Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
July 24, 2006
Okay, I have one comment about this streaming video, but I will resist the urge to say anything until after you've watched it first (below the fold).
Oh yeah? Well, using that same er, "logic", gawd invented liquor because he wants us all to be raging alcoholics.
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tags: banana, atheism,…
July 23, 2006
How would you like to look after your very own Terence the Tyrannosaurus rex, Ollie the Ornithomimus or Sabrina the Smilodon populator?
These three creatures are all available as Prehistoric CyberPets for you to download and look after on your computer! If you have a PC, you can download a…
July 23, 2006
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Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking miniature flag portraits of George W. Bush into piles of dog poo in public parks.
"This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that time," said…
July 22, 2006
Are you a fan of the original television series, Star Trek? If so, then you'll remember that the series was canceled after its third year, even though voyage of the USS Enterprise's crew was supposed to last five years. But some fans of the series have gotten together, rebuilt the set and they are…
July 20, 2006
Image source.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists revealed that they were pressured to exclude or alter research findings. Further, they said they fear retaliation for voicing safety concerns and they think that public health and safety will suffer without leadership from the FDA and…
July 20, 2006
This streaming video contains lots of interesting comments about the internet and how it functions according to our some of our most enlightened congresscritters. With giant intellects such as these serving the public, it's a wonder that anyone ever decides to run for public office, huh?
(below the…
July 20, 2006
I and the Bird, issue 28, is now available. This issue contains essays and photoessays that cover all sorts of topics from bird conservation to species identification.
The 39th issue of the Skeptics Circle is also available. This blog carnival is written to resemble an episode of Scooby-Doo,…
July 20, 2006
Recently, I received a gift from a long-time reader; the gift of a beautiful book that I've wanted for a long time, New York: An Illustrated History by Ric Burns and James Sanders.
This book is filled with breath-taking photographs and illustrations, and is completely absorbing. I have already…
July 19, 2006
A bookseller in Seattle who was a friend of mine often told me that his customers really wanted a durable and reasonably-priced field guide that focused on Washington State birds and was targeted specifically to beginning, visiting and relocating birders. Finally, after years of breathless waiting…
July 19, 2006
The Tangled Bank, issue 58, is now available. Tangled Bank is an established blog carnival that links to the best science, nature and medical essays published recently on a blog.
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tags: blog carnival
July 19, 2006
... fighting with himself over a bone (below the fold).
Would you want to live with a dog that behaves like this?
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tags: streaming video, dog, animal behavior, humor
July 18, 2006
Well, well, well, will wonders never cease? It seems that I have been offered a job. Of course, no papers have been signed yet, so anything can happen between now and the time that the job starts.
Basically, I was asked to teach evolution to non-majors at a private Catholic college this autumn.…
July 15, 2006
New York Movie
by Edward Hopper, 1939.
Oil on canvas (The Museum of Modern Art, New York City).
Rough times, my peeps, rough times.
You all sit together in darkness while I stand hidden in bright light,
listening to you enjoy the unfolding story.
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tags: New York Movie, Edward Hopper, American…
July 11, 2006
There's some interesting articles in the first issue of the new journal, Integrative Zoology, which is freely available online. You can also register with Blackwell Synergy to receive free email alerts for new content published in a large variety of research topics ranging from medicine to the…
July 11, 2006
Dontcha love photoshop?
(more below the fold)
I didn't get to see the last match in the World Cup. Needless to say, I was disappointed. But a friend emailed this really cute picture, which I had to share with all of you (of course). I also wanted to include a link to an online game where you…
July 11, 2006
Caught on video; even lifeguards need to take a break now and again.
So .. do you think all those people went back into the pool after that performance? Would you go back into the pool if you were there?
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tags: streaming video, humor, prank, hotel pool, lifeguard
July 8, 2006
Surprisingly, especially considering what was at stake, this was a rather uninspired game, don't you agree? But it appeared that Portugal could not get their shit together and they paid, terribly, for that; the final score was 3:1. There were a tremendous number of yellow cards awarded in this…
July 8, 2006
How far will you go to protect your prized cattle from "cattle terrorism" and from theft by aliens?
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tags: cattle abduction, cattle terrorism, streaming video, humor, silliness, parody
July 7, 2006
The annual "Stella Awards" have been announced for this year. The Stella Awards were inspired by 81 year-old Stella Liebeck of New Mexico, who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued McDonald's for her injuries. That lawsuit inspired the Stella Awards, which recognize the most frivolous…
July 7, 2006
For those of you who are bird watchers, and those of you who research birds, you will be interested to know that the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) just published its 47th Supplement to their Check List of North American Birds -- its 6th Supplement since the seventh edition was first…
July 6, 2006
200 years ago in 1806, Noah Webster published his very first dictionary. A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language contained 37,000 entries, thousands of which were not listed in any other dictionary. In 1843, upon Webster's death, the Merriam brothers acquired the rights to Webster's…
July 6, 2006
The new BMC Evolutionary Biology open access journal just received its first Journal Impact Factor rating. This Impact Factor of 4.45 places it 6th out of 33 journals in the Evolutionary Biology category. Impact Factors are a standardized measure of the frequency that the "average article" in a…
July 6, 2006
I and the Bird, issue 27, the first year anniversary edition, is now available.
tags: blog carnival
July 5, 2006
This was the most exciting of all the World Cup games I've watched so far. But at the end, the French prevailed over the Portugese. Astonishingly, I predicted the score of this game correctly (see comments)!
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Image source.
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tags: World Cup, soccer, futebol
July 5, 2006
An issue of the Food Insects Newsletter reports that 80 percent of the world's population eats insects intentionally and 100 percent eat insects unintentionally. In fact, if Americans tolerated more insects (you know, like, BUGS) in their food, farmers could significantly reduce the amount of…
July 5, 2006
Say Cheese!
VENUS Image of a squat lobster at a depth of 90 meters using the instrument's digital camera.
The Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea (VENUS) facility, led by the University of Victoria, Canada, recently opened a data portal that provides access to scientists and the general…
July 5, 2006
Forgive my self-indulgent navel-gazing essay, but the upcoming issue of the blog carnival, I and the Bird, is celebrating its first anniversary. In honor of that auspicious occasion, they are linking to essays that conform to a specific theme. The theme consists of the response to one (or more) of…
July 5, 2006
My favorite blog carnivals were published today.
The Tangled Bank, issue 56, is now available. There are lots of contributions for you to read as you recover from your holiday weekend.
The Carnival of the Vanities, 198th edition, which celebrates the best blog writing on any topic, also includes a…
July 4, 2006
Today's World Cup futebol game was spectacular. It epitomized everything that I hoped for in a World Cup game.
The crowd gathered in my local watering hole were (mostly) supporting Italy (yes, even the Germans!), but everyone agreed that Germany would beat Italy because they enjoyed the home-…
July 3, 2006
As some of you might remember, I lived in Tokyo for awhile when I was a grad student. When I left the States, I had never eaten Japanese food before and, as a microbiologist, I was worried about my impending death after being eaten alive by parasitic worms that I would get from eating raw fish. I…