grrlscientist | July 3, 2006Birds in the News is postponed until next week. Sorry about that. I hope you all have a good holiday and that you come back next week for the next issue. You can also browse previous issues of Birds in the News.
tags: Birds in the News, BirdsNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
grrlscientist | July 2, 2006Mendel's Garden has been published at Genetics and Health. Included are plenty of my SiBlings, along with a bunch of other essayists whom you will find interesting. Even though this blog carnival has been around for awhile, it is new for me, so I hope that you find your way there for a little reading pleasure.
tags: blog carnival
grrlscientist | July 1, 2006After two really hot games today, I wonder how long has it been since the World Cup has consisted exclusively of European teams? What happened to Brasil? Over the past few days, I was warned that "if any team can beat Brasil, it's the French team", but no one said anything about the possibility that the French might dominate Brasil.
Image source.
tags: World Cup, soccer
grrlscientist | July 1, 2006Considering that the USA was disqualified early from World Cup competition, I decided that I need to find out who my inner European is, just so I know who to root for. I am currently enjoying every team, since each game is so exciting right now (ignoring the ref, who is a moron). So .. after taking this silly quiz, it looks like my new team is ..
Your Inner European is French!
Smart and sophisticated.
You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.
Who's Your Inner European?
tags: Online Quiz
grrlscientist | July 1, 2006The advertizing slogan generator is responsible for the title for this entry -- not me! What is your slogan?
Thanks for this latest bit of weirdness to my SiBling, Coturnix.
tags: Online Quiz
grrlscientist | June 30, 2006"Space," wrote The Bard,"is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-boggingly big it is."
And who can argue with that? But seriously, how big is "vastly hugely mind-boggingly big"?
This website will help you comprehend the size of our solar system. It shows the sizes of each member of our solar system in relation to the others, and also shows the distances between each, which is really amazing, especially on the 1:1 scale. You can also jump from one planet to another if you don't have time to mouse from one to the other (hint: most people don't have time for mousing…
grrlscientist | June 30, 2006
I thought you all would enjoy this silly video of a British journalist interviewing several members of the Iraqi resistance in the swirling sands near Tikrit.
tags: satire, humor, streaming video, interview, Iraq
grrlscientist | June 29, 2006
Wild specimen of the butterfly species, Heliconius heurippa.
Researchers recently demonstrated that this species is a naturally-occurring
hybrid between H. cydno and H. melpomene.
Image: Christian Salcedo / University of Florida, Gainesville.
Speciation typically occurs after one lineage splits into two separate and isolated breeding populations. But it is has been hypothesized that two "parental" species with overlapping ranges could hybridize, thereby giving rise to one new but reproductively isolated "daughter species" in the same area. However, this phenomenon has rarely been observed…
grrlscientist | June 28, 2006
Question: What makes a good science teacher?
It took me forever to answer this question, mostly because I don't know the magic formula that makes a good science teacher, but I finally came up with a useful answer. Well, I think.
I think that a good science teacher has the same qualities that any good teacher has. I have had many more terrible teachers than good ones, so I will begin by telling you about the qualities of those teachers whom I hated, and then I will tell you a little bit about the best high school teacher I ever had.
I hated (science) teachers who;
made me feel stupid (…
grrlscientist | June 28, 2006
Am I unpatriotic if I don't own a TV?
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tags: satire, humor, George Bush, politics
grrlscientist | June 27, 2006Or .. how to gross out your friends at dinnertime and make them wish they never met you!
Believe it or not, in honor of their 75th anniversary, the crazy people at Hostess compiled the Twinkies Cookbook (2006) that was just published by Ten Speed Press. This amazing book gives you 50 recipes -- everything you need to know to actually prepare food containing Twinkies -- "food" that is reported to actually be edible. "Food" such as Twinkie Burritos, Pigs in a Twinkie, Twinkie Sushi, Twinkie Lasagna, and for dessert, the red, white and blue Patriotic Twinkie Pie. Having reviewed a few books…
grrlscientist | June 27, 2006
Dear XXXX,
Thank you for your rejection letter. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me a position.
This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.
Despite your outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time. Therefore, I will assume the position in your organization this…
grrlscientist | June 27, 2006JK Rowling (pictured), the author of the successful Harry Potter series of books, says that, even though she has not finished the last book yet, she is "well into it now." When asked how she felt about Book Seven when she gave a reading at Buckingham Palace in honor of the Queen's 80th birthday, she said, "I am feeling sad as it is the last one. But so far, so good." When asked about the book's progress, she said, "I'm doing well I think. You can never really tell till you get near the end. I am not quite there yet."
Unfortunately, the upcoming Harry Potter book, the last in the series, looks…
grrlscientist | June 26, 2006
Six flamingos, Phoenicopterus ruber,
bored with people-watching at the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Texas.
(Can you see all six birds?)
Image appears here with the kind permission of the photographer, Michael C. Hamilton (contact).
Birds in Science
A new study of global avian biodiversity published in the free open access journal, PLoS Biology, provides the first strong evidence that avian species' range areas are smallest in the tropics and larger in temperate and polar regions. A smaller range area means that many different types of creatures can be accommodated in the same space, explaining…
grrlscientist | June 25, 2006Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment and the fine family dining communities.
The Pillsbury Dough boy died yesterday of a yeast infection and complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.
Dough boy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.
Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Dough boy as a man who never knew how…
grrlscientist | June 25, 2006
The referees for the World Cup games are truly ridiculous. They are not doing their job very well because they have consistently missed making important penalty calls, such that some of the games have gotten out-of-control at times. One especially unpleasant example was today's Nederlands-Portugal game, where the refs missed making two particularly important penalty calls in the first half (and several more in the second half), so the game, which had the potential to be very exciting, instead deteriorated into a miniature war during the second half.
For example, the Portugal-Nederlands…
grrlscientist | June 24, 2006
Okay, this is truly stupid, but being the crazy futebol fan that I am (I am defintely a "crazy futebol fan" by American standards, which pales when compared to international standards, I know), I had to submit my blog pseudonyms to this name generator for the Brasilian futebol team (Yes, I am rooting for Brasil to win the World Cup).
Can any of you out there pronounce that name? I sure can't, and I've had two beers already, too! And what is your Brasilian name?
Hattip: my blogsibling, Alex Palazzo.
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tags: World Cup, soccer
grrlscientist | June 24, 2006
I am sitting in my usual free-wifi watering hole in Manhattan, watching the "Round of 16" series in the World Cup. I am the only one here with a laptop, so I am "command central" for digging up streaming video from the other World Cup games. All of the video I've located thus far is terrible (pixelated and otherwise barely visible), by the way.
Right now, Mexico and Argentina are playing and the pub is jam-packed and people are even spilling out onto the sidewalk, into the rain. Unlike the Sweden-Germany game that was played this morning (Germany won; 2-0) -- a game whose only remarkable…
grrlscientist | June 23, 2006This parody of The Lord of the Rings is from the MTV Movie Awards. It depicts how The Fellowship was set up in the first film. It is absolutely funny, but it is a bit er .. bawdy .. or, er .. suggestive .. as well (not that I disapprove; just warning you).
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tags: streaming video, satire, parody, humor, Lord of the Rings, LOTR
grrlscientist | June 23, 2006
To join the Geography Challenge in support of your country, you simply need to select which country you will be representing and take the quiz. This quiz consists of trying to locate 10 randomly selected countries on a map of the world. It is different every time. You may take this quiz up to 3 times per day, but no cheating. It is a timed quiz.
This is a really difficult geography quiz (or do I just think it is difficult because I don't know my geography very well?). Give it a go and tell me how you did.
My scores; 3, 5, 7 correct out of ten possible (it takes a little while to figure…