teaching
grrlscientist | April 12, 2010tags: Dusky Kinglet, Ruby-crown, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ruby-crowned Kinglet, also known as the Dusky Kinglet or as the Ruby-Crown, Regulus calendula, photographed on the Brazos Bend State Park, Needville, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/180s 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 | April 10, 2010tags: African Skimmer, Rynchops flavirostris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] African Skimmer, Rynchops flavirostris, photographed mystery location Nyamba ya Mungo, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 14 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 x 1.4 lens ISO 320, 1/1000 sec, f/6.3. Exp comp +.3
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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grrlscientist | April 9, 2010tags: math class, film making, animation, technology, weird, offbeat, flatland, Biola University, Matthew Weathers, streaming video
This is a trick that Matthew Weathers made for a lecture he presented in his Nature of Math class at Biola University. He apparently likes experimenting with mixing live action with video.
Here's his Halloween 2009 lecture:
How the heck did he do that?
grrlscientist | April 9, 2010tags: Pied Crested Kingfisher, Crested Kingfisher, Megaceryle lugubris, Alcedo lugubris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pied Crested Kingfisher, Crested Kingfisher, Megaceryle (Alcedo) lugubris, photographed at Kosi River, Ramnagar, India. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: John Kneeshaw [larger view].
Canon EOS 40D with 300mmAF lens.
What sex is this bird and upon what are you basing that assessment?
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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grrlscientist | April 8, 2010tags: Pacific Golden-Plover, Asian Golden-Plover, Eastern Golden-Plover, Pluvialis fulva, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pacific Golden-Plover, also known as the Asian Golden-Plover or Eastern Golden-Plover, Pluvialis fulva, photographed on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Midway Island, Hawai'i. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Image: Joe Fuhrman, March 2010. I encourage you to purchase images from this professional photographer.
This migratory bird that visits North America as well as countries on the other side of the Pacific Ocean shares a…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2010tags: Butcherbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Loggerhead Shrike, also known as the Butcherbird, Lanius ludovicianus, 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 1/80s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This mystery bird has a weird common name .. can anyone tell me why it has such an odd name?
Review…
grrlscientist | April 6, 2010tags: Razorbill, Alca torda, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Razorbill, Alca torda, photographed at the Machias Seal Island, Maine. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Paul Sweet, 26 May 2008 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
These stunning birds are the only member of their genus -- can you identify it? As a bonus question, can you tell me about one of its famous relatives?
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grrlscientist | April 5, 2010tags: Lake Gull, Common Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ring-billed Gull, also known as the Common Gull or Lake Gull, Larus delawarensis, photographed at Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, March 2010 [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 | April 4, 2010tags: Self Playing Harmonica, music, music video, DIY, computer printer, harmonica, vacuum cleaner, Instructibles, Stupid Inventions, streaming video
There are lots of different types of Self-Playing Instruments, but the folks at Stupid Inventions wanted to create something new so they decided to build the Self Playing Harmonica. Made from an old printer and a vacuum cleaner, the Self-Playing Harmonica will play different songs based on the image you print.
You can learn more about this and find step-by-step instructions for constructing your own self-playing harmonica at Instructibles.
grrlscientist | April 4, 2010tags: birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] photographed in mystery world location. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours, unless I've eaten them all first]
Image: orphaned [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This flock of birds is easy to ID, so I am "upping the ante" by also asking you to give me these birds' scientific name, traditional geographic range, age and gender! Can you do this?
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grrlscientist | April 3, 2010tags: African Pied Wagtail, Motacilla aguimp, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] African Pied Wagtail, Motacilla aguimp, photographed in East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 12 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens ISO 320, 1/200 sec, f/ 7.1 Exp comp -.3
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | April 2, 2010tags: Collared Scops-Owl, Otus lettia, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Collared Scops-Owl, Otus lettia, photographed on the Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur, India. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Adrian White [larger view].
Nikon D40x with 70-300AF.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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rallain | April 1, 2010ZapperZ (at Physics and Physicists) recently had a post about Chad (from Uncertain Principles). It was sort of a review of Chad's book How to Teach Physics to Your Dog.
In this post, ZapperZ makes a very Feynman-like distinction between "teaching physics" and "teaching about physics". This is a really good point - that to learn physics you have to do physics. I completely agree. It is just like riding a bike - you have to ride a bike to learn to ride a bike.
So here is the question. What do I do here on this blog? I don't know. Do I talk about physics? Yes? I do not teach physics -…
grrlscientist | April 1, 2010tags: Short-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Short-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus, photographed on Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, March 2010 [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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | March 31, 2010tags: Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureus, photographed at the Perry Nature Area near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 21 March 2010 [larger view]. You are encouraged to purchase photographs from this photographer. I am happy to email his contact information to you.
Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
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grrlscientist | March 30, 2010tags: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, photographed in the photographer's back yard in Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, March 2010 [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 | March 29, 2010tags: Laysan Teal, Laysan Duck, Anas laysanensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Laysan Duck, also known as the Laysan Teal, Anas laysanensis, photographed on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, Midway Island, Hawai'i. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joe Fuhrman, March 2010 [larger view].
NOTE: Unless you are a beginning bird watcher, PLEASE wait 24 hours before identifying this bird. (Intermediate-expert birders are encouraged to use puns, anagrams, poetry references or citations, Monty Python quotes or anything else that tickles your fancy to…
grrlscientist | March 29, 2010tags: Alex Filippenko, Josh Frieman, FermiLab, astronomy, astrophysics, Science Bulletins, research, American Museum of Natural History, AMNH, New York City, space, nature, universe, The Expanding Universe, streaming video
In 1998, astrophysicists discovered a baffling phenomenon: the Universe is expanding at an ever-faster rate. Either an enigmatic force called dark energy is to blame or a reworking of gravitational theory is in order. In this new Science Bulletins video, watch a FermiLab team assemble the Dark Energy Camera, a device that could finally solve this space-stretching mystery…
grrlscientist | March 28, 2010tags: Cape Thick-Knee, Spotted Dikkop, Spotted Thick-Knee, Burhinus capensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Spotted Thick-Knee, also known as the Cape Thick-Knee or the Spotted Dikkop, Burhinus capensis, photographed in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 18 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm VR lens with 1.4 extender. ISO 400, 1/1600 sec, f/6.3. Exposure compensation -1.3.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date…
grrlscientist | March 27, 2010tags: How to Spot a Cult, scientology, branch davidians, religion, cults, mind control, investigative news report, mind control, mental health, beliefs, streaming video
This Inside New Zealand investigative report is long but fascinating and very well-worth watching. It includes plenty of information on Scientology as well as other cults (Branch Davidians, etc) and gives a good overview of cult warning signs.
Part 1:
Part 2:
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