holidays
grrlscientist | December 4, 2008tags: peer-reviewed paper, psychology, gift wrapping, wrapping paper, behavior, holidays, holidaze
Besides bright lights, my favorite thing about the holidays is wrapping gifts. I love covering a boxed gift with colored papers (or even with plain brown paper bags), I get tremendous satisfaction from folding the paper so it makes precise corners and then I especially enjoy decorating the wrapped gift with bows, ribbons and toy flowers and birds, christmas ornaments or other decorations. I also enjoy figuring out how to wrap unusually shaped objects. However, my most favorite thing to do is…
grrlscientist | December 3, 2008
Offensive Christmas Ornament created by Seattle artist, Deborah Lawrence.
Image: Deborah Lawrence.
Seattle artist, Deborah Lawrence, was one of 370 artists who were given the honor of creating a Christmas ornament for the White House's official Christmas trees. This was after Laura Bush invited all 435 Congresscritters to choose artists from their congressional district to design ornaments for the White House Christmas trees. Unfortunately, Lawrence's 9-inch ball was the only one that was banned from the White House trees, even though it fulfilled all the requirements set out by the…
grrlscientist | November 30, 2008
I know that the holidays were originally celebrated by non-religious folk -- more commonly known as "godless heathens" by the religious wingnuts of all persuations in the crowd -- but our holidays were savagely stolen, repackaged and sold as religious consumer events devoted to orgiastic spending, so I'd like let you know that you are not stuck sending out schmaltzy religious holiday cards any longer. Now you can reclaim our holidays for what they were: time for celebrating the solstice and spending peaceful time with our loved ones, instead of spending money we don't have on trinkets that…
sporte | November 28, 2008Would you recognize your leftovers when they're magnified? Would you know turkey if you saw it at 40X?
Make a guess and click an image to see the answer.
Reposted from DigitalBio's greatest hit collection
technorati tags: Thanksgiving, food science, microscopy
Copyright Sandra Porter
sporte | November 27, 2008Thanksgiving is a holiday (in the U.S. at least) when we're all reminded about the things we're thankful for. At our house, we're thankful for the opportunity to cook all day and share a meal with friends and young adults.
And, even though I haven't given my turkey an IP address, this is still a meal that deserves some documentation.
Here's the turkey soaking in brine. That large pink tongue belongs to our dog.
Don't worry, we stopped her before she had a chance to stick her tongue in the brine, but she is a master of making the best of an opportunity.
Here's the turkey, out of the…
sporte | November 27, 2008If you're not cooking today, why not experiment? Here's something fun you can do with Mentos and Diet Coke - and for those of you who think these experiments are too messy, you can still watch the movie.
Enjoy the music in the video, then go outside, and enjoy the show. Later, go to EepyBird.com and learn about the science behind the fountain effect.
technorati tags: Mentos and Diet Coke, chemistry, science you can do at home
sporte | November 27, 2008Our household is very excited about Thanksgiving.
That's because this Thanksgiving, my husband is cooking a turkey in an egg. A big green egg.
Check back later today, about 5:30 pm, Pacific Standard Time, to see a picture of the turkey. In the meantime, here are some other items that were cooked in the egg.
We've had:
Ribs
Fish
Zucchini
Pizza
If you can cook it in an egg, he will try it.
I used to be the primary cook in our house, but that's all changed since we got the egg. Now, my husband cooks everything, just to see how it will work.
But, now I've learned from Make…
sporte | November 26, 2008I suppose I should have expected this.
I thought it might be fun to see what the databases had to say about turkeys.
Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving,, turkey,, mash-up
So, I queried the NCBI databases, found a taxonomy reference, and started clicking related links to see pictures of the different species.
Why?
Because it would be great to see what the different species of turkies look like and compare them.
Here's a species of wild turkey that I didn't expect to find.
Wild turkey, humph!
sporte | November 4, 2008There are tears of joy and relief in my eyes. It's like the most emotional New Year's Eve in my life.
My neighbors are even shooting off fireworks!
Mr. McCain's speech was wonderful. Let's move forward!
Update: I am watching Mr. Obama now on TV with tears in my eyes. I have never been so glad to be an American.
Yes we can, Mr. Obama, yes we can!
grrlscientist | March 3, 2008tags: Microwave vs. Easter, streaming video
Easter has a special place in my heart because of those disgustingly wonderful confectionary creatures: PEEPS! [2:18]
sporte | February 14, 2008Believe it or not, this is a DNA kiss.
Have a loverly Valentine's DNA!
(And just in case you're wondering, yes, I did put it on a coffee mug.)
grrlscientist | February 14, 2008tags: mandles, gifts for men, valentine's day, streaming video
Don't know what to get your man for Valentine's Day? How about Mandles®, the candles made for men with scents like "Hardware Store", "A1 Steak Sauce", "Burrito Fart" and "Chuck Norris Sweat" [1:52]
grrlscientist | January 2, 2008tags: beer bottles, christmas tree, humor, holidaze, holidays, streaming video
This is an amusing idea for how to recycle all those empty beer bottles that you have laying around your dorm room, now that the holidays are ending [1:40]
grrlscientist | December 25, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, psychology, gift wrapping, wrapping paper, behavior, holidays, holidaze
Besides bright lights, my favorite thing about the holidays is wrapping gifts. I love covering a boxed gift with colored papers (or even with plain brown paper bags), I get tremendous satisfaction from folding the paper so it makes precise corners and then I especially enjoy decorating the wrapped gift with bows, ribbons and toy flowers and birds, christmas ornaments or other decorations. I also enjoy figuring out how to wrap unusually shaped objects. However, my most favorite thing to do…
grrlscientist | December 24, 2007tags: christmas tree, holidays, photography
This is the Christmas tree located in my "watering hole", where I will be located this very evening, in fact, hanging out with friends. Unfortunately, I am not sure if I will have free wifi access on Christmas or New Year's days since the public libraries are closed on both holidays, but if I do find free wifi anywhere, it will be here!
Image: GrrlScientist 2007 [really large view]
I am having a great time, listening to christmas music in the pub and now, at this very moment, the bartender is playing some really fabulous music, Rumpelstiltskin,…
sporte | December 23, 2007You're not likely to see the Twisted Chipmunk Christmas Song on the big screen this weekend.
But, if you liked White Trash Christmas, you'll enjoy this irreverent holiday video.
From the Seattle animators, formerly known as ToonedIn, now Global Wonder Entertainment.
grrlscientist | December 22, 2007tags: holidays, handbell hero, online game
Ahhh, this online game brings back memories! When I was an undergrad in college, I was a member of the Handbell Choir .. So when a long-time reader of mine sent this online game, HandBell Hero, to me, I had a lot of fun playing with it and so I (of course) had to share it with you, too.
How did you do? I didn't do very well. I can promise you that I was a better handbell choir member than I am a handbell player in this game!
grrlscientist | December 19, 2007tags: white christmas song, holidays, holidaze, music, streaming video
One of my readers sent me this very cute rendition of the classic christmas song, White Christmas, so of course, I had to share it with all of you! It includes the soundtrack along with a goofy cartoon.
sporte | December 17, 2007No, you can't have a glow-in-the-dark kitty.
But never fear, the SciBlings and I have other ideas for holiday gifts.
If you really have your heart set on glowing animals, and you don't live in California, you can get a tankful of lovely glowing fish, genetically engineered with a different version of the protein (GFP) used to make the glow-in-the-dark cats.
If you prefer clothing over pets, there's the pathogenic line of formal wear.
If you've got a child on your list, Janet wrote about these last year, but hey, building sets are always fun. Or, if your kids like other kinds of toys, Janet…