You are so missed Binland Lee. You have inspired me to be the greatest voice I can be for our oceans. I don’t know what to do in your absence but I will do my best to honor you in every way I possibly can. I’m looking for my next local beach clean up, or other ways to volunteer with the ocean. I will dedicate my first show next year with my comedy group to you, and we will collect money to donate in your honor to an ocean charity, hopefully one of your favorites. I stayed on the scene as long as I could to make sure you got out, I begged firemen and police to get you out, I wish I could have done more. I will do everything I can to help your family and friends in this difficult time. I miss your smiling hellos through the window to Ramses and I more than anyone will ever understand.
(via allston)
A tiny, beautiful thing.
Found primarily in Central America (Mexico through Panama), the glasswinged butterfly’s name in Spanish is Espejitos which translates as little mirrors. In certain lights, the translucent wing parts have a glossy, almost reflective quality to them that makes their Spanish name effectively accurate. Whether they’re seen as glass or mirrors, though, there’s something absolutely fascinating about the way these butterflies’ wings offer a surreal look at the environment around the insect. It’s like they’re tiny ornaments designed to draw the eye to the scenic appeal of nature.
(via den-sit-y)
(Source: zeelittlemermaid, via den-sit-y)
I want to be here
(Source: starsxcrosses, via den-sit-y)
(Source: sunflowers-on-her-eyes, via den-sit-y)
(Source: thehandbookauthority, via backtodecemberx)
oh hey i have one of these!Who says North is up?
Upside Down maps (also known as South-Up or Reversed maps) offer a completely different perspective of the world we live in.
Technically speaking, even referring to the earth with words like “up” or “down” or comparing places with words “above” or “below” is flawed, considering that the earth is a spherical body (it’s actually slightly “fatter” at the equator) and flying through 3 dimensional space with no reference of up or down. However, the issue of “up” and “down” does become an issue when viewing the surface of the earth projected onto a flat piece of paper (a map). And the effect of the orientation of a map is more significant than you might realize.
As all maps require orientation for reference, the issue of how to layout the map orientation is as old as maps themselves. As map orientation is completely arbitrary, it is not surprising that they differed throughout time periods and regions.
The convention of North-up is usually attributed to the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy (90-168 AD). Justifications for his north-up approach vary. In the middle ages, East was often placed at top. This is the origin of the term “The Orient” to refer to East Asia. During the age of exploration, European cartographers again followed the north-up convention…perhaps because the North Star was their fixed reference point for navigation, or because they wanted (subconsciously or otherwise) to ensure Europe’s claim at the top of the world.
In modern times, reversed maps are made as a learning device or to illustrate Northern Hemisphere bias. Different from simply turning a north-up map upside down, a reversed map has the text oriented to be read with south up.
The famous “Blue Marble” photograph of the Earth taken from on board Apollo 17 was originally oriented with the south pole at the top, with the island of Madagascar visible just left of center, and the continent of Africa at its right. However, the image was turned upside-down to fit the traditional view.
While the orientation of a map might seem harmless, it can have a significant effect on one’s perception of the world, and the relative importance of the different place in it.
In speech, we often refer to places being “above” or “below” others. Think of how you would say you’re about to travel to the state or country to your north or south (to go “down” to Kentucky from Indiana, or “up” to Canada from the US). Without even mentioning geography, ask any grade school student whether Mexico is “above” or “below” the United States. We’re all familiar with the “land down under”. As we often correlate importance to relative height (think how a citizens of a country will fly their flag higher than all other flags), the north-up convention reinforces the idea that northern bodies are more important than their southern neighbors. Suddenly, traveling “down” to the South might have an inference much deeper than geographic location.
After looking at the map more closely, you may realize that the South-Up orientation may change your perception of the relative status of different places. For example, South America suddenly looks to have more prominence, and Africa and the Middle East completely dwarf Europe. Likewise, tucking Northern Europe, Canada, and Russia away at the bottom of the map, subconsciously takes away their status.
To summarize, unconditionally accepting the north-up map convention without at least appreciating the effect stands at odds with viewing all people and places within the world equally. x x
(via ilovecharts)
(Source: soulliere, via thelifeworthwaitingfor)
This is Rajan. He is a 60yr old Asian elephant who was brought to the Andaman Islands for logging in the 1970’s. He along wiht a small group of 10 elephants were brutally forced to learn how to swim in the ocean so that they could bring the logged trees to nearby boats and then eventually swim onto the next island. When logging became banned in 2002, Rajan was out of a job. He has been living out his days on one of the Islands where I caught up with him and his Mahout(caretaker) named Nazroo who have been together for 30 yrs. and have a truly amazing bond. Rajan is truly the last of his kind. When he dies we will probably never see an ocean swimming elephant again.
