grrlscientist | April 10, 2008tags: Down the Stream the Swans All Glide, Spike Milligan, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a reader and friend who writes that "I've attached a poem by Spike Milligan. It should break up the more serious ones (honestly, who decided that the cruelest month should be dedicated to poetry?). It's scanned from Silly Verses for Kids -- his drawings are half the fun."
[larger view]
Down the…
grrlscientist | April 10, 2008tags: itchy tentacle relief, octopus, Japanese commercial, streaming video
Leave it to the Japanese to come up with a commercial for itchy tentacle relief tentacle lube. Despite what you're thinking, this streaming video is SFW [0:30].
grrlscientist | April 9, 2008tags: photography, subway art, Houston street station, NYC, NYCLife
This looks like a harbor seal, Phoca vitulina,
(doesn't the seal look like he's wearing glasses??)
by Deborah Brown Platform Diving [1994]
as portrayed in glass mosaic on the walls of the platform for the NYC subway stop (1 train) at Houston Street.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | April 9, 2008tags: Harlequin duck, Histrionicus histrionicus, Long-tailed duck, Clangula hyemalis, birds, Image of the Day
Second in a series by this photographer.
Male Harlequin duck, Histrionicus histrionicus (left)
and male Long-tailed duck (formerly: Oldsquaw), Clangula hyemalis (foreground).
Image: John Del Rio. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 9, 2008tags: The Hen and the Oriole, Don Marquis, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a reader and friend who writes that "I am not much for poetry, generally. But I have always had a soft spot for Don Marquis. This is one of my favorites."
The Hen and the Oriole
well boss did it
ever strike you that a
hen regrets it just as
much when they wring her
neck as an oriole but
nobody has any
sympathy for a…
grrlscientist | April 9, 2008tags: flying penguins, birds, April fools day joke, BBC, streaming video
How did BBC make those penguins fly in their April Fools Day teaser? This video shows how they did it .. think pigeon guillemots (or are they thick-billed murres?)! [2:56]
grrlscientist | April 8, 2008tags: photography, subway art, Houston street station, NYC, NYCLife
Okay, let's move on to another subway station that I like a lot more than Elizabeth Grajales' Penn Station subway art. This subway station is the uptown and downtown platforms at the Houston Street station where the 1 train stops. This station is rather amusing, in my opinion, for reasons that will become apparent to you as we further explore the artwork at this station.
NYC Houston Street subway stop (1 train).
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | April 8, 2008tags: The Good Fairies of New York, Martin Millar, fantasy, humor, book review
Immediately after I'd broken my arm, I found it impossible to concentrate for long periods of time (longer than five or ten minutes at a stretch) because of the intense pain or because of the haze caused by the pain medications. But nevertheless, I wanted to retreat into a book, so I decided to read a book that was completely different than my usual fare -- just for fun, of course. Thanks to one of my readers, I already had the perfect book in my possession; The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar (Brooklyn,…
grrlscientist | April 8, 2008tags: Bufflehead, Bucephala albeola, birds, Image of the Day
The first in a series by this photographer.
Male Bufflehead, Bucephala albeola.
Image: John del Rio. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 8, 2008tags: Mesopotamia, Rudyard Kipling, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem was suggested by a reader and friend who writes that "my favourite poet is Kipling; sad to say, this [poem] is as appropriate today as it was 91 years ago. The question is still valid and I fear we'll do nothing, as our ancestors did nothing, those who embroiled us in the war will retire in comfort and assumed honour. The dead will lie…
grrlscientist | April 8, 2008tags: sensitive plant, botany, pet plants, streaming video
An interesting video of the Sensitive plant, Mimosa pudica. The music is the intro to 'Baba O'Riley' by The Who. [1:13]
The photographer writes;
I've been growing this unusual plant for a couple of months. The Sensitive plant is a creeping annual or perennial herb often grown for its curiosity value: the compound leaves fold inward and droop when touched, re-opening within minutes. Mimosa pudica is native to Brazil, but is now a pantropical weed. Other names given to this curious plant are TickleMe Plant, Humble plant, Shame plant,…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008tags: photography, subway art, Penn station, NYC, NYCLife
A Bird's Life by Elizabeth Grajales (1997) [Detail 4]
as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the Pennsylvania Station platform for the NYC subway stop (1-2-3) at West 34th street. Even though the patterns remain identical, each detail is colored a little differently from the others.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008So I spent the day in the hospital, having x-rays taken of my skull and face and arm and ribs and then having doctors poke and squeeze and waggle my aching and broken appendages through the air. So this leads me to the familiar "I have good news and I have bad news" game ..
The good news: Nothing else is broken! I guess I should always land on my skull when I fall, since nothing bad happened afterall. I am sure in a lot of pain, though. I am glad that I still have some ultram left (and can refill the prescription one last time next week, too).
The bad news: It going to cost many many…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008tags: Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, Manhattan, Kansas, birds, Image of the Day
Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo,
seen at Fancy Creek and Randolph - North end of Tuttle Creek Reservoir in Kansas.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger view].
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Common merganser, Mergus merganser, and chicks.
Orphaned image [larger view].
People Hurting Birds
The number of migratory songbirds returning to North America has gone into sharp decline due to the unregulated use of highly toxic pesticides and other chemicals across Latin America. Ornithologists blame the demand for out-of-season fruit and vegetables and other crops in North America and Europe for the destruction of tens of millions of passerine birds. By some counts, half of the songbirds that warbled across…
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008tags: At the Quinte Hotel, Al Purdy, poetry, National Poetry Month
April is National Poetry Month, and I plan to post one poem per day, every day, this month (If you have a favorite poem that you'd like me to share, feel free to email it to me). Today's poem, one that I've never read before now, was suggested by a reader, who said it is his favorite. Also includes streaming video of the poem being performed/read by Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip [5:18].
-- Al Purdy, Beyond Remembering: The Collected Poems of Al Purdy (Harbour; 2000).
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008tags: elephant picasso, wow, animal behavior, streaming video
This is an absolutely amazing video of an elephant painting a picture of .. an elephant holding a flower! [8:28]
grrlscientist | April 7, 2008You are really not going to believe this. I fell AGAIN this past Saturday while crossing the street. I landed on my left side and my head hit the corner of the curb so I have a huge bruise on the side of my skull just above my ear that is between four and five inches long and I experience a sharp pain in the teeth in my upper jaw any time I think I will chew something. My broken left wing is astonishingly (breathtakingly!) painful and might possibly be re-injured and my ribs hurt so terribly that I can barely move or breathe.
According to the statistics, most people spend more money in the…
grrlscientist | April 6, 2008tags: photography, subway art, Penn station, NYC, NYCLife
A Bird's Life by Elizabeth Grajales (1997) [Detail 3]
as portrayed in tiles on the walls of the Pennsylvania Station platform for the NYC subway stop (1-2-3) at West 34th street. Even though the patterns remain identical, each detail is colored a little differently from the others.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008. [wallpaper size].
grrlscientist | April 6, 2008tags: tree bark, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Manhattan, Kansas, nature, Image of the Day
Bark of the Kentucky Coffee Tree, Gymnocladus dioicus.
Image: GrrlScientist, 2008. [larger view].