You will be visited by 3 spirits…

Well written and well acted. Clifton Webb got the more acerbic lines, and delivered them with just the right amount of sass. Only problem was getting past Vincent Price trying to fake a Kentucky drawl. #ClassicFilm #FilmNoir

Years before I had kids, I picked this up in a close-out sale of a B. Dalton’s When my girls were little, I would put in a CD with “Imagine” on it. We’d follow the lyrics with book. So, my daughters would get a bedtime story read to them by #JohnLennon

Time to take this %&$@ing sign down. #Anacortes #PNW

Gemini constellation w Mars and orca. #watercolor #astronomy

Smiling even when a good part of your life is sucking. Spiny Lumpsucker showing off his common nomenclature by attaching to the glass. Like the base of sea anemones, lumpsuckers have a spot on their tummies that they can “mold” around a surface to achieve the adhesive. #MarineLife #science #PNW

Pegasus constellation (w little bitty Andromeda galaxy upper left) over alpenglow. #watercolor #astronomy

Off to hang out with marine invertebrates that show more spine, and morals, than any Republican. When I tell visitors how the “eyes” of a seastar can only tell the difference between light and dark, gonna add how they still see what’s going on around them better than the Republican Speaker.

When Force Awakens, and when Star Trek, premiered in the IMAX at Pacific Science Center,we were assigned to “edutain” guests in line (for hours) with hand-held #science activities. #StarTrek fans were eager to engage about astronomy, astrobiology and exoplanets. #StarWars fans were just annoyed.

Piddlin’ around with mixed media: #watercolor gouache and pencil. Might add an owl, a raccoon and/or a Sasquatch.

Off to hang out with marine invertebrates that show more spine, and morals, than any Republican. When I tell visitors how the “eyes” of a seastar can only tell the difference between light and dark, gonna add how they still see what’s going on around them better than the Republican Speaker.

Sunset from Guemes Channel trail. #Anacortes #PNW

Millie has suddenly become fascinated with the Blue Herons at the Cap Sante Marina. Despite having walked along waterways and wetlands for years. These things so clearly evolved from dinosaurs. #DogsOfBluesky #Anacortes

Doing public engagement of #science in nonprofit venues, I tend to be a little more subtle. The time for being subtle has long since passed. I’ll be keeping the decal I just affixed to my water bottle conspicuously placed while at the aquarium today, as well as its original message for #vaccines.

Millie is hoping we can make the most of these coming weeks, as daylight hours decrease while muddy trails with slick rocks become more frequent. #DogsOfBluesky #GoldenRetriever

Moon snails create their egg casings by swallowing sand, then extruding the eggs in a mixture bound by mucus. So, I’d wait until the kids at our faux tide pool had handled them for a few minutes before informing them that they were holding a lump of sand, eggs and butt snot. #PNW #marinelife

Our local volcano, Mt Baker, behind the wooden hulk of the +100y/o Le Merced, that’s been used as a breakwater for so long, there are mature trees growing from its deck. Guemes Channel Trail Anacortes

Months of looking while walking our dog on the trails, weeks of hearing a fledgling Horned Owl calling out, and tonight, this Barred #owl is right above our mailboxes.

Lessons from Captain America:

Damn. Just finished the 3rd book of NK Jemison’s Broken Earth trilogy. Which I dove into right after finishing her Inheritance trilogy. The awards are justified. Gonna feel odd reading someone else, as I’ve been reading her work almost exclusively since the 1st week of June.

A book that should actually be required in public schools.

Rock hounding with Millie. Took the back trail from the marina to Upper Cap Sante. #DogsOfBluesky #GoldenRetriever #Anacortes

Science makes intellectually insecure people feel bad.

Because other celestial objects are moving too, it’s easy to forget that as our planets and moons revolve around the sun, it’s moving around the core of a galaxy that’s moving “outward.” This is the problem with stories in which they travel in *time only* : Earth wasn’t “here” 10 minutes ago.

Because other celestial objects are moving too, it’s easy to forget that as our planets and moons revolve around the sun, it’s moving around the core of a galaxy that’s moving “outward.” This is the problem with stories in which they travel in *time only* : Earth wasn’t “here” 10 minutes ago.

Gee. Wonder what visitors to our little Padilla Bay aquarium are gonna wanna talk about today as they pet the #seastars ? Coupling this with the study that showed sea stars in colder waters can stave off infection better, it’s still a vehicle to talk about #ClimateChange affecting #PNW #MarineLife.

Millie is more interested in looking for chipmunks and squirrels in the more wooded parts of Washington Park, than the view from Burrows Pass overlook. #PNW #Anacortes #DogsOfBluesky #GoldenRetriever

Another magnificent exhibit at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA. The oils rendered by Drie Chapek have a subtext of flowing streams and little waterfalls, while the other pieces definitely appeal to my geonerd side.

Recommended to me by the aquarium manager. It’s interesting, informative and just acerbic enough to be entertaining without being annoyingly flippant. Everything that public engagement of science should be, and what I strive for in my own #scicomm style. #science #MarineLife

Damn I needed that! Kinda slow at the aquarium, the 1st hour. Then it picked up for a good 2 1/2 hours. Adults were as enthusiastic and engaging as the kids about #PNW #MarineLife. As well, they were receptive to my comments about the political impact on #science. Wore this as my “uniform”:

Had to wait for a relatively cloudless day across the Pacific before using the “draw” feature to write this on our #Science on a *Sphere*. #FlatEarth is the best example of how #antiscience is just intellectually insecure adults being childishly contrarian to experts.

One of the best things about doing informal #science education on the West Coast, advocating #vaccines and defending the evidence for #ClimateChange, is how it’s a big ‘ol “fuck you” to West Coasters who would, otherwise, just see a +50 White male with a Southern drawl, and assume I’m a MAGAt.

I remember when we were headed in this direction. Words are only as “offensive” as you allow them to be. Problem is that now we have too many people looking for excuses to be “offended” so that they can pretend that they’re morally superior.

In these times of chaos and uncertainty, the last decade has shown us that there are 2 things we can be sure of: Republicans will do the worst possible thing against the American people, and “progressive” Zoomers will clear a path for them to do it because they didn’t get their way, right away.

Improv games are a necessary part of training for #science communicators who actually engage with the general public. However, there is no “yes, and” response to those who insist that “doctors are poisoning children with #vaccines”, that #ClimateChange is a hoax or that the Earth is flat.

Whole lotta people exploring the rocks of Rosario Beach, looking for cool critters while the tide is out. #PNW #Anacortes #DeceptionPass

Cross Big Charlie and you’ll be sleepin’ wid da finches. #science #evolution #Darwin

Closest I’ve come to leaving an imprint of my face in the trail: startled a duck and her young as we came around the bend. We were on a root-laden downward slope when Millie lunged at the movement. My wife screamed; she thought for sure I was going down. #DogsOfBluesky

“An organism at war with itself” is an accurate description of an autoimmune disorder. With an autoimmune disorder, what is supposed to protect us is turned against us and causing harm. Which makes it a perfect metaphor for living in the U.S., right now.

As of this weekend, I have volunteered 100 hours with Salish Sea Stewards, since May of last year. It’s been so fulfilling to engage with kids and adults about issues affecting our local marine ecosystem at the aquarium and at local festivals. #science #scicomm #environment

Woman with an immune compromised son once thanked me for having the bottom sticker on my car. Giving a damn about others is a trait #antivaxxers cannot comprehend. As someone living w partial hearing loss from #measles, I know that the #vaccines are safer than the diseases.

#Orca #Aurora #watercolor

Summer sunset from under the Deception Pass bridge. #PNW #Anacortes

While not the species of sea cucumber we have in our aquarium, this can still be a new, and relatable, talking point w visitors.

Millie was intrigued by the perch(?) darting around in the lake. Coupla years ago, we were standing on this platform, mid morning, when we noticed something fluttering towards us just about the surface of the water. Thought it was a butterfly. It was a little brown bat. #DogsOfBlueSky #DogDays

Strongly suspect we have a dinosaur in the park, camouflaged as a tree.

This shirt is a genetics joke. The 3 letters represent a sequence of mRNA molecules that tells the cell to stop assembling amino acids into a protein: a “stop” codon. Willing to bet that 96% of #antivaxxers screaming about mRNA #vaccines wouldn’t even recognize this.

With the weather getting warmer -and I’m referring to NW Washington state “warmer”; meaning in the mid-70’s- a major advantage of the nearby wooded trails is that there’s shade. And I’m now bringing Millie’s collapsible water bowl and bottle even on shorter walks, including in town. #DogsOfBluesky