#also that the hippocampus is called such because it looks like a seahorse

[sylvana-the-tsarina]

using etymology to study is so underrated, btw. it’s almost always made remembering terms so much easier for me

like, “cortex” means something like “bark” or “husk” or “shell,” and “cerebr” has to do with the brain, and the “-al” suffix means “pertaining to” so “cerebral cortex” is just referring to the outer layer of the brain. any time “cortex” is mentioned in relation to the brain, it’s talking about that outermost layer

and just like that, I’m not lost anymore

[keishasknowledge]

What is the Science Behind Anxiety? Is it Normal for Us to Feel Anxious? - KK

Are you all having your daunting examinations, and there you are, blindly staring at a sheet of paper that hasn’t even been written, touched yet? Well, in this essay, I won’t be giving tons of useful advice for you but will emphasise on explaining why this happens all behind science and general common sense, which could explain this huge explanation on your worries with examinations, presentations, ceremonies and etc. Before we begin with our journey, I want you to envision your brain, close your eyes - and think about what is your brain packed with. It could be your missing assignments, the urge to complete plentiful work, the door to procrastination.. Let’s call these “mind blocks”, each of them add up positively or negatively to our brains but once it has been fully loaded or overloaded, it becomes chaotic and instantly turns into a “block-fill” - similar to a landfill. As a result, Mr. Anxiety comes along and brings up tons of doubts and questions, which builds a sense of negativity and stress to our wellbeing.

According to research conducted by Northwestern Medicine, the brain’s limbic system, comprised of the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, and thalamus, is responsible for the majority of emotional processing. By separating both important parts that results emotions flowing, the amygdala and hippocampus, the amygdala helps process and regulate both positive and negative emotions as the neurons towards the front, which is the anterior region of the amygdala are the one that plays a prominent role in these regulations of behaviors tied to the negative emotional responses. On the other hand, we also have the hippocampus, now it's not hippo and campus together. We can't build a hippo campus together, what else would they be doing, spend their time in the water? No! The hippocampus is basically originated in Greece, where they thought that the part of the curved, tube-like structure of the brain looked similar to a seahorse, doesn't that sound intriguing? The function of the hippocampus plays a big role in emotional processing, to be specific, it handles anxiety and avoidance behaviors, and it also affects other fundamental elements of thinking like memory and spatial navigation.

With all of these scientific or neuroscience research at hand, we can tell the amygdala and the hippocampus do have critical factors in order to fully operate your emotions at hand. What these little creatures do is that they bring you either the best or worst emotions in you, the way that they bring anxiety is by being over-reactive or hypersensitive (amygdala specifically), which can certainly lead to fear and anxiety responses to situations experiences that are not really dangerous. However, it can affect our mental perception and overall health. On the other hand, the amygdala also stores the memories of stimulus related to fear and the hippocampus is the one that holds contextual stimulus about fear, which signifies that both of these structures possess complementary roles in fear conditioning.

To sum up, you may think that your ways of doubting and worrying is because of past experiences, but why not have a deep sense and understanding of the neuroscience of anxiety?

[jdgo51]

See the Seahorse

Today's inspiration comes from:

Indescribable

by Louie Giglio

"I wait for the Lord to help me. I trust His word." — Psalm 130:5

"'The seahorse (or Hippocampus, if you want to be scientific!) is a tiny fish that lives in the oceans.

It’s called a seahorse because its head looks like the head of — you guessed it — a tiny horse. This unusual creature often swims with another seahorse, and they link their tails to stay together. It also swims “standing up” and tries to blend in with nearby plants so it doesn’t get eaten.

Because of its body shape, the seahorse isn’t a very good swimmer. So rather than go out hunting for food, seahorses use their tails like anchors, holding on to a piece of sea grass or coral. They then wait for food — plankton and tiny crustaceans — to drift by so they can suck it up with their long snouts.

With its poor swimming and its tendency to stay in one spot, the seahorse isn’t going to win any races. But God has given it everything it needs: a way to get food, someone to swim through life with, and something to hold on to. God promises the same to you. The Bible says,

God will use His wonderful riches in Christ Jesus to give you everything you need. — Philippians 4:19

God provides you with food and shelter, Jesus to swim through life with, and the promises of His Word to hold on to. Like the seahorse, you may sometimes have to hold on and wait for God to deliver His promises — but He always will, and at just the perfect time.

Help me, Lord, to wait for Your perfect timing. And while I wait, teach me to live the way You want me to. I will follow You!

Seahorses are one of the few animals for which the male bears the young for the female. A female seahorse lays her eggs — sometimes hundreds of them — in a pouch on the male seahorse’s tummy. The pouch is very much like a kangaroo’s pouch. The eggs stay in the pouch until they hatch about 45 days later. A baby seahorse is only about the size of a jelly bean and must start finding its own food as soon as it’s born.

I wait for the Lord to help me. I trust His word. — Psalm 130:5

A Tool for God

Encourage one another and build each other up. — 1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV

Scientists have long known that some animals use tools to help them get what they need.

But they have only recently discovered the most unusual way one animal “builds” its house — and they found this animal scurrying across the sands of the ocean floor.

The veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) builds its home using coconut shell halves that people have thrown into the ocean. Stacking one on top of the other, it crawls between the two halves — the perfect underwater armor for this soft-bodied octopus. When the octopus needs to travel, it simply stacks the shell halves under its body — much like stacking two bowls. It then “stilt walks” on its eight legs, dragging the shells with it. Scientists have even spotted veined octopuses digging buried coconut shells out of the sand and squirting them with jets of water to clean them before moving in.

God gave some animals the ability to use tools, but did you know that He made you to be a tool? God wants you to be His tool in building up others and leading them to Him. How can you do that? He tells you in His Word:

Go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have told you. — Matthew 28:19-20

What an amazing thought — that God uses you to build His Kingdom and to help others know Him!

Lord, I want to be a tool in building Your kingdom. Help me live a life that tells the world about You.

The veined octopus is just one of several animals that uses tools. There’s a group of bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, that carries sea sponges in their beaks to stir up the ocean sand and uncover their prey. Also, sea otters use stones as hammers to crack open abalone shells to get to the food inside.

Excerpted with permission from Indescribable by Louie Giglio, copyright Louie Giglio.

[ask-spiderglass]

Change of Plans

In the sandy dunes of Queen’s Rocky Peninsula, lying in silence between the main part of NYC and the Atlantic Ocean, was the abandoned remains of Fort Tilden. Within one of the darker, graffiti covered bunkers that was nestled in the snow covered dunes, was one of the many coastline hideouts Doctor Octopus of Earth-777 had called a home away from home.

Deep in its bowels, a complicated ritual was set up in one of the rooms: two chairs facing towards each other with six green candles encircling them both. The one on the right that had an opened, out-of-print antique book placed on the cushion along with an intact human brain and attached spinal cord sitting upon said book.

Fresh blood had been spilt on the brain along with the ashes of a burnt slip of paper sprinkled upon it. Seated on the left chair was none other than Odyssia Octavius.

Her eyes were glowing brightly with a sickly green hue as she uttered out inhuman clicks and chattering in a language no human could begin to comprehend. In a jittering motion, she allowed the Writhing One to envelop her as she etched out the information she had gathered onto a journal on her lap with a dip calligraphy pen.

The sole witness was Oliver Octavius of Earth-42711a, who had been keeping his distance while observing the process of the ritual. His usual set of four arms was warped and divided, changed by his abilities into something akin to an elevated seat. He’d gotten used to camping out in abandoned structures— not that he had ever liked it. This one in particular was laced with the smell of salt and water, and his nose wrinkled at the stench every so often. He had been watching this for a while now. Time seemed to be irrelevant in the space that was the bunker. With a pen and paper in hand, he had taken notes on the ritual throughout its duration, though the longer it dragged on, he found himself growing a bit bored, his note-taking growing less enthusiastic. Was this really supposed to take so long? Shouldn’t she have gotten everything that she needed by now?

A short, pained shriek rang out, snapping himself back to alertness in time to see Odyssia abruptly jolt out of her magic induced trance. Her head was drawn back and her hands were trembling slightly. Taking shaky breaths, her initial shock began to subside as she soon realized what just happened.

“Fuck…” she groans under her breath as she put the pen down and rubbed at her temples.

“What is it?” Oliver impatiently says. “Something obviously just happened, so spill it.”

“Jesus… my connection was broken,” she hissed. Her eyes felt like they were burning, like she stared at the sun for too long as she rubbed at her eyes, “Ugh.. based on that very searingly bright white light I saw, it was definitely a Celestial behind this,”

“Such as the angel that your Spider is bound to?” Oliver asks. “It’s obvious that they’ve managed to meet with one another at this point— I said it would eventually happen, remember?”

“Yeah, I’m aware,” she mumbles with a bit of vague resentment. Quite honestly, the way he spoke to her almost reminded her of when her mother used to nag at her.

“... And I guess you had a better idea in mind, right Juice Man? Did you have a better way to get all of this information about the Shards? Because if you did, you would’ve surely told me about that BEFORE I stole a fucking brain and spinal cord from a medical school and asked you to get me some blood, right?” she snarked with a side of venom. Her trembling had ceased as she unconsciously clenched her fists.

Oliver sighs, running a hand over his face before straightening his posture.

“Yes, I would have,” he says. “But that’s not the point. The point is that our Spiders are working together now— so now we need to figure out what we should do next.”

Odyssia lets out a heavy sigh as she unclenches her fist. Blinking a couple times she recovered her vision and the searing pain evaporated as the Writhing One compelled her eyes to heal faster. She thought about what she was going to do now… knowing that Amari was now getting involved she needed to think of a way to cause the least amount of pain to her… While she didn’t exactly feel the same way towards Melly, she felt like she was at a crossroads with no clear right path in sight. She slowly gets up from her chair as her viscous tentacles sprouted from her back.

“Alright, first of all, I’m sorry for snapping at you like that, I normally don’t have an audience for this sort of thing,” she says tiredly as she stretched her arms, “And second of all, let me tell you some things before we continue: we have everything we can possibly get from Crimson Weaver’s mind, all right here in this journal. I managed to get it all before our good pal Steve tried to ruin it. Another good thing: I can re-establish a connection with her in order to slow her down since I still have everything here and everything is still pretty fresh to use. And hey, since she’s right here, it will be easier to have a grip on her and I won’t have to focus as hard as I had to when she was in your dimension… But I need some time to set things up again,”

“Excellent,” Oliver says, green light flashing in his eyes for a moment as he smirked. “Tell me… does your Spider know that you frequent this place? If so… perhaps a diversion is needed while you prepare things. Something to keep their punchy little fists busy for a bit.”

“I’m assuming that she’ll definitely look around the peninsula first… we did last encounter each other around here,” she replies, rubbing her chin, “Yeah.. that could work. And you won’t have to do this alone.”

With that, she snaps her fingers. Oliver could hear the moaning, hissing, and… distorted whinnying of several entities emerging from elsewhere from the bunker. Oliver could sense their presence long before he saw them: their presences felt very similar to Odyssia’s own energy, albeit with a distinct lack of humanity behind it all. From the darkness of the dilapidated bunker, five entities of her creation appeared.

The first thing that had emerged was… what looked like a grotesque cross between a horse and a fish? Slow moving but powerfully built, it dragged itself into view. Patchy bluish gray scales, cold damp skin, fin like appendages, soulless black eyes… this thing really shouldn’t be a functioning living animal but here it was, in all of its visceral “glory”. Following just behind the ‘seahorse’ was a levitating, glowing, oversized cross between a squidworm and a bombardier worm that undulated around the air. This entity looked alien (although deep sea creatures tended to look very alien anyhow) as its tendrils began to pick up on Oliver’s Shard energy, curiously inspecting him before swimming away in the air. Next was a chimaera-like entity that seemed to be made of human flesh and… limbs with far too many hands attached? It seems to scuttle around the room in a way that a fish really shouldn’t do. Not too far behind was a quadrupedal wolffish that was well, the size of an actual wolf, with what looked like patchy bits of human hair and disturbingly human-like blue eyes. But the odd one out was an entity that resembled a flapjack octopus. Nothing about it seemed… as nauseating as the others. It… was the closest one to being considered cute, in a hideous way.

Oliver stiffened for a moment as he felt the entities approach, shifting back a bit as the floating worm drifted in his direction, and though his lip curled a bit at their twisted appearances, his eyebrow also rose in interest.

“Interesting…” Oliver says, looking them over. “Yes, these should do quite nicely.”

“You like them? I made them myself,” Odyssia chuckles knowingly.

“You did, did you?” Oliver says, thinking for a moment before deciding that it might be better to not ask from where or from what these creatures were made of. “I can’t say that they match my own choice of aesthetic, but they appear useful nonetheless. I take it you or your Patron will be directing these in some way?”

“Yes! These creations of mine are going to be directed by me,” she explains, “They already have their marching orders in place and they know what I expect out of them. So you don’t need to worry about bossing them around or anything. They’ll be on your side and give you an extra hand in a fight.”

“Which is appreciated,” Oliver says. “Though out of curiosity… What orders have you given them? Some foresight on what my ‘allies’ here may do would be appreciated.”

“They’re there to help in combat. The hippocampus there—Charley Horse—is there to keep the Cobwebs’ resident hunter busy and give him a hard time in particular,” she says, gesturing to the horse thing. “The worm—Shoestrings—is not only to sense Celestial energy associated with Spider-Glass but it’s also able to deploy bioluminescent flash bangs to disorient the opposition,” she says pointing to the undulating worm in the air. “Then this chimaera—Bunny—is going to use its venom and its whiplike tail in its attacks,” she continues, “And the wolffish—Canine—will obviously be using its powerful jaws to bite anyone who tries to get in the way.”

She paused for a moment to look at the flapjack octopus, regarding it with a sort of connection she did not seem to have with its fellow monstrosities. She smiles at it before finishing her explanation.

“Adorabilis here has a very special job: she’s going to have the privilege to deal with Spider-Glass. She will make sure that Glass will not interfere with you and keep her under control.” Odyssia concludes. It seems to be very obvious that Odyssia definitely had picked favorites.

Oliver inwardly rolled his eyes at the fact that Odyssia had given these things names, though he was still quite impressed with their range of abilities.

“I see,” he says. “Yes, these will give us quite the advantage. Perhaps we may even be able to obtain the Weaver earlier than planned— though I will keep that as a best-case scenario, given that we don’t yet know how many of their pesky friends they’ll be bringing along.”

“Well, I think you’d be happy to know that I at least planned for Spider-Glass and her friends,” Odyssia replies, “And you should also know that half her teammates don’t even use magic… and that’s assuming that two of them will even show up at all. All we really need to do is keep them busy anyhow. Anything more than that will be a bonus, let’s say.”

Oliver grins back at Odyssia.

“A bonus indeed…”

Odyssia nods in agreement, “Yes.. One step closer to both of us getting what we want. I’ll be here, then. I’m sure you can take care of yourself just fine, right Juice Man?”

This time, Oliver made his eye roll clear— he still was a bit confounded as to what the exact circumstances that had led Odyssia to start calling him that. But, seeing as it was otherwise a harmless name, he had otherwise not taken the time to object to it.

He sat upright, and as he did, the metal structure behind him shifted. With a green shimmer, it warped and condensed into four metallic clawed tentacles, two of which held him aloft as he moved forward.

“Oh, I assure you that I will,” he says.

With that, he shifts to one side, heading out of the room and towards the surface, the four creatures following not too far behind.

Adorabilis is about to follow the rest until Odyssia stops her. She bends down to look her in the eyes with a great intensity.

“You have a secret mission: keep Spider-Glass safe. Under no circumstances will the others be allowed to hurt her too much. Especially not Oliver. Understand?” She instructs.

Adorabilis curls a tendril and she seemed to listen to her words carefully. With that, she hurries away to join the rest of her fellow creations.

Once Odyssia was left all alone and felt no other presence nearby, she looked over the journal that she had been recording all the memories she had gathered from Melly. At first, Odyssia seemed to routinely skim over the information regarding the Shards (figuring she and Oliver will have plenty of time to dive into it), one bit of information caught her off guard.

This… wasn’t exactly anything Shard related per say, and if anything it really had nothing to do with her agenda. And yet, she found herself reading and rereading this particular memory over and over again. The image of a woman, Crimson’s mother presumably, had kept haunting her in a way similar to how her memories of her own mother seemed to follow her around like a ghost. Try as she might, no matter what she did to try to pull herself away, her eyes did not want to look away.

She shuts the book.

No. I can’t let her get in my way… I shouldn’t care about her. This is all for the glory of the Writhing One, Odyssia scolded to herself. But this sentiment wavered as she thought about what the Weaver had said to her when she entered into her mind, Damnit, Octavius, stop second guessing yourself! This IS what you want. … So why do I have these hang ups?!

Odyssia resigns herself to restarting the ritual in silence, trying to avoid thinking of the memories that have been altered by Crimson Weaver's own mother. Even if the lull of self sabotage kept her from fully feeling committed.

[encyclopika]

Animal Crossing Fish - Explained #37

Brought to you by a marine biologist who finally got stumped!

Fish I’ve Covered: Click Here

Okay. I’ve been doing this for an hour and at some point, I gotta just stop. Today’s fish, the Seahorse, really stumped me, and it’s not because of hybridization or flat out wrong names in the game...it’s just that, sea horses are very unique individually, just like us.

The seahorse started showing up for us in the Northern Hemisphere in April and is available all day and night. Makes sense, as most species of seahorse are tropical to temperate species and often live close to shore in lagoons, coral reefs, sea grass beds, and really anywhere the water doesn’t have much of a current or there’s lots of things to hold on to. And that’s because sea horses are awful swimmers and, at least in my experience, they put up less of a fight than trash in ACNH. 

Above, I said there are a lot of things this could be. What isn’t up for debate is that it is indeed a sea horse, a marine fish in the Genus Hippocampus. They are called sea horses for their long, horse-like faces. At the end of those long snouts are their tiny mouths they use to slurp up tiny food particles that float by. They all also have a prehensile tail (which is nuts for a fish!!) that they wrap around rocks, coral, or anything to keep from getting pushed along by the current. They really are quite amazing-looking fish.

Now, for species...I’m totally not sure, but I’ve narrowed it down to five species. Because Animal Crossing is made in Japan, I’m more often than not going to search for species native or are at least living in Japanese waters. Given that high “spike” on its head and its ribbed skin, I am thinking it must be one of the three species in the Crowned Sea Horse complex, the crowned (H. coronatus), Korean, and Shiho’s (H. sindonis) sea horses.I’m leaning more towards the Korean Sea Horse, Hippocampus haema:

And like I said above, the coloring and even body shape of these species is pretty much unique to every individual. This one here is a “fresh” specimen for a paper about how confusing it is to tell the species apart sometimes and how the researchers were going to attempt to untangle it because sea horses need conservation too, dammit. The species in question are all native to the Sea of Japan in areas around Korea and Japan. 

But ACNH’s seahorse also could be the equally Pacific, but hailing from Australia White’s Sea Horse, (H. whitei):

Or the Pacific Sea Horse (H. ingens), which is what the ACNH wiki thinks it is but I wasn’t too satisfied and got myself in this knot:

All of them come in a myriad of colors, shapes, and patterns, so, for this one, it’s really hard to say which species was most correct. And that just goes to show you how and why we keep finding brand new species right under our noses. For some groups, sometimes two really different specimens turn out to be the same species, but two other ones that look exactly the same turn out to be different species. And the race to untangle this is on as we attempt to protect these animals from overfishing and habitat destruction. 

And there you have it. Fascinating stuff, no?

[that-green-unicorn]

Today I learned that seaponies actually isn’t based of seahorses but of a mythical creature called Hippocampus (meaning horse sea monster but often called sea-horse). But it does make a lot more sense since unicorns and pegasi are mythical creatures too and real seahorses don’t have fins but hippocampus is sometimes depicted with that. 

Did you know this?

Hippocampus is also the name of a part of the brain because it sort of looks like seahorse (i knew it was called that but had no idea where the name came from).

Edit:  I missed that they do have a backfin. And the g1 seaponies tails do look more like the real seahorses. But I like it more that they would be based of a mythical creature like the pegasi and unicorns  😏🦄 (wonder what flutter ponies are based of, horse fairies?)

[kaiba-fangirl]

Fill in the questions/statement as if you are being interviewed for an article and you were your muse

Tag 10 people to do this meme, (repost, don’t reblog)

TAGGED BY: not @rogueprinceconsort =P & I know I’m not a RP blog, but I am a fanfic author so I still do the same kind of stuff, just everyone at once with chapters, so I’m sure ya won’t mind... idk itching to write Seto but his mind is all over the place in Ch7 of And You? (AO3/FFN), & I know I’ve missed a bunch of personal tags in the past, so, well, I’m here now. TAGGING: anyone 1. WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

“Seto Kaiba.”  (海馬 瀬人 Kaiba, Seto)

2. WHAT IS YOUR REAL NAME?

He narrows his eyes, already suspicious. “Legally, that IS my real name.”

3. DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU WERE CALLED THAT?

“I was born Seto,” he answers flatly, then smirks. “The Kaiba family name I earned for myself and my little brother at the age of 10, when Gozaburo agreed to adopt us thanks to my, superior negotiating skills.” [Seto after Egyptian Pharaoh Seth. Kaiba for, apparently, hippocampus/seahorse.]

4. ARE YOU SINGLE OR TAKEN? “Taken. Happily married to the number 1 female duelist, Mai Valentine. She’s now heading the new Fashion Tech and Merchandise Department at Kaiba Corp.” [but he’s also still looking >.>]

5. HAVE ANY ABILITIES OR POWERS? “Just bleeding edge technology development and superior dueling skills,” he shrugs smugly. [and hacking.] [You also accidentally activate latent magical powers every so often, dumbass. Sure he’s a genius. A genius that weaves techno-sorcery into everything & commands gods without even knowing it.] “Anything else you may have heard about magic or spirits or real monsters, is all just nonsense hocus pocus. It’s sensationalists trying to make our amazingly life-like holographic projections seem dangerous.”

6. STOP BEING A MARY SUE/GARY STU. “Heh, doesn’t that just mean born talented? You should be so lucky.”

7. WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOR? “Blue,” he chuckles childishly. “It was probably what first drew me to, you know, Blue-Eyes, when I was young.” [It’s not. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon was his magical monster of light ‘girlfriend’ in Ancient Egypt in a past life of his 3000 years ago.]

8. HOW ABOUT YOUR HAIR COLOR? “Chestnut.”

9. HAVE YOU ANY FAMILY MEMBERS? “Living, my little brother, Mokuba, and now my lovely wife.”

10. OH? WHAT ABOUT PETS? “No pets. I barely have time for having two people in my life now it seems, and that’s even with Mokuba off travelling.” [any pet energy is expended on more Blue-Eyes White Dragon themed everything]

11. THAT’S COOL I GUESS, NOW TELL ME ABOUT SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE. “You wanna see a REAL Gary Stu?! As in, there is no reason he should have made it this far?! Joey fuckin Wheeler. This loser stole his way into my tournament, then has the nerve to even challenge me for 3rd place as if that meant anything, and he still ends up 4th even?! How! He operates on pure luck, and leeching off his ‘friends!’ His deck is a mess, I mean have you even seen his lineup?!?!” [Well that would all be redacted. Now, since this is for an interviewer for a published article...] He calmly and thoughtfully looks off at a spot on the far wall behind the interviewer. He purses his lips and furrows his brow, genuinely distraught, drawing from a direct encounter. “I’m actually more concerned than ever about the state of refugees- whether they have that official label or not. Around the world. Especially the children. These children don’t know what’s going on, and people say they care about children, but they really don’t. They’re not thinking of those kids- of refugee kids. Of poor kids. Of orphans or abused kids. And the way these refugees are being treated, those kids are getting hit with all those things at once. Ya know, I- I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity to be adopted, in a strong first-world nation, but I know what it’s like, to know that the grown ups are just using you, not listening to you. You’re nothing to them; maybe pawns. Now, I’m doing all I can, as president of Kaiba Corp, but there is still only so much we can do. We’re not making tanks or any weapons at all anymore-” He chokes at the thought of a tank staring him down specifically, compared to the latest news. He clears his throat to manage. “Not since the day I took over. We may not be contributing to that military industrial complex anymore, but the state of refugees today is still just as bad if not worse. Now they’re using weapons outlawed by the Geneva Conventions, and in countries that pride themselves on freedom and opportunity. Pteh. It’s madness. It’s evil.” [...aaand that just became the cover story] [We’ll be back after after a short break.]

12. DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES/ACTIVITIES YOU LIKE DOING? “Besides dueling, uh, tinkering. Reading. Hacking into random databases I shouldn’t be in.”

13. EVER HURT ANYONE BEFORE? “Next question. Don’t even print that, or you’ll be hearing from my lawyers. And they don’t play so nice.” [By ‘lawyers’ I’m pretty sure he just means goons.]

14. EVER… KILLED ANYONE BEFORE? "No.” [Gozaburo.]

15. WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL ARE YOU? "Dragon.”

16. NAME YOUR WORST HABITS. "Tch, I wouldn’t have gotten to be president of a multi-billion-dollar corporation if I had bad habits.”  [That is literally his worst habit. Also how he got there is because of all his bad habits.] He chuckles at what he’s about to make fun of. “Then again, some people think that working too much is a bad habit.”

17. DO YOU LOOK UP TO ANYONE AT ALL? "How could I when I’m already on top?”

18. GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL? "Irrelevant.” He smiles menacingly. “Card games are more important anyway.” [Bi and trying to figure out how to tell his wife. Then again once he does that, the press will be easy. Possibly also grey ace or demi, since he does enjoy the physical aspects of being married & his crush.]

19. DO YOU GO TO SCHOOL? “Graduated high school early and then went right back to work as CEO, at the time. I don’t have time to waste getting a piece of paper to validate my knowledge that I’m already putting to use at Kaiba Corp everyday. --but I certainly support everyone staying in school as long as they can. Kaiba Corp offers a free college tuition program for any employee, paid ahead of time, and schedules can be worked around class and homework time as needed.”

20. DO YOU EVER WANT TO MARRY AND HAVE KIDS ONE DAY? “I never thought I would want to marry, but I have always assumed I would want to adopt. Now I am married, and we both want to adopt. Someday. It needs to be when I can have time for them...” [and he’s wondering why you are supposed to only marry one person...]

21. DO YOU HAVE ANY FANBOYS/FANGIRLS? “Yeah,” he laughs, genuinely embarrassed at this level of pure idolization, “I find it endearing to see people dress up as Yugi and I at events.”

22. WHAT ARE YOU MOST AFRAID OF? “Losing my little brother.”

23. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY WEAR? “Full-length pants, tight fitting turtlenecks, boots, and a trenchcoat. More leather and straps and buckles, the better.”

24. DO YOU LOVE SOMEONE? “Of course. My little brother and my wife.” [and Joey]

25. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WET YOURSELF? [he just makes this face:]

[but possibly the last time he did hard drugs]

26. WHAT CLASS ARE YOU? (HIGH CLASS, MIDDLE CLASS, LOW CLASS) “Highest class.” He winks, for the spotlight.

27. HOW MANY FRIENDS DO YOU HAVE? “I don’t need ‘friends’ outside of my family.”

28. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PIE? “Finally, an intelligent question!” he laughs rudely. “My thoughts are that we should change the standard approximation for π to something closer to 3.16. That’s what I use in my calculations, and I find things just seem to work out better for me because of it.”

29. FAVORITE DRINK? “I’ve started drinking a lot more water, and I think that’s pretty much all I drink lately.”

30. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE? “It’s comforting being in my office, knowing where I belong, knowing that with me there, everyone I love is safe, knowing how I got there, and being proud of all I’ve accomplished, but...” [sometimes anxiety about it being Gozaburo’s old office creeps into his mind like an evil spirit or ghost...] “But more than that, I enjoy the wild freedom of just taking my Blue-Eyes jet out with some good music playing.” [oh my various gods he will always be an emo teen at heart <3]

31. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SOMEONE? He scoffs. “Yes, I am genuinely interested in my wife. Mai is an amazing person. And- Ah, and, um, next question?” [and Joey!]

32. WHAT’S YOUR BRA CUP SIZE AND/OR HOW BIG IS YOUR WILLY? “What kind of magazine is this for, anyway?” he asks as an aside, then thinks up a ridiculous enough response. “Ever hear of Zorc? I’d say that’s roughly one-third the size of mine.” Under his breath, he scoffs in disgust. “Imbeciles.”

33. WOULD YOU RATHER SWIM IN THE LAKE OR THE OCEAN? “Er, a private pool, thanks. Too many paparazzi anyplace else, and I wouldn’t want to close off anything from the public.” [I hear there’s a river in Egypt he lives in though]

34. WHAT’S YOUR TYPE? “Independent. Strong. Great duelist. Someone who knows what it’s like at rock bottom, but still managed to claw their way to the top...” [he spaces out off to the side]

35. ANY FETISHES? *zoom out to room full of Blue-Eyes White Dragon themed EVERYTHING* “Nah.” [*insert Will Smith presenting his AO3 tags]

36. SEME OR UKE? TOP OR BOTTOM? DOMINANT OR SUBMISSIVE?

[Switch! But “And You?” is stuck at a T rating, sooo...]

37. CAMPING OR INDOORS? "The fuck- you’re giving me whiplash with these questions,” he mutters. “Camping sounds nice. Real camping. Mokuba and I used to build forts and play outside a lot. I should ask him if he wants to go on a camping trip when he gets back. I doubt- well, no, I think Mai would like that, too.” [And Joey can cook them “candy bars!”]

38. ARE YOU WANTING THE QUIZ TO END?

[mid-summer-mad-ness]

the mind is such a funny little thing when it comes to me. for years ive had a memory of being maybe eight to ten years old and being in trouble because i didnt do my homework, and how, because my family all lived in one room, when my parents made me do my homework, they just had me do it while sitting on the bed facing the wall so i wouldnt be distracted by the movie they were watching. as a pissy little child i very obviously was upset abt not being able to watch the movie. i dont know why, i didnt even know what movie they were watching. but at some point, my bio dad had called my name and said to look at the tv. a hippocampus emerged from the water, and i was fucking speechless. i was pretty unfamiliar with mythology at the time, but they said what it was in the scene. i loved the name. hippocampus was a part of your brain, i knew that. the animal, as pretty as it was, was also very wrong looking. it was horselike in only its face, it was rubbery yet sharplooking. it reminded me of a seahorse. it was so strangely beautiful. "pretty cool, right?" i nodded. "now get back to your homework."

as i got older, that memory always just stuck with me. in art class, we had to make up our own animals. i made the Striped Trilea, my teacher said it reminded her of the hippocampus. there was a band i always used to listen to, hippo campus. i had a tendency to just, up and forget certain band names if i hadnt listened to them in like a month, but hippo campus always just stuck inside my head. we were doing a kahoot in my biology relating to scientific names of animals, and i was the only one who knew the seahorse was hippocampus. i can always name more parts of the brain than other ppl because i always remember hippocampus when they forget. all these little things in my life, all the hippocampus.

i thought about the movie a lot. the style in which the hippocampus was animated was something i always remembered. it was such a distinct half godawful half great for its time cgi, but it was better than the very few other glimpses i caught of the movie. i always thought it was just some poorly made fantasy movie my family got at the dollar tree or from my grandpa and grandma. i never bothered looking for it, because i knew i'd never find it. i never asked my mom about it because i knew itd remind her of my bio dad and neither of us really wanted that. the hippocampus was just another thing weirdly personal to me, that i considered a big part of my person as a whole but that people never thought too deep about, like how i always know off the top of my head the time it is in california, colorado, and brighton, or why i only buy metal glasses now, or why i always make sure people dont look at my arms for too long, or why i always have granola bars and water bottles on hand. a secret for me to hold forever.

except it fucking wasnt because i told my friend abt it and i learned it was a fucking percy jackson movie

[cloud8andahalf]

Another one of @donkeynamedeeyore‘s characters sort of washed up into my Percy Jackson fanfic. The chapters told from on of my OC’s pov but well that just cause that’s how the story is written but well, meet Serena Garcia, a six year old child who gets lost very easily:

Jamie sat by the sea happily talking to Tala. Things were getting back to a normal schedule and thanks to the necklaces that Marcy made he felt pretty safe even when his friends weren’t close by. Plus he liked having all his friends at camp now and feeling like a normal kid at summer camp. He didn’t even have to worry about ever going back home to the Pechman’s again either! Things were turning out to be rather awesome that summer.

           Just as he was saying goodbye to Tala, Jamie noticed a large wave come into the bay carrying a little Latina girl on a surfboard. She seemed very calm despite her strange entrance. Jamie watched as a hippocampus pushed the surfboard onto the shore, whinnied, and then shot off back to sea. The little girl stood up and waved to the strange sea creature, “’Bye, Mr. Seahorse! I’ll be sure to tell my teacher he taught about seahorses all wrong!”

           Jamie stared at the strange girl, and saw Tala staring equally perplexed by the girl’s entrance into camp. Jamie found his voice before the naiad did, “Uh, hi, who are you?”

           “Serena.” The girl pulled her surfboard onto the beach, “I got lost.”

           “Yeah.” Jamie agreed, “I would say so, uh, where you from?”

           “Hawaii, but Mom was checking out tide pools in South Carolina on Myrtle Beach or something while my step-Dad was teaching me to surf. He’s really good at surfing and joins in all these cool competitions! So I was learning from him. Then I got lost.” Serena smiled happily and pushed some straggling black hair from her face. She was basically covered in sea salt.

           Someone must have alerted Chiron to their strange guest since he and about half the campers came down towards the sea. The girl smiled and waved at them, she looked at Chiron, “You’re a horse too!”

           “Uh, centaur, who are you?” Chiron asked kindly.

           “I’m Serena, I already told him and you’re a stranger, so I shouldn’t talk to you.” She told Chiron happily. The centaur looked a tad surprised at this reaction, though Jamie couldn’t blame the girl; she was pretty young after all.

           Jamie nodded, “She’s from Hawaii, and was recently in South Carolina with her Mom and step-Dad before she ended up lost, which she didn’t really explain.”

           Serena grinned, “I got lost! I caught a wave like Makani said, he’s my step-Dad and he knows how to catch a wave, cause he was born in Hawaii like me, but I’m not Hawaiian like him, it’s weird! Still, I caught the wave just like Makani always does. He was teaching me and I must have caught a really good one cause this one took me sideways instead of towards the beach! It just kept going for a really long time and I eventually sat down cause it’s sort of tiring to stand that long. The seahorse came to keep me company for a while too, along with my other friend, but he’s sort of far behind.” She looked out towards the sea.

           “Friend?” Chiron pushed.

           “I can’t talk to strangers.” Serena told him, but then looked troubled, “But I can’t call on phones myself, they never work. I need you to call this number, Mr. Horse.” She held up her wrist to show Chiron a bracelet, “My Mom and Makani gave it to me because I get lost a lot. They also tell me to let everyone know that I have a very active imagination. They also say I’m a compulsive liar, but I’m telling the truth right now. Am I on a different beach now?” She turned towards Jamie to ask that.

           “Uh, you could say that. You caught a wave to New York.” Jamie was trying not to laugh. This girl was rather entertaining.

           “New York?” Serena frowned, “Is that far? Do you think I can swim back?” She looked out towards the ocean then apparently decided against it and held up her wrist again, “Can someone call my Mom? Her phone number is on my bracelet.”

           Chiron looked to be about to say something to her again, but he looked out towards the bay. Jamie saw Tala jump and disappear into the water. Irene ran towards the beach now and looked at Serena slightly concerned, “Who was your other friend, kid?”

           “Oh, he was really big! He made the wave for me!” Serena explained and looked towards the ocean, “There he is! Hi, Mr. Dragon!” She waved as a sea dragon rose from the waves staring at Camp Half-Blood.

           Jamie pulled out his poker chip and flipped it into a sword, “Uh, you brought a sea monster here?”

           “He was rather unfriendly towards the seahorse.” Serena crossed her arms and looked towards the sea dragon, “But I don’t think he’s that bad.”

           “You don’t think Cetus, a sea monster known to have terrorized ancient Greek cities and heroes is that bad!?” Luke shouted and ran to join Irene at the waterline now.

           “I like her.” Ari wasn’t far behind with her bow drawn.

           “Thanks.” Serena smiled and then waved at Cetus, “His name is Cetus? How did you know that? Hi, Cetus! We traveled really far!”

           Chiron tore his gaze from the sea dragon and looked at the small girl with pure confusion and slight concern. Nora and the rest of Jamie’s school friends came down the beach with a few other campers ready to take on the sea serpent. Nora stopped beside Serena, “Do you know fear or is this a lack of like…life experience?”

           “Hm?” Serena looked at her curiously, “Your hair is cool.”

           “I…thanks.” Nora tied her hair back preparing to fight the serpent.

           “I don’t know if I can punch that.” Holly leaned on her spear and frowned.

           “You have a spear.” Laurie pointed out.

           “We all know it’s for show. I can’t use this thing properly.” Holly shrugged and pulled on some gloves that Marcy had made with celestial bronze on the knuckles. Marcy had also made celestial bronze soles on Holly’s shoes. It was pretty cool looking actually.

           “Hey, Cetus!” Serena surprised them by running into the water a bit as the serpent lunged closer. “I don’t think these people like you much.” Irene tried to grab her unsuccessfully as she ran towards the serpent.

           Even more surprising, the serpent stopped, and tilted its head a little as Serena spoke to him. A sound rose from his throat that sounded almost like a cat purring to Jamie. It was similar to the sound that Peleus made after a camper had fed him. Serena pet the serpent’s nose and smiled, “You’re a cute little dragon, aren’t you? I’m gonna call you Nui.”

           Cetus seemed pleased by this and allowed Serena to pet his nose causing campers to lower and drop their weapons in shock. No one was really able to say anything as Serena spoke to a giant sea monster like he was just some pet she had found wandering about. Eventually Cetus sunk back into the bay and retreated away from camp. Serena turned around and looked at everybody curiously, “Nui is gone now, he says I probably won’t be able to get back to South Carolina and I should really keep asking you guys to call my Mom for me.”

           “Gods.” Jamie nearly dropped his sword as he watched Cetus’s tail breech one more time before disappearing into the sea for good.

           Ari came to her senses first, “Oh, I’m keeping her! Hell yes! Your name’s Serena, kid? What’s your Mom’s name? We’ll call her! I’ve got your back! The name’s Ari Lake! I’ll show you the ropes!”

           “No!” Chiron intervened quickly at that, physically placing Ari farther from Serena, “Serena, what’s your last name?”

           Serena frowned and studied Chiron, “Can I trust you, Mr. Horse? You are a stranger and my Mom says not to talk to strangers.”

           “I’m a centaur, and yes, you can.”

           “Centaurs don’t exist though. My Mom told me that after I told her I saw one while we were driving to South Carolina after visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Florida.” Serena crossed her arms.

           Chiron seemed to be silently praying to whichever god would grant him patience, “I’m a real life centaur, and I can help you call your Mom, I just need your last name.”

           “You were just talking to a sea serpent and you doubt the existence of centaurs!?” Knox Bradley, a son of Nike, shouted from farther up the beach, “Who is this kid?”

           “Serena Garcia!” She told Knox happily.

           “Garcia.” Chiron sighed, “And your mother?”

           “Her name is Mom.” Serena told him with so much certainty that half the kids standing by couldn’t help but laugh. They quickly muffled it though with an annoyed look from Chiron.

           “Okay, see, Serena, we don’t have phones here.” Laurie decided to take over, “None of us could get them to work even if we wanted to, I’m sure you know the feeling.”

           “Phones are dumb.” Serena agreed with her happily and then pointed to Laurie’s face. “You have two different colored eyes.”            

           “Exactly, and yes, I know, I was born like that. Here, we’re going to call your Mom, but we’d like to know her first name so we can contact her.”

           “Like through mail?” Serena asked.

           “Sort of.” Laurie thought about it for a second, “More like…through alternate phone lines.”

           “Like what?”

           “Uh, well, there’s a goddess who deals with messages through rainbows, her name is Iris, and we ask her to help us out.” Laurie explained.

           “Oh.” Serena nodded as if that made complete sense.

           “And she still doesn’t believe in centaurs.” Todd crossed his arms and smiled, clearly enjoying this.

           As if it were an afterthought to the events that had just happened, a glowing symbol of a trident appeared over Serena’s head. She stared up at it confused, “What’s that?”

           “This is Camp Half-Blood, that,” Ari motioned towards the floating golden trident, “Is your Godly parent claiming you. Seems like your Dad is Poseidon.”

           “No, my Mom always says: Tu Papá es un puta.” Serena told her with certainty, “Though, I don’t know who or what a puta is.” A couple of the kids who spoke Spanish in the camp were snickering.

           “Your Dad is Poseidon, God of the Seas. I’m guessing puta is just what he is, not who.” Ari just repeated herself; “Perhaps you should talk to your Mom about it. Kit and my Mom kept our Dad’s real identity from us too. Don’t get too hung up about it. Our Dad is Apollo, you know, God of the Sun, Archery, Poetry, Music, Art, and all things awesome?”

           Serena shrugged, “Oh, okay.”

           “Again, she’s accepting that ancient gods are real, but she doesn’t believe in centaurs.” Todd again pointed this out, but a glare from Chiron told him he better drop it.

           “So, are we calling my Mom?” She held up the bracelet on her arm again, “Weird floating things and my God Dad aside, I’d like to go home now.”

           “Right.” Chiron took over and threw a coin in the water, “Oh Great Goddess, Iris, please connect us with Serena Garcia’s mother. She won’t tell us the woman’s name, so that’s the best I can give you.”

           “Please hold.” Iris’s pre-recorded voice told them from the shimmering water.

           A moment later, a Latina woman sitting beside a man of Hawaiian descent came into view. They looked worried, but not quite as worried as most parents would be when their child disappears. Jamie found it a bit easier to believe that this girl really did get lost a lot.

           “Oh! That’s cool, you have water Skype.” Serena walked towards the image.

           “I…what? Water Skype? That’s not real.” Chiron shook his head.

           “You have it right here.” Serena motioned towards the image like he was dumb.

           “Serena! Thank goodness, where did you run off to now? Makani and I have been worried sick!” Her mother shouted at the image and then realized that she was speaking through a rainbow, “What in the world are you calling from?”

           “Water Skype!” Serena told her.

           “Iris Message.” Chiron corrected, “Hello, Ms. Garcia, I’m Chiron, the centaur, your daughter ended up in Camp Half-Blood, perhaps you were told about this place?”

           “Oh, yes, it was mentioned by Serena’s father once or twice, he never stuck around much.” Ms. Garcia frowned.

           “I told them you called him a puta!” Serena told her happily.

           Ms. Garcia grew embarrassed, “Serena! I only said that because I was frustrated with the man! Dios mios, Mija! Still, thank you for finding her, we can come pick her up soon if needed.”

           “She’s been claimed by Poseidon rather quickly, she can stay for the rest of the summer if you’d like.” Chiron explained.

           Ms. Garcia and Serena’s step-Dad shared a look before she responded, “You’ll watch her? Would you like to stay there, Serena?”

           Serena thought a moment and frowned at Chiron, “Are you really a centaur?”

           Chiron sighed, “Yes, I really am.”

           “Well, okay. So, my real Dad is around here?”

           “He’s a god, he wanders where he pleases.” Ms. Garcia waved her hand, “You’ll be safe at camp there, Mija, and it’ll be much harder for you to wander off. We’ll pick you up in August. I love you, Mija, be good for Chiron and your Dad, and for the other campers. Makani and I will finish up the beach research and he’ll tell you all about the surf competitions when you come hoem for school. Be good!” She blew a kiss and Serena waved happily as Ms. Garcia ended the call. Jamie had a feeling that the woman was probably very relieved that someone was watching her daughter; especially if Serena really did just randomly get pulled off on waves and lost all the time. For a woman who worked by the sea, not having to worry about your daughter getting pulled off with the next wave probably made her job a lot easier.

           “Okay, so, I’m staying here? That’s cool. Can I play with Nui while I’m here?”

           “How about I explain things at the Big Cabin? Irene, will you join us? She’s your cabin mate after all.” Chiron motioned towards Irene who was standing beside her brother dumbfounded.

           “Should Luke…I guess not…um, yeah, coming.” Irene walked beside Serena and Chiron as they walked off.

           “This summer just keeps getting better.” Nora grinned and watched Serena, Irene, and Chiron walk off listening to Serena arguing with Chiron over whether or not he really existed.

[asfeedin]

Why celebrate Earth Day? Here’s 12 reasons why.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Live Science asked a dozen scientists to share their favorite facts about our home planet. These researchers marveled at everything from backward flowing rivers in Antarctica to the Giant Crystal Cave of Naica in Mexico, which one geologist called the “Sistine Chapel of crystals.”

Read on to learn about Earth’s wonders. If you’ve got one of your own to share, write about it in the comments below.

1. Mountainous changes

The stunning view of Mount Everest from the Gokyo Valley. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

“The top of Mount Everest is limestone from an ancient ocean floor formed 470 million years ago — before life had even left the ocean! I love this fact, because it reminds us of the tremendous changes our Earth has gone through to bring us to this moment in time, from mass extinctions to asteroid impacts and vast movements of the very ground we stand on. Just as humans are one small speck in a vast universe (thanks, Carl Sagan!), so too are we a tiny blip of time in the long arc of Earth’s history,” said Jacquelyn Gill, an associate professor in the School of Biology and Ecology and the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine.

That fact can be sobering, but it provides a message of hope for our species as well. 

“When we lose species because of our actions, we’re cutting threads in a tapestry that has taken billions of years to weave, and it records stories of vulnerability and loss, but of survival and resilience, too.”

So while our planet’s past may provide warnings of upheavals, it can also provide hints for charting the future.

“The clues to surviving global change are in the rocks, for those who can read them,” Gill said.

2. Giant Crystals of Naica

A man (left) explores the Giant Crystal Cave of Naica in Mexico. (Image credit: Javier Trueba)

Juan Manuel García-Ruiz, a geologist at the Spanish National Research Council, has spent a good portion of his career crawling into underground vaults of pure crystal. Last year, García-Ruiz authored a paper on the history of the largest geode on Earth — a jagged, crystal chamber in a Spanish mine that can comfortably fit several scientists inside at once. But his favorite spot on Earth is where the Giant Crystal Cave of Naica lays buried, about 1,000 feet (300 meters) below the town of Naica, Mexico.

“This is the ‘Sistine Chapel of crystals,'” García-Ruiz told Live Science. Giant gypsum pillars, most of which are as large and thick as telephone poles, slash through the basketball-court-size cavern in a brilliant display of Earth’s slow-motion alchemy. The crystals are hundreds of thousands of years old, and still actively growing in the hot, humid cave. For now, the largest one measures 39 feet (12 m) in length and 13 feet (4 m) in diameter, and it weighs 55 tons (50 metric tons).

3. Earth’s mysterious synergy

An illustration of Earth’s mysterious innards (Image credit: Ed Garnero/ASU)

“My favorite fact about Earth is that all parts of it, from the center to the atmosphere, appear to be dynamically and chemically interactive, over a wide range of time scales and spatial scales,” Ed Garnero, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, told Live Science.

As an example of this planet-wide synchronicity, Garnero sent an image (which he made) depicting the mysterious underground structures that some researchers have labeled “the blobs.” These lopsided, continent-sized mountains sit inside Earth’s mantle about halfway between your feet and the center of the planet. While scientists know from seismic imaging that these blobs exist, nobody is exactly sure what they are or what they do.

One intriguing feature of the structures, Garnero said, is that plumes of exceptionally hot rock (depicted here in yellow) appear to rise off the blobs and feed certain volcanoes on the surface — essentially creating a chemical pipeline that connects the deep Earth to the high atmosphere.

“I guess an addendum to this fact is that there is SO MUCH that we do not know about Earth — from the internal structures to the climate,” Garnero said. “It is an exciting time to monitor, measure and model the observations.”

4. “Stained glass” diatoms

A wagon wheel diatom under a microscope (Image credit: NOAA/John R. Dolan, Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche; Observatoire Océanologique de Villefrance-sur-Mer)

One of the most amazing facts about Earth is that “around 20-50% of the Earth’s oxygen is produced by diatoms,” said Sarah Webb, a biologist and associate professor of life science at Arkansas State University-Newport. 

“Diatoms are microscopic algae with a shell made of glass,” Webb told Live Science in an email. Diatoms are pretty to look at, too, she said. “They look like stained glass when viewed under a microscope.” 

Life as we know it wouldn’t be around were it not for an abundance of lung-friendly oxygen gas in our atmosphere. Earth has been oxygenated for about 2.3 billion to 2.4 billion years, but the tiny, delicate diatoms of today likely evolved around 250 million years ago. These unicellular organisms are ubiquitous in Earth’s oceans, and scientists estimate that there are more than 100,000 species of diatoms. 

5. Rivers that flow backward

Robin Bell smiles for the camera in Antarctica, where she does most of her research. (Image credit: Courtesy of Robin Bell)

Antarctica, Earth’s southernmost continent, is one of the driest places on the planet. But there’s a surprising amount of liquid water lurking below the continent’s frozen surface that doesn’t behave as you might expect.

“Beneath the ice in Antarctica there are mountain ranges where rivers flow backward and lakes [that are] the size of New Jersey,” said Robin Bell, president of the American Geophysical Union and a professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in Palisades, New York.

“The weight of the overlying ice makes the water flow backward while the heat of the Earth keeps the water in the subglacial rivers and lakes from turning into ice,” Bell said.

Scientists discovered clues to a backward-flowing river in Antarctica’s Gamburtsev Mountains after they examined the shape of the icy layer atop the hidden river; that layer aligned with the direction of the water’s movement.

6. Glowing sea creatures

The fluorescent seahorse, Hippocampus erectus, glows a bold red and green. (Image credit: Copyright David Gruber)

More than 70% of Earth is covered with water, so it’s no surprise that scientists such as David Gruber find inspiration in exploring these great depths. Gruber, a presidential professor of biology at City University of New York and an explorer with the National Geographic Society, studies glowing marine animals. He snapped the above photo, which shows the first biofluorescent seahorse known to science.

“Knowing how much magic is happening beneath the sea that we’ve yet to even learn about yet,” is Gruber’s favorite Earth fact. “It’s perhaps my main inspiration as a scientist that maintains my child-like curiosity.”

There’s so much to learn. “How we are connected to other life and what our place is on this amazing planet is still in its early stages,” Gruber told Live Science.

7. Route 66

(Image credit: vectortatu/Shutterstock)

“The boundary between Earth’s mantle and core is roughly 3,000 km [about 1,865 miles] below our feet, a little less than the total length of America’s ‘Mother Road,’ Route 66,” said Jennifer Jackson, a professor of Mineral Physics at Caltech.

Initially, researchers thought that this region was a simple interface between solid rocks and liquid iron-rich metal. But, in reality, “this remote region is almost as complex as Earth’s surface,” she said. 

While it’s impossible to reach this Route-66-long place in person, “geophysical and experimental studies of this distant region reveal a fascinating landscape of chemical and structural complexity that influences what’s happening on Earth’s surface,” Jackson said. “For example, the complex dynamics of Earth’s core-mantle boundary affects Earth’s protective geomagnetic field and the motion of tectonic plates.”

8. Life on our planet

Cambrian fossils formed by cyanobacteria are found in Newfoundland, Canada. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Our planet harbors magnificent life-forms, from tiny, near-invisible organisms to giant, ferocious beasts. Billions of years ago, conditions became just right for the tiniest particles to combine together and form the very first life-forms. 

These life-forms are nearly as ancient as Earth itself. “The Earth is over 4.6 billion years [old], and life has been present on the Earth continuously since at least 3.5 billion years ago,” Shuhai Xiao, professor of geobiology in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech. The earliest evidence for life on our planet comes from the marks these organisms left on rocks, according to a previous Live Science report.

Photosynthetic organisms called cyanobacteria were some of the earliest life-forms on our planet. Here is a photo of fossilized Cambrian mounds formed by cyanobacteria in Newfoundland, Canada.

9. Climate feedback

It’s not too hot or too cold for this moose in Washington’s temperate rainforest on the Olympic Peninsula. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Another amazing feature of our planet is how various processes interact in so-called climate feedbacks, which act to either amplify or diminish other climate forces. 

“It’s amazing how climate feedbacks have maintained a habitable planetary climate for hundreds of millions of years —- right in the sweet spot of not too cold, not too warm,” said Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. 

However, these same feedbacks could make the effects of climate change worse, because they may further amplify the planet’s already increasing temperatures, resulting in what is known as “positive feedback,” according to NASA. For instance, as the globe warms, it causes more sea ice to melt; ice reflects a lot of sunlight, sending heat back out to space; but when that ice melts, it reveals a dark sea surface that instead absorbs heat.

“We need to fight climate change harder, to keep our planet habitable and flourishing,” Overpeck said. “That’s what we all need to rededicate ourselves to on this 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day.”

10. The past influences the future

(Image credit: Merritt Turetsky)

An amazing fact is that “historical legacies often dictate how Earth will respond to modern change,” said Merritt Turetsky, the director of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder. 

“A legacy can be thought of as [a] memory of an ecosystem with regard to past events,” Turetsky said. “One example is permafrost, frozen soils that have accumulated at high latitudes over millennia. Today, permafrost soils store so much carbon — derived from ancient plants, animals and microbes that existed on the surface of our planet — that they will be a major player in how Earth responds to future climate change.”

“The past often is the key to understanding our planet’s future,” Turetsky told Live Science.

Caption: Merritt Turetsky’s team samples frozen permafrost soils in Alaska and Canada to understand how past soil types influence the ability of Arctic ecosystems to cope with modern environmental change.

11. Fascinating dimensions

(Image credit: Johann Philipp Klages)

Our planet is a dynamic and ever-evolving giant orb, with earthquakes shifting the rocky plates that make up its surface, volcanoes that exude fiery lava from the planet’s innards, and even deep-sea hydrothermal vents that gurgle out sizzling mineral water that supports bizarre forms of life. All of this can be enchanting to scientists who immerse themselves in the planet’s geology.

Glacial geologist Johann Philipp Klages said his favorite aspects of Earth are “its fascinating dimensions and unexpected forces, which pleasantly tell us, again and again, how small and insignificant we are in the context of Earth’s history.” 

Klages is a research scientist in the Marine Geology section of the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany. An expedition on the institution’s icebreaker RV Polarstern took Klages to the Amundsen Sea Embayment in West Antarctica in 2017, where he captured this gorgeous image of the ship in front of the Pine Island ice shelf edge.

12. Natural healing

This mother and baby tapir might just help the Amazon rainforest.  (Image credit: Shutterstock)

What is Earth’s greatest feature? That “it supports life!” Marcia Macedo, an associate scientist and director of the Water Program at Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) in Massachusetts, told Live Science.

“What amazes me is that most natural systems have the capacity to heal themselves after big disturbances,” she said. “This is as true for a human body recovering from disease as it is for a tropical forest growing back after an intense fire.”

Macedo added, “sometimes that healing is facilitated by surprising heroes,” such as the tapir, which can restore degraded forests in the Amazon. The tapir does this by munching on fruit from healthy trees and then depositing their seeds in areas that have been previously burned, according to a WHRC statement.

Originally published on Live Science. 

Source link

Tags: 12, Celebrate, day, Earth, Heres, Reasons

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3cD6deV via IFTTT

[rodrigohyde]

Left-Handed Watches

Left-Handed Watches

Shortly after learning that my wife was with child, I purchased a vintage Patek Philippe Ellipse to look after for the next generation. A year has since past, and I now realize that I am the right-handed father of a left-handed daughter. I mostly collect watches from 32-36mm, so I had not anticipated that sharing watches would be an issue. As her brain develops, it is becoming increasingly clear that she favors her left hand over her right. Are there any "Destro" watches that might be suitable for both of us to wear? I would prefer something that is somewhat dressy to something with a moving bezel.

This is a lovely little story sir, and may you and your daughter enjoy many years of pursuing an horological enterprise together. Left-handed watches in smaller sizes are rather thin upon the ground, I am afraid -- I have seen some from Tag Heuer, Sinn, Tudor, and Panerai but in general they seem to be sports watches. As it happens there is a lady of my acquaintance who is left-handed and prefers what are conventionally considered women’s watches, and of the several mechanical timepieces she owns, she simply prefers to wind them off her wrist. It is not an ideal situation, of course, but she’s made it work for her.

RELATED: Best Watches Under $500

With respect to dressier watches suitable for you both, there you have me, I am afraid -- there was actually a left-handed reference 1803 Rolex Day-Date auctioned at Phillips in 2015 which would have fit the bill nicely but this seems to have been essentially a one-off, made by special order.

Vintage Watch Dilemma

I’ve been reading your column for a couple years now and have learned more about watches from you than anywhere else. I appreciate your brutal honesty... which is why I have come to you for advice.

I purchased what was my dream watch for a long time, a Tudor Black Bay Black , a year ago during my final year of college as a gift to myself for signing my first job offer, and have been rotating that and a Nomos Tangente since. I was in love with it until Tudor released the Black Bay 58, and after trying one on, I can’t stop noticing how thick my Black Bay looks on my skinny wrist. Being a vintage enthusiast , the BB58 is near perfect to me with the exception of the gilt bezel markings, primarily because the original ones didn’t have gilt bezel markings. As such, I decided I would wait a year or two and see if Tudor adds to the BB58 line, and then trade my Black Bay for a BB58 or whatever surprise Tudor might have for us.

However, I recently came across a 1967 Omega Seamaster 300 selling for $5,000 that has piqued my interest. The watch has pretty much been completely restored by Omega , which accounts for its low price, comes with papers, and the dealer is reputable. I know you must be scoffing at the idea of purchasing a restored vintage watch, and purists will shake their heads in disapproval -- with all those replacement parts, it is hardly a true vintage watch. To be honest, however, I don’t mind as much given that it was done by Omega and done extremely well, and if anything, the restoration likely makes it a more practical and reliable watch for daily use yet it maintains vintage charm unlike any modern iteration; it becomes, in a sense, a vintage reissue that isn’t actually in production and that stays as faithful to the original as possible, with an actual original vintage movement. I have a deep soft spot in my heart for military dive watches, and while I know that this one was not one of the British MOD models but rather the civilian version, it still has strong associations and is about as close as I can get without paying a fortune.

Should I stick with my original plan of holding onto my Black Bay 41 and eventually trading it for a Black Bay 58 , or sell the Black Bay now and get the Seamaster 300? I understand that a modern watch will have technical advantages, but at the same time, a great vintage homage still will not “out-vintage” a vintage watch . Additionally, will a restored Seamaster be difficult to sell in the future, in the event that I have a change of heart?

Restoration of a vintage watch is always fraught with peril as, in the current climate, you have essentially destroyed the value of the watch as a collectible. In this instance what you have is, as you have correctly pointed out, less a vintage watch than a new old stock watch assembled around an original movement by Omega, from new old stock replacement parts. This sort of thing exists in a state of horological limbo these days -- again, as you have correctly pointed out, it is a way of having a vintage-style watch made with authentic and correct parts, but it is no longer a vintage watch per se.

Whether you should forego the Omega and wait for the Black Bay 58 depends a great deal on what your expectations are from the Omega in terms of resale value. It is obviously not an investment piece in the current climate, as you can see from the relatively reasonable price; however as it is assembled from new old stock parts by Omega, it is not a so-called frankenwatch or outright counterfeit either; in fact it is indeed correct in every respect.

That said, you should certainly not expect to make your money back should you need to sell it, much less take a profit. If you are comfortable with that then the Omega affords you a chance to have all the charm of a vintage design, drawn from authentic parts, and built around an excellent movement with great historic interest, that also has the advantage of being easily repairable by any competent watchmaker in the future. It’s an attractive proposition, sir, and I understand the appeal -- just be prepared for a long-term commitment. Really, it depends on how you feel about getting into situations you cannot easily get out of.

Hidden Hippocampus

This is my second submission to you and I am delighted to have your Snobbiness as a horological reference tool. So, if I may, this inquiry is one of genesis and, possibly, provenance.

For my 30th birthday I was able to hunt and acquire a NOS Speedmaster Professional 145.022 from 1980. I purchased this watch for the many reasons that a collector requires to own or, to have owned, a Speedmaster. Simply put, because it is an indelible mark of horological history . Enough said.

As with many of your readership, I have devoured the internet's information on this legendary watch, and yet I was stumped by very simple question from a non-watch enthusiast ). That question being, why is there a hippocampus on the case back? Did someone at Omega have a great sense of humour? Is there a double entendre with reference to the human brain and greek mythology? Or, no method whatsoever?

Would you please inform, elaborate and pontificate to educate us snob disciples?

You are the only person who has ever asked me about the use, by Omega, of the hippocampus and also referenced the brain area which also goes by that name; congratulations are in order. The word “hippocampus” is used in modern zoology for the genus of fish known as seahorses, however, the word itself comes from ancient Greek. The mythological hippocampus is a sea-monster with the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a fish. The sea-god Poseidon is sometimes show either riding a hippocampus, or in a chariot drawn by a team of hippocampi.

Omega has been using an image of the hippocampus since the late 1950s as a symbol of water-resistance. I believe the original design was created by an engraver working for Omega who saw an image somewhere in Venice, of Neptune in a chariot drawn by hippocampi.

The region of the brain known as the hippocampus is so called because of its supposed resemblance to a seahorse -- the resemblance, if you ask The Snob, is tenuous at best, but who am I to argue with the established nomenclature of distinguished neuroanatomists. I read that it is, among other things, responsible for long-term memory, which seems a poetically apt meaning for it to carry on the back of a watch, happenstance though it may be.

You Might Also Dig:

Best Watches Under $250

Best Watches Under $300

Best Watches Under $150

from Style channel http://www.askmen.com/style/watch_snob/left-handed-watches.html

[marcusssanderson]

7 Ways to Boost the Happy Hormones in Your Brain

Did you know that happiness creates success, and NOT the other way around?

Mental health is a key player when it comes to accomplishment and contentedness in all areas of life. Luckily for us, our brain is on our side when we aim to succeed. If we have basic knowledge of a few key areas and chemicals in our brain, we’ll know how to trigger them in order to fulfill our goals with greater ease.

They’re not nearly as complicated to understand as you may think. In fact, they all create logical connections that can be supported just by making a few simple tweaks in your daily habits and routine.

Here, we introduce those happy hormones in the brain that keep you feeling good.

Happy Hormones In The Brain and How To Boost Them

1. Dopamine for Pleasure and Motivation

Dopamine allows us to feel bliss, pleasure, euphoria and motivation.

Dopamine is a chemical (neurotransmitter) that is used by the nerves to send messages. When a nerve releases dopamine, it crosses a very small gap in the brain called a synapse and then attaches to a dopamine receptor on the next nerve.

Basically, when dopamine levels are depleted in our brain, our message can’t be transmitted properly. This, in turn, can have an impact on our behaviour, mood, cognition, attention, learning, movement, and sleep.

When we procrastinate, have feelings of self-doubt, or lack enthusiasm, these are strong clues from the brain that we are low on dopamine.

It’s super easy to increase dopamine levels: eight hours sleep per day and regular exercise help to keep dopamine in balance. It’s also important to remember that the brain releases a little bit of these happy hormones when you achieve or succeed.

One way to get a ‘hit’ of dopamine regularly is to break down big goals into smaller goals, more easily achievable chunks, so that you can keep getting ‘runs on the board’ and feel good about the process.

Of course, you should always celebrate all those ‘little’ wins. They’re helping you, step by step, to achieve the bigger goal. Any accomplishments, no matter how small they may seem, are definitely worth recognition – and you’ll boost your dopamine.

2. Endorphins Make You Happy

Endorphins are released into your bloodstream once you have exercised, leaving you feeling more energized and in a better mood for the rest of your day. Endorphins are the counter balance to stress. So the more endorphins you release, the less stress and anxiety you will experience.

Along with regular exercise, laughter is one of the easiest ways to induce endorphin release. This tells us one BIG thing: we need to have more fun! So, always keep your sense of humor handy.

There are some studies that attest how dark chocolate and spicy foods can help release happy hormones. Therefore, consider keeping a stash of dark chocolate OR treat yourself to delicious curry every now and then for a quick endorphin boost.

  This is How You Find Your Superpower | Jim Kwik | Goalcast

Credit: GoalCast

3. Love is Blind with Oxytocin

Oxytocin –the love hormone–creates intimacy, trust and builds strong, healthy relationships.

Often referred to as the cuddle hormone, oxytocin is essential for creating powerful bonds and improving social interactions.

As the name suggests, ONE very simple way to keep oxytocin flowing is to give someone a hug – not a handshake. There is research now to explain that a hug for up to 20 seconds a day releases oxytocin, which is a natural anti-depressant and anti-anxiety agent.

Oxytocin is the hormone that allows us to feel love and connection. In fact, when we experience an increase of oxytocin, it makes us more intuitive to others’ needs. Even when someone receives a gift, his or her oxytocin levels can rise.

You can strengthen work and personal relationships through the simple gift of a massive hug.

4. Serotonin Controls Our Moods

Serotonin flows when you feel satisfied, accomplished, and important. However, a lack of serotonin can make you feel lonely, bleak and unhappy. Unhealthy attention-seeking behavior can also be a cry for serotonin.

Our brain can’t tell the difference between what’s real and imagined, so it produces serotonin in both cases. This is why gratitude practices are popular; they remind us that we are valued and have much to value in life.

If you need a serotonin boost during a stressful day, take a few moments to reflect on past achievements and victories. Alternatively, engage in a random act of kindness, or write a text or email telling one of your friends or partner how much you appreciate them.

You can also spend a minute or two ‘reliving’ a cherished moment in your head. These are simple mood boosters, just because they increase happy hormones. We also know that vitamin D (from the sun) helps to expand our brain’s serotonin production.

5. No Amygdala. No Fear.

The amygdala, known as the ‘fright, freeze and flight centre’, manages connections and is directly involved with emotional well-being. Activating the amygdala in a positive way stimulates higher cognitive processes that improve creativity and intelligence, while elevating positive emotions.

The amygdala processes positive and negative feedback depending on how we perceive an outcome. As a result, it makes us feel strong emotional responses that often lead to impulsive reactions. Keep an eye out for your emotional response as feedback because it has an essential role to play in determining whether we are consciously creating a desired outcome, or just reacting.

Being the observer of your thought process can influence your amygdala. When the amygdala is stimulated in a positive manner, it sends signals to the frontal lobe or your brain. When the amygdala signals go backwards, they generate a fear response. It is, in turn, handled by the lower level of your brain, also known as the reptilian brain.

Needless to say, thinking motivated by this part of the brain is NOT well suited for modern society. Stimulating the amygdala with regular practice can help you enter a state of flow that results in losing yourself in total bliss, joy, and creativity.

Just do the things that you love and that make you happy. 

6. Hippocampus: The Seahorse

The hippocampus is viewed as an associative memory system supporting the formation, storage, and retrieval of memories. Emotion and memory are very closely related, and you know how this plays out.

Imagine you go to a work function: what are you going to recall or remember? The individual that made you laugh the hardest, the individual who pushed you aside at the bar as if you were invisible, or the person that embarrassed you on your first day at work?

The next morning, what memory will your hippocampus recall? I’m guessing it will be the one that had the highest emotional impact.

So it would make complete sense that the limbic, emotional part of your brain is in-charge of transferring information into memory. Your hippocampus is the part of the brain that appears to be absolutely necessary for making new memories.

If we didn’t have it, we could NOT possibly experience being stuck in the past or the present. Keep in mind – as you change your mind, you can change your brain. This is known as neuroplasticity.

7. Willpower at the Pre-frontal Cortex

Your pre-fontal cortex is that part of the brain that is right behind your forehead. Its function is decision-making and regulating our behavior, self-control, and willpower. Looking after this section of our brain involves exercising will power.

Yep – the more we use our self-control, the stronger it becomes (like any muscle). If you want to lose weight, begin saving money, start exercising – it’s all actioned here in this part of the brain.

Try this: choose your new action and do it repeatedly for 21 days. If you miss a day, then you need to start again. Record your progress; you’ll see a remarkable difference from start to finish.

Astoundingly, we only use around 10 percent of our brains, yet we seldom think to invest in a little training every now and then. A new theory, neuroplasticity, has proven that we can change our brain.

Boost Happy Hormones – Do Something New Today

Your brain is a muscle. You need to exercise it regularly.

Do something different. Do something new. Stay curious.

When you experience something ‘new’, it actually stimulates and transforms your brain.

Don’t get stuck in a rut doing the same old things. The only way to change the structure of your brain is to explore, experiment, and try something new to maximise how you use your

The post 7 Ways to Boost the Happy Hormones in Your Brain appeared first on Everyday Power Blog.

[mrbobgove]

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Seahorses

Of the 43 recognized species of seahorses, 12 are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They inhabit coastal regions all over the world, running the gamut from only .8-inch (2 cm) long (the pygmy seahorse) to 14 inches (35 cm) long (the big-bellied seahorse). 

Where to look for seahorses

Seahorses can change color, making them masters of disguise. You can often spot them hiding in seagrass, on staghorn coral, in cracks in walls, or under small overhangs. They even hide on gorgonian coral or among sea urchins or sea feathers. They generally stay in places where there is little to no water movement, as their bodies do not move effortlessly and efficiently through water.

Mating and birth

During their mating ritual, male and female seahorses court by mirroring each other’s movements. Once aligned, the female gives the male the eggs and he either keeps them in his pouch or on a spongy area on his tail. That’s right — the males carry the babies. A female can produce up to 1,500 eggs at once, with smaller species producing more eggs. The young are born live and must immediately fend for themselves. A very small number (about 1 percent) reach maturity and have young of their own. Gestation ranges from two to nine weeks and is often fastest in warm water.

Seahorses have neither teeth nor a digestive system, which means they have to feed frequently. When they eat, swallow their food whole. Typical prey is small guppies, small brine shrimp, crustaceans and plankton.

Common seahorses

Here are the six most common seahorses you might see when diving.

Common seahorse (Hippocampus kuda)

With a head that looks like a horse, a bumpy tummy and a spiral tail, the common seahorse reaches a maximum length of 12 inches (30 cm). Males are larger than females. They come in a variety of colors, but the males are usually a bit grayer with dark spots. The females often have some yellow and dark spots on their bodies. Each common seahorse has a crown on its head, as unique as a human fingerprint. Their bodies are quite smooth compared to other species of seahorses. You’ll find them in on coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific in tropical water between 72 and 77 F (22 to 25 C).

Pygmy seahorse (Hippocampus bargibanti and others) 

Pygmy seahorses are about ¾-inch (2 cm) long. They are usually yellow, orange, pink, or gray changing color to blend in with their surroundings. They have a narrower snout than other seahorses and a prehensile tail to hold onto the fan corals they call home. Some live on soft coral or among seagrasses as well. Pygmy seahorses live in larger groups than other seahorse species, gathering in numbers of up to 20 adults. You’ll find pygmies across the Western Pacific from Southern Japan to Northern Australia and out to the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.

Pygmies are one of the most recently discovered species because they are so small. A scientist from New Caledonia, Georges Bargibant, discovered the species that was subsequently named for him accidentally while examining a gorgonian fan in the lab.

Leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques)

As their name implies, leafy seadragons (or leafies) look like they have leaves attached to their bodies. Used solely for camouflage, the leafy protrusions help the animals look like bits of floating seaweed. They have both pectoral and dorsal fins and no prehensile tail. They typically grow to between 7.8 and 12 inches (20 and 30 cm) long.

Leafies are endemic to the ocean around Southern Australia, found only from Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria in the east, west to Jurien Bay, 140 miles (220 km) north of Perth in Western Australia. They inhabit temperate waters between 57 to 66 F (14 to 19 C), usually between 13 to 50 feet deep (4 to 15 m). Once you’ve spotted one, don’t worry about losing it — they move only about 1/8 of a mile (200 m) per hour.

Weedy seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) 

The weedy seadragon is equally as spectacular as its close relative, the leafy seadragon. They are between 12 and 15 inches (30 to 38 cm) long and camouflaged to blend into their surroundings as well, resembling weeds or seagrass. They are usually green or tan with many ridges and stripes and spots on their bodies. They have no prehensile tail.

You’ll find weedies only along the same southern Australian coastline as leafy seadragons, as well as some areas in Tasmania.

Big-belly seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) 

The big-belly seahorse, also called the pot-bellied seahorse, averages about 12 inches (30 cm) long, but can grow up to almost 14 inches (35 cm) long. Their snouts tip forward more than other seahorses and they have a coiled, prehensile tail. Their most distinctive feature is the wide, round stomach for which they’re named. The females’ abdomens are smaller with a keel down the middle where the males’ abdomens are larger and smoother. The males also have longer tails and wider snouts than the females.

You’ll find the big-belly seahorse in the coastal areas around New Zealand and Australia. They live in water from 70 to 80 Fahrenheit (21-26 C) or warmer.

Pacific seahorse (Hippocampus ingens) 

Pacific seahorses are about 12 inches (30 cm) long, depending on the environment, with the males being slightly larger than the females. Their colors change to blend into their surroundings, ranging from gold to maroon, brown, white or a combination. There is often a dark-colored line down the females’ bodies. During the gestation period the males’ bodies grow much larger than their average size to stay safe from predators.

You’ll find Pacific seahorses in the coastal areas of Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the United States. They are the only species of seahorse found in the eastern Pacific Ocean. They can live in water depths up to 200 feet (61 m). They are often found floating around and blending into areas with brown algae.

Seahorses are fascinating creatures and quite popular among aquarists, which leads to overharvesting from the wild. Their bodies are also commonly dried for use in traditional Chinese medicine, and seahorses also fall prey in vast numbers to shrimp-trawling nets. Unfortunately, these pressures combine to make seahorses endangered in our oceans. Do your part and leave shrimp off your plate and watch seahorses in the wild rather than keeping one in captivity.

The post Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Seahorses appeared first on Scuba Diver Life.

from Scuba Diver Life https://ift.tt/2JA0fNX

[colorfulmentalityartisan-blog]

Biotin Hair development Secrets

The outdoors include your patio, lawn, garden, yard, and the likes, because these are the locations which are easily available to your pets and are probable reproducing grounds to these parasites. Utilizing the vinegar-water option and the salt may not be advisable especially in the garden, and the tin pan technique may not work simply as well. An excellent option though is to use predatory nematodes like cutworms that assault insect larvae. These are offered in plant nurseries and may even benefit your garden. Growing natural bug fending off plants like Citronella lawn, Catnip, Marigolds, Rosemary bushes or Gliricidia trees, might also help. A flea comb is an excellent pesticide-free technique of removing fleas from your dog or feline. A flea comb works by capturing the fleas in the really narrow gaps between the teeth or forcing them to leap off. Use a flea comb outside, and keep a container of soapy water nearby for drowning the fleas, or comb your animal in a bathtub where you can rinse the fleas down the drain. Start by running https://www.reddit.com/r/7FigureCycleReviews/ through your animal's coat. After each gone through, soak the comb in the water and leave any fur captured in the comb in the water. The soapy water will kill the fleas. Continue this procedure until the whole animal has actually been combed, making certain to comb their underside. A flea comb can be utilized every day when fleas are bad, and can help prevent fleas going into your house if used before the pet comes within. Butterfly Weed. This is a host plant for King butterflies, so your children will be able to observe the complete 7 figure cycle of a Monarch if they plant this flower in their kids's garden. Blooms can be orange, yellow, multicolored or red, illuminating your Houston, Texas yard. Have your children plant this flower in full or partial sun in either the spring or fall. Butterfly weed will flower from March through October. This Texas native is difficult to eliminate, making it a great choice for kids. Denise Hackett just recently discovered a new pygmy seahorse types in Indonesia. It's called after her, hippocampus Denise, but it's typically called the 'plucked chicken pygmy seahorse' due to its unusual look with an absence of the normal bumps (tubercles). Hippocampus Denise is normally discovered in light yellow gorgonians which, like the pygmy, are less round with smaller polyps. You can start with anti-flea medication. Despite the fact that lots of flea medications have actually been shown largely reliable in eliminating fleas on dogs, it is very important that you bear in mind that some family pets may have an allergic reaction from using a few of these drugs. This is the reason why despite the fact that I can easily go to a veterinary drugs store and buy the medicine nonprescription, I prefer taking the long and in some cases more expensive path of speaking with a pet veterinarian before making any purchase. Since I end up with medication for my pet that is efficient and that will not lead to unfavorable side effects, it pays off in the long run. Versatility in a company can be used as a strong encouraging tool.'Work from house option' or 'Set your own workplace hours' or 'Take a day of your choice off in a week - if you work Saturdays' all these choices instill confidence and trust in staff members and they can build their lives around their jobs more efficiently. It promotes the culture of taking responsibility for one's work and instills pride in their organization. https://listacademyanik.com/7-figure-cycle-review-bonus-steve-clayton-aidan-booth/ who are suffering from swimmer's itch can try a few various solutions. It is generally not needed to go to the medical professional for medical attention. First thing to do is take Benadryl or another antihistamine that will lessen the signs of the allergies. Try NOT to scratch! You can use cool compresses; bathe in Epson salts or baking soda; or use a sodium bicarbonate paste. Anti-itch lotions like Calamine or Benadryl lotion will assist swimmer's itch. If none of these treatments provide you relief, hang in there. Swimmer's itch will diminish by itself after about 4-5 days. For the outright least expensive cost, wait up until it is a brand-new version and a mature item is being presented. The old variation frequently gets really low-cost as it is cleared out. While its true that you may need the new variation for functionality with some products, with others the change is more among style. If a new style of running shoe occurs, for instance, the existing one may get really inexpensive, despite the fact that it does basically the same thing.