Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
October 31, 2007
tags: carnival of cities, blog carnival
Wow, they like me!
The latest edition, the Five Digital Snapshots edition, of the Carnival of Cities is now available for you to enjoy. There are several essays there that really make me miss .. other cities, other homes, that I've lived in. But they…
October 31, 2007
In NYC, the going fashion seems to be for the men to dress up as bumblebees (they walk around in suits and ties with the bouncing bee eyes mounted on slender springs on their heads), while the women all dress up as lampshades in red and black. Although one of my friends is dressed up as a barfly (…
October 31, 2007
A fossilized brown hyena, Hyaena brunnea,
which lived in Europe 1.8 million years ago. [Larger view].
An amazing fossil find in the Andalusian savannah in southeast Spain has revealed that a large variety of animal species lived together in that region during the boundary between the Pliocene…
October 31, 2007
tags: halloween, parrots, birds, Image of the Day
This picture is a departure from my normal "image of the day" fare, but it is cute, so I hope you all can forgive me for sharing it with you.
Image: Image source [Larger size].
October 31, 2007
tags: Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, JK Rowling, sexuality, christian values, hatred
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
[Albus Dumbledore portrayed by Michael Gambon in HP films 3-5]
Image: Warner Bros (2003).
Okay, now we all know the horrible,…
October 31, 2007
Okay, this is amazing! One of my readers, who shall remain anonymous unless that person chooses to reveal him(her)self, has sent an Amazon gift certificate to me to purchase a digital camera. WOW! So I ask you, dear readers, which digital camera do you recommend? I want to take close-up pictures of…
October 31, 2007
The little hawk-headed parrot is settling in fairly well. (S)he is rather cautious about me, reminding me, by flying away whenever the opportunity presents itself, that I am not the human that (s)he is familiar with. This will pass soon enough, though.
This bird is is good flesh, but is not yet…
October 31, 2007
tags: humor, mouse wine, ricey-mice wine, streaming video
Do you want to cure your children of ever developing a fondness for rice wine? Here's the perfect solution! [1:08]
This is a delicacy in rural Korea, it appears. They take a litter of two to three-day old mice, jam them into a bottle of…
October 30, 2007
tags: birds, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus, hawk-headed parrot, red-fan parrot, Image of the Day
This is a picture of my new roommate, a young hawk-headed (red-fan) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus. This bird was captive born and raised. This picture was taken last week, so it gives you a good idea…
October 30, 2007
tags: talking parrot, African grey parrot, streaming video
This video is a follow-up of the story I linked to earlier from Birds in the News 102 where Gloucester UK residents, Taffy and Jean Howells' African grey parrot, Severiano Ballesteros, is a big rugby fan [1:19]
AN avid rugby lover's pet…
October 29, 2007
tags: Irene Pepperberg, Alex, African grey parrot, streaming video
Alex was a famous African grey parrot who could count to six, identify colors and even express frustration with repetitive scientific trials. He died about five weeks ago, after 30 years of helping researchers better understand the…
October 29, 2007
tags: birds, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus, hawk-headed parrot, red-fan parrot, Image of the Day
This is a picture of my new roommate, a young hawk-headed (red-fan) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus. This bird was captive born and raised. This picture was taken when the bird was only seven weeks old…
October 29, 2007
tags: hawk-headed parrot, red-fan parrot, Deroptyus accipitrinus, streaming video
I just added a four-month-old hawk-headed (red-fan) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus, to my household. Since I don't have a camera or video camera at my disposal (yet) I decided to share a video with you of another…
October 29, 2007
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Falconer Geoff Clayton with eight-year-old golden eagle Shirko as they attend the Inter-Governmental Conference on Migratory Birds of Prey in Loch Lomond.
Image: PA [larger view]
Birds in Science
The ability to ramp up…
October 29, 2007
tags: football training camp, ballet, streaming video
This amusing like video was filmed and edited by a Kansas City Chiefs football fan who clearly has too much time on his hands. It has clips of training sessions set to ballet music .. interestingly, it gives us a glimpse into the amount of…
October 28, 2007
tags: flamingos, Ciconiiformes, Phoenicopterus ruber, birds, Image of the Day
Is this image photoshopped? (You can blow it up for a closer look, if you like). If it is photoshopped, someone sure did a good job.
Image: Robert B. Haas/National Geographic [wallpaper size]
October 28, 2007
tags: vocabulary, United Nations, free rice, online quiz
This linked online vocabulary game has an interesting premise; for every correct answer you provide, ten grains of rice will be donated to the United Nations to end world hunger. How many grains of rice did you donate?
October 28, 2007
tags: America's Got Talent, magician, Kevin James, streaming video
Master Magician Kevin James performing at the Las Vegas "callbacks" on America's Got Talent. I have no clue how he did that, do you? [1:20]
So how did he do that trick? was that guy a couple contortionists, or two dwarves?
October 27, 2007
Well, it's been fun so far! I've traveled 1500 miles so I can dig in the dirt here in Texas -- it's amazing what a NYCer will do to re-experience her country-living childhood, huh? The dirt here is very rich with clay and so, when it dries out and the sun shines on it, it becomes as hard as a rock…
October 27, 2007
tags: moth, Ecpantheria scribonia, giant leopard moth, Image of the Day
During the process of splitting and transferring wood from the woodpile yesterday, we discovered a large (2.5" long) hairy caterpillar. I have enclosed two pictures of it [the second is below the fold]; it is the larval stage…
October 27, 2007
tags: hacky sac, futbol, soccer, streaming video
Do you ever wonder why your phone call goes unanswered when you call a business during business hours? Well, this video shows you why. [0:48]
This guy has amazing skills, especially since he's using a balled up piece of paper, but he clearly has too…
October 26, 2007
tags: moth, Melanchroia chepise, white-tipped black geometrid, Image of the Day
This diurnal Melanchroia chepise posed prettily this morning (10/21/07) on the wall of my apartment breezeway in the Heights section of Houston, Texas.
Image: Biosparite [larger view]
October 26, 2007
tags: skinny pigs, guinea pigs, pets, Image of the Day
Image: The Sun. [nearly life-sized]
Bald guinea pigs were originally developed for scientific research purposes in the 1970s, by suddenly, these so called "skinny pigs" are all the rage among pet owners in the UK. Because they lack fur,…
October 26, 2007
tags: vocabulary, online quiz
Your Vocabulary Score: A+
Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!
You must be quite an erudite person.
How's Your Vocabulary?
How about you? By the way, I actually have linked to an even better vocabulary game that will appear Sunday. The upcoming game…
October 26, 2007
tags: hawk-headed parrot, red-fan parrot, Deroptyus accipitrinus, streaming video
As some of you know, I will soon be adding a four-month-old young parrot to my household. For those of you who have not heard of a hawk-headed (red-fan) parrot, Deroptyus a. accipitrinus, or who are not familiar with…
October 25, 2007
Can you find the bar-tailed godwits here among the avocet and marbled godwits?
Image: Mary Scott, Birding America.
Thanks to a reader who would rather remain anonymous, I am going to go to Texas tomorrow and will return to all of you on Tuesday. I have scheduled a few things to publish on this…
October 25, 2007
Are we becoming a nation of pajama-wearing web-surfing loners?
(Orphaned image).
Zogby International and 463 Communications recently polled 9,743 Americans online regarding their attitude towards the internet.
They found that a significant minority of equal numbers of men and women would…
October 25, 2007
Hey, look at this. Does it look familiar to you? Well, considering that I think my blog doesn't get enough traffic, I was both pleased and surprised when I noticed that various stories on it occupied four of the five "most emailed" slots on scienceblogs last night. Not bad, eh?
October 25, 2007
tags: mystery butterfly, Image of the Day
Image: Karen Davis. [wallpaper size]
I am almost certain that I know what this species is, but because you enjoy naming species, I thought I'd let you have some fun with this lovely image. What species is this?
Location: College Park, Maryland, 16…
October 25, 2007
tags: oceans, marine reserves, fish, streaming video
This video explores how the establishment of marine reserves can save our oceans from overexploitation from overfishing and other damages. Narrated by Mariella Frostrup. [12:53]