Finally getting around to Andor. Noticed the Aztec Calendar made an appearance in S1Ep11

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

I’m just beginning to watch Andor. Is the ICE training to simply watch the show and emulate the bad guys?

I had no idea that NASA had a mission called BADASS! svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14944/

The International Space Station flying past Cassiopeia just now over Williamsburg Virginia. (Three 15s exposures, gaps while camera cycled) #Fujifilm X-M5, XF50mm F2.0

There goes my plan to convince Michael Phelps to give me one of his Olympic Gold Medals so I could boast about my swimming skills. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Is your New Years resolution to learn more about sharks? (Just kidding, I assume that's everyone's New Years resolution!) Good news! We are offering my online take-at-your-own-pace "Biology and Ecology of Sharks and Their Relatives" course again, starting in February! 🦑🧪🌍🦈

Good morning!

Polaris is not always the North Star. Due to Earth's precession, over the course of 26,000 years, Polaris, Alderamin, Vega, and Thuban take turns as the closest prominent star to the celestial pole.

Successful dinner. We were thinking of steak, but with beef so expensive I bought some double thick pork chops. Thinking of Peter Brady’s “pork chops and applesauce, I did a variation on a theme. Pork chops got a dry rub and sous vide, and made an apple cranberry onion mustard chutney. Yum.

This brought me joy to have in my otherwise very distressful feed today.

Woke up to a 22° lunar halo #Fujifilm X-M5 XF8-16mm

Friends, I am excited to announce that my Center for Wildlife Studies biology and ecology of sharks course went so well that we're already running it again! Class starts in February and you can sign up now. 🧪🦑🌍🦈

House Approps has released a pkg of FY2026 approps bills including CJS (NASA & NOAA). appropriations.house.gov/news/press-r...

Moonset

Moon and Jupiter (and Castor & Pollux) about to set over the Blue Ridge Mountains in the pre-dawn sky. #Fujifilm X-M5

Inside the Blue Ridge Tunnel #Fujifilm X-M5

At the Blue Ridge Tunnel

Inside the Blue Ridge Tunnel #Fujifilm X-M5

Nice lunar halo just now in Nellysford VA! @philplait.bsky.social go take a look if you’re up.

Tide predictions for 2026 in southeast Florida feature two primary peaks centered on the new and full moons on October 10 and 26. Note that tide predictions are only astronomical/climatological in nature, and do not account for actual weather or ocean conditions which can be significant. [1/3] 🌊🧪

A New Years Day hike to Lower Shamokin Falls near Nellysford VA #Fujifilm X-M5

Sunset

Quite the sundog just now on the leeward side of the Blue Ridge Mountains

It’s 2026 and it’s still the Gulf of Mexico, the Department of Defense, and the Kennedy Center.

Happy New Year to my fellow sky watchers.

Update: Here's the capture. @skycalpro.com First, high frame rate video using #Fujifilm X-M5 through Celestron 8" SCT

Update: Here's the capture. @skycalpro.com First, high frame rate video using #Fujifilm X-M5 through Celestron 8" SCT

@skycalpro.com, trying to determine the "truth" of an ISS Lunar Transit tonight. First, transit-finder.com shows me right in the path, with a pass at 11:29 pm (in shadow)

Ruin two bands by combining them: Carole King Crimson Electric Light Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark Fall Out Boyz II Men

There is some *really gross* homophobia / transphobia going on in many online spaces in reaction to the recent #StrangerThings episodes .... So stupid, honestly. Just let people enjoy the shows they like, and go about your day enjoying the shows you like. It's really not that hard!

If you put a lava lamp on your mantle, it becomes a magma lamp.

That privilege--the privilege to speak of your religious beliefs as certainties that are incontestable--is given to Christians alone in America. And anyone else knows this and tiptoes around it, reflexively. But what if we stopped doing that, like this guy did in North Dakota?

Decorated a few ginger bread cookies

For no apparent reason, I tried to make an Aussie meat pie. I’ll let you know how it is.

67 🤣🤣🤣

a lot of people don't realize that Christmas carols and traditions are actually folk memories of suppressed pre-Christian events, namely the end of the Third Age and the Fall of Sauron.

I got my Blundstone boots in 1998 when I visited Australia. Still going strong. Just got my daughter a pair for Christmas. If mine are any indication, she could still be wearing these in 2052!

@planetmoney.bsky.social The Planet Money Game made an excellent Christmas gift! I got a nice case that holds all the cards/pieces. One question: is the discard pile face up or down? It makes a difference when discarding from deals as it reveals or hides strategy. @explodingkittens.bsky.social

Random photo memory from an October trip to Iceland #Fujifilm X-M5

I'm finishing off a project and I need your help for part of it. If you do Indigenous Land Acknowledgements at your meetings, classes, or events - why do you do them? If you don't do them, or if they bother you in some way - why? Can you please share this and also let me know your views either way?

Can we talk about TV subtitles? For context, I’m a ~60yo with fine hearing, but tend to turn on closed captioning on TV just to help me catch a word or two. Here’s a few thoughts. 🧵 1/

How bad has 2025 been? We broke time.

Not surprised to see Bill Clinton images in the Epstein Files release, but kind of surprised to find Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Mick Jagger and Walter Cronkite.

The shark doctor is in! For the next two hours or so, ask me anything. Have questions about shark? About marine biology? About ocean conservation? About me? About...anything? Ask me anything! Please share, and tag friends who might have questions. #SciComm 🧪🦑🌎

I’ll make Lutnick an offer. If he pays me just $100k, I’ll increase his net worth by 100% and then only decrease it by 50%.

The fort at night Jamestown Settlement #Fujifilm X-T4

Lights at night and me with a camera. Winter Lantern Festival at Jamestown Settlement. #Fujifilm X-T4

If any journalist wants to talk to a trans man with a PhD in Human Genomics who was trained in labs that studied the evolution of sex, I'm right here Or just keep platforming Republicans who have a 5th grade understanding of biology so they get more trans people killed, sure 🤷🏻‍♂️