#Reef Finance

[another-goblin]

After 2.2, many people noticed that the first part of Ratio's "Doctor's Advice" isn't just a vague encouragement (to think about it, that would have been a bit out of character for him); it actually foreshadows certain revelations about the Dreamworld we only discover in 2.2.

It can't be a coincedence that the words "Death" and "Dormancy", capitalized and placed in quotation marks, are the exact words used to refer to that "Death "meme when we discover the truth about it.

It's safe to assume that he knows more about the Dreamworld than he lets on, and that note is partly a hint to Aventurine about what's going on. And it probably helped, judging by the fact that Aventurine somehow ended up in Dreamflux Reef after that.

So first, that really reminded me of what he did on Herta station. He basically slips into his teacher mode: "I'll make sure nobody dies. I won't disrespect your cognitive abilities by just telling you what's going on. I'll just direct you towards the truth because I know you are smart enough to ultimately get there by yourself"

And secondly, if that's true, if he really knows a lot about the Dreamworld, that would finally explain why the IPC sent him as a technical consultant.

The question is, what's in it for him.

At first glance, he doesn't have a horse in that race. I don't think he gives a damn about the IPC's claim on Penacony. He doesn't strike me as a fan of the IPC in general (his philosophy is "people should have access to education," and money never factors into it).

And they can't directly order him to go; the IPC bosses are not his bosses. The Intelligentsia Guild is affiliated with the IPC and probably sponsored by it, but they are not the same. (I had a little theory about the IPC financing his educational projects. So theoretically, they could use it as leverage. But it's an unsopported speculation on my part)

One of his goals could have been to study the Dreamworld, but I don't think that's the case because he could have just visited it as a tourist for that purpose at any time.

So, why would he agree to go on that mission, taking his valuable time away from teaching and potentially risking his life and reputation (by getting involved with the IPC's shady affairs)?

He's only there to help Aventurine. Currently, that's the only explanation.

[drgngutz]

9 - Coast - Luffy x f!soulmate!reader

Chapter 9

Taglist: @mystic60 , @louisechec , @pinksh1t , @violetmatcha , @urbisexualfriend

Masterlist!

Content below the cut <3

It's been quite a couple of days since that night. So, let’s have a little recap: 

First, the crew had managed to run into marines, my first encounter with them so far, and it was terrifying. They shot cannons at us even as we managed to lose them in a fog, the crew relatively at ease while it happened; I didn't understand how they could be so calm. If even one of those cannon balls hit the ship, we would've been sunk to the bottom of the ocean, and yet they were all just laying there... Luffy specifically 'couldn't move because he was too hungry,' and by that point I was ready to have a panic attack. 

In the end, all thanks to Nami's navigational skills, we ended up arriving at an island inhabited by an army of goats that were led by an old man named Zenny. Throughout the four to five days we had stayed there, we had learned that he had used to be a pirate-money-lender, marooned after being chased off with a great fortune. Then, the same marines had somehow managed to track us down, and we found out the sergeant chasing us was actually acting against his higher-ups' orders; he wanted to search out Zenny and steal this alleged fortune, but it was actually eaten by goats, so there wasn’t any fortune to steal. 

It was an insane venture, ending happily with the sergeant being arrested for his crimes, and the rest of the marine ships being destroyed in the reef surrounding the island when they made the move to arrest the crew. Zenny decidedly became a pirate himself, and all of the Strawhat crew remained relatively unharmed throughout the ordeal.

Oh, and during our stay, Zenny taught me how to take inventory, as well as how to easily manage finances. It was a skill that I was genuinely excited to try out with the crew, and was hoping it would be something that I could actually be useful for, since I felt like I had nothing valuable to contribute to the group. So, that was pretty exciting.

There was one recent development that was a bit of a downside, though...

"You don't look much like a pirate, girl." His voice grated from my side, old and weathered over the long years of use. I turned to look at him, confused on how he could tell. Why did it seem like everyone was able to see it so clearly? Was I that out of place? 

"Um... Well, I'm not really. Luffy is my soulmate." I decided to leave out the part that I was from another world entirely. 

"Soulmate?" He blinked widely at me, as if I had just told him the most surprising information in all his life. 

"Yeah." I nodded, and he furrowed his brow.

"Sad for you, girl. He doesn't seem like he cares much for your company," he gestured to the teen, who was stuffing his mouth full of fruit a few feet away, completely oblivious to our conversation about him. My stomach dropped. 

"That's... not true." I weakly denied. Truth be told, Luffy had gone back to his old ways of running around and doing whatever he pleased without so much as looking in my general direction. Every time he ate, did chores, or even before he slept; it was like I had been forgotten about all over again, I was a lost thought in the back of his mind. I had been trying my best, ignoring the discomfort to keep the peace, but if Zenny had noticed then...

"Well, I'm sure you thought it through. You've got some guts to follow a ruffian like him." 

Guts. Maybe that's what I needed. Was I not 'gutsy' enough for him? Was he ignoring me because I wasn't his type? That wasn’t possible, right?

Well, fine. Whatever.

I could ignore him too. 

And so, I had been... Sorta'. 

It was a lot harder than I initially thought; Even as we were chased by marines again two days later, helping Henzo find his long lost friends in Ape's Concert (The Rainbow Mist), and saved the town from a tyrannical governor who was actually the ex-captain who ransacked the town years ago. 

I couldn't help but feel guilty every time he said something and I would ignore him, or avoid his general presence whenever he waltzed on deck. 

What I wanted was for him to see that he was bothering me, that his aloof nature wasn’t cutting it, but it was so conflicting to feel the bond of our souls say otherwise. 

In an effort to hide my ever growing discomfort as each day crawled by, I had begun to work on a project with Robin. It was more for Robin's interest than my own, considering I had already accepted my transition into this world as final; But, after seeing inside of Ape's concert and its many mysterious abilities of warping time and space, Robin decided she would to attempt to formulate a hypothesis on my random appearance from the sky. Assuming that Ape's Concert was some sort of space-time rift, it would be a borderline perfect explanation for how I had managed to make it here practically out of thin air. We added it to the top of the list of possibilities, and I tried my best to help her brainstorm ways in which this might have taken place, despite my very limited knowledge. What she found most helpful from me seemed to be information about my old home, even though I had never once spotted a rainbow mist in my life; other than actual rainbows. 

When the research was done, and I was stricken with boredom, I had to practically beg Nami to let me help with the finances of the ship. It took me several days, and lots of pining, in order for her to finally agree. She may or may not have practically ripped my head off in the process, but in my eyes, it was an absolute win. 

Now I was able to help her keep track of the berries, the stock of the ship, and even the logs of our recent adventures. We came up with some different ways to distribute the money to the crewmates for the appropriate errands and even allocate them some personal spending money, much to Nami's dislike, and I was feeling fairly fulfilled. 

Well, that was until I went back out on deck and was reminded of how stagnant my relationship had become with my soulmate, again. Fulfillment was replaced with frustration, and the loop reset once more (just like the never-ending waters of Ape's concert, funnily enough). 

The exhaustion of course wasn't helping; nightmares seemed more and more frequent, morphing between my old memories of a shitty childhood and current issues regarding my soulmate, and sleep was becoming less and less. I felt awful about it, but there were a few times I had snapped at Nami or Usopp whenever they accidentally (or purposefully) pressed the wrong buttons. At those times, all I could do was apologize before keeping my lips shut tight. The others were picking up on my tenderness, I could tell, but I didn't feel like dragging them further into the drama anymore than they already were. Luffy couldn't tell at all, naturally. 

And that's where we're at right now, to end that rather large summary. We've since left Henzo and friends' company, and are back to sailing on the open seas. Everyone is chatting about the recent adventure, Luffy expressing how fun it was, while the rest of them question how he could possibly have enjoyed something so dangerous and appalling. Zoro is working out somewhere in the background as everyone begins to disperse. 

I feel a light tap on my shoulder, something small bounces off and drops to the floor, crumbling to bits on the floorboards. Confused, I furrow my brow and hold out a hand. Another piece of deteriorating-something falls there, practically turning to ash in my hand. I look upwards, seeing something overshadow the Going Merry, and feel my face pale. 

"Is that rain?" Zoro asks, and I can’t find it in myself to respond. 

"No way, this ain't rain." Sanji disagrees. 

"U-Um..." I whimper out, seeing the massive galleon begin to fall upon us, "It's definitely not rain." 

The rest of the crew look at me, then they look up. 

Silence.

Chaos ensues. The boat lands only a few hundred feet from us, but the broken pieces of it are still falling onto the ship. The waves rock the boat side to side, nearly capsizing us from the force of the collision with the water. 

"Why are things falling out of the sky so much recently?!" Usopp points an accusatory finger at me, scrambling desperately at the boards beneath him while sliding around. 

"How am I supposed to know?!" I shout back at him, clinging to Nami and the mast as I struggle to keep myself in the same spot.

"And I'm not a thing, Usopp! I'm a person!" 

"Why the hell does that matter?!" 

Another wave comes, and Usopp is sent flying into me. The argument is soon forgotten as we clutch each other with a conjoined mission of trying not to fall off the boat. We slam into other crewmates, like Chopper, as we go. 

More jostling, more shouting, and more panicking. Nami is screaming to turn the rudder, Zoro is saying it won't work. Sanji is shouting for Luffy to protect the ship, and Chopper is laying flat on the ground. Robin has managed to plant herself to the boat using her devil fruit. 

Usopp lets go and I'm sent sprawling on my back, sputtering and coughing as bits of debris fall on my face. Something large, but light, falls on top of me as I attempt to recover, and as I clutch it in retaliation I can feel it fall apart in my hands. 

I open my eyes, see the empty eye sockets of a skeleton in front of my face, and feel my stomach drop. It hits me that a literal dead person is laying on top of me, before I begin to screech so loud that I was sure every pirate and marine could hear me within fifty miles. The emittance hurt my throat, but I didn’t care. 

All of them look at me, but I'm too busy flailing and getting further tangled with the dead guy, trying to get him off and failing; still screaming.

"A skeleton dead guy!" Usopp hollers with me. 

"Don't just stand there, get that disgusting thing off her!" Nami shouts at Usopp in anger, who stays frozen. 

"I'm surrounded by death..." He sobs hopelessly, before Zoro rushes over and finally rips the corpse off of me. Picking me up like a sack of potatoes, he rushes over to a safe spot where we both can hang on. I whimper out a 'thank you,' still shivering at the feeling of somebody's bones in my hands, and he grunts. 

When the continuous rain of broken-ship finally stops berating us, Nami has come over to hold me since I couldn't stop shaking and Zoro didn't know what to do about it; while he, Sanji and Luffy begin to question what the hell just happened. Usopp and Chopper are quivering and holding each other tightly. Robin is looking at the skeleton with interest. I wanted to puke. 

"Alright, why did a ship just fall out of the sky?" Luffy asked, sounding a little flabbergasted. 

"Captain error?" Sanji asked. 

"Well, the sky is clear. Who knows?" Zoro added. 

"I knew coming to the grand line was a mistake. It freaks me out! First, we travel over a ship graveyard, and now they're falling out of the sky complete with skeletons!" Usopp cried, eyes bloodshot and looking around wildly. Chopper's teeth were clenched so tight he couldn't even speak. 

"Uh, Nami, can you make sure there's no more ships about to fall on us?" Luffy asks, completely ignoring me. 

"No, you idiot! I'm busy doing what you should be doing right now!" She yells at him. 

"How would I even know that anyways?!" 

"Doing what now?" He asks, fuddled by her first statement and disregarding her own question. 

"Comforting your soulmate!" She barks at him, and I pull away anxiously as her hold tightens. 

"I-It's fine." I mutter, not bothering to look at anyone as I turn toward the bathroom. 

"I-I need to go wash my hands, anyways... They're covered in bone... dust..." I shiver, before moving toward the door. I couldn't care less about Luffy, right now; not when I was imagining my own bones turning to dust like that mans' was. 

---

"A sky island, really?" I ask Nami, who nods. 

I had finally come out of the bathroom after needing to recuperate from the scare. Also, it took a while to get the bone out from under my nails. Ugh.

"Yep, look," She pointed at the log pose, which was indeed angled skyward. 

"And Luffy found a map of the island on that ship as it was sinking." She handed me the old, weathered parchment, and I unfurled it carefully. 

Skypeia. It was written in Script at the top of the map, the other, much smaller writing being illegible from usage and time. You could still make out the shape of the island, though, surrounded by sea monsters and covered in forests. There were outlines of cities and people within it. I curled it up again and handed it back to Nami, afraid of leaving such a relic out in the elements for too long. 

"So... How do we get there?" I asked, and she shrugged. 

"Dunno'. But right now we're salvaging the ship to look for more clues. Luffy, Sanji and Zoro are down there now." Her tone sounded impassive. 

Pause. 

Luffy was at the bottom of the ocean?

I looked at the yellow tubing trailing down into the dark water, and felt my stomach turn. But, he couldn't swim, right? So how was he...? 

"Um... is he gonna' be okay in there?" I voiced my concern, the current focus on ignoring him forgotten as the soulmate bond resurfaced my worry over his well-being. 

"He'll be fine," Usopp brushes off my nervous look with a wave of his hand, "I made those barrels with a special design; they'll never get busted open!" 

He seemed confident, but I still wasn't. Who would save him down there if something bad happened? I guess he did have the other two, but still, how would they swim up from the bottom of the ocean? That sounded impossible. 

"If... If you say so." I said, though inside I disagreed with the words; but what could I do at this point? He was already down there. 

I looked back over the ship's edge, realizing I had forgotten about something else when I came out. I meant to ask about it originally, but I was caught up in the weird contraption that was newly discovered to be keeping my soulmate alive. This ignoring thing wasn’t going so well. 

"By the way, who's that?" I pointed at the large galleon next to our own small ship, looking like there were many, many men on its bow. 

"Oh, yeah. That's another crew trying to salvage the same ship that the boys are on right now; speaking of which, I'm gonna' kill those morons if their captain doesn't do it for us." 

"Nami," I took a moment, contemplating what she meant, "their captain is also on the ship?" 

"Duh. What else did you think I meant?" She responded in her usual know-it-all tone. 

"Woah. Okay, guys. What the hell did I miss?" I ask, completely overwhelmed by all the information she was feeding me. 

"Quite a bit." Robin laughed from behind us. 

"Well, to start--" Usopp started an explanation, before he lost his footing due to a sudden, large vibration. 

RUMBLE.

Tremors began to erupt from the depths below, and a large, dark shadow began to spread below the boats. It stretched so long that I couldn’t see where it ended. I took a step away from the edge, heart racing at the sight; it was getting closer. 

"There's something else down there..." Nami says nervously. 

"It's huge. Anybody just wanna' run?" Usopp adds, sounding timid. 

It bursts from the water beside the galleon right after he speaks. Water slides off its enormous, gray back as the waves disturb the ships gently. It looks like a turtle, or a tortoise, but of a gigantic size. Its eye stares forward, skin covered in warts and bumps as the tubes that are connected to our ship dangle from its sharp-toothed maw. 

"Does anybody else see the monster the size of an island in front of us?!" Nami exclaims, sounding frustrated at the lack of response from the rest of the crew as we all stare up quietly, almost awe-stricken. I hear Chopper swallow thickly, looking ready to pass out. 

Still, nobody responds. We continue to gaze at the creature, and the men on the galleon are panicking over their captain being eaten. Inwardly, I feel the same way, but it hasn’t registered just yet. 

"One tooth is the size of our boat... That's it, we're dead!" Nami continues, before Usopp is crying out next. 

"There's no big monster, this is just one big, stupid dream that we're all having together for some reason!" He's tear stricken, before Chopper is joining in. 

"A dream, right!" He confirms, and they all sigh in relief, seemingly appeased by the thought. I'm not, however; still staring at the yellow tubes that hang from the things' mouth. 

"I-It's definitely not a dream." I say quietly, stepping toward Robin like she would be my new source of comfort or while the others lose their minds.

"Our boys just got eaten." She states, matter of fact, and the trio freeze. The confirmation of my own worries makes me want to step away from her instead. 

 "...along with that ship we were trying to salvage." She states without a single hint of emotion in her voice. 

"How can you be so calm?!" Usopp is hysterical about the situation, not that I could blame him, but Robin was always like that. 

The creature begins to grind the boat in its teeth, chewing loudly in a way that everyone can hear the wood of the ship in its mouth crunching. It's like it could hear what we were saying, taunting that it had just eaten members of the crew, and my soulmate, too. 

Chopper begins running back and forth, freaking out in his normal-form. Usopp begins blaming Nami, and I am desperately searching for the bond between my soulmate and I to tell me if he's dead or not. Nothing felt different, but I couldn’t find him, either. 

If he was alive, I wouldn’t ignore him ever again. The regret was like acid in my stomach, eating away at my insides. 

Then, the monster is moving. It meanders forward, and Robin makes a point that if we stay connected, it will likely drag us to the bottom of the ocean, evident enough by the fact that it's pulling both the ship and the galleon as it goes. She's trying to devise a plan as everyone's agitation increases.

"Usopp!" Nami shouts. 

"Yeah!" He shouts back, looking motivated. 

"Cut the air hoses and get us out of here!" She lifts a determined fist, and I finally snap out of my stupor. 

"Are you a devil?!" Usopp accuses. 

"She's a devil!" Chopper affirms. 

"W-Wait, no– Don't do that!" I yelped. 

"You can't, what if he's still alive down there?!" 

"Why the hell are you so worried about Luffy?! He doesn't even pay attention to you, anyways!" She shouts back, seeming desperate.

Okay, ouch. Valid, but ouch. 

My feelings are only hurt for a second before another tug on the ship doesn't let me dwell on it for long. There wasn't any time to worry about that now, we needed to find a solution; we needed to rescue Luffy and the others. 

Then, the cherry on top, the sky suddenly goes overcast. It takes only a moment, as if a bunch of rain clouds just swooped in and placed themselves above us. That isn't the case, either; the entire ocean has been plunged into darkness. Nami mutters how that's impossible, Chopper and Usopp stutter in fright. 

A burst of water from the side of the ship, and a gurgling Luffy is sent flying up into the air and on deck. He groans when he makes contact, hat falling off in the process. A massive sack is attached to his back. It looks heavy.

I can't believe he's still alive, relief flowing through my veins like a hard to quit drug. Through the fog of all the hair-raising events that have taken place so far, he’s the light house that reminds me why I’m here. 

"Luffy!" I rush over, crashing to my knees as he still doesn't respond to any of his friends' cries of his name. Screw ignoring him, this was more important. 

"H-Hey," I shake him desperately, dread filling my heart as it drops at the pale shade of his face. He doesn’t respond. 

"Get up, Luffy! Please don't be dead– wake up!"

The begging seems to work. His eyebrows twitch, before his eyes snap open and his skin begins to turn back to its usual tan. When we lock eyes, he grins, still laying flat on the deck. 

"Oh, hey!" He blinks, "What's up?" 

"A-Are you okay?" I scan all over his face, before giving a quick glance over the rest of his body. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, and I can feel the nerves inch away. 

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He laughs, completely unphased, and I breathe a sigh of relief. He sits up, cocking his head to the side as he waits for my answer. 

"Well... you were eaten by a giant turtle." I put it simply, not knowing how else to say it. 

"Wait, really?!" He looks at me with wide eyes after snatching his strawhat from the floor, hand covering it in disbelief. 

"Um, yeah--" Before I can finish, his eyes zip to something behind and above us. I can hear the angered-screaming steadily grow closer before Luffy's eyes get serious. It's quick; he loops an arm around my waist and tugs me with him as he rolls out of the way of the incoming punch, which leaves a dent in the wood where we were just sitting. His arm leaves the space once the deed was done, goosebumps raising all over as he pulls away. My heart stutters, feeling giddy at the fact that he had basically saved me, before it was covered by confusion. 

The monkey man, who I assumed was the captain of the other ship, beats his chest and yells something at Luffy. 

"He's... a monkey?" I ask, bewildered. 

"Yep," Luffy laughs, "Sure is. A monkey wearing makeup!" 

"That's... weird." 

"I know. He said it makes him look refined or somethin.'" 

"No, I mean that he's a monkey. We don't have people like that in my world." I shake my head at him. 

"Really? That's weird. Just wait 'till you see a fishman!" He giggles. 

"U-Um... guys..." Nami's voice quivers, and it's just now that I've noticed everyone's silence. Everyone, and I mean everyone, even the turtle-monster, is looking at the sky. 

"What's the matter... with..." The words die in my throat as I turn to look in the same direction. 

They're huge. 

Three massive shadows that tower high into the sky, taller than any skyscraper I've ever seen. The imposing figures even loom over the creature that was threatening to sink us, and I realize as I look at the wings on their backs that they are the reason the sun suddenly disappeared. 

My blood feels cold. Everyone else feels the same as we gawk and choke on the air in our throats, the natural reactions of our body fighting each other as muscles tense and urge us to move, while our brain tells us to keep still. 

Nobody moves. Nobody breathes. Sweat is dripping from our necks and faces. 

Then, a hulking figure begins to move. Two more appear out of the mist behind it; all of them bearing spears. The first figure begins to raise its own, slowly, readily preparing for an attack. 

This was it. We were going to die. 

Then, both captains break free from the intensity of the moment, and Luffy nearly ruptures my eardrums with his outburst from beside me. 

"Sea monsters!" The cry seems to initiate a wake-up call. 

The boys scramble for the oars, and it only takes a second before they're aggressively rowing everyone away from the danger. The wood creaks and bellows as we paddle over the waves, skipping and leaping with every harsh row. But they don't stop, all desperately working in sync as we speed away from the darkness and toward the light. 

Nobody says anything, there's only the sound of the whipping wind and the grunts of those who are pushing us to safety. I sit in the same spot, staring at the figures that remain, still staring at the spot even when we manage to get to somewhere brighter; and I don't bother to move even when we eventually lose sight of them. 

This world was insane.

[kirame90]

SniperSpy ends up having a fun night after all

Smutty New Year, everyone!

They managed to escape Chaotic Boyfriends and sneak into a hotel nearby. I believe this calls for the kind of celebration their counterparts could not have provided. Or COULD they..?

And Spy doubles down on it, giving Sniper an early wedding gift he hadn't even remembered he needed. Aren't they just precious?

The next page is now on my Patreon!

The charity of January 2023 is OneReef

With 4 stars on Charity Navigator OneReef is partnering with island communities to combine traditional stewardship and modern resources to protect coral reefs.

Developing and supporting community marine management plans

Mentoring to build local capacity for effective coral reef management

Establishing sustainable financing plans

Training, tools and infrastructure to protect reefs

Science-based monitoring to measure impact

Thank you so incredibly much for reblogging this story, one and all! I hope you all had Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! <3

First part / Previous part

The characters don’t belong to me, the artwork does.

All dem other parts:

Part1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

Part 17

Part 18

Part 19

Part 20

Part 21

Part 21,5

Part 22

Part 23

Part 24

Part 25

Part 26

Part 27

Part 28

Part 29

Part 30

Part 31

Part 32

Part 33

Part 34

Part 35

Part 36

Part 37

Part 38

Part 39

Part 40

Part 41

Part 42

Part 43

Part 44

Part 45

Part 46

Part 47

Part 48

Part 49

Part 50

Part 51

Part 52

Part 53

Part 54

Part 55

Part 56

Part 57

Part 58

Part 59

Part 60

Part 61

Part 62

Part 63

Part 64

Part 65

Part 66

Part 67

Part 68

Part 69

Part 70

Part 71

Part 72

Part 73

Part 74

Part 75

Part 76

Part 77

Part 78

Part 79

Part 80

Part 81

Part 82

Part 83

Part 84

Part 85

Part 87

Part 88

Part 89

Part 90

Part 91

Part 92

Part 93

Part 94

Part 95

Part 96

Part 97

Part 98

Part 99

Part 100

Part 101

Part 102

Page 103

Page 104

Part 105

Part 106

Part 107

Part 108

Part 109

Part 110

Part 111

Part 112

Part 113

Part 114

Part 115

Part 116

Part 117

Part 118

Part 119

Part 120

Part 121

Part 122

Part 123

Part 124

Part 125

Part 126

Part 127

Part 128

Part 129

Part 130

Part 131

Part 132

Part 133

[tentacledsnakelover]

Wild Kratts Episode Ideas

We made it another year. 2024, specifically, January 3rd, 2024, marks the 13th anniversary of Wild Kratts, which first aired in 2011 with Mom of a Croc. I remember first watching the bros as a toddler with Zoboomafoo, and I have grown up with Wild Kratts, from kindergarten to college. I owe the bros for opening my eyes to how amazing the creature world is. To celebrate, I wanted to share some episode ideas I came up with:

Fish Hacking 101: Chris and Martin desire to master the hunting techniques of the mysterious tentacled snake. But to Gourmand, the obscure serpent is just another ingredient for his latest dish.

Yetis and Leopards: To keep the bros away while they plan a surprise party, Aviva sends the bros looking for snow leopards. However, they find the mysterious cats much quicker than expected, forcing Aviva to keep the bros away from the Tortuga by baiting them with a Yeti robot she built, but snow leopards are great hunters.

Upriver With a Paddlefish: During Tortuga maintenance day, Koki goes kayaking, when she is hit by a jumping sturgeon. Injured and with her creature pod busted, the brothers find an unlikely hope in another strange looking fish.

Inferno the Fire Hawk: While visiting Australia, the crew observe a black kite intentionally setting fires. Paisley learns of this too, and hires Zach to mind control the birds into obeying her.

Dot and Stripe's Big Day: The crew have successfully rehabilitated a pair of orphaned Malayan tapir twins. But the spots the crew have chosen to release the siblings in have each been claimed by older, tougher tapirs. Aviva gives the bros Tapir powers so they can traverse the jungle and find new, suitable territory for the twins.

Ice Day for Salamanders: In the most ambitious experiment yet, the brothers freeze themselves alive in Siberian Salamander Powers for a day. However, Paisley abducts the brothers, intending to auction them off to the other villains to finance her schemes.

The Perfect Mudskipper Name: Martin's attempt to ride a mudskipper lead to him loosing his suit, and a mudskipper merging with it, like Seven did. The now humanoid fish kicks the gang out of the Tortuga, and all efforts to get him out of the ship and the suit fail. The brothers must learn to fight like a mudskipper to win their ship back, and get the fish back to normal.

Parrotfish Beach: While at the beach, Martin chances across a parrotfish. Not having seen one of the vibrant fish since they saved some from Zach and Donita, the team get to work to make a new suit. Meanwhile, Paisley has decided to create her newest road right through the reef, using a monstrosity of a machine she calls, "The Colossus of Roads".

Nudibranch Bingo: After finding a Blue Dragon Sea Slug, the brothers head to the Philippines in a game to see who can find the most species of sea slugs. Unbeknownst to them, Donita has hacked their cameras, so she can find and collect the colorful invertebrates to use in her newest designs, having grown bored of regular gems and jewels.

Hagfish Day: After finding out hagfish have a day dedicated to them, yet barely anybody knows about them, the brothers take the Pulponaut to the bottom of the sea to look for the elusive slime eels.

Jimmy and the Silverback: While his friends go off with a Gorilla troop, Jimmy laments his fear getting in the way of his desire to explore. Fortunately for him, another troop comes to the Tortuga. Unfortunately, the bros, Aviva, Koki, and the first troop, get in trouble, and Jimmy must step up to save his friends, and the gorilla.s

What Big Teeth You Have: While diving, the brothers chance upon a den of Wolf Eels and their eggs. Soon though, the bros must take up the duty to defend the nest after the parents are injured. While their friends take care of the expecting parents, Chris and Martin must keep the eggs safe. But competition is fierce. Octopus and other Wolf Eels want the den, and the brothers must keep them away.

Do the Velvet Worm: The brothers are on a long overdue adventure to find the rare and mysterious velvet worm, who thrive in wet and warm environments. But Paisley's newest scheme threatens to destroy the home of the worms, and all the other creatures there.

Keeping up with the Hornbills: Chris and Martin seal themselves in with an expecting mother Hornbill so that they can document the process, but when Donita teams up with Paisley to collect animals from the forest she is destroying, the tree the bros are in gets tossed into the river.

Condor Crash Course: A malfunction of the Tortuga's new autopilot system causes the ship to crash at the end of the Andes Mountains, and the crew are stuck at the other end. Martin thinks they could traverse the mountains with condor powers, but the trick is to find the birds first.

Quetzals of Then and Now: Aviva tells her friends the story of how her grandmother obtained the feathers of the Corcovado family birdie in a massive creature adventure.

Four Kratts and Some Saigas: The brothers' sisters come to visit, but creature adventuring doesn't stop for family reunions. The crew get a call of a herd of Saiga suffering from a bacteria infection.

Vampire Deer: The brothers learn about Chinese Water Deer, which have fangs in lieu of antlers. But the investigation into these weird deer is interrupted by Donita, who wants to use the deer as material for her new line of formal wear: Donita's Deer-est.

24 Hours in Lake Baikal: From freshwater seals to special sponges, and even weird natural formations, the record-holding Lake Baikal has caught the brothers' interest. It has also caught the interest of Gourmand and Paisley, who team up to make sure the brothers don't interfere.

Queen of the Meerkats: Struck by how fierce meerkats are, Zach captures the head female and several others to use in his new line of "Zach-Tion Figure" toys. Chris and Martin must save the meerkats while their friends keep what's rest of the fragile hierarchy from falling apart.

Olm's World: The brothers realized they never got around to making Olm powers. They return to Europe to find the mysterious "human-fish", so they can figure out the secrets of the unique salamander, such as how it can live for so long despite being blind.

Jamming With Moths: While building more bat boxes for their friend Bite-Size, Chris realizes the Little-Brown Bat, and all the other bats, are struggling to catch moths. The team is spurred by curiosity to determine whether the echolocation of a bat is truly a fool proof adaptation.

Be the Bee Eater: Bee Eaters are disappearing, and Zach is behind it. He plans to mind control the birds and sell them around the world as insect catchers.

Jumping Spider Jubilee: The crew split up to find the most unique species of jumping spiders. They will meet hunters, dancers, and even one little spider who lives up very high.

Night with a Not-Lizard: Impatient to study tuataras, a miniaturized Chris injures his leg, and he must use his skills, and the powers of the Tuatara, to avoid rats and other hungry predators to get back to the Tortuga.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Monday

SpaceTime 20240812 Series 27 Episode 97

The solar system’s origins revealed

An analysis of asteroid samples brought to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft has shown that our solar system was created following a nearby supernova explosion.

Starliner’s crew could be stranded until 2025

There are growing fears that the crew of Boeing’s trouble plagued Starliner spacecraft could remain stranded aboard the International Space Station until next year.

Busy times aboard the International Space Station

Its rush hour aboard the International Space Station at the moment with no less than six spacecraft currently docked to the orbiting outpost.

The Science Report

Sea temperatures in the Great Barrier Reef are now the warmest they’ve been in 400 years.

Common plastics linked to an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder in boys.

Dugong numbers continue to decline.

Skeptics guide to why athletes keep falling for superstitions

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. Gary’s radio career stretches back some 34 years including 26 at the ABC. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. He was part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and became one of its first on air presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

[dandelionsresilience]

Good News - April 15-21

(Sorry it's late, I got sick)

Like these weekly compilations? Support me on Ko-fi! Also, if you tip me on here or Ko-fi, at the end of the month I'll send you a link to all of the articles I found but didn't use each week - almost double the content! (I'm new to taking tips on here; if it doesn't show me your username or if you have DM's turned off, please send me a screenshot of your payment)

1. Restoring an unsung hero

“"We are aiming to restore a significant area of seagrass around Nova Scotia, rebuilding these ecosystems and doing it in a climate-smart way," says Derek Tittensor, head of the FOME research group and a professor of biology at Dalhousie. "Importantly, we are also integrating Indigenous and scientific knowledge of these remarkable ecosystems through a two-eyed seeing approach.””

2. Four super-rare quolls caught sneaking around Australian wildlife sanctuary

““We had a mysterious case of cat-trap tampering whereby the traps were closed, the bait was gone but no culprit inside,” explains AWC Field Ecologist, Erin Barritt. [… T]he opportunistic little mischief-makers were juvenile western quolls, the first to be born on the sanctuary in 100 years.”

3. LGBTQ+ parents are raving about ‘accessible’ gender-neutral children’s book What Makes A Baby

““Overall I think this is a great book and a great representation of what inclusive media can look like. It incorporates a variety of perspectives and experiences to make something that is accessible to everyone.” The LGBTQ+ community – with parents in particular – praised “the accuracy of the terminology”, with one writing: “Human anatomy isn’t too much for children to learn and this book makes it so accessible for them to learn!””

4. Switch to green wastewater infrastructure could reduce emissions and provide huge savings according to new research

“Researchers have shown that a transition to green wastewater-treatment approaches in the U.S. that leverages the potential of carbon-financing could save a staggering $15.6 billion and just under 30 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions over 40 years.”

5. Millions Offered Up To Create New Disability Employment Models

“[Projects] can focus on increasing access to advanced technology careers, using advanced technology to support youth or adults with disabilities to access competitive integrated employment or helping justice-involved youth with disabilities gain employment. In addition, projects can look at early intervention and workforce reintegration strategies for those with acquired disabilities or efforts to reintegrate disconnected individuals with disabilities into the workforce.”

6. Laser-Treated Cork Absorbs Oil for Carbon-Neutral Ocean Cleanup

“Cork comes from the bark of cork oak trees, which can live for hundreds of years. These trees can be harvested about every seven years, making cork a renewable material. When the bark is removed, the trees amplify their biological activity to replace it and increase their carbon storage, so harvesting cork helps mitigate carbon emissions.”

7. This boat runs on 100% renewables. Can it help clean up bigger ships?

“For the past seven years, Energy Observer has traveled around the world, serving as a floating test bed for zero-emission technologies that can propel boats and ships — without spewing any of the nasty pollution that comes from running diesel engines. […] The project’s leaders say they’re now ready to focus their efforts on cleaning up much larger and dirtier types of vessels, including cargo ships.”

8. 1,000 oceanic manta rays seen in the Maldives

“With 1,000 individuals in its waters, the Maldives is home to the world’s third largest population of giant mantas (it also has the most reef mantas (Mobula alfredi) in the world, with over 5,000 individuals).”

9. Service Finalizes Land Protection Plan for Expanding Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge

“Plan aims to deliver in-perpetuity conservation of up to 700,000 acres of land for benefit of migratory and resident wildlife. […] "These vast grassland landscapes provide essential habitat for wildlife while also providing benefits like clean water filtration and carbon sequestration, which are essential for both the environment and human well-being."”

10. Medicaid Officials Remove Barriers For Those With Disabilities

“In addition [to grace periods for submitting paperwork], states will no longer be allowed to conduct renewals any more than once every 12 months and they will be barred from requiring in-person interviews for people with disabilities, among other changes.”

And a bonus article to make up for posting late: Gay Furry Hackers strike again!

April 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[copperbora]

For some reason I've been procrastinating about posting a life update here. 😅 Beware... plenty of angst below.

- On August 2nd my mom passed away in hospice at the age of 61 after tenaciously battling her rare and virulent cancer for eighteen years. I'm really hurting. Grieving is exhausting and I miss her so dearly; part of me is still waiting for her to come home. I wrote her obituary. No amount of knowing for months that her death was coming has made this wretched experience at all easier. I cropped my hair in grief; I hate when people complement me on it. I think that it's the same brand of insensitive as complementing a cancer patient's bald head.

- Before my mom passed I started a marine aquarium as a form of self care; it's doing pretty great with only one known livestock casualty so far. (I have no idea what the hell my smaller cleanup crew members are doing most of the time as my little reef(-to-be) has very extensive rockwork and cave habitat.) I did lose my skunk cleaner shrimp, Jacques. I only have two fish right now.

- I haven't done much writing, so no updates on any of my fics. I miss them.

- I am working on completely relaunching and rebranding my shop and having a serious go at making it a career. I can still draw while very depressed and grieving.

- I learned today that perpetual loneliness is as physically harmful as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. So I am slowly dying of loneliness; this explains a lot why my doctor insists every visit that I need to get a dog. I wish that my dad understood; I wish that I didn't need to care about his opinion but he's my housemate, kin, and landlord. He doesn't get mental health at all. He said he was worried about me falling into a deep depression the other day, apparently somehow unaware that I have been deeply depressed already for years which felt so invalidating. And of course we are grieving too. I feel helpless.

- My finances are shit; I barely have my nose above water.

- We're currently under threat from nearby catastrophic wildfires. Fun times. I just love breathing toxic wildfire smoke smog, don't you? * sarcasm * It's preventing us from doing healthy grieving stuff like hiking and attempting to enjoy these dregs of summer, living again after the horror we've suffered in watching my mom slowly die three decades before her time.

- I found the new Backroads Mapbook app and good grief I can spend spend hours on it. If you're in Canada and you like exploring our land seriously go download it, it's really fun (although also sad right now for me because: wildfires.)

At least Casper is permanently cute.

[brookston]

Holidays 12.5

Holidays

AFL-CIO Day

Bathtub Party Day (a.k.a. Party in the Tub Day)

Battle of Longewaia Day (India)

Bhumibol Adulyadej Memorial Day (Thailand)

Blue Jeans Day

Boycott Day

Celebrate Shelter Pets Day

Children’s Day (Suriname)

Colorado Gives Day (Colorado)

Day of Military Honor - Battle of Moscow (Russia)

Day of the Ninja (a.k.a. International Ninja Day)

Die Like a Pirate Day

Discovery Day (Dominican Republic, Haiti)

Father’s Day (Thailand)

Female Community Health Volunteers’ Day (Nepal)

Folding Chair Day

Fraternity Day

International Ninja Day  (a.k.a. International Creep Like a Ninja Day)

International Volunteer Day

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (UN)

Irrational Exuberance Day

Klozum (Netherlands)

Let's Get Organized Day

Montgomery Bus Boycott Anniversary Day

National Communicate with Your Kids Day

National Commute With Your Baby Day

National Day of the Coral Reef (Colombia)

National DeFi (Decentralized Finance) Day

National Devon Day

National Johnny Day

National Kings of Prohibition Day

Ninjas vs. Krampus Day

Play Hookey Day

Roe Deer Day (French Republic)

Quito Day (Ecuador)

Tinsel Day

World Biomedical Engineering Day

World Soil Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Comfort Food Day

National Pigs in a Blanket Day (UK)

National Repeal Day

Sacher Torte Day

Swap a Christmas Cookie Recipe Day

World Turkish Coffee Day

1st Tuesday in December

World Trick Shot Day [1st Tuesday]

Feast Days

Abercius (Christian; Saint)

Bassus of Nice (Christian; Saint)

Clement of Alexandria (Episcopal Church)

Crispina (Christian; Saint)

Dalmatius of Pavia (Christian; Saint)

David Bomberg (Artology)

Faunalia (Honoring Faunus; Ancient Rome)

Faunalia Rustica (Pagan)

Festival of Faunalia (for Old Roman God Faunus)

Gerbold (Christian; Saint)

Ghidra and Mechaghidra Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saints)

Huyghens (Positivist; Saint)

Justinian of Ramsey Island (Christian; Saint)

Nicetius (a.k.a. Nizier; Christian; Saint)

Niels Stenson (Christian; Blessed)

St. Nicholas Eve [Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, UK] (a.k.a. ... 

Avond (Leewvarden, West Friesland, Netherlands)

Bonhomme Noel (Celebration of “Goodman Christmas”)

Klausjagen (Switzerland)

Krampus

Krampusnacht (a.k.a. Krampuslauf; Austria)

Sinterklaas (The Netherlands)

Zwarte Piete (Black Peter, companion of St. Nicholas who keeps track of good/bad kids)

Nones of December (Ancient Rome)

Pelinus of Brindisi (Christian; Saint)

Remember the Spanish Inquisition Day (Pastafarian)

Sabbas the Sanctified (Christian; Saint)

Wes (Muppetism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [66 of 71]

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

Anne of Green Gables (TV Mini-Series; 1985)

Band on the Run (Album; 1973)

Beverly Hills Cop (Film; 1984)

Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (Film; 1962)

The Borrowers (Film; 1997)

Bucks for Boris or The Green Paper Caper (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 132; 1961)

Bye Bye Baby, by Mary Wells (Song; 1960)

Cadillac Records (Film; 2008)

Café Flesh (Adult Film; 1982)

Charade (Film; 1963)

Chef Donald (Disney Cartoon; 1941)

Come and Get It, by Badfinger (Song; 1969)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Film; 2008)

Damaged, by Black Flag (Album; 1981)

Flash Gordon (Film; 1980)

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, by Giorgio Bassani (Novel; 1962)

Good Will Hunting (Film; 1997)

Hop Skip and Junk or Bullwinkle’s Big Tow (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 131; 1961)

Juno (Film; 2007)

Let It Bleed, by The Rolling Stones (Album; 1969)

Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel García Márquez (Novel; 1985)

Made in America, by The Blues Brothers (Album; 1980)

The Matchmaker, by Thornton Wilder (Broadway Play; 1954)

Ocean’s Eleven (Film; 2001)

The Pearl, by John Steinbeck (Novella; 1947)

Pioneer Days (Disney Cartoon; 1930)

Serpico (Film; 1973)

The Station Agent (Film; 2003)

Symphonie Fantastique, by Hector Berlioz (Symphony; 1830)

Tweet Dreams (WB LT Cartoon; 1959)

The Village Smithy (WB LT Cartoon; 1936)

Today’s Name Days

Anno, Gerald, Niels, Reinhard (Austria)

Sava, Silva, Silvana, Silviya, Stanislav (Bulgaria)

Krispina, Sabina, Slavka (Croatia)

Jitka (Czech Republic)

Sabina (Denmark)

Selma, Selme (Estonia)

Selma (Finland)

Gérald, Gérard (France)

Gerald, Niels, Reinhard (Germany)

Diogenes, Savas, Savvas (Greece)

Vilma (Hungary)

Giulio, Lucia (Italy)

Klaudija, Klaudijs, Sabīne, Sarma, Sarmīte (Latvia)

Eimintas, Geisvilė, Grafas, Gratas (Lithuania)

Ståle, Stine (Norway)

Anastazy, Gerald, Geraldyna, Kryspina, Krystyna, Pęcisława, Saba (Poland)

Anastasie, Nectarie, Sava (Romania)

Oto (Slovakia)

Anastasio, Elisa, Sabas (Spain)

Sven(Sweden)

Pandora, Sabas, Savas, Wallace, Wally, Walt, Walter (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 339 of 2024; 26 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of week 49 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Ruis (Elder) [Day 8 of 28]

Chinese: Month 10 (Gui-Hai), Day 23 (Ding-You)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 22 Kislev 5784

Islamic: 22 Jumada I 1445

J Cal: 9 Zima; Twosday [9 of 30]

Julian: 22 November 2023

Moon: 46%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 3 Bichat (13th Month) [Huyghens]

Runic Half Month: Is (Stasis) [Day 10 of 15]

Season: Autumn (Day 73 of 89)

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 14 of 30)

[robboyblunder]

Figured I'd share this digital Mural I did for my Ecoart class recently about successful activism efforts; the idea was to collect articles that show the less depressing side of environmentalism to inspire hope for activism!

I made two versions, one with the relevant titles and one without so you can see my art and have the context too. You can read the articles listed under the cut!

image ID in Alt text!

(please don't repost or use these, and leave my description; thanks! reblogs welcomed!)

Legal Rulings:

Protecting Amazon Rainforest Lands: https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/ecuador-court-suspends-planned-auctioning-of-amazon-tribe-lands-to-oil-companies/#:~:text=The%20Waorani%20people%20of%20Pastaza,Pastaza%20Provincial%20Court%20%2D%20and%20won.

German Bill to force corporate contribution to cleanups of pollution/fines for litter: https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/11/03/germanys-new-plastics-bill-could-see-businesses-contribute-450-million-per-year-to-litter-

Japan and South Korea pushing against furthering fossil fuel projects, hoping to influence China: https://www.vox.com/22151710/china-japan-south-korea-climate-change-coal-finance

Supreme Court ruling shuts down seabed mining/oceanic environmental destruction: https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/press-release/supreme-court-slams-door-on-seabed-mining-time-for-a-ban/

Jakarta residents win ruling against Indonesian government to rule clean air as a human right: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/16/asia/jakarta-citizen-lawsuit-air-pollution-intl-hnk/index.html#:~:text=A%20Jakarta%20court%20on%20Thursday,on%20the%20city's%20notorious%20smog.

Green Energy:

India pushing for solar powered villages, setting future for more green energy: https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/11/01/indias-first-fully-solar-powered-village-is-helping-residents-to-save-time-and-money

China’s dedication to building massive windfarms aim to provide vital power that can replace fossil fuel for potentially 13m homes: https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/10/25/china-is-building-the-worlds-largest-wind-farm-and-it-could-power-13m-homes

Conservation Efforts/Natural Healing:

Mumbai beach is cleared in massive litter removal project reviving local wildlife: https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/asia/mumbai-beach-dramatic-makeover/index.html

Organization that has been dedicated to inventing massive plastic cleanup efforts for all types of waterways with massive successful runs: https://theoceancleanup.com/

Tree planting to stop Sahara desertification is succeeding in building a new ecosystem: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/great-green-wall-stop-desertification-not-so-much-180960171/

India plants 50 million trees inciting a global race to plant more encouraging mass replanting efforts: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/india-plants-50-million-trees-uttar-pradesh-reforestation

Organization that protects coral reefs and is advancing new promising techniques that may be the key to bringing back coral health in changing climate: https://www.secore.org/site/corals/detail/coral-restoration.20.html

NASA study finds we’re on track to repair ozone hole in atmosphere: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-study-first-direct-proof-of-ozone-hole-recovery-due-to-chemicals-ban

[softsnzstuff]

kb !!!! here’s some. questions !

what is a place you want to visit before you die?

what is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

what was your favorite trend from your childhood (mine is silly bands idc)

what song would you kill do hear for the first time again?

okay that’s all :]

Hi Bee!!! These are fucking amazing questions and you really got me thinking here 🤣

•I’m a big BIG traveler!! I think where I really would love to go before I die is an Australia/New Zealand combo trip! Specifically - I’m scuba certified and would love to do the Great Barrier Reef!!!

•I’ve received a lot of really good advice in my lifetime. Like some really genuinely useful advice for like. Finances, adulting, shit that matters. But I think the best piece of advice that resonated with me personally is from my friend Sean. He told me not to let anyone or anything “dim my shine” 💛

•Oooooooh favorite childhood trend… shrinky clinks??? Is that what they’re called?? (Not to be confused with @softersteve ‘s AMAZING Stucky writing lol) - Those Fuckin things where you can turn photos or art into small plastic earrings and charms?? We used to make those at EVERY birthday party ever when I was in elementary school 🤣

•This is THE BEST question and I’ve been thinking about it for several minutes. So this one comes with a story:

“Carry On” by FUN is and has been my go-to depression song since it came out in like 2012. I have a tattoo for it. It saved my life more than once. It’s my song and for some reason it just hella resonated with me and stuck.

At this point it’s been 11 years. I’ve heard it more times than I can count. I think I would love to hear that song again for the first time. Feel all the feels. I’ll probably cry.

[blogginwchase]

Welcome to Paradise!

You’ve probably heard of the popular Caribbean vacation destinations like St. Lucia, Bahamas, Puerto Rico and many more. But have you heard of the smaller collection of islands located below Cuba on the lower west side? The Cayman Islands are commonly overlooked by many vacationers. You can’t really blame them either. I mean the main island, Grand Cayman, is a whopping 76 square feet in its entirety. 

In more recent years the island has gained some attraction with its main city, George Town, as a popular cruise ship port and the famous 7-Mile Beach as a vacation destination. Travelers are being drawn to Grand Cayman’s crystal blue waters, world famous coral reefs and wrecks for scuba diving trips, and many luxurious hotels along the coast that make for a perfect week of relaxation in the Caribbean sun. 

But what’s below the surface of this vacation destination? That’s what I’m interested in. I’ve been traveling to this island for years and know very little about it. 

I know it hasn’t always looked the way it does today. This island has come a long way since its first airfield was put in in 1953. Almost overnight, they put in their first hospital, bank, hotel and commercial dive center. According to explorecayman.com, “Suddenly the Cayman Islands were on the map - both as a tourism and recreational dive destination and as an international finance centre.”

But the development of the island didn’t stop in the 50’s. Grand Cayman was overtaken rapidly by growth economically and residentially. New homes and hotels were being built all over the island. As well as the government advertising the no taxation on the island to build and grow the banking industry.  

[kp777]

Fiona Harvey, Environment editor

The Guardian

Fri 2 Jun 2023

Within the next five years, the world is likely to experience at least one year in which the global average surface temperature exceeds 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. That was the stark prediction of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) this week, in its climate forecast.

Straying beyond 1.5C could lead to potentially irreversible effects on the global climate system, scientists have warned, including the collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, the abrupt melting of permafrost, rising sea levels and bleaching coral reefs. For these reasons, the 1.5C limit is at the heart of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which bound countries to hold global temperature rises “well below 2C” and “pursuing efforts” to 1.5C.

Breaching the 1.5C threshold in one or even two years will not be enough to invalidate the Paris agreement. The rise would have to be sustained over several years or more before such a judgment could be drawn, and the WMO has said it is still possible temperatures could fall back again slightly. But it would be a huge blow to global climate action and a terrifying reminder of how close we are to the precipice of irretrievable harm.

Changing course on the climate is still possible with concerted action, and governments will have the opportunity to do so in six months’ time at Cop28, the latest iteration of the annual UN climate talks. This year will mark a significant milestone: the first assessment since 2015 of how countries are faring against the emissions-cutting commitments they made at Paris, a process known as the “global stocktake”.

While we already know in outline what the stocktake will say – that we are well off track to make the emissions cuts needed to stay within 1.5C and meet the Paris goals – the setting out of our failures in detail could yet be the spur for action needed, optimists believe. Alok Sharma, the UK Conservative MP and former minister who led the Cop26 talks in Glasgow in 2021, says the task is clear.

“Cop28 must deliver strengthened emissions reduction targets, and a commitment to peak global emissions by 2025,” he said. “[There must be] a plan to turbocharge the clean energy revolution, and a commitment to phase out fossil fuels. And a meaningful agreement on how to scale up finance, both public and private, to support developing nations to decarbonise their economies – moving from the billions to the trillions.”

Tom Evans, of the E3G thinktank, said the exercise provided a lever to push recalcitrant countries to higher efforts: “The global stocktake will not tell us anything new – we have more than enough evidence of the large gap between what’s needed [in emissions cuts] and the reality – but the global stocktake is mandated under the Paris agreement, so parties have to respond with increased ambition.”

That is the theory. But even the most optimistic supporter of Cops may find their bright hopes ebbing in the face of Cop28.

The last UN climate summit, Cop27, ended in Egypt last November with some joy and much frustration: triumph for developing countries that demanded climate justice from the rich world, in the form of a “loss and damage” fund to pay for the ravages of extreme weather they are suffering; and frustration that few countries stepped up with concrete plans on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, preferring instead to prevaricate and procrastinate over the future of fossil fuels.

Sharma warned starkly in the closing minutes of Cop27 that the world would pay a high price for that failure, and other countries lined up to agree with him. They were angry that some countries had appeared to want to slow down agreement, unpick progress and water down commitments. A resolution to phase out fossil fuels, with the support of more than 80 countries, was discarded, and the final text contained only weak language on meeting the 1.5C goal.

Since then, the situation has not improved. Nations are still at loggerheads over the Ukraine war, geopolitical tensions between the west and China are high, and inflation and economic woes are afflicting rich and debt-ridden poor countries alike. Meanwhile, emissions are still rising.

Any Cop would be challenging under such dire circumstances. For Cop28, there is an added twist. It will take place in Dubai, hosted by the United Arab Emirates, a leading oil and gas producer. And the official chosen to preside over the summit – Sultan Al Jaber – is the chief executive of the country’s national oil company, Adnoc, which is planning a big expansion of production capacity.

A diplomat from one developed country said: “It could not be much worse.” Another said: “You could not make this stuff up.”

Jaber’s appointment in January was greeted with disbelief and dismay by climate campaigners and experts around the world. “If I were asked how to make Cop28 a success, I would not put the head of a fossil fuel company in charge of organising it,” said Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer in climate at the Grantham Institute, at Imperial College London. “I would not invite lobbyists from fossil fuel companies. I would try to see that everything was done to remove fossil fuels from the energy supply globally as soon as possible.”

Since his appointment, Jaber has attracted further controversy. He has invited the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to the summit, to the outrage of human rights campaigners. He has also hired David Canzini, a former Downing Street operator who helped to kibosh renewable energy plans when advising Boris Johnson, and fanned Liz Truss’s enthusiasm for fossil fuels.

There have been whisperings of internal turmoil within the presidency: at least three PR companies that were working, or hoping to work, on aspects of the summit have had contracts terminated, and at least two high-ranking officials have recently left, one for personal reasons.

Most damagingly, Jaber was hit with a stinging broadside by the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, one of the architects of the Paris agreement. In her Outrage and Optimism podcast, she accused him of imperilling Cop28 by appearing to favour carbon capture and storage technology, as a way of enabling fossil fuel use to continue.

“From a Cop president perspective, it’s very dangerous. I just don’t see most countries, and certainly not the vulnerable countries, being willing to support the Cop president on this because it is a direct threat to their survival,” she said.

Since his appointment, Jaber has attracted further controversy. He has invited the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to the summit, to the outrage of human rights campaigners. He has also hired David Canzini, a former Downing Street operator who helped to kibosh renewable energy plans when advising Boris Johnson, and fanned Liz Truss’s enthusiasm for fossil fuels.

There have been whisperings of internal turmoil within the presidency: at least three PR companies that were working, or hoping to work, on aspects of the summit have had contracts terminated, and at least two high-ranking officials have recently left, one for personal reasons.

Most damagingly, Jaber was hit with a stinging broadside by the former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, one of the architects of the Paris agreement. In her Outrage and Optimism podcast, she accused him of imperilling Cop28 by appearing to favour carbon capture and storage technology, as a way of enabling fossil fuel use to continue.

“From a Cop president perspective, it’s very dangerous. I just don’t see most countries, and certainly not the vulnerable countries, being willing to support the Cop president on this because it is a direct threat to their survival,” she said.

Read more.

[kirame90]

SniperSpy missed one heck of a bachelor party

Don't worry, Sniper, I don't think your parents have been all that bored without you. Looks like they were having quite a night with the RED team. No sleep was had.

The next page is now available on my Patreon!

The charity of January 2023 is OneReef

With 4 stars on Charity Navigator OneReef is partnering with island communities to combine traditional stewardship and modern resources to protect coral reefs.

Developing and supporting community marine management plans

Mentoring to build local capacity for effective coral reef management

Establishing sustainable financing plans

Training, tools and infrastructure to protect reefs

Science-based monitoring to measure impact

Thank you so very much for reblogging this story! I appreciate it beyond words!

First part / Previous part

The characters don’t belong to me, the artwork does.

All dem other parts:

Part1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

Part 17

Part 18

Part 19

Part 20

Part 21

Part 21,5

Part 22

Part 23

Part 24

Part 25

Part 26

Part 27

Part 28

Part 29

Part 30

Part 31

Part 32

Part 33

Part 34

Part 35

Part 36

Part 37

Part 38

Part 39

Part 40

Part 41

Part 42

Part 43

Part 44

Part 45

Part 46

Part 47

Part 48

Part 49

Part 50

Part 51

Part 52

Part 53

Part 54

Part 55

Part 56

Part 57

Part 58

Part 59

Part 60

Part 61

Part 62

Part 63

Part 64

Part 65

Part 66

Part 67

Part 68

Part 69

Part 70

Part 71

Part 72

Part 73

Part 74

Part 75

Part 76

Part 77

Part 78

Part 79

Part 80

Part 81

Part 82

Part 83

Part 84

Part 85

Part 87

Part 88

Part 89

Part 90

Part 91

Part 92

Part 93

Part 94

Part 95

Part 96

Part 97

Part 98

Part 99

Part 100

Part 101

Part 102

Page 103

Page 104

Part 105

Part 106

Part 107

Part 108

Part 109

Part 110

Part 111

Part 112

Part 113

Part 114

Part 115

Part 116

Part 117

Part 118

Part 119

Part 120

Part 121

Part 122

Part 123

Part 124

Part 125

Part 126

Part 127

Part 128

Part 129

Part 130

Part 131

Part 132

Part 133

Part 134

Part 135

Part 137

[getbettermedia]

Directed by the same directors as “What the Health”, the documentary was funded through crowdfunding ($117,092 dollars were raised by 1449 contributors) and explores the social and environmental impact of animal agriculture.

Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn investigated environmental organizations such as Greenpeace or Oceana. All through the movie, we understand how deep and urgent the problem is. We understand how everything is connected to our everyday habits and related to our individual choices: when we choose to buy chicken, eggs or steaks, we finance the intensive farming industry, which causes climate change, sea-level rising and overall alarming pollution.

The primary cause of loss of species on earth Is due to overgrazing and overfishing. 91% of the Amazon rainforest, which is being cut down at the rate of an acre per second, was destroyed in order to graze animals and to grow genetically engineered soybeans and corn, to feed cows, hogs, chicken and fish. Why are the large Environmental Organizations not talking about the fact that the primary source of deforestation is animal agriculture ?

Most experts interviewed by the director say it is because they don’t want to piss off the tyrannic agricultural industry. We all know that our general “human activity” is killing the planet, but nobody specifies which activity is mainly killing the plane,t which is farming, killing and distributing intensive farmed meat through the world. So we are told to turn down the heat, ride a bike to work and recycle if we want to help the planet. Of course, it will help a little bit, but it is ridiculously nothing compared to the waste generated by animal agriculture. The UN reported that 3 quarters of the world fish reserves are overexploited due to overfishing. If we continue down that path, scientists expect fishless oceans by the year 2048. Over 28 billion animals are pulled out of the ocean every year, which doesn’t give enough time for the species to multiply. The way fishing is done today in order to feed the demand for 90 million tons of fish every year is merely through massive fishnets. “For a pound of fish caught, 5 pounds of untargeted species trapped, such as dolphins, whales, sea turtles and sharks, it is called bi-kill”, kind of “by accident”. Between 40 and 50 million sharks are killed each year by bi-kill. But when you kill the large species, you destabilize the whole food chain: if there are no large species left (sharks, whales, dolphins, which multiply at small rate), nobody eats the middle species (regular-sized fish such as tuna), who multiply and will eat off the smaller species (minerals, reefs..). The natural marine system is organized in order to be self-sustainable, but is being destroyed by fishing.

I could go on and on, but I invite you to watch the documentary, which is still available on Netflix, to make up your own mind.

trailer : COWSPIRACY - Official Trailer - HD - YouTube

source : ‘It’s not the cow, it’s the how’: why a long-time vegetarian became beef’s biggest champion | Food | The Guardian

[the-everlasting-downpour]

II. – Spectrum.

It was sunny September. Along the broad pavement were planted trees, long since dilapidated, having lost their foliage. On the benches sat people – singly, in a group, in pairs, smoking, drinking, eating, talking, loving. To the left were small buildings; they were mostly establishments ranging from coffee shops to independent shops, of which there was one for the entire capital, if not for all of Paradise, or the world at large. The sky was clear, without a single cloud; there were the swift silhouettes of doves, flying away from the unknown.

Smoking near the urn, M. looked up at the sky and touched his cold and red hand to the lobe of his left ear. Shapes were passing by, all unique, with different tasks and purposes. The wind swayed back and forth like a seesaw, constantly showering its coldness on the standing M. The sun stood fairly high above the horizon in the sky, but one could see its life cycle coming to an end; its pale rays passed between buildings and along other streets, trying to illuminate the entire capital. The cold wind accelerated on its invisible swing along with the warming rays, developing enough speed to make M.'s hair flutter like a flag.

M. finished his cigarette, extinguished it against the urn and threw it inside. Wrapping himself up warmly and tucking his hands into his pockets, he walked down the street, occasionally glancing at the buildings and people walking on the same or opposite trajectory to him. All shapes and humans, hidden in the geometrical head-landscapes, were almost always walking in small groups and pairs; only once or twice did M. manage to catch a glimpse of a shape smoking, drinking or eating alone, but soon after noticing such, he also noticed phones in their hands, which meant that they were not as alone as one might have assumed. So, thought M., the country had managed to overcome loneliness itself.

Soon, looking at the buildings beside him, he saw a bookstore. It greeted people with a carved wooden exterior and beautiful windows through which the old-fashioned interior was immediately visible; overhead hung a large carved sign with the name Gordian Bookshop. At the door was a small plaque, like those used by all kinds of places, and on it was written: «Happy New School Year! -15% on all books! Until 09.10!». M. pulled out his phone and checked his finances, then went inside, yanking open the wooden door with the huge window.

It was warm and pleasant inside. Ozone-filled air spread across all two floors of this seemingly modest place. The main colour of the interior was dark brown, richly varnished wood. The light seemed dim, as if there was simply no evening light from the street, and the lamps that were there, working quietly and hanging on long wires, were the only source of light. There was a small counter just below the exit; behind it stood a pleasant young shape girl who smiled at him, a new customer. He nodded in greeting and walked to one of the shelves.

There were a lot of books, all different, from genre and direction to types of their abstract covers. Many of the authors M. did not know. Probably, he thought, the shop was aimed at low-circulation literature that was undesirable to the industry. He thought so with the certainty of someone who had done it himself. And while he was thinking, he kept walking between the shelves and gazing at the vast number of hitherto non-existent works in his life. Soon, walking next to a shelf full of thick and thin books on the shelves of a tall (as tall as he was) bookcase with a sign reading «Avant-garde Literature», he pulled out one of many books. The cover, which had soft, pastel colours, had a title: «The Reef», followed by the Latinised name: Alexander Polyarinov. M. didn’t peer inside – with high hopes on the newest of Polyarinov’s works, he tucked the book into his bag.

So he walked between the cupboards, gently pulling the books out of their tight embrace and browsing through them. Not all the works he pulled out fell into the blackness of his bag – most of them returned to their places. And if those books had been alive, they would have screamed with a frantic, raving cry; they would have wanted to get out of this cramped hell, so would be begging the serious reader to take them out of here. And those who fell into the spaces of bags, briefcases and handbags would be watched with hatred and envy by other works, in a freer space. As befits modern society.

In the end, for his small exposure, which was actually a detour to his work, he dropped four books into his bag. Their weight began to be felt, and the bag was now not lost in the hem of the sensation of its former absence. And as M. dropped the fifth book into his bag – the last for this shopping session – he bumped into someone as he headed towards the cashier.

— Excuse me, – the person M. bumped into said.

Slightly put off by this mishap, M. lowered his gaze to the person he was facing. The man responded by raising his gaze to him. The ellipse-shaped head with one eye levitating in the static of the invisible attachments of a pair of triangles and a calm, level mouth seemed painfully familiar to him. Quickly going over the list of his friends in his head, he worked out that it was Blixter. And Blixter realised that the person he happened to bump into was M. himself.

They grinned stupidly at each other and, after standing like that for a few seconds, hugged each other – there was too little room for a handshake, and no one wanted to move away.

— I'm glad to see you here, – M. said in a classically florid tone.

— Me too! – Blixter said, looking into M.'s face with a spark of unmistakable joy. – How's it going? It seems like a long time since we've seen each other.

— Well... It's only been a couple of weeks since we last saw each other, – M. clarified, – but yes, it's been quite a while. And how am I doing – well, things are going well and I'm not complaining.

— Classic, – Blixter said.

— Exactly.

Together they walked between the cupboards again. Blixter was looking for new works, and M. just walked beside him and watched his choices.

— Are you here for some new books too? – Blixter suddenly asked, taking his eyes off the new book in his hands.

— Of course, – M. answered briefly and clearly.

— You know, there are e-books, – remarked Blixter.

— There are, yes, but I don't like phones because I'm addicted to them, that's for one thing, – M. began. – And the other thing is that the kind of works we're picking up now won't make the transition to the new electronic format in the next century.

— You are right. Nobody wants them, but we, and someone else, are buying them, – Blixter said.

— That's for sure.

Soon Blixter picked up another book he found interesting, and finished his quest by taking just a couple of books off the shelves. They went to the cashier's desk. M. got up first, took the books out of his bag and put them on the counter. The girl behind her took the books, scanned the barcodes on the back and put them on the other side of the counter. Soon she told him the price, which he paid without too much trouble.

M. stowed his newfound works in his bag and Blixter handed the cashier his chosen books and waited to be told the price as well. And when he started counting his money, a worse problem occurred – the money was short, and only ten jsabs were missing.

— Oh shit, – he said in slight hopelessness.

M. noticed this, took out his wallet again, and from it, a note of ten jsabs, and handed it to Blixter.

— You don't have to return it, – he told him.

Blixter stood for a second or two, contemplating what he saw before him; soon a spark of happiness flashed in his eye, and he, smiling, held out his hand to the note.

— Thanks, dude! – he said. – Saved the day!

The cashier was pleased to see such friendship, and so she accepted the note with a special amount of warmth, distant from her lonely job, but present where you can reach it with your hand. After settling up, the friends left the bookshop, under the warm unseen gaze and clear smile of the cashier.

On stepping out into the fresh street, Blixter covered his eyes with his hand – it was too bright the sun was shining directly into his eye. M. did not have to cover himself, for he was used to the blinding sun. They strolled down the street into the distance, heading back home, but for a moment M. stopped and searched for something, fumbling with his pockets. Blixter, who had already leveled with him, stopped after a couple of steps and turned to him, not understanding the object of his search. Soon M. found the item he was looking for – a packet of cigarettes and a box of matches.

He took one cigarette out of the packet and put it in his mouth; from the box he found a match and, with cold shaking fingers, was able to light it and smoke. He jerked his hand to let the match go out in his fingers and tossed it aside. With his other hand he took hold of the cigarette and took a couple of puffs to make it burn better; clouds of gray smoke billowed from M.'s mouth, as if he were some kind of dragon. Having finished his business, he put the pack away and continued walking.

Blixter, who was walking beside him, watched him smoke: the way he took a cigarette with his red fingers stiffened by the cold, the way he easily absorbed the poisonous gas into his lungs and how he let the gray masses, amenable to the movements of the wind, out into the cold September street at ease.

— For how long have you been smoking? – Blixter inadvertently asked.

— Since I was eighteen, when I joined the army, – M. said. – I'm twenty-one now, I'll be twenty-two soon.

— So... two years? Maybe three? – counted Blixter.

— Maybe, I don't know. Everything about that time is drowned in that blue smoke, – M. said. – And no matter how much they tell me about the dangers of smoking, it's only done me good.

— And how was that?

— Because of smoking, I met someone who became a good friend. Because when you smoke, you smoke for a reason. That's why smokers get to meet each other.

— Because of what? – Blixter asked, incomprehensibly.

— Because they want to know the reason for your fatal addiction.

Blixter was silent, absorbing his words. He was well aware of his detachment from Internet reality and his predilection for books, for it was simply impossible to explain the sometimes mind-boggling depth of his phrases otherwise.

They made another detour, this time to the park. It was not really a detour in his standard sense; yes, they had deviated from the usual route, but even so, through the park, M. would be able to reach his destination in time. Sitting down on a bench, he smoked a cigarette, extinguished it on a bin nearby and tossed it inside to the other litter. Blixter sat thinking of something so interesting and profound to ask – perfect timing! – and, soon, came up with his question.

— I can't figure it out, – Blixter said. – I'm sorry, but all this floridness and mysticism and stuff... What's it about? Is it because of the North? Because you don't like talking? Or is it because you don't want to reveal yourself, your past and your future plans to people?

— What is the past? – M. asked back. He leaned over and clasped his hands in his fingers. – The past, like the future, is a moment lying beyond the boundaries of the present, only one moment is before and the other is after. Neither one nor the other is really there, for it is only our setting, our illusion that we call time. There is only now, and that is why it is worth living now, not anywhen.

Blixter remained silent, marveling at M.'s skill at parrying these types of questions.

Suddenly M. stood up and slung the bag over his shoulders. Blixter also stood up.

— All this talking is pleasant for me, but I need to get to work, – M. said.

— To work? – Blixter looked a little surprised. – You are working already?

— Uh-huh, – M. nodded.

— Where? – Blixter asked curiously.

— At the «Sixth Lynch Bar»," M. answered casually.

— At the bar? – Blixter was more surprised than before. – And as who?

— A bartender, of course. A servant of the alcoholic demise.

— Oh, dude, that's... cool! I’m trying to find a place where I can make an extra hundred jsabs, too.

— If that's the case, I wish you the best of luck with that. If you want to visit me at work, just type «Sixth Lynch Bar» into the search engine. In the meantime, – M. held out his hand, – so long.

Blixter shook his hand, and M. took a brisk step away from him.

— Good luck to you! – Blixter told him afterwards.

M. didn't seem to notice.

When M. disappeared from view, Blixter checked the time on his phone. It was 2:43 PM, the eighth of October. There was nothing else to do here, so he grabbed his bag and headed home to the «Shajar Home».

— Today is a great day! – said Lycan from his room.

The living room was bright; the sun was beaming its September rays inside. Through the open window, the street humming came in along with the chill. Blixter sat on the sofa, just waiting for Lycan to deign to come out of his room, already dressed and ready.

— It’ll be even greater, – said Blixter, looking through the open doorway, – if you’ll be quicker.

— Easier, Blix, – Lycan said, peering out. – I'm trying to be as swift as I can!

Lycan disappeared back into his room. Blixter sighed and continued leafing through the social media feeds. Among the entries from various blogs and communities, there were glimpses of his friends left behind, in Las Void. This made him feel sad, but the thought that his choice, conscious and fulfilled by the will of his parents, was in its own way the right one, and that everything left behind, within the criminal Las Void, was some kind of price that everyone has to pay to start a new life, brought a strange, cynical calm to his soul.

Soon, Lycan deigned to leave his room, already fully dressed and ready for the start of the school year. His clothes fit rather tightly, as if they were too small for him, but there was no visible discomfort on his body. In this look, if he took the smile off his face, he would look like a gangster. Blixter got up from the sofa and joined him in putting his shoes on in the hallway and leaving the flat.

As they stepped outside, they were struck by the huge crowd – dozens and hundreds of shapeshifters, so different and unfamiliar, moving along the pavements towards their establishments. Blixter and Lycan joined the procession, trying to move side by side so as not to lose sight of each other. The shapeless crowd moved through the streets, splitting into narrower streams and widening to the possibility of stopping the morning traffic, which was not much, despite the purest urbanism.

Looking up in the distance, Blixter noticed a stately building and a huge snake of people stretching into the courtyard. Very quickly he realised that this ginormous structure, as if designed in the style of Soviet modernism but strangely reminiscent of TSC, was the Treeangle State College. He was surprised by the size of the building – without knowing the context, the building had no resemblance to a college; at least the images that popped into his mind from time to time could not connect with this construction.

— What are you hangin' around for? – Leekan asked. – Seen a ghost or sumthin’?

— Yeah, – Blixter said and pointed to a building in the distance, – definitely a ghost.

Lycan glanced and whistled briefly; there was pure astonishment in his whistle.

— That's the TSC, ain’t it? And that’s the thing where all of our taxes are! – Lycan said, smiling.

— On point, – Blixter answered him.

The two friends reached the courtyard of the TSC. On this concreted piece of land, enclosed by a beautiful metal fence and arranged as if it were not just the courtyard of an educational institution, but an entire park, there seemed to be about a thousand people – all unique in their measure; through their heads, Blixter even spotted a few people.

The whole gathering of shape-shifters and humans was divided by bright red lines into groups of thirty each. Thirty groups came out in all, and each had its own leader. The leader of the group, which included Blixter and Lycan, was a tall person in grey slacks and a white shirt; he was a shape – indicated by the strange shape of his hands and palms, the deep pink, almost red, colour of his skin, and the pyramidal head, one side of which had a single large eye with black sclera and red pupil, looking closely at his new charges.

He was saying something, but Blixter wasn't listening – he found his interest in examining those standing beside him. They were all strangers, and he was a little scared (still, he hadn't had much experience of socialising), but he remained calm, outwardly at least. Suddenly he jerked – his shoulder was touched. He turned around and saw a shape passing him someone's phone; there was a note on the screen listing nicknames on one of the messengers and real names next to them.

— It's for the general group, – the shape explained.

Blixter looked up, full of confusion. Inwardly, he noticed some oriental accent in this individual.

— Don't say anything, – the shape said. – I understand jack shit myself.

Blixter, transfixed with skepticism, nevertheless picked up his mobile phone, typed in his nickname and first and last name and handed it to the man to his right. So, in a chaotic zigzag pattern, this mobile reached the end and returned to its original owner. The latter, in turn, created a messenger chat room and added all the nicknames from the bookmark there.

The hoard soon moved towards the building and then split into four streams – each stream symbolising a year of training for those who went in that particular stream. Blixter, in the freshman stream, entered the leftmost building, went up to the first floor and stopped outside one of the offices where Lycan and the rest of their, the Fourth Group, had stopped. At a brisk pace, a pyramid-headed shape walked up to its closed door and opened the door inside.

The study was nothing like the ones Blixter had seen in the pictures – it was more of an amphitheatre, albeit a small one. The ceiling in the study was quite high, so he didn't have to worry about all sorts of collisions between the top and the ceiling. The amphitheatre had four levels, divided by a staircase in the middle; the first level could only seat six people (three on the left and three on the right), while the second, third and fourth had eight. A couple of steps in front of the amphitheatre was the lecturer's pulpit; it was empty. Behind the pulpit was a rather large marker board.

Blixter and Lycan positioned themselves next to each other by the window, to the left, on the second level. The pyramid-headed shape stood by the pulpit, leaned his arms against its sides, and waited for everyone else to set up. When he did, he closed the door and began his monologue:

— Good morning, first-year students. I have the honour to congratulate you on your admission to TSC, one of the most prestigious institutions in all our vast country. I am the professor of «World and National History, Art and Culture», Cudda Amin. From now on, I will also be your tutor. If you have any questions during the course, feel free to contact me. So, I'll start with the standard...

He began explaining the different principles and traditions that the TSC observes, all the differences between this institution and others, and what level the TSC is at now and what level it wishes to reach. Blixter had little interest in this, and being right at the window, he looked outside. There was life out there.

— ...So, – Cudda Amin continued, – now with that explained, let's get to the other part. Who is ready to introduce themselves in front of their group?

There was a sepulchral silence. No one even thought of getting up and introducing themselves in front of twenty-nine strangers, not expecting the usual, friendly reaction from them. Blixter imagined what it would be like if he went out and introduced himself in front of these people. Twenty-nine cold faces made him wince a little.

— Well, all right, – Cudda Amin said. – I am well aware that everyone, or almost everyone, is a stranger to everyone, and I have no right to hold a grudge against you. It is difficult to make me angry at all. You have to do something so horrible and disgusting to make me mad. But don't think I'm going to let you do that. Now, who has any questions?

Someone at the back raised a hand.

— Yes, please, – Cudda Amin said.

A shape girl stood up and began to speak:

— Hello, I am Maurie, I am twenty years old, I’m from Indonesia. I have a question – what does the TSC have to do with creativity? Circles, groups, activities, things like that?

— We take great care of all creative people, – Cudda Amin said. – We have everything for needs of musicians, stonemasons, writers, painters and illustrators – every last one of them!

The girl sat back down. There was a silence; it lasted about ten minutes, which felt very long.

— Well, since no one has any more questions, – Cudda Amin said, – I have no right to detain you. You may go.

The fourth group got up and left the auditorium. Cudda Amin stood calmly watching the many young and pleasant faces leave him, leaving him behind, in study loneliness.

Blixter and Lycan did not go straight back home. In their already white-hot spirits an unruly holiday had set in, warming their souls like alcohol. Instead of waiting for a new day in their cramped flat, they walked around the city, eager to know more than a couple of local streets adjacent to the TSC and «Shajar Home».

They walked through several parks and alleys and visited many different establishments, from bars and cafes to amateur shops, of which there was one in the whole country, if not in the whole world. Autumn had not yet made its presence felt – the sky was clear and the leaves and grass still retained their rich green from yesterday's August.

They did not hurry anywhere, stretching their pleasure as long as their minds would allow. They entered another park, which was almost no different from the others, but it had something of its own, and Blixter was well aware of it, but he could not catch this "something", this distinctive feature in the landscape of the park, in the trees and lamps, or in anything else. Apparently I don't have much experience for such things, thought Blixter, stopping to look at one of the lamps, so similar in its cast-iron colour to all the other lamps in this park.

Suddenly, Lycan tugged at his sleeve; catching his attention, Lycan pointed to a man in black sitting nearby.

— That guy looks familiar, doesn't it? – Leekan asked, glancing at Blixter.

— I don't think so... – Blixter said, concentrating his attention on the man.

Everything on the man was pitch black: the boots, the trousers, the overcoat. Even his shoulder-length hair was black as well. The man himself wasn't looking anywhere; his gaze, though fixed on an invisible point in the distance, beyond the buildings and the invisible horizon, was rather dull and lifeless.

Lycan headed straight for the man, not even saying anything to Blixter. The latter, in turn, anxious for his friend, decided to follow him nevertheless. When they approached the man in black, Lycan asked:

— Aye, dude, sorry for sounding out of the blue, but you seem kinda familiar, ain’t ya?

The man looked up at Lycan and Blixter. Blixter saw a familiar depth and mystery in him; he immediately remembered the party, the balcony and the moon.

— Maybe, – the man replied.

— Wait, – Blixter cut in. – Aren't you the man who played guitar at the party last night? We were on the balcony, talking about stuff.

The man shifted his gaze to Blixter. The man's gaze made Blixter's heart skip a beat – he was looking him almost in the bark of his soul, which made him nervous.

— Yes, that's me, – the man said.

— Oh how! – Lycan said and sat down imposingly beside the man. – Every day is a meeting with acquaintances!

Blixter sat down beside him, and unlike Lycan, who sat perfectly still, he sat with his hands on his knees, joined side by side. My groin was getting a little uncomfortable.

— I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves to each other, – Blixter said, keeping his voice calm. In his head he was calling Lycan all sorts of bad words, mostly because of this act of his.

— Well, if that's the case, – the man said, – then let's introduce ourselves.

— I am Lycan Tropi, –  Lycan said, looking the man in the face. – From Australia. This, – he pointed at Blixter, – is Blixter. You can call him Blix if you like. And what's your name?

M. said his name.

— Oh, so we do know each other! – Lycan said. – So, how have you been? How’s the life treatin’ ya?

— The days go by, – said M., – and I'm not complaining.

— Typical, – said Blixter unintentionally with a slightly nervous smile on his face.

They started talking about this and that without even thinking about the time. The wind occasionally made its way toward them and fluttered M.'s hair like the burnt flag of a forgotten country. In the distance, cars buzzed in their own way; people loomed in front of their faces, then singly, then in pairs and even in groups. Trees rustled their August leaves, afraid to empty their crowns, but they understood that this was the cycle of their life, so similar to human life.

It was getting colder – evening was coming; it was the sixth hour, but despite this the trio of newfound friends continued to talk. At one point Blixter noticed that freedom now ruled his soul – the freedom he had sought since his birth, and for whose delicate hand he had fled from home in his childhood and adolescence. Of course, he was aware that he would have a long time to socialise, but that difficulty was now the least of his life's difficulties. Next to him sits a treasure trove of knowledge about life that he will be turning to for a very, very long time – at least, he thinks so.

Soon Lycan had to leave them – he had a small order in an online shop, and the pick-up point closes in about half an hour. Blixter and M. were left alone with each other. They were silent; Blixter continued to sit, as if he felt uncomfortable around his new friend, M. on the other hand sat perfectly relaxed, sprawled out in his seat, stretching his legs and staring up at the beautiful gradient sky. Blixter thought for a long time about what to ask M., but nothing viable came to mind. As he pondered, he inadvertently asked:

— How do you... fight a longing feeling?

M. looked at him questioningly, then looked up at the sky and answered:

— I don't. I let it be.

— But just letting it be means that depression can already be behind you, – said Blixter, glancing at M.

— Depression means that it's controlling you, – M. said and looked Blixter in the face. – When you're depressed, you realise that sadness and anxiety are controlling your body and your consciousness has been set aside. Give strength to the consciousness and the longing will wither away.

— And how do you do that?

— Tell yourself that everyone feels sadness and anxiety. Or pour your sadness and anxiety into creativity – write a EP if you're a musician, write a story if you're a writer, write a poem if you're a poet, create a little collage if you're a collagist, and so on. The least you can do is tidy up your room: the shelves, the table, the floor, the walls. That's creativity, too.

— But what if I do it, yet the longing doesn't go away? – Blixter asked.

— What disease goes away immediately after taking medicine? – M. asked in reply.

Blixter had nothing to answer.

— Why did you ask me that? – M. asked. – Do you experience that?

— Yes, – Blixter answered in a slightly sad and reluctant tone. – The new surroundings, you know. I wonder how you feel at ease in the capital, as if you've been here all your life and you only got here yesterday, as I remember.

— That's true, – M. said. – And as for the surroundings, the new life, the routine, the faces... I don't worry about them. They come, they go. That's how I fight longing, so to speak.

— Hmm, – Blixter pronounced. – Strange.

— What's strange about it?

— You said to translate your longing into art, and now you're saying that your method of dealing with longing is not to worry about it at all.

— That's my way of dealing with it, Blix, – M. clarified. – And I said about creativity looking at you from different sides.

— What does that have to do with me? – Blixter asked in surprise.

— You don't look like someone who can just stop worrying about things for no reason, do you?

Blixter didn't answer, drooping his gaze. M. got up, stood in front of him, and held out his hand.

— So long, – he said.

Blixter looked up at him and shook his hand. M. tucked his hand into his jacket pocket and left the park, leaving Blixter alone with his thoughts.

Back home, Blixter kept asking himself for a long time – standing under a stream of hot water in the shower and lying in bed, staring at the screen, he kept asking himself: «What does he mean?».

There was an absence of light, or Blixter was just lying there with his eyes closed. In this absence of light he found his own consciousness a tiny dot from which emanated the monotonous hum of the moment before the huge burst of light.

He tried to find the zero point in his body, and found it covered by a blanket. He easily opened his eye, but instead of pastel walls and ceiling he saw walls riddled with pale wine-like and unsaturated black colours, and a standard white ceiling. All this was familiar to him, and it made his heart skip a beat. Was it all just a dream?

Blixter got up from his bed and out the window he saw the August sky and the rich green crowns of the trees. He looked around him: the table, the chair, the wardrobe, the TV, all sorts of things strewn about on the floor – yes, this was his room, exactly where he was in this nightmare (was it a nightmare?). As he looked around he noticed that he was fully dressed, and in the same clothes that he had come to Triangle in. Heart skipped a beat after beat and his head felt heavy as he felt consciousness destabilize.

With heavy steps he left the room and descended the stairs. There was only silence throughout the house – no appliances sounded in the kitchen, no one was typing in the study, no one was watching television. From behind the sunlight a dance of dust particles could be seen, through the transparent veil of which he passed, looking around the entire massive mansion. The silence slowly began to get on his nerves, adding extra weight to his thought processes, already stressed from not understanding his surroundings.

He looked around the entire mansion from start to finish, entering even those rooms whose space he had only glimpsed. When he realised there was nothing else, he left the mansion – through the front door, just as he had left his home for the capital. There was no one waiting outside the mansion, and the courtyard stood empty. Blixter left the courtyard and moved on through the streets.

He saw ruined buildings, walls painted with profanity, chunks of brick and glass – all the filth, the whole black army gathered here in independent Las Void, seceded in the hope of starting their own way. Those minds that continued to live here because of poverty or excessive patriotism assumed that a new milestone of life would begin for Las Void, a «Rebirth». Their assumptions were unfortunate, and instead of a new Paradise on Earth, instead of a maiden easy leap into the future, Las Void plunged into what some of Blixter's acquaintances called «Russian Postmodern» – the past, with its ideas, plans and developments, had been left behind, but the independence gained implied new ideas, new plans, new developments. A new path and new goals – where were they?

He walked through the streets. They all looked alike – destruction and depravity were always and everywhere, on every building, on every fence and on every road. He had already left the zone of the high-rises, those man-houses with nothing but misery in them – he could be seen by the size, the height of those high-rises. Now he was reaching the small suburban houses. There was no noticeable fatigue in his body.

In the distance he saw a strange silhouette lying on the stairs. His heart pounded harder and his mind blurred – this scene was too familiar to him, too much this place, this street, this house and this silhouette at the threshold were real. A second later, as if struck in the back of the head, he fell to the ground unconscious.

In the black singularity of the dream world he heard someone's familiar voice.

...i roam around in shadows, hidden in black leaves...

...i see men, women, children. i count them, one by one. there were so many to walk the ground, to be present finally - to be alive.

i see their bonded nature. i see them, clear as day. oh ye, who seeketh happiness, now are stuck in this absurdist hell.

The end of September was blazing in its electric glow between the evening streets of the capital. Various creative types were gathering in the various taverns and cafes, ready to talk about God knows what, whether it was the political actions of a right-wing government, the deeds of a famous person or some latest achievement in national literature. The lamps outside those areas were beginning to glow with their unpleasantly stinging cold light, so lifeless it makes you want to think about death.

«Sixth Lynch Bar» retained the same atmosphere of the seventies and eighties, when the various OCGs and mafias had not yet realised their immortality within the expanding confines of the law. M. politely wiped glasses, took orders, professionally and pathologically designed them and handed them over to the client. The client watched the tattooed barman, who looked a little like a modern-day Jesus Christ, and marveled at the smoothness and logic of his every action – his energy neither appeared out of nowhere nor disappeared into nowhere.

In a corner on the stage a small jazz band was playing. They were different from other bands in that they were militarized: everyone in them was in a black uniform and had a haircut; only the girl who played the drums kept her long hair and the saxophonist with a lifeless look had a standard but matching "half-box" hairdo. Their music was shrieking and strange – the saxophonist did not aspire to have any lyrics or at least hit a note, the guitarist and bassist did not get along much and only the drummer retained a certain jazzy nature, occasionally interrupted by some distant jazz parts. They had previously explained to the owner and the barman that they were playing experimental avant-jazz with roots in Moscow, to which M. only smiled briefly.

Wiping down another glass, M. heard the door open and looked up from his hands. A group of students entered the bar and each of them was familiar to him: merrily walking towards the bar was Lycan Tropy, dressed in his usual shirt and trousers, a little shy and dressed in leather clothes with Blixter walking beside him, Tri, Circle and Penti, dressed in their standard casual clothes, walked behind and only watched. The group took five seats and Lycan, glancing briefly at the board and then at M., yet seeing no familiar features in his face, made his order:

— Cuba Libre.

M. smiled at him and began to prepare the drink. Blixter, who was sitting side by side with Lycan, said to him, slightly surprised:

— I didn't think you'd be drinking this.

— Why? We have to try something new, we have to experiment! – Lycan said passionately. – We must not let the framework clamp down on us!

— Oh, now he’s ready for a political debate... – Penti said who was seated nearby with some annoyance.

— Come on, Penti! Don't be so grumpy about it! –  Circle said who was sitting next to her.

— Yes, let's just hang out, – Tri added, sitting next to her.

— Ugh, fine, – Penty sighed. – God forgive.

Serving Lycan a drink, he took the others' orders and, without giving them time to think about their identities, began preparing them. They lingered in silence, watching the gestures of the long-haired, stylishly dressed bartender, his figure vaguely resembling that of some man. When he had finished serving his customers, he took their money and gave them change in small coins, if the price and number of jsabs received warranted it. And now that everything was logically complete, he tousled his hair, swept all his friends with a glance and folded his arms over each other on the counter.

— Didn't expect to meet you here, – he said, a pure Nordic smile on his face.

Everyone was surprised by his presence at the counter: Lycan nearly spat out his drink, the Players sat in a slight stupor, and Blixter got off with just a simple smile that clearly showed great confusion and surprise.

— Bro! I almost spat my drink! – Swallowing and smiling widely in surprise Lycan said.

— This is... unexpected, – Penti said.

Circle and Tri were silent, smiling with their eyes.

— I haven't seen you since… forever! – Lycan said, setting his glass down on the counter. – How did you end up here?

— Settled in, – M. said.

— I didn't think you'd be working here! – he said, chuckling. – How are you doing? Is it going well? Is the pay good?

— Days are going by and I'm not complaining, – M. answered, – and the pay is good, yes. What about you?

— I'm all right too. Blixter's getting to know his surroundings and all that.

— Yeah, –  Blixter said, smiling shyly.

— I can only be happy about that. Exploring the space around you is one of the steps to a decent life in the capital.

— You say that like you've lived here all your life, – Tri pointed out.

— Because the process is identical everywhere, – M. said, glancing at Tri.

What followed was an incomprehensible conversation about nothing. Listening to them, M. served them drinks and snacks if they wanted it. At first it was all intelligible, but the longer he listened the more he realized that all their dialogues, despite their quite different topics, merged into one something that was beyond any laws of comprehension. Perhaps it was the alcohol. Perhaps because of the atmosphere of the bar. Perhaps it's the presence of M..

Soon Jay returned. He noticed M. watching the people sitting at the bar and asked him:

— Your friends?

— Yup, – M. answered.

— Alright. Seems like they’re having a good time. You serve them for free? – J asked.

— 'Of course I do, – M. said. – Like you wouldn’t server your friends for free.

— Yeah, – J simply replied with his usual friendly smile.

Blixter noticed the conversation between J and M. He was interested in the identity of his employer and asked M.:

— Who's that?

— This, – M. put his hand on J's shoulder, – is J. The owner of the bar, a work colleague.

— Pleasure meeting you, – J said and shook Blixter's hand.

M. introduced J to the others, and soon became an unwilling listener to his eulogies. He wasn't particularly uncomfortable listening to it – compliments never get boring; but there was a certain amount of weariness that crept in with each word, as if he were really tired of listening to it. The songs succeeded each other in a constant loop, so smoothly that it was impossible to recognize the junctures in the moments of changing melodies. The conversations coalesced into a single sticky substance, brushed aside by the consciousness of a single silent listener. Faces mingled, changing depending on the person speaking. The whole thing was like some strange wild dream.

The days pass by. Routine slowly crept inside and soon became a staple.

Blixter woke up at 6 AM. It wasn't that all the lectures started so early – he just wanted to spend as much time at home as possible. He left his room almost immediately, went to the bathroom where he pissed and washed his face, then went into the kitchen and began to make himself breakfast. All of his movements have been honed to the smallest detail and together they resemble a kind of waltz.

Once he had cooked himself breakfast he would gorge himself on it, leave the dirty dishes in the empty sink and return to his room where he would get dressed and pack his bag. If he knew he hadn't finished any homework (of which there wasn't as much as he'd previously thought) he'd look for the right subject notebook and finish it. When everything was packed and ready, he would leave his room with his bag in hand, sit down in the living room on the sofa and just stare at his phone, waiting for his friend, who would be awake by this very moment.

He did not notice the mechanics of his actions – it was as if he did not care. He was preoccupied with completely different problems – M.'s mystery, socialising, making new friends and the nightmares that came back to him with some consistency. Sometimes, while browsing social media, he would find some interesting photo from Europe, Russia or America, and a strange scene would be created in his mind where he was completely different: where he was not surrounded by death and baby crying, where three serious businessmen were not standing over him, where no bodyguard was watching his every move – where he was in a narrative of absolute freedom. Most of those scenes were limited to a view of the night river from a bridge in some beautiful cultural city like St Petersburg, when he realised he didn't know a damn thing about the world.

In such oblivion it was the eighth hour of the morning, and there was still an hour before the lectures started, so there was no reason to worry. When Blixter left the world of uncertain dreams, he noticed Lycan next to him, just sitting in a Lotus pose, staring at his phone, mentally preparing himself for another day of routine; not that it upset him, no – there was something else going on here: the excessive repetition of the old, for his white flaming, dark corner lighting, loving, rebellious soul demands the new, but this new is not found or created, which upsets him.

When the first lecture was half an hour away, they looked at each other for a moment, got up, put their shoes on, grabbed their bags and left their flat. Blixter noticed the shapeshifters and people also leaving their flats, their young faces expressing nothing but understanding and acceptance of the hardening student life. Blixter and Lycan entered the lift with two or three strangers (students like them), descended to the ground floor and left the «Shajar Home», moving in a dwindling stream of strange shaped heads and unknown sleepy faces.

It took about fifteen minutes to walk from the «Shajar Home» to the stately TSC building. When Blixter and Lycan entered the inner courtyard of the TSC, the former had a desire to stay here for at least five minutes to try to meet someone, and the latter had a wish that it would be over quickly so he could return home. Inside the TSC building they hung up their windbreakers, went up to the right floor, shook hands with everyone they knew and found a seat, waiting for the lecture to start and watching the crowd build up.

The lectures lasted an hour, sometimes an hour and fifteen minutes. One of Blixter’s classmates, Ilya Masodov, told him last week that in Russia lectures (or «pairs») lasted an hour and a half, which surprised Blixter a little.

Today was no different. Two lectures had passed, but nothing new but talk was going on. Blixter sometimes wondered if even the conversations weren't new – what was talked about was probably already the subject of other conversations: midnight, more intimate ones, for at night most inhibitions don't work.

However, there was a feeling in his soul from the very beginning that something interesting was going to happen tonight. It had always been there, but now it was on such a scale that not noticing it as before would simply not work.

Walking through the corridors after the lectures, Blixter heard the sounds of a saxophone in the distance. He was slightly taken aback, but quickly moved towards the sound. He walked and walked, the howl of the saxophone growing stronger and stronger, joined by the sound of drums and the melody of the bass guitar. As he got as close as he could to the source of the sound, Blixter noticed he was standing by the large doors of the auditorium.

Glancing around and making sure he was alone in the hallway, Blixter pushed on the doorknob and stepped inside.

To the Table of Contents. / To Ch. I. / To Ch. III.

[aptechvisaglobalimmigration]

What are the Australia Visitor Visa requirements?

Australia Visitor Visa Requirements

Applying for an Australia visitor visa from India? Australia offers the opportunity to explore its natural beauty, rich cultural heritage, and diverse experiences. Australia captivates visitors with its iconic landmarks like the Sydney Opera House and the Great Barrier Reef, as well as its vibrant cities, pristine beaches, and unique wildlife.

With the visa, you may be sure that you will have the time and chance to see the entire island continent. You will spend time with your loved ones, attend business meetings, and go to several tourist destinations throughout various provinces and states.

a. If you plan to travel extensively, you must obtain an Australia visitor visa from India. If you are a citizen of New Zealand or Australia, it is not required.

b. After filling out the form, certifying that you meet the requirements for character and health, and signing the Incoming Passenger Card, submit your visa application.

c. You are permitted to stay in the nation for a maximum of three, six, or twelve months after receiving your visa. However, you are limited by the terms of your visa and cannot stay longer than necessary.

What are the Australia Visitor Visa requirements?

The Department carefully reviews your whole visa application based on your information. The following formalities are a part of the criteria for your Visitor Visa:

• If you are a legitimate candidate,

• Describe the objective of your travel to the authorities, including whether it is for business, tourism, or visiting family;

• Indicate whether you provide financial assistance for your family;

 • Provide documentation attesting to your physical and moral qualities.

• The authorities will also request that you supply your biometrics.

Present Funds and File Your Income Tax Return

You might not think much of this, but timely and consistent income tax return submission increases your chances of obtaining a tourist visa. When income tax returns are timely and consistently filed, an individual’s finances are organized and controlled.

Strong savings also indicate excellent financial health, which is another important component in approving a tourist visa. To demonstrate your financial stability, you will have to report your savings, both moveable and immovable. The more, the better!

All of this boosts the person’s reputation and guarantees that he or she won’t pretend to be someone else or abscond.

Make a History of Your Travels

The presence of a travel experience enhances your profile. Your visit to Australia will also be counted against your global travels if you take occasional vacations. Your past travel experience will persuade the visa officer to issue you an Australia Visitor Visa from India.

It should be mentioned that your chances of obtaining an Australian tourist visa decrease if this is your first time visiting the nation, you have no prior significant travel experience, and you have no compelling grounds for the visit.

Motive for Returning to the Motherland

The visa officer will not hesitate to deny your application if, at any stage throughout the application processing, they have reason to believe that you might not be able to return home.

When you are only visiting Australia for a few days or months on vacation, it becomes crucial that you demonstrate your ties to your own country.

If you work for a company, you could be required to present your leave application and even a statement from the relevant department stating that you will be returning to work on a specific date.

Your profile may require you to submit the proofs.

Remembering the aforementioned things, you can successfully obtain an Australian Visitor visa from India.

In case you need to gain more information regarding the Australia Tourist Visa you can refer to https://www.aptechvisa.com/tourist-visa-australia you can also give a call to our Immigration Consultants who are a pro at Australia Immigration at 9289289006, 7503832132, and 9131059075

 #AustraliaVisitorVisa #TravelToAustralia #VisitDownUnder #DiscoverAustralia  #TouristVisa#VisitAustraliaNow