grrlscientist | February 24, 2010tags: Tilikum, Tillikum, Tilly, Orcinus orca, Killer Whale, SeaWorld, Sea World, Orlando, Florida, whales, animals, news, behavior, streaming video
Whale trainer, Dawn Brancheau, with male orca, Tilikum (also spelled as "Tillikum"), at SeaWorld Orlando.
Yesterday afternoon, experienced whale trainer, 40-year-old Dawn Brancheau, was attacked and killed by 30-year-old male orca, Tilikum (also spelled as "Tillikum"), during the afternoon show at SeaWorld, in Orlando, Florida. The 12,300 pound male orca, Orcinus orca, apparently grabbed his trainer and thrashed her to death in front of the…
grrlscientist | February 24, 2010tags: education, public outreach, SciCafe, science cafe, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, streaming video
Who: Director of the Energy Materials Center at Cornell, Héctor Abruña
What: free public presentation, "Energy Through Chemistry"
When: Wednesday, 3 March at 700pm
Where: Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, American Museum of Natural History, Enter at the 81st Street (Rose Center) [directions and maps]
Cost: FREE, and there is a cash bar too! (must be 21+ with ID)
Our energy future -- from powering cell phones, laptops, and cars to harnessing alternative sources like solar…
grrlscientist | February 24, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is almost here once more and it is still seeking submissions for Monday's edition of this blog carnival! Can you help by sending URLs for well-written blog essays to the host?
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days…
grrlscientist | February 24, 2010tags: Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Great Blue Heron, Ardea herodias, photographed in California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 24, 2010tags: Professor Destroys Student's Laptop In Class, University of Oklahoma, Professor Kieran Mullen, laptop, laptop brutality, teaching, education, university, comedy, humor, strange, behavior, streaming video
In an effort to make a point -- Laptops are distracting students -- University of Oklahoma physics professor Kieran Mullen freezes a student's laptop with liquid nitrogen then smashes it onto the floor. One student caught this act of laptop brutality on video:
Read more about it: Professor shatters distracting laptop.
grrlscientist | February 23, 2010tags: Law & Order, Pups & Order, television, music, dogs, pets, comedy, humor, strange, behavior, streaming video
I love Law & Order so much that this one TV show is enough to tempt me into purchasing a television (I've never owned nor possessed a TV, although I do watch TV in "my" NYC pub). But according to this curious video, the theme music from Law & Order is enough to cause dogs everywhere to howl (with delight?).
This video was compiled from a collection of "pups & order" videos. Does anyone have a dog that also howls when the opening credits for Law & Order…
grrlscientist | February 23, 2010tags: Eared Diver, Black-necked Grebe, Eared Grebe, Podiceps nigricollis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Eared Grebe, also known as the Black-necked Grebe or the Eared Diver, Podiceps nigricollis, photographed in California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 23, 2010tags: Old Spice commercial, manmercial, television, Superbowl, advertizing, technology, computer-generated imagery, CGI, wow, I'm on a Horse, Isaiah Mustafa, funny, humor, streaming video
Daily, men ask themselves, What do women want? We want a gorgeous bare-chested man with a beautiful voice on a horse, that's what! And this is exactly what Old Spice gave us with bare-chested Isaiah Mustafa, a TV actor and former NFL player, in their "manmercial" that first aired during the Superbowl. But how was that amazing commercial made? Maybe you think it was stitched together from a lot of separate '…
grrlscientist | February 22, 2010tags: Disappointing Torture, cultural observation, political commentary, politics, torture, funny, satire, humor, streaming video
Two agents (Jimmy Mulville and Phillip Pope) are preparing to interrogate a suspected secret agent (Tony Robinson). Unfortunately, the suspected secret agent is afraid of torture, which seems an ideal situation, right? Well, not really, not when you wish to test your torture kit for the first time.
grrlscientist | February 22, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is almost here once more and it is still seeking submissions for Monday's edition of this blog carnival! Can you help by sending URLs for well-written blog essays to the host?
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days…
grrlscientist | February 22, 2010tags: Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Anna's Hummingbird, Calypte anna, photographed in California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Steve Duncan [larger view].
Nikon D200 w/ Nikkor 300mm f/4 & TC17E.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | February 22, 2010Since I have been without wireless for one week now, I thought I'd take this opportunity to provide you with an update so you don't think I've either died, lost interest in writing or been kidnapped by space aliens. None of these things is true.
If you've been following my saga on twitter these past few days, then you know that I've been going crazy because my wireless connection unexpectedly died one week ago. The internet providers, T-Mobile, are a study of stupidity and incompetence, unable to understand what the problem is (like, duh!), unable to route our many phone calls to someone in…
grrlscientist | February 22, 2010tags: Queasy Bake Oven, Easy Bake Oven, kid's toys, funny, spoof, humor, Ronald Howes Sr, streaming video
The Easy-Bake Oven was the invention of Ronald Howes Sr, who died 20 February at age 83. I never got one, although I sure would have loved one to experiment with ... According to his obituary, Howes sounds like a very fun person to be around.
"He always had the coolest stuff on earth that I could mess around with," such as phosphorescent powder he was testing for various glow-in-the-dark applications, his son said.
But Mr. Howes always realized that the Easy-Bake Oven was, in his son's…
grrlscientist | February 21, 2010tags: Invisible Rope Prank, humor, funny, prank, streaming video
Here's a hilarious prank where two guys pretend they have a rope that they stretch across a road between them in front of oncoming traffic. The reactions of those who have been pranked are quite amusing.
grrlscientist | February 21, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is almost here once more and it is still seeking submissions for Monday's edition of this blog carnival! Can you help by sending URLs for well-written blog essays to the host?
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days…
grrlscientist | February 21, 2010tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"How does one distinguish a truly civilized nation from an aggregation of
barbarians? That is easy. A civilized country produces much good bird
literature."
--Edgar Kincaid
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of a wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that currently are, or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle birding pals and book collector, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is edited by me and published here for your information and…
grrlscientist | February 21, 2010tags: Brown-breasted Barbet, Lybius melanopterus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Adult with fledgling Brown-breasted Barbet, Lybius melanopterus, photographed in the Pangani River Camp, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 9 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens, ISO 800, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, Exposure compensation +1.7.
A little known fact about the Pangani River Camp is that it is owned by Massey Swynnerton, whose grandfather was a pioneer ornithologist in Africa. Swynnerton's Robin is named for him. Perhaps…
grrlscientist | February 20, 2010tags: African Golden-breasted Bunting, Emberiza flaviventris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] African Golden-breasted Bunting, Emberiza flaviventris, photographed in Mikumi, Tanzania, Africa. Surely one of the prettiest little birds in Tanzania. They were quite common farther south, especially around Mikumi National Park. This one was near Mikumi town, not in the park. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 9 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens. ISO 500, f/6.3, 1/800 sec. Exposure Compensation 0.
Please name at least one field…
grrlscientist | February 20, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is almost here once more and it is still seeking submissions for Monday's edition of this blog carnival! Can you help by sending URLs for well-written blog essays to the host?
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days…
grrlscientist | February 20, 2010tags: americans, ignorance, stupid, uneducated, Bill Maher, comedy, humor, beliefs, television, education, streaming video
"This country is like a college chick after two long island iced teas: we can be talked into anything, like wars, and we can be talked out of anything, like health care," says Bill Maher. "We should forget town halls and replace them with study halls."