#kilo flies

[kiloskywalker]

hi kilo! nice ask day ask for you (so very curious about your job I'm so sorry). what's your favourite destination to fly to for work AND what's your favourite non-work travel destination?

Hi @welcometololaland thank you for the nice ass(k)! This is a great question and I have to admit I had to do some thinking about it! But no need to be sorry about your curiosity! I love answering questions about it so whenever the urge strikes you absolutely fire away! I've been to so many places for work and a lot of the cool ones vary whether the layover is good (especially if its like a day or two) or the approach to the airport is super cool or even if the food in the airport terminal is bangin' while I wait. I think my favorite layover is probably either Kahului, Hawaii on the island of Maui or Kona, Hawaii on the island of Hawai'i. Obviously because the weather is so nice and they usually have us on the ground for at least two or three days so I get to go to the beach and relax. Flights to Hawaii are usually hard to get (they usually go to more senior crews) but whenever they come across my schedule I try to bid for those. I think an honorable mention is definitely Chicago O'Hare. Our airline is based in Chicago and we have a massive presence there so I'm flying there quite often. On a nice day, the approach into the airport from over Lake Michigan gives absolutely gorgeous views of downtown Chicago. I've mentioned this in a previous post somewhere, but I am originally from Chicago and grew up there. My family still lives there. But our house was right under the approach path at O'Hare and when I was little, I would always look up at the planes landing and get super excited. Now, I am literally living that dream job that little Kilo always wanted. And there are times when I fly DIRECTLY over where the house I grew up in is and imagine little Kilo getting so excited thinking about that. I'll ask my dad, but sometimes he goes out and tracks my flights and tries to get a picture of me landing or taking off from nearby and share a pic from one of those. Always super cool to see!

There are another couple of really cool honorable mentions I have to say: Mexico City has a really tough approach over the city, San Diego is similarly right in the middle of downtown, New York LaGuardia, Washington DC Reagan National (pro-tip if you're flying into DCA sit on the right side of the plane and you might get a beautiful view of the city and the National Mall when you're landing), Sint Maarten in the Carribbean is cool the approach is right over the beach (I've only been there a couple of times but its always so cool). My favorite non-work destination is so difficult. I think its gotta be either Prague, Czech Republic (I went there with my dad on vacation a few years ago and I fell in LOVE with it, or Alaska (I was there on vacation earlier this summer and it was so beautiful). Although I expect that answer to change relatively quickly. Side note: my airline has new flights this Summer from Newark to the Portuguese Azores islands out in the middle of the Atlantic (approx. 2,600 miles east of New York, and about 1,000 miles west of Portugal). They operate the Boeing 737 MAX on the route (which is one of the types I fly) and its only a summer seasonal route. My goal for next year is to try and crew that flight so I can visit! It looks so pretty and it's very high up on my list to travel!

[octuscle]

Hi Chronivac Support, I need some help, I'm a 23 year old Korean American and every time I try and get myself transformed writers first thought is to turn me into some big white guy in his 40s Could your app give me the transformation of my dreams? I want to be turned into a huge muscle freak but stay young and stay korean american. I'd love to grow bigger randomly at inconvenient times, like if im on a date with a guy my nice button up stretches and rips as I swell bigger. I want to sweat so bad everything I own stinks. I fantasise all the time about getting stuck in door ways, being so big I break furniture by sitting on it, sweating and stinking so bad people laugh at me for it. Please just make me a big gross muscle freak

Your wish is my command! And we start directly. During a business lunch. Your back becomes a good deal wider in one fell swoop. Your jacket tears open over your back. You struggle to get out of the jacket. The buttons above your chest are still holding.

You excuse yourself, get up and leave the restaurant. You need air. The first button of your shirt flies off. And the fabric rips over your swelling biceps. And a short time later, your pants give up the fight with your thighs.

It doesn't help, you have to buy something new to wear. At the fitness store across the street in the mall, you get compression shorts and a tank top. And return to your lunch. Your coworkers make a few funny remarks, but no one really seems surprised by your getup.

For the rest of the day, all you can think about is the gym. You drink one protein shake after another. And with every protein fart you feel like you've gained another kilo of muscle mass. And while all your colleagues are still diligently sitting at their screens at 5:00 p.m., you just can't take it anymore. You have to lift weights now. Now! And leave the office.

The next morning you work from your home office. Of course, you went to the gym as soon as you got up. You were sweating like a pig. But now you're showered. You even found a shirt that fits. But you have to wear your compression shorts with it. There were no shorts that fit over your massive thighs. It will do for video conferencing. The first conference is barely two minutes in when your fresh light-colored shirt gets dark stains. You're sweating even more than you did during the workout. After a short time, the shirt sticks to your upper body, soaking wet and stretched to bursting. You try to stay cool. But you hear your colleagues giggling. Now you just have to tense your chest muscles. You have to free yourself from this straitjacket. Your buttons bang like pistol bullets on your screen. And your nipples shine into the camera, freed from their prison. Your boss sends you a private message. Whether you are still in your right mind. You can't help but tear the shreds of your shirt from your sweaty torso. And you let your pecs dance in the camera. Your immediate suspension is already in your e-mail inbox.

You don't care, you can spend more time in the gym. It doesn't matter that you sweat and stink of sweat. You don't need to wear a shirt or a tank top. Everyone should see your sweaty upper body. As long as you need a new job, you can work in the gym as a janitor.

Chronivac Inc. supports its customers wherever possible. Also in the search for a new job. I think I have found something suitable. It doesn't give a shit if you sweat through your uniform. Your partner is a gym rat too and almost stinks more than you. Any crook who has to ride in the car with you is almost punished enough.

However, I can't guarantee that at some point even this uniform will suddenly become too tight…. Take care of yourself!

[as-i-watch]

Do you know what the biggest lie ever told in one piece is?

"There are only 5 devil fruits that can fly"

I mean Pell sounded cool when he said it but it has gotten worse over time with every devil fruit that appears.

Let's go down the list from least to most ridiculous DF users who can fly.

ACTUAL BIRDS:

-Pell [Bird Bird fruit: Model Falcon]

-Marco [Bird Bird fruit: Model Phoenix]

-Morgans [Bird Bird fruit: Model Albatross ]*

*Morgans is flightless in his hybrid form, but Albatrosses can naturally fly for long distances*

-Buzz [Bird Bird fruit Model eagle]**

**Buzz is a noncanon character from the movie One piece strawhat chase. He is a dog**

OTHER FLYING ANIMALS:

-Cub [bug bug fruit: Model rhinoceros beetle]

-Bian [bug bug fruit: Model hornet]

While bugs are known for crawling, these two tontatas have DFs who's species can naturally fly.

-King [Dragon Dragon fruit: Model Pteranodon]

Flying is the only natural thing that King does with his fruit. All the fire stuff is unique to King

-Kaido/Momonosuke [DF NAME UNKNOWN]

Momo can fly by summoning clouds and walking on them but dragons appear to have the innate ability to fly as shown with Kaido

BIRD BY TECHNICALITY:

-Toragatsu [Bird Bird fruit Model: Nue]

Torgatsu is a noncanon character from the One Piece x Kyoto art show. The nue is a chimera like creature from Japanese folklore that has the body of a tiger, head of a monkey and a snake for a tail. Alternatively it can be described as having the back of a tiger, the limbs of a tanuki, the tail of a fox, the head of a cat, and the torso of a chicken. It is a bird fruit because the name Nue also refers to the scaly thrush bird that the chimera mimics. Torgatsu can fly by summoning rainbow colored flames.

LOGIAS:

All known logia users [with the exceptions of Aokiji, Akainu*, Blackbeard &Caribou ] can fly via elemental propulsion. [*Akainu is in a different category]

-Ace/Sabo [flame flame fruit]

-Smoker [plume plume fruit](smoke)

-Crocodile [Sand sand fruit]*

*the presence of these 3 fruits alone in alabasta immediately invalidated Pell's statement*

-Kizaru [glint glint fruit] (light)

-Enel [Rumble Rumble fruit] (Lightning)

-Caesar Clown [Gas Gas fruit]

-Monet [Snow snow fruit]

PARAMECIA SHENANIGANS

-Shiki [Float Float fruit]

man can just straight up fly

-Trafalgar Law [Op Op fruit]

-Fujitora [Press Press fruit]

-Eustass Kid [Magnet Magnet Fruit]

The above manipulate their environment to create platforms that they ride on.

-Big Mom [Soul soul fruit]

Can use her soul to create constructs that she rides on

-Perona [Hollow Hollow fruit]

Can fly by turning herself into a ghost.

-buffalo [Spin Spinf Fruit]

Can fly by helicoptering his body parts.

IS IT FLYING IF I DON'T TOUCH THE GROUND?

-Akainu [Mag mag fruit]

Has been shown to use his magma to propel himself short distances but hasn't shown the ability to fly

-Magellan [Venom Venom fruit]

Can create pathways of poison that allow him to fast travel around impel down

FLIGHT BY TECHNICALITY

-Buggy [Chop chopper fruit]

his body parts can Float around within a certain radius of him, excluding his feet.

DOESNT COUNT AS FLYING

-Ms. Valentine [Kilo Kilo fruit]

Reducing her weight to 1Kg allows her to jump really high into the air and slowly fall down

??????

Karasu [DF UNKNOWN]

Can turn himself into a murder of crows and fly.

SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO FLY AT ALL

-Doflamingo[string string fruit]

He flies by spidermaning his way through the air, sticking his strings to clouds

-Robin [flower flower fruit]

Grows several dozen arms that she fuses into a pair of wings

-Luffy [Gum Gum fruit]

Gear 4. Contracts and expands his legs with so much speed and force that it generates thrust.

There are probably some others that I missed but these are the major ones for where you are.

This a really cool categorization and also

Perhaps it was meant that only 5 DF like actually come with wings and the other ones just elevate their powers to do all that crazy shit

Or perhaps is further evidence Oda makes it all up as he goes along (most likely lol)

[shadeysprings]

This gif gave me some inspiration and I hope you enjoy this little drabble ❤️

Dead End

Summary — You bump into the sheriff during one of your runs.

Warnings — mentions of drugs, coercion, implied noncon/dubcon.

A drabble this may be, your feedback and reblogs are highly appreciated. Thank you and enjoy! ❤️

“You know you shouldn't be around these parts, sweetheart.”

Hands cuffed behind your back and your body pressed against the hood of the cruiser, you groan as you pull against your restraints. Your brows furrow and your eyes are filled with rage, watching the stout sheriff while he rummages through the contents of your pack. 

You knew not to venture into this part of town with the cops buzzing around like flies, apprehending every poor soul that comes across their path. But you simply couldn't resist the call of the east district. With junkies laying everywhere, one stroll through the infamous Tent Alley would have you swimming in cash by morning.

But you got caught and you snarl at Sheriff Bodecker when he smirks in your direction, tossing the baggies of cocaine in front of you and setting down the butterfly knife, the one your brother gave you, beside your face.

“I'd say that's about half a kilo you got there, sweetheart.” he tuts. “You know the punishment for being caught in possession alone?” He says before taking one of the ziplock bags and opening it, dipping his pinky into the powder and pressing against the pad of his tongue. “You’re looking at fifty years when caught selling this shit.”

“I know you, Bodecker,” you growl. “You pigs buy from Fowler’s boys yet I don’t see them behind bars.”

“Well, that’s ‘cause we made a deal with them.” he chuckles, your eyes never leaving him as he circles the vehicle, your heart pounding hard against your chest when he stops and stands behind you. “But I’m sure you and I can make a deal of our own?” The hair on your skin stands in attention, dread filling your senses when you feel his hand run up the expanse of your thigh. 

“What the fuck are you doing?!” You shout but gasp soon after when he wraps his hand around the back of your neck, fingers squeezing the sides as he presses you harder against the metal surface. “Let me g—” you choke.

“You listen here, sweetheart—” he starts, your skin rippling in disgust when he leans down and you feel his stomach press against your back, his hot breath fanning against your cheek. “I’ll tell my boys not to bother you and you’re free to roam around to do your business in my jurisdiction. And all you have to do is what I want when I want, got it?”

His offer makes your blood boil in rage yet your body shake in fear. You know not to negotiate with men like him, ones who hold power and put on a facade of protecting the people, for nothing good will ever come to ones of your status, the ones who beg for scraps and get into seedy businesses just to get by. 

But you don’t have much of a choice; going back to your usual route brought you nothing and your one-time endeavor in the east gave you so much more than you hoped for. The market is just better here, you tell yourself, but is succumbing to this man’s unsavory desires even worth it? You’ll be a puppet of the sheriff, you know that for sure, but you already are with your supplier and the one he works for. Does adding another to control you make a significant difference?

You sigh, the choice already made in your head. A huff of exasperation and relief then leave your lips when you feel the sheriff’s hold on you loosen but his other hand continuously lingers on your ass, fingers gently digging into the clothed flesh. 

“What do you want?” You breathe.

He chuckles darkly and you whimper against the vehicle when he kicks your feet apart, the sound of his belt buckle jingling filling your ears. 

“Why don’t we start by having some fun?” he snickers. “Then we can talk business.”

[igottatho]

For my friend Mohammad, I was able to raise some money to get food and fresh water for his family, as well as an upgraded cooking setup, but in his area just outside Kh4n Y0un!s, Dier al-balah, there has been a lot of fighting.

You can see his words today below. You can also find images of their living situation, the upgrade of the kitchen and of course, his young children (3 and 6 month twins). In the immediate he hopes to raise enough money to get a fan and battery for their tent, which he believes will be a source of great relief.

The heat is unbearable and the flies swarm everywhere, and because plumbing is a thing of the past, they struggle even for the most basic necessities for a healthy day-to-day life. Mohammad’s dear wife, Samar also suffers from dehydration. As many of the women on my friends list will know, breastfeeding takes a lot out of a mother… and Samar has been blessed with two little babies in the middle of this awful violence.

Mohammad himself has lost half his body weight since the conflict broke out in Oct, going from 82 kilos (108 pounds). He makes sure that his little girl and wife gets their nutritional needs met before himself. With some financial support, Mohammad has been able to improve their situation somewhat, by upgrading the stove, providing fresh chicken (high fat content for babies milk), and water.

They struggle getting fresh food and water, as well much-needed sanitary supplies for the infants. The occupiers have closed Gaza to any cleaning supplies, destroyed the desalination plant in Gaza and Polio is active within the destroyed water systems. There is no running water and bathrooms are makeshift within tents.

Infrastructure everywhere is affected, particularly schools and hospitals, and residential areas, including the Alwan's family home in Rafah - what is left of their home is pictured below.

It is Mohammad’s hope to raise enough money to keep them going and save until the border opens and they're able to cross into Egypt.

I hope that you guys can find it in your hearts to donate a little $$ - literally every bit helps.

Every bit helps, thank you.

[dykepuffs]

I bought a huge sack of baler jeans by the kilo from a rag shop today and I am discovering heinous things.

Women's jeans have been made of utter shit quality 90%-chewing-gum shit blends for at least 20 years.

The quality of men's jeans at the rag house, even after having been through the baler, are still higher than the quality of jeans that I wear to work.

The zip flies on Levis jeans do not wear out, I am picking out flies from 20 and 30 year old jeans and the metal zips all still work absolutely fine, at most they need a scutch of graphite, but no matter how worn the jeans the metal teeth and the fabric strip of the zip carrier is still rock solid. I wish there was some way to unpop the rivets and reuse the buttons because they too all look rock solid.

Full-cotton jeans can be repaired, and people do try to repair them before they rag them- Plenty of the pairs have home-done repairs, often multiple layers of them, often patched with pieces of other pairs of jeans. Even as little as 2% elastane ones can't be repaired at all and it's worthless to try, they just disintegrate (see my previous despair noise about women's jeans).

[true-blue-sonic]

Silver's physical strength is underrated. In Sonic 06 he evenly clashed with Shadow before they went through the time portal and in Rivals he pushes rock cubes more than twice his size with his bare hands

I think Silver's strength is not really seen by the fandom because he's got incredible physical strength in a cast were like a good 80% of the characters have incredibly physical strength too. Compared to characters like Sonic and Shadow, Silver's physical prowess does not stand out and might even appear weaker because he cannot run as fast, and compared to someone like Knuckles, Silver simply comes off as far less strong. It doesn't help that in the Rivals games, he can do things that every other character also can do, such as pushing those rock cubes. The only distinction the two Rivals games make between the characters is their special attack; they otherwise run, jump, push, etc. all the same. Therefore there doesn't really seem to be many physical strength-aspects in the games where Silver truly stands out, also because he does most of his fighting with his PK instead of getting into physical brawls.

But I watched his battle with Sonic in Generations yesterday, and Silv literally slides over the asphalt multiple times, as fast as Sonic is running while boosting, and he gets buried in his own Meteor Smash, and he is fine! He gets knocked out, but he's otherwise completely unharmed!! What I furthermore find intriguing is that in Shadow's boss battle Sonic needs to knock Shadow's rings out of him, but Silver does not have any rings on his person at all, and instead requires like five hits or so to go down instead. Silver thus might not be as adept at physically fighting than other characters (his punch aimed at Shadow in '06 is heavily telegraphed and almost slow), but he seems to have amazing physical perseverance and resistance to injury. And I would say that is also a form of physical strength! And in '06 he can also lift a seven-year-old Elise, who we can assume weighs around two-thirds of what he does (22-23 kilos), with no issue. Not as remarkable as Sonic lifting adult Elise (who has to weigh around 50 kilos at least) all the time, but still, Silver is not at all winded or tired by it. So I think fandom perception of Silver being too weak to lift up any item by hand and, like, struggling to walk for more than three seconds because he allegedly flies everywhere seems entirely false. He's got quite the perseverance and strength on him, especially if he can shrug off being buried in tons of rubble after getting Homing Attacked in the stomach five times like it is nothing with no long-lasting injury. His physical fighting skills might need some work, but bodily-wise, he seems just fine in that regard!

[achtung-attitude]

Her mother, bleeding. All-Kill’s apparent resurrection. The Stand floating at his side, an ugly parody of her friend’s Stand. Her friend who is now gone forever. Feeling more fear than ever before, these images race through Shizuka’s mind, her panic making her insensible.

After everything they had gone through, it wasn’t enough to defeat All-Kill. She falls suddenly, tripping over rubble and collapsing into the wreckage. With that impact, something slips.

“Oh no…! No…!” she thinks, but she can’t stop ACHTUNG BABY’s malfunction. The rubble and ground around her turn invisible, as if a sphere of matter has disappeared. “ No no no…! He’ll find me like this…! Oh no no no no…!”

She tries to rein her ability in, but fails. Her failure exacerbates her stress, expanding the invisibility bubble. She scrambles to run through the wreckage. The bubble follows her through, leaving a trail right to her.

Shizuka trips again and falls face first on the driveway. To any observer, there is only the sound of loose gravel being displaced. Softly groaning, she looks up to see…

“Kilo…” she whispers.

He lies on his stomach, face turned to the side. Still invisible, she crawls over to kneel at his side. Slowly, the invisibility recedes and she reappears, silent beside his unmoving form. 

“I’m sorry…” Shizuka whispers. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this… If you’d never met me…” She falls quiet, and stays that way for a while. 

Run… says a familiar voice. Shizuka raises her head sharply. “Who said that?” she says.

The voice answers, Run. You don’t stand a chance…

“J… Jotaro…? Where are you…?”

You heard him, a different, but equally familiar, voice cries. You’re in no condition to fight! Just run!

“Big bro… H-how am I hearing you-?!”

Jotaro’s voice speaks again. Good grief. You’ll never beat him like this…

Her shoulders slump, bowing her head so deep that her chin touches her collar. “You’re right… What am I supposed to do…? There’s no hope… Do I just give up…?”

That isn’t what we meant, sweetheart.

Shizuka shivers. “Daddy…” she whispers.

You can’t give up, but you have to run for now! I didn’t raise you to be weak, but in your condition, you can’t win! You have to retreat and calm… Calm your mind! 

The voice, which calls out from inside her head, begins to change. Joseph’s warm tones sharpen, becoming more harsh, yet more feminine. Just like before, it’s unmistakably familiar. “Mom…?” Shizuka mutters.

Only with a clear mind can you put an end to this bastard! Run now, then win later!

The technicolor girl is motionless, until finally, she pulls a smile. The voice, which at first seemed to be T’onga’s, is in fact, her own. “Oh, I see… It’s not really you guys… It’s just me, talking to myself…”

You heard ‘em, girl… Just run.  

Shizuka blinks, gazing at her friend’s body. Hearing his voice in her head. She rubs her eyes roughly. “Yeah… Yeah! That’s it! I can do it! I already… Have everything I need!”

A clattering of debris comes from the destroyed mansion. All-Kill approaches. Shizuka snaps out of her daze and stands, sparing a final look at Kilo’s body before she sprints down the driveway. “This is it…” she declares, “The strength of the Joestar family… the strength of my mother… and the strength of my friends! This is my foundation!”

A moment later, All-Kill emerges from the wreckage. As casually as he’s able, he makes his way down the driveway. Spotting the deceased Kilo, he pauses by the body and looks down at it. “Thanks for the Stand.”

BANG!!!

A bullet flies at All-Kill from behind. LONELY BOY thrashes the air surrounding its user, freezing it in mid-air. All-Kill regards it with mild surprise.

BANG!!! BANG BANG BANG!!!

More shots ring out, but each bullet is frozen without coming near their target. The man in black turns, sauntering over Kilo’s body, to the source of the shots: the bushes near the mansion’s side passage.

LONELY BOY pulls the foliage aside to allow All-Kill to peer inside. He is met by Jerome’s shaking hands, the barrel of the pistol pointed at him. But the man in black simply turns his back on him. “Get off my property,” he commands, “You’re not worth dealing with.” With that, he walks away. Jerome's hands continue to shake as he grips the pistol.

[fleurcareil]

East Ontario: Bon Echo and Ottawa areas

And off I go! 9am Thursday 1st June I'm starting my cross Canada road trip with an overloaded car and at 54,836km...

First stop is one of my favourite things in Ontario; paddle boarding along the Mazinaw Rock in Bon Echo Provincial Park, midway between Toronto and Ottawa. After having traversed the entire GTA one last time on the QEW, Gardiner, DVP and 401 highways, I finally escaped the madness and got to spend a few lovely hours on the water, searching for the pictographs that Indigenous people created a long time ago. The first time I tried to find them was with my mother by kayak, but not having a clue what it exactly was that we were looking for, we found none until we realised on a boat tour that they're tiny and just above the water, whereas we had been craning our neck to scour the high cliffs for anything that seemed remotely like a drawing 😂. Since then, I had already come back once to explore by SUP, however now in the mid-week quiet without other tourists & motorboats it was magical!

Starting my trip during an unexpected heatwave (32C!) has been tiring as I was constantly sweating but at least it meant I was not freezing at night which had been my fear. In the morning I did my regular 20-minute hulahoop wake-up routine but this time on the beach overlooking the cliffs... Great way to start the day and as bonus there were no mosquitos!! I kinda had forgotten how bad it can be in spring, but after two miserable attempts at a hike, I realised I will be doing most of my exploring by water until the bugs have died off. That said, so far it's only been mosquitos which have mass-targeted me, without the deer/black/sand/other nasty flies, so I guess it can & will still get much worse.

Instead of hiking, I ended up paddling two little lakes at Sheffield Conservation Area just south of Bon Echo, which is the most southern location to experience the Canadian Shield... it was not as majestic as up north but the bare granite rocks hold their beauty wherever they are! The channel between the lakes turned out to be blocked by a beaver dam, which made me realize that the pretty water lilies that I had seen earlier were basically the beaver's vegetable garden 😜. I had never seen a beaver dam up close from the water, so it was cool to see how it's constructed with a slope of soil upstream, intertwined with branches for extra stability. I tried to spot the beaver as well, but no luck (the only time I've seen a beaver was at Leslie Spit in Toronto of all places!). Someone had already created a little portage trail around the dam so that I could continue to the next lake and eat lunch on a little island (with my feet out of the water as the fish were trying to nibble).

Am now on a campground on the Quebec side for 3 nights to spend some time around Ottawa; after not having done a campfire on the first night I was looking forward to one and bought a 1-kilo bag of marshmallows and my favourite chocolate (dark, orange & sea salt) for s'mores, but the entire province is under a fire ban due to the many forest fires that are out of control.... Am afraid this is going to be a recurring theme this summer, we need to fix climate change asap!! Without a fire to chase them away, I'm already completely fed up with the mosquitos at the end of the 2nd day, so I spent the evening in my "living room" tent, which is a blissful haven to eat, read and drink some wine.

Spent Saturday very chilled in the capital; although downtown Ottawa is small it is very lively due to all the tourists (like me) and I always enjoy walking around the highlights; I had planned to visit the National Art Gallery but wasn't attracted by any of the current exhibits so gave it a miss and visited the neighbouring Royal Mint instead for what turned out to be a private tour of the facilities - cool to see how they make 99.99% pure silver and gold coins! Thereafter past the Rideau Canal to Parliament Hill which was disappointing because of the construction but also because I couldn't find my favourite sculpture 'Women are Persons!" celebrating the suffragette movement that allowed women to vote...I did find it later in front of the Senate building, but only after I attended (unplanned) the annual D-Day commemorative ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We cannot afford forgetting the horrible impacts of war so it was a sobering but important moment. I ended on a Byward patio; nothing beats drinking a beer in the sun and watch the world go by!

And today I had a beautiful day at Gatineau Park where I had never been despite having wanted to on previous trips, due to rain/snow etc...I initially did not plan to hike and go supping instead but there was a lot of wind and it turned out no mosquitos due to the cooler weather, so I ended up doing several hikes after all, up to some viewpoints that were no longer visible (as is often the case as they don't cut the trees so that beautiful view when the bench was installed 10+ years ago is long gone), around Pink Lake which is green from the many algae, and to a waterfall that hadn't seen a lot of rain but was pretty nevertheless. I always struggle with making forest hike pictures interesting as it's very green without much variation and not able to capture the true essence of hearing the wind & the birds, the dappled light on the forest floor etc. Tried anyway, and also made a picture of the forest along the parkway to capture the bright apple green of the trees in spring, so refreshing! Ended the day at the Champlain lookout over the Ottawa valley.

Not sure I'll keep up writing so much each time but am clearly excited about how the trip has started so far! 😍

Wildlife: 1 marmot (Bon Echo), 2 male mergansers fighting with each other (Bon Echo), 10,000 mosquitos (Bon Echo), 2 snakes (Toronto Island and Sheffield), 2 turtles (Gatineau), 2 deer (along the road in Gatineau)

SUPs: three (Toronto Island, Bon Echo, Sheffield)

Hikes: one small one (eaten alive) and one aborted (more eaten alive), both at Bon Echo. Three hikes at Gatineau (no single mosquito bite!)

[angrenwen]

One question often asked when talking about dwarves is… “what did they eat under their mountain?”

Well we know dwarves – especially in times of great riches – traded large quantities of food with men.  To quote Thorin Oakenshield: “we never bothered to grow or find food ourselves” (-p28 – The Hobbit).  To sustain a large population of dwarves however ocasional trade of food from the surface wouldn’t have been enough to prevent mass starvation underground.   Which brings us to the question, what is there too eat in dark places of the world ?

Firstly we need to get a bit of an idea of how many dwarves we are feeding.  At the end of the Third age dwarven numbers were on the decline, but judging by the dwarven armies, the fact that 1/3 is female and dwarves aren’t exactly rabbits when it comes to reproducing, numbers couldn’t have been much higher then 15.000 at any given time. Let’s take the Lonely Mountain in 2760 of the Third Age, some ten years before Smaug attacked… The Halls of the Lonely Mountain would have been bursting with dwarven life, likely up to 8.000 dwarves around this time.   So this amount of dwarves isn’t fed by the occasional food trade with the men, nor by the stray bat… it would take a food industry to keep them alive and thriving.

If we consider healthy dwarven males and women would eat about 1100 grams a day,  And we take into account a population of 8.000, we need just over 3 million kilo’s (6,6 million Lbs) of food per year.  If dwarves would rely on trade to feed their own then they would need about 13.000 wagons (230kg a piece) fully loaded with food each year, or about 35 a day.  So, I believe it is safe to say there is no way Dale and the surrounding region could have sustained the dwarves of the Lonely Mountain.

This creates a major challenge you might think… where do the dwarves find over 3 million kilo’s of food under a mountain ? Is it even possible ?

Yes, it is… let me tell you how.

First thing you need to know is that bats are the corner stone of the dwarven food-pyramid.  Bats are not just hunted on by chance, in order to sustain a dwarven population of several thousands, dwarven cities would have had several dozens of bat farms.  Bats aren’t just usefull for their meat, in fact they would have been mainly used for their sh… uhm.. their droppings (guano).  Yes you read it correctly, their droppings… which would have provided nutrition for a whole foodchain.  The guano is food to countless creatures, including flies, beetles, bugs, millipedes, springtails, cockroaches, worms, mites and moths. These animals are in turn fed upon by the cave crickets, centipedes, scorpions, whip scorpions and spiders. And these provide food for small mammals (rats, cavemice), cavecrabs, frogs, toads, salamanders, snakes and turtles.  The dwarves would have farmed many of these animals, sometimes growing them by the millions or billions, either as a direct food source or as food for the dozens of fish, frog and turtle farms found under the dwarven mountains.    Bats even provide milk, indeed… bat milk… not going into the details on how they were milked, but trust me, it is possible.

Now in most temperate caves – climates found in most of dwarven caves of Middle Earth – dwarves run into the problem that it is too cold to support the amount of fauna needed to support their population.  In order to sustain large amounts of life in caves, the micro climate inside the mountain needs to be warmer, verging on tropical.  This allows the bats to breed faster, providing more droppings, which in turn allows the insect population to boom – ensuring a steady food supply for the fish and bat farms under the mountain.

Even in the colder subarctic climates of the Grey Mountains dwarves managed to create different inner climates in their Halls that allowed to sustain the food sources of their population.  This is done mainly through creating lava chambers deep in the heart of the mountain and creating steam channels that lead to the various halls in the mountain.     Their adapted mountain microclimate would have also provided for quite a few natural salt caves, which isn’t only handy for seasoning or keeping food.  In case you believe living underground would be tremendously unhealthy… in our modern times people pay hundreds of dollars to spend a few hours in fake salt caves.

Also, their mirror systems allowed them to channel natural sunlight from openings in the mountain sides to every corner of the underground mountain, even allowing them to grow some vegetables (potatoes and carrots), northern grains and berries deep inside the mountain.

With all of the above in mind, the Lonely Mountain dwarves in our example would have been eating the following over the course of a year (some examples of dishes added there too – by the way these dishes actually exist – so for the squeemish… you’ve been warned)

* 1.190.000 kilo’s of batmeat (crispy fried batwings, batsoup)

* 1.120.000 kilo’s of fish and crab (boiled cavecrabs, cavefish cassarole)

* 146.000 liters of fishoil

* 890.000 kilo’s of bugs (crickets on a stick, cheesy beetle dip, millipede-paté)

* 657.000 kilo’s of snakemeat (snake hotpot)

* 340.000 kilo’s of spiders (fried spiders)

* 124.000 kilo’s of turtlemeat (turtle stew)

* 216.000 liters of batmilk – you would need to milk about 5800 bats for that each day – but still possible though

* 450.000 kilo’s of vegetables (rootpuree, cavepotato soup)

* 235.000 kilo’s of scorpionmeat (scorpion kebab)

* 389.000 loaves of bread

as you can see, no shortage of food in the mountain  

[kiloskywalker]

A Crazy June/July

Hello friends, as I mentioned earlier I've been very busy this past month or so traveling both for work and personal reasons. In addition, I've picked up an incredibly busy flying schedule for work that has taken me all across the country so I thought I'd map out my work flights I've done since early June till about last week.

I am currently certified on the Boeing 737 family so most of these trips were on the 737-700, -800, and -900, with a brief intermission on the new 737 MAX 9 from Chicago O'Hare to Washington Dulles. I just got back from Denver where my airline has their pilot training center to get re-certified, and I have a couple of days at home before starting a 4 day trip to a number of other cities! As always, be nice to your flight crew! See you in the skies!

[chocolatosdingin]

Tadi pagi bikin pisang goreng. Semalem bapak ke rumah bude, pulangnya dibawain pisang kepok yang udah kelewat mateng. Yaudah, terus dibikin pisang goreng biar kemakan, karena kalo dibiarin pisang doang bakal utuh sampe busuk.

Mendadak keinget sama Mina, salah satu temen sekelas dulu di kampus. Sempet jadi roommate juga. Dulu sering coba-coba masak sama dia. Ya biasalah, bocah-bocah dengan skill mentah tapi penasaran dan doyan repot.

Pernah kami gabut di sela-sela kesibukan ngerjain tugas ujian, malah kepikiran bikin pisang goreng. Muter-muter lah kami di daerah Secaba demi beli pisang 15 ribu. Dan setengah kilo tepung tapioka.

Iya, tepung tapioka.

Sudah kubilang kalo kami ini bocah dengan skill mentah di dapur, poin tambahannya; sok tau.

Dapat ditebak, pisang gorengnya gagal. ☺️

Pertama; kebanyakan gula. Gosong.

Kedua; pake tepung tapioka alias kanji alias aci. Jadinya lengket, kayak cilok.

Ya mau ga mau akhirnya kami makan sembari ngerjain tugas. Enak-enak aja sih, karena pisangnya mateng. Hahaha.

Sekarang aku udah bisa masak. Ya lumayan lah, sejauh ini belum pernah keracunan masakan sendiri. Sesekali gagal, gagalnya tentu saja gosong. Masih belum cinta-cinta amat dengan kegiatan memasak, tapi cukup bangga untuk bilang kalau aku jarang gagal pas nyobain resep baru. Terkecuali soal kue-kuean dan baking; aku angkat tangan.

Sekarang Mina sudah punya dua anak. Menikah dengan laki-laki yang dia pacari sejak SMP. Terakhir ketemu sekitar 2017 kalau nggak salah. Sesekali komunikasi, cuma saling reply story. Aaaaa, time flies. Banyak yang berubah, ya. ☺️

[sigappurojakal]

*🤔"Price and (A) Change..! "🥁**💰 "The novel that was spilled just underneath is the one kilogram of rupees today..! "**💰 "If we thought of, the suppota that we snatched and eaten, today it is eight rupees kilo..! "**💰 "Even if we scold to eat, the pomegranate that we did not eat, today is Rupees 1 per kilogram..! "**💰 "The guava fruit which was silent at home is reaping rupees today..! "**💰 "Covaikai which is not touched till it is ripe on all the fences is cutting rupees today..! "**💰 "The lemon which was lying down is one and ten rupees today..! "**💰 "The unheard tyrant is Rs 8 per kilo today..! "**💰 "The papaya fruit which was lying idle in the papaya trees all over the house is fifty rupees today..! "**💰 "Ten seeds of gooseberry for rupees, today it is Rupees 100 per kilo..! "**💰 "The custard fruit that was thrown away without being able to eat is Rs. 8 kg today..! "**👉 "What are you looking at.... Now you must have understood the reality of agriculture.! "**👉 " Not just this... The price of many forgotten flowers like Neem flower, Mango, Pomegranate flower, Hibiscus flower, Nandiyavattai flower, Happiness flower will also be added to this price list.! "**👉 "And soon, flies, neem, narth fruit, karuvelanguchi, neem, henna, neem, neem, bow leaf, mango, nocchi, coral jasmine, arugument, basil leaf, and vegetarian will be included in this price list as soon as possible..! "**👉 "Yeah... , Is this an inevitable miracle.? To buy with this much price..? "**👉 "What a big millionaire should be the farmer who grown this when the farm products are sold at this price.! "**👉 "But what's the situation they are.? The prices of the produce products they produce are only top! But the farmer who grown it is in a place where he does not know.! "**👉 "Somehow in a few years, all the produce will have to be bought at a higher price.! "**👉 "Only then we will remember the farmers. But then there will be no farmers to even say he is the farmer.! "**👉 "Just think about the destruction of agriculture and the condition of farmers. The things mentioned in the above price list are not magic or miracles! "**👉 "Normally produce in the soil.! "**👉 "Within every year there is a farmer.! Find the farmer in you and bring out! "**"Whoever sows, seeds will grow..! "**"Plants will grow whoever plants..! "**👉 "Plant trees and grow at home as much as you can. Our future generations will get at least these fruits.! "**👉 "Our duty is not only to add wealth to Chandathi people.! It is also our duty to set up this environment so that they can live well..! "Fulfill your duty.! "* -

[georgiaeveritt]

Research - Parasitic Plants

05.02.24

Mistletoe:

only some species are parasitic

viscum album - native to uk

most mistletoe seeds are spread by birds

lodgepole pine dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium Americanum) -native to west north america - spreads to new hosts by exploding its seeds from treetops

each dwarf mistletoe fruit has a single seed that ruptures when mature

it shoots its speed up to 90 kilometres per hour

the seed is covered in a sticky substance that helps it stick to its new host

its evergreen colour is stolen from the chlorphyll from stealing water and minerals from the host tree

Stinking Corpse Flower:

Rafflesia arnoldii

world's largest flower

grows up to 1m

11 kilos

horrible smell

used to attract flies to pollinate it

unable to photosynthesis and instead gain nutrients by stealing it from the roots of nearby Tetrastigma vines

thrive in rainforests

buds are harvested and solf for medicinal properties

native to Malaysia and indonesia

thailand

a fly must land on a male flower, avoid being eaten and transport the pollen to a female flower in order to pollinate

if pollination is successful it produces a small fruit

squirrels and birds enjoy this fruit and help with seed dispersal

European Dodder:

Cuscata - native to Europe

has no roots or leaves

identifiable by its yellow/orange stems

stringy hair-like appearance

in the morning glory family

aggressive

will drain its host plant's nutrients until it has killed it

obligate parasite - cannot survive without a host

seedlings must find one within 5-10 days before running out of energy

senses nearby plants that make the best hosts and actively grow in their direction

notable parasite of alfalfa, a widespread crop

Asiatic Witchweed

Striga asiatica

annual parasitic weed of agricultural crops

originates from africa and south asia

obligate parasite - cannot develop independently

hairy stems, green

linear leaves

small red, white, yellow or purple flowers

the flowers give way to swollen seed pods that contain thousands of microscopic seeds per pod

reproduces by seed

can be used for treating intestinal parasites

can parasite important crops such as corn, sugar cane and rice

reduce yields and contaminate crops

[priokskfm]

#MixOfDay #Podacast #Radioshow #LiveDjset Bombyce October 2023 Hip Hop Mix Hey, new selection. Enjoy guys! 01 - Eddie Harris - It's All Right Now (DJP Edit) 02 - Double A x Black Moon - Gotcha Open Rework (Aca Out) 03 - Ultimate Force - I'm Not Playing (DJP Edit) 04 - Nicole Bus - You (Jim Sharp Edit) 05 - Joe Williams, The Thad Jones & Mel Lewis Orchestra - Get Out Of My Life Woman (DJP Ill Street Edit) 06- The Good People - 23 Followers 07 - Fullblastradio - Biggie's Shine (Isley Brothers & Biggie Smalls) 08 - Choice Cuts Vol 01 - Can You Feel It 09 - Goodge - Follow The Groove 10 - DJ Goce - Gorillas Breeze 11 - Maker - I Weigh With Kilos 12 - Shaheed & DJ Supreme feat. Lauren Strain - Brainstorming 13 - Dragon Fli Empire - Looking for Tomorrow 14 - Juca Chaves - Take Me Back To Piaui (DJP Edit) 15 - The Main Ingredient - Summer Breeze (Jim Sharp Mix) 16 - Redman - Pick It Up (Remix) (DJP Edit) 17 - SuckaSide - Fed Up With Clint Eastwood 18 - DalPlatinum - Snoopy's Thang 19 - Choice Cuts Vol 07 - Better Half Funk, Bombyce, "Hip Hop" https://ift.tt/la0JE1o

[achtung-attitude]

The glass bottle has shattered, yet the pieces remain suspended in place. Even the droplets of liquid hang frozen in mid-air. LONELY BOY holds the bottleneck loosely. All-Kill appears as surprised as his enemies.

“Fascinating…” he mutters, grabbing a piece of glass and inspecting it. When he lets it go, it remains right where he left it. LONELY BOY too releases the bottleneck, and as if frozen in time, it remains perfectly still.

“What the hell…?” Shizuka says, but T’onga spares no time for such questions. With a grunt of pain, she rips the letter opener from her shoulder and hurls it at All-Kill. But with a wave of LONELY BOY’s hand, it too freezes in mid-arc.

The ghost of a smile flashes across All-Kill’s face. “Kilo Staples… Well now, Shizuka Joestar… Your friend’s power was to control molecules, yes? Induce phase-shifting between states of matter… It seems his ability has adapted to me. I can now halt molecules completely. I could get used to this… But I do wonder…”

Upon a mere thought from its master, LONELY BOY opens its hands before All-Kill’s face. From each steely gray palm, BLACK KEYS emerge. The man in black exhales with some relief.

Finally, he regards the women again, and a new chill runs up their spines. The eyes beneath the thick spectacles have changed. Gone is the passionate, unflinching intensity from before. Now there’s nothing. A thousand yard stare of a man with nothing to lose. 

“T’onga. Shizuka…” he says. “I understand now. I’ll give up on having you join me. I’m just going to murder you now.”

T’onga blinks in surprise. She forces a smile across her lips to hide her discomfort. “Y-You… You finally got the message, huh?!” Quick as ever, she darts to the cutlery drawers and rips it out of the counter. The silverware flies everywhere as she hurls the drawer and its contents at him. 

All-Kill doesn’t even blink. LONELY BOY’s arms become a blur, freezing most of the metal implements. But not all. Some slip past the barrage and pelt All-Kill on his head and shoulders, forcing him to inch backwards.

“New Stand, new abilities…” T’onga thinks. “No one learns to ride a bike without falling over once! You can’t have full control over it already!!”

With a grunt from All-Kill, LONELY BOY splinters the drawer with a punch before it reaches the man in black. “Always with you and your little tricks…” he fumes.

T’onga shrinks back. “Shizuka! Now would be good!!”

“Already on it!!” Her mother glances over and sees ACHTUNG BABY maneuvering its hands in circular motions, as if manipulating an invisible ball. Probably before she pulled the drawer, Shizuka had been working with her Stand.

With the power inside cut, the ambient light had grown dim. Only the natural firelight from outside provides light, casting all else in thick shadow. ACHTUNG BABY guides this luminescence between its hands. Though both Stand and master remain crouched behind the kitchen counter, All-Kill sees it happening, reflected in the blade of the frozen letter opener.

Through that reflection, he watches the light build into a glowing impossible triangle between ACHTUNG BABY’s hands. “Now what is this?” he says.

The refracted light gathers into the triangle’s form, then builds within the center of the shape. Compressing smaller and smaller into a single point. Shizuka creeps out from behind the counter and squints, taking aim at All-Kill’s face.

“This has to hit him…!” she thinks. “No matter what new power he has, if I can blind him permanently, then we have a chance to beat him! We CAN beat him!!”

The light compresses within the impossible triangle until it can shrink no more, until finally, Shizuka cries out, “ACHTUNG BABY: ULTRAVIOLET!!!” 

With that, the compressed light is released in an ultra-thin beam emitting an audible “PEW!!” T’onga looks on in astonishment, a sense of pride over her girl’s strength swelling within her. But this hopeful feeling is squashed immediately. 

The beam traveled at the speed of light, faster than any human eye could see. And yet, LONELY BOY had stopped it dead, having raised its hand before Shizuka had released it.

Beneath Shizuka, the ground seems to crumble. Her mouth hangs agape as All-Kill inspects the frozen beam of light. It remained where it was, reaching across the room from Shizuka to him, shining like a neon sign. 

“Well, look at that…” All-Kill says. “LONELY BOY can even stop light itself from moving. I can stop your power in its tracks, Shizuka…”

Finally, he takes a step towards the women. ACHTUNG BABY recedes into Shizuka as she remains crouching, frozen by shock and fear. The man in black glares down at her. “Shizuka Joestar… you have no chance.”

END of CHAPTER 78