Birds in the News will appear on Mondays at noon EST, to benefit from the traffic peak that occurs shortly after noon. I have written Birds in the News for a year and a half. It is a weekly link harvest that features photographs and news stories about birds from around the world. You can browse previous issues of Birds in the News. tags: Birds in the News, BirdsNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
I displayed this quiz result on my original blog for quite a long time, until I decided it was having a negative impact on my social life, whereupon, I removed it. However, because I no longer have a social life, not any sort of life whatsoever, I realize it probably wouldn't hurt to put this quiz result back, especially because I can ask all of you to tell me how nerdy you are! Did you know the identities of the two men whose pictures were shown in the quiz? Why do you suppose they didn't show a picture of Darwin and ask you to identify him, instead? I guess it is because he is probably…
This poll is not scientific, but it's still quite interesting, especially when one realizes that, according to any poll results from the past 18 months, Bush's approval rating are astonishingly low, particularly for a second-term war-time prez. [Added 1945 in response to blog SiBling, James] Since blog SiBling, James, is being cranky, I will also cite some information from the linked MSNBC explanation as to why this poll is not scientific. First, the linked document points out that; While a poll of 100 people will be more accurate than a poll of 10, studies have shown that accuracy…
This animated tutorial allows you to view the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. It then moves through space towards Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. Then the animation moves from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons. . tags: orders of magnitude, exponential notation, powers of ten, animation,…
It takes three legs to make a tri-pod Or to make a table stand. It takes three wheels to make a ve-hicle Called a tricycle. Every triangle has three corners, Every triangle has three sides, No more, no less. You don't have to guess. When it's three you can see It's a magic number. Do you remember those Saturday mornings, sitting around in front of the TV in your pajamas when you were a kid, waiting for that week's episode of Schoolhouse Rock? I do. So I have decided it would be fun to watch one of the Schoolhouse Rock videos with you each week, just like the good old days, except I will…
[Note: the previous quiz screwed up the formatting for my entire blog, so I substituted this quiz in its place. Please accept my apologies for messing up this entry. Also keep in mind that my readers are not crazy; they were responding with their results to the original quiz] Arr, as a parrot-lovin' scientist, I thought I should learn more about me own secret pirate identity, and blimey, there I am! How about you, matey? You scored as Captain Jack Sparrow. You are definitely quirky and often mistaken for mad but if anyone is truly paying attention they can see there is method to your…
By the river Fnjoska, in Fnjoskardalur, Northern Iceland. When I was a kid, I always wanted to go to Iceland. I've never managed that (nor have I traveled anywhere outside of North America, except to Japan, twice), but after looking at this amazing photo collection, I can already feel my wanderlust gripping me once again. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. If you were to write a thousand words (or even just one haiku) about this picture, what would you write? . tags: nature, Iceland, photography
Throughout the years, I have read quite a bit about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but because I do not claim to be an expert on the situation, I rarely comment about it. Despite this, I have long been convinced that there is a much better way to deal with that tragic situation than what is being done right now, a way to deal with it that will take into account the best interests of both sides. Recently, I found a streaming video that addresses this situation that you might also find to be quite thought-provoking. Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land is a truly interesting streaming…
Can you recognize the voices in this video? Horsefly: George W. Bush Horse: Tony Blair? some British dude Spider: typical misinformed American AKA; Britney Spears Hog at trough: Richard Clarke Bloodhound: Donald Rumsfeld Fox by garbage cans: Colin Powell Dog: Ayman Al-Zawahiri Pigeon: Condoleezza Rice . tags: Wallace & Gromit, politics, humor, streaming video
"Why do I feel most alive when I am working myself to death?" "I feel like I am missing some pieces of the puzzle." "I don't even feel 39." Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs at LiveJournal. Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence (e.g.; sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are structured in…
Okay, I have one comment about this streaming video, but I will resist the urge to say anything until after you've watched it first (below the fold). Oh yeah? Well, using that same er, "logic", gawd invented liquor because he wants us all to be raging alcoholics. . tags: banana, atheism, godlessness, IDiots, religious fanatics, wingnuts
How would you like to look after your very own Terence the Tyrannosaurus rex, Ollie the Ornithomimus or Sabrina the Smilodon populator? These three creatures are all available as Prehistoric CyberPets for you to download and look after on your computer! If you have a PC, you can download a prehistoric CyberPet of your very own. Unfortunately, there aren't any mac-compatible CyberPets, so I am just going to have to cry about this injustice. . tags: dinosaur, computer pets
. Police in Germany are hunting pranksters who have been sticking miniature flag portraits of George W. Bush into piles of dog poo in public parks. "This has been going on for about a year now, and there must be 2,000 to 3,000 piles of excrement that have been claimed during that time," said Josef Oettl, parks administrator for Bayreuth. The series of incidents was originally thought to be some sort of protest against the US-led invasion of Iraq. But then when it continued, it was thought to be a protest against George W. Bush's campaign for re-election. But it is still going on and the…
Are you a fan of the original television series, Star Trek? If so, then you'll remember that the series was canceled after its third year, even though voyage of the USS Enterprise's crew was supposed to last five years. But some fans of the series have gotten together, rebuilt the set and they are busily filming more episodes in the series. Their goal? To complete the USS Enterprise's five year voyage. This project is the brain-child of James Crawley, whose talents as an Elvis impersonator provides the financial support. So far, Crawley and other volunteers have finished three episodes,…
Image source. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists revealed that they were pressured to exclude or alter research findings. Further, they said they fear retaliation for voicing safety concerns and they think that public health and safety will suffer without leadership from the FDA and Congress. (Press release below the fold) The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today released survey results that demonstrate pervasive and dangerous political influence of science at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Of the 997 FDA scientists who responded to the survey, nearly one fifth…
This streaming video contains lots of interesting comments about the internet and how it functions according to our some of our most enlightened congresscritters. With giant intellects such as these serving the public, it's a wonder that anyone ever decides to run for public office, huh? (below the fold). Even though these congresscritters clearly are morons, don't underestimate how dangerous they are. They are trying to restrict our freedom to access information on the internet; they wish to allow service providers such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast to decide which web sites you can…
I and the Bird, issue 28, is now available. This issue contains essays and photoessays that cover all sorts of topics from bird conservation to species identification. The 39th issue of the Skeptics Circle is also available. This blog carnival is written to resemble an episode of Scooby-Doo, complete with images. . tags: blog carnivals
Recently, I received a gift from a long-time reader; the gift of a beautiful book that I've wanted for a long time, New York: An Illustrated History by Ric Burns and James Sanders. This book is filled with breath-taking photographs and illustrations, and is completely absorbing. I have already spent hours looking at the pictures and reading about the wonders of 1920s Harlem, the building of the Brooklyn Bridge (which I wrote about), and about one of my favorite American artists, Georgia O'Keefe. I agree with one guest reviewer on Amazon, this book does focus on the tremendous disparities…
A bookseller in Seattle who was a friend of mine often told me that his customers really wanted a durable and reasonably-priced field guide that focused on Washington State birds and was targeted specifically to beginning, visiting and relocating birders. Finally, after years of breathless waiting, that book, Birds of Washington State, by Brian Bell and Gregory Kennedy was recently published (Auburn, WA: Lone Pine, 2006). In short, Birds of Washington State is the most user-friendly bird field guide I've seen. It has a sturdy softcover that allows the user to quickly and easily flip through…
The Tangled Bank, issue 58, is now available. Tangled Bank is an established blog carnival that links to the best science, nature and medical essays published recently on a blog. . tags: blog carnival