Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
April 10, 2008
tags: Down the Stream the Swans All Glide, Spike Milligan, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a…
April 10, 2008
tags: itchy tentacle relief, octopus, Japanese commercial, streaming video
Leave it to the Japanese to come up with a commercial for itchy tentacle relief tentacle lube. Despite what you're thinking, this streaming video is SFW [0:30].
April 9, 2008
tags: photography, subway art, Houston street station, NYC, NYCLife
This looks like a harbor seal, Phoca vitulina,
(doesn't the seal look like he's wearing glasses??)
by Deborah Brown Platform Diving [1994]
as portrayed in glass mosaic on the walls of the platform for the NYC subway stop (1 train…
April 9, 2008
tags: Harlequin duck, Histrionicus histrionicus, Long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis, birds, Image of the Day
Second in a series by this photographer.
Male Harlequin duck, Histrionicus histrionicus (left)
and male Long-tailed duck (formerly: Oldsquaw), Clangula hyemalis (foreground).
Image: John…
April 9, 2008
tags: The Hen and the Oriole, Don Marquis, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a reader and…
April 9, 2008
tags: flying penguins, birds, April fools day joke, BBC, streaming video
How did BBC make those penguins fly in their April Fools Day teaser? This video shows how they did it .. think pigeon guillemots (or are they thick-billed murres?)! [2:56]
April 8, 2008
tags: photography, subway art, Houston street station, NYC, NYCLife
Okay, let's move on to another subway station that I like a lot more than Elizabeth Grajales' Penn Station subway art. This subway station is the uptown and downtown platforms at the Houston Street station where the 1 train stops.…
April 8, 2008
tags: The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar, fantasy, humor, book review
Immediately after I'd broken my arm, I found it impossible to concentrate for long periods of time (longer than five or ten minutes at a stretch) because of the intense pain or because of the haze caused by the pain…
April 8, 2008
tags: Bufflehead, Bucephala albeola, birds, Image of the Day
The first in a series by this photographer.
Male Bufflehead, Bucephala albeola.
Image: John del Rio. [larger view].
April 8, 2008
tags: Mesopotamia, Rudyard Kipling, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a reader and friend who…
April 8, 2008
tags: sensitive plant, botany, pet plants, streaming video
An interesting video of the Sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica. The music is the intro to 'Baba O'Riley' by The Who. [1:13]
The photographer writes;
I've been growing this unusual plant for a couple of months. The Sensitive plant is a creeping…
April 7, 2008
tags: photography, subway art, Penn station, NYC, NYCLife
A Bird's Life by Elizabeth Grajales (1997) [Detail 4]
as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the Pennsylvania Station platform for the NYC subway stop (1-2-3) at West 34th street. Even though the patterns remain identical, each detail is…
April 7, 2008
So I spent the day in the hospital, having x-rays taken of my skull and face and arm and ribs and then having doctors poke and squeeze and waggle my aching and broken appendages through the air. So this leads me to the familiar "I have good news and I have bad news" game ..
The good news: Nothing…
April 7, 2008
tags: Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, Manhattan, Kansas, birds, Image of the Day
Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo,
seen at Fancy Creek and Randolph - North end of Tuttle Creek Reservoir in Kansas.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger view].
April 7, 2008
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Common merganser, Mergus merganser, and chicks.
Orphaned image [larger view].
People Hurting Birds
The number of migratory songbirds returning to North America has gone into sharp decline due to the unregulated use of…
April 7, 2008
tags: At the Quinte Hotel, Al Purdy, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day, this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem, one that I've never read before now,…
April 7, 2008
tags: elephant picasso, wow, animal behavior, streaming video
This is an absolutely amazing video of an elephant painting a picture of .. an elephant holding a flower! [8:28]
April 7, 2008
You are really not going to believe this. I fell AGAIN this past Saturday while crossing the street. I landed on my left side and my head hit the corner of the curb so I have a huge bruise on the side of my skull just above my ear that is between four and five inches long and I experience a sharp…
April 6, 2008
tags: photography, subway art, Penn station, NYC, NYCLife
A Bird's Life by Elizabeth Grajales (1997) [Detail 3]
as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the Pennsylvania Station platform for the NYC subway stop (1-2-3) at West 34th street. Even though the patterns remain identical, each detail is…
April 6, 2008
tags: tree bark, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Manhattan, Kansas, nature, Image of the Day
Bark of the Kentucky Coffee Tree, Gymnocladus dioicus.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2008. [larger view].
April 6, 2008
tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian Paulsen, which lists bird and natural history books that are (or will soon be)…
April 6, 2008
tags: How long can you survive in the vacuum of space, online quiz, fun and games
April 6, 2008
tags: The Lake Isle of Innisfree, William Butler Yeats, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day, this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a…
April 5, 2008
I have a deep, dark secret that I want to confess to you: I love hamsters. I am especially fond of the teensy Russian dwarf hamsters, Phodopus sungorus, particularly their impossibly tiny fuzz-covered feet. So, I was surfing the web during the wee hours this morning instead of sleeping, as usual,…
April 5, 2008
tags: photography, subway art, Penn station, NYC, NYCLife
A Bird's Life by Elizabeth Grajales (1997) [Detail 2]
as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the Pennsylvania Station platform for the NYC subway stop (1-2-3) at West 34th street. Even though the patterns remain identical, each detail is…
April 5, 2008
tags: tree bark, Eastern Cottonwood, Manhattan, Kansas, nature, Image of the Day
Bark of the Eastern Cottonwood, Populus deltoides.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2008. [larger view].
April 5, 2008
tags: How long can you survive if trapped in your own home, online quiz, fun and games
I have a few questions; who would eat a pet if they were trapped inside their own home? And, is it possible to eat your couch and survive?
April 5, 2008
tags: God, A Poem, James Fenton, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day, this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a reader and friend.
God,…
April 4, 2008
tags: photography, subway art, Penn station, NYC, NYCLife
A Bird's Life by Elizabeth Grajales (1997) [Detail 1]
as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the Pennsylvania Station platform for the NYC subway stop (1-2-3) at West 34th street. Even though the patterns remain identical, each detail is…
April 4, 2008
tags: birds, American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis, ornithology, Image of the Day
A long-time reader, Jerry, sent some images for me to feature as the "image of the day". This is the last image in a series of five.
American Goldfinch, Carduelis tristis.
Image: Jerry Kram. [larger size].
The…