Words-ish Katamari

Kula World! I was obsessed with the soundtrack for a month

I think this explains why this was my favorite movie for several months when I was a kid

Congratulations!!

This is extremely hard. I feel like #kyanite represents all the minerals I previously disregarded and came to appreciate over #MinCup25 but #tugtupite represents all the new minerals I learned so much about this month

#MinCup25

Yay … someone shared explanation the greenish blue.

What causes the other colors observed in #kyanite? What about the very green samples? I need to know … but not enough to try hard to bypass paywalls. 🫠

Bracket of Mineral Cup 25, with for each mineral, a small image, showing the dominant color.

Colours are super important in #MinCup25, no?
Here is the bracket, with the colors superposed (of course, some minerals have multiple, so I took the snippets from the images on the voting posts or the website).
Don't forget to vote (once)! It's super close now.
www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r5...

Thanks for the correction! Definitely got lost in that kyanite v hematite match

A stack on books in a living room on a coffee table. Library copies of Shutter by Ramona Emerson, Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner, Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand, Prophet by Sin Blaché and Helen MacDonald, Amrikan by Khushbu Shah, The Korean Vegan Cookbook by Joanne Lee Molinaro, and Nordic Light by Simon Bajada. Used books from the library store are The Toynbee Convector by Ray Bradbury, The Nitpicker’s Guide for X-Philes by Phil Farrano, and Shibori by Karren K. Brito

Went to the library since I finished my draft and I’m allowed to read books again. (Don’t ask me how many holds I placed.) Probably shouldn’t have gone alone?

Hematite. Mars rover tracks for scale

Kyanite. The only thing bluer was Robert Redford’s eyes.

Zap! Reindeer blood! Tugtupite

Dioptase. Hypnotic green.

I mean, look at these choices:

#Hematite: Turns Mars red, key in telling early Earth story
#Kyanite Anisotropic & BLUE!!! Blueblueblue!
#Tugtupite Piezoelectric reindeer blood!
#Dioptase Birefringent GREEN!! Greengreengreen!

In the end, there can only be one #MinCup25 champion.

Woman with a nonchalant pose is dwarfed by the background as she stands on a ridge of the folded red bands of rock of the Banded Iron Formation of Hamersley Range, Australia. Photo: Masha Pastuhov, Dronesandstones

Have you ever stood on an ancient seafloor bed?

This is the banded iron formation (BIF) of Hamersley Range, Australia.

Go big #hematite !

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r3...

#MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐

If you’re still undecided please vote for #dioptase because its geode samples look like little sparkling abysses you can cradle in the palm of your hand #MinCup25

Fine norske kyanitt-eksemplarer funnet i norske veiskjæringer? Javisst har vi det, bare å spørre.

(Det er aller best å spørre mindat.org, tror jeg.)

#Kyanite
#MinCup25

I've been super busy this month and haven't been about to post about #MinCup25, but....

VOTE #KYANITE!!!

I've been ride or die for this beautiful aluminosilicate since 2017, and THIS YEAR IS OUR YEAR!

So much to love about beautiful blue #Kyanite, but I think my favorite right at this second is that it’s anisotropic. You can scratch it with steel down its length, but it’s pretty much impervious across its stubby sides. Best party trick ever! I mean, what in the what??? #MinCup25

Friends of feldspathoids! Join me in voting for #tugtupite! #MinCup25

Hades 2 is downloaded but I am not allowing myself to play until I finish this novel draft

Alright team, its my fave on the bracket.
This is a call to action, which may happen 2 more times.
#mincup25 #R2M6

ITS #Dioptase TIME!

Pics below.

VOTE FOR DIOPTASE.

more like #mollybendone

I need you all to take a second and vote for the desert enerald.

Round 2 gives you another chance to support #Dioptase!

It’s blue-green (so credit towards the blue vote this match), a copper mineral (yay) & it’s PYROelectric!!

Vote Dioptase!!!

#MinCup25

Stormclouds at sunset over power lines, tall buildings, and palm trees. There is a rainbow on the right side

Storm clouds at sunset over a neighborhood school. Sun rays pierce the clouds

Storm clouds over a neighborhood street. The wall is painted abstract colors on one side

Lotta cloud stuff going on

Maybe Norco, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Return of the Obra Dinn? All mysteries. Norco’s not historical but is beautifully written, Lorelei has a few different time periods and is more game-y but scratches that art mystery itch, and Obra Dinn is historical with a unique investigation mechanic

Prairie Home Companion or Car Talk. He’d love podcasts if I could get him to listen to them

Perovskite had me at "found in the rain on brown dwarf stars..."

That is the most arresting sentence I've read in days.

What appears to be a single Borg-like #perovskite crystal is an intergrowth of repetitively “twinned” crystals that have formed striations and very complex faces. How? See comment. Photo from Mindat-link in ALT.

Vote perovskite below

#MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐

Battle of the Blues!
I like the blues, it’s a great genre of music. As a fan of Sodalite , I’m Team #hauyne

#Mannardite is the little goth rock who could! Jet black & found in the oldest terrestrial rocks, Hadean era crust!

This is the last bout of Round 1 so step up to vote & be counted!

#MinCup25

Mannardite inside quartz, with celsian. "Black phantoms". Mysterious, hazy, and people mistaking it for ankangite. #Mannardite is so black-metal-goth-vote that Ankangite got discredited. Gone. Poof.

Only M. remains. 🤘😎

ALTs relevant to contain the dark universes from spreading! ⚫🌌💥😱

#MinCup25

Paddlewheelite Chemically and, most probably, also structurally related to voglite. Paddlewheelite structure is based upon the well-known structural motif, ...

VOTE #PADDLEWHEELITE!
Look at that COLOR! Also it's called PADDLEWHEELITE! Has there ever been a more awesome name? It's crystal structure looks like a paddle wheel! You can't ask for more than that!

#TeamPaddlewheelite
www.mindat.org/min-52712.html

I'm 100% team #taenite. As a main component of iron meteorites I've studied, taenite is more than just a cool space metal. It's nickel composition and presence in Widmanstätten patterns can indicate the size and cooling rate of the asteroid core it came from! #MinCup25

Look, since my wife is a sculptor, I’ve got nothing against clay & #nontronite is pretty neat-o. Yet, #taenite is in meteorites, shows those great Widmanstätten patterns (look like alien computer chips to my sci-fi brain!) & is a possible peak into Earth’s core. I’m Team Space Rock here. #MinCup25

Excellent context and observations on the most-discussed video in my house lately