@kenfergason.bsky.social
Engineering Geologist/Geology; working in municipal solid waste industry. Past President of the Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG). Flagstaff, AZ. Environment, Outdoors, Southwest US, Arizona, Soccer, SFF, Books
Today the 12yo has decided it’s Pinocchio Anole Awareness Day!
He says he imagines the lady anole sitting there, being normal, surrounded by males with increasingly improbably long noses shouting, “No, my nose is perfect!”
It’s World Wildlife Day but he says that’s too vague & so he’s claiming it.
Screenshot of The Vampire Lestat as an artist on Spotify with 122.2k monthly listeners of debut track titled, "Long Face."
GUYS. They're going all out and I cannot wait! #TheVampireLestat
02.03.2026 16:00 — 👍 346 🔁 36 💬 15 📌 6"I'm 40 years old; I can't be dealing with this" is such a mood
15.02.2026 07:21 — 👍 124 🔁 56 💬 0 📌 0I am so looking forward to this!
25.02.2026 21:38 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The 12yo has declared it Lowland Streaked Tenrec Awareness Day!
This spiky Madagascar mammal has poor eyesight & gets around by echolocation. They communicate with each other using high pitched squeaks made with specialized quills called a “stridulating organ.” I swear I am not making this up.
The *super* frustrating thing is that most leverage for reform via professional societies and any reform-oriented positions are locked behind having a traditional academic job, or at least having a separate salary paid for by a grant secured by someone with a traditional academic job.
20.02.2026 18:29 — 👍 5 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0And then I spent many years advocating to professors and students about their options beyond academia. Geology really has so many paths to take. My cohort from grad school have gone in so many directions - Nasa scientists, Communications, teaching (all levels), small business owner, mining, etc.
20.02.2026 18:08 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0So true... for me 19 years in consulting and now 6 years as a Municipal Project Manager (read this to say... landfill/environmental 'engineer'). In grad school I felt like I had to fight with professors/advisors to help me go a non-academic route.
20.02.2026 18:04 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Congrats to Roger Naylor on the release of his new and expanded book Arizona Boots and Burgers: A Guide for Hungry Hikers, which pairs 70 hikes with 70 restaurants worth experiencing.
"This is my love letter to Arizona, disguised as a hiki... https://rsjon.es/2026/02/20/congrats-to-roger-naylor-on/
Wrote some mean shit about NBC. www.sfgate.com/olympics/art...
19.02.2026 14:53 — 👍 121 🔁 14 💬 27 📌 8
@xenolith.bsky.social captured this AMAZING video of a scorpion snagging and stinging a moth near our Stovepipe Wells camp. The alluvial fan around the camp was experiencing a superbloom supporting a big hatch of moths which this scorpion took full advantage of!
youtube.com/shorts/FtYHz...
Wisdom the Laysan albatross is back! She's at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, part of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Originally banded in 1956, she's at least 75 years old, has flown >3 million miles (lifetime Premier 1K® on United), laid 50 to 60 eggs, and fledged ~30 chicks. 🪶
19.02.2026 10:49 — 👍 203 🔁 48 💬 2 📌 6
The 12yo has selected an improbable animal & declared it Sea Pansy Awareness Day!
These violet soft corals are a colonial animal which anchors itself onto the seabed using a stalk, or peduncle, looking rather like a succulent plant…. & it filter feeds & releases bioluminescence in case of trouble!
The 12yo has declared this Wunderpus Photogenicus Awareness Day!
The fabulously named Wunderpus photogenicus is exactly as described. This wonderful & gorgeous octopus is a quick change artist who can rapidly change colour and shape to mimic other sea creatures to blend in or look more dangerous!
The 12yo has declared this Kodkod Awareness Day!
Also known as the güiña and native to Chile and Argentina, the kodkod is the smallest wildcat of the Americas. Look at its little face!
another year of us not running a super bowl ad
06.02.2026 19:41 — 👍 2545 🔁 745 💬 45 📌 54
Today, according to my 12yo, it’s Aquatic Caecilian or Rubber Eel Awareness Day!
Prompted by the question, “What are those other amphibians who aren’t frogs or salamanders again?”
As someone with experience in leadership in a professional society: litigation (win, lose, or settle) is an existential threat to most professional societies. In these times, they have no budget for it and the leadership probably doesn't have relevant training. This drives decisions (good and bad)
05.02.2026 18:04 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Most human cultures believe nature is good for us. Now scientists are studying biochemical compounds emitted by plants to protect themselves from insects, bacteria, protozoa and fungi -- which seem to be protective medicine for people too. My story for Nature Outlook: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
29.01.2026 18:35 — 👍 22 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 1
Microscope image of Ailsa Craig Common Green microgranite thin section. Mostly quartz and cloudy feldspar with patches and clots of very dark green and brown minerals infilling gaps.
A tiny replica curling stone sitting on top of a sample of the same green spotty rock. They are sitting on a desk under a computer monitor next to other minerals.
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
05.02.2026 15:49 — 👍 84 🔁 20 💬 3 📌 1
Today the 12yo has declared it Greater Lophorina Awareness Day!
Formerly a subspecies of the superb bird-of-paradise, not to be confused with the birds-of-paradise and certainly not to be confused with the flowers of the same name… if you haven’t seen its mating display, today’s the day:
Nature’s perfect predator ☺️
05.02.2026 13:17 — 👍 15 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
Wildlife photographer of the year – people’s choice 2026 www.theguardian.com/environment/... 🧪🌎
05.02.2026 14:13 — 👍 25 🔁 9 💬 0 📌 0
A thin section of Ailsa Craig granite in cross polarised light.
An image of a curling stone in the foreground with players out of focus in the background, courtesy of Pexels: shkrabaanthony
Did you know that Olympic curling stones come from just one tiny island in Scotland?
Granite from Ailsa Craig has been used to make Olympic curling stones since 1924. Below, you can see a thin section in cross polarised light.
Learn about the stones: britgeoheritage.blogspot.com/2014/02/gran...
The Green River flows ‘uphill.’ Geologists think they finally know why. www.popsci.com/environment/...
02.02.2026 16:38 — 👍 17 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
You may have seen pictures, but have you ever seen video of a gigantic jet #TLE from space?
Astronaut Jeanette Epps captured this incredible sequence on July 20th, 2024 for the DTU/@science.esa.int Thor-Davis experiment. 🧪🔭
youtu.be/xN2J7_rOBJY
Credit: ESA/NASA/J. Epps
Processing: Simeon Schmauß
I've been following the geology sand exchange with wry amusement. It does make me wonder... how many geologist have had the discussion of what sand is with a geotechnical engineer? Or the meaning of well-graded vs. poorly graded?
30.01.2026 22:26 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
A drone photo of a large, dormant cinder cone volcano with a wide, crater at the summit. The volcano is surrounded by arid, sparsely-vegetated terrain. The volcanic cone displays dark, rough textures in contrast with the lighter, slightly hilly plains extending into the distance. Just behind the cone is a dark basaltic lava flow that curves off to the right along the hazy horizon. The landscape is mostly golden in color, enhanced by the glow of the nearly-setting Sun.
A unique drone perspective of SP Crater and its lava flow. #Photography
29.01.2026 17:58 — 👍 104 🔁 17 💬 1 📌 2
A little armored one / turtle rabbit in the wild
The word armadillo is borrowed from Spanish and simply means “little armored one.” But an even better word for an armadillo, in my opinion, is the Nahuatl ayotochtli. It means “turtle rabbit.”
29.01.2026 12:03 — 👍 4067 🔁 955 💬 70 📌 79
