grrlscientist | May 9, 2006
Above is a fascinating piece of real-time webbed animation that you will enjoy playing with (click image). When you move the mouse around, her head moves and her eyes follow it. When you write something in the space provided below the picture and then click the "say it" button, she says it. You can change the voice doing the talking and the language spoken, too.
What phrases did you have her say and which languages did she say them in? (no, she doesn't translate English into other languages).
tags: webbed animation
grrlscientist | May 8, 2006More news from Medgadget regarding those misbehavin' blog boyz, BlogBurst, who are apparently in cahoots with several of our nation's newspapers who ought to know better .. tsk, tsk.
Dear Blogger:
[The] Nation's leading newspapers continue to profiteer, together with BlogBurst service, from an intellectual capital produced by bloggers. In addition, they continue a shameful practice of hot-linking images from bloggers' servers. In essence, newspapers are stealing (!) other peoples' bandwidth.
Spread the message and let your readers know!
Thanks!
Editors
Medgadget
grrlscientist | May 8, 2006When a story by Money magazine first appeared that ranked the best jobs to hold in America, I was distracted with trying to figure out if my taxes had been accepted by the IRS and by the state of NY (electronic submission). But I ran across this piece again and I have been scratching my head ever since regarding their assertion that being a college professor is the second best job that one could have in America. [image: Money magazine]
Don't get me wrong; I wish to be a university biology professor because, despite everything, I still think it is the best job for me, but I never have engaged…
grrlscientist | May 8, 2006
Long-billed Curlew, Numenius americanus.
Image appears here with the kind permission of the photographer, Arthur Morris, Birds as Art.
Click image for larger view in its own window.
Birds and Science
Some pied flycatchers, Ficedula hypoleuca (pictured), a common migratory bird slightly smaller than a sparrow, are missing their spring meals and dying as a result of climate change, a team of scientists reported this week. The discovery is one of the most sophisticated showing the domino effect of shifting seasons and their impact on predators and prey. The migratory birds fly thousands of…
grrlscientist | May 7, 2006This is making the rounds in email now, just in time for the onset of the annual spring drinking season ..
In one episode of "Cheers", Cliff is seated at the bar describing his "Buffalo Theory" to his drinking pal, Norm. It goes something like this;
"Well you see, Norm, it's like this; a herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and the weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular…
grrlscientist | May 6, 2006The weather has been very warm and reasonably dry these past few days in NYC. However, things have been difficult because I made the unpleasant discovery, once again, that I am allergic to airborne pollutants. If you are familiar with NYC air quality, you will realize that the air quality here is poor on a good day but, thanks to the influx of tree pollens, it has been worse than poor these past few days.
It turns out that, due to the sudden shift to breezy, warm and dry weather, the pollen count went beserk over the past couple days. It went past 20,000 yesterday, which was the worst that…
grrlscientist | May 6, 2006
After waiting in line for an hour and a half while being entertained by a flock of three smallish people clad in overstuffed neon orange dodo costumes, I was "number seven" in the last group of ten people granted admission to Flock of Dodos. But my wait was worth it because I really enjoyed this film. Flock of Dodos was a low-key humorous film, not an attack film, a la Michael Moore, and I think it made its points very well.
The filmmaker, Randy Olson, was key to the film's success because he has a way of quickly gaining people's trust, which made for good interviews. His mother, Muffy…
grrlscientist | May 6, 2006The Seed Media Group has initiated a new feature called Ask A ScienceBlogger. This feature will have its own home on the new Sb homepage next month, but until then, it is being launched as a blog carnival style thing, hosted on Stochastic. The rules; every Friday, Seed asks a question and they will link to our responses on the following Wednesday. Our responses are limited to 300 words or less. Of course, reader questions are welcomed (feel free to send them to the mothership). Additionally, I am very interested in reader answers to this same question, so feel free to add your comments.…
grrlscientist | May 6, 2006
You Should Be A Poet
You craft words well, in creative and unexpected ways.
And you have a great talent for evoking beautiful imagery...
Or describing the most intense heartbreak ever.
You're already naturally a poet, even if you've never written a poem.
What Type of Writer Should You Be?
If this online quiz is accurate (doubtful), it would go a long way towards explaining why I cannot find a paying job doing anything at all because it effectively labels me as a misfit (have you known a poetic scientist? Have any of you known a poet who was employed as a poet?)
Okay, I showed you my…
grrlscientist | May 5, 2006I received this email from the editors of Medgadget.com, regarding the situation that exists with BlogBurst, which is apparently a rather shady organization. If you are a member of BlogBurst, you will definitely want to read this. If you are considering joining BlogBurst (or any blog listing service), you should be aware of a few things before you do so;
Dear Bloggers,
We, the editors of Medgadget.com have noticed a trend that may negatively affect the blogosphere, and felt we should address it to you.
Recently, an operation called BlogBurst (blogburst.com) of the Pluck Corporation began…
grrlscientist | May 4, 2006
[Whistle-blower: Bruce Crowley of the Burke Museum.
Photo: Mary Levin/University of Washington]
With every day that passes, more people become aware of exactly who writes this blog. My true identity has been revealed publically twice this week alone, and the week is only halfway over. True, I should have been more obsessively secretive, as I was in the beginning, but I originally thought that my words and ideas had intrinsic value, and that value was independent from my identity. I was wrong. It's true that some of my colleagues are supportive and I am truly grateful to them for that, but…
grrlscientist | May 4, 2006
Do you remember the film that I linked a long time ago, A Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus? I am pleased to see that this film, by producer and former biologist, Randy Olson, is receiving quite a bit of media attention after its recent debut in the Tribeca Film Festival here in NYC.
This film takes a humorous look at so-called "intelligent design," a school of thought that claims many of the seemingly miraculous and complex elements of nature must be the work of an intelligent designer (er, God).
Consistent with the card-playing theme of the film, Olson says that…
grrlscientist | May 4, 2006Some of you, dear readers, have probably wondered where I have been hiding these past few days. Well, besides being busy with teaching a conservation genetics course, I was also, unexpectedly, reading another book so I could publish the review here as soon as possible. Last Monday, Darksyde, co-author of Daily Kos, asked if I wished to take a quick look at their new electronic book ("ebook"), Kosmos: You are Here by Steven Darksyde and Mark Sumner (DevilsTower) (2006), whose sales will support the annual Kos convention. Being the audacious book whore that I am, combined with having never read…
grrlscientist | May 3, 2006The Carnival of Education, week 65, is available at The Education Wonks. This is a big one -- almost as big as Tangled Bank -- and it's packed with interesting stories and insights.
The Carnival of the Vanities is now available, too. Unfortunately, this particular edition is a truly sparse investment-free effort, unlike any I've seen before. But there still is good material there, it's just camoflaged by a listing that consists only of titles for each piece. So it goes.
grrlscientist | May 2, 2006What do you think of when you hear the phrase, "Dust Bowl"? Like most people, I learned about the Dust Bowl in my high school history class. But even though I attended high school last century (iieee!), as I recall, my textbook devoted perhaps one paragraph to this event before moving on to other, more important events, such as the stock market crash and the banking failure, the Great Depression, Roosevelt's New Deal, and World War II. In fact, except for my astonished sadness after reading John Steinbeck's literary rant, The Grapes of Wrath, I never gave the actual event much thought.…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2006I know that some of you are very talented code writers, whereas my abilities in that area are rudimentary. So maybe one of you could help me? I would like to have a button that would, with one click, automatically redirect the clicker to Birds in the News, without me having to update it on a weekly basis. A button similar to this;
Of course, the button would be prettier (I hope), but the purpose would remain the same, and readers could copy the code to post on their own blogs, if they wish. Is there anyone out there who is willing to work on such a thing for me?
(Does this remind anyone of…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2006My friend, Shannon, whose poem I republished here yesterday, commented! So go take a peek to read what she said.
grrlscientist | May 1, 2006I am amazed and humbled by you, my readers. You have made me feel so appreciated by sending me emails as well as the most wonderful gifts. Recently, one reader sent the entire set of the Lord of the Rings DVDs! I am excited because I have not seen all of the films yet, although I have read the books quite a few times (and I still have my original set of LOTR books from when I was a kid). This particular reader decided I needed the platinum series special extended edition instead of the basic starter series I asked for so I am still watching them -- there's hours of video to be seen on each…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2006
Male Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris.
Image appears here with the kind permission of the photographer, Judd Patterson.
Click image for larger view in its own window.
Birds in Science
The European starling, Sturnus vulgaris (pictured) -- long known as a virtuoso songbird and expert mimic - may also soon win a reputation as something of a grammatician, researchers say. Timothy Gentner, a psychologist at the University of California, San Diego, and his team found that the bird can learn language patterns formerly thought to be unique to humans. They discovered that starlings can understand…
grrlscientist | April 30, 2006
The skull of the Berlin Archaeopteryx lithographica specimen [resized].
Notice that feathers are faintly visible near the throat region.
Photo: Nick Longrich.
Click image for larger view in its own window.
Today is the last day of National Poetry Month. For some reason, I had forgotten this was National Poetry Month until it was more than halfway over. I regret that; I had planned to share a poem every day with you, but maybe I'll be more organized next year.
I had wanted to finish the month by writing a review of my friend's newly published book of poetry, but it has not arrived yet, so…