost certainly dormant based on the strata patterns. In looking at the thickness and statistically likely set of materials we can't currently see, this gorgeous wall of rock has to be at least a 7 on the Mohs hardness scale. Which was introduced in 1812 and is therefore consistent with our 1914 setting." 2d. Repeat. Colin grins, eyes going large and excited as he holds up a lit stick of dynamite and declares, "All this to say, we could dig it, and I would love how time-consuming and tedious it would be, but we're probably better off blowing it up."

3a. Waist up of Guillermo on a foresty background of hanging lichen and persian silk, a satchel slung across his shoulders and an old book titled 'vampyr' clutched to his chest. He has one finger held up in his free hand, looking upwards in concentration as he attempts to speak in persian. He says ما قصد جنگ نداریم, meaning "we don't intend to fight," but mispronounces قصد (ghasd) as کصد (kasd). Nandor, standing in front of him and fiddling his fingers together, grimaces at this and says "Ehhhmm... Perhaps you can just speak in English?" 3b. Full body from behind as they walk away together, Nandor with his hands held loosely behind his back and Guillermo stuffing his book back into his bag. He asks, "Was it that bad?" Nandor replies, "Eeh, I have heard worse. But you speak it through your nose." He then repeats (ghasd) with proper pronunciation, which Guillermo attempts to emulate but pronounces even more incorrectly as گصد (gas).

4a. Waist up of Guillermo on a misty background, soaking wet with his tank top clinging to him and his crucifix shining around his neck. Two shadowy figures at each shoulder are holding his arms behind his back. Guillermo struggles against them and shouts angrily, "This was all for a stupid hat??" 4b. Knees up of human Simon the Devious as Commander Rourke, dressed in a green tank top tucked into khakis. He is holding up the witch's skin hat reverently in both hands and turns his face toward Guillermo with an unhinged grin, eyes wide and fully out of touch with reality. He replies, "Did I plan, fund, and retain international clearance for a long term undersea expedition to lands unknown for the sole purpose of regaining access to Laszlo's personal effects that I might take back what is rightfully mine - this witch's clit of a hat? Yes. Yes, I did." Behind him, Laszlo and Nadja stand in shocked anger and resigned irritation, respectively. /end ID