Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
November 29, 2006
I found the most amazing story about an astronomical calculator that is the earliest discovered device known to contain an intricate set of gear wheels.This amazing calculator could add, multiply, divide and subtract. It could also align the number of lunar months with years and display where the…
November 29, 2006
For those of you following my little drama where I am fighting my involuntary lodging in a state-run psychiatric institute, more commonly known as a nuthouse, the latest news is that my lawyer asked for another continuance so I can have witnesses appear in court on my behalf.
So instead of having…
November 29, 2006
A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
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tags: raisin, champagne. weird facts
November 29, 2006
A frog on a temperate rainforest floor in the Pacific NorthWest.
Here's one of my first photos taken with my Pentax K100D, significantly
compressed for blog purposes.
Image: David Warman.
How many different species of flora and fauna can you identify in this picture, amigos bonitos?
I am…
November 29, 2006
California sea lions, Prince William Sound, Alaska, 2000.
Image: Neil Moomey and Dan Beeler.
Tourists love to visit Fisherman's Wharf for the seafood, the view of San Francisco Bay, and also to watch the many dozens of playful sea lions that lounge by the water's edge, eating fish. However, in…
November 29, 2006
A friend and fellow inmate here at the nuthouse learned that I am in search of special words, so she donated this special word for me from her readings. To say the least, I absolutely love this word; it's beauty, its nuance! I love this word so much that I am going to start reading Proust! After…
November 29, 2006
Oh great -- just when you thought it was safe to crawl out of your bunker, more troublke is brewing in the Middle East. According to a Saudi security adviser, the Saudi Arabian government said they will intervene to prevent Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from massacring Iraqi Sunni Muslims after…
November 28, 2006
Image: InternetWeekly.org.
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tags: Bush, humor, sarcasm, politics
November 28, 2006
Clarity of Vision
Orphaned image. Please contact me for proper attribution and linkage.
A friend, Diane, noted from my SEED interview that I enjoy sailing. So she then found this stunning image to share with all of you. When I first saw it, it took my breath away, and put tears into my eyes.…
November 28, 2006
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The dot over the letter i is called a "tittle".
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tags: tittle, weird facts
November 28, 2006
Here's a cute little quiz that predicts what you will see in your Christmas stocking this year. Considering that I am unemployed and broke, I am most eager for this prediction to come true for me! We will be meeting here on 26 December to discuss the quiz results further, so be ready to share your…
November 28, 2006
Blue-spotted Salamander Ambystoma laterale
Photographed on the same day as the one shown previously.
Image: Bev Wigney.
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I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in those images. If you have a…
November 28, 2006
A view of the Earth from the space shuttle Endeavour
shows sunshine reflected off an ocean. Rising global
temperatures are increasingly melting icecaps, causing
storm havoc and flooding large areas.
Image: Corbis.
The Guardian has listed the top 100 people of all time who have done the most to…
November 28, 2006
This afternoon on MSNBC news, Congressional Quarterly political analyst Craig Crawford speculated that Dick Cheney may be the next to leave the administration as "neocons are heading for the hills" like rats abandoning a sinking ship. Crawford claimed the Vice President's "authority is waning, if…
November 28, 2006
A friend and fellow inmate here at the nuthouse learned that I am in search of special words, so she donated this special word for me from her readings. Even though she could not find the precise sentence it came from, the word was so spectacular that I have to share it with you despite the fact…
November 27, 2006
Orphaned image. Please contact me for proper attribution.
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tags: escher, politics, humor, sarcasm, satire, administration
November 27, 2006
Wow, you guys, there is an interview with me posted on Seed Magazine's main blog that you have to check out! Additionally, there is a surprise with that interview -- something that nearly none of you readers are aware of.
November 27, 2006
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Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.
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How to make your own money shirt.
tags: paper money, weird facts
November 27, 2006
False Crocus Geometer Moth, Xanthotype urticaria.
Photographed at my farm in eastern Ontario
Image: Bev Wigney.
I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in those images. If you have a high-…
November 27, 2006
U.S. Marine Lt. Jeffrey Goodman and Lcpl. Jorge Sanchez drag a wounded civilian away from his burning vehicle after he was caught in the middle of an ambush in Al Aziziyah.
Image: source.
This morning on NBC's Today Show, Matt Lauer started his coverage with "Good Morning. Civil War. A bloody…
November 27, 2006
This cute word was used in The Republican War on Science, by my friend and fellow SciBling, Chris Mooney. This book was recently released in the more affordable trade paperback. If you haven't read this book yet, now is the time (I've read it once already in hard-cover, but never reviewed it, so I…
November 27, 2006
A picture of protester Malachi Ritscher from 2003.
Near a Chicago off-ramp, a mentally-gifted man who suffered from bouts of depression made himself into a living torch as a protest against the war in Iraq. It took one week for officials to identify his body and to piece together the man's…
November 27, 2006
This is a really interesting video that I found more than a month ago but never published it here because I could not view it on the hospital's crappy Dell computer. However, I can't resist the suspense any longer since I have shared it with other people, all of whom tell me to post it anyway!…
November 26, 2006
Spotted Salamander, Ambystoma maculatum.
Photographed when a friend and I were out looking for
herps and spiders in south of Ottawa, Ontario in Sept. 2005.
Image: Bev Wigney.
I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the…
November 26, 2006
Even though I know what this word means and I know something of its etymology (I knew its origin was Greek, for example), I chose to share it with you anyway because I like how it looks on the page and how it sounds when spoken. Besides, this word is not used often enough -- perhaps you can help…
November 26, 2006
There is a nifty new online test that allows you to determine your evilness. A friend of mine earned the score of "twisted" which is quite evil, overall. Hoever, you have to go below the fold to find my score and to learn what yours is, too.
How evil are you?
Well, no, I don't work for AOL, but I…
November 25, 2006
Good spelling skills are more important than you realize.
Orphaned image. Please contact me for proper attribution.
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tags: politics, Bush, Iraq war, humor
November 25, 2006
In an outrageous and arrogant move, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has banished the use of the word "hunger" from its documents that describe, umm, you know, hungry people. Instead, the USDA prefers to camoflage reality with a new government double-speak phrase, "very low food security…
November 25, 2006
Pallid Bat, Antrozous pallidous,
Big Bend National Park, summer 2006.
The photographer writes that she is a research assistant in the mammalogy department at Auburn University and that she took this picture while carrying out biodiversity studies at Big Bend National Park. In the photographer's…
November 25, 2006
elephant embryo at six months after conception (above)
elephant embryo at 12 months of development.
Using an array of technologies, a series of images reveal the secret of animal development in the wormb. Using a combination of three-dimensional ultrasound scans, computer graphics and tiny…