grrlscientist | July 4, 2010tags: The Invention of Religion, humor, comedy, satire, funny, silly, fucking hilarious, interview, religion, Ricky Gervais, streaming video
This amusing video features Ricky Gervais explaining how everything you need to know about religion can be found on a Pizza Hut pizza box.
The Invention of Religion.
grrlscientist | July 3, 2010tags: Stephen Hawking on Religion: Science Will Win, Diane Sawyer, Stephen Hawking, interview, science, religion, streaming video
World News Anchor, Diane Sawyer, asks physicist Stephen Hawking about the biggest mystery he'd like solved. He said, "I want to know why the universe exists, why there is something rather than nothing".
grrlscientist | July 3, 2010tags: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, film, movie, trailer, entertainment, streaming video
Those of you who are Harry Potter fans will LOVE this! This is the second trailer from the penultimate installment of the Harry Potter films; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, which was shown at the MTV movie awards 2010. HP7a will hit theaters on November 19th, 2010 [it's being released in Belgium on 17 November, so guess where I'll go to watch it on opening night?].
grrlscientist | July 3, 2010tags: Federal Officials Suspend First Amendment Rights for Coverage of Gulf of Mexico Disaster, First Amendment Rights, Gulf of Mexico, BP, oil spill, oil spill clean-up efforts, relief efforts, disaster relief, US Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, mainstream media, streaming video
What. The. FUCK. As BP makes its latest attempt to plug its gushing oil well, mainstream news photographers are complaining that their efforts to document the slow-motion disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are being thwarted by local and federal officials -- working with BP -- who are blocking access to the sites where…
grrlscientist | July 3, 2010tags: Hooded Vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus, Marabou Stork, Leptoptilos crumeniferus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Hooded Vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus (background: Marabou Stork, Leptoptilos crumeniferus), photographed at the Ndutu Safari Lodge, near Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 21 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender ISO 800, f/5.6 1/400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Since this African mystery bird is easy to…
grrlscientist | July 3, 2010tags: Fast Lane -- Shopping Carts, SuperMarkt Shopping Carts, Einkaufszentrum, Berlin, fun, silly, your inner child, entertainment, volkswagen commercial, television, streaming video
Just a quick shopping trip? Here's a great invention: Some shopping carts -- "trolleys" for you Brits -- are pimped with a skateboard in a shopping center in Berlin, Germany. Up for some extra shopping fun?
grrlscientist | July 2, 2010tags: AT-AT Day Afternoon, movies, Star Wars, humor, funny, satire, cute, silly, pets, streaming video
This NYC-dog-walker-on-hiatus-and-star-wars-fan loves this video! If this video doesn't make you pee your pants by the end, well, you've clearly not had enough to drink!
AT-AT day afternoon from Patrick Boivin on Vimeo.
Music by Blithe Field Bible School.
grrlscientist | July 2, 2010tags: Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, photographed in Wilsall, Montana. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Ron Shimek [larger view].
Olympus OM-10 in an Ikelite Housing, Kodachrome 64 film.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This stunning mystery bird is more than "eye candy"; there is something special about this bird's breeding habits that set it apart from all its congeners, can you tell me what that is?
The Western Tanager breeds…
grrlscientist | July 2, 2010tags: What, If Anything, Is Big Bird?, taxonomy, taxonomy, evolution, Grandicrocavis, Big Bird, flightless birds, ratites, humor, comedy, science humor, dinosaur humor, Mike Dickison, PechaKucha, Christchurch, streaming video
Years ago, when Zoologist Mike Dickison was in the early stages of his PhD, he gave a joke presentation at a graduate student conference on the taxonomy and evolution of a giant flightless bird. It was the sort of thing you'd see at any conference on avian evolution: a Latin name, reconstructed skeleton, possible place on the great evolutionary tree of birds. The tone…
grrlscientist | July 1, 2010tags: Inside A Birdhouse, television, advertising, humor, funny, satire, cute, silly, canary, streaming video
This cute video shows that there's a lot more inside a birdhouse than is evident from the outside. It's a commercial for squash juice. Squash juice? Yes. Apparently some people drink squash juice.
There's two things that bother me about this video. First, pigeons do not sound like owls. Second, bird rock and roll should not sound like humans singing, but should sound like parrots screeching. or something.
That said, I've watched this video dozens of times and was certain I've shown…
grrlscientist | July 1, 2010tags: vultures, Gyps species, conservation biology, endangered species, veterinary medicine, toxicology, physiology, evolutionary biology, pharmaceutical chemistry, epidemiology, mathematical modeling, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, journal club
Only thirty years ago, tens of millions of White-rumped Vultures, Gyps bengalensis,
were flying the skies of Asia. They are now classified as Critically Endangered.
Image: Marek Jobda / rarebirdsyearbook.com [larger view]
A zombie is another name for The Walking Dead -- those who are lifeless, apathetic, or totally lacking in…
grrlscientist | July 1, 2010tags: Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura, photographed at Brazos Bend State Park, Needville, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 28 November 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This challenging-to-ID-from-this-image mystery bird has a special foraging ability that other members of this family lack. Can you tell me what that…
grrlscientist | July 1, 2010tags: Following The Mercury Trail, health, environment, ecology, pollution, PCBs, DDT, heavy metals, red tide, human sewage pollution, Stephen Palumbi, TEDTalks, TED Talks, streaming video
There's a tight and surprising link between the ocean's health and ours, says marine biologist Stephen Palumbi. He shows how toxins at the bottom of the ocean food chain find their way into our bodies, with a shocking story of toxic contamination from a Japanese fish market. His work points a way forward for saving the oceans' health -- and humanity's.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2010tags: How Can You Filter Out The Vuvuzela?, World Cup 2010, physics, technology, football, soccer, sports, television, Sixty Symbols, University of Nottingham, streaming video
A University of Nottingham video explains the physics that underlies the technology being developed to filter out that annoying drone from 30,000 blasting vuvuzelas in the background of all World Cup football matches. It's interesting to note that this is the same sort of software technology that ornithologists use to record (and "clean up" background noise inadvertently captured by) birdsong recordings.
grrlscientist | June 30, 2010tags: Zombies Like Turtles, ScienceBlogs' Zombie Day, humor, funny, silly, streaming video
Today is Zombie Day at ScienceBlogs .. and oooo, do you see the zombified me, pictured over there on the right? Moochas smoochas to my pal, Joseph, for my portrait! ...
Ahem. This is an unofficial day at ScienceBlogs intended to celebrate silliness in a world filled with a shitload of mayhem, disaster and despair. So in honor of this day, I wasted half the fucking day spent hours watching silly videos before I finally settled on this particular one as being vaguely appropriate, since it ties the zombie…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2010tags: birds, ornithology, Common Raven, Northern Raven, Corvus corax, animal behavior, animal culture, aggression, dominance hierarchy, social groups, social conflict, post-conflict behavior, consolation, empathy, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, journal club
Common Raven, Corvus corax, showing off at Bryce Canyon National Park, USA.
Image: United States National Park Service (Public Domain) [larger view]
Humans have long tried to distinguish themselves from other animals on the basis of characters that are perceived to be unique, such as tool design and use, planning for the…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2010tags: Cave Swallow, Petrochelidon fulva, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] A young-of-the-year Cave Swallow, Petrochelidon fulva, photographed at Chambers County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 26 June 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This mystery bird species is extremely local and seasonal in the southernmost portion of the USA, nesting in very limited numbers only in…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2010tags: David Kassan Paints a Live Model on his iPad, technology, computers, iPad, Apple, art, fingerpainting, portrait painting, documentary, time-lapse video, streaming video
This video is a time-lapse rendering of an Apple ipad fingerpainting demo that was streamed live from artist David Kassan's Brooklyn studio on Monday, 21 June 2010. The model sat for 3 hours as Mr Kassan painted and answered questions on how he uses the iPad and the Brushes applications.
Learn more about David Kassan.
grrlscientist | June 29, 2010tags: Fútbol Deporte Nacional, Tango y Fútbol, Argentina, Germany, World Cup 2010, soccer, football, Fútbol, satire, streaming video
If the Argentinian fútbol team plays as skillfully and as gracefully as this couple dances the Tango (and the implication is that they will), I think it's no contest: the Germans will lose on Saturday ... just sayin'.
grrlscientist | June 29, 2010tags: Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Newly hatched Black-necked Stilt, Himantopus mexicanus, photographed at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Anahuac, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 26 June 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Newly-hatched baby birds of this mystery bird species have a remarkable ability, can you tell me what that is?…