Mika McKinnon

Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com [ View ] May 31, 2024 at 15:32 UTC

The Atlantic hurricane season begins tomorrow. While climate change doesn't create these storms, it's making them much more dangerous. In a warmer world they're stronger, intensifying faster (especially near land), dumping a lot more rain, moving more slowly & weakening more gradually over land.

2 replies 37 reposts 88 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 30, 2024 at 21:17 UTC

Once upon a time, someone was very upset at my lawyer father’s role in convicting him, and expressed this by mailing photos of me at my preschool. My heartfelt gratitude to all who enforced consequences today, and I dearly hope they & their families survive The Unhinged unravelling in rage.

1 replies 48 reposts 391 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 26, 2024 at 07:58 UTC

Nope, no naturally-occurring crystalline structure for sugar. You can find baking soda as nahcolite, but the stuff you buy in shops is synthetic.

2 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 26, 2024 at 02:57 UTC

Ice (or salt) needs to be wild to be a mineral, since minerals must be naturally-occurring. Rocks are any solid collection of minerals or mineral matter, but don’t need to be naturally-occurring. Technically, you could make a synthetic rock as long as you’re careful about sourcing components!

1 replies 0 reposts 6 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 26, 2024 at 00:03 UTC

I don’t know if I’m relieved or vaguely indignant that Google‘s AI is scrapping The Onion instead of my extensive detailed threads and interviews on which rocks are on the Lick and Do Not Lick lists.

5 replies 41 reposts 221 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 26, 2024 at 00:01 UTC

As your friendly neighbourhood geoscientist, it is my duty to remind you that salt and ice are rocks. Please do not consume granite on a daily basis.

9 replies 32 reposts 157 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 26, 2024 at 00:00 UTC

Ahahaha, WHAT?! I love it

0 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 21, 2024 at 00:50 UTC

This is a lovely little sandstone recording ages with its stripes (varves)!

1 replies 0 reposts 7 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 20, 2024 at 14:40 UTC

You know what? It’s been a while, and none of us would want to suffer like poor Gorey. Rock Check! Do you know where your rock is?

6 replies 8 reposts 36 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 18, 2024 at 23:01 UTC

I’m so offline lately that I missed all of this. I’m so sorry you’ve been going through so much stress, but enormous congratulations on welcoming a new organ to the family 💜

1 replies 0 reposts 3 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 17, 2024 at 20:38 UTC

Congratulations!! It still blows my mind that we didn’t know where any exoplanets were when I was little, I could point out the countably-few confirmed exoplanets when I worked in a planetarium, & now I just point to a random place to tell my kids “there’s a planet!”

2 replies 0 reposts 21 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 17, 2024 at 20:34 UTC

You’re supposed to include the “Subscribe here!” link because I… uh, haven’t subscribed yet in the haze of being back in the baby phase?

1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 13, 2024 at 16:07 UTC

One of the first to listen to the Earth’s whispered secrets of the depths:

1 replies 12 reposts 44 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 08, 2024 at 14:22 UTC

Right on all counts! Very satisfying to hold, good size and weight to them

0 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 08, 2024 at 14:21 UTC

I really wish I were writing a science & engineering of Met Gala designs this year because damn, it would be so fun. Clockwork arms! Sand glitter! Plants! So much structure! Layered colours!

2 replies 2 reposts 20 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 07, 2024 at 13:55 UTC

My youngest presented me with a rock for the first time. It’s a lovely white granite. Slow-cooled, plenty of silica, echoes of grand eruptions. My oldest immediately picked out the opposite, a black basalt. Quick-cooled, low silica, whispers of oceanic rifts.

3 replies 6 reposts 83 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 03, 2024 at 05:18 UTC

I mean, polar bears ARE local bears in Canada. It’s a northern country. But yes, polars and grizzlies create hybrids (pizzlies & groalers), which is certainly a mess to contemplate for many, many reasons.

1 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 06:43 UTC

Once upon a time & long, long ago, I had a bear torment me during an induced polarization (IP) survey, nuzzling into my injection point, chewing my cables, & leaving enormous poops on my lines. Over 60 days on the gig & the biggest aggravation was pinning out my chewed connectors each morning.

1 replies 3 reposts 30 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 06:32 UTC

Right?? Like I would REALLY pause on my risk assessment if polar bears were part of this scenario, but if we have polar bears in the woods a whole lot of other shit has gone deeply wrong.

0 replies 1 reposts 65 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 06:30 UTC

It started as a TikTok video doing girl-on-the-street interviews. Turns out, random women have highly consistent risk assessments.

0 replies 0 reposts 6 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 06:28 UTC

But men? Especially ones deliberately seeking you out when they have an entire woods to enjoy? My tips & tricks heavily focus on avoiding the scenario entirely, so… guess I’m teaching my kids to go find the bear? Maybe lay out some cables, see if unknown men find them as irresistible as bears do.

4 replies 2 reposts 81 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 06:21 UTC

I’m teaching my kids to be respectful of bears. Travel loudly, spot the cubs before passing mama, keep your camp tidy & rubbish secured, fed bears are dead bears, the full collection of Canadianna wisdom.

At worst, they’ll splat into a startled bear while biking: www.nsnews.com/local-news/g...

2 replies 3 reposts 81 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 06:16 UTC

I have a handful of bear stories, all involving at most a bit of aggravation of extra work or twiddled time. They’re easy to retell as amusing low-stakes misadventures. But my stories of men in the woods are grim, gross, or unpleasant lessons learned. They’re stories I tell unhappily as warnings.

2 replies 10 reposts 112 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 05:58 UTC

I’m deeply amused by the entire concept of choosing if you’d rather share woods with a strange man or a bear. Having done both repeatedly for years, all my horror stories involve men. Bears were far more polite. At worst, they ate cables. Polar bears would make me pause, but they don’t like woods.

19 replies 66 reposts 543 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 21, 2024 at 05:31 UTC

I very rarely share fundraising links.

This is one of my family’s students. I am completely lost & overwhelmed by the entire Gaza nightmare, but this is a way to throw money at a tiny part of it to literally save lives:

www.gofundme.com/f/help-my-fa...

0 replies 13 reposts 17 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 21, 2024 at 05:31 UTC

I very rarely share fundraising links.

This is one of my family’s students. I am completely lost & overwhelmed by the entire Gaza nightmare, but this is a way to throw money at a tiny part of it to literally save lives:

www.gofundme.com/f/help-my-fa...

0 replies 13 reposts 17 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 14, 2024 at 19:51 UTC

Youngest is the universe laughing at me spending years teaching you all how to lick rocks.

1 replies 1 reposts 31 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 12, 2024 at 00:26 UTC

Plants: wtf

0 replies 0 reposts 12 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 12, 2024 at 00:25 UTC

Wait, does this mean cashew and pistachio allergy would also mean being more likely to have a severe (vs mild-to-no) reaction to poison ivy?

3 replies 0 reposts 5 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 11, 2024 at 23:53 UTC

Hi. Excuse me? I have a question, too For allergy purposes, cashew/pistachio are identical. Both are tree nuts, but so are coconuts (in the US; Canada allergy labeling ignores coconut). And cashew allergies are related to mango (pit) allergies. Are cashew & pistachio drupes? Or mangoes tree nuts?

4 replies 4 reposts 18 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 11, 2024 at 17:33 UTC

If you find yourself just shy of the North tip of Vancouver Island then catch a tiny ferry into Alert Bay, go to U'mista Culteral Centre.

The Potlatch Collection of repatriated treasures is gorgeous, overwhelming, heartbreaking, and inspiring: www.umista.ca/a/s/pages/co...

1 replies 4 reposts 17 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 11, 2024 at 03:47 UTC

Bay Area science & scicomm internships:

0 replies 2 reposts 3 likes

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 09, 2024 at 20:49 UTC

Youngest may have snuck into discussing what would happen if the Moon vanished, but eldest is the one currently interrogating me on where the Moon is (and more importantly, Why, mommy, why?)

0 replies 0 reposts 13 likes