J. Brian Balta

@drjbbalta.bsky.social

726 Followers 366 Following

Planetary Scientist and Petrologist, dog parent.

Animated GIF from Frinkiac. Spaceship carrying Homer Simpson and Buzz Aldrin crashes into a building. Camera pans out to reveal the building was a News Reporters Convention.
Super long winged, 2 engine jet overhead.
Picard shows Lily Sloan the view out and Enterprise porthole, including the southwest pacific. From Star Trek first contact.
A seismic profile line run from California through Canada shows a distinct 2% velocity decrease running from the core-mantle boundary up to the surface directly under Yellowstone park. Some portions of the old slab may be in there, but this model seems to ignore the obvious low velocity zone.
The Enterprise E sits before the damaged romulan/reman battleship Scimitar as it extends its arms to prepare to release a theleron radiation pulse.
Lisa Simpson excitedly wanting a dune buggy on the couch while Marge, Bart, and Maggie look on in confusion.
Screenshot of a Bluesky search for Portland. The last post from 4 hours ago says “what hotties do I know in Portland”.
Two large eyes cartoon characters. One states that they asked Santa for a research grant. The other skeptically asks whether the first actually believes in research grants. Source: https://theupturnedmicroscope.com
The "Is this" meme, a cartoon character waves at a butterfly. The text reads "Is this a recession indicator".
The Rose Bowl behind a set of flowers. Indiana will be playing here on January 1.
A zombie holding a piece of delicious brain. This zombie accompanied me on the train to the 2011 meeting of the geological society of America.
An actual ESPN alert about Indiana football.
Michael posts that he cannot find a reference for a case where a leftist group could not be infiltrated because it required too much reading. 6 hours later Michael posts the reference as he has now done the reading.
A “skeleton octopus” Halloween decoration. There are a few things wrong with this concept.
A geology student with a sword cuts a watermelon flying through the air. Burma road, Twin Bridges, Montana.
Solar eclipse drives down solar panel output symmetrically.
Text box reading “Other insiders have said the budget cuts may have played a role in forecasting errors. Murphy, who took voluntary retirement at the end of April as part of DOGE-led workforce reductions, pointed out that five of the eleven balloons that the NWS typically sends up around Texas and adjacent states each morning to collect weather data are currently grounded due to DOGE-created staffing shortages. The additional data from those balloons could've helped with the forecasting, he said.”
AGU section sign reads “Seismonology”
Star Trek character Reginald Barclay partially turned into a spider by the release of a synthetic T cell which began “de-evolving” the Next Generation crew. The consequences were named after Lt. Barclay by Dr Crusher.
Screenshot of Earth Scientists feed showing this post and one by Lastquake.
Bathymetry of the Southeast Indian Ridge. The Heard and McDonald Islands are part of The Kerguelen Plateau, a Large Igneous Province on the ocean floor. Across the ridge, you see a hotspot track running nearly north, the Ninety East Ridge. Australia and Antarctica surround this area. Image from https://joidesresolution.org/the-ninety-east-ridge/
President Whitmore (Independence Day movie) explaining that exciting isn’t the word he’d choose to describe it.
President Whitmore in Independence Day movie saying “i don’t think exciting is the word I’d use to describe it”
The Veteran Array on Mars, from #Startrek #Enterprise episodes Demon and Terra Prime. Large energy-based dish designed to deflect comets towards Mars to help establish a stable atmosphere. A space mining colony has landed next to it to seize control of it, turning it into a weapon.
White Sox lose 121st game in 2024 season setting modern MLb record. Article screenshot from MLB.com
Enterprise S4 E23, Enterprise shuttle pod following Comet Burke on its way to a collision with Mars.
A can of Spider Tack, Ethan Katz’s only solution to pitchers improving their control.
Lisa Simpson alerts her dad that she thinks a hurricane may be coming. Homer Simpson, on a hammock being blown in the wind, states that there is no record of a hurricane ever hitting Houston. Lisa retorts from a window that the records only go back to 2025 when the hall of records was mysteriously laid off.
Dr Nick Riviera of the Simpsons standing next to a broken tank of Ether with firemen behind him spraying water from a hose while saying “inflammable means flammable? What a country”
Map across Washington State coast showing GPS measured uplift and subsidence rates. Some zones uplifted due to the fault at rates above that of sea level rise, some areas show little movement and sea level rise can win.
The Old Oaken Bucket, the trophy picked up by the winner of the Indiana-Purdue football game each year. It's literally an old bucket made of oak, with chains coming off of it of the letters I and P, for which team won each year.
The office meme noting that flow stripping and pyroclastic surges are the same picture. Both are channelized flows where a low density portion of the flow can jump out of the channel, over topography.
Agents Dulmer and Lucsly from starfleet department of Temporal Investigations. Sisko said that when the Defiant went back in time, it encountered the Enterprise. Agent Lucsly said there were 5 ships with that name. Dulmer corrected “six”
Teton mountain range and Grand Teton National Park, sunset behind the mountains with light rays breaking through valleys: cloudy day.
Minister Jaro of Vajor hugging Vedek Winn as he tries to gain her support for his coup.
Text from “found episodes” Star Trek Twitter page. StarTrekTNG "Intriguing And Curious" Data is exposed to an anomaly that projects various aspects of his programming among the crew. Deanna tries to combine dark chocolate and white chocolate in the warp core. Transporter chief: Phil Plait.
Lava Falls, a lava flow that spilled over the edge of the Grand Canyon.