Humans aren't sponges!

The reason we humans are not sponges is because our ancestors were worse at being sponges than the ancestors of modern spongers. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Db38e12D6OW/

How are their Flat Earthers in Denver, of all places‽

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Da-m80XjgFR/

When I first moved to the Denver area, the location struck me as a place with geology and weather that would serve as its own evidence against flat Earth concepts, with a mountain range that extends beyond the horizon in two directions, no visibility beyond the horizon when looking Eastward (even when looking over the Great Plains from Front Range peaks), and morning and evening Sunlight that illuminates the bottom of low altitude clouds. Imagine my surprise when I found out this is a hotbed for Flat Earth nonsense. Like, do any of these people spend any time outside enjoying the beauty of the region‽

Savery Savory Mushrooms Water Tower of Westminster, CO

  

Savery Savory Mushrooms was a real company as this site, but now the only remaining structure is this water tower.  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbo8_RvjLfg/?img_index=1

Adventure in Hobbiton

To travel to Hobbiton from Auckland requires a car rental or a tour bus, similar to our previous tour to Rotorua. My choice was the tour bus option. Unfortunately, the drive on the tour bus to Hobbiton was rather annoying due to another passenger who was a know-it-all that disrupted the tour guide's chatter with an endless series of inane questions (apparently, to which this person already knew most of the answers). Besides that, the Hobbiton tour itself was definitely a highlight of our New Zealand trip.

The day of our trip (December 13) was mostly sunny, which offered a spectacular backdrop for the tour. We got to see dozens of Hobbit homes. I love the Hobbit story, and the films, so this was a special treat. Many of the Hobbit homes were sized for forced perspective during filming, while many others were sized at nearly human scale for filming close-up shots with the actors.

We took a lot of photos. In some photos, we appeared slightly larger than a Hobbit would next to their home, but in other shots, we were giants. The Hobbiton tour guide was genuinely entertaining. He bared a striking similarity to David Tenet. 

The amount of detail for each home exterior is amazing. Even more detail was present in the Hobbit home interior that we also toured.

After the Hobbiton tour and return to our transport back to Auckland, we had one additional stop at the reservoir on Waikato River. Unfortunately, the ride back to Auckland was with that same know-it-all, but overall, the adventure was great!

 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Db1JxYTINd3/?img_index=1

Type 8 traversing Notable Stellar Phenomenon

 

Flying my Type 8 through a deep red hued cloud with exobiological lifeforms at a Notable Stellar Phenomena in Elite Dangerous. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbo0eirDrAf/?img_index=1

Taking out the new Nomad to break it in

 

Video: Brand new in Elite Dangerous, my Nomad landed on the slop of a moon's crater with the casted shadow of a Caspian in the background! Music "Cloud View" by Matthew Lorono. Image: Exploring Sanguineous Rim.

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DaVU2UIHKQZ/ & https://www.instagram.com/p/DaO8y6_OUUA/