May 14, 2008
Topic Categories: My Pictures • NYC Subway Art • NYC Through My Eye • NYC life • Photography and cameras
tags: West 86th street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
West 86th Street Subway Art #3
as seen at NYC's West 86th Street stop at Broadway for the uptown 1 train.
(This piece was completed in 1989; it was mounted on 2 July 2006).
Artist: Nitza Tufino.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 8:59 PM • 1 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: London, England
tags: Professor Steve Steve
Those are not my hands, nor my laptop, but that picture gives you the general idea of what to expect when I visit London at the end of August because I have made arrangements for Professor Steve Steve to accompany me! How exciting! I only met Steve Steve for the first time last year at the SciBling meeting in NYC, but I've never traveled with him before. Amazingly, Professor Steve Steve is doing what I've only dreamed of doing in order to travel to faboo locations, such as London; he plans to hide in my luggage! Well, even though I have to do the heavy lifting by carrying him around with me, at least I don't have to buy his plane ticket.
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 5:31 PM • 4 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Birds • Image of the Day
tags: Prothonotary warbler, Protonotaria citrea, birds, Kansas, image of the day
Male prothonotary warbler, Protonotaria citrea in breeding plumage.
I went out this morning specifically to see if I could get a good image of a prothonotary warbler and I managed to get one.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [OMG view].
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 2:59 PM • 2 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Birding • Books
tags: bird watching, Bill Thompson
Thanks to the good people at Houghton Mifflin Publishing House, I am meeting Bill Thompson, the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest and author of several books, tomorrow afternoon. Needless to say, I am excited to meet Bill and to see Houghton Mifflin's offices, and to attach faces and voices with the names of those people who mail me their lovely beautiful books and email me appreciative and encouraging messages about my book reviews (Thanks, you guys!)
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 1:29 PM • 4 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Birding • Books
tags: books, field guides, bird watching, birding, birds
There are a variety of field guides to the birds, for English-speaking parts of the world at least, each with their own particular qualities. I have an extensive collection of these books on my shelves that I use as references. But my own choice of my primary in-the-field guide has changed as my skills have improved throughout my lifetime. So this prompts me to ask you two questions (below the fold);
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 12:46 PM • 19 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Book Review
tags: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill), economy, politics, corporate welfare, David Cay Johnston, book review
America was built on the premise that hard work would be financially rewarded, but unfortunately, more than 37 million people are part of the growing ranks of the "working poor": people who work two or three jobs yet are unable to pay their living expenses. What's wrong with all these people that makes them unable to achieve even a modest level of comfort in this Land of Opportunity where the streets are paved with gold? In my experience, it doesn't take a genius to realize that the working poor are a by-product of America's increasingly stratified socioeconomic structure that punishes the middle class and the working poor by unfairly elevating the wealth of the rich to rarified heights. But I'm not the only one who has noticed this as you'll discover when you read David Cay Johnston's new book, Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill) (London: Portfolio; 2008).
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 10:59 AM • 3 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Poetry
tags: The Death of a Toad, Richard Wilbur, poetry
"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful implanted in the human soul."
-- Johann Wolfgang Goethe.
I received so many poetry suggestions from you that I decided to continue to publish poetry on my site once per week for you to enjoy. One of my SB colleagues, John Lynch, posts a poem every Friday (here's his poetry archives), so -- because I don't want to conflict with John's poem of the week -- I will post a poem every Wednesday at 10 am ET, as long as you continue to send me poetry suggestions.
This week's poem was suggested by a reader, Lenana, who writes that I had already decided to mention "The Death of a Toad" by Richard Wilbur, which I find deeply heartbreaking, so your posting "The Rabbit" [ .. ] was coincidental. Although Wilbur's idea of what the ancient earth was like is kind of old-school, the poem is lovely in every line.
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 9:59 AM • 1 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Behavior • Parrots • Streaming videos
tags: parrot, amazon parrot, behavior, mimicking behavior, streaming video
This streaming video shows a talented amazon parrot that appeared recently on Animal Planet. [3:19].
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 8:59 AM • 0 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
May 13, 2008
Topic Categories: My Pictures • NYC Subway Art • NYC Through My Eye • NYC life • Photography and cameras
tags: West 86th street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
West 86th Street Subway Art #2
as seen at NYC's 86th Street stop at Broadway for the uptown 1 train.
(This piece was completed in 1989; it was mounted on 2 July 2006).
Artist: Nitza Tufino.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 8:59 PM • 0 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Birds • Image of the Day
tags: Lincoln's Sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, birds, Kansas, image of the day
"Not skulking"
Lincoln's Sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [larger view].
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 2:59 PM • 3 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Behavior • Cultural Observation • Wow!
tags: foot binding, China, social behavior, fashion psychology, streaming video
A friend sent these images depicting foot-binding in China. To say the least, I knew this practice was painful and caused permanent malformations, but seeing the damage makes my own feet scream in agony. How did such a strange and harmful behavior like this ever become a cultural fashion/fad/fetish?
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 2:00 PM • 15 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Behavior • Politics • Streaming videos
tags: fox news, subliminal suggestion, voting behavior, politics, streaming video
This streaming video shows a rather clumsy attempt by FauxSnooz to subliminally influence American voters. [1:15].
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 8:59 AM • 1 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
May 12, 2008
Topic Categories: My Pictures • NYC Subway Art • NYC Through My Eye • NYC life • Photography and cameras
tags: West 86th street subway art, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
I am now presenting NYC subway tile artworks as photographed by me at the West 86th street subway platform at Broadway, where the local 1-train stops. This platform was decorated by an artist, Nitza Tufino and a group of students from the Grosvenor House school, and depicts scenes from typical NYC life on the UWS (Upper West Side) -- one of my favorite Manhattan neighborhoods.
86th Street Subway Art #1
as seen at NYC's 86th Street stop at Broadway for the uptown 1 train.
(This piece was completed in 1989; it was mounted on 2 July 2006)
Unfortunately, this piece was defaced by vandals;
I am not sure if all the damage can be repaired.
Artist: Nitza Tufino.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 8:59 PM • 1 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Birds • Image of the Day
tags: Male Eastern Bluebird, Sialia sialis, birds, Kansas, image of the day
"Blue enough for ya?"
Male Eastern Bluebird, Sialia sialis.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [larger view].
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 2:59 PM • 1 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Birds • Book Review • Speciation
tags: How and Why Species Multiply, evolution, ecology, Darwin's finches, Rosemary Grant, Peter Grant, book review
Peter and Rosemary Grant have been studying the phenomenon of speciation in Darwin's finches for 35 years, using every technique available to them from molecular biology to population ecology. They have written several books about various aspects of their work and even were the focus of a Pulitzer-prize winning book. But there has not been a comprehensive yet scholarly book that has captured the essential highlights of their lifetime work, until now. How and Why Species Multiply: The Radiation of Darwin's Finches by Peter R. Grant and B. Rosemary Grant (New Jersey, Princeton University Press; 2008) provides an important yet accessible overview of the scientific information known about Darwin's finches without becoming bogged down in statistical analyses and methodologies, nor with the historical distractions that often accompanies writings about these birds.
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 2:30 PM • 6 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
Topic Categories: Birds in the News
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Common Pochard, Aythya ferina (Hiroshima, Japan).
Image: Bardiac [larger].
Read more »
Copyright 2005-2008 © by GrrlScientist. All Rights Reserved.
Posted by "GrrlScientist" at 11:59 AM • 1 Responses • 0 TrackBacks • View blog reactions
GrrlScientist is a female evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist and writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning her PhD. In NYC, she was a postdoctoral fellow for two years, reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist has written a science blog since 4 August 2004 (the early years are archived 
