Is our Earth a perfect sphere?

I’m sure there are lots of arguments whether our planet is flat (!!!) or if it’s really a sphere. Well, it turns out that Earth is more compressed at the poles and bulges at the equator. Overall, because of different mass distribution, our planet is not a perfect shape but from far, it is quite spherical.

Is #Earth a perfect #sphere? No. https://t.co/7NwJ1AotP6

— IonBuck (@IonBuck) August 31, 2019

Embrace Every Drop of Water

Water is a very important resource that was once available in abundance but now becomes less accessible. Pollution renders water useless. Embrace water now! Stop the pollution!

Green "Tracks"

A post shared by Adrian Tan (@ionbuck) on Aug 6, 2017 at 4:16am PDT

My first real macro and it's a bud

Finally managed to get one of those cheap cost effective add-on lens and took my first macro with a macro lens. It's part of a wide-angle lens where you unscrew the front element and it becomes macro. The lens pair cost RM38 and I got it from Typo. This one comes with a clip mechanism so it's independent of any phone cases.

And it's with this that I realised how difficult it is to take macro photos. Any slight movement would make the whole photo either blurry or out of focus. =.="

A post shared by Adrian Tan (@ionbuck) on Apr 24, 2017 at 4:19am PDT

Crocodiles, Alligators and now... Caimans

I used to be confused between crocodiles and alligators. My life gets more confusing now that I learn of caimans.

@stevewinterphoto  I am working on a @natgeo Jaguar story in the Pantanal of Brazil. Here is a male I named Scarface, as his lip is split on his left side - probably kicked by a buffalo. Here he has grabbed a black caiman - the #1 food source of Jaguars here in the north of the Pantanal. This caiman is at least 9 feet or 3 meters long!!! Jaguars are the 3rd largest of the big cats. Found from US / Mexico border to northern Argentina. Jaguars have rebounded in this area where 95% of the land is privately owned. In the past many ranchers would kill the cats when they ate their cattle. Today in this area tourism brings in much more money to the local economy than cattle ranching. So the jaguar population is increasing. But revenge killings of jaguars happen close to this area and all throughout the jaguars range. Also poaching for skins, bones and teeth is growing for the first time since the 1970’s to feed the demand for Asian Traditional Medicine and luxury items from endangered species. “Stop the demand and the killing can too.” @wildaid My first story with big cats was the 1st @natgeo Jaguar story 20 years ago! It has changed my life working with the magical and magnificent cats of the world. Animals have emotions just like we have - they need to eat - we go to the restaurant of supermarket - well the rivers are the jaguars supermarkets, , jaguars mate and have young cubs, moms play with their kids, their cubs which stay close to mom until they are about 2 years old.  50% of our oxygen and 75% of our fresh water comes from grasslands and forests, the homes of big cats.  So if - We Save Big Cats we can help Save Ourselves.  Please visit CauseAnUproar.org to find out other ways to become involved to save big cats! #follow me @stevewinterphoto to see more images from my work with @natgeo and Thanks!! @stevewinterphoto @natgeo  @nglive #nglive #natgeochannel @natgeochannel @natgeowild #natgeowild  @thephotosociety #NGcreative @natgeocreative  #fursforlife #wildlifeconservation #wildlifephotojournalism #BCI #bigcatsintiative  #startwith1thing @projetooncafari @refugioecologicocaiman @pantheracats @pantanalsafaris

A photo posted by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Oct 10, 2016 at 5:32am PDT

Gold Fish, Gold Fish

Inspired by this article about very evil pet owners dumping their gold fishes into rivers after they grew tired of these lovely and joyful creatures. DON'T THROW YOUR FISHES INTO RIVERS OR THEY WILL GROW BIG AND COME BACK TO EAT YOU!

Mystic Morning Tree

This tree appeared to be magical to me and flickr's tender filter further enhances it. Only seen it because I was doing the graveyard shift that day. Morning sun is a rare thing for me. If I have the choice I would be still in bed.

The Mighty Frangipani

I've always wanted to take this photo every time I walk under a kemboja tree and finally I did it today.  One of these days I'll snap one with clear blue skies.

A photo posted by @ionbuck on Mar 22, 2016 at 6:22am PDT

Skylight Time-Lapse

Feast your eyes on some awesome skylight time-lapse.

via TreeHugger.

Cyborg Plants

If you think the Terminator days are still far away or even just pure fiction, think again. It's all happening, just that not the way depicted in the movies...

first, the the researchers introduce a synthetic polymer called PEDOT-S into the rose through its stem. The plant sucks up the polymer using the same vascular system (xylem) that transports water. Once inside xylem channels, the polymer self-assembles into an “wire” that conducts electrical signals, while still allowing water and nutrients to move around. By connecting these wires with naturally-occurring electrolytes in the plant’s tissue, the researchers are able to create an electrochemical transistor, as well as a digital logic gate, a basic component of computer systems.

Every story has a beginning...

via Gizmodo.

Leaves of a Palm

A couple of days ago, while roaming around at a site, I came across some palms so I took a photo. Only just now I revisited it with Instagram and did some rotation, cropped and applied the Skyline filter. My first intention was to have a straight up vertical photo of the leaves but I did something like that in B&W with some other leaf recently so, yeah, I thought this would look nice, too.

Rust in the Sky

Even the sky can get rusty sometimes. Taken while traveling on the highway.

Nature Balances Itself

I believe that nature will always try to balance out life on earth and I've got two evidence that I found at the same area on the same day. One is vegetation will grow on gutters... well, that's most probably when it was clogged up. Second one is vegetation growing out of a man made structure.

Nature rules!

A photo posted by @ionbuck on Aug 18, 2015 at 6:22am PDT

It's a Leaf

Didn't know this big leaf texture can look so interesting when cropped in the 16:9 ratio. Converting to B&W using the "pigeon" filter together with the "magic wand" in the flickr app made it look even better.

Ant: Hi, it's me again

This photo was taken a few minutes after this but I don't suppose it's the same ant even though they all seem to look alike... by the way, it's interesting to note that the lines on the backlit leaf became more defined when I tried Instagram's "Structure" function. The lines that I would otherwise never know existed became visible as I move the slider to the right but trying not to over do it, I left it at 25.

A photo posted by @ionbuck on May 29, 2015 at 7:16am PDT

Imperfect leaves or is life's like that - there will always be spots here and there?

Everyday I pass by these plants I wonder what's with the spots on the leaves. Cellulose? Maybe not. I don't know. I've forgotten and swept my science lessons under the bed a long time ago. Any help?

A Hibiscus and its Reproductive Organs

Here you go, a macro shot of the hibiscus' reproductive organ where both male and female parts are. It's not easy to focus this close with the iPhone. Took me lots of attempts. Wonder if the iPhone 6 (Plus) are any better.

Confusion

It was a bad Monday and this photo pretty much sums up how confusing and "noisy" the day was.

A photo posted by @ionbuck on Apr 27, 2015 at 7:48am PDT

Panda Goodness: Xin Xin's falling

@natgeo continues with more panda goodness on their Instagram:

Video by @amivitale #onassignment for @natgeo. Watch as a panda named Sen Sen pushes Xin Xin out of a tree at the Gengda Giant Panda base that is part of the Wolong Natural Reserve and China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. #panda #ipanda #pandacub #giantpanda #wolong #sichuan #china #natureispeaking #nikon #nikonambassador #nikonnofilter #amivitale #photojournalism @ipandacam @natgeocreative @thephotosociety @nikonusa

A video posted by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Apr 24, 2015 at 2:41pm PDT

Top of the bird's nest fern

I had always wanted to take a photo of the bird's nest fern from the top but never got to it. Who knows the opportunity came about when I was about to finish my last appointment of the day which I was not too enthusiastic about.

A photo posted by @ionbuck on Apr 16, 2015 at 7:59am PDT