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soberscientistlife · 1 year

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‘I Want To Do My Part’

When the USS Gregory sank in 1942, a mess hall officer named Charles Jackson French dragged a raft full of his wounded crewmates to safety through shark-infested waters.

Born on Sept. 29, 1919, Charles Jackson French spent his early years in Foreman, Arkansas. At the time, Black and white pools were segregated, making it difficult for Black people to find opportunities to learn to swim. Swimming World Magazine speculates that French may have learned to swim by visiting the city’s stone quarries and the Red River.

However he learned to swim, French’s days in Foreman were numbered. After his parents died, he left Arkansas and moved in with his married, older sister Viola in Omaha, Nebraska. And by the time he was 18, French decided to strike out on his own and enlist in the U.S. Navy

The Navy, like swimming pools across the country, was strictly segregated. As a Black man, French had virtually no other choice than to work as a mess attendant. In that capacity, the U.S. Navy Office Of Information reports that French spent four years the USS Houston, serving meals to the white sailors, cleaning their tables, and keeping the mess hall spick and span.

French returned to Omaha when his deployment ended in November 1941, but he wouldn’t stay in Nebraska for long. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, French promptly re-enlisted.

“I want to do my part, because I’m already trained and I can start right away,” French said at the time.

He had spent his last tour cruising around the Pacific. But this time, Charles Jackson French would see significantly more action.

On Sept. 5, 1942, the USS Gregory and the USS Little were attacked by Japanese destroyers around 1 a.m. while patrolling the waters near Savo Island and Guadalcanal. The U.S. Navy Office Of Information reports that the Gregory, outgunned, sank after just three minutes. Its surviving men were plunged into shark-infested waters as the Japanese fired on them.

But French leaped into action. The 23-year-old helped injured sailors onto a makeshift raft and — when U.S. Navy Ensign Robert Adrian told him that the current would pull the raft toward a Japanese-occupied island — volunteered to jump in the water and pull the raft in the other direction.

Adrian told him it was impossible. French, according to Adrian, replied: “Just keep telling me if I’m goin’ the right way.”

He shed his waterlogged clothes, tied a rope around his waist, and started to swim. For the next six to eight hours, French tirelessly swam as sharks got so close that they sometimes brushed against his legs. At sunrise, an American scout finally spotted him and the others and sent rescue.

But French’s ordeal didn’t end there. As he later recounted, as recorded by Chester Wright in Black Men and Blue Water, French and other uninjured soldiers were taken to a rest camp by their rescuers, who wanted to separate French from the white sailors. To French’s surprise, the sailors insisted that French stay with them as a fellow member of Gregory’s crew.

“Them white boys stood up for me,” French emotionally told Wright.

The story of Charles Jackson French’s heroism was later made public by Adrian, who described it on a radio program called It Happened in the Service in October 1942, according to Swimming World Magazine. Adrian had never learned French’s full name — he and the others only knew him as “French” — but he fully credited him for their rescue that day.

“I can assure you that all the men on that raft are grateful to mess attendant French for his brave action off Guadacanal that night,” Adrian said.

The story was soon picked up by the national news, and Charles Jackson French was identified by NBC. He was celebrated across the country, featured in a comic strip, and lauded by the Black press.

Adrian “and other white Americans owe their LIVES to a black man whom he identified as a ‘mess attendant named French,'” the Pittsburgh Courier, a Black newspaper, wrote after French was identified.

The newspaper continued: “Although Mess Attendant Charles Jackson French of Arkansas was not in a heroic job, he MADE a heroic job out of it. He who had been looked down upon as a caste man, frozen in status, suddenly was looked up to as a SAVIOUR.”

Though rumors spread that Charles Jackson French might be awarded the Navy Cross, he was given only a letter of commendation from Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., the then-commander of the Southern Pacific Fleet.

French may have been denied the medal because a Silver Star was awarded to one of his superiors — and it was unprecedented to award a higher medal to a subordinate. But the Omaha World-Herald noted some decades later that future president John F. Kennedy had been given the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for a similar act of bravery.

After his service on the USS Gregory, Charles Jackson French didn’t rest on his laurels. He returned to his role in the mess on the USS Endicott and the USS Frankford, and witnessed D-Day and the invasion of southern France.

After World War II ended, French faded from the public eye. Black Past reports that he suffered from alcoholism and depression, and passed away on Nov. 7, 1956, in San Diego, California. He was only 37 years old.

But since then, there’s been a push to give this forgotten World War II hero his due. In April 2021, a post about French from the International Swimming Hall of Fame revived his story. And a year later, Rear Admiral Charles Brown, the Navy public affairs officer, presented eight of French’s relatives with a posthumous Navy and Marine Corps Medal — just like Kennedy’s.

“It will inspire generations of sailors,” Brown said at the medal ceremony, reported by the Omaha World-Herald. “It’s a story of the best of who we are.”

French has been honored in other ways, too. A training pool at Naval Base San Diego was named after French, and a post office in his hometown of Omaha also bears his name.

Black History Month Day 24

#black history facts #black history month #blackhistory #black lives matter

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vandaliatraveler · 11 months

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A magnet for adventure tourists and nature lovers, Ohiopyle State Park sprawls across twenty thousand square acres of steeply-sloped wild lands on the flanks of the Youghiogheny River Gorge in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands. The Great Allegheny Passage bike trail runs through the heart of the park, which also anchors a thriving whitewater rafting industry. I fortunately live within a short drive of the park, so a day hike is always in the cards. Especially on a beautiful Memorial Day holiday.

From top: black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), an aggressive colonizer with delicious fruit coveted by humans and animals alike; longstyle sweetroot (Osmorhiza longistylis), also known as anise root, because its roots have a licorice-like flavor; Indian cucumber (Medeola virginiana), easily identified by its two tiers of whorled leaves and odd, pendulous flowers; and speckled wood lily (Clintonia umbellulata), also known as white Clintonia or black-bead lily, a close relative of yellow Clintonia (Clintonia borealis), which tends to occur at higher elevations in Central Appalachia.

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kkongdakz · 2 months

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“ I SEA YOU. ” ft. kim gyuvin

gyuvin x gn!reader, genre : fluff & comfort, warnings : mention of anxiety and overwhelming feelings, wc : 2,3k>

author's note : this is a really, very, truly personal fic, so i'm sorry if you don't recognize or identify with y/n.. but still, i hope you'll like it anyway 😙👍🏻 also, could this be my official comeback? ..who knows..

ever since you were little, you've always considered the sea your comfort zone, your escape. the sound of the waves and the feel of salt water on your skin had a way of dissipating all your worries, help you avoid drowning under pressure and stress. you've long believed that nothing else in the world could give you a similar sensation — not even the hottest summer sun, not even the most beautiful spring blossom tree, not even the tastiest winter hot chocolate, not even the reddest leaf on an autumn tree. nothing could compare to the comfort of the sea in your heart.

that's why you've continued to visit this beach, which means so much to you, every week. this little beach, almost always deserted, where the clear horizon offers you all the splendour of the sky living side by side with the ocean. the palette of blue inked in your memory is enough to soothe you on rainy evenings, but you need the sound of the ocean coming out of a giant shell to soothe your mind. and even if you have to travel miles from your student apartment to get to what makes you so happy, you'll do it without hesitation. but no longer alone.

on the long river of your quiet life, a little boat named kim gyuvin decided to follow a stream to reach the blue ocean of your heart. it was no mean feat — even if you have to admit that the sincerity of his smile made you sink delicately to the bottom of the well of love. he crossed your path by chance, and kept crossing it. again and again. until you accept him on your raft. he hadn't been that insistent, but what really wins you over is feeling that gentle warmth in your heart every time he looks at you with all the goodness in the world in the corner of his eyes, accompanied by the most beautiful smile on the planet. the same warmth you get from watching a sunset reflected on the ocean's blue expanse.

« shall we go? » you suddenly heard, in a voice as gentle as a summer breeze, bringing you out of your deepest thoughts. turning your head to the right, your absent gaze fell on gyuvin's peaceful face, you smiled tenderly, gently grabbing the hand he was holding out to you to get up and follow him out the door.

the trip to the beach didn't seem as long as it used to be, now that a warm hand was keeping yours company. you no longer had to show him the way, as he now knew the route by heart — even better than you. but today, something seemed to have changed inside your heart. maybe it was because of the way his freshly dyed black hair swept across his forehead in the same way that grains of sand move across the beach in the wind. maybe it was the way numerous shivers ran through your body every time his shoulder brushed yours, like when cold sea water touches your feet on autumn mornings. maybe it was simply the beauty of his face that easily equalled the beauty of a sunset shining on the surface of the ocean.

a ton of maybe trotted through your mind as you struggled to stay focused on the road, far too busy watching the slightest feature of gyuvin's face. even his profile was perfect. unconsciously tightening the grip of your hand around his, gyuvin turns his soft gaze on your face, his pretty brown eyes instantly locked in yours. he was surprisingly so calm — usually, he couldn't help being an overexcited puppy, and you liked that about him. he contrasted with your far too calm personality — he was like the tsunami of your life, shaking up your habits for the better, of course.

but gyuvin knew that these seaside escapades were important for you, that they were necessary for the proper functioning of your mind, they were made to soothe you. so he knew how to stand still and give you the chance to recharge your batteries in peace, even though he had to admit that having the privilege of accompanying you was the greatest accomplishment of all.

let's go back up the creek into the reverse river, to revisit the first time gyuvin's curious eyes landed on your hair floating in the ocean breeze. he must have been in his fifties, where adolescence made him want to escape far away from everything. it was an afternoon when the late summer wind kept reminding him that school was just around the corner, after running aimlessly for an hour, his footsteps led him to this hidden, deserted small beach, where only the sound of the waves crashing on the sand disturbed the tranquillity of the place. it was so beautiful, so pleasant — he felt as if he were floating, his mind carried away by the waves. and that's when he saw you, like a dream. as pretty as a mermaid, your soft face so serene.. he was so jealous of you. you were approaching the serenity he so desperately sought, and it upset him. but that didn't stop him from continuing to look at you with curious doe eyes, as if you weren't capable of feeling a insistent gaze burn your skin. he suspected you must be around his age, because of your youthful facial features glistening in the sunlight. as he watched you without saying a word, without moving an inch, his heart fluttering with lightness at the mere sight of your devastating but peaceful smile. you seemed so far out in the ocean — that intrigued him and led him to appreciate a little more the benefits of the sea. you intrigued him.

so.. to say that he approached you by pure coincidence would be a lie, because when he recognized you, wandering the halls of his high school, he wondered why he'd never noticed you before. with hindsight and a bit of imagination, it was probably because your mind was always stuck in the middle of the ocean and no boat had ever managed to reach your soul — until he decided he was going to make it, even if he had to swim for it. which he did, with flying colors.

« you're okay? » he asked, softly, in a voice that sounded like a siren call to your ears. falling for kim gyuvin was, once upon a time, something inconceivable for you. your head was too much in the clouds, your mind too much in your dreams, and your heart far too rambunctious to consider loving anyone other than the ocean. but he managed to get you to change tack — him and his beautiful sun-kissed brown eyes. shaking your head negatively with a barely visible smile that only he could see, you finally looked away to the horizon, where the entrance to the beach wasn't far off. « we're here. » you announced, tugging a little more firmly on his hand to guide his steps, despite the fact that he knew this road by heart, having travelled it with you so many times.

as you carefully descended the stairs to the beach, the fresh ocean breeze was already tickling your fragile skin. gyuvin was careful not to let go of your hand to prevent you from falling, but this impulse of benevolence caused him to miss the moment when you stopped dead in your tracks to observe the landscape in front of you, his body colliding with yours. « oh.. » was the only thing he was able to say when his chest hit your back, and the next second his gaze was unconsciously fixed on your face, which, once again, seemed so tranquil at the mere sight of waves washing up on the sand eternally. a smile tugged at his lips, his free hand slipping to your hip to hold you close, and his heart racing at the simple knowledge that you were perfectly fine right now. « it's pretty, isn't it? » you finally commented, your words mixing with the wind to reach his ears, and gyuvin nodded positively, his loving gaze lost in the ocean of your eyes.

advancing through the sand, taking care to draw him along with you, you didn't give him time to dream about whether you could be his little mermaid, the one who could save from drowning the prince he could have been. the same one you might abandon on the beach, as you did previously with the fifteen-year-old boy who first saw you a few years earlier. gyuvin liked to think your story would be so pretty to tell — he was one hundred percent sure it would be his little sisters' favorite love story, the one that would make them dream by night and hope by day. yeah, gyuvin was convinced that your love story would inspire many.

now sitting next to each other on the warm sand, gyuvin's fingers quietly played with a lock of your hair, twirling it around his finger, with his tender, benevolent gaze fixed on you. his heart seemed filled with happiness, because he knew that there, right now, right here, sitting in front of that vast blue sea, your heart was soothed, at the height of the happiness you so preciously cherished. and he was perfectly right : sitting on the sand, you held your knees to your chest, your star-filled eyes exploring the ocean you seemed to know by heart. the beauty of the light reflected on the surface of the water, the waves breaking against the shiny sand of the beach, the sound of the latter disturbing the tranquillity of the place, with only a few people strolling by, each looking happier than the next. not far away, a little girl running with her feet in the water, followed by a little boy who seemed to be laughing out loud as he tried to catch up with her. the sun seemed to embrace their skin with its warmth, under the watchful eyes of their parents who were standing not far from them, a light, benevolent smile decorating their faces.

then, as you watched them tenderly, your thoughts suddenly began to wander, taking you to the back of your mind that never stopped thinking. after careful consideration, you began to think that maybe, just maybe, you didn't have to make weekly trips to the beach. because you'd found another way to feel good and happy when the world seemed to be crashing down on you.

looking away from the blue expanse in front of you, your pupils finally meet those of gyuvin. your boyfriend offers you a pretty smile — light, but filled with all the sincerity in the world, his eyes overflowing with love. in your chest, your heart began to race, furiously, warmly, pleasantly, like the first time you fell in love with the sea. gyuvin's love was as deep as the ocean, his hands as soft as water, his eyes as radiant as the sun reflecting on the surface. he'd come into your life by chance, and had been making you want to drown in his arms ever since. he cracked the shell of your heart and slipped inside and never left. and now, he brings you the same warmth and comfort as an afternoon spent observing the ocean. it was strange, a new feeling for you — in your whole life, no one has ever been able to fill the void inside you, to calm the storm that was sometimes your mind, when, with just one little smile, gyuvin made you forget all the ills of your life, as the sea was so adept at doing it. so maybe now, kim gyuvin was the ocean's main rival in your heart.

hooking your hands around his arm, you drew him gently towards you, feeling a certain shyness rise up in you after having spent long seconds staring at him without saying anything. laying your head against his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his skin against your cheek, his hand slips against one of yours, gently caressing your fingers. « i don't think i need to come here so often anymore. » you say suddenly, attracting the attention of the boy at your side, who raises an eyebrow at you. he wasn't used to seeing you refuse a trip to the seaside, especially knowing perfectly well your love for this beach so dear to your heart. so it was only natural for him to ask you why or how you'd come to think such a thing, his little why floating in the air for a moment without any answer escaping your lips.

tightening your grip around his arm, closing your eyes as the ocean breeze hits your face, a perfectly relaxed smile, the most sincere he'd ever seen, took place on your lips. « i found someone better than the ocean. » you replied, so naturally that gyuvin felt the tips of his ears redden furiously. he wasn't stupid — he knew, he understood that silently, and in your own way, you had just confessed to him that he was like the ocean in your heart. and for him, those words were more powerful than a simple i love you.

gyuvin knew that nothing meant more to you than the sound of the waves and the beauty of the ocean's expanse, which you cherished more than anything else. so, the mere thought of him being superior to the sea in your heart could only make him fall even more in love with you than he already was. his rebellious teenage heart of a few years ago was definitely not wrong : you were the mermaid who kept him from drowning. without answering you orally, gyuvin decided to simply close his eyes in turn, resting his head against yours, enjoying your stroll by the sea which managed to open your heart to him.

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whumpetywhump · 1 year

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Handsome Siblings

Xiao Yu

05:

- Pretends to be drugged, feigning dizziness, collapses

- Punched in the face twice, knocked to the ground, slapped

- Paralysed with a spell, slapped in the face, released from the paralysis, wincing in pain

06:

- Yanked backwards by a rope around his neck, struck in the chest with a whip, hits his arm on a rock, beaten up, blood in his mouth

08:

- Pricked with a poisoned needle, cuts his palm to drain the venom, needs help to walk, stumbles and falls to his knees, given the antidote

- Takes pills that make him feverish, desperate for water, allows himself to be beaten up

09:

- Still feverish from last episode, using ice to cool himself down, passes out

- Locked in a room full of ice for five days, shivering, hypothermic, starving, passes out, almost drowns when the ice melts, coughing and spluttering, collapses and passes out

- “Collapses” from malnutrition, helped to his feet, “collapses” from exhaustion into someone’s arms

10:

- Drugged, dizzy and stumbling, collapses into a chair, fed the antidote

- Threatened with poisoned snake bites, unable to move, begging for mercy

11:

- Still being threatened with poisonous snakes, bitten, bleeding from the neck, collapses and passes out, recovering in bed

- Threatens to slit his own throat, backs himself off a cliff, momentarily knocked out when he hits the water, presumed dead, collapses from exhaustion, coughing up water

12:

- Drugged, collapses and passes out

13:

- Thrown into several walls, choked, flung to the ground, clutching his chest, gasping, wakes up chained to another prisoner

14:

- Still chained to another prisoner, enslaved

15:

- Still chained to another prisoner

- Reveals 97 scars on his body, cuts his arm three times to make it 100

16:

- Still chained

- Drunk in the rain, stumbling, trips and falls, emotional breakdown, wakes up in the street the next day

- Stabbed in the chest in someone else’s dream

17:

- Panic attack, sobbing, punching a tree

- Knocked out after being struck on an acupoint

18:

- Jumps into a river, found unconscious floating on a piece of driftwood, rescued, shivering

21:

- Thrown to the ground, knocked out, rescued, recovering in bed

- Tied up, kidnapped, suspended upside down from a tree

22:

- Nightmare, wakes in a panic

- Pretending to grieve, sobbing on his knees, smacked in the face

23:

- Tripped up after being lassoed around the ankle, winded, tied up, dragged behind a horse, trips and falls, continues getting dragged

- Whipped across the back, tied to a post, whipped again, lash marks on his neck, gagged, covered in an ointment that attracts bees and left to be stung to death, face covered in welts, force-fed poison

24:

- Suffering the effects of the poison from last episode, clutching his stomach in pain, stumbling, has to be held up

25:

- Locked in a room, suffering the effects of the poison, clutching his stomach, sinks to his knees, gasping in pain, veins turning black

- Doubled over in pain, clutching his stomach, has to stop walking and sit down

- Gasping in pain, leaning on a wall for support, collapses, passes out from the pain, unconscious in bed, veins continuing to turn black, fed several different medications, wakes up vomiting

- Put on a raft and left to die

26:

- Still floating on the raft, waiting to die, found unconscious, rescued, wakes in a panic after being given the antidote

28:

- Kidnapped, unconscious, dropped from a tree, caught by his friend

- Detained to prevent him escaping his scheduled execution

- Paralysed, left up in a tree, dropped to the ground, winded

- Struck on an acupoint, knocked out

29:

- Still being detained, recovering in bed from last episode

- Lifted by the throat, choked, thrown into a wall, gasping in pain, struggling to stand, slapped in the face twice, punched in the chest, bleeding from the mouth

- Beaten up in a fight, kicked to the ground, bleeding from the mouth

- Slapped in the face, forced to watch someone die because of him, fighting tears

30:

- Lost in a cave, exhausted, starving

32:

- Stabbed in the chest with a throwing star, collapses

33:

- Wakes up tied to a tree, throwing star still embedded in his chest, has it cut out, stabbed in the neck with a needle, passes out

- Drugged, passes out, wakes up in a cell

34:

- Still locked in a cell, learns he was betrayed, in denial, devastated

- Caught in a net

35:

- Still locked in his cell

36:

- Still locked in a cell

- Struck on his acupoint, paralysed, kidnapped, tied up and suspended from a tree, rescued

- Tied up, pretends to be a prisoner

37:

- Forced to poison himself to save his friend

- Pushed into a sinkhole, trapped

38:

- Still trapped in the sinkhole, starving, rescued

- Starts feeling the effects of the poison from last episode, collapses, cradled, gasping in pain, needs help to stand

39:

- Still weak from the poison, needs help to walk, taking a herb that will delay the symptoms, dizzy, stumbling

- Trapped underground

40:

- Still trapped underground from last episode, given small portions of food to slow his death

41:

- Still trapped underground

42:

- Reunited with his uncle, sobbing, comforted

- Grieving, crying, falls to his knees

44:

- Struck in the chest, cradled, bleeding from the mouth, “dies”, wakes up coughing and spluttering

Hua Wu Que

12:

- Stabbed in the chest, bleeding, tries to force the knife in further

22:

- Slashed across the shoulder in a swordfight, lifted by the throat, thrown through a statue, spitting blood, kicked into a wall

23:

- Still weak and bleeding from last episode, trying to heal himself with magic, spitting blood

27:

- Knocked unconscious during a fight, protected by his friend

29:

- Taken hostage for a prisoner exchange

30:

- Still being held against his will

33:

- Refuses to kill his girl, tries to slit his own throat instead, stopped after making a small cut on his neck

- Tied up, forced to kneel outside in the rain, gaslit and manipulated

34:

- Shot with a dart, collapses to his knees, paralysed

35:

- Still paralysed and being held captive

- Stabbed in the back with two needles that will cause him unbearable pain if he uses his power, weak, moving with difficulty, forced to use his power to save his girl, vomiting blood, collapses and passes out

- Wakes up in a carriage, still weak and moving with difficulty, staggering, chest pain, drugged, passes out

36:

- Kidnapped, pretending to be catatonic to avoid torture, given water

- Locked up, still weak and in pain, trying to push the poison out of his body

37:

- Still locked up, weak and in pain, forced to listen to his brother harming himself while trying to save him

38:

- Cuts the back of his hand, has it bandaged

39:

- Hand still bandaged from last episode

- Struck on an acupoint, falls to his knees, paralysed, kidnapped, tied to a rock

40:

- Still tied to the rock from last episode

43:

- Forced to play Russian Roulette with poison, rescued before he can drink

44:

- Forced to kill his best friend before learning he was his brother, devastated

- Grieving for his aunt, collapses to his knees, crying, tries to slit his own throat, rescued

TW: Contains themes of noncon and suicide

#handsome siblings #cdrama #whump #cwhump #asian whump #whump list #chen zhe yuan #hu yi tian

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hurricane105 · 4 months

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Y'all Hyrule is BIG. Outside of fast travel with the slate or swapping horses out, it would take days to travel across the continent. Zelda isn't getting to the Spring of Wisdom in a day.

Korok Forest (black line): Hyrule Castle bridge to Boneyard Bridge to Helmhead Bridge to Woodland Stable to the platform in front of the Great Deku Tree: 33 hrs 10 min

Goron City (orange line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Orsedd Bridge to Thims Bridge to Foothill Stable to Bludo's house: 65 hrs 15 min

Spring of Power (pink line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Orsedd Bridge to Thims Bridge to Akkala Span to Shadow Pass to where the trail splits for Skull Lake to the Spring of Power (last stage was cross country): 66 hrs 30 min

Akkala Citadel (red line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Orsedd Bridge to Thims Bridge to Akkala Span to Akkala Citadel: 45 hrs 10 min

Zora's Domain (blue line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Orsedd Bridge to Thims Bridge to Inogo Bridge to Mipha's statue: 59 hrs 20 min

Kakariko (purple line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Sacred Ground Ruins to Mabe Prairie to Rebonae Bridge to Sahasra Slope to the stairs in front of Impa's house: 27 hrs 20 min

Spring of Wisdom (purple line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Sacred Ground Ruins to Mabe Prairie to Rebonae Bridge to Sahasra Slope to Great Fairy Fountain to Lanayru Promenade to Lanayru Road - East Gate to Naydra Snowfield around Mount Lanayru to platform in front of the goddess statue in the Spring of Wisdom: 52 hrs 10 min

Hateno (white line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Sacred Ground Ruins to Gatepost Town Ruins to Proxim Bridge to Big Twin Bridge to Fort Hateno to the gate of Hateno: 55 hrs 40 min

Spring of Courage (green line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Sacred Ground Ruins to Gatepost Town Ruins to Bridge of Hylia to Faron Woods to Zonai Ruins to platform in front of the goddess statue in the Spring of Courage: 44 hrs 30 min

Gerudo Town (yellow line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Giant's Forest (pretty much straight south, then turned west at the Great Plateau) to Digdogg Suspension Bridge to Gerudo Town: 74 hrs 5 min

Rito Village (brown line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Carok Bridge to Tabantha Great Bridge to the arch guarded by Mazli at the base of the stairs into Rito Village: 63 hrs 15 min

Royal Ancient Lab Ruins (gray line): Hyrule Castle Bridge to Carok Bridge to Royal Ancient Lab Ruins: 20 hrs 50 min

*these routes follow the shortest/most direct roads, doesn't go cross country unless it's unavoidable (like when approaching the springs) or unless it looks like a road was there pre-Calamity (like the Sahasra Slope); the exception is the Spring of Courage, where I didn't see any obvious route; I'm guessing they either did some climbing and cross country hiking, or rafted up the Dracozu River

*this is the slowest walking speed I could get - any slower and Link stopped moving, but I think it's still faster than the walking speed shown in the memories, especially #3 (Resolve and Grief) - pushing the left stick all the way forward results in what looks like jogging, not walking

*this doesn't include time for sheltering from inclement weather, sleep, making/breaking camp, rest/meal breaks, monster attacks, walking slower due to changes in elevation (the hike to Goron City has to be brutal) - it's literally a walking pace straight through

#y'all gotta be realistic about travel times #loz zelda #botw

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moonshynecybin · 12 days

Note

I know Vale had a lot of Spanish fans but after sepang 2015 did his following in Spain shrink likes Marc’s level of Italian fans probably dropped immensly but vale is like the king of the sport so I’m not sure if he would have lost as many Spanish fans as Marc did Italian ones. Also because he involved 2 Spanish riders would that impact the Spanish following and I’m not sure if the JL fans were fans of vale before sepang either.

Home to over a million people, Western North Carolina is a region in the United States culturally associated with the traditions of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. This region has a proud history that defies common stereotypes seen in films and television, which often prey on the generational poverty, lack of access to education, and distinctive accents that have characterized the region in the past. Contrary to these depictions, people from Southern Appalachia have cultivated a warm, unique folk tradition that has generated myriad works, including unique cultural practices concerning food, music, and craft. Bluegrass/country music is probably the most famous of these practices, and some of the most celebrated songwriters on the planet are from Southern Appalachia, including Dolly Parton (born ten miles from Great Smoky Mountain National Park), Loretta Lynn, and Tyler Childers. picture sources.

Of course, the first people to live in Southern Appalachia were the Cherokee People, who still live in the area today. A federally recognized tribe, the Eastern Band of the Cherokee People are the descendants of the few who where able to avoid systematic removal of their ancestors by the US Government via the Trail of Tears. At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the remaining members of the tribe consolidated their collective land holdings in WNC to create an entirely Tribally-governed reservation, which has over the years introduced several tribal initiatives to revive and maintain the Cherokee people's unique culture, practices, language, food, art, and folk tales. It cannot be overstated the influence the Cherokee have had (and continue to have) on the culture of the region. art source.

It should also be noted that this is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Western North Carolina is home to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, as well as several National Forests that serve to protect a myriad of unique biomes and local wildlife. This area is one of two temperate rainforests in the United States, and experiences more rainfall in inches a year than Seattle. The name "Great Smoky Mountains" originates from the effect of the rainfall. Moisture hits the leaves of the abundant flora, and transpiration occurs, causing the plants to release evaporative clouds of mist, creating a "smoky" effect on the mountains. One of the most iconic wildflowers found in the area is trilium, which tends to bloom in the early spring in the shady patches of higher elevations. One of my personal favorites is called dutchman's pants! Which look like little lederhosen.

The area is home to many forms of wildlife, including deer, black bear, elk, river otter, possums, red wolves, turkey, and skunks. We are also known as the salamander capital of the world, and the National Park hosts over 30 unique species, including the hellbender! The largest type of salamander in the world.

Popular activities and attractions in the area include hiking, biking, whitewater rafting/kayaking, driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, visiting the Biltmore House (in Asheville, NC), and, speaking from personal experience, just kind of hanging out in various grocery store parking lots with your friends. Its a wonderful and beautiful place to live and I love it lots. all of this to say. i do not know SHIT about spanish perception of vale post-sepang. i suspect he was mostly fine.

#im not spanish or italian... i dont know if you can tell from the everything about me but im a little appalachian girl. how would eye knoww #like nationality was a HUGE part of it and lines were drawn but im not the authority on this. and vale never got death threats so.#i can tell you about salamanders! SORRY SMOOCH.#callie speaks #asks #sorry someone made fun of my accent the other day when i showed him how to properly pronouce a cherokee word. and im PMSing.#so you WILL learn about appalachia.#'callie why is there a french style chateau in WNC' dont worry about it

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commander-shad · 7 months

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Outer Wilds OC

This is Copper :)

-They join the space program and proceed to regret their life choices once they take off

-The Hourglass Twins? Sand and claustrophobia. Timber Hearth? Too many people (Copper's not the most social Hearthian) and not much to see. Brittle Hollow? Black hole (and the Nomai skeletons everywhere made them sad). Giant's Deep? All these tornadoes. Dark Bramble? Noone goes to Dark Bramble. The Interloper? Who hangs out on a comet full of ghost matter?

-Copper's not afraid of space, but rather the dangers of the solar system itself. Which is why they spend their days floating around. That's until they discover the Stranger ala About Oliver

-It's a nice place, a river to circle around, it's quiet, not much danger. Yeah, they like it here. So Copper hangs out there. They don't ever find out about the simulation or even the slide reels, so riding a raft while playing their kalimba all day it is.

-They haven't realized yet that their signal doesn't make it through the Stranger's cloaking field :P

#outer wilds #outer wilds oc #shad draws #ow spoilers #outer wilds spoilers

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ceexb · 9 months

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Hobie Head cannons of him in Jamaica

Summary: Hobies gf who left Jamaica when she was younger to London.(Hobie has a black Jamaican girlfriend that takes him to the islands.)

Word count: 1,080

Parings: Hobie and black reader.

Warnings:-minors dni

Afab reader

mentions of weed language,smut,bitting,fingering and kissing.

(I’m American born,so I’ll give my knowledge as best as I can. also it’s a stereotype that all Jamaicans smoke weed which obv isn’t true and just a generalization)

Reblog 😋😗 and like

Master list

-Upon learning that you plan to bring him to Jamaica to meet your family and explore the country, Hobie's excitement soared, and he eagerly asked about the departure date.

-Given that Hobies from the UK where there is a significant Jamaican population, Hobie has some familiarity with Jamaican culture.

-“so when we leaving baby” jumping up and down

-“next week” you say

-he’ll be rushing to his room to pack the most sluttiest outfits that accentuate his skinny waist.

- I don't think Hobie would even consider taking the plane to get there,because he has a boat that he can use to travel across the seas.

- However, you get seasick and your afraid of the ocean.So you would prefer to take the plane instead.

-you guys would spend like the first days of the trip in a villa and the second half visiting family and showing him around parishes in Jamaica.

-you would take him to like the country side

-not the touristy Kingston side where a lot of the up town and yt folks be at.

-I mean the country with Goats,modest homes and mango trees,Homes nestled on the hillsides of the mountains.

-like he deff would be one with nature behind your childhood home,easily bonding with your uncles like their old acquaintances.

-he’ll be listening to some reggae (maybe some cronix x 🤭🫡)

and smoking some good ganja and chopping sugar cane.

-You will approach him from the rear entrance, carrying the fruit that your mother had prepared for him and instructed you to bring.

-Although you intended to check on him, you observe him settling in comfortably and making himself feel at home.

-you walk up to an even more chill hobie,eyes low and red just in his swimming trunks .

-His shirt buttons loose revealing his abs with his lips sucking on some sugar cane.

-watching as the juice drips down his chin but him quickly catching it with his tongue making slurp noises.

-it’ll probably give you flash backs from previous nights when you were making out back of your legs hitting the bed and pushed to lay under him only later to be quivering in a puddle of your own mess and his head diving back between dem thighs as you grip and pull on his wicks.

“Fuck..hobie it feels soo good”

“Yeah I bet it does” and he lifts his head up to peer at you then down to leave bites on the skin of your inner thighs that will leave bruises for the next days of the trip….

(woooh 🫢😋 I’m going feral by the thought)

-Y’all know that little river raft trip that people go on in Jamaica ?

-yeahhh you guys would go on one of those but knowing hobie he wouldn’t let a random, massage and touch on your body.

-It's like the experience where individuals embark on a small raft crafted from bamboo, bound together with ropes, enjoying the serene atmosphere as you drift along a river. And During this journey,you receive massages and feel the soothing vibes.

-If you were to partake in such an adventure with Hobie, he wouldn't allow just anyone to massage and touch your body randomly.

-…”And they basically do like massages”

“🤨Touching on my girl? Ina bathing suit ??

yeahh nah I’ll do it”

(He’s possessive but In a non toxic attractive way)

-He’d take the lotion staring at the guy side eyeing him the whole time.

-As he kneels down and begins applying pressure with squeezing motions onto the various layers of your muscles.

-Then there's the guy, who awkwardly stands there staring 🧍🏿‍♂️🏞️

-Hobes, being the effortlessly cool type, possesses the ability to seamlessly blend in regardless of the country he finds himself in; he can easily adjust and adapt.

-hes more of a yardie than you,speaking better patois and shit.

-And Having a fluent convo with your family

-"How did you become so fluent in Patois, babe? I didn't even teach you. It's even better than mine."

-Given his personality, he would likely wear a cocky smirk, shrug casually, and lean back in the white party chair, with his hands behind his head.

"It's just a natural instinct. better start practicing," he would say, pointing jokingly to a "Patois for Dummies" book as you stomp away in response.

(Idk if that book exists but oh well🤷🏾‍♀️)

-yo, I could just imagine you guys in the personal pool of a villa getting nasty in the pool then kissing all the way to the bed,water dripping messing up the floor of the room and hobie falling needy on top of you,panting impatiently slipping your panties to the side to finger you.

-Then the next day acting like nothing happened.

- Once you bring him to your childhood home, both of you would be exhausted from a long day of driving from the villa,so you would go straight to sleep upon arrival.

- The next morning, you would wake up alone in a bed,putting on a robe, and making your way to the kitchen. In the kitchen around the corner,you would hear the faint sound of laughter and the voices of your mother and him.

- I have a strong feeling that your mother would adore him, especially when in the kitchen together.

- I have confidence in his cooking skills; I can already envision him preparing a bowl of peanut porridge.

-He’ll be like “I think they like me 😗”

-“Yeah a little bit too much” murmuring under your breath jealous

“huh what was that” he goes.

his hand on the shell of his ear hearing what you said just wanting you to repeat it. so he can rub it in.

-“Nothing. hmm”

Arms crossed stopping off again

-“Don’t be jealous love,cause your parents love me more…!”

Yelling as you walk away.

-then after days of exploring you guys being driven to the airport and his mom kissing him on both checks wishing him to come back to visit next time.

“Come back soon alright?”

————-//—————-//————-//—————//————//———-//————//————-///————//———-//———-///————-//———-///———-//——///

(I really hate this post ,but it’s been sitting in my drafts for far too long)

#black fanfic writer #hobie x black!reader #hobie headcanons #hobie smut

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 1 year

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(Mark Twain, left, with John T. Lewis, a lifelong friend and inspiration for the character Jim in 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn')

* * * * *

February 18, 1885: "Mark Twain publishes his famous–and famously controversial–novel 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'. Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens) first introduced Huck Finn as the best friend of Tom Sawyer, hero of his tremendously successful novel 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' (1876). Though Twain saw Huck’s story as a kind of sequel to his earlier book, the new novel was far more serious, focusing on the institution of slavery and other aspects of life in the antebellum South. At the book’s heart is the journey of Huck and his friend Jim, a runaway slave, down the Mississippi River on a raft. Jim runs away because he is about to be sold and separated from his wife and children, and Huck goes with him to help him get to Ohio and freedom. Huck narrates the story in his distinctive voice, offering colorful descriptions of the people and places they encounter along the way. The most striking part of the book is its satirical look at racism, religion and other social attitudes of the time. While Jim is strong, brave, generous and wise, many of the white characters are portrayed as violent, stupid or simply selfish, and the naive Huck ends up questioning the hypocritical, unjust nature of society in general. Even in 1885, two decades after the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War, 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' landed with a splash. A month after its publication, a Concord, Massachusetts, library banned the book, calling its subject matter “tawdry” and its narrative voice “coarse” and “ignorant.” Other libraries followed suit, beginning a controversy that continued long after Twain’s death in 1910. In the 1950s, the book came under fire from African-American groups for being racist in its portrayal of black characters, despite the fact that it was seen by many as a strong criticism of racism and slavery. As recently as 1998, an Arizona parent sued her school district, claiming that making Twain’s novel required high school reading made already existing racial tensions even worse. Aside from its controversial nature and its continuing popularity with young readers, 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' has been hailed by many serious literary critics as a masterpiece. No less a judge than Ernest Hemingway famously declared that the book marked the beginning of American literature: “There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”"

- history.com 'A heroic deed, a rewarding friendship' - via The Washington Times: https://bit.ly/2V4sHN3 [Random History of the Day]

#literature #quotes #stories #Huck Finn #Tom Sawyer #Samuel Clemens #Mark Twain #racism #The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn #literary masterpiece #history #The South

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yeeshastone · 2 months

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Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)?

Ooh, I haven't heard of this one. After a quick 5 second research I found these birds are part of the fly catcher family and live near lakes where they use mud to build there nests.

My 5 second animalia headcannon is:

There is a black phoebe that spends most its days drifting down a large river that is hundreds of miles long. They float down it on a raft they made from mud and use a small, hand woven net to skim the serface of the water in an attempt to catch rare bugs. When they reach the end of the river they will sell the bugs they have caught and will travel back to the top of the river and do it all over again with a new raft that they once more craft out of mud. Some say they are looking for a special bug but no one is quite sure what bug, or why they have devotes their life to finding it.

#food for thought #aves #bird

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photoblogdujour · 11 months

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My ranunculi (rhymes with hippopotami) hated me with a petty pashion. They'd do anything to get out of being photographed. They even gave birth to twins to avoid having their pictures taken. Then took up black water river rafting. It was a serious problem.

#original photographers #photographers on tumblr #macro photography #flowers of tumblr #inner life of flowers #flowers on tumblr #macro flower #ranunculus

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fatehbaz · 1 year

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Do you have any idea if there were rhinoceros in the Middle East during historic or recent times? Given that, as in some old posts of yours, big felines and elephants were widespread in those areas, the gap between African and Asiatic rhinoceros seems suspicious. Also, do you think that the extinction of large fauna in the Middle East is asociated to deforestation in that region? As I understand it, forests there were larger than in the present.

So sorry that I've only just now seen your message. (I accidentally came across your message when it was displayed to me when I was searching the keyword "rhinoceros" on my own blog.) Great question.

With confidence, I would say that the so-called Fertile Crescent was more densely wooded during the Holocene up to and during the Bronze Age. We know this not just from ecological and paleoenvironmental science but also from clear written historical records that describe the scale of the forests. Forests were so bountiful that, when cedars were cut down and harvested, and then floated down the Euphrates river for transport, the unending rafts of cedar logs appeared like giant snakes ungulating along the river.

Then, with less confidence, we can guess that rhinos would have been rare in southwestern Asia after the end of the Pleistocene, and would have gone extinct earlier in history than other large creatures.

Sounds like you already know that the Fertile Crescent, Anatolia, and southwestern Asia were home to elephants, tigers, lions, cheetahs, leopards, ostriches, and other celebrities in the Bronze Age and ancient worlds. But rhinos?

Basically, my guess is that rhinos could have been present in Anatolia during the construction of Gobekli Tepe and Catal Huyuk, and the rhinos would have been, I'm guessing, the now completely extinct genus Stephanorhinus. The youngest known remains of Stephanorhinus come from Siberia and the Far East, and appear to be between 40,000 and 14,000 years old. This means that we have no clear evidence that Stephanorhinus survived into the Holocene.

The Syrian elephant of the Fertile Crescent, in Hellenistic/Roman iconography:

Stephanorhinus, from the Late Pleistocene:

Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis and Stephanorhinus hemitoechus are known to have survived in Late Pleistocene Europe. They both seem relatively common in the Levant during the Middle Pleistocene. Remains of S. hemitoechus are known from Persia. Stephanorhinus also appears on the African continent in the Pleistocene, in modern-day Morocco and along the Mediterranean coast. But S. kirchbergensis seems like it may have been more associated with forests, so I’d guess S. hemitoechus had a better chance of surviving in early Holocene Middle East. I’ve also read that rhino biodiversity was more limited than other creatures by the end of the Middle Pleistocene, so there was less genetic diversity than other types of mammals. This rhino situation differs from the other disappearing megafauna, because the same species the other missing/extinct creatures (Syrian elephant, Caspian tiger, Asiatic lion, Syrian ostrich) still have living relatives within the same genus. But there are no surviving Stephanorhinus creatures left on the planet.

Short answer: remnant populations of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus may have been rare but still present during the early Holocene in southwestern Asia at the time of the construction of the first human cities. (Probably not during, like, Bronze Age, but earlier.)

Here's a look at the distribution range of the white rhino, black rhino, Indian rhino, Sumatran rhino, Javan rhino, Merck's rhino, the woolly rhino, and the legendary Siberian unicorn in the Late Pleistocene, in a map from 2021:

While the extant Asian elephant was once distributed outside of South Asia and into the west and the Middle East, as far as we can tell the extant Indian rhinoceros only lived as far west as the Indus and/or Bactria.

However, both the Javan rhinoceros and Sumatran rhinoceros -- both of which survive as endangered species today -- lived across China much later in history. During the Bronze Age, both rhino species lived as far north as Beijing and the Yellow River. Like the Asian elephant, the rhinos were pushed farther and farther south as urban areas and dam/river infrastructures were developed. Rhinos survived in the north near the Yangtze and modern-day Shanghai around 100 BC during the ascent of the Han dynasty. By 600 AD, rhinos appear to have still been present at least farther north than Guanzhou/Hong Kong.

Though the woolly rhinoceros appears to have survived in the Late Pleistocene, new eDNA studies from 2021 suggest the woolly rhino may have still been present for a couple thousand more years, until maybe 8000 years ago. But the woolly rhino still didn't seem to live far enough south to be present in the Fertile Crescent. Either way, these rhinos wouldn’t have been in the Middle East during the Holocene.

Here's a look at evidence of rhino presence in China:

Isn't this impressive? It's the distribution range contraction of both the Sumatran rhino and Javan rhino over the past 3000 years. The Javan rhino, once ranging across the continent, only survives in one tiny population on a single island.

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Anyway, in the Middle East, for those interested:

What we do know for sure is that tigers, lions, cheetah, caracal, and at least 2 subspecies of leopard were all still alive in Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Kurdish land, the Caucasus, and Persia within the last 100-125 years.

Then, we also know that the Syrian ostrich (Struthio camelus syriacus) was historically present in Palestine, Syria, and Jordan during the 20th century. (During the medieval era, they probably still lived on the Arabian peninsula and western Persia. Gifts of ostriches were given to the imperial Han Chinese court by Parthians, and to Chinese courts by Western Turks in the 600s. Artistic depictions of ostriches still show up in Tang-era China, so ostriches were either still present in Bactria/Sogdiana, or they were present in Persia and shipped along the Silk Road.)

Crocodiles lived along the coastline of the eastern Mediterranean in Palestine into the 20th century. (Whether they were Crocodylus niloticus or Crocodylus suchus is hard to tell. Both species are still alive in Africa and both species were present in Egypt.)

Earlier in prehistory, we of course know about the wacky cave goats of Crete and the dwarf hippos of Mediterranean islands.

We also know that the Asian elephant was more widespread, and present in Anatolia and the Middle East during the Holocene.

You might have guessed that the elephants known to Greeks and Romans would be the African elephant, given the strong connection between the Hellenistic Mediterranean cultures and Egypt. However, it seems that the Asian elephant that was better known in the eastern Mediterranean. There appears to have been a morph or subspecies of Asian elephant that lived along the Persian Gulf’s northern shore (the "Syrian elephant"). Asian elephant remains from the Holocene have been found in Anatolia and Kurdish lands. In the eastern Mediterranean, Assyrian kings boasted of trapping elephants for sport as recently as 3000 years ago. Also, consistent trade and cultural exchange from Persia meant that the Mediterranean peoples had an awareness of Indian/South Asian relationships with elephants.

---

Regarding forests:

The fame of cedar trees in Phoenicia (eastern Mediterranean) would explain why Phoenicians could become so well known for boat-building (ships require wood). More widespread forests would also explain why Caspian tigers could be present in what is now modern-day Iraq and Kurdish land.

Translations of ancient Near Eastern texts discuss woodlands. You’ve probably seen me share this excerpt before:

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While some texts simply allude to environmental degradation, such as the Sumerian gardener Shukallituda’s experimentation with agroforestry in the wake of deforestation ... others contain explicit description of forest clearance, including the claim of Gudea of Lagash (2141-2122 BC), who “made a path” into the forest, “cut its cedars,” and sent cedar rafts floating “like giant snakes” down the Euphrates” [...]. Despite declining biological diversity and productivity, the annals of Ashurnasirpal II [king of Assyria from 883 to 859 BC] describe abundant wildlife and a substantial inventory of domesticated livestock. He claimed to have slain 450 lions, killed 390 wild bulls, decapitated 200 ostriches; caught thirty elephants in pitfalls; and captured alive fifty wild bulls, 140 ostriches, and twenty adult lions. In addition, he received five live elephants as tribute, and “organized herds of wild bulls, lions, ostriches, and male and female monkeys.” At a banquet on the occasion of the inauguration of the palace at Kalhu (biblical Calah), his 69,574 guests dined on 1200 head of cattle and 1000 calves; 11,000 sheep and 16,000 lambs; 500 stags; 500 gazelles; 1000 ducks; 1000 geese; 1000 mesuku birds, 1000 qaribu birds, 20,000 doves, and 10,000 other assorted small birds; 10,000 assorted fish; and 10,000 jerboas - along with enormous quanitites of beer and wine, milk, cheese, eggs, bread, fruit and vegetables, and a vast number of other offerings.[...] Hence, many Indigenous societies were disrupted, reconfigured, and dominated prior to formal colonial annexation. The costs of declining biological and cultural diversity are well documented, as are the costs of disturbance and domination in natural and social systems. A Sumerian epic tale, ‘Emmerkar and the Land of Aratta,’ describes an earlier state of peace and security, ending with man’s fall from grace. Descent into chaos is described in the epic, ‘Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur.’ In Western Asia, patterns of [ecological] disturbance and [social] domination emerge with the complex interplay of ascendant Egyptian, Caucasian, Semitic, Indo-European, and Dravidian aristocracies in the fifth millennium BC – patterns that cascade through history.

[End of excerpt.]

Source: Jeffrey A. Gritzner. “Environment, Culture, and the American Presence in Western Asia: An Exploratory Essay.” 2010.

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And yes, I’d say that recent Holocene extinctions in the region would be related to deforestation, at least in the case of the Caspian tiger.

The Caspian tiger had a clear association with the Hyrcanian forests of the southern shore of the Caspian Sea in Persia. These forests resemble temperate rainforests. The distribution of the Caspian tiger throughout Sogdiana and Kwarazmia (modern-day Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) also seemed closely associated with the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river/riparian corridors, which provided narrow avenues of forested habitat amid the vast deserts of the region. During the imperial Russian and Soviet incursions in Central Asia, when irrigation diverted the rivers for industrial-scale agriculture, the Aral Sea dried up and remaining pockets of woodland were destroyed along with the tiger’s habitat.

The cedar forests of the Fertile Crescent probably hosted oryx and gazelles with nearby populations of Syrian elephant, the Syrian ostrich, the Asiatic lion, cheetahs, leopards, and the Caspian tiger.

Assyrian princes caught elephants in pitfall traps for sport. It was over 4000 years ago that kings ‘“made a path” into the forest, “cut its cedars,” and sent cedar rafts floating “like giant snakes:” down the Euphrates”’

The tiger. Now a ghost. Gone along with the forests.

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ghostoffuturespast · 7 months

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Manuscript Word Search Tag

Buckle up because I have four of these saved... Sorry, for being so verbose and for it erroneously being like two or three months getting back to some of you. I kept putting it off and then forgot.

Grabbing all of these from the behemoth, So It Goes.

Also, there's a link to everyone's OG posts with their word searches, so go read their stuff too!

@fly-amanitaa gave me night, breeze, jealous, & collide - here

Night

V took the long way to the metro station. She wasn’t ready to sit still yet. Basking in the glow of neon and the anonymity of the crowded streets, night was when the city came alive. It had been years since she’d let herself get lost among the streets, the time she’d spent at Arasaka hadn’t allowed for aimless wandering. Her feet led her to the waterfront edge of Kabuki, the lights of Japantown across the way, gleaming towers brilliant in the night sky. The neon and LEDS outshone the stars. A breeze from the water made her dark purple hair dance on her shoulders. Maybe that’s why most people found it so hard to quit Night City. The artificial lights cut through the dark and offered the allure of promises. The sweetness of dreams. The hope of carving something for yourself out of the darkness. Hope was the raft people clung to and the ocean they drowned in.

Breeze

The ride back to the Heywood precinct was the quietest part of her evening. After, was always when her nerves settled down. Past the point of fraying, when there was nothing left to hold together and the tiredness would settle in. V cracked the windows, relishing the breeze that filtered off the canals and cooled her skin.

Jealous

A few kept their distance but the majority of the hens flocked to the edge of the fence, bobbing and tilting their heads with the expectation of being fed. Black and amber eyes stared up at them, a few of the birds cooing and clucking as they waited. Feathers ruffled as they vied for space in front of River in particular, who was taunting them with the handful of greens in his hand.V ran her tongue over her teeth. After a terse pause, she looked out the corner of her eye. “Should’ve mentioned you were a mom.” “Mm.” He hummed. “Hope you’re not too disappointed.” Tapping her boot, she muttered. “Could’ve said something about them being birds though.” “Sorry, wanted it to be a surprise. Plus, I thought it was funny and, uh, you’re kind of cute when you’re riled up.” River flashed a wide grin. “Were you really that worried?” “I– I don’t know. Maybe a little.” “My, you really are the jealous type.” He teased.

Collide

Rain thrummed against the metal railings and pattered on the cars parked in the lot below. Dawn was breaking gray through the clouds. V watched water droplets collide into puddles, ripples spread out and interlaced with each other. Every breath she took hurt, the expansion of her lungs straining against her injuries. She took a sharp breath in and exhaled letting her breath condense in the cool air. Even with the pain, it was somehow easier to breathe when it rained. V was sheltered under the slim metal awning of a fire escape, twirling Evelyn’s cigarette case in between her palms.

@setaflow gave me retort, sun, length, & knuckle - here

Retort

V ran her tongue over her teeth, scoffed, and decided the time for going along quietly was over. She shouted so the whole room could hear. “I’m not in the business of owing people favors, particularly not to pigs who try to solicit the people they’ve arrested.” Heads swiveled in their direction. It was a bad idea, she was in the middle of a precinct full of badges, but she was cold, tired, cranky, and had enough of whatever this shit was. She needed to buy a couple more seconds though. “You’re barking up the wrong tree if you think you’re going to get ‘favors’ from me just because you dropped whatever charges you cooked up.” V sneered at him. “You want favors? Phone a friend. Pay a joytoy. Get Jimenez to suck your dick for you.” Dupres’ fingers dug into her arm. “You n–” He didn’t get the chance to finish his retort. V slid to the side, catching Dupres off guard and off balance. She hooked her upper arm into the crook of his elbow and shit-whipped him into the group of cops and gutter-punks that was passing behind them. They toppled over like bowling pins.

Sun

The sun was making it’s descent in the sky, shades of blue turning to hues of orange and pink. Wind picked up dust, swirling and tossing it through the empty streets. V sat next to the switchgear box, head resting against the railing, eyes closed. She traced circles on her palms with her fingers while sweat trickled down her back. Waiting during an op was always the worst part, it gave one far too much time to think. About the things that could go wrong and the things that did go wrong.

Length

It was late in the morning when V woke up. The lack of light had let her sleep in. A giant bank of fog had rolled in from the ocean and engulfed the entire city, wisps of moisture clinging to every conceivable surface before droplets coalesced and drug themselves down. Water running it’s hands down the length and breadth of Night City. V rolled over and buried herself even further underneath her covers, in an attempt to warm herself up. She’d only bothered to put a t-shirt and underwear on after she’d washed away the blood and patched up all the bullet holes with BioSkin. The muscles on her torso and legs were stiff and bruised where the bullets had ricocheted off. She tried to shut her eyes and go back to sleep, but Nibbles poked his wet nose in her ear before biting it.

Knuckle

Hands and lips pressed back on each other with a renewed fervor, nakedness fostering their explorations even further. Touches alternating between soft and something rougher. V delighted in the taste of River on the edge of her tongue, drowning in the scent of him. Leather, soap, salt damp skin, and something ancient. Something of the earth that she’d long forgotten. River’s fingers wove their way into her hair and cradled the shaved fuzz at her nape, hunting for more of her. Roaming to all the places he hadn't been yet. The knuckles of his other hand traced up her leg and over the curve of her hip. Feet fumbled over one another as they made a clumsy back-pedal toward the bed.

(Not a single singular use of the word knuckle. Also, cutting it off before it gets too spicy)

@morganlefaye79 gave me cake, occupied, outside, staring, & heart - here

Cake

“Great. More stairs and limited exits, my favorite.” Jackie waved his hand. “Quit worrying, V. Our choom watching the stairs isn’t even paying attention. They’re probably napping off their hangovers and coming down from their glitter highs, while we’re bright eyed and bushy tailed. Should be a piece of cake.” “Not getting too over confident are we?” V asked.“ Eh, first gig in two weeks just missed the rush, chica .”

Occupied

V walked around to Vik’s comp and pulled out her link and plugged in. An upload notification appeared in her optics. V’s eyes wandered around the clinic while she waited, before they ended up settling on River. He was wearing a black t-shirt, his silver necklace standing out against the dark material, along with a worn out but well fitting pair of jeans. V watched the corded muscles of his arms move as he shrugged his coat back on. The upload bar disappeared. Vik swiped through the readouts on his screen. He only talked loud enough for V to hear. “Looks like your mineral and cortisol levels have stabilized. That’s good.” He frowned slightly. “Some of your other vitals are elevated though…” V jerked her head around too quickly towards Vik. He noticed. V felt her cheeks heat up. Both of Vik’s eyebrows quirked over his shades as he comprehended what, or who, V had been looking at. “Vitals are elevated but within normal range. You’re all set to go.” V yanked her link out and blew on her bangs. Vik silently laughed next to her. River was still occupied making sure his optic was fully functional. V hoped he had missed that entire exchange.

Outside

Given the weather, there weren’t many pedestrians outside. The people that did brave the heat dodged quickly into the shade or glacial refuges of buildings or cars. Even the street vendors had decided to keep their carts and stalls closed. Mirages shimmered off the concrete in the spots that were fully exposed to the sun and the smell of exhaust and ozone saturated the air. V was dripping sweat by the time she made it to the Esoterica.

Staring

It was hours before call time, but Johnny had insisted they arrive early, eager for mischief. V stood staring at a giant garish samurai mask emblazoned on the front gate. The polished estate sat greedily on the other side of the fence, complete with manicured lawn, rows of palm trees, pristine drive way, glimmering windows, and a few security bots patrolling the perimeter. Kerry Eurodyne’s mansion a sleek modern testament to architecture, wealth, and success. So of course, Johnny hated it.

Heart

“Spent a lifetime curating those. Y’know, on principle, still can’t excuse you for bein’ a cop, but I’ll admit you’re a decent uncle.” If Johnny had had the guidance, maybe he wouldn’t have done half the shit he did. Maybe. He spun the empty shot glass on the counter and stared at the new heart inked on the inside of his borrowed forearm. “Gonna have to look after her when I’m not around anymore.” River tilted his head fully, brown organic eye exposed. “What’s with the sudden change in tune?”

@luvwich gave me spice, question, fury, paint, & gentle - here

Spice

Taking a heaping forkful of rice and chile slathered in cheese, V groaned. “Lord, I missed this. Think you might actually be the best cook in NC.” “You’re welcome over anytime, V. You just need to remember that.” Mama Welles pointed with her fork. V shoveled another forkful of food into her mouth and got up. “Do you need something to drink?” “Ah, water, por favor … How is it, Misty?” “I-it’s really delicious, Mama Welles.” V came back with three cans of water, setting one in front of each of them. Across from her Misty was sweating and trying to drown out the spice with her beer. Misty threw V a grateful look as she opened the can of water and downed half of it. V scarfed her first plate of food.

Question

“... Okay. That does sound like an emergency.” There were a few snips as Vik started removing the sutures. “Was that the Peter Pan case that was all over the feeds a couple days ago?” “Yeah.” “You keep makin’ the front page, kid.” V pursed her lips. “Not really a fan to be honest. Starting to see why you didn’t want to stay in the limelight.” The tugging sensation on her skin changed as Vik moved on to the staples.“Who stitched you up?” Turning her head away, V stumbled on the question. “River.” Vik decided not to kick her while she was down. “Did a neat job. Maybe he should've been a doctor instead.”

Fury

“Hmm. Well, if he’s one of our suppliers, you might be off the hook. But then again…” V roughly pinched one of Black’s cheeks. She slapped him, Black’s head whipping hard to the side. “I’ll have to see what Jotaro says, mull it over. In the meantime, don’t go anywhere.” V briskly marched back to the office and slammed the door. River glared out the window at Officer Black, his face colored with an undercurrent of fury and all grim lines. He was leaning with his hands on the desk and cut the holo line when V walked in. She crossed her arms, her eyes flitting between River and Black squirming in his chair. “A confession and two more names isn’t bad. Still don’t know where Shobo’s hiding out though.” River scoffed. “Tch. Yeah, except this shit keeps getting deeper.”

Paint

It was standing room only in the train, packed with the last of the evening's corporate commuters and the early rush of nighttime pleasure seekers. The car rattled along on the rails and the smell of sweat and paint saturated the interior. Someone was swatching the back of the car with graffiti. A bright neon pink. The train doors opened up twenty minutes later and people spilled out into the metro tunnel, V shouldered her way through the crowd and darted up the escalator that spat her out in The Glen.

Gentle

River held her gaze and confessed. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but… can’t seem to stay away from trouble.” “Don’t know why.” V whispered. “Because she’s beautiful and won’t admit it.” V shut her eyes, the warmth unbearable. “Doubt that. I’m a walking piece of garbage.” “That’s not what I see.” “You’re too good, River.” Stray tears escaped down her cheeks. “You say it like it’s a bad thing.” He gave her a soft smile. His organic hand coming up to cup her face, thumb swiping tears away. Calloused. Warm. Gentle. "It's not. It's just… I don't understand how you're so fucking… kind. And kind to me. When this place is such a fucking hellhole and when it's done nothing but take from you." River searched V's face. "For better or worse, I suppose I still find things to be hopeful for." And looked through her. “All I see is a fierce woman who has the courage to care despite all the pain that’s happened to her.”

Phew, made it. Hopefully no one fell asleep.

Tagging in no particular order and with no pressure: @fly-amanitaa @setaflow @morganlefaye79 @luvwich (Yes, I'm tagging you all back) @seeker-of-truth @neon-pink-witch @vox-monstera @civilization-illstayrighthere @merge-conflict @another-corpo-rat @wanderingaldecaldo @shimmer-like-agirl

Your words, should you choose to accept, are: blossom, scent, rust, dream, & rain.

#tag you're it #writing #fan fiction #manuscript word search #reindeer games #cyberpunk 2077 #long post #otp: so it goes #oc: valerie hye jin li #river ward #v x river ward #perhaps next time i'll not wait so long to do these

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