Rob Thacker

It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been.

A hummingbord that is mostly green hovers between sprays of bright red crocosmia flowers.

A hummingbird rests on a metal cage looking towards the photographer intently. In the background is foliage.

And here we go - ruby-throated hummingbirds feeding on the crocosmia as well as landing on the tomato cages and giving us a stare down! 😀Little bit windy tonight so they weren't able to hover for long periods in the same place...

Several sprays of bright red crocosmia hang down together. The flowers are in pairs along a stem, with the tips yet to bloom.

A single purple-headed bee-balm rises up from it's stem. Grass is in the background framing the flower.

Crokey-bees 😉 An awesome #crocosmia spray alongside some bee-balm in the garden. As always @lmcampbell.bsky.social is doing a fantastic job of shepherding everything to bloom. Will see if we can get some hummingbird pics tonight. #photography #bloomscrolling

Looking towards a tree in front of a road. Three fawns are in the foreground while the doe is half-hidden by the tree in the centre of the image.

Doe with three fawns walking around the neighbourhood tonight (quick phone pic). They weren't even remotely scared of me watering the garden. Not good in that it means ticks are going to be spread around peoples' gardens. halisky

Last year we had 241 Growing Degree Days (10 C) by the end of June, this year it is only 224. It might still be a very warm July/Aug (that's been predicted) but to this point the growing season is behind last year.

A spray of bright red crocosmia flowers. The flowers themselves come in pairs along the stalk. The first flowers are open, while those toward the tip or the spray are still closed, showing red and yellow/green colours. In the background is green foliage.

With it being a colder summer, blooms in our garden are about 4-6 days behind '24. However, the first strands of #crocosmia are out! We jokingly call it "hummingbird crack" as they will get pollen on their heads while feeding. @lmcampbell.bsky.social has seen one flit by so far. #bloomscrolling

A cluster of five dogwood flowers forms a cross, updown and across. Behind are leaves supporting the flowers, while vegetation is in the background. The petals each have a point at their tip. The image is black and white.

A cute little dogwood spray on the SMU campus. It's pretty difficult to reproduce the delicate structure on the white petals, but doing the best I can with a phone cam. #photography

Several US Jolly rancher sweets unsafe to eat, FSA says The FSA says chemical compounds in the sweets can increase the risk of cancer and damage DNA.

I guess you call them the "Not so Jolly Rancher" sweets...

From article: "The FSA is advising people who have any of the listed products to not eat them and dispose of them at home."

More details: www.bbc.com/news/article...

Thanks. Yes, I've been making the point about the conflict between AI power requirements vs moving toward Net Zero 4 a while. The fact that GDP isn't taking off suggests to me AI is destroying as much value as it is creating. Which makes everything a race to the bottom with a big environmental cost.

#bloomscrolling

A yellow bearded iris has two petals reaching upward, while two others lay outward from the stem. In the background is green foliage and another flower that is out of focus.

Despite the cool spring, @lmcampbell.bsky.social's bearded irises are starting to bloom. Here's a quick pick from this morning in the overcast light. Halisky

From 2006 😁

It felt like a lot of us, somehow, finally got old at this one...

Total step count for 4 day conference: 94,124 🏃🏃‍♂️

A happy lobster is looking through a telescope. One eye is closed while the other squints through the eyepiece of the telescope.

Just finished hosting the annual Canadian astronomy research conference (CASCA) at Saint Mary's U. in Halifax. That's "Squinty" the conference mascot in the pic.

We loved hosting everyone and it was amazing to receive a standing ovation at the end. But I truly miss 2015 sci twitter. #CASCA2025

#CASCA2025 😉

24,000 steps today....

Astro pun: Clearly I'm into a spin-down process...

(I'll show myself out...)

Conference organizer dubious badge of pride:

28,000 steps today...

😅

TY - they really were quite touched.

View of a framed black and white image. A stream bends around in the bottom right while the mid-ground is full of ferns lit by the evening Sun. Trees extend into the distance, the light dancing through the branches.

Tough to see our awesome neighbours move out. After being friends for almost 15 yrs, & watching their kids grow up it's a truly bittersweet moment. Gave them a little piece of their (now) former neighbourhood as a house warming gift for their new place: A pic of Mt Olivet's stream. #photography

What can go wrong? 🤣

A black and white image showing the Atlantica hotel on the right and a tree reaching out into the middle of the image. On the left a crane appears to be reaching over. The leaves of the tree are lighter than the sky.

Halifax constantly trims trees to avoid powerlines. As a result many trees in the city look "cut in 1/2". This is a tree at the corner of Robie and Quinpool. Consider this image a "sketch" as it really needs to be taken in near infra-red at higher res. @lmcampbell.bsky.social #photography

A small tree stands between three green bushes on the ground. Behind is a building covered in panelling, grey at the bottom and then orange further up. The tree is covered in white blossom.

A little bit of beauty to brighten a dull day - a callery pear in full bloom outside the SMU Science building. Halisky #photography

Looking towards a house two sprinklers send out streams of water that are backlit by the sun. In the upper right of the image an optical flare from the sun streaks across to the mid left of the image.

Sunbeams and water streams. A little bit of urban #photography.

Looking upwards into the canopy which is dominated by two white pines. The one of the right is dark and in shadow while the one on the left is lit.

A little bit of beauty that is decades in the making. White pines at #Oakfieldprovpark. Liked how the lighting placed one tree in shadow while the other was flat lit. #photography

A terrific suite of contrasts!

liniment cake? 😜

albert einstein is wearing a suit and tie and pointing to his head . ALT: albert einstein is wearing a suit and tie and pointing to his head .

I'm just going to do a quiet little shout out to this year's class in Einstein's General Relativity at SMU. It was, without question, the most successful GR class I have ever taught in almost 20 years.

Congrats and well done to all.

Looking down on a spray of flower heads. Four cluster together, while a fifth is visible to left and underneath. The petals are mostly white, with tints of red/pink. Petal edges curl elegantly and present sharp edges when in focus.

Here's my fave amaryllis grown by @lmcampbell.bsky.social 📸in the evening 🌞. The flowerheads are small-ish but fit together lovely. There's a second stem ready to bloom just below the top spray as well. Had no idea they can live for 70+ years if well cared for! #bloomscrolling #photography

Looking through the brush of the forest a single trunk stands highlighted by the Sun streaming through the canopy. Brush and fronds surround it creating a dense feeling of growth.

An irony of Oakfield Provincial Park is that the white pines are truly spectacular there! #mikmaki On a reflective Good Friday, took some time out there to connect & rejuvenate. Here is a single image in strong ☀️light that for me captures the wonderful variation of growth in the forest. #photography