[Punky]

Inverary Castle, Scotland

[Punky]

Egeskov Castle, Fyn Island, Denmark

[Punky]

Hanalei Kayaker, Kauai, Hawaii

[Punky]

Knightstown, Valentia Islands, Ireland

[Punky]

Scarlet Night, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia

[Litotes]

Originally Posted by Punky

Amber Mason, an eight-year-old girl from Bucks, England, was in Phuket, Thailand when the tsunami struck in 2005 -- riding an elephant named Ningnong.

As the water rose, the elephant ran up the shore, taking the brunt of the impact and keeping Amber above the water.

That's actually not surprising. One of the things that astonished some after that terrible tragedy was the lack of animal victims. Apparently no other animals than those who were caged or tied down died. The others sensed something was wrong and left for higher ground. And they did so farily early, not last-minute.

[Punky]

Kermode bear - also known as a "spirit bear" (particularly to the Native tribes of British Columbia), is a subspecies of the American Black Bear living in the central and north coast of British Columbia, Canada.

The National Geographic estimates the spirit bear population at 400–1,000 individuals, saying that "the spirit bear may owe its survival to the protective traditions of the First Nations, who never hunted the animals or spoke of them to fur trappers"

[Punky]

Bengal cat - The Bengal is a hybrid breed of domestic cat. Bengals result from crossing a domestic feline with an Asian leopard cat

[Punky]

brothers - then and now

[Punky]

pretty sweet

[Litotes]

Wow, so happy to see this thread moving again

[Punky]

Red Tides

More correctly known as an algal bloom, the so-called Red tide is a natural event in which estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae accumulate rapidly in the water column and can convert entire areas of an ocean or beach into a blood red color. This phenomena is caused by high levels of phytoplankton accumulating to form dense, visible clouds near the surface of the water. While some of these can be relatively harmless, others can be harbingers of deadly toxins that cause the deaths of fish, birds and marine mammals. In some cases, even humans have been harmed by red tides though no human exposure are known to have been fatal.

[Punky]

Originally Posted by Litotes

Wow, so happy to see this thread moving again

i have more time now

[Punky]

Penitentes
These amazing ice spikes, generally known as penitentes due to their resemblance to processions of white-hooded monks, can be found on mountain glaciers and vary in size dramatically: from a few centimetres to 5 metres in height. Initially, the sun’s rays cause random dimples on the surface of the snow. Once such a dimple is formed, sunlight can be reflected within the dimple, increasing the localized sublimation. As this accelerates, deep troughs are formed, leaving peaks of ice standing between them

[Punky]

Supercells

Supercell is the name given to a continuously rotating updraft deep within a severe thunderstorm (a mesocyclone) and looks downright scary. They are usually isolated storms, which can last for hours, and sometimes can split in two, with one storm going to the left of the wind and one to the right. They can spout huge amounts of hail, rain and wind and are often responsible for tornados, though they can also occur without tornados. Supercells are often carriers of giant hailstones and although they can occur anywhere in the world they’re most frequent in the Great Plains of the US.