Thousands and thousands of cancelled flights is apparently economically Bad. Am I totally insane for seeing any possible positive side-effects of millions of tonnes of kerosene not being burned in the stratosphere? Am I an out-of-touch boomer for still talking about climate change?

When discussing pregnancy/newborn vaccines we had a nurse say (defensively) "of course it's up to you and you can do your own research" and I wanted to explain that I really couldn't because I'm not a pharmacologist.

Blessed Bealtainn all 🔥 We made it to summer – may it be a fruitful one.

Not to be a naysayer, but this is very clearly many tiramisus next to each other.

Sitting in departures knowing I have at least 45 minutes to have a slightly disappointing coffee and almond croissant while reading my book brings me a certain type of calm I never experience anywhere else.

Recreate your own Artemis splashdown with three Tunnocks teacakes and a Nespresso pod

We've build such a stupid clunky world for ourselves.

I'm always pretty fucked the Monday after the clocks go forward. Tomorrow I return to work after three weeks of paternity leave during which time has been just a social construct, man.

Starting to realise that until recently, my own AI-scepticism has invoked a certain smugness. That has gone, replaced with a deep forboding dread.

explaining to americans that they've destroyed the only habitable planet in the universe: ok imagine a trillion dollars...

Wishing all my Northern Hemisphere friends light and rejuvenation as the sun crosses the equator this vernal equinox. We made it through the darkness! ☀️🌱

Yes! Do it! Bore through the Great Glen Fault! It would be geologically fascinating! And geomechanically inadvisable.

Really disappointed that the BGS identified this as a crinoid, and didn't tell the press "Oh yeah, that's a Biter. They increase in numbers during times of great peril."

This is sort of horrifying, but in the way that I know I will never ever end up in that situation because I have a fairly well-calibrated self-preservation instinct.

In which I spread the good word of peralkaline igneous petrology to the New World, and finally get an American news corporation to print fun facts about aenigmatite. 🥌

My blog post on Ailsa Craig, curling stones, and the weird minerals that make this rock unique. 🥌

Really cool video on curling and curling stones that I provided some info for. 🥌

Olympic curling has to be the sporting highlight of the Scottish geological calendar. 🥌 All the stones come from Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde. The distinctive black spots are (mostly) the very weird and rare amphibole arfvedsonite. #ThinSectionThursday

Clickbait YouTuber Reaction Thumbnail starter pack.

One for my geology [ex-]colleagues. Left hand: shortbread made by a retired industrial chemist. Right hand: Millstone grit, probably from the Grassington grit or Upper Howgate Edge grit formation. The photographer (another geologist) was entertained by the similar appearance.

One of the most important things about sandgate is the proof that GeoSky has the juice.

I was off the day they did order of operations in Maths and to this day I have no idea what BODMAS stands for.

If you have whisky sauce with haggis you're a tourist, sorry I don't make the rules. Real ones know it's ketchup or nothing.

Delightful old sign revealed on the road to Loch Katrine, a main reservoir for Glasgow since 1859. Imagine a world where people were throwing away so much money there was a risk of mass copper poisoning.

Peridotite from 700m up the side of Sgùrr Alasdair in the Black Cuillin of Skye. Someone went to a LOT of trouble to get this back to the truck. From NMS collection #thinsectionthursday

describing oysters as being 'planted' does seem a little disrespectful somehow

Wrong and obscene. Everyone knows garnet is square and black, not triangle and colours. Perverse.

new carnyx just dropped

Maybe not the biggest problem in the world, but definitely top ten. My almost-year-long NYT crossword streak is over because a basic puzzle app can no longer run on a perfectly functional seven-year-old phone.

This ancient living fossil is more closely related to Nigel Farage than to other fish. (actually true)

For #MineralMonday, the vanishingly rare and delightfully named* clinojimthomsponite. A very weird triple-chain silicate from Achmelvich, Sutherland. *named for James Thompson, but there was already a thomsonite, so they called it jimthompsonite, and this is the monoclinic polymorph

A blessed solstice to you all. What better way to celebrate a festival of the hearth than by rebuilding one. A reminder that light and warmth always return.

And so the sun sets at its earliest time this winter. From now the evenings start getting lighter again. 🌅

Can’t quite put my finger on why this is a perfect photo. The neon lights in the background and the guy being on his phone are important, but there’s something else.

"The tribunal clarified that it is not unlawful for a trans person to use facilities aligning with their gender identity" Worth reading given how badly the majority of media reports have spun this case as some kind of victory or vindication for anti-trans side.

Begging people to stop calling this a wobbegong. Wobbegongs are rad, but this is a picture of a goosefish, a type of angler fish (all of which are also rad).

New self-imposed rule: Buy your top 5 Spotify Wrapped albums on physical media. If you've listened to Deftones that much in a year, you owe them thirteen quid.

You’re never truly alone when you contain multitudes.

In Madeline Miller's Circe, an object is described as being made of mahogany, causing a discussion about whether or not the gods of the Greek pantheon knew about the Americas.

"An extraordinary discovery? At this time of year, in this part of the country, localised entirely within a famous Neolithic site?" "Yes!" "May I see it?" "...No."

Beautiful mineral. The name comes from Greek for 'bad guest' because its presence in iron ore would ruin the quality of the iron.

Good heavens what a sentence. The things some people can do with the 26 English letters.

In this world of generative slop, photos like this feel like a genuine act of resistance.

Ptygmatic. Good geology word.

Today is #RLSDay which marks the birthday of the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson who would have been 175 today. It's also a good day to remember that it is NOT actually his birthday because in 1891 he gave it away to a young girl because she didn't like her birthday. 🧵

I collected this specimen of the Arran granite intruding the Dalradian schists ten years ago, and finally got round to cutting it. Really happy with how it’s come out. Half going to National Museum, half to Arran Geopark.

Not hugely into the modern custom of performative remembrance, but the ferry I’m on marking the hour of armistice with the foghorn was pretty cool.

A pilgrimage I have not made for many years – Hutton’s Unconformity at Lochranza, Arran. The site where Hutton could finally prove the earth was unimaginably ancient. A place of deep history in every way.

I am the only person staying in a closed-for-the-winter field centre, next to a graveyard, in the darkest village in Britain. And this is the book I have chosen for my evening entertainment. How delightfully gothic.

Excellent thread, from one of the main Countryside Guys.