NYC life
grrlscientist | August 21, 2009The cricket sang,
And set the sun,
And workmen finished, one by one,
Their seam the day upon.
The low grass loaded with the dew,
The twilight stood as strangers do
With hat in hand, polite and new,
To stay as if, or go.
A vastness, as a neighbor, came,--
A wisdom without face or name,
A peace, as hemispheres at home,--
And so the night became.
~ Emily Dickinson
This is the cutest event I've heard of for NYC: a night spent counting crickets and katydids.
What: NYC Cricket Crawl (counting 7 species of crickets and katydids in NYC)
Where: New York City area
When: Friday, 11 September 2009 at 7:…
grrlscientist | August 10, 2009tags: Test Your Faith Vision, humor, funny, streaming video
This video shows you an actual boat rescue in progress. A speedboat has flipped over in NYC's Central Park Conservatory Water so a nearby fireboat rescues it by flipping it back to its proper position. Of course, since this is a speedboat, the ungrateful thing zips off immediately, and is not seen again. I happen to know the man (Dick Conners) who pilots the fireboat in this video. [0:57]
I have a photoessay in the works about the boathouse where these model boats are housed, since Dick was so kind as to bring me into this space…
grrlscientist | August 4, 2009Today's my fifth blogoversary, so suggest a few things for me and my readers to do. My celebrations have been somewhat complicated by the fact that I have a 2-inch diameter blister on the bottom of my foot. Even though I drained it (twice, actually), it is still quite painful to walk on. Boo!
Thanks to a reader, whom I am dragging all around the city with me, here is my celebratory list:
Today:
Go to the Whitney Art Museum to see the Edward Hopper Exhibit.
Eat Ice cream.
Walk around Central Park and (hopefully) pick up tickets to see Shakespeare in the Park.
Go to Josh Rosenau's's…
grrlscientist | July 9, 2009
Who: Dr. Jeff Schweitzer
What: free public presentation, "Moral Life in a Random World"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Thursday, 9 July
Dr. Jeff Schweitzer is a scientist who has written extensively on morality, religion, politics and science -- and who served as science advisor to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. Schweitzer will talk about how we each have within us the awesome power to create our own meaning in life, our own sense of purpose, our own destiny. He will address how…
grrlscientist | July 8, 2009
Who: Dr. Jeff Schweitzer
What: free public presentation, "Moral Life in a Random World"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Thursday, 9 July
Dr. Jeff Schweitzer is a scientist who has written extensively on morality, religion, politics and science -- and who served as science advisor to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. Schweitzer will talk about how we each have within us the awesome power to create our own meaning in life, our own sense of purpose, our own destiny. He will address how…
grrlscientist | July 6, 2009
Who: Dr. Jeff Schweitzer
What: free public presentation, "Moral Life in a Random World"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Thursday, 9 July
Dr. Jeff Schweitzer is a scientist who has written extensively on morality, religion, politics and science -- and who served as science advisor to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. Schweitzer will talk about how we each have within us the awesome power to create our own meaning in life, our own sense of purpose, our own destiny. He will address how…
grrlscientist | July 2, 2009
Who: Dr. Jeff Schweitzer
What: free public presentation, "Moral Life in a Random World"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor.
When: 700pm, Thursday, 9 July
Dr. Jeff Schweitzer is a scientist who has written extensively on morality, religion, politics and science -- and who served as science advisor to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore. Schweitzer will talk about how we each have within us the awesome power to create our own meaning in life, our own sense of purpose, our own destiny. He will address how…
grrlscientist | June 26, 2009tags: Rainstorm, weather, nature, Manhattan
Hiding from the rain under the eaves.
Photographed on Columbus Avenue, between West 81st and 82nd streets.
Image: GrrlScientist, 26 June 2009 [larger view].
This rainstorm was so severe that it even drenched people with umbrellas .. and flooded the streets.
grrlscientist | June 23, 2009
Who: CFI-NYC Executive Director, Michael De Dora, Jr.
What: free public presentation, "CFI and the State of Science and Reason"
Where: Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street between Broadway & 8th Avenue, 12th floor, Penthouse 1.
When: 830pm Tuesday, 23 June 2009
What exactly is the Center for Inquiry? What does CFI stand for? How does CFI carry out its mission? What does CFI -- specifically the New York City office -- have to offer to society? And how can you get involved with CFI and the movement? Come hear the new CFI-NYC Executive Director Michael De Dora Jr. address all these…
grrlscientist | June 22, 2009
Who: CFI-NYC Executive Director, Michael De Dora, Jr.
What: free public presentation, "CFI and the State of Science and Reason"
Where: Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street between Broadway & 8th Avenue, 12th floor, Penthouse 1.
When: 830pm Tuesday, 23 June 2009
What exactly is the Center for Inquiry? What does CFI stand for? How does CFI carry out its mission? What does CFI -- specifically the New York City office -- have to offer to society? And how can you get involved with CFI and the movement? Come hear the new CFI-NYC Executive Director Michael De Dora Jr. address all these…
grrlscientist | June 16, 2009
Who: CFI-NYC Executive Director, Michael De Dora, Jr.
What: free public presentation, "CFI and the State of Science and Reason"
Where: Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street between Broadway & 8th Avenue, 12th floor, Penthouse 1.
When: 830pm Tuesday, 23 June 2009
What exactly is the Center for Inquiry? What does CFI stand for? How does CFI carry out its mission? What does CFI -- specifically the New York City office -- have to offer to society? And how can you get involved with CFI and the movement? Come hear the new CFI-NYC Executive Director Michael De Dora Jr. address all these…
grrlscientist | June 11, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Dahlia, Dahlia hybrid.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
near the corner of West 81st street and Central Park West.
Image: GrrlScientist, 11 June 2009 [larger view].
The Dahlia comprise 36 species within a genus of bushy, tuberous, perennial plants native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. Dahlia hybrids are commonly grown as garden plants, including the flower you see here. The Aztecs gathered and cultivated the dahlia for food, ceremony, and for decoration, and the long woody stem of one variety…
grrlscientist | June 9, 2009tags: NYC, Manhattan, NYC Life, cities, image of the day
Goodbye, 99-cent store.
You kept me alive on my
(miserable lack of) income for years,
but now, alas, it's goodbye.
Image: GrrlScientist, 9 June 2009 [larger view].
Is this the end of frugal living for me?
If there was either a god or justice in this life, the McDonald's that is two doors down would have burned up instead.
grrlscientist | June 4, 2009
Who: journalist and author, Nina Burleigh
What: free public presentation, "Biblical Forgery"
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor, room D4
When: Thursday, 4 June 700-830pm
Join CFI and the Secular Humanist Society of New York to meet journalist and author Nina Burleigh, who wrote the recently published book, Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed, & Forgery in the Holy Land. Her book tells the story of the unraveling of a Bible relic forgery scheme in Israel, and gives a glimpse into the intriguing world of biblical archaeology…
grrlscientist | June 3, 2009
Who: journalist and author, Nina Burleigh
What: free public presentation, Biblical Forgery
Where: SLC Conference Center, 352 7th avenue (between 29th and 30th streets), 16th floor, room D4
When: Thursday, 4 June 700-830pm
Join CFI and the Secular Humanist Society of New York to meet journalist and author Nina Burleigh, who wrote the recently published book, Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed, & Forgery in the Holy Land. Her book tells the story of the unraveling of a Bible relic forgery scheme in Israel, and gives a glimpse into the intriguing world of biblical archaeology…
grrlscientist | June 3, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, science, education
Nick with his potato gun,
on the downtown-bound A Train.
Image: GrrlScientist, 3 June 2009.
Today as I was riding the A Train to the library so I could use their free wifi, I ran into Nick and his friend who are high school students in NYC. Their hobby is science. Physics, to be precise. In the above picture (blurry -- the train provides a very bumpy ride), you can see Nick with one of his physics experiments, a potato gun that he designed and built using PVC pipe. Since I have designed and built a few items from PVC myself (mostly…
grrlscientist | May 24, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Wild rose, Rosa acicularis.
Photographed while walking to the library along Amsterdam Avenue
on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC.
Image: GrrlScientist, 22 May 2009 [larger view].
After I snapped this picture, an unnamed person approached me and yelled at me for photographing -- flowers! I know this sounds shocking, and I was certainly confused, but apparently no one -- NO ONE -- is allowed any joy, not even one second of joy, not one second, if they haven't paid for it. Not in NYC, anyway.
As one of tens of…
grrlscientist | May 23, 2009tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, A train, cities, NYCLife
Broken A Train.
Photographed while standing around, waiting for the engineers (and everyone else) to figure out if they can fix the downtown-bound A train that broke down at 168th street and Broadway this morning (Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC).
Image: GrrlScientist, 23 May 2009 [larger view].
So, how did you spend the first morning of your three-day holiday weekend? I spent my first morning standing around, watching the conductors, engineers, and roughly six thousand passengers trying to fix the downtown-bound A Train,…
grrlscientist | May 22, 2009
Today has been another day of Blog Hell. Yes, you read that correctly; Blog Hell.
But I thought that you love your blog, you ask.
Indeed, I do. Even when my blog doesn't love me, as has been the case recently, and that is what I am referring to: Blog Hell. Non-reciprocal love.
In short, the site has been giving me a tremendous amount of trouble this past week or so, and today was the worst. I could not access my blog for more than five hours today. After I noticed the guys with the butterfly nets skulking around the library stacks, I got the hint, packed up my laptop and left the library…
grrlscientist | May 21, 2009tags: NYC Life, NYPL, public services, public education, public libraries
If you are broke and unemployed in any city of this nation, including NYC, you would have very few free public resources at your disposal to help you find work because of the massive budget cuts that have been made to this nation's public libraries and other public resources. I find this situation outrageous.
I have a special request to make of you: if you read this blog, please write a letter to Mayor Bloomberg, asking him NOT to cut NYC's public library services and to maintain six day per week service! Even if…