grrlscientist | November 2, 2006Okay, this is the last word from Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.
Immaterial (im-uh-TEER-EE-uhl) [Latin im- without, not mÄteriÄlis; of, belonging to matter.]
adj.
of no essential consequence; unimportant.
not pertinent; irrelevant.
not material; incorporeal; spiritual; having no material body or form.
Usage: Mr. Fletcher, retired, of the Treasury, Mrs. Gorham, widow of the famous K. C., approaached Him simply, and having done their praying, leant back, enjoyed the music (the organ pealed sweetly), and saw Miss Kilman at the end of the row, praying, praying, and, being still on the…
grrlscientist | November 2, 2006I have some terribly sad news. William Styron, one of my favorite writers, died yesterday from pneumonia in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Styron is best known for his lyrical and tragic novel about a holocaust survivor, Sophie's Choice, a bestseller that was made into a movie with the same name, and for The Confessions of Nat Turner, the story of a black slave revolt that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1968. The last book that Styron completed, Darkness Visible (1990), was a short memoir of his descent into a deep depression that caused him to drink heavily and nearly ended with his suicide.…
grrlscientist | November 2, 2006Rethuglican Senator George Allen showed his true colors yesterday by refusing to denounce his supporters' attack upon a liberal blogger. The blog writer, W. Michael Stark, was attacked after he asked the senator detailed questions about the circumstances surrounding his contentious divorce. Stark, a first year law student, was shoved, punched, knocked to the floor, and his head was nearly was pushed through a plate-glass door by Allen's rabid supporters.
Stark filed criminal charges with the local police but said he did not know the names of his attackers. (I'll he can pick them out of a…
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006Thanks everyone for visiting my humble blog -- more than 300,000 people have visited this blog since 12 January! This is the best gift I could have, especially since my hospital discharge date, which was supposed to be tomorrow, was pushed back to the 15th of November. I appreciate your patience with me, especially since I have been unable to regularly access the internet these past months. But I will be back and writing soon.
If I add in the numbers of visitors from my original blog, as of this moment, I have enjoyed nearly 450,000 total readers' visits since 4 August 2004, when I first…
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006
An Ann Coulter mug shot would make a fine holiday gift, don't you think?
Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will probably be turned over to prosecutors, Palm Beach County's elections chief said Wednesday.
Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison....
Cited story.
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tags: Ann Coulter, voter fraud
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006
Blue Metalmark, Rivina humilis,
Laguna Atascosa NWR, Texas. Oct. 2004.
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, blue metalmark butterfly, insect, Lepidoptera, zoology
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006If you don't know where to go to cast your ballot on Election Day, or...
If you're not sure whether you are registered to vote in your home state...
There is help on the way!
Can I Vote?
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006I found this wonderful word (below) in a book by the amazing and incomparable Virginia Woolf, entitled Mrs. Dalloway.
Taciturnity (tas-i-TUR-ni-tee) [Latin taciturnitÄs; from tacitus, silent.]
n.
the state or quality of being reserved or reticent in conversation.
Scots Law. the relinquishing of a legal right through an unduly long delay, as by the silence of the creditor.
Usage: Odd it was, as Miss Kilman stood there (and stand she did, with the power and taciturnity of some prehistoric monster amoured for primeval warfare) how, second by second, the idea of her diminished, how…
grrlscientist | November 1, 2006
A friend emailed this image to me so I could share it with you.
Image: source.
Yesterday, Kerry made a truly dumbass remark -- a weak attempt at sarcasm -- that is being taken out of context for political spin purposes. I understood Kerry's comment to be a verbal jab at the current administration's elitism, not at the troops themselves. But don't forget, the average American was also believed Bush when he claimed -- in the complete lack of any hard evidence -- that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, too.
But seriously, who cares?! Does this comment really deserve a press conference…
grrlscientist | October 31, 2006
Mystery Caterpillar on Gaura,
Nelson Farms Preserve, Katy Prairie Conservancy, Texas.
NABA Butterfly Count, 4 September 2006.
Image: Biosparite.
I thought this image was appropriate for the day, given this caterpillar's sporty Hallowe'en stripes.
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.
.
tags: butterfly, caterpillar, Lepidoptera, insect, zoology
grrlscientist | October 31, 2006If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect that the federal government's "no sex without marriage" message was their idea of a very early April Fool's Day joke. What am I talking about? Apparently, the feds are preaching their "no sex until marriage" message to single adults who are as old as 29 years old.
What about old hags (like me) who are single, and older than 29? Are we allowed to have sex or not? Or are we all supposed to be married by the ripe old age of 29? Or maybe people older than 29 are too old for the feds to consider us to be worthwhile sexual partners? Wondering minds wanna…
grrlscientist | October 31, 2006
This image was emailed by a friend so I could share it with you here.
grrlscientist | October 30, 2006
Backlit photo of Saturn taken by the Cassini probe.
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.
.
tags: Astronomy, backlit Saturn, Cassini
grrlscientist | October 30, 2006I found this wonderful word (below) in a book by the amazing and incomparable Virginia Woolf, entitled Mrs. Dalloway. As soon as I read this word, I was certain that she had invented it for her own purposes, and a quick look in the online dictionary revealed that she had. So dear readers, this is perhaps the first time this word has been formally defined on the internet;
Irreticences (ir-RET-uh-suhn-ses) [Latin ir- not reticÄre; to be silent]
n.
outspoken, to speak freely; talkative; voluble.
lack of restraint.
Usage: I can't keep up with them, Peter Walsh thought, as they marched up…
grrlscientist | October 30, 2006Birds, bees, bats, butterflies and other species that pollinate North American plant life are steadily vanishing, according to a study released recently by the National Research Council. This "demonstrably downward" trend could damage dozens of commercially important crops, scientists warned, since three-quarters of all flowering plants depend on pollinators for fertilization.
Domesticated honeybees, which pollinate more than 90 commercial crops in the United States, have declined by 30 percent in the last 20 years. In fact, U.S. farmers had to import honeybees last year for the first time…
grrlscientist | October 29, 2006
Fiery Skipper, Hylephila phyleus,
Nelson Farms Preserve, Katy Prairie Butterfly Count,
4 September 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.
.
tags: butterfly, fiery skipper butterfly, insect, lepidoptery, zoology
grrlscientist | October 29, 2006This word is from the 29 October 2006 New York Times Magazine's feature, entitled "Islam and the Bomb" by Noah Feldman (now online). This week's issue is particularly good because, in addition to the article that I cite (below), it also contains a piece about the Taliban, several articles about bipolar disorder, an interview with a psychiatrist about depression and a piece about Alzheimer's disease.
Disapprobation (dis-ap-ruh-BEY-shuhn)
n.
Moral disapproval; condemnation.
an expression of strong disapproval; pronouncing as wrong or morally culpable.
Usage: In the immediate aftermath…
grrlscientist | October 29, 2006
Carnival of the Godless number 52 is now available for your reading pleasure. This blog carnival celebrates atheism and agnosticism in favor of living a reality-based life. This particular issue of CotG is dressed up in holiday cheer, so be sure to mouse over the text to find the hidden links.
tags: blog carnival
grrlscientist | October 28, 2006
These beautiful creatures are day-flying moths from the family Ctenuchidae,
in the process of mating.
This picture was taken in Kerala, southern India by a reader, Basia. You can read
more about these insects at India Ink.
Image: Basia Kruszewska.
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"Insects commonly remain together for hours when mating. However, the actual sperm transfer occurs quickly," says Phil Nixon, an entomologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
"In many insects, the female's eggs are fertilized by the sperm of the last male to mate with her before the eggs are laid. It is thought that the male…