Joanna Scheffler

Ever wonder about who makes Mineral Cup happen?

Here’s the #MinCup25 volunteer team! www.mineralcup.org/2025/volunte...

Want to join us? We’re always recruiting more volunteers!

The new Ore Cup will have entries of which Mineral Cup voters have mourned losses in the past, including copper! #MinCup25 #OreCup25

Northern lights were flaring last night already. They are doing it again tonight.

The Sun will (probably 👉👈) smite thee hard if you don't harken to its auroral message and vote 🌈🎆 Northern #Tugtupite FTW!

#MinCup25

Jan 2025 📸s:
yle.fi/a/74-20134442
Storm level aurora now:
www.softservenews.com

I was all ready to cast my final vote of support for kyanite but that plan fell to pieces when I learned about spectacular tugtupite. Tenebrescent! Fluorescent!
Phosphorescent!

Bad luck kyanite, your innate coolness is compelling but is out-matched in this final round of #MinCup25.

Oi! If you’ve been ballot-stuffing #MinCup25: STOP IT!

Can’t we please have this ONE NICE THING?!?

As much as I wanted calcite, hematite, or a copper mineral to get here, these two both deserve their spots.

I may just end up campaigning for both—the only bad result for this match would be if we don't have fun and learn.

#MinCup25 #MinCup

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

A can of beer

We made the big leagues

Maybe send some to us in Mesa, AZ?

True confession: I still dream of the pumpkin donuts from that little bakery in #Oberlin, OH, lo those many years ago when my #CollegeofWooster swim team went to a meet there...Especially this time of year :/

Psst: if you like rocks, I want to make sure you know about #MinCup! We're talking about minerals over there, everything from science and history to sparkles and fun names.

When the sun fades, I fade
Though a snowy sparkle stays
When the sun's bright, I'm bright
Sudden waking, warm as life

#MinCup25 #tugtupite #MinPoem

Vote in Round 2 Match 3 — Mineral Cup Click here to vote in Baryte vs Hematite Photo credits:

#MinCup25 Round 2 Match 3: It's a heavyweight match between industrial powerhouses as soft #baryte competes against rusty red #hematite.

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r2...
Results: www.mineralcup.org/2025/results...

Darn. I was going to see if you needed a couple more banjos to occasionally join the herd. ;)

@banjoherder.bsky.social so I saw your #MinCup25 post, and since multiple members of my family are are banjo plinkers, I would like to know about the banjoherding

#MinCup25 finally has a horse race where your vote and mine can make a difference. #mannardite for me. Neither contestant has its own Wikipedia page, and the mindat.org pages now have a banner at the top telling people to go vote in MinCup25. I am happy that they get to play a game for a month.

I have to say, all I could think about were the radioactive spas when I heard this. What a use for revamping sources of radioactive minerals, right?

Why is V so concentrated in crude oil and oil shales?

Anoxic waters, H2S reduction, formation of porphyrin complexes, precipitation, clay adsorption, shale deposition, mineralization.

Tiny, V-rich #Mannardite punches above its weight.
#MinCup25
#Porphyrins

#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

Don’t know how I’m going to vote here, but the name #Paddlewheelite makes me wonder if it was hastily made up as a mineral simply to get into #MinCup25 & lock down the “Cute name” vote! What’s next, kittypawite??

(And yes, I’m looking it up now & it’s actually pretty cool, but I said what I said!)

Norwegian stamp with image of dark thortveitite crystal in white matrix. Value 5 kroner 50 øre.

This is our one and only chance to get a mineral first found and described in Norway on to the next round! Look, there's a stamp and everything:

#Thortveitite
#MinCup25

Yes, well, free speech as long as your speech is his speech-- just ask our flagship universities and museums. My advice to the UK: give Donald the 1-fingered salute for HIS opinions

Baryte is sneaky! It looks like it will be just another lightweight nonmetallic mineral, then you pick it up and it's a chonk! Also, barium enemas. What other reasons could you need?

Vote in Round 1 Match 5 — Mineral Cup Click here to vote in Silver vs Baryte Photo credit: Smithsonian Institution

#MinCup25 Round 1 Match 5: Are you ready for beautiful utility as sparkling #Silver competes against hefty #Baryte?

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2025/vote/r1...

Results: www.mineralcup.org/2025/results...

🎶 It’s beginning to look a lot like #MinCup2025 ⛏️

(Or is it #MinCup25 as I always get the hashtag wrong?)

@katharinehayhoe.com just read your weekly newsletter, thx! I know the "good news" bit may be increasingly challenging, at least for the US. Can you tell us where/if one will be able to access the original NCA reports?

Colorful layers of tilted rock in Peru make upside down "V" patterns because they are eroded. This looks like painting of a real landscape, but it may be a digital version of a real landscape.

I think it is quite unfortunate that @traderjoesunited.bsky.social doesn't mention a single item about the fabulous geology on this label.
PS it's also very tasty chocolate!

Where Congress’s Cuts Threaten Access to PBS and NPR The loss of federal funding threatens scores of public TV and radio stations across the United States.

President Trump’s proposal to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasters threatens scores of radio and TV stations across the U.S. Here is where the cuts threaten access to PBS and NPR.

Ok, so NSF is getting chopped, and @noaa.gov is being decimated, & the politicians in power hate science, especially climate science. Surely we can still use our logical brains to find a way to keep Mauna Loa Observatory functioning?

Yes please!!