… she’s going to want to take pictures. An octopus at a New Zealand aquarium trains a camera on visiting tourists.
Meet the world’s first octographer. An animal behavior expert at Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium in Auckland City, New Zealand trained an octopus named Rambo to take photos using a Sony Cyber-shot TX30 camera. Octopuses are super intelligent and Rambo learned quickly. Mark Vette is Rambo’s trainer. He said:
When we first tried to get her to take a photo, it only took three attempts for her to understand the process. That’s faster than a dog. Actually it’s faster than a human in some instances.
Rambo charges $2 to take your picture. The small donation goes directly to the aquarium to help offset expenses.
Here’s a sea fog, called a haar in Scotland. They occur on the east coast of England or Scotland in spring and summer, when warm air passes over the North Sea.
Will Keogh wrote:
Sea haar and clouds meet in perfect harmony. Pic taken from Lyle Hill, Greenock towards Gourock in Scotland. The haar occurs when warm air condenses over the cold river creating a fog.
The ‘haar’ is also known as a ‘sea fret.’ It typically lies at a uniform height above the waterline but it is a moving entity, i.e. by the wind.
However, when the haar collides with, for example, a hillside, the haar is displaced from the horizontal.
Thank you, Will Keogh!
BBC meteorologist Gail Pirie agrees that a fret, haar and sea fog are all the same thing. She says these fogs typically occur between April and September, when warm air passes over the North Sea:
The variation in name simply arises from the locale in which you happen to find yourself when the fog rolls in off the sea. On the east coast of Scotland sea fog is known locally as haar or North Sea Haar, and it is often said to plague local residents during the summer. Likewise, it’s English counterpart – Fret or Sea Fret can make summer days on the East coast of England miserable.
Bottom line: These sorts of sea fogs are called haars on the east coast of Scotland and frets on the east coast of England. They’re usually flat, but this photo by Will Keogh shows a haar that’s been pushed horizontally after colliding with a hillside, so that it rises up toward clouds above.
When you face hardships and struggle in life, cling and hold on to the Lord. To instill courage in an infant, its mother persuades it to walk a few steps and turn, but she won’t allow it to fall. If it totters and is about to lose balance, she hurries behind and catches it! The Lord too has His eyes fixed on each individual (jivi). He has in His hand the string of the kite, which is humanity! Sometimes He may pull it, and at other times He may loosen the grip! Whatever He does, be confident and carefree, for it is He who holds the string of your life. That solid faith will fill you with the essence of love (prema-rasa). The string is the bond of love and grace and every individual (kite) is thus bound to the Lord. All you must do is to walk the path so that the bond of love and grace is strong.
Queenstown Airport in New Zealand was voted the world’s number one.Source: Getty Images
SOMETIMES flying into a destination can be just as spectacular as when on the ground.
sometimes what a pilot sees in a day, people won’t see in their lifetimes..
amazing Queenstown, New Zealand.
I invite people of the world to come visit this beautiful country and its people.
Every year PrivateFly.com asks travellers around the world to vote for their favourite airport landings before a panel of judges picks the best 10.
Of the 147 airports that received nominations this year, these were voted the Top 10 Most Stunning Airport Approaches for 2015.
1. Queenstown, New Zealand
Flying into Queenstown airport was considered the most spectacular in the world.
A world class approach to a world class destination. The snatched panoramas as you descend into this hitherto barren-looking landscape makes you realise that pilots do get the best views,” said judge Bill Prince.
2. Las Vegas Mccarran Airport, USA
The bright lights of Vegas make it one of the most exciting airports to fly into.
“Arriving at night makes the Las Vegas strip look like some type of miniature recreation. It is always worth a window seat,” said judge Doug Gollan.
3. Nice Cote D’Azur Airport, France
Landing on the water’s edge in Nice.Source: Getty Images
“Nice, Cote d’Azur has to be one of the most spectacular places to arrive and depart with this breathtaking coastline as far as the eye can see,” said judge Tiffany Dowd.
4. Barra Airport, Scotland
Not your usual runway.Source: Getty Images
“Where else in the world can you fly over majestic mountains, stunning coastline and turquoise seas before descending over a historic harbour castle and landing on a large silver sand beach? Totally stunning and totally unique. Nothing comes close,” said judge Carol Cork.
5. St Maarten Princess Juliana International
Just scraping past beach goers. Picture: Ivan Wong Rodenas.Source: Flickr
“I chose the landing strip at St. Maarten for its proximity to the beach, giving a beautiful view for passengers on landing planes, and a prime photo op for beachgoers, as incoming jets fly overhead,” said judge Chloe Pantazi.
6. Saba (Juancho e Irausquin)
Teetering on the edge of this Caribbean island. Picture: Richie Diesterheft.Source: Flickr
“A simply unforgettable and thrilling landing on the world’s shortest runway, flanked by cliffs and ocean with a striking view of its active Volcano, Mount Scenery,” said judge David Scowsill.
7. Billy Bishop Toronto City, Canada
Sitting parallel to the city is Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport.Source: Getty Images
“A dramatically short island runway, surrounded by city and water. Just moments away from the centre of Toronto,” said judge Adam Twidell.
8. Gibraltar
Flying in next to the towering 450 metre “Rock” is no easy feat.Source: Getty Images
“Not for those with faint hears. Landing at ‘The Rock’ requires a lot of skill (and adverse weather conditions redirect flights to Malaga too often), but if you are lucky it is stunning. Also very interesting to see the geographic differences between nearby Spain and this British territory,” said judge Ana Silva O’Reilly.
9. London City Airport, UK
Surrounded by history on one side and modernity on the other.Source: Getty Images
“For its steep approach and its short runway in the heart of the city,” said judge Frédéric Beniada.
10. Cape Town, South Africa
Beautiful Cape Town provides spectacular views on approach.Source: Getty Images
“Spectacular views of Table Mountain as you approach. One of the most beautiful cities on earth,” said judge Adam Twidell.
Talented Chinese artist Hua Tunan creates original art work using ink splattering. The beautiful animal paintings he produces are breathtaking. His chaotic style combines traditional painting techniques with a modern street art approach. This young artist has a studio in Foshan, China but is now exhibiting his first solo show at Chicago’s Galerie F. You can see more of his work on his website or Behance, or follow him on Facebook, Instagram or Tumblr.
Twenty hammer strokes might not succeed in breaking a stone, but the twenty-first stroke might break it. Does this mean that the twenty blows were of no avail? No. The final success was a result of the cumulative effect of all the strokes. Your mind is constantly engaged in a struggle with the world, both internal and external. Needless to say, you may not succeed always. But by immersing yourself in good work and saturating your mind with the love of God, you will attain everlasting bliss. When your mind dwells on the Lord, you will be drawn only toward good deeds automatically. The object of all spiritual practices is to destroy the mind, and some day, just as the twenty-first blow broke the stone, one good deed will succeed in destroying your mind. So no good deed is a waste, every little act counts. Infuse every moment of life with love. Then evil tendencies dare not hamper your path.
From a distance Saturn seems to exude an aura of serenity and peace.
In spite of this appearance, Saturn is an active and dynamic world. Its atmosphere is a fast-moving and turbulent place with wind speeds in excess of 1,100 miles per hour (1,800 km per hour) in places. The lack of a solid surface to create drag means that there are fewer features to slow down the wind than on a planet like Earth.
Mimas, to the upper-right of Saturn, has been brightened by a factor of 2 for visibility.
In this view, Cassini was at a subspacecraft latitude of 19 degrees North. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Feb. 4, 2015 using a spectral filter centered at 752 nanometers, in the near-infrared portion of the spectrum.
The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.6 million miles (2.5 million kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is 96 miles (150 kilometers) per pixel.
The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
Not only can illusionist Darcy make doves appear out of nowhere, he also has an even bigger trick up his sleeve.
Simon thinks the Judges have uncovered a star — see if you agree.
