grrlscientist | October 26, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Would you like to share your excellent writing about science, nature or medicine with the world? Now you can! There is a blog carnival that celebrates the best writing in the blogosphere about these topics and we are seeking submissions from you, the reading and writing public that you think are suitable for this blog carnival.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) was just published recently. This edition is entitled Scientia Pro Publica -- 14th edition…
grrlscientist | October 26, 2009tags: Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 26, 2009tags: ant mimic, Jumping Spider, macro video, animal behavior, streaming video
Unfortunately, no species ID yet (can you ID this spider?), but the mimicry in both form and behavior is truly beautiful, astonishing, really.
Video: Thomas Shahan [Thomas Shahan's photostream]
grrlscientist | October 26, 2009tags: Project Kaisei, Oceanography, North Pacific Gyre, North Pacific Garbage Patch, plastic, pollution, environment, streaming video
Underwater videographer, underwater photographer, and author, Annie Crawley joined Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Project Kaisei aboard the New Horizon on a 3 week long expedition to the North Pacific Gyre. They collected data to help find a solution to the "Plastic Vortex" forming in our Ocean.
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: Invisible dogs, NYC Life, prank, humor, funny, fucking hilarious, WTF, streaming video
As a NYCer, I can tell you that NYC is filled with weird people, but on some days, the populace is weirder than others. For example, more than 2,000 people walked "invisible dogs" down the streets of Brooklyn on a Sunday afternoon recently. The leashes were on loan from the current owner of 51 Bergen Street, the factory space where the invisible dog toy was invented in the 1970s. Participants of all ages spread out from Red Hook to Brooklyn Heights, very seriously walking their very silly dogs.…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
How many of you are Harry Potter fans, or know someone who is? How about all those millions of kids in the United States who are crazy about Harry Potter and his amazing owl, Hedwig? So don't you think this makes owls a special bridge between kids and the worlds of imagination and literature and nature and science? I certainly think it does, so of course, I think this wonderful DonorsChoose project, Who Gives a "Hoot" About Owls! is a superb classroom lesson to interest this high-poverty classroom of 120 third graders in…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: horses, carriage horses, Helsinki, Finland, travel
Helsinki has carriage horses in its parks, just as NYC does.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view].
I only photographed these horses, I didn't go for a carriage ride, although I think a carriage ride would have been fun (even though it was raining frequently throughout this day).
Unlike NYC carriage horses, most of which are quite fond of people, these horses were quite cross and seemed to really hate people.
Helsinki has carriage horses in its parks, just as NYC does.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view].…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009
A Greek man was relaxing at his favorite cafe in Krateron, a small Greek village in northern Greece, when he managed to attract the attentions of a spectacular blonde woman. He invited her back to his flat, made some small talk and then they made love. After a pleasant interlude and a blissful rest, he stretched, and smiling, he asked; "So...you finish?"
She paused for a second, and frowned. "No," she replied.
Pleasantly surprised, the Greek man reached for her and had his way with her again. This time she's wild, thrashing about on the bed and climaxing with screams of passion. After…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
When you go hiking or sailing or stargazing, why not consider writing about your experience of nature and sharing it with the world? Or maybe you are watching an ant's nest in the crack of a sidewalk, walking down the beach, flipping rocks to see what's underneath, or sitting in your kitchen, watching birds eating seeds at your birdfeeders? Your experiences could be interesting to others if these activities provide you with questions that you decide to investigate…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: 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 | October 25, 2009tags: Juvenile Martial Eagle, Polemaetus bellicosus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Martial Eagle, Polemaetus bellicosus, photographed in Nakuru National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 29 July 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 VR lens at 200. ISO 200, 1/2000, f 5.6.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Here's another look at this bird.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: religion, flowchart, humor, funny, diagram
Flowcharts are a great way to make sense out of confusing scenarios, and there's no scenario that's more confusing than trying to figure out what religion you should follow. This helpful flowchart was created to guide you through this complex process:
Can you all spot the error in this diagram?
[Some perspective: If every one of you wonderful people who has been flooding in to my blog these past 18 hours had donated ONLY ONE DOLLAR EACH to my DonorsChoose "Challenge" classrooms, they would have $40,000+ to spend on teaching materials to help…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: intelligent design, scientific process, science classroom, rational thinking, AtheistBusCA, streaming video
Kenneth Miller provides a brief explanation as to why "intelligent design" is not admissible in a science classroom.
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: atheism, African-Americans, christianity, muslims, JohnBeezy3, streaming video
This video discusses something that I've often wondered: Where are the Black Atheists?
grrlscientist | October 24, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
I am so excited and so proud of YOU, my beautiful readers, for donating your precious and limited dollars to help kids in impoverished classrooms continue their journey towards claiming a brighter future through education. As of a few minutes ago, we raised the minimum of $2500 in DonorsChoose funds, which qualifies us for at least $2000 in matching funds from Hewlett-Packard! However, I have a confession to make: I am a selfish bastard because I want MORE MORE MORE of those precious HP funds to share with impoverished…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2009
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) was just published recently. This edition is entitled Scientia Pro Publica -- 14th edition. The author of Genetic Interference is speaking (right now!) at the American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meeting and is planning to "live blog" that conference as well, despite the fact it's in Hawai'i, so be sure to poke around on his blog to find those essays.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2009tags: Bearded Vulture, Lamb Vulture, Lammergeyer, Gypaetus barbatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lammergeyer, also known as the Bearded or Lamb Vulture (for reasons that I'll bet you can correctly guess at), Gypaetus barbatus, photographed on Mt Kilimanjaro, at just under 15000 feet, at Barafu Camp. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 24 July 2006 [larger view].
NIkon D2X 70-200 VR lens at 200, ISO 200, 1/1250, f 6.3.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
According to legend, the Greek playwright…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
I have a confession to make: I love ant farms. I love them so much that one of my readers bought me an ant farm to cheer me up shortly after I lost my funding and was experiencing a long run of bad luck in my job search -- the financial stress and loss of self esteem were almost unbearable. But even though I am an adult (well, I'm told I look like an adult), I found hours of joy watching "my ants." But imagine how eye-opening an ant farm would be for a bunch of impoverished second-graders who have never seen or…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2009tags: Phidippus audax, Jumping Spider, macro video, animal behavior, streaming video
A macro video of a very large (15mm or so) adult female Phidippus audax jumping spider that the videographer found in a light fixture. Set to a recording he made in December with a vintage Japanese Alvarez classical acoustic and a Kay Swingmaster hollowbody electric.
Video: Thomas Shahan [Thomas Shahan's photostream]
grrlscientist | October 23, 2009tags: Project Kaisei, Oceanography, North Pacific Gyre, North Pacific Garbage Patch, plastic, pollution, environment, streaming video
Project Kaisei's 2009 Expedition. Footage from the Kaisei, one of two research vessels Project Kaisei sent to the North Pacific Gyre in August, 2009 to study the extent of the marine debris problem in the gyre, the impact it may be having on marine life and the food chain, and to find ways to catch and recover some of the debris for a larger clean-up effort.