Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
July 2, 2007
tags: Harry Potter, computers
Those of you who love Harry Potter might be deceived into downloading a worm onto your computer via infected USB memory drives. If users plug these drives into their Windows PCs, they are liable to infect their machines with the appropriately named Hairy-A worm.…
July 2, 2007
tags: teratornis, Argentavis magnificens, birds, ornithology, giant bird
Dr. Kenneth E. Campbell, (one of the discoverers) in front of the 25 ft. wingspan Argentavis magnificens. Display from the Natural History Museum, Los Angeles. The feather size from such a bird is estimated to have been 1.5…
July 2, 2007
tags: employment, urban dictionary, modern euphemisms
As our workforce has become increasingly hostile towards the very workers that it depends upon and our world at large has become hostile to the very idea of individuality, there have been new words developed that hide the true function of those…
July 2, 2007
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
I don't want you to worry, but I did not work on Birds in the News this weekend. I know, I am bad (bad bad bad), but considering how little traffic I have this week, it seems best to postpone BITN until next week!
June 29, 2007
tags: blog carnival, writing
The 247th issue of Carnival of the Vanities is now available for your reading pleasure. This blog carnival focuses on the very best writing published recently on a blog, regardless of topic. I am pleased to report that they selected a submission from me to be included…
June 29, 2007
This rating, oddly, is because I used these words (to answer my previous question, no it does not seem to pick up words below the fold);
sexy (7x)
ass (6x)
poop (5x)
porn (4x)
Well, now that I have forever ruined any remote chance that I might have had to become gainfully employed (ho-hum), I am…
June 29, 2007
This rating is because I used these very dangerous words;
sexy (6x)
ass (5x)
poop (4x)
Okay, let's see if it picks up nasty words that appear below the fold;
sex
xxx
handcuffs
whips
dominatrix
June 29, 2007
I have a boring rating because I only use these very scary words;
hell (4x)
dangerous (2x)
sexy (1x)
Dangerous??
I can't help it, I am compelled to try to raise my rating to something more respectable;
porn porn porn porn
poop poop poop poop
boobs boobs boobs boobs
ass ass ass ass ass
naughty…
June 29, 2007
tags: oceanography, plastic bathtub toys, duckies
Have you seen one of these duckies? (May be bleached white by now).
If so, please report your find to researcher, Curtis Ebbesmeyer.
Image: Simon de Bruxelles.
If you live in Great Britain, you could earn a £50 (US$100) reward if you find a…
June 29, 2007
tags: blog carnival, birds, birding, ornithology
The 52nd edition of I and the Bird blog carnival is now available for your reading pleasure. As usual, they included one (and only one) of my many submissions, along with lots of other essays that you are sure to enjoy.
June 29, 2007
tags: book review, birds, birding, ornithology
Gulls are found nearly everywhere, from their usual haunts on the shorelines of oceans, lakes and rivers, to newly tilled fields, garbage dumps and sewage treatment plants. Due to their ubiquity, they are popular among birdwatchers, but gulls are often…
June 29, 2007
tags: vocabulary, online quiz
I did well on this quiz -- how about you? How did you score?
Your Vocabulary Score: A
Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!
You must be quite an erudite person.
How's Your Vocabulary?
June 28, 2007
tags: Mika Brzezinski, news, Paris Hilton, streaming video
MSNBC's news anchor, Mika Brzezinski, refuses to report on the Paris Hilton story on the Morning Joe show, even though her bosses made it the lead story -- against her wishes. Perhaps more people in the media & news outlets should…
June 27, 2007
tags: blog carnival, medicine
The June issue of All Things Medical blog carnival is now available for you to enjoy. They included several pieces that I wrote, so this is good. So be sure to go over there and give them some support!
June 27, 2007
Okay, a frequent commenter on my blog, Bob O'Hara, has started writing his own wonderful blog, called deep thoughts and silliness. Bob is an English statistician who lives in Finland. So far, he has made a great start because he wrote a fun entry about using statistics to predict the number of…
June 27, 2007
tags: Icadyptes salasi, giant penguin, ornithology, birds, avian
Two fossils recently discovered in Peru reveal that early penguins responded differently to natural climate change than scientists would have predicted. The larger skull, Icadyptes salasi (top), would have been fearsome to encounter…
June 26, 2007
tags: Scientific American, free magazine
The July issue of Scientific American is avilable for download as a PDF for free. They are introducing an appealingly bright, colorful design and open layout along with deeper changes in content that make the magazine an even more valuable resource for…
June 26, 2007
tags: hell, humor, streaming video
This streaming video is Rowan Atkinson's sketch about the Devil Welcoming People to Hell [3:04]
June 25, 2007
tags: blog carnival, books
The 4th edition of the Festival of Good Books is now available. They were so kind as to include a piece that I wrote in their round-up.
June 25, 2007
tags: blog carnival, life
The most recent installment of the Observations on Life blog carnival has been published. They were so kind as to include one of my pieces along with their other links that you will enjoy.
June 25, 2007
tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Lark Bunting, Calamospiza melanocorys -- the official state bird of Colorado.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger]
People Hurting Birds
The number of birds of prey poisoned illegally in Scotland rose to a record high last…
June 25, 2007
tags: microwave science, humor, streaming video
This week's science experiment while drunk asks what happens when you light a match, place a glass over it, and then microwave it? [1:03]
June 22, 2007
Some days, we learn too much about everything that we prostitute so we can have a wee bit of belonging and meaning in our lives. Today has been one of those days for me;
Fast Car
by Tracy Chapman
You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere…
June 22, 2007
tags: online quiz
How about you?
You Should Learn French
C'est super! You appreciate the finer things in life... wine, art, cheese, love affairs.
You are definitely a Parisian at heart. You just need your tongue to catch up...
What Language Should You Learn?
June 22, 2007
tags: employment, science, math, engineering, streaming video
Why would any sane and intelligent American even consider getting a college education in science or math when it can mean months or years of unemployment or underemployment? I mean seriously, large corporations are hiring H1-Bs instead…
June 21, 2007
tags: We, two-headed snake, reptile, World Aquarium
Leonard Sonnenschein, president of the World Aquarium in St. Louis, holds We, a two-headed albino rat snake. The snake came to the aquarium's attention when its previous owner distributed a circular offering it for sale days after its birth. The…
June 21, 2007
tags: cancer, liposarcoma, trabectedin, Ecteinascidia turbinata, sea squirt
A toxin derived from a humble sea squirt, Ecteinascidia turbinata (pictured, right), shows great promise as an anti-cancer drug. This toxin, known as trabectedin (ecteinascidinin-743), shrinks and even completely removes…
June 21, 2007
tags: cat, cat chat, streaming video
This sweet kitty, named Tiggy, is quite talkative. In this streaming video, she is looking for her people, using auditory cues. Awww ...
June 21, 2007
tags: Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, humor, streaming video
No matter what you haters say, I think that Hillary does have a sense of humor. Not bad, considering that she's the front-runner in that most deadly-serious of American hobbies; running for president of the United States [1:35]