Mark Panning

@markpanning

Planetary seismologist in Pasadena. Project Scientist for InSight formerly operating on Mars and PI for Farside Seismic Suite and South Pole Seismic Station headed to the Moon. Somewhat nerdy. Opinions are, of course, my own. he/him

850 Folgt4.367 Follower3.247 Posts

YouTube Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir markpanning.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Mark Panning@markpanning· 16d

I’m doing bad at remembering to do this. Today I was thinking about how I was running through the remnants of the original Busch Gardens before it was an amusement park in the Valley and now in Tampa. Originally it was just fancy gardens of the Busch family open to the public.

Someone’s house that incorporated the Greek pergola from the old Busch Gardens Pasadena from the 1930’s. It’s now just a cool round feature of the house.

A stone wall along Arroyo Blvd that I believe is a remnant from the old Busch Gardens from the 1930’s. The yards below this all have remnant paths from the Gardens that are all disconnected by fences now.

Mark Panning@markpanning· 24d

Two thoughts on today’s run: 1) had to cut short my portion of the run in the bottom of the arroyo thanks to a coyote laying across the path. Maybe not the best at sunset. 2) also running after a giant meal and cocktail at Amigos was a bad idea unless I really wanted terrible heartburn.

View from La Loma bridge to the north just past sunset. The lights of the Colorado St Bridge are peeking through the trees and the sky is a nice peachy color.

Mark Panning@markpanning· 26d

Thaddeus is 2 years old today. And appparently tolerant of my wife making him wear a hat.

Thaddeus the little dog looking dapper in a blue party hat and blue Dodger bandana

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jul 13

Forgot to write down my thoughts after today’s run, but I’ll just say that I love running in the Arroyo.

Running along a nature trail with the Colorado Street Bridge overhead. It’s pretty, trust me.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jul 9

Maybe a Clement slide?

Ernie Clement sliding into home with great confidence during the World Series without knowledge of what was coming later in the game.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jul 9

Came to a Dodgers game all by myself on a Shohei “greatest game” bobblehead night. Sitting in the top row of top deck which is actually pretty sweet since it gets shade. Had to get this bobblehead since I actually went to game 4 of the NLCS last year and it was pretty goddamn amazing.

Shohei greatest game bobblehead showing him pitching.

The view from the top row of the top deck where I’ll be watching another Dodgers game.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jul 4

Apropos of this, I am about to see the Beach Boys and John Stamos at the Hollywood Bowl. Or maybe it’s just Beach Boy, because I think it’s just Mike Love at this point.

A view from seats at the Hollywood Bowl before a concert. It’s a pretty stadium and you can just see the Hollywood sign above and to the left of the stage.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jun 28

At Griffith Park to see Coriolanus, a Shakespeare play that I’m not 100% certain I had ever heard of before, and it’s Pride night. Love my #IndieShakes.

A view of the crowd at Griffith Park above the old zoo for a performance in the opening weekend of Coriolanus.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jun 28

All I need is the trickle along the algae going down the concrete channel of the Arroyo Seco.

A view of the south Arroyo Seco in Pasadena looking towards the La Loma Bridge with a mighty trickle running down the center of the concrete channel.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jun 27

So despite being an Indiana native, I believe I have watched only one Fever game in my life. So I know nothing of context here, but for one day the internet has convinced me to be a fan of Sophie Cunningham simply for her commitment to the bit.

Screen grab of Sophie Cunningham pointing at someone during an Indiana Fever game.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jun 21

My daughter bought me a beer and also got me a Father’s Day coozie. It’s a good life.

My daughter posing with me pointing at the coozie that says #1 Dad around my Stone Delicious IPA gluten-reduced beer. She’s actually old enough to buy me a beer.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jun 21

You can see the warehouse fire plume from Dodger Stadium. Pretty smoky here too, but I got my daughters here for a Fathers Day game, so I’ll brave the structure fire metal-ridden smoke.

A view of the warehouse fire in Boyle Heights from the top deck at Dodgers Stadium. Lots of smoke in the air and a plume of white smoke coming out in the distance past the palm trees and parked cars.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Jun 14

Did a sunset hike along a fire road off the 2 last night (we call it the quarantine trail because it’s the highest one you could get to when they closed it down in 2020). The yucca (or flashy, giant asparagus as I like to think of them) are going full force.

Selfie with the wife and my big noggin blocking the sun while on a hike.

Sunset viewed from a trail in the San Gabriel Mountains.

It’s a blooming yucca. It’s glowing in low-angle sun and surrounded by San Gabriel Mountain scenic scrub.

View of a ridgeline with lens flares along left edge of image and glowing yucca blooms all along the ridgeline.

Mark Panning@markpanning· May 30

How many non-closer bullpen pitchers get bobbleheads? I 💙 Alex Vesia and all of his energy drink addiction.

A picture of Alex Vesia with Dodger Stadium filed out of focus in the background.

Side view of the bobblehead box proving that the ridiculous face on the bobblehead is actually accurate.

Mark Panning@markpanning· May 11

Here’s some more pretty pictures from a nice Mother’s Day in the Cayucos and Morro Bay Area of the central coast.

Nice tilted sedimentary (chert?) beds at Montaña de Oro state park along the central coast of California. Waves are splashing on to the rocks.

It’s a tree covered in some sort of epiphyte in the marine layer fog on a trail called Harmony Headlands along the central coast of California.

A shipwreck near Cayucos, California accessible at low tide.

Rabbit watching me from the trail ahead at Harmony Headlands Trail near Cayucos, California accessible

Mark Panning@markpanning· May 9

Back to the central coast again. I’m going to miss having an excuse to come up here after the daughters graduate.

A view along a beach looking back to Morro Rock.

Mark Panning@markpanning· May 8

A little bit odd for a kid in the 80’s, but god I loved this tape (the pic is the cover of the Beatles 1967-1970 greatest hits album).

The cover of the greatest hits album from The Beatles called The Beatles 1967-1970. The cover was a repeat of the original album cover of Please Please Me but with older, hairier Beatles.

Mark Panning@markpanning· May 6

Looks like a lot of dachshund and chihuahua to me. Reminds me a little of my little guy who’s half chihuahua and half every other small dog breed known to man.

Thaddeus the puppy showing off standing on his hind legs while wearing a ridiculous bow tie.

Mark Panning@markpanning· May 3

Playing this at my friend David Haven’s house was the coolest. Despite now having lived over a third of my life in California, it’s still the closest I’ve come to surfing.

Wonderful graphics on late 80’s video game California Games

Mark Panning@markpanning· May 1

So I forgot to check the website on time one morning for jury duty, but I checked it later that day and I wasn’t required to appear. And then I get this when I check to see if I need to come in. This has me seething. I didn’t even need to show up and they’re still saying I haven’t completed!

A text window screen shotted from a website saying:

Call Juror Services.
Service Week: April 27, 2026
Our records indicate that you have not checked your reporting instructions every day during your service week as instructed. As a result, your jury service is not complete.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Apr 26

Apparently there are even traffic jams on the Dodger Stadium warning track.

Looking down from the Top Deck at Dodger Stadium, where a bunch of little leaguers and their families are walking the warning track around the diamond before a day game between the Cubs and Dodgers.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Apr 24

I wonder how many people have a valid Erdős-Bacon number? Apparently I have an Erdős number of 4, but no valid Bacon number with no film credits to my name.

Output of a search for my path to Paul Erdős on csauthors.net showing a distance of 4 linked through Wen-Zhang Song, Peng-Jun Wan, Ronald L. Graham.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Apr 17

Everything is forbidden.

Stock image of a German road sign saying “Alles verboten” which translates to everything forbidden. It feels a little nihilistic.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Apr 12

Latest cocktail experiment before the Dodgers game is the French Blonde; as suggested by my wife. Pretty good combo of Lillet Blanc, gin, St. Germaine, and grapefruit juice with a splash of orange bitters.

Partially drank French Blonde cocktail looking slightly pinkish in a coupe glass with a twist of grapefruit peel.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Apr 6

And you can see that in the sketches Galileo made of the Moon so long ago...

A series of 5 images of the Moon drawn by Galileo from his telescopic observations. Note the prominent terminator (line between light and dark sides of the Moon) in each image with detailed craters along the line.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Apr 5

I like the view from the parking lot up at the Observatory where you can look across Old Town Pasadena to DTLA with the ocean and Catalina Island in the background.

The view from the parking lot at Mt Wilson Observatory with Pasadena in the foreground with the dark skyscrapers of DTLA behind it and the Pacific Ocean in the background with Catalina Island just sneaking into the upper right of the image.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Apr 5

Nice quiet Easter morning hike of the Rim trail starting at the Mt Wilson Observatory. First bit wanders along below the observatory with great views of the 100 inch scope dome and various domes and vacuum tubes for the CHARA array.

A view of the dome of the 100 inch telescope and the tower of a solar observing scope from the Rim trail near Mt Wilson Observatory.

One of the six observing scopes of the CHARA array with vacuum light tubes that collect all the light to be analyzed at a central beam collection point.

View along the long length of the Rim trail (most of which we didn’t actually hike)

Thaddeus enjoying some of the views back toward the San Gabriel Valley from the Rim trail.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Mar 31

Love this ballpark. Even if they’re asking me to call it Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium.

A view of the field at Dodger Stadium from Top Deck seats.

Mark Panning@markpanning· Mar 20

Seen yesterday while boarding a plane in Heathrow, and I don’t know what it refers to, but I assume this means Pete Crow-Armstrong is moonlighting at the airport.

Picture of some archaic control panel on a Heathrow jetbridge with a joystick with a tag on it that says “PCA IN USE” around a red circle surrounding the joystick

Mark Panning@markpanning· Mar 19

Much classier than the jury-rigged adapter I use in France.