travel
grrlscientist | July 10, 2009tags: River Vantaa, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
A view of a park near the River Vantaa.
I believe I was in Vantaa (will check after my host returns),
in northern Helsinki, Finland, when I photographed this.
Image: GrrlScientist, 6 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | July 9, 2009tags: River Vantaa, Helsinki, Finland, nature, image of the day
A river flows through it.
A view of the River Vantaa. I believe I was in Vantaa (will check after my host returns),
in northern Helsinki, Finland, when I photographed this.
Image: GrrlScientist, 6 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I've been telling you about how gorgeous Helsinki is, but mostly so far, I've shown you photographs of flowers. I hope you realize that I wanted to establish in your mind that it is warm and sunny enough here for flowers to bloom, but today, I just had to share a picture of the River Vantaa (…
skookumchick | July 9, 2009I'm off visiting a set of archives for the rest of this week - Karen Tonso and I are trying to cook up a cool research idea (to expand into a manuscript) about engineering and identity in relation to this project. However, my attention was recently drawn to an article by Peg Boyle Single in Inside Higher Ed about writing your dissertation, and I noticed a connection with Robert Boice and his writing strategies. What ho! I thought. Time to bring back the ATNFM into my life. It's a sign.
I've also started exploring the idea of doing research with Evernote. I'm not sure how it will work,…
grrlscientist | July 9, 2009tags: Antarctica, South Pole, endurance training, extreme running, Ray Zahab, streaming video
In this video, extreme runner Ray Zahab shares an enthusiastic account of his record-breaking trek on foot to the South Pole -- a 33-day sprint through the snow. [5:54]
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. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009tags: Potentilla fruticosa, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Is this a wild rose or a close relative?
"Goldfinger" or the Buttercup Shrub, Potentilla fruticosa.
Photographed alongside a roadway in Pitäjänmäki in northern Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
"Goldfinger" -- which has a wide variety of common names, such as the Goldfinger shrubby Potentilla, Shrubby Cinquefoil and my favorite, the Buttercup Shrub -- is a hardy and dense shrub with dark green leaves and bright yellow flowers that are roughly 1 1…
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: Heartsease, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Heartsease is known by a wide variety of names, including the Wild Pansy, Ladies' Delight, Jump-Up-And-Kiss-Me, and Johnny Jump-Up, Viola tricolor.
Photographed on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Native over large areas of Europe and western Asia, this is the ancestor of the modern pansy. I remember Heartsease from watching a live performance of Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer's Night Dream in London last year, where Oberon claims that the…
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009tags: lunch, food, Ravintola Helsinge, Tekniikan Museo, travel, Helsinki, Finland
Coffee and Lunch (croissant with cheese, tomato and "rocket",
a tangy green that I've never seen nor heard of before now)
Photographed at Ravintola Helsinge, the cafe on the grounds
shared with the Tekniikan Museo (Technology Museum),
Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 6 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I am recovering, albeit slowly, from jet lag. This process is made more difficult because my sleep patterns had been seriously disturbed for several weeks before I left NYC, and further complicated…
grrlscientist | July 6, 2009tags: Finland, Sonkajärvi, sports, wife-carrying world championships, entertainment, streaming video
I am Finnish by ancestry, and I am in love with Finland, having visited this beautiful country three times now. However, I must warn you all that women who marry Finnish men are asking for a fair bit of humiliation. Finnish men like to indulge in a very peculiar sport: wife carrying contests, which are a modern day carry-over from the ancient pass time of wife-stealing. This is video from the 2009 event, which took place yesterday (5 July) in Sonkajärvi, which is smack-dab in the middle of…
grrlscientist | July 6, 2009tags: Black-eyed Susan vine, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Mystery flower, can you name the species?
Black-eyed Susan vine, Thunbergia alata.
Photographed on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
The Black-eyed Susan vine, Thunbergia alata, is a perennial climbing plant in the Acanthaceae family. It is native to Eastern Africa, and has been naturalized in other parts of the world.
grrlscientist | July 5, 2009tags: petunias, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
White petunias, Petunia x hybrida.
Photographed on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
Petunias are trumpet shaped flowering plants that are endemic to South America. Botanically speaking, tobacco, tomato, potato, and petunia are all in the family Solanaceae. These popular flowers got their name from the French, which took the word petun -- 'tobacco' -- from a Tupi-Guarani language.
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: Seurasaarenselkä, Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland
Looking out over Seurasaarenselkä on Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
It looks like it is going to rain today, so I am exploring the open air market in downtown Helsinki. I am still sorting through and labeling all the photographs I took yesterday on Seurasaari. In short, my walk there started out with very nice weather -- sunny, breezy, warm -- and ended up overcast, but still bright (too bright for good photography, as you can see in the above image) and chilly.
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: buttercups, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Creeping buttercup, Ranunculus repens.
Photographed in Oulunkylä, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: food, Helsinki, Finland, travel
Lunch: boiled egg and smoked salmon with lettuce, fresh dill, ground black pepper and butter on rye bread (open-faced sandwich). And of course, coffee.
Image: GrrlScientist, 4 July 2009 [larger view].
Today's lunch was, as always, delightful. I've yet to be disappointed by anything I've eaten in Finland. (You'll notice that this sandwich has a bite taken out of it -- that's because I forget I want to photograph some of my meals until I've already started eating.)
Dessert: Chocolate brownie cheesecake. And of course, more coffee.
Image:…
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: Exactum Building, architecture, University of Helsinki, Helsingin Yliopisto, Kumpula campus
Spiral staircase, Exactum Building, University of Helsinki, Kumpula campus, Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I spent a few hours on the Kumpula campus of the University of Helsinki yesterday, which is where this photograph was snapped. Today, I am returning to the beautiful island of Seurasaari, where I will take more photographs to share with you. Stay tuned for more (I've already taken several hundred photographs that I've saved -- and more…
grrlscientist | July 3, 2009tags: Dahlia, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Dahlias.
Photographed at Rautatientori in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | July 2, 2009tags: travel, Helsinki, Finland, licorice
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [larger view]
While my fellow Americans slept, I was watching birds from my host's balcony, and nibbling on the most delightfully naughty Finnish breakfast consisting of licorice and chocolate. Just thought you all might wish to know what you are missing.
grrlscientist | July 2, 2009tags: nature, Helsinki, travel
330 in the Morning.
Photographed at 0330 in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I awoke at 3am (Helsinki time), ravenously hungry. After snacking on left-over dinner (a delicious cold salad made from fresh corn, peas, red Bell peppers, kale, cantaloupe, shrimp and seedless red grapes), I decided I had to share a photograph taken from the balcony of where I am staying showing you what it looks like in Helsinki at 330 in the morning. In short, the sun dips below the horizon -- barely -- for less than two hours before…
grrlscientist | July 2, 2009tags: Daisy, Gardening, Horticulture, Botany, nature, Helsinki, image of the day
Daisy.
Photographed at Tarvaspää Café at the Gallen-Kallela Museum
near Tarvon Salmi in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
grrlscientist | July 1, 2009tags: Helsinki Finland, travel
The Gates to HEL.
Image: GrrlScientist, 17 February 2009 [larger view].
I am somewhere at the airport, waiting for my flight to glorious Helsinki, Finland. Since I've spent some time visiting this lovely city during the winter months, I am visiting in the summer: I've been told that Helsinki is two different cities from one season to the next.
Hopefully, my flight will not crash into a bird or be zapped by lightning before I escape the dangerous NYC airspace. Last night, the storms were so heavy and dangerous that all the area airports were experiencing…
skookumchick | June 29, 2009When I first started to go to conferences, I couldn't see what people saw in them. I didn't know anyone, I thought lots of the sessions were boring, and I found the whole thing overly stressful to deal with. Then I started making some friends who I would see at said conferences, and then started to figure out why people liked them.
Since then, I have added an aspect to going to conferences. I'll go hang with my friend-colleagues (some of them having advanced to being full friends :-) ) most of the meals, but once in a while I'll sneak off and have dinner by myself.
I did this tonight…