Stephen Urquhart

@urk.bsky.social

1089 Followers 2702 Following

Chem prof & synchrotron maven. Associate Editor J. El. Spectrosc. Rel. Phen. Staff to 3 🐈 I chase wild protein and forage tasty đŸ„â€đŸŸ« & đŸ« in Saskatchewan. Board member, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Canada VE5URQ

Claude instructions - ‘do not trim Heated Rivalry discussion from meeting summaries’
A picture of a can of ‘shoresy’ beer
Wood Lilly
A broken wooden cross memorial for Melvyn Rudd, who was killed by a bear in Narrow Hills Provincial Park in 1983.
Smeaton weather rock!
A graphic of grandpa Simpson yelling at a rainbow, with the label ‘happy “bigots yep at rainbows” month’
A very meta picture of DOCTOR Rebekah Bennetch and her supervisor, Debbie Pushor, being photographed at @usask convocation
Memorial to Melvyn Rudd, who was killed by a bear in Narrow Hills Provincial Park in 1983.
Video of a campfire burning.
The famous Smeaton Weather station. A picture of a rock, next to a sign that reads ‘if the rock is wet 
 it’s raining’
Screen capture of the temporary annual permit ... where the bar code does not appear. But it won't be replaced!
A picture that shows the partial face of the poster, and the faces of two boy cats who just turned five.
an elderly cat curled up on my lap, purring
Painted 'Apollo capsule' markers on the side of a helicopter on the USS Midway - as a museum ship in San Diego, CA,
A photograph of the poster, sitting on a couch, being glommed aggressively by three cars. An elderly calico cat sits on their lap, and two Turkish Van boy cats sit to their right.
A picture of a snowy parking lot, where my luggage plowed a path behind me.
A tuxedo cat. In Paris.
Study finds academics’ jokes at conferences mostly fall flat A recently published study explored academics’ attempts at humour during research conferences. The study—based on 531 talks at 14 biology conferences—found that 58% of all talks included at least one attempt at humour. However, 66% of attempts were determined to have low effectiveness as they were met with reactions such as “polite chuckles.” The study authors noted that the mild reactions may have stemmed from the social dynamics and environment of conferences, as well as the fact that many jokes were made during glitches or technical issues. The study authors noted that humour is a skill worth developing for scientists, as well-delivered humour “can turn a forgettable talk into one people actually remember—and perhaps even enjoy.”
Sound of an elderly cat purring loudly. She’s living her best life.
Smoky sky last August - Narrows Marina, PANP. Pictured here of Canada geese at the edge of the board walk at the edge of the water. On the otherwise of the narrow straight are boreal forest trees - jack pine and black spruce. The sky is full of smoke, and the photographer is pissed off at the inaction of politicians.
Two cats grooming each other. They are not brothers! They are gay!
Screen capture of a CBC news story: ‘Robert mueller, 9/11-era FBI chief who later probed alleged Trump-Russia ties, dead at 81’
Bacon pie. Crust: bacon Filling: potato, cheese and caramelized onions.
Video of berniecat purring like the elderly sweetie she is.
Picture of three cats who are currently suffocating one of their humans.
Adorable Picardy Spaniel. Fur. Earl Grey. Hot.
Video of a sweet calico cat being petted, and nibbling the finger of her staff.
An image of a two-dimensional slice from a 3D CAT scan (not a ‘CT’ scan), showing a cross section of my cat Aziriphale’s paws. LOOK AT THOSE PEETS. LOOK AT THEM!
Picture of a cat pile, of two brothers / littermates. On the left is Terry, a bratty and outgoing cat. He’s white and orange, with medium length fu. On the right is Aziriphale - also a white and orange cat with medium length fur, and currently wearing a fabric cone to protect his injured leg from grooming.
Tiny garbage pail balanced on the edge of a recycling pail. Because how else can my employer show respect for the time an energy of its employees than by treating them like 
 whatever this is!
My employer has decided to replace trash cans with this tiny receptacle.
A text message exchange Person 1: have you watched heated rivalry yet? Person 2: No. It doesn’t really interest me. Not a hockey fan
A graphic titled ‘on a sheep scale, how do you feel today?’ There are nine images of sheep below the title. #9 is jumping. #5 is asleep.
A tweet that says ‘Honestly, Bell Media funding Heated Rivalry has done more for our mental health than all of their ‘Let’s Talk’ days.
A white and orange cat with his right hind leg in a splint, leaning against one of his staff members.
A very grumpy cat in a splint on their right hind leg.
Picture of a hole in the ice and a fishing rod. There’s a heater to the side. The scene is inside a tent.
Scene of a lake and the far shore. On the near shore are some evergreen trees
Fire in a fire place. It’s warm!
A tag for a white-tailed deer, where ‘tailed deer’ has been crossed out, and ‘spruce’ has been written in. The ‘white spruce’ tag is on a Yule tree.
Three cats on a bed, next to a human
Spoon in a bowl of elk bourguignon.
Two huge cats on my legs.
Berniecat leaning into the hand offering scritches.
A fat bike leaning up against a wooden fence. There’s snow on the ground, and it’s really fucking cold out. There’s an event placard on the bike. Did I say it was cold? It’s cold.
Wing imprint of a bird, in the snow. Tip of my boot, as a really bad scale marker.
Lake at the midpoint of Boundary Bog Trail. Picture is of a lake in a boreal forest, surrounded by bog. The sun is low in the sky, as sunset is 2 hours away.
video clip of Firefly character, Captain Malcolm Reynolds
Picture of the trailer battery wiring, so I properly connect the shunt next year. The trailer is powered by nuclear fusion!
TerryCat, sniffing the first solstice calendar gift - blue and red balks!
Picture of a big Turkish van boy cat, sprawled across and flowing off my lap. He’s very effective at stopping me from getting any work done.
Two bald eagles perched on a tree, in a field.
A calico cat hiding underneath the edge of my flannel jacket. The cat is impossibly sweet.
Mycelium board game tiles.
An old logging road in the boreal forest.
Two desperate and pathetic cats, glommed onto my lap.
Picture of the face of an adorable calico cat, with white, orange and black fur, who is sitting on my knee and purring loudly. She is trying to stop me from going to work. Out of the field of view of the camera is my to-do list, which is getting longer and longer as I sit here, with this sweet, demanding and loudly purring cat on my lap.
A picture of the tail of a ruffed grouse, lying next to a Ruger M77 22LR rifle, somewhere in Saskatchewan’s boreal forest.