grrlscientist | January 29, 2010tags: How To Report The News, journalism, television news, cultural observation, Charlie Brooker, satire, parody, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
This video parody brilliantly dissects the average television news report. It is not only hilarious, but it's unfortunately too true, and for this reason alone, should alert video news teams that their craft is in jeopardy because of its stunning inanity and predictability.
This should be required viewing for all journalism classes.
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: Rights and Privileges, ethics, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, bible, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
Rights are cute ideas. Rights aren't rights at all if someone can take them away. 'God-given rights' are due to the god excuse: if god really gave you rights, he would have given you the right to have food every day and a roof over your head. But god is not (obviously!) taking care of you at all.
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: Suomenlinnan Muuri, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomenlinnan Muuri (Suomenlinna wall).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: evolutionary biology, fossils, feathers, plumage color, color, dinosaurs, theropods, Sinosauropteryx, Sinornithosaurus, birds, Confuciusornis, melanosomes, phaeomelanosomes, eumelanosomes, keratinocytes, SEM, scanning electron microscopy, 10.1038/nature08740, researchblogging.org, peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
Reconstruction of two Sinosauropteryx, sporting their orange and white striped tails.
Artwork by Chuang Zhao and Lida Xing [larger view]
DOI: 10.1038/nature08740
While looking at museum dioramas that feature dinosaurs, I often overhear people asking "How do they…
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] photographed near the Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm in Bellevue, Washington. [No one, not even the photographer, knows the ID of the bird that made this snow-print. The photographer is seeking your help IDing this bird]
Image: Ben Bardill, December 2008 (many thanks to Denny Granstrand for obtaining permission to share this image with us) [larger view].
There's a second image below the jump that might give you a better idea of this bird's size.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
[Mystery bird]…
grrlscientist | January 28, 2010tags: kinematics, kinetics, running,The Barefoot Professor, exercise physiology, barefoot running, NPG, peer-reviewed research, NATURE, 10.1038/nature08723, streaming video
Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman ditched his trainers and started running barefoot. His research shows that barefoot runners, who tend to land on their fore-foot, generate less impact shock than runners in sports shoes who land heel first. This makes barefoot running comfortable and could minimize running-related injuries.
This video is interesting to me because I was a cross-country runner and later, a long-distance…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2010tags: Baseball versus Football, sports, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
I despise baseball, but enjoy football (and futbol, too). My fellow NYCers were brainless drooling idiots when it came to the Yankees, and I reminded them of this as often as possible. The fact that I am still alive to talk about it means that all you religious wingnuts have yet another defensible "miracle" you can cite. (But that's another video). But here's George Carlin's commentary about baseball (which only serves to further elevate his status…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2010tags: Suomenlinnan Ikkuna, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Suomenlinnan Ikkuna (Suomenlinna window).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I love the pattern of different colors and the contrasting shadows between individual stones in this image.
grrlscientist | January 27, 2010tags: Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, inspecting what appears to be a beheaded Black-and-yellow Lichen Moth, Lycomorpha pholus, photographed on the Katy Prairie, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Here's an interesting bird for you to identify, and as an added bonus, can you identify the insect that it is inspecting?…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2010tags: health, medicine, TEDMED,health care, medical records, GPS, geography, geomedicine, Bill Davenhall, TEDTalks, streaming video
Where you live: It impacts your health as much as diet and genes do, but it's not part of your medical records. At TEDMED, Bill Davenhall shows how overlooked government geo-data (from local heart-attack rates to toxic dumpsite info) can mesh with mobile GPS apps to keep doctors in the loop. Call it "geo-medicine."
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2010I was reading the words of my brilliant friend, Digital Cuttlefish, this morning (which is the middle of the night for my American friends), and ran across this gem;
They were starving; they were homeless; they were dying; they were dead.
There were bodies to be buried; there were children to be fed.
There were broken heaps of rubble where the houses used to stand
There was utter devastation; there was chaos in the land.
There were frantic cries for rescue; there were howls of fear and pain
There were heroes risking life and limb, with much to lose or gain.
There were millions in donations--…
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Have a Nice Day, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
George Carlin can make anything funny. No, seriously.
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Linnoitusta Suomenlinnassa, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Kukka Suomenlinnassa (Suomenlinna blossom).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Wild Canary, Eastern Goldfinch, American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, Carduelis tristis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] American Goldfinch, also known as the Eastern Goldfinch or the Wild Canary, Spinus (Carduelis) tristis, photographed on the Brazoria Wildlife Refuge, Brazoria, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 January 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.
Review all mystery…
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, biochemistry, biophysics, magnetoreception, photoreceptor, cryptochromes, geomagnetic fields, butterflies, Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus, birds, migration, signal transduction, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
Every autumn, millions of monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, each weighing less than one gram (one US penny weighs 2.5 grams), migrate nearly 4000 kilometers (3000 miles) between their summer breeding grounds in the United States and their wintering areas either in southern California or in the…
grrlscientist | January 26, 2010tags: Story of Stuff, environment, pollution, climate change, global warming, recycling, social commentary, cultural observation, planned obsolescence, perceived obsolescence, fashion, advertizing, social psychology, streaming video
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental…
grrlscientist | January 25, 2010tags: cats, pets, social commentary, cultural observation, George Carlin, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
I am getting reacquainted with life with a cat (despite my allergies). So of course, I had to find out what George Carlin thinks about about living with domestic housecats.
grrlscientist | January 25, 2010tags: Linnoitusta Suomenlinnassa, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
Linnoitusta Suomenlinnassa (Suomenlinna fortress).
Soumenlinna, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 19 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | January 25, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird #1] Ring-necked Duck, Aythya collaris, photographed at the Hermann Park Conservancy, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 18 November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
[NOTE: all IDs were made by the photographer; I don't agree with them, but I am reporting them. Of course, the links to the original images are broken now]
Mystery bird #2…
grrlscientist | January 25, 2010tags: astronomy, cosmology, black obelisks, Dwarf Galaxy Dance, formation of dwarf galaxies, cold dark matter model, NPG, peer-reviewed research, NATURE, 10.1038/nature08640, streaming video
This beautiful animation shows how exploding stars are a key force in shaping dwarf galaxies. Fabio Governato and colleagues present computer simulations that appear to have solved a longstanding problem in cosmology -- namely, how the standard cold dark matter model of galaxy formation can give rise to the dwarf galaxies we see around us.
DOI: 10.1038/nature08640.