Ian Vander Meulen
@vandermeuleni.bsky.social
440 followers 340 following 95 posts
BSc, MSc, PhD. Environmental analytical chemist and engineer looking at occurrence & fate of oil sands aquatic contaminants. Into all things naphthenic acids. Terrible runner. Lifelong learner. Working at Environment & Climate Change Canada
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vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Was my first CEW experience, but will not be my last. Thanks to the folks who let this chemist cosplay as a toxicologist the last few days ❤️
ecotoxcan.ca
We’re so excited to welcome you all to #CEW2025 in beautiful Victoria, BC!
Reposted by Ian Vander Meulen
lukaszukab.bsky.social
We’re not there yet.

We still have 21 days to reach our 300,000 signatures. Please, take a moment and sign the petition. It’s up to you now.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6NW...

#ForeverCanadian
Forever-Canadian.ca because the only independence Alberta should have…
YouTube video by Lisab0923
www.youtube.com
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
In retrospect "How the World Works" by Bo Burnham was both incisive and, unfortunately, prophetic.

youtu.be/oDQXFNWuZj8?...
Bo Burnham: How The World Works
YouTube video by Netflix Is A Joke
youtu.be
Reposted by Ian Vander Meulen
furbyhancock.bsky.social
Too late, Batman. Once this Tylenol floods the city's water supply, my wiki won't run out of editors ever again
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
All *this* is a bit much.

Time for a comfort watch.
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Grateful for gracious, supportive friends ❤️
A donut tower with a sign that says "Finally Done", with a "p" and "h" in place of "F". There is also a steel bucket of punch labelled as "tailings samples".
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Evergreen
gmbutts.bsky.social
Living in interesting times may be overrated tbh.
Reposted by Ian Vander Meulen
drandrewthaler.bsky.social
So, Silksong is good.

Very, very good.
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Twitter had me addicted checking the feed. BlueSky has me feeling like Duolingo - I *should* check, but it feels like more work.

Why? Just me?
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Data I've worked with don't show discernible impacts in water, but analytical biases in my methods *have consistently ignored volatile fractions*, but that was usually justified by previous toxicity identification evaluations. Are volatile acids still (relatively) benign airborne? I'm not sure 🤷‍♂️
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
I haven't finished chewing on it yet, but I find Figure 4(a) particularly fascinating. The authors find elevated C7H6O2 (a benzoic acid analogue) downwind of Suncor pond 2/3, but not downwind of Syncrude Mildred Lake operations. What is the atmospheric half-life of NAs? Are they depositing?
Reposted by Ian Vander Meulen
mcopelov.bsky.social
Look around, the case for more, not less, liberal arts education remains stronger than ever.
reustis.bsky.social
If you were forced to bet on which university courses of study still will be relevant in 50 years, languages, literature, history, philosophy, and arts are all pretty good wagers.

They have an excellent track record over the past thousand years or so.
phdhurtbrain.bsky.social
Not the point of this fascinating article, but it remains darkly ironic to me that the Humanities have fallen backwards into being the safe financial bet of degrees
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
The episodic character of cable broadcast also forced succinct step-wise concrete character developments to fit in those 20 min slots, while still leaving lots of room to "show, not tell." The live-action ATLA definitely falls towards "tell, not show." Exposition heavy.
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Thanks to Doug Muench, Christine Martineau, Jason Ahad, @dwmcmartin.bsky.social, and John Headley, as well as our industry partner.
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Longer story, atreatment wetland can (i) drop concentrations, (ii) make the mixture more polar, and (iii) drop average molecular weights of mixture classes. These are all consistent with decreasing toxicity in treated tailings. Other folks have related exciting tox data, but that's their story.
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
My last dissertation chapter is now out open-access.

An oil sands operator gave us access to a pilot-scale treatment wetland on their mine site, and we monitored naphthenic acid fraction compounds (NAFCs). Long-story short, the treatment strategy works pretty well.

dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.je...
Redirecting
dx.doi.org
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
www.ipsos.com/en-ca/canada...

It's wonderful that Canada holds a privileged position among our allies. There are good reasons for this. We only supply "ethical oil" as long as we commit to continuous improvement and learning for effective reclamation. Stewardship isn't free.
Canada Is Top Preferred Oil Supplier for G7 Nations
Ipsos poll reveals Canada's strong position among G7 allies, Middle East gains ground in G20 countries as U.S. drops across regions
www.ipsos.com
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Thank you to @dwmcmartin.bsky.social & John Headley for your steadfast support throughout. I couldn't have asked for better supervision.
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Proud to say I successfully defended my PhD thesis today.
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
Update - he's gotten big. Probably 40 lbs by 6 months. But Pippin's a (mostly) good boy.
A mixed-breed puppy at 6 months of age. A mixed-breed puppy at 4 months of age A mixed-breed puppy at 2 months of age
vandermeuleni.bsky.social
When did www.howcanishareit.com get nuked? It hasn't been usable for me for ~6 months at least, and it was a great resource.
How Can I Share It
www.howcanishareit.com
Reposted by Ian Vander Meulen
chemjobber.bsky.social
"Wolf of Theseus" was genuinely amusing
beebrookshire.bsky.social
This is rather like making 20 changes to the DNA of a gorilla, it’s born a bit lanky and with red fur, and billing it as an orangutan. teamtrash.substack.com/p/is-it-a-di...
Is it a Dire Wolf? Or a Gee Whiz Puppy?
The perils of a living PR stunt.
teamtrash.substack.com