The "no wars" candidate wants the "Department of War." Imagine that.
Storm chaser. Volcano hunter. University Physics, Astronomy, & Earth Science Instructor. MS Physics/BS Astrophysics. Rockhounder & Mineral Collector. Raccoon whisperer. Allow me to share our planet's beauty with you. linktr.ee/spahn711
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The "no wars" candidate wants the "Department of War." Imagine that.
He's not bolder. He's who he has always been. He just lied and played nicer to get confirmed to his position.
If you vote against calcite this is what you're voting against.
From classic white and yellow To gray, hot pink, and green Calcite has variety The likes you've never seen From the massive single crystals To the glitter of a druse From flowers to stalactites You know the vote to choose #MinCup25 #MinPoem #Calcite
This is NOT A DRILL! It’s time to vote for THE BEST MINERAL… CALCITE!!! Thanks to its birefringence, under the name Icelandic spar, it made a critical contribution to our understanding of the wave nature of light! It even appears in the title of Christiaan Huygens ‘Treatise on Light’. ⚛️ #MinCup25
This cabinet solely wins #MinCup25 for Calcite. ⚒️ #Geology
#TeamCalcite always and forever. Here's a small taste of calcite's beauty with a look at my personal calcite collection.
Nobody who voted to confirm RFK is fit to hold public office
Every day, my earth science course has volcano live streams up on the big screen as students come into class. Almost always sparks at least one question or conversation. 🌋
Thanks, Greg!
This is Leslie Gulch.
Love to hear that! Shot you a lil DM. :)
Eastern Oregon is built different. #photography
Fresh Earth. #photography
Iceland. :)
Selfie from one of the most beautiful places on Earth. #photography
POV: It's the first time you've brushed your husky/malamute/wolf this week:
Here's a photo I took showing the layering at Studlagil. I'm thinking that the rock faces in that 4th photo are just weathered more?
I believe they are striations due to the fact that, during their formation, the cracks tend to progress in increments of centimeters at a time.
Haha I know. This is just for me personally. Haven't seen it so well done. 😍
This is Fagradalsfjall (Iceland, 2021).
God, I hate AI.
Thank you, my friend! 🌋
Thanks, Lori! 🌋
The creation of Earth itself. #photography
The atmosphere is quite humbling. #photography
Four years ago today, I experienced for hours the intense eyewall of Hurricane Ida. With sustained winds of 150 mph at landfall, it was tied as the strongest land falling storm in Louisiana history. First and probably last hurricane 'chase' for me.
Two legendary Sequoias of the Giant Forest: Chief Sequoia (left), the 9th largest tree in the grove and the 27th largest in the world, and 291-ft-tall McKinley (right), named after the 25th President of the United States.
Almost forgot! Happy #NationalDogDay to Chaser, the bestest boy and travel partner around. ❤️
Every time 😩
New doses of fascism every single day is pretty awful, ngl.
hah, thank you! If I have the time, I may be putting one together later this year for 2026. :)
That's from California's Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. :) bsky.app/profile/spah...
Position my camera on a tripod, set it to take a photo every few seconds, run into place, and pose!
I have 14 entries in next month's Oklahoma State Fair! This is my first time entering into any sort of photography competition. I'm a dumb idiot and forgot to take pictures of them before dropping them off today, so here's a collage with categories labeled instead:
Thanks, Tom! 🙏
Twisted Ancient. #photography A legendary ancient bristlecone pine of California's White Mountains. These trees are among the oldest in the living world, exceeding 4,000 years of age. A black and white edit only felt right with this one.
No kidding! And then I got up there and they looked so tiny 😭
It's amazing, isn't it? I don't know when I'll be back, but I can't wait for when I am. I could spend a lifetime there and it wouldn't be enough.
We've got swirly bois!
The latest eruption of Kilauea is underway, and she's shootin' sideways this time around! USGS live stream: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqmp...
Thanks, Mel! 😊
(to be clear, no, but I love this gif so)
🍻
Hiking those falls in the morning then seeing them from this perspective at Sunset blew my mind. The peace I felt here was hard let go of - I only left when it started to get dark and the bugs came out in force. Its no wonder why Yosemite captures the heart of nearly everyone who lays eyes upon it.
We started our minerals lecture in earth science today. To help keep it interesting, I do a ton of show and tell by bringing in a bunch of minerals from my personal collection. On the way out of class today, I heard a couple students refer to me as "rock jesus." 💀
More here: bsky.app/profile/spah...
Aerial view of Wallace Creek. 1000s of yrs ago, the creek flowed nearly in a straight line. However, it flows perpendicularly over the San Andreas Fault, which runs horizontally across the center, causing the creek to become displaced at a near perfect 90° angles. Evidence of plate motions!
Oklahoma does it again. Loving these backyard sunset views every night. 🙌✨
Between mist and the falls.
What a surprise.
P.S. you can view many of my photos over on Insta (I don't care if you don't use insta, you don't have to tell us). 👍 www.instagram.com/spahn711?igs...
🆗lahoma sunsets. 🤌
Chaser says hi.
Thank you, Katherine! 😊
🙏
Happy #WorldPhotographyDay! Mother nature is the true artist, I just try to be present to witness her work as often as possible. #photography
Sand & Snow & Storms.
Had a very successful first day of earth science! I had a couple students take the time to shake my hand and chat about tornadoes and volcanoes after class. Also got an email from one who was worried about how they'd do, but they said they now feel "much better" and are "stoked" for the class. 🤓🙌
Last time I was there, I overheard a lady telling her family that it was a giant ancient tree and I wanted to scream.
Devil's Tower do be towerin'.
I started teaching when I had just turned 23. I was practically the same age as my students! I'm now just over a decade into this professor thing and I've become all too aware of how weird it is to be the only one who's aging. I keep getting older, but my students remain the same age. Not a fan! 😅
One of the best examples there is! I love it there so much.
Oh, I can't wait. I already have numerous stops planned. 😅
Thank you! I'll happily take you up on that when the time comes. I plan to be all over the PNW next summer!
You and I both! I have entire trips planned around visiting sites exhibiting columnar joints and have already gone well out of my way for them lol. 🤓
OTD 3 years ago, I finally visited Stuðlagil. I had seen photos of this place for years and always had it at the top of my bucket list. It did not disappoint my columnar basalt-loving self.
Thank you, Robyn! Ahhh, Shiprock is one of my favorite spots on Earth. Enjoy your time out there! The wilderness and Bisti are fantastic!
Thank you! It was such a special moment. 🙏
Shiprock Steeds. #photography
3 yrs ago today, I had a wild 24 hrs including aurora and glacier views over Greenland, being lowered down the vent of a volcano into its old magma chamber, watching the Moon rise over the Meradalir eruption, and viewing a large, blue iceberg flip and break apart right before me on a zodiac boat.
Little tufa island. #photography
Correct.
Thank you! 🙏
Sunset Storms & Sands. #photography
Always gotta appreciate a distant storm at sunset.
This was my first time seeing it! I was more excited than I would like to admit, but I finally have some photos of my own for my lectures. :)
Exploring rocky saltwater coastlines, you'll likely find examples of salt weathering. When salt water seeps into pores/cracks, it may evaporate and deposit salt crystals within them. Growth and expansion of the crystals may weaken and break the rock apart to form cavities such as those shown here!
I'm tired of people saying that they don't care that a photo or video is AI because it's "still cute." No, it isn't. None of it is. It's all soulless and takes away from the beauty and rarity of things in real life. 😩
So many people will say they'd do anything for their child, even kill for them, yet magically cannot accept someone who would cross a border to give their child a better life and look down upon those who do.
I recently moved and just got my living room to a place that I'm pretty happy with. :)
I sadly don't know her. This was just a candid shot while she was out there. I'd love to have shared the photos with her, though! And thank you!
Lone Desert Rider. #photography
🆗
Classic Yosemite. #photography
Adding to this: The Rings of Power is a very good show. It gets more hate than it deserves. Maybe I'm just easy to please, but I just rewatched season 1 and there are so many peak scenes. 🤌💍
Finally rewatched the extended The Hobbit films for the first time since they came out and, honestly, I love them. I get the CGI is ass at times and all, but they're still damn good films. Never understood the hate.
Thanks, Laura! :)
Fair 😅
#ActuallyDoGoChasingWaterfalls
Well damn. Live view from my patio. #JustOklahomaThings
I will never understand how we chose *gestures broadly at everything now* over her. I'll never forgive it.
Thanks, Nick! 🤓
We all grow up as curious little scientists!
I tried to simulate this in my sink. I kept my hand under water and suddenly displaced it leftward (not a perfect model, but good enough). Notice the bulge of water to the left, and the evacuation of water on the right. Anyone to the left gets a wave first; those to the right get a trough! 9/9
