grrlscientist | November 20, 2006
Fox News ratings went down by 17% in October, while most cable news networks saw tremendous increases in ratings. I guess people are finally growing tired of their ridiculous bias and gossip. Basically, there is no liberal media, there only is only intelligent media and ridiculous media. Oh, and hey, Rupert, how did the OJ interview help your ratings?
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tags: politics, mainstream media, FOX news, OJ, murder, george bush
grrlscientist | November 19, 2006Recycling has not been especially successful, even in Seattle, which seems to be the city that is most friendly to recycling in the country from my experience (although I might be wrong about this). So, in an effort to encourage recycling throughout the nation, what would you say about imposing extra taxes on disposable items, such as cameras, razors, and nonrechargable batteries? Below the fold is a story about how well this very program has been working in Europe, but I think they missed some very important items in their campaign; cell phones, ipods and computers, many of which are simply…
grrlscientist | November 19, 2006
Where do stars form? One place, star forming regions known as "EGGs", are uncovered at the end of this giant pillar of gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula (M16). EGGs, short for evaporating gaseous globules, are dense regions of mostly molecular hydrogen gas that fragment and gravitationally collapse to form stars. Light from the hottest and brightest of these new stars heats the end of the pillar and causes further evaporation of gas - revealing yet more EGGs and more young stars. This picture was taken by the Wide Field and Planetary Camera on board the Hubble Space Telescope.
Image: J.…
grrlscientist | November 19, 2006
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Can someone explain to me why is the so-called "liberal" mainstream media even listening to Tom Delay? Especially because Delay is no paragon of morality since he was caught with his fat hand in the lobbyist scandal cookie jar recently. Besides all of Delay's shenanigans, isn't Pelosi (pictured) more liberal that Hillary Clinton? If so, how does this support Delay's testosterone-poisoned opinion?
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"Two years of Pelosi gives a good idea of what four years of Hillary will be like," said Tom DeLay, the Republican powerbroker who ran his party in the House before he was caught up in a…
grrlscientist | November 19, 2006If I had to choose between being a democrat or a rethuglican, well, I'd choose democrat, however, I am more of a rational humanist than I am anything else. But just for shits and giggles, I decided to take this quiz, now that the democrats are hanging on to control of the congress by their fingernails. Hopefully they will accomplish something of value rather than being dick-heads by completely shutting down congress as someone else did did a few years ago, just to prove their had bigger political penises than their adversaries.
You Are 80% Democrat
You have a good deal of donkey running…
grrlscientist | November 19, 2006Speaking of flip-flopping, it appears that the rethuglicans hold the World Record for flip-flopping. For example, Senator McCain -- I am still waiting for him to fulfill his promise to the American people by committing suicide -- has recently flip-flopped on his position regarding abortion rights. Now he is saying that the decision whether to make abortion legal should be returned to the states. Why does he say this? Because McCain is now, conveniently, a federalist. However, that doesn't stop individual states from outlawing abortion and from outlawing women from seeking abortions in states…
grrlscientist | November 19, 2006I have finally gotten back on track with my book reading and daily search for my word-of-the-day. As you might have guessed, I find these words in my regular everyday reading, instead of picking them out of a vocabulary list somewhere. I found this under-used word in the articulate polemic, The Republican War on Science, by my friend and fellow SciBling, Chris Mooney, which was recently re-released in trade paperback. If you haven't read this book yet, now is the time (I've read it once already in hard-cover, but never reviewed it, so I am going to rectify that oversight in the near future by…
grrlscientist | November 18, 2006
Hairy Woodpecker, Picoides villosus,
Hairy woodpecker at a suet feeder who could probably do with a napkin.
The photo was taken at Sullys Hill National Wildlife Preserve, North Dakota.
Image: justawriter.
This is another image sent to cheer me up and to brighten your day, too!
I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in those images. 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,…
grrlscientist | November 18, 2006This test supposedly predicts your "luck quotient", but I am not sure I believe it. My own results surprised me, especially considering my life these past three years, which has been rather unlucky. Anyway, you can take the luck test yourself (and hopefully share your score with me!) and you can see my score below the fold.
Your Luck Quotient: 51%
You have an average luck quotient.
There's been times when you've been extremely lucky... but also times when you've been very unlucky.
You probably know that you can make your own luck in life, if you're open to it.
So listen to your…
grrlscientist | November 17, 2006Quite a few readers have been writing with questions regarding my hospitalization. For awhile, I was writing private email to those who wrote, telling you the highlights (or perhaps I should refer to them as "lowlights"?) of those events that have transpired over the previous 100 days. I will tell you a little bit about what i've been experiencing, and answer any questions that you might have in comments or in email, depending upon the nature of the question. This particular issue is a topic that I will be exploring more on this blog, so it seems fitting that I say something about it…
grrlscientist | November 17, 2006
Snow plant, Sarcodes sanguinea.
This is a saprophytic (lacking in chlorophyll) plant related to the better-known Indian Pipe.It is myco-heterotrophic, which means it is symbiotic with a fungus. It grows in California forests above 4000 feet. Its name comes from the fact that it is one of the first plants to appear in spring.
Photo taken on Mt. Pinos, north Los Angeles county.
Image: Jeff Lanam.
This is another "Get Welll Soon" nature picture from one of my readers that I am sharing with all of you!
I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the…
grrlscientist | November 17, 2006
Image: source.
Embers
by Henri Cole
Poor summer, it doesn't know it's dying.
A few days are all it has. Still, the lake
is with me, its strokes of blue-violet
and the fiery sun replacing loneliness.
I feel like an animal that has found a place.
This is my burrow, my nest, my attempt
to say, I exist. A rose can't shut itself
and be a bud again. It's a malady,
wanting it. On the shore, the moon sprinkles
light over everything, like a campfire,
and in the green-black night, the tall pines
hold their arms out as God held His arms
out to say that He was lonely and that
He was making Himself a…
grrlscientist | November 17, 2006The vote count is in: Steny Hoyer defeated Jack Murtha 149 to 86 for the majority leader post in the House.
In my opinion, Hoyer was the better choice anyway because he is widely regarded as a champion for Federal employees, and is well known as a leader on education issues and is a respected voice on human and civil rights -- and his pro-environment voting record is impeccable compared to Murtha's.
There's no way to spin this: this was a big loss for incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The vote wasn't close. Her ally was rejected. This reflects poorly on her. And it will be remembered by…
grrlscientist | November 16, 2006
Composite Crab.
The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first object on Charles Messier's famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab is now known to be a supernova remnant, expanding debris from the death explosion of a massive star. This intriguing false-color image combines data from space-based observatories, Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer, to explore the debris cloud in x-rays (blue-purple), optical (green), and infrared (red) light. One of the most exotic objects known to modern astronomers, the Crab Pulsar, a neutron star spinning 30 times a second, is the bright spot…
grrlscientist | November 15, 2006
Male American goldfich, Carduelis tristis.
Ãmage: Justawriter.
Photo taken at Sullys Hill National Wildlife Preserve, North Dakota.
This image was sent to me by a long-time reader to cheer me up after the loss of my discharge date. Thanks!
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image 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: American goldfinch, bird, ornithology
grrlscientist | November 14, 2006I know that there are three or four of you, dear readers, who have been eagerly awaiting my release from the hospital -- although none more eagerly than me! My release day was supposed to be tomorrow, but alas, it has been postponed once again, but this time, it was postponed indefinitely. When I asked my doctor if I would be out of the hospital by Thanksgiving, he told me no, that was not going to happen. Needless to say, I am very disappointed, so much so that I've not been posting much to my blog. At this point, the best I can hope for is to be released by December -- hopefully early…
grrlscientist | November 14, 2006
Shasta blue, Plebejus saepiolus,
around 60 miles south of Bend, Oregon,
July 20, 2006.
Image: Biosparite.
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image 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, shasta blue butterfly, insect, Lepidoptera, zoology
grrlscientist | November 14, 2006
It takes a woman to clean house properly.
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tags: politics, Nancy Pelosi, house
grrlscientist | November 13, 2006
Shaggy ink caps Coprinus comatus.
Image: David Warman.
David writes; I like this picture, even though of a common mushroom variety, because it shows all main stages of the fruiting body simultaneously. I was fortunate in my timing. This picture was taken with my old digital camera. I now have a Pentax K100D, which has breathed new life back into the wonderful lenses I used to use in the days of film.
If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image 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…
grrlscientist | November 13, 2006This is another fine word that I found in Richard Dawkins' new book, The God Delusion. I am still nearly finished with this book and will be reading a new one tomorrow.
Abrogation (ab-RUH-gey-shun) [from Latin abrogÄtus repealed]
noun.
to abolish by formal or official means; annul by an authoritative act; repeal: to abrogate a law.
to put aside; put an end to.
Usage: Sookhdeo goes on to explain how Islamic scholars, in order to cope with the many contradictions that they found in the Qur'an, developed the principle of abrogation, whereby later texts trump earlier ones.…