I need a better name for this blog

atlasobscura: Ever heard of the Relampago de Catatumbo, a.k.a. ”Lightning Lake”? There’s something strange in the air where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela… For 140 to 160 nights out of the year, for 10 hours at a time, the sky above the river is pierced by almost constant lightning, producing as many as 280 strikes per hour. Known as the “Relampago del Catatumbo,” this lightning storm has been raging, on and off, for as long a people can remember. It was first written about in the 1597 poem “The Dragontea” by Lope de Vega. De Vega tells of Sir Francis Drake’s 1595 attempt to take the city of Maracaibo by night, only to have his plans foiled when the lightning storm’s flashes gave away his position to the city’s defenders. This happened again on July 24, 1823, when, during the Venezuelan War of Independence, Spanish ships were revealed by the lightning and defeated by the Simón Bolívar’s upstart navy. In fact, the lightning, visible from 400 kilometers away, is so regular that it’s been used as a navigation aid by ships and is known among sailors as the “Maracaibo Beacon.” Interestingly, generally little to no sound accompanies this fantastic light show, as the lightning moves from cloud to cloud—far, far above the ground. But that’s not the whole story…

atlasobscura:

Ever heard of the Relampago de Catatumbo, a.k.a. ”Lightning Lake”?

There’s something strange in the air where the Catatumbo River flows into Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela… For 140 to 160 nights out of the year, for 10 hours at a time, the sky above the river is pierced by almost constant lightning, producing as many as 280 strikes per hour.

Known as the “Relampago del Catatumbo,” this lightning storm has been raging, on and off, for as long a people can remember. It was first written about in the 1597 poem “The Dragontea” by Lope de Vega. De Vega tells of Sir Francis Drake’s 1595 attempt to take the city of Maracaibo by night, only to have his plans foiled when the lightning storm’s flashes gave away his position to the city’s defenders.

This happened again on July 24, 1823, when, during the Venezuelan War of Independence, Spanish ships were revealed by the lightning and defeated by the Simón Bolívar’s upstart navy.

In fact, the lightning, visible from 400 kilometers away, is so regular that it’s been used as a navigation aid by ships and is known among sailors as the “Maracaibo Beacon.” Interestingly, generally little to no sound accompanies this fantastic light show, as the lightning moves from cloud to cloud—far, far above the ground.

But that’s not the whole story…

(via lightninging)

The original story of the little mermaid is that she must kill the prince in order to be human, and in the end, she loves him too much and kills herself instead.

The artwork is too great not to reblog. 

Ok, ok - important expansion: she only has to kill the Prince because the deal was if he fell in love with her she could be human forever, and he didn’t. By which I mean, he was a good person and genuinely nice to her, but he didn’t fall in love. He fell in love with someone else, also perfectly nice - not the seawitch in disguise, fu Disney. The Mermaid is told she can only return to the sea now if she kills the Prince. She goes into the room where he and his lover lie sleeping and they look so beautiful and happy together that she can’t do it.

That’s why she kills herself. And because it was a noble act she returns to sea as foam.

One moral of the story was that women shouldn’t fundamentally change who they are for love of a man, and in theory Han Christian Anderson wrote it for a ballerina with whom he fell in love. She was marrying someone else who wouldn’t let her dance.

(Source: xxdardarxx, via farorescourage)

If I’m comfortable with you, I’ll:

  • call you names
  • tell you weird and personal details about myself
  • say “I NEED TO PEE” instead of just brb
  • type in caps a lot.

If i’m extra comfortable with you I’ll do all that and:

  • talk casually about porn and really perverted thoughts 
  • share funny photos from my tumblr dash
  • actually tell you when i’m upset 
  • try to make conversation with you 
  • just generally act really silly when I’m in a good mood
  • tell you jokes even if they’re bad 

(via farorescourage)