Mr GrrlScientist

Elementary Dating

grrlscientist — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 03:59:36 +0000

Elementary Dating

tags: Elementary Dating, humor, funny, comedy, silly, offbeat, Rowan Atkinson, streaming video

This Silly Saturday video features the brilliant actor, Rowan Atkinson, giving men a few important pointers about going out on a first date without looking like a complete moron (well, mostly).

I will share a secret: I made things easy for Mr GrrlScientist by kissing him while we were sitting on the stairwell of the youth hostel we were staying at, since he was yackyackyacking until 3am. I thought kissing him would shut him up. It did, but he turned red and almost passed out. But at least I got a few hours' sleep before I was back adventuring around London.

grrlscientist Fri, 06/04/2010 - 23:59

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Unfortunately, kissing her didn't shut Grrlscientist up.

Sonnenuntergang, 5

grrlscientist — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:59:49 +0000

Sonnenuntergang, 5

tags: Sonnenuntergang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, sunset, photography

Sonnenuntergang.

Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Image: Bob O'Hara, 20 April 2010 [larger view]

Sunset over Frankfurt, as photographed from the bedroom window. This sunset was influenced by the Icelandic volcano, EyjafjallajÃ¶kull. The light gold above the sun is a real cloud, but the darker haze surrounding the sun is the ash cloud. This ash cloud made the sun look fuzzy and at times, almost completely obscured it.

Today, the sky cleared for a few hours and everything seemed normal once more, but in the evening, the volcanic ash clouds rolled again, obscuring the hills that surround Frankfurt and making my eyes burn once more. (If you look at the bottom 1/5th of the above image, you can barely see the horizon surrounding Frankfurt, as well as a few closer buildings located in front of the horizon)

Amazingly, there were several contrails over Frankfurt, despite the haze.

grrlscientist Tue, 04/20/2010 - 14:59

Tags

environment

Frankfurt through my eye

Frankfurt through my eye

Photography

Was there any volcano fallout in your part of the wrrld? The one thing I hated about going up to volcanoes was being covered in sand; the really fine stuff would stick to my hair and make my hair like wires.

i never saw any dust on surfaces in the flat, but i assume there was some fallout, because the sky was murky for a week and because my allergies went crazy and my eyes felt as though i'd poured battery acid into them.

Yuck; I hope it's getting much better for you now.

Have you seen this brrd brrain news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8631486.stm

Where is the evidence that *any* of the observations you have reported so far had anything to do with the ash cloud, which was much thinned out when it reached Germany? In the Meteoros forum - Germany's leading discussion group for atmospheric optics - there's a consensus that all effects directly observable are extremely subtle at best. The utter lack of a noticeable sky signature is part of the reason why the government is now under heavy attack for the flight restrictions ...

daniel: what is a sky signature?

regarding my observations, they are simply that: observations. it is possible that these coinciding observations (the dust, the obscured skyline and my out-of-control allergies) are all the result of insane levels of pollen and are absolutely unrelated to the icelandic volcano. or all these observations might be the result of engrams.

i am not a professional vulcanologist, but having lived with asthma and very severe allergies all of my adult life (likely the result of living several years in volcanic ash from another eruption when a child), i know from experience that my allergies and asthma are never this out-of-control when i've relocated to a new home, as i've done only a few months ago. numerous epidemiological and immunological studies support my observations. so, based on that alone, it is extremely unlikely that my allergic response is due to pollen, even if there is a tremendous amount of pollen in the air.

further, it is obvious that there is some form of fine dust in the air that has obscured the nearby hills and the sun -- whatever these fine airborne particles are, they mysteriously appeared suddenly on saturday and only are now clearing out. since i daily photograph the hills and the city from the windows of my flat, these differences are not only easy to see, but i've also been documenting them by accident.

all of these observations are correlated to the proposed appearance of the icelandic volcanic ash cloud over frankfurt -- an ash cloud that closed the airport.

are all these observations coincidence? um, sure. if you insist.

Well, have a look at reports from the Netherlands and Germany by two very experienced sky observers specialized in atmospheric optics who see no significant volcano-related effects in Central Europe at all.

While LIDAR as well as airborne in-situ data showed - according to a flurry of press releases since Monday - that the ash concentration is highly variable in space and time, there was no report to the effect that it ever reached values high enough for significant obscurations and/or twilight effects beyond Iceland and the British Isles.

the most parsimonious explanation for all the observations i've been making is that the volcanic ash was doing it. can you provide another explanation for everything i've been photographing and experiencing?

(incidentally, the sky is filled with ugly contrails once more as the air traffic explodes back to normalcy, the sky is a clear cloudless blue, the horizon is sharply visible and the sunsets aren't as red as they were these past five or so days. oh, and the allergies/asthma is gone, too).

@Daniel: You're an idiot, and I can say that because I have been involved for many years with research on volcanic ash and aviation. Despite your ridiculous claims, this photograph and grrl's mention of her allergic reactions tells me that it is very likely that most of this effect photographed is due to the volcanic particles. Dust storms in North Africa can also cause this effect (some industries can as well, but not since regulations in the past 30 years), but currently there are no such dust storms. The photograph is also consistent with the satellite data showing where the volcanic ash is located. The clouds were a nuisance throughout the event because they hide the extent of the plume. We finally have a statement from one engine manufacturer detailing what they believe to be an upper safe limit of exposure for their engines, and the stated values are far below what is being observed throughout Europe as confirmed by various instruments in the satellite set referred to as the 'A-Train'. If there are any LIDAR stations out there operating at multiple frequencies and preferably also looking at depolarization we may get independent station data on local conditions, but we don't even need the data from those stations to know what's going on; the satellite data in this instance is sufficient.

@ Grrlscientist & MadScientist:

I can't say anything about the German photographs reported in this post, but I can say that much of the haze we are seeing here in the Netherlands the past week, is normal cirrus. My blog post linked by Daniel gives you picture evidence (halo caused by ice particles, = normal cirrus) and I photographed another nice halo a few days later which can be seen here: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b176/marcoaliaslama/halo20APR2010.jpg
These halo's prove it is high altitude clouds made up of ice particles (= cirrus): not dust particles. With the latter, you get different optical characteristics.

Cirrus is quite normal for April in NW Europe, especially under the weather conditions of the past two weeks. And due to the lack of rain (no rain here for two weeks, see my data: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b176/marcoaliaslama/weer/regen_apr_20…), the amount of pollen in the atmosphere is currently very high, explaining the allergic reactions. So I don't think Daniel is an idiot with his comments, Madscientist.

@Marco: How can you say normal cirrus? The volcanic plume does not necessarily look like a cloud (unless you're very close to the source). Have you measured the scattering of light through the atmosphere and estimated the amount of particles and their size distribution? Did you use other instruments to determine if what you see are non-volcanic aerosols? One manufacturer has (finally) released information on what they consider to be an upper limit to the acceptable volcanic ash loading and the number is so small that as far as the human eye is concerned it would appear no different than scattering by a typical marine aerosol. This is not a situation which is easy to judge by sight; if it were then aircraft would simply fly and pilots will be left to make decisions. The fact that in the past there have been about 200 reported volcanic ash encounters and none of those pilots could tell that they were headed for ash is a pretty good indication that sight is not helpful. One of the reasons people are trying to develop instrumentation is that in many of these cases the pilots reported seeing only a haze (description of the haze varies widely) or seeing what appeared to be normal ice/water clouds. Unless you're near the volcano, the plume looks nothing like what you've been seeing on TV. Even after many hundreds of hours right next to volcanoes I don't even trust myself to reliably distinguish orographic clouds from a small puff from the volcano, I have to rely on my instruments.

Your understanding of halos is not correct; it is slightly less incorrect if you limit yourself to ice crystals or water droplets. Have you done calculations to determine what to expect when volcanic ash scatters light? Daniel is very clearly making claims which are wrong and cannot be substantiated. If people listen to such nonsense, then decisions will be made contrary to what we know from science and contrary to what engineers have established by testing in laboratories. In the one site he links to perhaps the author means well, but he is absolutely wrong with his conclusions; there is no evidence to support his conclusions that there is no sign of any effect from volcanic aerosols; the author clearly has no idea what to look for. Now even if we established with instruments that it was clear in that specific area, there is still the challenge of determining how clear the path is between any two airports, and also how quickly changing conditions can make the flight path hazardous. Do you have any idea how fast the winds move at the cruising altitude of these aircraft? All of the information so far, including the results of various analyses being done by many colleagues on a variety of satellite instrument data all indicate that closing down the airports was the correct decision. Disruptions like these are rare; in fact European air transport has never been affected like this before, but it would be foolish to fly just because you believe it would be safe, contrary to what the evidence indicates. The aircraft operators should stop crying and get back to business. This disruption is hardly any different from what some airports experience when there are large storms in the region; just because that doesn't regularly happen in Europe doesn't mean it is fine to ignore nature and do things as if conditions were normal.

Sonnenuntergang, 4

grrlscientist — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:59:44 +0000

Sonnenuntergang, 4

tags: Sonnenuntergang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, sunset, photography

Sonnenuntergang.

Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Image: Bob O'Hara, 19 April 2010 [larger view]

Sunset over Frankfurt, as photographed from the bedroom window. This sunset was influenced by the Icelandic volcano, EyjafjallajÃ¶kull. The clouds that you see are fluffy and a light gold color, the ash cloud is hazy and dark and (dare I say it?) menacing.

The haze from the Icelandic volcano is much worse today than it has been ever since EyjafjallajÃ¶kull first blew. I know that the airlines want to start flying throughout the EU again soon, but if they fly into Frankfurt am Main, I'd avoid those flights for a few days, at least.

That said, this is a stunning sunset, isn't it?

grrlscientist Mon, 04/19/2010 - 14:59

Tags

environment

Frankfurt through my eye

Frankfurt through my eye

Nature

Photography

Wow. You hear about blood-red sunsets, but you almost never see them. Amazing - and slightly creepy.

Sonnenuntergang, 3

grrlscientist — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:59:17 +0000

Sonnenuntergang, 3

tags: Sonnenuntergang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, sunset, photography

Sonnenuntergang.

Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Image: Bob O'Hara, 18 April 2010 [larger view]

Sunset over Frankfurt, as photographed from the bedroom window. This sunset was influenced by the Icelandic volcano, EyjafjallajÃ¶kull.

This is probably the last sunset photograph you'll see from Frankfurt that doesn't have a dozen or more (disgustingly ugly!!) contrails messing it up because the latest news is that the eruptions from the Icelandic volcano are slowing down .. and there are some EU flights scheduled starting tomorrow. Since Frankfurt is the busiest airport in the EU outside the UK, this means there will be at least a few contrails in the sky tomorrow.

(Although, let me point out that the Frankfurt airport is nowhere nearly as busy as JFK, nor La Guardia, although I suspect Newark and Frankfurt are roughly as busy as each other).

grrlscientist Sun, 04/18/2010 - 14:59

Tags

Frankfurt through my eye

Frankfurt through my eye

Nature

Photography

Sonnenuntergang, 2

grrlscientist — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 12:59:07 +0000

Sonnenuntergang, 2

tags: Sonnenuntergang, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, travel, nature, sunset, image of the day

Sonnenuntergang.

Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Image: Bob O'Hara, 4 April 2010 [larger view]

Sunset over Frankfurt, as photographed from the bedroom window.

grrlscientist Sun, 04/04/2010 - 08:59

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Hello again, Bob O. Another beautiful view. Thank you.

Would you disclose the name of the Frankfurt Stadtteil in which your bedroom is located? Frankfurt is such a big, sprawling city. Thanks. HGM.

nordwestzentrum.

The sunsets Bob O'H. captures tend to be more than beautiful; they emanate a certain spiritualness, the deep, three-dimensional, and mysterious yonder so far and yet so close to my eye. How awe inspiring the scenes are!

AriSan

Sonnenuntergang

grrlscientist — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:59:25 +0000

Sonnenuntergang

tags: Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Sonnenuntergang, travel, nature, environment, photography

Sonnenuntergang.

Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Image: Bob O'Hara, 30 March 2010 [larger view]

This was the sunset as photographed from the windows of the flat where I live in Frankfurt am Main. Don't you wish you could be here too, drinking a nice syrah and eating some of the Karotten-ingwer Suppe that I am preparing at this very moment?

grrlscientist Tue, 03/30/2010 - 14:59

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Beautiful! Is it Spring there yet?

Beautiful picture, makes me homesick for Germany... uh, you CAN be homesick for a place you were in for only three weeks last year, can't you? :)

Having a nice Shiraz, thanks, but I do not want cookies in my soup. Had sausages tonight instead, and thought of Hannover. Sometimes minds run semi-sorta in the same groove, isn't that cool? :)

indeed, spring is here. i am having a great time learning the birdsongs as i walk around the city. i am truly impressed with how similar the blackbird's song is to that of the american robin .. yes, i know they are closely-related .. but as i listen to blackbirds sing, i wonder if anyone out there could distinguish which species sings the songs .. i am hoping to get some decent recordings to share with you so you can help me answer that question.

oh, no cookies in karotten-ingwer suppe .. just heavenly good vegetarian yumminess with a touch of the south pacific!

Yes, the carrot soup sounds good. But I prefer it without the ginger. One of my most favorite German foods: a pair of genuine Frankfurters from one of the top-notch meat companies in the surrounding area. And even more than that: a fresh, delicious pound of Aufschnitt, only available in Germany. (I leave the translation of this word to the investigation of any interested readers of this comment.)

Bob O'Hara, as to your emotion-evoking picture: Having lived four miles to the south of Franfurt in Neu-Isenburg continuously from 1934 to 1951, and having spent many wonderful hours in the leaf- and needle-forests of that area, I can firmly attest that your photo is a great reminder of how beautiful this small part of the world actually is.

Most GIs who where stationed anywhere near there (U.S. zone of occupation) during the postwar years have told me how much they like Germany, and particularly the German people â then and now. Thank you, Bob. HGM.

I'm really envious of your view. It must be great to be up high enough to get a real sense of space.

Thank you for your kind words, ragmanic. I'm glad I brought back some good memories for you.

SimonG - the space was enhanced by having to lean out of the window. Not fun as I suffer from vertigo, but the pics were worth it.

State of the Beard

grrlscientist — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 04:59:54 +0000

State of the Beard

tags: beards, facial hair, funny, silly, humor, streaming video

In honor of Silly Saturday, I had to share this silly video with you. It's about beards. Those of you who know me will understand the significance for this video appearing here.

grrlscientist Sat, 03/27/2010 - 00:59

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Dammit, our kitchen isn't big enough for a table.

If you really feel that way about beards, would you be indulging yourself in that famous fling with Mr. Trololo?

Frankfurter Sonnenuntergang

grrlscientist — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:59:15 +0000

Frankfurter Sonnenuntergang

tags: Frankfurter Sonnenuntergang, Frankfurt Sunset, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, image of the day

Sonnenuntergang aus Reidberg (Sunset from Reidberg)

Reidberg, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Image: Bob O'Hara, 29 November 2009 [larger view].

grrlscientist Mon, 01/18/2010 - 13:59

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Frankfurter Sonnenuntergang

The Frankfurt Book Fair

grrlscientist — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:59:32 +0000

The Frankfurt Book Fair

tags: 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt Messe, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, image of the day

Frankfurt Messe.

Frankfurt Book Fair 2009.

Image: Bob O'Hara, 18 October 2009 [larger view].

grrlscientist Sun, 10/18/2009 - 08:59

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Memorial to the Synagogue

grrlscientist — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:59:45 +0000

Memorial to the Synagogue

tags: Memorial to the Synagogue, Platz der Synagoge, GÃ¶ttingen, Germany, image of the day

The memorial to the Synagogue in GÃ¶ttingen, Germany, burnt down 1938 during the Kristallnacht, at the Platz der Synagoge (Synagogue Square) as seen from the inside looking straight up.

Image: Bob O'Hara, October 2009 [larger view].

Synagogue Memorial, Obere-Masch-Str. and Untere-Masch-Str. This memorial, designed by Corrado Cagli in 1973, stands on the site of a synagogue that was destroyed in 1938. The names of GÃ¶ttingen's Jewish residents who were murdered during the "dark time" are listed below an abstraction of the Star of David.

Here's a side-view;

The memorial to the Synagogue in GÃ¶ttingen, Germany, burnt down 1938 during the Kristallnacht, at the Platz der Synagoge (Synagogue Square) as seen from the side.

Image: Bob O'Hara, October 2009 [larger view].

grrlscientist Fri, 10/16/2009 - 08:59

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Memorial to the Synagogue

I heard that Anthony Scalia wants to put a cross atop this monument.

I heard wrpd wants to take this Star of David down because he doesn't agree with the past peoples memorial to dead love ones.

In addition to wrpd not understanding that the Separation of Church and State is not the end all be all and in fact is not in the Constitution, but still a guide for the federal government.