If you’re on Twitter, this account, and a couple of hashtags, will make your life better.
I am loving the photos of black people enjoying and studying nature, one of my favorite things to do. I go out with the cats every day and check out the yard. I have ordered a trail camera – I saw bobcat footprints again today – and that will be exciting when I’ve got it set up.
But I miss being able to go to other environments. I had planned a trip to Siberia this summer, but that’s clearly out of the question. So I’m enjoying these tweets from people who look like they’d be fun to be out in nature with.
japa21
I know you are a fan of Cornell (in fact, like us, a member). One of the first thing we do every day is put on the bird feeder cam that have at Sapsucker Woods. Nothing spectacular but pleasing to watch and just have the sounds on in the background.
VeniceRiley
As soon as things re-open I’m going to sell a bunch of Cameras and lenses, buy a Nikkon Coolpix P1000, and just have that in UK. It’ll be perfect for capturing birds without having to get too close!
Bill Arnold
If you don’t already have something similar, get a high-quality loupe like this one (widely praised, Belarusian company) – BelOMO 10x Triplet Loupe Magnifier
and start looking at small(er) biology too. (I’m a proud geek and have had one around my neck almost every day for the last 5+ years.) Field botanists in particular use a hand lens regularly. Anything with 5X+ magnification is nice to have, and some cameras will do similar closeups. A hand lens can be placed over a phone camera lens for an instant very-close-up lens. (People also use flatbed scanners for high res images of flat things, tip.)
I particular enjoy looking at flowers and insects and other small arthropods, especially jumping spiders, with those big eyes.
Cheryl Rofer
@Bill Arnold: I have been thinking I need a loupe, and I just ordered that one! Thank you!
Kent
That’s why I used to show this episode of the National Geographic Special “Strange Days on Planet Earth to my aquatic science classes at a diverse HS in Texas. Because it was one of the very few documentaries I ever found with a black scientist. Amazing (but perhaps not surprising) how hard it is to find faces of color in science documentaries to show to students.
https://youtu.be/eVKlt3DLzso
Another Scott
ICYMI, Doug Jones talking about America’s time for talk is over (1:55) from May 31.
It’s a perfect distillation of what this election, and the job ahead of us, is all about.
(via Stephen Robinson at Wonkette.)
[eta:] Sorry if this isn’t respite-y. I saw the “civil rights” tag and thought it fit here.
Cheers,
Scott.
raven
My dear friend is starting her PhD program at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and I’m hoping things go well for her and the program.
prostratedragon
@Kent: I’ve seen a few within the last year that have Black scientists among the consultants. Wish I could remember the names, but at least one featured a geologist or volcanologist, and think I recall one with a young Black woman astronomer or astrophysicist. There’s also one done by a well-known African wildlife photographer where he shows some personal views of his country, one of the Congo nations, and another episode on an elephant conservancy in which most everyone, including the veteranarian and chief ranger, is Black. But there need to be many more of these.
Kent
@prostratedragon: Yes. I mostly taught oceanography and aquatic science and so was mostly looking for films that were marine science or aquatic science related. If there are few black scientists, there are even fewer black oceanographers I think.
West of the Rockies
@Kent:
Well, Neil deGrasse Tyson has some excellent material out there, of course.
LaurenR
Every day I see Sand Hill Cranes train their “colts” to be sand hill cranes and to just live amongst us humans here in Brevard County. It’s a thing of beauty.
The baby birds hatch and they lovingly feed and nurture them until they can live on their own. I watch this on my way to work every day. I look forward to my mornings with them.
prostratedragon
@Kent: Yeah, just living is such an adventure. ;P But it’s going to happen.
Bill Arnold
@Cheryl Rofer:
You’ll like it very much. Need to get real close to the what’s being viewed; no standoff viewing; very wide, flat field of view for 10X, and a big lens. And watch the screws at the end of the pivot; loctite them if they start coming loose.
For fun re jumping spiders, Tiny Jumping Spiders Can See the Moon – An unexpected rain of spiders led to a lovely Twitter geek-out between astronomers and arachnologists. (Ed Yong, June 6, 2017)
scav
Just had a thought there are other names to say — such as Dawn Wright, geographer and oceanographer (and fellow UCSB GISer) who was (among other things) the first African-American female to dive to the ocean floor in the deep submersible ALVIN.
oopzwtf
@Cheryl Rofer: What trail cam did you buy?
Cheryl Rofer
@oopzwtf: Bushnell Core DS No Glow
Kent
I was always a little conflicted about encouraging any students, much less black and Hispanic students to pursue careers in natural science because the career prospects are so dismal. Especially in the marine sciences. I wish that were not the case, but it is. My own daughter wants to go to college/grad school to study molecular biology and I’m a little bit reluctant to encourage her too much either. Science boards are full of PhD molecular biologists bemoaning their lack of career prospects.
But I guess HS is not the place to start clipping their wings. I tried to get kids interested and excited about science. But also tried to be a little bit realistic about career prospects.
Sab
@LaurenR: What state is your Brevard in?
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kent:
Yeah, for all our talk about how much we need students in STEM, the jobs seem to be scarce.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kent: FWIW people should study something that interests them as undergrads. Most people don’t end up working in an area that matches their undergraduate major anyway.
Origuy
There’s a organization based in Oakland called Outdoor Afro. Some of the members have come to my orienteering club’s events. They are mostly about outdoor recreation, I believe. They have a Facebook page.
frosty
@Omnes Omnibus: I had four careers and none of them matched my undergrad major. Although if I’d had courses in fluid mechanics and hydrology as an undergrad it might have been one career (my last one).
Oh, and if I hadn’t graduated into a recession and taken any job I could find. Twice.
ETA: That’s the long way around of agreeing with your comment. Study what you’re interested in.
Anathema Device
I have no idea if the name of this group was chosen as a middle finger to this practice:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbirding
But to an Australian, hearing about “blackbirders” should immediately bring it to mind. It’s far from ancient history either, with deportation of the involuntarily removed only occurring in the early twentieth century (with all the kindness of the White Australia policy behind it). One of our most famous footballers, Mel Meninga, is a descendent of blackbirded islanders.
If it’s a reclaiming of the term, then more power to them.
raven
I’m sorry, I wasn’t clear about my friend. Her dad was a biology professor at Johnson C. Smith University an HBCU in Charlotte, NC and very active in SEEDS.
SEEDS was established in 1996 to reduce, over time, the serious under-representation within the field of ecology of individuals from certain minority groups. The first phase of the program (1996-2002) focused on institutional support of historically black colleges and universities. To learn more about the history of SEEDS, read “The First Six Years.”
David Evans
@VeniceRiley: Think about a Coolpix P950 instead. It’s cheaper, lighter and I think its zoom range is more than adequate. On the P1000 the range from 2000 to 3000 mm is hard to use handheld.