Erin 𓅉
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getpseudoed.bsky.social
Erin 𓅉
@getpseudoed.bsky.social
Idk, I'm just a person who keeps doing stuff and ending up in situations.
Funky textures.
December 15, 2024 at 4:20 PM
We should abolish eponymous mineral names.
December 10, 2024 at 7:41 PM
Getting my needed dose of 234-year-old drama.
December 9, 2024 at 4:07 AM
I have received interesting mail.
November 22, 2024 at 6:59 PM
I haven’t opened this app in months and I have no idea what’s happening here, but hi to all the folks who are following me?
November 20, 2024 at 7:41 PM
If you find yourself intrigued by calcite crystallography, I strongly recommend browsing Goldschmidt’s Atlas Der Krystallformen, which has 150 pages of this.

Available to view here (log-in is required to view the PDF - but an account is free and easy!):
www.mindat.org/reference.ph...
September 11, 2023 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Erin 𓅉
When evaluating rocks for personal use, it’s not just about shape (although that better be gratifying).

Texture, strength, hardness, solubility (in water & acid) are all important considerations, occasionally along with more obscure characteristics like smell or stability under surface conditions.
May 10, 2023 at 7:28 AM
My vote is for #adamite because of the adamite bat.
The bat is largely mummified but adamite has started to replace around its face - fluorescent light highlights the adamite.
Found by John Seibel, late 1980s at the Gold Hill Mine, Utah, collection of Mark Mitterman.
September 10, 2023 at 1:02 AM
I’m pretty ambivalent here but I’m gonna vote for #vivianite solely because of this excellent (and amusing) article, “A Scientific Study of the Absorption of Evil by Vivianite” by Alfredo Petrov:

www.mindat.org/article.php/...
Ready for a pair of rare and delicate beauties in #MinCup23 Round 1 Match 7?

It’s ever-darkening #Vivianite vs vanadium-blue #Cavansite!

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaig...

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

Feed: bsky.app/profile/loui...
Round 1 Match 7 — Mineral Cup
www.mineralcup.org
September 7, 2023 at 12:01 AM
I <3 pseudos!
One of the coolest things about #Goethite is that it frequently replaces other minerals taking on their shapes as a psuedomorph. Below is Goethite after Marcasite, Goethite after Selenite, Goethite after Pyrite iron cross twins, & a lovely gothy Goethite crystal spray just for fun. #MinCup23 ⚒️
September 6, 2023 at 2:40 AM
This round is going to break my heart because #goethite is the only mineral in the bracket I REALLY like, and it’s going to get beat out by a mineral I can’t see.

Vote #goethite to make me wrong, and thus happy. 🥺
#MinCup23 Round 1 Match 6: It’s a pair of classics as sparkly & hard #Topaz crosses reliable & rusty #Goethite

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaig...

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

Feed: bsky.app/profile/did:... qes5gxkfgyeh/feed/ aaajvkpr5h4ug
September 5, 2023 at 11:41 PM
If you’ve ever wondered how miners get incredibly delicate specimens out of the ground, this crocoite extraction video is a good place to start. #TeamCrocoite #MinCup23

youtu.be/5_0noXIhIGg
Crocoite Plate from Adelaide Mine
A short film showing the planning and extraction of a plate of Crocoite from the Adelaide Mine in Dundas, Tasmania. Miners Bruce Stark and John Cornish have ...
youtu.be
September 5, 2023 at 12:36 AM
Crocoite has an unusually frequent tendency to grow into such crystals so extremely hoppered that the crystals are HOLLOW.

Orange lead-chromium straws does it perfectly for me. 🥰 #TeamCrocoite #MinCup23

www.mindat.org/photo-219055...
#MinCup23 Round 1 Match 5 has vibrant green facing off against just-as-vibrant red. Are you voting for the desert emerald #Dioptase, or the red lead #Crocoite?

Vote: www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaig...

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

Feed: bsky.app/profile/did:...
September 5, 2023 at 12:17 AM
This is what happens when stibnite “rusts.”

I had to unpack a backpack full of rocks for the TSA over this specimen once, and the man was so, so very disappointed when we opened the box and I’m still laughing about it.
September 4, 2023 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by Erin 𓅉
Want an early start to #MinCup23? Read Howard Lee’s great article about U-Pb dating of zircons, and use of magnetic data to find out how surprisingly fast the Pilbara Craton was moving 2.7 billion-years ago. This incredible usefulness is why zircon is called the Time Lord. Expect more Time Lord soon
August 17, 2023 at 2:08 AM
One of my favorite things, for being so plain but so incredibly cool: the oldest mineral yet found.

Jack Hills zircons have been dated to ~4.4 billion years ago. They were formed during the Hadean (all of earth was more-or-less molten), then cycled into sedimentary grains. #MinCup #TeamZircon
September 3, 2023 at 12:29 AM
I waffled because cinnabar is neat, but the pseudocubic habit of quartz might just be my favorite crystal habit, and the very best are found in New Mexico. 😍

www.mindat.org/photo-280989...
Quartz (Var: Pseudocubic Quartz), Quartz (Var: Pecos Diamonds)
"Pecos Diamonds" are quartz crystals that are found along the Pecos River valley, either weathered out of or still inside a selenite rock matrix of the Permian Seven Rivers formation in south-eastern ...
www.mindat.org
September 2, 2023 at 6:42 PM
Oh, also, cinnabar isn’t toxic.

Containing an element that is harmful does not make a mineral harmful. This is a matter of bioavailability - whether the body can absorb any of the harmful element. Largely this boils down to solubility, and cinnabar isn’t very soluble. #MinCup23
September 2, 2023 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Erin 𓅉
Mineral Cup now has its own feed. Add it & don’t miss a minute of the fun. Always use the hashtag #MinCup23. Now back to looking at all the great posts on #Cinnabar and #Quartz. Campaign & Vote!

Vote here: www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaig...

And view results here: www.mineralcup.org/results/roun...
September 2, 2023 at 2:54 PM
An argument for clay mineral kaolinite: one of mindat’s very best Easter eggs.

When @jolyon.bsky.social added the pronunciation feature, he also added a ton of the pronunciations himself. He got bored somewhere in that process. “Clay” is one of the best - go listen:
mindat.org/min-49430.html
It’s September somewhere! (ie, in Greenwich, the arbitrary start of time). That means it’s MINERAL CUP!!!!

32 minerals enter, but only one can be #MinCup23 Champion.

Round 1 Match 1 starts now:

www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaig...
Round 1 Match 1 — Mineral Cup
www.mineralcup.org
September 1, 2023 at 2:48 PM
PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS PIG’S EGGS

(Go kaolinite!)
It’s September somewhere! (ie, in Greenwich, the arbitrary start of time). That means it’s MINERAL CUP!!!!

32 minerals enter, but only one can be #MinCup23 Champion.

Round 1 Match 1 starts now:

www.mineralcup.org/2023/campaig...
Round 1 Match 1 — Mineral Cup
www.mineralcup.org
September 1, 2023 at 12:27 AM
This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.
August 31, 2023 at 7:40 PM
I think it’s fucking stupid I can’t properly yell at @jolyon.bsky.social anymore.

Worst life update, super unimpressed.
August 30, 2023 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Erin 𓅉
Wait, what's that? A list of all the minerals competing in #MinCup23? YES! www.mineralcup.org/mineral-cup-...

Bracket released as soon as we finish checking for typos & accidental repeated matchups.

Voting starts September 1 on our website.
Mineral Cup 2023 — Mineral Cup
www.mineralcup.org
August 26, 2023 at 5:36 AM