Drill, Baby Drill...and Mom Drill, too! The Drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) - WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards from Cameroon.

"The drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) is a primate of the Cercopithecidae (Old-world Monkeys) family, closely related to the baboons and even more closely to the mandrill.

The drill is similar in appearance to the Mandrill, but lacks the colorful face. They are semi-terrestrial monkeys, exhibiting extreme sexual dimorphism with males weighing up to 45 kg (100 lbs) - three times the size of females. They are semi-nomadic seasonally and little is known of their behavior or ecology in the wild.

Drills are found only in Cross River State, Nigeria; South Western Cameroon; and on Bioko Island, part of Equatorial Guinea. Their entire world range is less than 40,000 km², smaller than Switzerland.

Drills are among Africa’s most endangered mammals, and are listed by the IUCN as the highest conservation priority of all African primates.^[2] Drill numbers have been declining in all known habitat areas for decades as a result of illegal commercial hunting, habitat destruction, and human development: as few as 3,000 drills may remain in the wild, the highest population estimate is 8,000. Drills have also been declining in zoos internationally."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drill_(mammal)

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You will find PINK zones, even on the black-faced Drill...:)

Happy Pink Saturday!

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}

Libya's Terrorism Option - read from STRATFOR. Also, somebody said that sometimes,"terrorism is the poor man's revenge", just like, sometimes, "rape is the ugly man's revenge". Sure, many exceptions apply. Also, a metaphoric image for a crowd that may resort to a terrifying stampede out of fear and anger. "Prosti, dar multi!" Never MISUNDERESTIMATE [that's a BUSHism] a crowd, which gets dangerous when desperate.

Libya's Terrorism Option

A metaphoric image for a crowd that may resort to a terrifying stampede out of fear and anger. 

"Prosti, dar multi!" 

Involuntary comedy, courtesy of translate.google.com, who believes it should translate the above quote like this:

Italian to English translation

"Prost, create multi!"========In fact, it should translate it from Romanian, into:"Stupid, but many!"That's a literary quote, meaning "yes, they are stupid, but they are many!" :)

Never MISUNDERESTIMATE [that's a BUSHism] a crowd, which gets dangerous when desperate.

Libya, the West and the Narrative of Democracy | STRATFOR. Also, a vintage B-24 bomber maximum card.

Libya, the West and the Narrative of Democracy | STRATFOR

Speaking about bombers, here's a maximum card about the WWII bomber B-24.
Notice the superb quality of the ink, in this case, that did NOT smear or smudge on the glossy postcard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-24

My fellow Americans: ask what VARIOUS news media outlets can do for you. "International forces bombard targets in Libya" - Africa - Al Jazeera English. Also, "The Libyan War of 2011" from STRATFOR. Also, "resting in a hollow scraped out in the sand": The Rhim Gazelle (Gazella leptoceros), also known as the Slender-horned Gazelle or the Sand Gazelle. WWF maxicards from Libya!

International forces bombard targets in Libya - Africa - Al Jazeera English

http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20110319-libyan-war-2011?utm_source=SpecialReport&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=110319a&utm_content=readmore&elq=1621940155e343128d7d68bfd40afe8a

"The Rhim Gazelle (Gazella leptoceros), also known as the Slender-horned Gazelle or the Sand Gazelle, is a slender-horned gazelle, most adapted to desert life. There are fewer than 2500 in wild."

"The palest of the gazelles, this animal has adapted to desert life in many ways. Their pale coat reflects the sun's rays instead of absorbing them, and their hooves are slightly enlarged to help them walk on the sand, although occasionally they occupy stony regions. The horns on the male are slender and slightly S-shaped, and the horns donned by the female are even thinner and lighter, and they don't curve as drastically."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender-horned_Gazelle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya

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Happy Sunday Stamps meme!

Please visit: http://viridianpostcard.blogspot.com/

The proposed theme for March 20 is anything Irish, or green...

Well, here's the funny, true story of a high school student from Romania who knew "all about ants", and "nothing about anything else", for an upcoming written biology exam.

The subject given at the exam was PACHIDERMS.

Another student whispered to him "that's about elephants!".

Dumbfounded, our student started to wing it:

"The elephant is an animal with, uh, four legs...two ears...and... uh, two eyes.

Ah! The eyes are very good!

With his eyes, the elephant sees...THE ANTS!!!

Now, as far as the ants are concerned...."

And then he spilled ALL  his expertise about ants...:)

Here, as a GREEN element for this meme, I'll say that Sahara was once a green place, with luxuriant vegetation, according to some experts.

Now, as far as Sahara is concerned, one of the animal species that lives there is...the one shown above! :)

Not a true spider, but a true swinger: Geoffroy's Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) also known as Black-handed Spider Monkey. WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards from Honduras. Postmark says Tegucigalpa.

"Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, Ateles geoffroyi, also known as Black-handed Spider Monkey,[3] is a species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central America, parts of Mexico and possibly a small portion of Colombia. There are at least five subspecies. Some primatologists classify the Black-headed Spider Monkey, A. fusciceps, found in Panama, Colombia and Ecuador as the same species as Geoffroy's Spider Monkey.
It is one of the largest New World monkeys, often weighing as much as 9 kilograms. Its arms are significantly longer than its legs, and it has a prehensile tail that can support the entire weight of the monkey and that is used as an extra limb. Its hands have only a vestigial thumb, but long, strong hook-like fingers. These adaptations allow the monkey to move by swinging by its arms beneath the tree branches."

"females are sometimes mistaken for males by human observers.<sup>[15]"


"Although they do not use tools, spider monkeys, including Geoffroy's Spider Monkey, are regarded as intelligent primates. 


A study performed in 2007 concluded that spider monkeys were the third most intelligent non-human primate, behind only orang-utans and chimpanzees, and ahead of gorillas and all other monkeys.[22] 


This mental capacity may be an adaptation to spider monkeys' frugivorous diets, which require them to be able to identify and memorize many different types of foods and their locations.[23]"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffroy%27s_Spider_Monkey</sup>

A pink element in the above picture would be the lips/mouth of the baby monkey in the lower-left image, I guess. :)

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Happy Pink Saturday!

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}

What mammal has the most colorful face in the world? The world's largest species of monkey: The Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx). WWF maximum cards / maxicards / dorincards about Equatorial Guinea.

What mammal has the most colorful face in the world? 
Besides some Hollywood "queens", "drag queens" and "whatnot"?
Not a Drill Sergeant.

"The mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) is a primate of the Cercopithecidae (Old-world monkeys) family,[3] closely related to the baboons and even more closely to the Drill.
Both the mandrill and the drill were once classified as baboons in genus Papio, but recent research has determined that they should be separated into their own genus, Mandrillus.[3]
The mandrill is the world's largest species of monkey."

Unlike the humans:
"The mandrill is recognized by its olive-colored fur and the colorful face and rump of males, a coloration that grows stronger with sexual maturity; females have duller colours. 
This coloration becomes more pronounced as the monkey becomes excited and is likely to be an example of sexual selection. 
The coloration on the rump is thought to enhance visibility in the thick vegetation of the rainforest and aids in group movement."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrill

Seeing is believing.

Image is everything.

What you see is what you get.

Show me the [money?].

Look at the upper right maximum card: notice that the face is NOT the only body part that is brightly colored.

Also, notice the huge canine teeth!

There have been documented cases when a coordinated gang of several muscular males have had enough testosterone-induced courage, aggressivity and stamina to counterattack and kill a powerful leopard!

Eat it, too, while they were at it.

The trick is that they attacked simultaneously, not just one at a time.

"One-at-a-time Attack Rule

Ebert also refers to the One-at-a-time Attack Rule "In any situation where the hero is alone, surrounded by dozens of bad guys, they will always obligingly attack one at a time."^[1] This can traditionally be observed in many martial arts movies. During a typical fight, the hero will engage against one opponent. Upon knocking that man out, another will attack. The surplus enemies will circle the fighting pair striking fearsome poses, indicating willingness to fight at a second's notice, yet be unwilling to help the current aggressor attack the hero. The real world reason for this is that if the hero is simultaneously swarmed on all sides by enemies, it becomes difficult for the film director to frame the fight scene while still having an unobstructed shot of the action."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_Evil_Marksmanship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_guinea

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

YOU (yes, YOU, my reader here and now) should have started your personal contingency plan long ago! Anyway, here are some good ideas for you to implement now, before your next emergency strikes. Read:Taming Chaos with a Personal Plan | STRATFOR. Also, I show you a nice Boy Scouts maximum card / maxicard / dorincard from my good friend Terry (USA).

Please read, think about it, and DO something about it.
It may save your life, and the lives of significant others around you, even as far as some "dear, dear friend in Argentina", or something.
[Governor, you know who you are.]

Do you have scouting experience and skills, to survive off-road, in the wilderness, if necessary?
You better learn a thing or two. Or more.

Taming Chaos with a Personal Plan | STRATFOR

Pink (s)lip service and a true conch: The Queen Conch (Lobatus gigas). WWF maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards about Nevis.

What exactly is "a true conch"?

That's NOT a good question.

Why?

Because "The term true conchs, being a common name, does not have an exact meaning. It may refer generally to any of the Strombidae^[1] but sometimes is used more specifically to include onlyStrombus and Lambis^[2] or just Strombus itself.^[3]"

^?

^Anyway.

"Lobatus gigas, commonly known as the queen conch, is a species of edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family of true conchs, the Strombidae. This species is one of the largest mollusks native to the Tropical Northwestern Atlantic, from Bermuda to Brazil, reaching up to 35.2 cm (13.9 in) in shell length.

The queen conch is herbivorous and lives in seagrass beds, although the exact habitat varies during the different stages of its development. The adult animal has a very large, solid and heavy shell, with knob-like spines on the shoulder, a flared thick outer lip and a characteristic pink-colored aperture (opening). The flared lip is completely absent in younger specimens. The external anatomy of the soft parts of L. gigas is similar to that of other snails in the same family: it has a long snout, two eyestalks with well-developed eyes and additional sensory tentacles, a strong foot and a corneous sickle-shaped operculum."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eustrombus_gigas_01.jpg

What you see above it's just a shell "corporation".

Wanna see the corpore/corpus/soft body?

Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Strombus_gigas_Duclos_in_Chenu_1844_pl_1.jpg

A legitimate question is: what the...hell are those?

Can you handle the truth? Jack Nicholson said you can't!

Here:

"A drawing of an adult male Lobatus gigas (from Duclos in Chenu, 1844) showing the external soft parts including the spade-shaped penis on the left. Separate details show the mouth, and both sides of the claw-like operculum."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobatus_gigas

"Nevis (pronounced /ˈniːvɪs/) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west ofAntigua. The 93 km² island is part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. The capital of Nevis is Charlestown.

Nevis, along with Saint Kitts, forms the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The two islands are separated by a shallow two-mile (3.22 km) channel, known as "The Narrows". Nevis is conical in shape, with a volcanic peak, Nevis Peak, at its centre. The island is fringed on its western and northern quadrants by sandy beaches that are composed of a mixture of white coral sand with brown and black sand, eroded and washed down from the volcanic rocks that make up the island. The gently-sloping coastal plain (0.6 miles/1 km wide) has natural fresh-water springs, as well as non-potable volcanic hot springs, especially along the western coast."

"Alexander Hamilton, the statesman and one of the founding fathers of the United States, was born on Nevis around 1755, and spent a significant part of his childhood there. His father was a trader from Scotland, his mother was from Nevis. The place of his birth currently holds the Nevis Island Assembly Chambers and the Museum of Nevis History."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton

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Happy Pink Saturday!

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}

Happy International Women's Day (IWD)! Ruby Tuesday meme. Maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards from USA

Best wishes to all the women in the world! :)

Just like men, they have hormones like testosterone and estrogen, but in very different percentage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrogen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone

Besides, there are many notions and people in the middle ground between MALE and FEMALE:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex

Don't focus on "Season's Greetings"; focus on the red roses, for today's occasion, OK? :)

Yes, I used a white mailing label, coz I want the postmark to be visible.

Here, black on black means invisibility, get it? :)

"International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day is marked on March 8 every year.^[1] It is a major day of global celebration of women. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements.

Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc. In many regions, the day lost its political flavour, and became simply an occasion for men to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and St Valentine's Day. In other regions, however, the original political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women's_Day

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/