grrlscientist | August 6, 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 published recently at Pleiotropy. The current edition is entitled Scientia Pro Publica -- with a Twist. There is some controversy there where the host takes exception to one of the contributors' essays, so you will find this edition of Scientia Pro Publica most interesting.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing…
grrlscientist | August 6, 2009tags: Northern Rough-Winged Swallow, Stelgidopteryx serripennis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Northern Rough-Winged Swallow, Stelgidopteryx serripennis, photographed at the Katy Prairie, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 April 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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 6, 2009tags: Creature Comforts, space aliens, UFOs, humor, funny, streaming video
This video is a clip from Creature Comforts asks Londoners if anyone is out there? And records a variety of amusing answers [9:00]
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Antarctica, humor, funny, streaming video
My friend, Richard Carter, made this very sweet little video to help publicize my desire to go to Antarctica as your official penguin whisperer [0:33]
Please vote for me to go to Antarctica as your official blogger.
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities
Streets.
Walking around city streets in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Streets.
Narrow city streets in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Antarctica, humor, funny, streaming video
My friend, Richard Carter, made this very sweet little video to help publicize my desire to go to Antarctica as your official penguin whisperer [0:33]
Please vote for me to go to Antarctica as your official blogger.
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Red-and-Yellow Barbet, Trachyphonus erythrocephalus, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-and-Yellow Barbet, Trachyphonus erythrocephalus, photographed in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 29 August 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, Nikon 200-400 VR lens at 400 mm. ISO 200, 1/200, f/7.1.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: potable water, safe drinking water, LifeSaver Bottle, streaming video
Too much of the world lacks access to clean drinking water. In this video, engineer Michael Pritchard did something about it -- inventing the portable Lifesaver filter, which can make the most revolting water drinkable in seconds. An amazing demo from TEDGlobal 2009. [10:05]
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 talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
grrlscientist | August 5, 2009tags: Creature Comforts USA, self-image, self-esteem, humor, funny, streaming video
did you know that hair on your dingleberries affects your self esteem? Neither did I. This video is a clip from Creature Comforts USA about self image -- I think it's amusing. [8:51]
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 3642 - 1902 - 1484 - 1281 - 1113 out of 411 candidates registered. I am now in fourth place so I need your votes more than ever to recapture first place, so please ask your friends and relatives to vote for me now!
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay; hopefully, you will agree that I am…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Inside St. Olav's Church
Photographed in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
This image would also benefit from a little Photoshop intervention to tone down the bleaching effects of the brilliant light pouring in through the windows.
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Old Courtyard (with Hotel Marriott)
This is not the best image but I really like the clouds and the contrast to the buildings (This courtyard really IS this uneven, by the way!) This is a situation where I should crop the raw image. Photographed in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009Today's my fifth blogoversary, so suggest a few things for me and my readers to do. My celebrations have been somewhat complicated by the fact that I have a 2-inch diameter blister on the bottom of my foot. Even though I drained it (twice, actually), it is still quite painful to walk on. Boo!
Thanks to a reader, whom I am dragging all around the city with me, here is my celebratory list:
Today:
Go to the Whitney Art Museum to see the Edward Hopper Exhibit.
Eat Ice cream.
Walk around Central Park and (hopefully) pick up tickets to see Shakespeare in the Park.
Go to Josh Rosenau's's…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009
Who: Josh Rosenau, policy analyst at the National Center for Science Education
What: free public presentation, "Adventures in the Defense of Evolution: From Kansas to Turkey to New York"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Tuesday, 4 August
"That's not a problem here, right?," New Yorkers ask when they hear what Josh Rosenau does for a living. Rosenau is a policy analyst at the National Center for Science Education, where he defends the teaching of evolution against creationism. He and his colleagues have tracked attacks on…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 3634 - 1878 - 1473 - 1276 - 1236 out of 408 candidates registered. I am now in fourth place so I need your votes more than ever to recapture first place, so please ask your friends and relatives to vote for me now!
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay; hopefully, you will agree that I am…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009tags: Superb Starling, Lamprotornis superbus, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Superb Starling, sometimes known in American aviculture as the Spreo Starling in honor of its previous genus name, Lamprotornis (Spreo) superbus, photographed in Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, Africa. This species is the most common bird in its taxonomic family that the photographer encountered in Tanzania and Kenya. These birds were literally trash birds, he writes, hanging around trash cans, picnic tables etc. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen,…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009tags: antarctica, music, streaming video
This video shows some of the stark landscape of Antarctica. The music is by the black meta band, Immortal -- you might want to turn the sound down on your computer to avoid workplace hassles [7:07]
grrlscientist | August 3, 2009tags: Antarctica, humor, funny, streaming video
My friend, Richard Carter, made this very sweet little video to help publicize my desire to go to Antarctica as your official penguin whisperer [0:33]
Please vote for me to go to Antarctica as your official blogger.
grrlscientist | August 3, 2009tags: Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia, cities, image of the day
Courtyard.
Restored courtyard in Old Town, Tallinn, Estonia.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
What do you suppose those two signs are pointing at? They provide distance, but no context for those distances. For example, the "15 M" sign looks to be pointing to the dumpster .. hrm.