grrlscientist | March 24, 2007Wow, things are just getting more unbelievable all the time. Now, I find out that the Department of Justice threatened the eight sacked US Attorneys with "retaliation";
A Justice Department official threatened to take the "gloves off" and "retaliate" against the eight United States attorneys who were abruptly removed from their posts if they continued to speak publicly about the circumstances behind their dismissals, according to an email released late Monday sent to the fired prosecutors by one of their colleagues. [story]
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tags: Alberto Gonzales, politics, US Attorney General
grrlscientist | March 24, 2007Now Alberto Gonzales, AKA "Gonzo", is blaming the attorneys themselves in an effort to extricate himself from a mess of his own making;
"So far as I knew, my chief of staff was involved in the process of determining who were the weak performers," said Mr. Gonzales. "Where were the districts around the country where we could do better for the people in that district, and that's what I knew." [story]
But I repeat, for your benefit, a quote from a story that was published yesterday regarding just one of these attorneys, John McKay of Washington State, who only one month before his ouster, was…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2007This just out: Alberto Gonzales has finally been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I wonder how long it will take before he does the honorable thing and resigns?
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting [italics mine], according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals.
The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2007Physicians from around the world urged Elsevier Group PLC., the publisher of The Lancet medical journal and other scientific and medical journals, to cut its links to weapons sales, calling on the editors to find another publisher if Reed Elsevier refused to stop hosting arms fairs.
"The Lancet is one of the most respected international medical journals and should not be linked to an industry involved in weapons designed to cause physical harm and death," wrote Dr. Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians, and Dr. Michael Pelly, the association's international adviser.…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2007
Chipping sparrow, Spizella passerina
The photographer writes; I like little brown birds. Seemingly frail, they shrug off drought and blizzard and remain resolute to greet the spring with their songs. While others flash extravagant colors and plumes, the LBBs simply endure. Here is the picture of a chipping sparrow from my back yard in Eastern North Dakota.
Photographer: Justawriter.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2007
Bush's head may be hard, but his brains are complete mush.
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tags: Bush, politics, humor
grrlscientist | March 23, 2007A fossil hunter recently discovered the biggest whale fossil ever found in Italy. It was found in the vineyards of Castello Banfi, one of the country's finest vineyards located in the northern grape-growing area of Tuscany. The five million-year-old fossil skeleton is 10 meters (33 feet) in length and appears to be complete.
"A group of palaeontologists were digging in January in the Castello Banfi vineyards and found a whale's vertebra," said a spokesperson for Winenews, a wine promotion agency.
This was not the first such find for this area: an ancient dolphin's skeleton was found several…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2007Tall, handsome and charming, Richard Meinertzhagen is sometimes known as the English spy who didn't kill Hitler when he met him while carrying a loaded gun in his pocket. Three biographies have been written about Meinertzhagen, who was reputed to be a British war hero, spy, and famous ornithologist (hence my interest), and he is mentioned as a historical character in many more histories, movies and several TV shows. Meinertzhagen lived from the 1870s to the 1960s, was the model for the fictional spy, James Bond, worked for Winston Churchill and worked with T.E. Lawrence ("of Arabia"), and…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2007I dunno about you, but this streaming video is just a wee bit scary to me. By the way, can anyone understand what the older woman was saying and what language it is?
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tags: cult, religion, George W Bush
grrlscientist | March 22, 2007A delivery truck loaded down with Cadbury chocolate eggs worth an estimated £70,000 ($137,326) was stolen in Staffordshire, UK. The thieves tricked the driver, who had stopped near Lichfield en route from the Birmingham factory to Yorkshire, by telling him his van was losing its load. When the driver got out of his cab to investigate, the men jumped in and drove off with the eggs.
"The amount stolen is a minor quantity on the grand scale of things as we make between 30 and 40 million eggs in our Bournville plant each Easter," said a Cadbury spokesman. But the thieves may end up eating all…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2007The 45th edition of I and the Bird is now available. This blog carnival is devoted to wild birds and birding and also includes lots of great photographs!
grrlscientist | March 22, 2007tags: Long-whiskered Owlet, Xenoglaux loweryi, birds, birding, ornithology
Long-whiskered Owlet, Xenoglaux loweryi.
The strange and extremely rare Long-whiskered Owlet, Xenoglaux loweryi, has been seen in the wild for the first time on a private conservation area in Northern Peru by researchers. The bird, a species that wasn't even discovered until 1976, and until now was only known from a few specimens captured in nets after dark, was seen in the Area de Conservación Privada de Abra Patricia -- Alto Nieva. This sighting is considered a holy grail of South American ornithology and has not…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2007
Robins and Berries.
The artist writes; I just finished a painting for my own blog that I thought you might have interest in using for your own. I'm a full time artist and social activist working on using a blog as my platform for display.
Artist: Ashley Cecil
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and that there is a world out there that is populated by millions of unique species. We are a part of this world…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2007As you all know, I love the Harry Potter books, so it should not surprise you to learn that I was most pleased to find out that the final Harry Potter book will be printed on recycled paper products. Recently, Scholastic Inc. said that it had agreed with the Rainforest Alliance, a conservation organization that works with the business community, on tightened environmental standards for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, coming out July 21 with a first printing of 12 million.
J.K. Rowling's seventh Potter book will be 784 pages long, Scholastic said, which is comparable to the fourth (734…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2007
A new species of dinosaurs have been discovered in a burrow in Montana
and has been given the scientific name Oryctodromeus cubicularis,
meaning "digging runner of the lair". The adult length is about 2 meters.
The juvenile is in grey.
Fossils from a family of the first known burrowing dinosaurs have been found by scientists in Montana. The fossils are from an adult and two juveniles. The bones are 95 million years old and were unearthed in a chamber at the end of a 2.1 meter long tunnel that was filled with sediment. The researchers say their discovery is the first definitive evidence…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2007Generally, I don't think much of Donald Trump but in this case, I agree with him wholeheartedly (streaming video below the fold).
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tags: streaming video, Donald Trump, Iraq War
grrlscientist | March 22, 2007There are approximately 700 million people in the world who experience water scarcity. This number will probably increase to more than 3 billion by 2025. Because the world's lakes and rivers are shared between the world's nations, an integrated cross-border management of this vital resource is crucial, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in a message marking World Water Day.
"The state of the world's waters remains fragile, and the need for an integrated and sustainable approach to water resource management is as pressing as ever. Available supplies are under great duress…
grrlscientist | March 21, 2007These past few days, I've been quite ill, such that I was unable to venture out today to the library where I use the free wifi (wifi is inconsistent in my apartment).
Anyway, this whole episode of illness began two days ago when a dark cloud of despair settled down over me. I felt physically okay, but the depression was so sudden and intense that I was unprepared for it. I contemplated going back to the hospital. But the next day, I was definetely ill and the depression had mostly lifted.
Normally, when there is a change in my physical condition, I go manic (agitated, hyperactive, unable to…
grrlscientist | March 21, 2007
California mountain kingsnake, Lampropeltis zonata. June 2006, Southeast Skamania County, WA. This snake is from a small, disjunct population living on the Washington side of the Columbia River gorge near the river. The nearest conspecifics live in Southwest Oregon. This individual was caught, photographed, and released.
Image: Conrad Frost, Fisheries Biologist, USGS.
As long as you send images to me (and I hope it will be for forever), I shall continue to share them with my readership. My purpose for posting these images is to remind all of us of the grandeur of the natural world and…
grrlscientist | March 20, 2007Red-breasted nuthatches appear to have learned the language of black-capped chickadees. Nuthatches interpret the type of chickadee alarm and can identify what sort of predator poses a threat.
Chickadee calls carry a great deal of meaning to other members of the species but to the human ear, chickadee alert calls sound very similar. However, when a chickadee sees a predator, it makes a soft "seet" for a flying hawk, owl or falcon, or a loud "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" for a perched predator.
Nuthatches have learned to tell if the chickadees are threatened by pygmy owls, which pose a serious threat…