grrlscientist | August 11, 2006
So when you're happy (Hurray!) or sad (Aw!)
Or frightened (Eeeeeek!) or mad (Rats!)
Or excited (Wow!) or glad (Hey!)
An interjection starts a sentence right.
Interjections (Hey!) show excitement (Hey!) or emotion (Hey!).
They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point,
Or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.
Interjections show excitement or emotion,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah... YEA!
This episode is one of several that really sticks out in my mind.
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tags: schoolhouse rock, education, teaching, streaming video
grrlscientist | August 8, 2006
Image appears here with the kind permission of its creator, John Kyrk.
A friend sent me a link to an interesting website. John Kyrk, an artist and biologist, has recreated a huge variety of biology topics using interactive flash animations, ranging from animo acids and proteins to water chemistry, from meiosis to electron transport. All of the material on this site looks like great teaching aides and they are also really fun to play with.
One of these animations is a timeline through the evolution of life beginning with the Big Bang. I am still poking around John's site, but I think the…
grrlscientist | August 7, 2006
Would you like to give GWB a brain? Well, so would I, so I found this game where you have ten chances to solve the world's problems by giving Bush a brain. Every time a brain plops into his open noggin, he rewards you with an intelligent and pithy quote, whereas missing his open skull creates a disgusting splash on your screen.
How much better can it be: lots of ookie gore combined with interesting thoughts!
grrlscientist | August 5, 2006
After centuries of mistreatment, the Archimedes palimpsest is in bad shape. During its thousand-year life, it has been scraped, singed by fire, dribbled with wax, smeared with glue, and ravaged by a deep purple fungus, which in places has eaten through its pages. Without the use of computer technology, the Archimedes palimpsest would be largely illegible. But modern imaging technologies, similar to those that helped experts read portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1996, allow for astonishingly precise views of faded text.
Image source: Nova.
Has the ancient link between mathematics and…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2006What is global dimming? It is a cooling effect that appears to have partially masked the effects of global warming. Global dimming is caused by a reduction in the amount of sunlight hitting the earth due to the presence of aerosolized particulate pollution, such as jet contrails. These airborne particles reflect sunlight back into space before it hits the surface of the earth, reducing warming and thereby masking the effects of global warming.
This streaming video (below the fold) by Nova shows how the average temperature range in the United States jumped by more than one degree celsius (two…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2006Finally, an online quiz that tells you everything that you need to know about yourself, and it's all so simple, too!
What Your Underwear Says About You
Admit it, you've dreamed of being a underwear model.
You're comfortable in your own skin - and don't care to impress anyone.
The Underwear Oracle
grrlscientist | August 4, 2006
We the people
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.
This video should bring back a few memories for some of you, and it is an important lesson for the current administration, who behave as though they've never heard of the US Constitution.
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tags: schoolhouse rock, education, teaching, streaming video
grrlscientist | August 3, 2006Several blog carnivals were published recently that you should take a look at.
For those of you who love birds, the 29th issue of I and the Bird was recently published. This blog carnival focuses on stories and photographs of wild birds and birdwatching.
The Carnival of Authors, Readers, and Writers, which presents the best writing available out there for all the readers and writers out there.
The 59th issue of Tangled Bank is also available. This blog carnival focuses on the best science, nature and medical writing on the internet.
grrlscientist | August 3, 2006This streaming video shows an interview with ex-muslim, secular humanist and feminist, Ayaan Hirsi Ali Wafa Sultan, discussing her beliefs about the clash between Islam and "the West": essentially she argues this is a clash between the Middle Ages and all it represents and the 21st Century, and all it represents. I would like to expand her ideas to include all religious fundamentalism, such as what is happening in America today with our own homegrown religious wingnuts.
Okay, thanks to a reader, I now know that I mixed up Wafa Sultan with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who is the author of a book, The…
grrlscientist | August 3, 2006
100 Degrees of Perspiration: Hot, Hazy and Humid.
The sun sets over the Hudson River at the end of a long, oppressively hot day.
New York City is in the foreground, New Jersey is in the background, across the river.
Image: Swerz.
I was happy to see this day end, especially because I had to be out, running around in the heat.
grrlscientist | August 2, 2006The Bush administration proves once again that they hate your Constitutional rights as much as Al Qaeda does.
U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill.
A 32-page draft measure is intended to authorize the Pentagon's tribunal system, established shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks to detain and prosecute detainees captured in the war on terror. The tribunal system was thrown out last month by the Supreme…
grrlscientist | August 2, 2006
100 Degrees of Perspiration:
Staying cool in the heat.
Image: 2beanornot2bean.
As some of you might recall, I live with some parrots (an Eclectus parrot, an African grey parrot, and some yellow-bibbed lories). I am keeping them cool today by giving them a bath, and feeding them frozen fruits and vegetables. Even though I do not have an air conditioner, I left all my windows open (as usual) and I do have a fan that I got for them, so I hope that is sufficient to keep them healthy while I am gone for the day.
So dear readers, are any of you experiencing extreme heat today? If so, what are…
grrlscientist | August 2, 2006
100 Degrees of Perspiration:
cooling off in a bathtub of cold water with a hendrick's gin-on-tonic..
and um.. fuck yeah, it's a measuring cup.
Image: fast boy.
Today is the hottest day I've experienced in all the years I've lived in NYC. Depending on who you listen to, it is predicted to get up to somewhere between 102 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit today and, because of the high humidity, the heat index is 115 degrees. To make matters worse, the ozone levels are also quite high, so people with asthma need to be especially careful of their health.
So WNYC radio, one of the local NPR…
grrlscientist | August 1, 2006I just received this emergency email from the American Bird Conservancy.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is poised to make a decision on whether to ban the bird-killing pesticide, carbofuran. This is the most deadly pesticide to birds currently being used in the United States. It is more toxic than DDT. A single drop is enough to kill a bird.
The ABC just learned that because of pressure from the manufacturer, FMC corporation, the EPA may make act like a bunch of governmental whores by making the wrong decision to elect to keep this pesticide on the market. We have 24 hours…
grrlscientist | August 1, 2006
Nacreous clouds above McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
Image: Matt Thompson.
Nacreous means pearlescene or pearl-like, and these clouds are commonly referred to as "mother of pearl clouds".
These rare clouds form at altitudes of 15,000-25,000 meters (50,000-80,000 ft) above the earth's surface only when the sun is several degrees below the horizon, so other clouds at lower altitudes appear black. Their dazzling iridescent colors result from refraction of sunlight through tiny water-ice crystals that are carried by very strong, extremely cold winds in the stratosphere.
But because the…
grrlscientist | August 1, 2006I am sure that some of you have read this already, but here is a printable version of the cogent article published last year in the excellent magazine, The New Yorker, that discusses so-called "intelligent design". This article, entitled Why Intelligent Design Isn't, was published in May 2005 and is still relevant today.
This article should be required reading for all high school and college students who are studying biology.
Several issues it explains regarding "intelligent design", including the scientific refutations of these ID assertions;
ID is not Biblical literalism.
Behe's…
grrlscientist | July 31, 2006
Image source.
A published author who now is a friend of mine after I reviewed his book sent me some words that he found in a top-secret copy of the Republican-English Dictionary. He noted that these words and their definitions are useful for those of us who have been recently experiencing difficulties deciphering speeches and news reports delivered by the current administration.
But it's top seekrit, so don't tell them that we know! Shhh!
Words stolen from the top-secret Republican-English Dictionary;
alternative energy sources n.
New locations to drill for gas and oil.
bankruptcy n…
grrlscientist | July 31, 2006
Look, Ma! Dinosaurs and people must have lived at the same time because The Flintstones says so!
Like most natural history museums, this one has exhibits showing dinosaurs roaming the Earth. Except here, the giant reptiles (sic) share the forest with Adam and Eve.
This reporter has it all wrong! This is not a "natural history museum", because if it was, it would clearly be scientific in its objectives. No, this instead is an extension of religious faith -- a church! -- which has nothing whatsoever to do with science, scientific experimentation or rational thought!
Ken Ham, an Australian…
grrlscientist | July 31, 2006
Taking the Plunge
(Female Belted Kingfisher, Ceryle alcyon).
Image appears here with the kind permission of the photographer, David Seibel, who writes;
"I never realized, until freezing the motion with my camera, that kingfishers dive from
their perch with wings completely folded. I've captured woodpeckers doing the same
thing." [email David]
Birds in Science
A biologist studying wild songbirds in New York State reported that all 178 woodland birds he tested last year had unusually high levels of mercury in their blood and feathers, a sign that the toxic chemical has spread farther in the…
grrlscientist | July 31, 2006"If you were to hang out with me here it won't be five or 10 minutes before you see a Republican hug me. That is almost as entertaining as some of the films."
Who said that?
Michael Moore, who wrote, filmed and produced the controversial film, Fahrenheit 9/11, is apparently benefiting from Republican "buyer's remorse". Moore has noticed that conservatives' attitudes towards him have changed, sometimes radically so, from one year ago.
Used to traveling with security and encountering a barrage of hostility, Moore said he finds people now more accepting, even to the point Republicans are…