grrlscientist | September 13, 2008tags: Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Reddish egret, Egretta rufescens, photographed at Sportsman's Road, Galveston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 September 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | September 13, 2008
Jumbo Jerky Works is a gun that shoots beef jerky. The barrel of the Jerky Works Gun conveniently holds one pound of meat, which means less reloading for you. It comes with five spice packets and three different nozzles, each of which "shoots" a different style: strips, double strips, or sticks.
I was wandering around the internet and found a Popular Mechanics piece about ten strange kitchen items, so I am showing you two of those items that I thought you might be intrigued by. The above gadget is something that guys will love, especially while drinking beer and watching football. It's a…
grrlscientist | September 13, 2008Hey, this is really fun: I just learned that my blog is included in the list, "101 Women Bloggers to Watch, Fall 2008" by WE magazine for women. If you like reading women's blogs, this is a great list to refer to, since there are 100 others listed there to choose from!
grrlscientist | September 12, 2008tags: Sandwalk, Down House, Darwin, nature, photography, London, England, Bromley, England, Professor Steve Steve
Darwin's "weed garden" experiment, located near the pathway next to Down House, near the Gardens.
Image: GrrlScientist 31 August 2008 [larger view].
Sunday, the day after the Nature Network Science Blog conference was over, Mike, Mo and I caught a train to Bromley, England, where we toured Darwin's Down House and Gardens and walked along the famous Sandwalk that Darwin once walked. This is part two of my photoessay series about Down House, where I focus on the Gardens behind…
grrlscientist | September 12, 2008tags: Cathedral Parkway, 110th street, Migrations, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Migrations (1999).
Artist: Christopher Wynter.
Detail 3 of the 110th street glass tile mosaic art as seen on the platform at Cathedral Parkway (Central Park West and 110th street) for the downtown-bound B and C trains (and the downtown-bound local A trains, which run nights and weekends). You cannot easily see this piece from the uptown-bound train platform.
Image: GrrlScientist 9 September 2008 [larger view].
At Cathedral Parkway, Harlem's southern boundary, three large mosaic murals…
grrlscientist | September 12, 2008tags: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE, mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, CJD, pathogenic mutation, prion protein gene
Image: Orphaned.
Mad Cow Disease, technically known as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), is one of a group of transmissible diseases that destroy brain tissue, collectively known as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs). TSEs are an unknown agent(s) that act by damaging the structure of brain proteins known as "prions" (PREE ons). In turn, these damaged prion proteins damage other normal prions and together, they build up to collectively…
grrlscientist | September 12, 2008Here's a blog carnival for you to enjoy;
Friday Ark, #208. This blog carnival is a great one for a rainy Friday (like this one in NYC), because it shows images of animals, all sorts of animals, for you to contemplate and enjoy!
Carnival of Food and Travel, issue #3. This is an eclectic mix of food and travel and food that oyu only eat while traveling.
grrlscientist | September 12, 2008tags: Stilt Sandpipers, Calidris himantopus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery birds] Juvenile Stilt Sandpipers, Calidris himantopus, photographed at Texas City Dike, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you tomorrow].
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 September 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | September 12, 2008tags: birding, bird watching, bird field guide, birds, Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America, book review
Several new field guides to the birds have been published in the last few months and The Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America (NYC: Collins; 2008) by Ted Floyd is one of them. The most obvious distinction that sets this large book apart are the photographs of birds: most field guides rely on paintings instead of photographs. Despite the fact that I prefer paintings to photographs in my field guides, there is plenty in this new field guide to interest…
grrlscientist | September 12, 2008tags: Mackenna's Gold, Jose Feliciano, music, film, movies, streaming video
Really amazing footage and wonderful music by José Feliciano about turkey vultures, from the movie, Mackenna's Gold -- is this a film I must see? You tell me! [5:24]
"There's an old story.
The way the Apaches tell it...
...a man was riding in the desert
and came across a vulture...
...the kind they call turkey buzzards
in Arizona, sittin' on a rock.
"Hey", the man says, "how come you
old turkey buzzard's sittin' here?
"I saw you flying over Hadleyberg,
and I didn't want to meet up with you...
"...so I turned around…
grrlscientist | September 11, 2008tags: Sandwalk, Darwin's Down House, nature, photography, London, England, Bromley, England
Light Shining into a Tangled Bank.
A view through a thicket of trees as seen from the Sandwalk near Darwin's Down House in Bromley, England.
Image: GrrlScientist 31 August 2008 [larger view].
The last paragraph in Darwin's On The Origin of Species;
It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately…
grrlscientist | September 11, 2008tags: Sandwalk, Down House, Darwin, nature, photography, London, England, Bromley, England
Darwin's Down House near Bromley, England, a short train ride away from London. This view of the house was snapped from the gardens in back of the house. If you look closely, you can see part of the cafe (under the blue umbrellas) to the right of the crooked tree in this picture.
I am really proud of this photograph, by the way.
Image: GrrlScientist 31 August 2008 [larger view].
Sunday, the day after the Nature Network Science Blog conference had concluded, Mike, Mo and I caught a train to Bromley,…
grrlscientist | September 11, 2008tags: Cathedral Parkway, 110th street, Migrations, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Migrations (1999).
Artist: Christopher Wynter.
Detail 2 of the 110th street glass tile mosaic art as seen on the platform at Cathedral Parkway (Central Park West and 110th street) for the downtown-bound B and C trains (and the downtown-bound local A trains, which run nights and weekends). You cannot easily see this piece from the uptown-bound train platform.
Image: GrrlScientist 9 September 2008 [larger view].
At Cathedral Parkway, Harlem's southern boundary, three large mosaic murals…
grrlscientist | September 11, 2008A fellow scientist whose work I have long followed, Ricardo Azevedo, has a new gig writing a blog sponsored by the Houston Chronicle. Congratulations, Ricardo! Do go over there and read his first essay; "The Fittest Theory."
grrlscientist | September 11, 2008tags: Piping Plover, Charadrius melodus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Piping plover, Charadrius melodus, photographed at photographed at Quintana and Bryan Beaches, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 September 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | September 11, 2008tags: Okapi, Okapia johnstoni, camera trap, zoology, rare mammals, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo rainforest, African Wildlife, Zoological Society of London
This undated image provided by the Zoological Society of London, Thursday, 11 September 2008, shows an okapi, Okapia johnstoni, in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo proving that the species is still surviving there despite more than one decade of civil conflict. The Zoological Society of London says cameras set up in Congo have snapped the first photos of the rare okapi roaming wild. Okapi have…
grrlscientist | September 11, 2008
Living the Scientific Life was mentioned in the 9 September 2008 Canberra Times! [larger view].
I am thrilled to tell you that a new reader found my blog through a mention by the Canberra Times! This scanned image was sent to me by that reader who I would like to thank for letting me know about it. Now, if only I could visit every place in the world that my blog is seen and appreciated ..
grrlscientist | September 11, 2008tags: Leslie Lemke, that's incredible, inspirational story, streaming video
Leslie Lemke, blind savant musician, appears on ABC's "That's Incredible" TV show in 1981 [4:05]
Leslie Lemke didn't have a great start in life. He was born with severe birth defects that required doctors to remove his eyes. His own mother gave him up for adoption, and a nurse named May Lemke (who at the time was 52 and was raising 5 children of her own) adopted him when he was six months old.
As a young child, Leslie had to be force-fed to teach him how to swallow. He could not stand until he was 12. At 15, Leslie…
grrlscientist | September 10, 2008tags: London England, Harry Potter film sites London, Harry Potter, photography, photoessay
This is the snake cage at the London Zoo that was in a scene from the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In the film, this cage held a Burmese boa constrictor. In real life, this cage holds a black mamba.
Image: GrrlScientist 4 September 2008 [larger view].
This is the third, and last, part of my Harry Potter film sites of London photoessays. As my featured image for this photoessay, I used this image of the London Zoo that was used in a scene in the first Harry Potter…
grrlscientist | September 10, 2008tags: Cathedral Parkway, 110th street, Migrations, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Migrations (1999).
Artist: Christopher Wynter.
Detail 1 of the 110th street glass tile mosaic art as seen on the platform at Cathedral Parkway (Central Park West and 110th street) for the downtown-bound B and C trains (and the downtown-bound local A trains, which run nights and weekends). You cannot easily see this piece from the uptown-bound train platform.
Image: GrrlScientist 9 September 2008 [larger view].
At Cathedral Parkway, Harlem's southern boundary, three large mosaic murals…