Decency and Sanity

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.

It’s the little things people do for others. Across from the Anacortes side of the Guemes Channel Ferry. #PNW

When ya been doing’ physical comedy on stage since childhood, yer gonna be able to pull off some phenomenal stunts on camera. From Buster Keaton’s silent film The Goat.

Anyone who remembers Bugs Bunny with Christopher Columbus will recognize this gag from Chaplin’s silent film, The Immigrant:

*sniff*

The Bonesetter’s Daughter.

“But there are none so frightened, or strange in their fears, as conquerors. They conjure phantoms endlessly, terrified that their victims will someday do back what was done to them […] Conquerors live in dread of the day when they are shown to be, not superior, but simply lucky.”

Kant wrote: “Have the courage to trust your own intellect.” Through the years, I’ve realized that he gave way too many people far too much credit. And if Nietzsche truly believed his rhetoric espousing nihilism, why’d he bother writing any of it down?

Still the greatest buddy movie ever made.

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

The “pub trivia question” that I challenge aquarium visitors with is: “how many tentacles does an octopus have?” Only a few have gotten it right. I’ll then explain the difference between arm and tentacle; citing cuttlefish and squid as having both.

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.

#StandUpForScience #MakeScienceGreatAgain #science

My approach to public engagement of #science. Wrap the science in a joke. It makes your audience relax, and creates a positive emotional response. Which helps them retain the information. If you can’t come up with a good fart joke or Uranus pun, yer just not tryin’. #scicomm #ScienceCommunication

If I wasn’t assigned to a particular activity or exhibit area, I’d often hang out around our Naked Mole Rat colony just cuz they were just so much fun to talk about with guests.

Booth next to where my wife is doing her brain info gig at a local Farmers’ Market is selling these rocks. Of course, she knows I have an affinity for puffins. As much as I appreciated it, when she gave me the bag, I couldn’t resist doing the line from Charlie Brown: “I got a rock.”

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.

Only sociopaths and sadists could perceive decency and empathy as “radical.”

We got a new octopus! This is Henry, a Pacific Ruby octopus -about 6in long- who was collected by students from Walla Walla University working at Rosario Beach in Deception Pass state park. #PNW #MarineLife #Anacortes

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

Gowllery #watercolor #owls

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”:

Marine invertebrates with more of a spine than Republicans. #MarineLife #PNW

This one time at biotech camp, we grafted the allele of an owl into the genome of a female goat. It was a real hootenanny.

Salish Sea sunset from Washington Park in Anacortes.

Had the only job where I could say that I shared a roach with some schoolkids, and no one called the cops.

Been knocking’ myself out with an outside DIY project the last several days. So, today I decided to just loaf around. #HomeBakerHumor

#vaccines #ClimateChange #science #NOAA #NWS #NIH #EPA #CDC #FDA #RFKJr #WarOnScience

One of my favorite things about working at Pacific Science Center during the summer was this: a bike that rode on a 3 inch wide loop, 30ft off of the ground, balanced by a counterweight of sufficient mass at a sufficient distance. For those who claim that faith is stronger than #science , I say:

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.

Working under our deck today, and this little guy was watching from just a few feet away, the entire time. Didn’t offer any help, though. He coulda at least done some measuring. #PNW #snakes

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.

Yeehaawwww!!! Seastar doin’a Slim Pickins impression. (or, an impression of Steve Buscemi in Armageddon doing a Slim Pickens impression) #MarineInvertabrates #PNW #MarineLife

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 my #volcanoes demo, I had to figure out how to talk about their awesome destructive power without freaking little kids out over our being surrounded by them. So, I’d wrap up by emphasizing what volcanoes give us: water, oxygen, metals, soil for growing food… … but more importantly, for coffee.

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

Tramp stamp #CharlieChaplin #SilentFilms

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