How to Color Your Map Using SCIENCE!

Sketching out a map for a setting can be a lot of fun. Drawing a map gives you a bird’s-eye view of the world, a way to spatially organize plot arcs, and can be a great piece of artwork in its own right. But like most works of fiction, the creator should remember to keep it as believable as possible. This might be less important or less possible for unrecognizably alien worlds. Maps of Earth-like settings, however, can benefit from following some basic rules. Forests, tundras, deserts and plains don’t appear arbitrarily. These biomes are located where they are on Earth due to the way air and water circulate in the atmosphere – and any Earth-like world should follow the same basic rules for its atmosphere that Earth does.

But who wants to spend time researching atmospheric science just to know which parts of their map to color green, brown, or beige? Well, I do, so let me save you some trouble by relaying what I’ve learned.

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Today we made a smoothie with:

1 cup Brown Cow vanilla yogurt
about 1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh seedless watermelon chunks
about 2/3 cup frozen strawberries
1 teaspoon lime juice

The result is bright pink and on the thin side, with a notable watermelon flavor.  I think next time I'll add a frozen banana. 

Based on an audience poll, these are the Poetry Fishbowl themes for late 2025:

July 1 -- Weaponized Incompetence and Malicious Compliance
August 5 -- Books and Learning
September 2 -- Communication Styles
October 7 -- Witches and Wizards
November 4 -- Fairies and Fey
December 2 -- Sentient and Self-Aware Machines

Please mark your calendars, and I hope to see you then!

I found this protest sign amusing.

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills the "support" square in my 6-2-25 card for the Pride Fest Bingo. It is posted as a gift to Anthony Barrette for Father's Day.  This is the last of that batch.  Check the Poem tag to see the others; it's a batch of 6 total, all with that red gift icon.  \o/


"Fatherhood Is Support"


Fatherhood is
more than just DNA,
more than just being
married to a mother.

Fatherhood is
about support.

It's a treetrunk leg
for a baby to cling to,
strong arms tossing
a toddler into the air.

It's a hand on the back
of the bicycle right after
the training wheels come off --
and knowing when to let go.

It's clapping at recitals,
at school plays, at all
of the sporting events
or other performances.

It's a calm voice from
the passenger seat
while learning to drive.

It's paying for college
and going to graduation.

It's the everyday words
that become an inner voice,
heard and remembered,
absorbed and echoed:

I knew you could do it.

This poem was written as part of fishbowl week in July 2024, based on a conversation with a_natural_beauty. It is posted as a gift to Anthony Barrette for Father's Day.

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Today is partly sunny, mild, and humid.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I finished building the chimney for the core of the new bonfire.

I heard a squirrel chattering in the trees but didn't see it.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- Out of 6 yellow wild indigo pots, 4 sprouted, 3 of them with 2 seedlings.  I planted these in the house yard under the contorta willow, apricot tree, golden rain tree, and barrel garden.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- Out of 6 blue wild indigo pots, 4 sprouted, some may have had 2 seedlings but it's hard to tell.  I planted these in the house yard under the maple tree, purple-and-white garden, and two ends of the log garden.  I've gotten plenty of seedlings from this species, but so far nothing has bloomed so I don't know if any actually survived in the ground.

The snowball bush is opening its pannicles.  :D  There are three heads.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I watered the newly planted things.

Clover is already sprouting on the bare patch beside the garden shed.  Some of the chocolate cherry tomatoes have green fruit.

I've seen a skunk on the patio.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I gathered a trolley of sticks and dumped it in the firepit.

I've seen a catbird and a mourning dove.

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I gathered a trolley of sticks and dumped it in the firepit.

Fireflies are coming out.  :D

EDIT 6/15/25 -- I gathered a trolley of sticks and dumped it in the firepit.

Lots more fireflies are showing up.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.