#avid astronomer

[lifewithaview]

Murdoch Mysteries (2008- ) The Annoying Red Planet

S1E13

Murdoch and Crabtree investigate the strange murder of Henri Gaston, who is found lying in the upper limbs of a very tall tree. There were no footprints leading up to tree so they have no theories as to how he may have gotten there. Gaston was an avid astronomer with a particular fascination about Mars and Constable Crabtree begins to think that Martians may be responsible. Murdoch however suspects a more human perpetrator, especially when he learns that Gaston was refusing to sell his land to a developer.

However, Crabtree becomes more interested in the victim's belief that aliens from Mars were stalking him.

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

What Would They Name Their Children? (Headcanons)

Rise!Turtles

A/N: More names!💚 And for some reason, I decided to use gifs that made me laugh lol.

Warnings: None💚

Raphael:

Big brother Raph might very much want some more “traditional” names for his children. Names that might be a little bit more common, but still very beautiful. Of course, Raph would very much want to hear what his future partner thinks of these names, before settling on any of them.

For Boys:

Edward, meaning “rich guard”.

Arthur, meaning “strong as a bear”.

Adam, the name of the first human man in the Bible.

For Girls:

Beatrice, from French, Italian and Latin origin meaning “voyager” or “traveler”.

Eleanor, meaning “one who is as bright as sun rays”.

Alice, meaning “of the nobility”.

Leonardo:

Would it surprise anyone that Neon Leon would want to give his children a Spanish name? Not really. Most people would have seen that coming from a mile away. A very avid Spanish speaker himself, it just feels natural for Leo. And if his future partner is up for it, then he already has a few ideas.

For Boys:

Marco, most likely derived from Mars, the god of war.

Joaquín, the Spanish version of the name Joachim.

Alejandro, the Spanish variant of the name Alexander.

For Girls:

Gabriela, meaning “God is my strength.

Esmeralda, meaning “emerald”.

Lucia, meaning “light”.

Donatello:

Donnie’s partner wouldn’t even have to ask - Donnie would name his children after some of the greatest scientists there have ever been. However, with Donald being the way that he is, he would want to be extravagant with those names. He would want them to have old and long names, thinking that they sound not just nice, but beautiful.

For Boys:

Archimedes, after the Greek mathematician.

Pythagoras, after the Greek philosopher, mathematician and music theorist.

Avicenna, after the Persian doctor, philosopher and politician.

For Girls:

Mercuriade, after the 14th century Italian female physician and surgeon. One of the few of her time.

Aglaonice, after the Greek astronomer.

Guillemette, after Guillemette du Luys, the royal French surgeon of king Louis XI of France.

Michelangelo:

Mikey would want to decide on a name, before the birth of his child. A name he can use to reference the child, in a way that feels more natural to him. But he would do this very early on, seeing that as one of the many reasons why Angelo would only want to give his children gender neutral names. A name he would be able to use early on, while giving his child a chance to explore their own identity, with a name that wouldn’t upstruct that.

Phoenix, after the mythological creature.

Peyton, from the Old English language, with an unknown meaning.

Lennox, meaning “place of elms” in Gaelic.

Madhu, from Sanskrit meaning “sweet”.

Presley, meaning “priest” or “clearing” in Old English.

Bellamy, meaning “beautiful friend” in Old French.

[nottherealajhq]

Hi AJHQ! I have a question about Bigfoot. I've been following this blog for a long time and I've fallen deeply in love with him. As an avid fan, I must ask: does it clap when he walks

Hi, Jammer! I don't even know what to say to you I really hope you get skewered on an extremely long and thin stick with three other people who you can't stand and as you agonizingly bleed out your screams will harmonize into a barbershop quartet and it will be grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous but it will also be the most beautiful symphony to ever swerve and sing through your eardrums like a round of applause, only on par with the seraphic sound of Bigfoot's astronomically bouncy ass

[thesirencult]

ON SELF EDUCATION

"I am concerned that too many people are focused too much on money and not on their greatest wealth, which is their education. If people are prepared to be flexible, keep an open mind and learn, they will grow richer and richer through the changes. If they think money will solve the problems, I am afraid those people will have a rough ride. Intelligence solves problems and produces money. Money without financial intelligence is money soon gone."

- Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad Poor Dad

I will forever remember the first college class I took in my current degree on philosophy and history.

It was an "Introduction to Philosophy" class. The teacher proceeded to say that self help is not philosophy, because philosophy doesn't have practical appliance (!) is just a way to think about thoughts.

The noble teacher then, who didn't want to make money off of self help books but from textbooks the government buys in crazy prices to give to the students talked about Thales.

One of the first philosophers that set foot on our planet, Thales was an avid mathematician and astronomer. He also calculated the weather and knew how oil production will be based on that, then he made the decision if he would invest on oil or plant more olive trees.

Some classmates were flagger busted. How could a noble philosopher use his knowledge for something so dirty? Making money.

I obviously raised my hand and opened the gates of hell.

Education is important. Period. But self education? Non-negotiable.

Going to college and getting a degree, if you have the means to do that or if it's affordable in your country, will open many doors for you.

Both new rich and old rich send their kids to the best educational institutions, even if they "make fun" of people who went to college.

Having a degree and being business minded will make you unstoppable.

Now, if you want to be a triple threat you can not skip self-education.

As an example, learning history is very important. Looking back to our past can help us notice patterns and make us better at decision making. At school AND college though, history is not taught correctly. Seeing with one eye may be good but seeing with both is much better.

Now, you may ask me : Why do many highly educated people and college professors do not become wealthy ?

The answer is not simple but can be brought down to this : They prefer stroking their own ego over coming to terms with the fact that you are the only one who can save yourself and no amount of books you read will do it for you. Reading books does not by itself make you more valuable. Only if you utilise what you learn you will become a money making asset.

Many academics love to seat on their high horse (I believe many college students have noticed this) and they find money immoral and their studies "noble".

If you know nothing about economics, law, taxes and human psychology you will not advance. If you do not cultivate a wealth mindset you will not advance. If you let your ego get in your way you will not advance.

[moondust-artz]

For the @kirbyoctournament

Name: Pixie. Current Age: 14. Sexuality: Omnisexual/Bisexual. Pronouns: She/Her

If u followed me while I started posting Kirby stuff u probably know who this is. Anyways providing all the OC lore down below for @kirbyoctournament

Pixie

Backstory: Pixie is an orphan noddy who later befriended Kirby’s gang after the events of Star Allies, like Marx, she knows a lot abt ancient artifacts and lore due to her parents knowledge. As a child she always stuck out like a sore thumb, whether it was in her family, between her friends or just the community of noddies in general. This caused her to have a certain hatred and bitterness for others, isolating herself from her friends and family. During the events of Star Allies (14 years old) she lost her parents after they got possessed by the Jamba hearts and died soon after. She has no idea where the rest of her family went so she ran away to hide in a little cave, sheltered from the rest of PopStar. One day as she went to get food, she stumbled across Kirby in Donut Dome (a level in Star Allies), recognizing them as the hero of PopStar, she decided to give them a chance and helped them and their crew to stop Hyness by revealing her knowledge on the ancients and the Jambandran Cult. Since then she's great friends with most of the Kirby crew and as a gift got prosthetic arms (made by Susie).

Personality and interests: Pixie is an introverted person and likes to keep to herself, spending quality time alone most of her time, eating,drawing,or relaxing. She has severe sleeping problems and is massively sleep deprived (that explains her dark eyebags). She also suffers from anxiety and is very cautious of her surroundings, overthinking abt everything. She may seem menacing at first but if you get to know her, she’s a fun friend to have around. She loves reading abt The Ancients,their inventions, and lore. She’s fascinating by space and is an avid astronomer always hanging out by Susie's headquarters to be up to date with the events of the Gamble Galaxy and its happenings. Her favourite color is purple and she loves drawing with Adeleine.

That’s it for Pixie hope u like it

[affixjoy]

Hello! I am being very strange. 

This is basically a great big Thank You For Existing. 

Trek is my entire life, and you have fundamentally shaped how I view the characters, their dynamics, and the depths of these 60’s space boys.

I’m an avid reader and writer elsewhere, (as in actual research papers/academic essays; I’ve won writing awards before I pinkie promise swear my praise has merit.) 

The absurd amount of skill you have with words is- no pun intended- astronomical.

Is it weird for me to send in what is essentially an anonymous love letter to my favorite smut author on tumblr? Yeah absolutely. But I’d argue that very little of your stories are filth for the sake of filth. There is drive, and tension, and story, and need, and HOW DO YOU CHARACTERIZE THEM SO WELL, and I’m so very not normal about all of it. I’m repeatedly so “star-struck” by your skill with imagery; “dazzled” by how perfectly you capture their souls.

My point is, you’re a wonderful writer, thank you for allowing us the joy of reading!

Anon, thank you so much, this made me tear up. This is so incredibly kind of you, and means so very much to me.

Thank you for reading, thank you for enjoying it, thank you for telling me ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[st-peculiar]

hi this is the character ask game thing today's contender: KAS METIS-QUETZEVE IPA: kɑ̈s metɪs kʰɛt͡seɪve AVERAGE PHONETIC: kahs meh-tis ket-say-vay PRONOUNS: He/They (prefers masc terms) CAST TYPE: Earth/Light splitcasting, which would usually appear in the form of light refraction through different materials, but he specialized more towards the earth side of his casting for work.

PERSONALITY: Kas, overall, is a kind and attentive person; He doesn't half-ass caring about things. Whether it's his work, or his family, or his family's friends, he will do everything in his power to make sure they're safe, happy, and generally okay. Needless to say, this makes it so that sometimes he forgets to take care of himself. He's been trying to do better about that. His biggest flaw is probably the fact that he is very, very obvious about things; they try not to be directly rude or blunt, but in a world of office politics and having to respectfully discuss things, they struggle. They never really learned how to talk about their ideas as a kid, as they were seen as just the ramblings of the youngest child obsessed to death with space- and that appears in their conversations now. They just don't know when to stop talking, and because they love talking, this can become a problem. Kas is also an avid music lover, and a very religious person, though part of that might be the fact he's married to a priest (more on his husband, Tzalos, later.) He's always felt most connected to Deusae Tenebri, Tellarae, and Radian- the gods of space/creation, physics and the death/life cycle, and light/movement respectively. (fun fact: his favorite song is Jupiter by Gustav Holst, and he's also named after a moon of Jupiter, Metis. The moon is pronounced slightly different but hey it's fun anyway)

WORK: Kas is project director on Board Six of the Pavilic Astronomical Research Institute (PARI)'s Spacecraft Research Divison; He loves his job to death. More or less, it's his job to oversee and direct what projects are assigned to his board by the Oversight Committee. They're the ones in kahoots with the rest of the department, and sending down the jobs to whatever board they think can work on it best. Think of it like a council with several different assembly lines, and they decide which things could be best made by which assembly line. Occasionally, they'll tell two of those lines/boards to work together, or they'll have giant 9-Board meetings to discuss something they can't figure out, etc. Usually, his jobs go like "problem-discussion-resource gathering-solution." Sometimes, it's a lot more of "problem-discussion-research-discussion-research-more research-even more research-resource gathering-not enough resources-communicate funding issues-research-build-solution." He's pretty much been all over the country in meetings with him and his "boss" (a board director on the OC named Diakerizi Askells-tye'Remerroae, who has a comically long name, and yes that's plot important) talking to different people and trying to explain to them why, yes, they DO need an unrestricted supply of synthesized Solaeic materials, unless you want the people in that craft to start overheating the second they get inside. That probably looked like a bunch of word vomit, but making the Magic Version of NASA has been very fun and i love that actually

FAMILY: - Doesn't talk to his own much - Met his absolutely lovely husband Tzalos Quetzeve (he/him, lightcasting) while traveling for work (they had to commit shenanigans and tomfoolery and other kinds of mischief while attempting to convince a temple to join their fundraising committee for some youth education stem initiative, long story) - Has a wonderful child named Teq Quetzeve (who took Tzalos's last name because it sounded better, which is pretty common, as all last names are hyphenated in Pavilic culture, so shortening them is kind of a must.) (also, he/she/they lightcasting). Teq went into Applied Cast Mechanics (basically magic engineering) because of Kas (he was a big inspiration for them) and works for the government now. - was/is actually one of the best parents in the series (though that bar is quite low)

CONCLUSION: Kas is enthusiastic, devoted, and yet sometimes too much so. They really like space, work for Magic NASA, and are a generally nice person to be around. He is the kind of person to go ask for something when they mess up his order at a restaurant while also being aware of the busy environment he's in and how to not be a karen about it. thanks for listening :) - HC

Oh I like this guy a lot. He seems like a very intricately crafted character, and a lot of love clearly went into this entire story you’ve built.

I think he’d best get along with Michael Whittaker, an assistant cryobiologist at an Antarctic research station and resident radio host.

Whittaker (I often refer to my characters by their surnames), after being permanently injured after his service in the army, began to take on biology as a pet project, and eventually grew into a genuine passion. At a job he got out of college, he meets Callahan Finch. While not in love romantically, they are each others ride or die, and have a kid together as well.

Whittaker is also a very devoted parent to their daughter, Darcy, but doesn’t always make the best decisions in regards to the big picture.

He gets along well with most, but is also terribly impulsive at times when speaking.

I think Kas and Whittaker, while having contrasting fields of work, would bond over their love for their families and passion for their careers.

Also, Magic NASA sounds pretty fucking sick and I love that.

Awesome character.

[teenheir]

this is lowkey embarrassing but im desperate. like astronomical levels of desperate. like one more lost connection on dreambubble to ending it all

does anyone wanna roleplay homestuck together 😭😭 i made a dedicated discord acc for it bc i feel too old to be tumblr rping anymore (and also all my old partners disappeared #sadge) more info under cut…😭😭

i’m 20+ and my resume is i’ve been rping since trollmegle days/when people used to fight for the official ectoBiologist handle on pesterchum 😭

i usually play john but i’m also a decent dave- if i squeeze my braincells enough i can bring back jake/eridan too!

uhh i’m an avid davejohn/brojohn shipper but my mind is open to whatever u wanna rp too!

para/script rp is ok! nsfw (w consenting adults) or sfw fluffy rps is ok! yippee!

and here’s the link to my john rp blog for general rp style/rules (although, admittedly the last time i seriously rped there was like. rly long ago) @j0hnathanegbert

someone. save me (discord @ is same as url! but feel free to reply and ill dm u :*)

[bizarrebazaar13]

Aria Carmichael

Aria Carmichael (she/her) is a 24-year-old former astronomer who studies the stars, the Correspondence, and poisons. She does not have many friends, but she enjoys the company of a few tomb-colonists, including Lettice the Mercy. She is most often found either in Watchmaker’s Hill or the University.

Her study of poisons is mainly focused on Prisoner’s Honey and its more potent varieties. Her preferred method of murder in Hearts’ Game is poisoning the air with Correspondence sigils and lead fumes, but poison-tainted honey works just as well.

Aria is a skilled writer, but she rarely publishes the results of her studies. The University tolerates her presence, but she is not allowed to teach classes, and the students in her lab often go there as a last resort. Many faculty members wonder why she is even allowed to have a lab- rumor has it the Provost is too afraid of her to take it away.

Aria Rose Carmichael was born on June 20, 1876, in Oxford, England. Her mother, Martha, died when she was only four, and her father, Laurence Carmichael, married Edith Burton a year later.

Laurence was a bookbinder, and his passion for books was passed on to his daughter. It was a star atlas in his bookshop that sparked Aria’s lifelong love of astronomy, which was encouraged by Edith. Edith and Aria were close throughout Aria’s childhood, and Edith was the one who taught Aria to play the violin.

Aria entered university at the age of seventeen, to study astronomy. Laurence and Edith both believed she would return home and marry soon after finishing her studies, but Aria never did. She got a taste of knowledge beyond what her father’s books could offer her, and she knew she could never be satisfied with anything less ever again.

She kept to herself for the most part, and though she took an assistant teaching position after finishing her degree, she had no real friendships among the faculty or her students. Teaching was simply what allowed her to live on the university premises and saved her from marriage, it was never her real calling.

When Aria was twenty, she met an Italian physics professor named Elisa di Bartolomeo. At first, Aria’s attention was drawn to Elisa because she was one of very few other women at the university, but the two of them soon developed a close friendship. Elisa seemed to genuinely enjoy Aria’s company, and the feeling, Aria was surprised to find, was mutual.

They became lovers five months after their first meeting. Their relationship had to remain a secret, but it was the happiest Aria could ever remember being.

Elisa was murdered on August 17, 1898.

Aria was immediately intrigued by the Correspondence, and she was undeterred by the University’s resistance to teach the subject. The murder of the Senior Reader was more of an inconvenience to her than anything else, and when she realized she would need a laboratory to help find Elisa’s killer, the decision to frame the Cryptozoologist to save her career was an easy one. The Provost doesn’t openly acknowledge what she did for him, but there is an understanding between them. And he is, rightfully, afraid of her.

She is intrigued by the Dawn Machine, and is trying to track down the woman who designed it. All she has is an alias: June. But she found Scathewick from some flower petals.

She is an Extraordinary Mind.

Aria’s ambition was Nemesis. Elisa was killed after Aria couldn’t afford to pay an anonymous blackmailer who threatened to expose their relationship. Aria began her search for the murderer almost immediately afterwards, and came to the Neath in early 1899.

She killed Scathewick in the Iron Republic, and the experience still haunts her and influences her attitude towards Hell. She also killed the shade of Mr. Mirrors, and killed Mr. Cups in March 1902.

She left a story of loss behind on the Bazaar.

Since Elisa’s death, Aria carries a knife almost everywhere, but she has an aversion to ones made of skyglass.

Aria is an avid player of Hearts’ Game, and has been a frequent sight in the Bone Market ever since beginning work on the Great Hellbound Railway.

Her railway board consists of the Jovial Contrarian, the Implacable Detective, Furnace Ancona, the Dean of Xenotheology, and the Bishop of Southwark. Her railway has reached Jericho Locks, and she supports the Prehistoricists.

Library (in chronological order)

Am I Home?

the color of forgetting

ride out the blackout

Adagio con amore by the wonderful @lord-emerson

Gallery (newest to oldest)

this one by the lovely @neathyingenue

[wiredawake]

Support Families in Northern Gaza through Rooftop & Home Vegetable Gardens

"My name is Laila El-Haddad. I'm an author and advocate for Palestinian rights and food justice. Many of you might know me as the co-author of The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey. I'm also an avid gardener and though I am from Gaza City, I'm a farmer at heart!  Farmers represent the deep rootedness Palestinians have to the land.  For Palestinians, farming, especially during a time of genocide and ecocide-is an act of deep faith and the very embodiment of Sumood- the Palestinian concept of steadfast perseverance.

Background

Once known for its lush apple orchards, strawberries, and citrus, northern Gaza is now completely cut off from the rest of Gaza.  

As part of its policy to make Gaza unlivable, Israel has destroyed 50% of Gaza's trees and farmland, and severely restricted the entry of food and aid, especially to the north. The scale of damage and destruction is catastrophic. Israeli forces have leveled agricultural land, 90% of all greenhouses, olive groves, and poultry farms. The entire population is now facing a forced starvation policy and experiencing extreme hunger. 

Your Donation Will Help Change This Reality by Providing Rooftop, Home, and Urban Vegetable Gardens through seedling and seed distribution for Vulnerable and Displaced Families in Northern Gaza who are subsisting on 245 calories a day. 

What and Why?  

I'm organizing this campaign to help support farmers and families in the areas of northern Gaza most impacted by Israel's ongoing war to start their own rooftop and home gardens-a small step towards self sufficiency and food sovereignty. All international and local aid agencies have had to evacuate from the north, leaving the population especially vulnerable, and whatever limited amounts of fresh produce and aid are available are sold astronomical prices. 

How?

I spent months researching and consulting with agricultural experts in Gaza and abroad on the most secure and effective way to give Palestinians sustainable access to fresh produce.  Next, I partnered with with the Gaza Palestinian American Association and the Middle East Children's Alliance, both accredited 501(c)(3)  who are taking 0% overhead, as well as a team of community based partners in Gaza, who will be sourcing the supplies needed to start the home gardens locally and managing the project.  

Our team on the ground has been working hard to source and start growing local seedlings to distribute to families, and other materials needed to provide them with the resources they desperately need to start their own home, rooftop, patio, and community vegetable gardens, depending on the spaces they have access to.  We will roll out the project in several phases, which each phase targeting 100 families.

Each family will receive:

* At least 30 assorted seasonal vegetables seedlings (Palestinian summer squash, hot peppers, eggplant, cucumber and tomatoes, depending on availability)

* 80 grams of local seeds (dill, mulukhiya, chard), 

* Compost, soil, and amendments 

* Plastic planters, irrigation cans, where needed

* Training and follow up by agriculture experts

Your donations will also help fund the purchase of several solar panel systems to power  community wells that communities rely on to drink and irrigate their gardens and farms with (currently, municipal access to water is limited to once every ten days, and well motors are inoperable due to an Israeli ban on the entry of fuel).

With your support, we can help Palestinian families sow the seeds of a brighter future, cultivate hope and grow some of their own food again!

Your donation is tax deductible and zakat eligible!  100% of the proceeds will go towards the project in Gaza!  

Together, we will help families in the north grow healthy food for themselves, their neighbors and their friends!

[imperiuswrecked]

One of the main differences between Tenoch!Namor and Comic!Namor is we get to see what Namor could be like if he had lived in a community that loved and respected him and it’s just so wild to me because there are so many comics where Namor is just hated because of he is half atlantean/human. So seeing Tenoch!Namor be more emotionally healthy than Comic!Namor is such a trip.

Comic!Namor: I will keep all my emotions locked up in my heart until I explode in a fury of rage or swim off to some solitary place to cry my eyes out, idk if I’m feeling depressed enough maybe I’ll throw myself into a whirlpool of death. What’s that? A therapist? I am a PRINCE I don’t need a therapist!

Tenoch!Namor: I will talk to you, a complete stranger, about my feelings so I can get you to understand that I really need to kill that scientist. This is both a normal and healthy response to the trauma I endured when I buried my mother.

I’m not saying they are both perfect but damn if these two bitches don’t need some form of therapy.

Also I love the differences and similarities between the two, like Comic!Namor is an avid reader/artist but we rarely get to see it, it comes in small moments, Namor is seen reading a book on a beach, or talks about Atlantean authors, or does his own sculptures etc. Tenoch!Namor is seen painting, and I’m sure he must have other forms of literature/art that he does as well.

The Poet King is such a strong trope within them because they both have very passionate personalities, and they express that in their arts.

I think what I love most is how smart they show Tenoch!Namor in the movie, like he isn’t just their god king, he also is a scientist, bringing the “Sun” to his people. Tenoch!Namor is so freaking smart y’all, not just in a sciencey way but politically he has had centuries to understand people/how ruling kingdoms work.

Comic!Namor is smart in this way as well, but too often Marvel ranks him on the less intelligent side of the smart scale because they don't take into account the fact he has a different set of knowledge than the scientists in the comics. Namor states/shows he isn't a man of science a few times in the comics but he has political/how to run an empire/ocean smarts. He is like a marine expert in a room full of astronomers.

And did I mention how much I love that BP:WF shows Namor being a collector of things from the surface? Like his memorabilia hut is a physical reminder of his past deeds, he keeps items of interest or history for him. He paints the history of his people and adds his adventures in as part of his archive.

Another thought I had: Aside from a historical/cultural pov what if: Is it so he can look back and remember? What if at some point Namor started to forget things because he is so long lived that he feared he would lose so much of his past so he began painting so it wouldn't be gone forever.

I just love both versions of this character so very much 🥺🥰

[bayoubashsims]

At the Shophouse

For twenty years, Bakmi Itik Runi had been a staple of Paterosari's cuisine. The recipe belonged to  Soo Liem Wong (1900-1976) and Meijuan Wong (1907-1990), while the land belonged to Agustian Gouw (1913-1987) and Sukmini Gouw (1917-1991). When their grandchildren married, the clan survived through hard times together.

Oliver Cahyadi started the business with his late wife Runi back in 1992, but she sadly died of breast cancer in 2004, leaving him to run the business. Though he's not alone in the running of it, he does get pretty tired sometimes.

With Runi they had two sons; Ferdi is a chef and a bit of a player who works at the big hotel, while Mario is an aspiring high school student who dreams of becoming an astronomer.

His father-in-law, Ahong Tan, helps with the finances as he's a retired accountant. For the most part, he watches Indosiar fantasy soaps, though.

Oliver's aunt Adel Gouw helps Oliver in running the business. For years, she had taken care of her parents, and now she's taking care of her late sister's family. As an avid churchgoer and the only woman in the house, Adel makes it her duty to keep the men in line.

They are not alone, though. Budi Tan, Runi's youngest brother, helps in the kitchen, and Mexiko Sunarto, the son of the duck farmer that supplies the restaurant with their duck meat, helps as a server.

They also have a boarder, Kenta Kurata, a Japanese national who moved to the countryside to teach Japanese at the local Christian high school and learn the ways of the Kuningan people. He fits in well with the Chinese-Indonesian household, but there's bound to be some cultural differences that would arise.

[the-starry-seas]

was thinking more about mar'eyce zenith's job as forest service pilot and did some googling about smokejumpers and is anybody really surprised that i have more OCs?

Manaia, the ICT3, they/them, early forties. Co-parenting everyone with their pilot, Zenith (ey/em). They're 5'10" and built like a brick wall which tends to make people intimidated, but when they're not working, they're laid-back and like to laugh. But when someone tries to get fresh with their team... yeah, there's gonna be trouble. In their downtime, they're a photographer and pole dance for exercise (and to make people wonder if their poker face is really that good [it is]).

Waimarie, the spotter, she/her, mid twenties. Fashionista, gardener, and astronomer. She knows Nīkau's name as her buir <3 She always picks up a box of two-bite brownies on her way in to work, because while this girl should not be in the kitchen, she's got a need for baked goods. She can be bribed into doing about anything with macademia nut cookies. Likes to ride the bus on random routes to see more of the city. Has made many friends with old ladies on the bus, and on four separate occasions, has helped a kid with homework.

Nīkau, late thirties, he/they. He always has tea on hand and he never shares. Got his scar in a bar fight that he started by cold-cocking a homophobe. Thinks it's pretty cool. Also thinks fire puns are funny. He's always showing off pictures of his dog, a Boston Terrier named Rose Tyler. His three boyfriends look after her while he's at work. Doesn't actually own any of his shirts or jackets, they're all stolen from his boyfriends. The collar, on the other hand, was a gift from them. Has the TARDIS tattooed on the inside of his left wrist.

Christopher, mid thirties, he/him. A one-man survival team who always has a gallon bucket full of peanut butter cups on his desk. Likes some water with his ice cubes. Avid gamer. Face paint as self-expression. His car always smells like vanilla. Has four bearded dragons named Gandalf, Radagast, Alatar, and Pallando.

Tama, early thirties, he/him. Has an innate need to dive into literally any body of water even when explicitly told not to. Likely swimming somewhere right now. A year older than his brother, Tipene, and will never let him forget it. Car Guy™, who needs romance when you can spend three weeks disassembling a Ferrari engine and infodumping about pistons. Has dated two girls, both ended dramatically, might be time for him to realise he's into boys instead. Had several near-death experiences while cave diving and still required an intervention to stop. He still cliff dives.

Tipene, early thirties, it/its. Polyglot and polyamorous. Collects belt buckles and most of them are hideously gaudy tbh. Has a life-sized taxidermy shark hanging from the ceiling of the office and constantly scaring newbies with it. Always has the radio set to a classic country station. Stocks up on sour fruit candy like the apocalypse is coming. Would probably be fine in an actual apocalypse. Binges horror movies but can't watch anything where the dog dies. Consults the farmer's almanac daily and tracks how accurate it is in comparison to the local weather station. Has two full tattoo sleeves of indigenous birds, and it's a game to see if the team can spot all the birds on hiking trips.

Benjamin, late twenties, he/him. Takes heavily after his mother who died when he was born. His father remarried last year and he hates the new chick. Cotton candy is his main food group. Weaver and woodcarver who constantly gifts things to his friends or donates to charity auctions. Whenever someone asks to borrow a pencil, he takes out a jumbo pencil from his desk and pretends he doesn't have anything else. Flirts with everyone, nobody can tell when it's serious. Dramatically pulling off his sunglasses at least once a day. Only has one jacket that's red leather. Heavily tattooed from fingers to elbows but nowhere else. His lipstick is UV reactive and he's hooked up with half the city at some club or another.

Epoxy, late twenties, they/them. Transmasc swag cancelled out by inability to flirt. Seemingly never wears the same necklaces twice but they've kept the same shade of lipstick for the last ten years. Kiri is their best friend. Never seen without a backpack, but nobody is exactly sure what's in there. Constantly annoying everyone else by always having their earbuds in. Listens to Chappell Roan half the time and local indie artists the rest of the time. Hangs out at their other BFF Anahera's tattoo parlour on Thursdays because they have a crush on her. They got their name because they tried to wipe extra epoxy off on their hands on their first day and you can guess how that went.

Kiri, mid twenties, she/her. Everyone underestimates the skinny blond chick, which she uses to relentlessly fleece strangers at pool, darts, and contact sports. Highly competitive and will get in over her head if a dare or bet is offered. She's also an animal lover and keeps bringing home random insects and rodents that are considered pests around the airstrip. Constantly arguing with Chris about LOTR lore and drives him nuts talking about her Star Trek crossover fanfic bc they have wildly differing opinions on which hobbits would actually want to join Starfleet.

Oliver, nineteen, he/they. His cat is named Oreo and she's the love of his life, humans need not apply. He got the cat ear headband to match her. Goes all out on Halloween costumes every year. A friend to all insects, even the ones that bite him, they have their reasons. Designated remover of spiders from bathrooms. Keeps trying to grow flowers and failing miserably. Deeply invested in his neighbour's koi pond. Usually seen in a bomber jacket and jeans. Do not mention butterflies around him unless you're ready to hear more than you could ever remember. Keeps his Christmas lights up year-round. Has never thrown away a plastic bag in his life.

[ccohanlon]

from my bookshelf

Pytheas of Massalia was a Greek geographer, explorer and astronomer from the ancient Greek colony of Massalia — modern-day Marseille, France. In the late 4th century BC, he voyaged from there to northwestern Europe, but his detailed account of it, On The Ocean, survives only in fragments, quoted — and disputed — by later authors such as Strabo, Pliny and Diodorus of Sicily. The Extraordinary Voyage Of Pytheas the Greek by the noted British historian of ancient maritime Europe, Barry Cunliffe, attempts to draw out the reality of what was an extraordinary sea journey, from the Western Mediterranean north along the Atlantic coast of Europe to the British Isles, then even further north, to the near-mythic land of Thule. Cunliffe makes a strong case for Pytheas being “the first European explorer”, while identifying the most likely locations of Thule, sought so avidly by 19th and early 20th century adventurers and artists.

James Hamilton-Paterson’s Seven-Tenths: The Sea And Its Thresholds, published in 1992, more than two thousand years after Pytheas’s On The Ocean, is an ambitious, expressive exploration of the vast aqueous wilderness that covers three-quarters of our planet by a writer of remarkable literary accomplishment (he was one of Martin Amis’s professors at Oxford). Plumbing humanity’s complex, multi-faceted relationship with the sea, Hamilton-Paterson writes vivid, meditative passages about, well, everything — fishing, piracy, oceanography, cartography, exploration, ecology, the ritual of a burial at sea, poetry, and even his own experiences living for extended periods on a small island in the Philippines.

Tom Neale’s autobiography, An Island To Oneself: Six Years On A Desert Island, describes an altogether smaller, more solitary world: the island of Anchorage, part of the Suwarrow Atoll in the South Pacific. Born in New Zealand in 1902, Neale spent most of his life in Oceania: after leaving the Royal New Zealand Navy, he worked for decades aboard inter-island trading vessels and in various temporary jobs ashore before his first glimpse of his desert island home. He moved to Anchorage in 1952 and over three different periods, lived in hermitic solitude for 16 years, with rare visits from yachtsmen, island traders, and journalists. Among the last was Noel Barber, a close friend of my late father: he gave my father a copy of Neale’s book, in Rome, shortly after it was published in 1966 (I still have it). Neale was taken off his beloved island in 1977 and died not long after of stomach cancer.

The Starship And The Canoe by Kenneth Brower, published in 1978, is an unlikely dual biography of a father and son that draws intriguing parallels between the ambitious ideas of renowned British theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson — who, in the early 1970s explored concepts for interstellar travel, settlements on comets, and nuclear rockets that might propel mankind to the outer reaches of the universe — and his wayward son, George, who lived in a self-built tree house 30 metres up a Douglas fir overlooking the Strait Of Georgia, in British Columbia and devised large canoes based on Aleut baidarkas in which to paddle north to the wild, uninhabited littoral of southern Alaska. Brower’s descriptions of long passages with the younger Dyson in the cold, sometimes fierce tidal waters between Vancouver Island and the Canadian mainland are gripping and I have read them again and again. It is, unarguably, my favourite book.

The late, New Zealand-born doctor and sailor, David Lewis, is not as widely known as he was half a century ago, even by avid readers of sea stories, but from his earliest memoirs in the 1960s — of his participation in the first-ever singlehanded trans-Atlantic race (The Ship That would Not Sail Due West), and of incident-prone voyages to far-flung coasts with his young family (Dreamers of the Day, Daughters of the Wind, and Children Of Three Oceans) — to his practical, first-hand studies of instrument-less ocean navigation among South Pacific islanders, (We, The Navigators and The Voyaging Stars) in the 1970s, Dr. Lewis was not only the late 20th century’s most remarkable and intelligent writer on the sea and small-boat voyaging but also one of its most adventurous. My favourite of his several books: Ice Bird, published in 1972, an account of a gruelling, almost fatal voyage from Sydney, Australia, in an ill-prepared, steel, 32-foot yacht to achieve the first singlehanded circumnavigation of Antarctica.

It’s said that spending time anywhere with Lorenzo Ricciardi, late ex-husband of Italian photographer Mirella Ricciardi, was an adventure. A film-maker and former senior advertising executive, once described by a British writer as “a penniless Neapolitan count”, he gambled at roulette to raise enough money to buy an Arab dhow, which, in the 1970s, with little seafaring experience and plenty of mishaps, he sailed from Dubai to the Arabian Gulf, and from there down the Arabian to coast of Africa, where the dhow was shipwrecked among the Comoros Islands. The Voyage Of The Mir El Ah is Lorenzo’s picaresque account (illustrated by Mirella’s photographs). Astoundingly, several years later, Lorenzo and Mirella Ricciardi completed an even more dangerous, 6,000-kilometre voyage across Equatorial Africa in an open boat — and another book, African Rainbow: Across Africa By Boat.

Italian madmen aside, it used to be that you could rely on surfers for poor impulse control and reckless adventures, on the water and off. Back in the late 1990s, Allan Weisbecker sold his home, loaded his dog and a quiver of surfboards onto a truck, and drove south from the Mexican border into Central America to figure out what had happened to an old surfing buddy — in between checking out a few breaks along the way. In Search Of Captain Zero: A Surfer's Road Trip Beyond The End Of The Road is a memoir of a two-year road-trip that reads like a dope-fuelled fiction but feels more real than William Finnegan’s somewhat high-brow (and more successful) Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life.

Which brings me to Dana and Ginger Lamb. In 1933, these newly-weds would certainly have been looked at askance by most of their middle-American peers when they announced that they weren’t ready yet to settle down and instead built a 16-foot hybrid canoe-sailboat and set of on what would turn out to be a 16,000-mile, three year journey down the Pacific coasts of Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica to the Panama Canal. Dana’s 415-page book, Enchanted Vagabonds, published in 1938, was an unexpected New York Times best-seller and today is more exciting to read than the ungainly, yawn-inducing books produced by so many, more commercially-minded, 21st century adventurers.

First published in Sirene, No. 17, Italy, 2023.

[titenoute]

I like to head canon that Betilla has a passion for astronomy. Mostly cause in the old educational games her house was covered in stars and planets.

Makes sense! Tho I feel like Anneta Fish would be an avid astronomer too. Can't sail around without the stars to guide you after all.

[kencall]

Here are my photos of The April 8th Solar Eclipse. Where I live in Massachusetts the max totality was 93%. As an avid astronomer and photographer this was an exciting event. It would have been great to have been in the path of full totality but I was not able do that. I am so glad that over 31 million people got to see full totality and I hope this sparks peoples interest in the celestial wonders of the night sky.

Clear skies!