grrlscientist | December 3, 2006
Darwin's Evolution of Man.
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Richard Leakey, the famous paleoanthropologist, is battling with powerful evangelical church leaders in Kenya. These fundamentalist wingnuts are pressuring Kenya's national museum to hide its world-famous collection of hominid fossils that detail the evolution of humans' early ancestors.
Leakey stated that the wingnuts' statements are "the most outrageous comments I have ever heard."
"The National Museums of Kenya should be extremely strong in presenting a very forceful case for the evolutionary theory of the origins of mankind,"continued Leakey. "The…
grrlscientist | December 3, 2006
Male monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus,
on its host plant, Asclepias curassavica.
Notice the pheromone glands in the two dark spots,
one on each hindwing near the abdomen.
This Monarch was in very good condition so it is difficult
to know whether it was migrating since there is a small,
nearly-year-round population near Houston, Texas,
where this photo was taken.
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (…
grrlscientist | December 3, 2006Bush/Cheney have managed to torpedo the GOP's credibility for the most part, so I am thinking of the Democratic possibilities for the presidential run in 2008. So far, we have;
Clinton -- I'm still waiting to be impressed by her
Edwards -- quiet, a true class act, there's nothing wrong with him that I am aware of
Gore -- after his loss in 2000, who knows if he'll ever run again
Richardson -- relatively unknown but so far, appears to be a good, strong candidate
Obama (pictured) -- another class act, looks best to me so far, but I haven't read enough about him to form a strong opinion
Who…
grrlscientist | December 3, 2006Fifteen years after most scientists have discounted the validity of "Gulf War Syndrome", which was first observed after the Iraq-US war I that ended in 1991, Epidemiologist Robert W. Haley has been trying to prove that thousands of troops were poisoned by a combination of nerve gas, pesticides, insect repellents and a nerve-gas antidote.
But the scientific concensus is that this syndrome is a myth.
"After hundreds of millions of dollars and a decade or better of research, we really haven't made any significant findings," said John R. Feussner, who was VA's chief research officer from 1996…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2006
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black night, lightning bugs
singing cicadas, warm air
i see, inhale, stars
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grrlscientist | December 2, 2006
Crystal Methamphetamines compared to a dime.
Image: www.streetdrugs.org.
Hey! These guys stole my money-making idea!
Seriously, though .. now I am worried about what my neighbors might be brewing in their apartments, considering that I live half a block away from an infamous "drug alley" where I can purchase nearly any illegal drug or gun or who knows what else in less than 24 hours' time.
A Citigroup executive turned his fancy 38th-floor penthouse apartment overlooking the United Nations into a crystal meth lab, one of nine secret dope factories shut down by drug agents, federal…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2006Because I like to read about First Amendment Law and wish to write about this issue on my blog with a little more authority, I have fervently wished to take a class on First Amendment Law at Columbia University, where one of the foremost scholars of First Amendment Law teaches. But, as you might have guessed, this class is very expensive -- and who knows if they would even allow a scientist to take it (which I think they ought to do).
However, if the Democrats have their way, it looks as though my wish -- and much more importantly, the dreams of thousands of kids nation-wide to simply…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2006
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus,
Lance Rosier Unit in the Big Thicket around 50 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico in Eastern Texas,
20 March 2004.
Image: Biosparite.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
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tags: butterfly, eastern tiger…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2006I do want to say something important to all of you as well, amigos bonitos.
I am overwhelmed by what so many people are doing to help me. I truly thought I was friendless and alone in this mess, but you all have demonstrated otherwise and have done so in such a beautiful way -- and there are so many of you who cared, too. The nurses often commented that I received more mail from you than everyone else on the entire unit combined. Yet I thought I didn't make a difference at all, but all of you have shown otherwise.
I am going to just make a list here of some of the things that you all have…
grrlscientist | December 2, 2006Things are looking better and better. First, I have the ultimate power to rescind my "72 hour letter" that led to the court date, so the psychiatrists here are willing to negotiate an agreement with me for outpatient care such that I can be discharged when those goals have been met. As you might have guessed, this is a good thing because, despite my many uncharacteristically pitched battles with the staff here, I am not eager to fight this institution for my release if I can avoid it.
In short, emotionally, I need to leave here on good terms with these people who saved my life.
However, my…
grrlscientist | December 1, 2006
The Tree of Life
Click image for larger view.
This tree is constructed from an analysis of small subunit rRNA sequences sampled from approximately 3,000 species from throughout the Tree of Life. The species were chosen based on their availability, but most of the major taxonomic groups were included, sampled very roughly in proportion to the number of known species in each group (although many groups remain over- or under-represented).
The number of species represented is approximately the square-root of the number of species thought to exist on Earth (i.e., three thousand out of an…
grrlscientist | December 1, 2006
Here is a sweet kitty, sunning itself, for you to look at,
just in case that spider scared you all, as it did me.
Image: Hanneke.
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited.
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tags: cat, caturday
grrlscientist | December 1, 2006
Banded Argiope, Argiope trifasciata.
Photographed in the "Spider Ranch" part of my gardens here at my farm in eastern Ontario.
Image: Bev Wigney.
I know this will amuse many of you dear readers, because I am a zoologist, but I am terrified of spiders -- and I once kept spiders as pets when I was a kid, can you believe that?? Well, to prove to you that I am not biased against spiders, I include this lovely picture of a very scary spider here for your enjoyment (and for my heebie-jeebies).
I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of…
grrlscientist | December 1, 2006
The importance of learning how to spell correctly.
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tags: ten commandments, misspellers' anonymous
grrlscientist | December 1, 2006
Water Lillies.
Claude Monet.
Silent Heroes
by GrrlScientist
My world is flled with
heroes in waiting -- artists
whose masterpieces
are brushstrokes in other
people's lives -- my true wealth is
my silent heroes.
.
I couldn't have done it without you.
grrlscientist | December 1, 2006Would you want to choose your next national leader using a reality TV show instead of an election by the people? Well that's what Canada is doing. Even though I am no fan of reality TV, I am captivated by this interesting idea. They certainly couldn't do a worse job than what has already transpired in several nations already -- not namin' any names, though!
Some countries have elections. Some countries have sectarian violence. Others have civil war. But in Canada, they do things differently.
Next March four former Canadian prime ministers will take part in a reality TV show titled The Next…
grrlscientist | December 1, 2006Every morning, when I wake up, I give thanks to the great spaghetti monster that I am not waking up as George Bush. After all, I might be a failure, but that's to be expected when you consider all the odds I've faced. However, George Bush has always had everything handed to him on a silver platter and has a flock of apologists who rewrite history so he is presented in a good light, such that you'd think that he would rarely fail at things, but the fact is that failure is the only thing that he's managed to accomplish. Georgie's most recent and most dismal failure? Iraq: the American-triggered…
grrlscientist | December 1, 2006
I wonder how many takes it took for singer to complete this song. My tongue would get a charlie horse.
And my name's Albert Andreas Armadillo.
(No relation to the Sarsaparillas.)
Because of pronouns, I can say:
"I wish SHE would find a rhinoceros for ME, and WE'd be happy."
You see, a pronoun was made to take the place of a noun,
'Cause saying all those nouns over and over
Can really wear you down!
Now I could tell you Rafaella Gabriela and Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla and Albert Andreas Armadillo found an aardvark, a kangaroo, and a rhinoceros. And now that aardvark and that kangaroo and…