Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
February 25, 2006
You Passed 8th Grade Math
Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!
Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?
That was fun!
What was your score?
February 25, 2006
MROW!! Brad Gushue has a standing invitation to sweep my apartment floors anytime!
Curling is the perfect sport. Seriously, what more can a grrl ask for? Curling features gorgeous men who are passionate about pushing heavy objects around with great precision and who are some sort of magician with…
February 25, 2006
Your Fortune Is
War does not determine who is right, war determine who is left.
The Wacky Fortune Cookie Generator
Okay, you must tell me, my peeps; what is your fortune?
February 25, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A White House source stated that Congress is considering awarding Vice-President Dick Cheney the Medal of Freedom, the national highest civilian commendation, for his act of bravery in shooting an attorney.
The source was quoted to say "All Americans have wanted to shoot a…
February 24, 2006
Male Black-faced Dacnis, Dacnis lineata lineata.
Photo taken on the banks of the Corentyne River, which forms the Guyana-Suriname border (see map, below).
Photo courtesy of Tony Henneberg.
(Click image for larger view in its own window)
The black-faced Dacnis, Dacnis lineata lineata [Family…
February 23, 2006
Note: On 4 March, Birds in the News will be one year old!
The newest Archaeopteryx fossil.
Click image for a slightly larger view in its own window.
Birds in Science
A mutant chick, called Talpid, that died before hatching 50 years ago, was found to have a full set of crocodile-like chompers, as…
February 23, 2006
Stunningly, the Fundamentalist State of South Dakota has enacted a ban on all abortions under any circumstances. According to the news story;
Proposed amendments to the law to create exceptions to specifically protect the health of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest, were voted down. Also…
February 23, 2006
This was sent by a friend and colleague who actually likes the weasel .. er, cough, man .. in the picture, so I am guessing that he is trying to cheer me up. Thanks, R. Yes, I did smile a little bit, although I never will understand how you can approve of his administration's arrogance misbehavior…
February 22, 2006
As I was walking to the library, I saw a van parked on Columbus Street, near 82nd. This old, formerly white van, the lower third of which was covered with reddish mud, had the following written on it;
Please bathe me. I am ashamed of what the other vehicles are saying.
February 20, 2006
Even though Michael Ruse is an evolutionary philosopher, he also is a self-described deist, so I probably should have been ready to be disappointed. Instead of saving my hard-earned money, I optimistically purchased his book, The Evolution-Creation Struggle (2005, Harvard University Press), with…
February 19, 2006
I finally escaped domestic misery (laundry; a necessary evil that, in NYC during the winter, requires cross country skiing gear, assorted pocket warmers lest my digits freeze off, and a pack animal -- I prefer a llama because they are cute and fuzzy, and can climb stairs) and discovered that the…
February 18, 2006
Today, I received a book about Darwin in the mail that is hot off the presses (release date: 7 march 2006). I will post a review of this book sometime late this week. I also just finished browsing "the big three" journals (Nature, Science and PNAS) for the week so I will have some cool science to…
February 18, 2006
Thanks, Cheri, for making me smile.
Reasons that it is good to be a woman:
1. We got off the Titanic first. 2. We can scare male bosses with the mysterious gynecological disorder excuses. 3. Taxis stop for us. 4. We don't look like a frog in a blender when dancing. 5. No fashion faux…
February 16, 2006
Bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus.
Click image for larger view in its own window.
Birds in Science
A fossil of one adult Psittacosaurus dinosaur surrounded by 34 juveniles (pictured), has provided the most compelling evidence to date that dinosaurs raised their young after hatching. But what…
February 16, 2006
The 2005 Koufax Awards for "Best Expert Blogs" have now been compiled for your reading pleasure. This category seeks to honor those who bring particular expertise, by way of knowledge, experience, or academic achievement, to a particular topic. As the years have passed, it's become more difficult…
February 16, 2006
Hey everyone, I and the Bird, issue #17, is hosted by Wild Bird on the Fly. In honor of this issue of the I and the Bird carnival, Amy presents the first annual bird festival, an online celebration of good food and wild birds, including a wonderful poster designed by Amy especially for this…
February 15, 2006
After complaining nearly ceaselessly to the good peeps at ScienceBlogs.com about the font, I went ahead and changed it myself to Garamond Georgia for the post body. Despite my inexperience with MovableType, inexperience that led to problems with the overall format of the blog itself, I actually did…
February 15, 2006
The 2005 Koufax Awards have finally compiled a list of all their nominees for Best Writing and I am included. As usual, there are approximately a bazillion nominees, but you can find me between the top and the middle of the list as "GrrlScientist". They present the nominees so you, dear readers,…
February 15, 2006
A friend, Ian, sent me a link for yet another Harry Potter Quiz so of course, I had to share it with you! I really liked this quiz because, unlike most web-based quizzes, this one is top rate, featuring wonderful graphics and music. I only have two complaints; they should ask more questions and…
February 15, 2006
Okay, I am back in business after finally resolving the coding issue on my blog, thanks to kind advice from my blog sibling, Tim.
Several blog carnivals have been published recently that will interest you. First, my favorite blog carnival, Tangled Bank, issue 47, was published by Kete Were.…
February 14, 2006
Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers, especially those of you who, like me, are alone today. As an added bonus, you can print out this valentine, tape it to your desk and tell everyone it is from a secret admirer!
February 13, 2006
Okay, I want to brag. One of my most favorite-ist stories among all those that I've written was noticed and appreciated by the gods from the Church of the Flying Electrons, dear readers. I just hope that history repeats itself. Soon.
Unfortunately, I had no clue this was going to happen, so I…
February 13, 2006
The Big Apple Blog Festival (BABF), issue 25 is now available. The BABF is a representative roundup of the previous week's posts by NYC bloggers, and it is packed with lots of NYC goodness! Also, I am pleased to tell you that one of my pieces was nominated to this festival (you will have to go…
February 12, 2006
Today is the anniversary of Charles Darwin's 197th birthday. Besides the fact that Darwin was a gentleman naturalist, he was also a prodigious writer and was quite popular in his day due to his travel books. But it was not until he was 50 when his most influential book, On the Origin of Species by…
February 11, 2006
There is another new online biology journal out there, Biology Direct. This journal is particularly interesting because its stated policy is to provide authors and readers of research articles with a novel system of peer review. This system includes making the author responsible for obtaining…
February 10, 2006
How well do you know the USA? I have linked to two quizzes that test your knowledge by having you place each state on a map of the USA. This quiz is especially difficult.
After you've taken that first quiz, try this one. My scores are below the fold ..
My scores:
first quiz; 62%, average error…
February 9, 2006
Mountain Owlet-Nightjar, Aegotheles albertisi .
Photo by Bruce Beehler.
Click image for larger version in its own window.
Birds in Science
A team of 25 American, Australian and Indonesian scientists flew by helicopter last December into the midst of a large tract of uninhabited tropical forest in…
February 9, 2006
Reader demographics based on 100 visitors.
While I take a brief break from writing this week's issue of Birds in the News, I want to mention that I am proud to say that once again, nearly half of my visitors are from outside of the United States. Not that I have anything against Americans, because…
February 9, 2006
Transmission electron micrograph of
Avian Influenza Virus.
(click image for larger view in its own window)
I just received a message from ProMED-email regarding the appearance of the avian influenza virus that was just identified in Nigeria. ProMED-email is a program of the International Society…