Hedwig Pöllöläinen
grrlscientist
Posts by this author
February 9, 2006
Unholy satire awaits you, dear readers, in this, the 20th edition of the Carnival of Satire, hosted by Mark Rayner, author of The Skwib. Despite the touchy nature of certain religious groups, Mark really went out on a limb by designing the horny dog graphic (pictured) for this edition.
My favorite…
February 8, 2006
Well, I know that all three of you, dear readers, have been eagerly waiting to hear the latest news about (1) the ant farm that I bought as a birdday gift for myself and (2) the ongoing power bill drama with the unreasonable coneheads at ConEdison.
Good news first; the ant farm arrived today (…
February 8, 2006
Note: Inspired by the Terri Schiavo situation, I rewrote the basic template for a living will from one that was emailed to me by a reader, R (thanks!). This was then nominated for a 2005 Koufax Award for "Most Humorous Individual Post".
This essay was first published on 2 April 2005 on my original…
February 7, 2006
Why does it not surprise me to learn that the mouthy 24 year old punk, George Deutsch, appears to have never graduated from Texas A&M at all, despite claims to the contrary? According to Scientific Activist, who made this little discovery;
Although Deutsch did attend Texas A&M University,…
February 7, 2006
Male Berlepsch's Six-wired Bird of Paradise, Parotia berlepschi.
Photo by Bruce Beehler.
Click image for larger version in its own window.
I would give anything -- in fact, I'd give absolutely everything I ever had, currently have and could ever hope to have -- to be part of the recent…
February 6, 2006
When Pittsburgh paleontologist Matt Lamanna jokingly promised his fellow scientists that he would eat a duck foot if they unearthed a rare bird fossil, he never expected that they would discover a large group of them in northwest China. This discovery, the most significant in the past 25 years, was…
February 6, 2006
After my essay, What is LabLit? was linked by the new literature blog carnival, Bookworm linked to it and graciously added a book to the growing LabLit list. This book, Quite a Year for Plums, Amazon by Bailey White, has mixed reviews. Like most titles in the LabLit genre, this book is…
February 5, 2006
The Literature Carnival, issue #6, is now available. This is a new carnival that celebrates the best recent blog essays about books and writing. Even though they very kindly included one of my pieces, they also linked some interesting essays; I was especially interested to read an essay about…
February 2, 2006
Male Purple Martin, Progne subis.
Photo by my friend, Kevin Li.
A friend of mine who works at JetBlue (my favorite air carrier) has given me a round trip flight to Seattle so I can attend a memorial service tomorrow for yet another friend of mine, Kevin Li [interview; mp3], who died suddenly this…
February 2, 2006
Hey everyone, I and the Bird, issue #16, is hosted by my good friends, Dharma Bums. In honor of their issue of this bird carnival, the Bums present Birdstock, a online virtual concert and celebration of wild birds.
BirdStock 2006 features a fantastic group of performers from around the world (…
February 1, 2006
Today, Chris Landau sent me a link to his Master's Thesis entitled The Flocking Party. Chris is in the MFA department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. This a fascinating online production that describes one week in the life of two fictional young scientists, Frank, and his brother,…
February 1, 2006
In honor of my birdday, I decided to do something that was absolutely, completely inexplicable, especially considering my current state of er, employment: I spent money on a frivolous item. As if I don't already have enough pets already, with one click of my mouse, I added more 25 animals to my…
February 1, 2006
Did anyone play this game last night while listening to Bush's State of the Union Address? If so, have you recovered from your hangover yet? The rules are so complicated that it can easily qualify as a sobriety test.
Several favorites of mine include; you are supposed to drink a double shot of…
February 1, 2006
It's here, everyone; the newest edition of Tangled Bank (TB) has been published at my sibling blog, Adventures in Ethics and Science, and I am proud to say that one of my pieces was included in this issue of TB.
For those of you who are new to the blogosphere and especially to science blog writing…
February 1, 2006
tags: Environment, tsunami, earthquake, Indonesia, Mangrove, Shrimp Farming
Note: Originally published on 2 January 2005. Nominated for the 2005 Koufax Award for "Best Individual Post".
Indonesian Mangrove.
All the survivors agreed that 26 December 2004 was an idyllic morning, indeed, it was a…
January 31, 2006
I was nominated for a 2005 Koufax award for the "Best Post" category. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order so you'll find a link to my essay somewhere close the top of the (incredibly long) list. (I was nominated as "GrrlScientist" for this category). There are 222 or more nominees, including…
January 31, 2006
Your Birthdate: January 31
You're a pretty traditional person. If it's lasted, it's probably good.
You seek stability - both in your career and your romantic relationship.
In return, you're very loyal and predictable. Which is usually a good thing.
Without a partner, you feel lost. Being with…
January 31, 2006
Magnolia Warbler, Dendroica magnolia (Wilson)
(Detail) By Tony Henneberg.
This birdday card was sent to me last year by my friend, Tony, who is a very talented artist (click on the image to be magically transported to his beautiful webpage). This card is a detail from a larger painting of his.…
January 30, 2006
Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.
-- Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)
You can't identify an atheist simply by looking at them and in fact, your group of friends probably includes at least one atheist in their number. Even though belief in some sort of…
January 29, 2006
Mt. Rainier, Washington State.
Photograph by Pastoret.
Do not stand at my grave and forever weep.
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's…
January 28, 2006
tags: blogosphere, meme, 23-5 meme
I was tagged with a meme by my good friend, Philaelaethes, author of Bouphonia. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Phila is the man who single-handedly puts together the world-famous Friday Nudi Blogs, which recently began incorporating poetry (…
January 27, 2006
According to the Movies.com Which Movie Star Are You Like? quiz, you're ..
.. most like George Clooney
Everyone loves you, and you're only getting better (and better-looking!) with age. You're a generous, loyal and fun-loving friend, and you also seem to really care about your politics,…
January 26, 2006
Female Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus.
By Bill Ferensen, Seattle.
(click image for Bill's site).
People Hurting Birds
Deceived by all the bird flu sensationalism, an Egyptian farmer abandoned 10,000 newly hatched chicks to their fate on a desert road east of Cairo fearing they might be infected with…
January 26, 2006
The Cry (or The Scream)
By Edvard Munch (1893)
(click on image for a larger version in its own window)
Many people think this painting depicts a man experiencing an existential crisis, but I disagree. I think it depicts a man whose computer just crashed and ate all his $#@%&@!! work!
Why am I…
January 26, 2006
I found an interesting commentary in Nature about a new genre of literature, LabLit [text or PDF]. Even though I read widely, I was surprised to learn that I had never heard of this genre, and the titles mentioned in the article were also new to me. The author of the article, Jennifer Rohn, was…
January 25, 2006
A friend saw this story and asked what is happening with my own little power bill drama. Since several others of you have also asked, I thought I'd let you all know that I checked my bill status online yesterday, worried that there would be a notice there saying that Harry and Guido were waiting in…
January 25, 2006
I am pleased to see some people visiting this site because Scientific Life was listed as a finalist in the Koufax Awards' "Most Deserving of Wider Recognition" category. Even though I put a notification on my original site regarding my relocation, it is gratifying to see that a few of you are…
January 24, 2006
I posted my first message here on the 12th of this month and after only 12 days, 10,000 people have visited my site (thanks for the links, PZ)! I am excited! I can hardly wait for 100,000! Thanks for reading, everyone!
January 24, 2006
Okay guys, if you had a choice between having a big brain or big .. er, testes .. which would you choose?
A recent scientific paper reveals that as sexual selection pressures increase in promiscuous bat species, males evolve larger testes and smaller brains. But in bat species where females…
January 23, 2006
Scientific Life was nominated for several "Bloggie" Award categories, but it is not a finalist for any of them. In fact, none of the blogs listed as finalists have primarily scientific content, unfortunately! But nonetheless, there are some excellent examples of weblogs represented there,…