grrlscientist | September 10, 2008tags: Least Sandpiper, Calidris minutilla, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Young-of-the-year Least Sandpiper, Calidris minutilla, photographed at photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 August 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | September 10, 2008This is for all my Seattle and Vancouver, BC, area friends, especially all my bird pals, whom I have maintained contact with all these years after moving to NYC: there are several ScienceBlogs millionth comment parties in your areas that you are invited to. These parties, hosted by Seed Media Group and ScienceBlogs, are celebrating the success of ScienceBlogs to reach the public and will provide free food, drinks and prizes to those who attend.
First, the Seattle area party details;
Date: Saturday, 27 September
Time: 4pm PT
Location: the upper mezzanine of Ozzie's Roadhouse at 105 W Mercer…
grrlscientist | September 10, 2008tags: Billfish, sailfish, Xiphiodei, fish, National Geographic magazine
In the Whirl.
Adorned for the hunt, with fin raised and changeable colors
flashing, a sailfish in the Gulf of Mexico circles a ball of
sardines, preparing to strike.
Image: Paul Nicklen/National Geographic magazine [larger view].
My contact at National Geographic magazine sent a link to an interesting story about billfish (sailfish) to share with you and she also gave me permission to use the incredible images of billfish (sailfish) that are there to see. They also have a video that shows how these fish make a "bait…
grrlscientist | September 10, 2008tags: CERN's Large Hadron Supercollider, physics, music, streaming video
It is predicted that the world will end at 3am ET when CERN's Large Hadron Supercollider was turned on, creating a giant black hole that will suck the earth into it, destroying everything. Since we still exist, I guess it's time to sing a little, right? [4:49]
Credits:
There has been a lot of interest in the original mp3, lyrics, and vocals for remixing. You can find all that here.
Images came from:
particlephysics.ac.uk, space.com, the Institute of Physics, NASA, Symmetry, and Marvel
The talented dancers doubled as…
grrlscientist | September 9, 2008tags: London England, Harry Potter film sites London, Harry Potter, photography, photoessay
Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross in London, England.
This is not the original platform used in the film, which is between platforms 4 and 5 at Kings Cross, but it is a cute little tourist memorial to the film.
Image: GrrlScientist 4 September 2008 [larger view].
This is the second part of my Harry Potter film sites of London photoessays. I started this photoessay with an image that you all should be able to recognize without any trouble at all -- platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross tube station --…
grrlscientist | September 9, 2008tags: Irene Pepperberg, cognition, learning, parrots, birds, Alex Foundation
Cognitive scientist, Irene Pepperberg and her parrots, Griffin, Arthur (Wart) and Alex.
Image: Mike Lovett, Brandeis University.
I just wanted to let you know that Irene Pepperberg has several speaking engagements to promote her new book, Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence -- and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process (scheduled release date: 28 October 2008). As you might remember, six months ago, I was given the opportunity to review an advance reading copy of…
grrlscientist | September 9, 2008tags: Cathedral Parkway, 110th street, Migrations, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
Migrations (1999).
Artist: Christopher Wynter.
110th street glass tile mosaic art as seen on the platform at Cathedral Parkway (Central Park West and 110th street) for the downtown-bound B and C trains (and the downtown-bound local A trains, which run nights and weekends). You cannot easily see this piece from the uptown-bound train platform.
Image: GrrlScientist 9 September 2008 [larger view].
At Cathedral Parkway, Harlem's southern boundary, three large mosaic murals were created that…
grrlscientist | September 9, 2008tags: Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 August 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | September 9, 2008Have all of you heard about the one millionth comment contest that ScienceBlogs is having? This contest is in honor of the upcoming one million reader comment that will be left sometime around the 25th of October (unless PZ has another crackergate before then). In honor of this upcoming one millionth reader comment to the site, ScienceBlogs is holding a contest where all readers who leave comments (accompanied by a valid email address so we can contact you) are eligible to receive a fabulous prize: a trip for two to New York City and exclusive science adventures that only ScienceBlogs could…
grrlscientist | September 9, 2008tags: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Visits the RNC, Conan O'Brien, humor, streaming video
"The only thing left to see is John McCain's speech. That's why we're going home." [6:55]
grrlscientist | September 8, 2008tags: West 42nd street/Times Square Subway Art, The Return of Spring, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
The Return of Spring.
Artist: Jack Beal (1999).
West 42nd Street/Times Square glass tile mosaic art #2 [Detail 5]
as seen on the mezzanine for NYC's Times Square stop at Broadway and 41st for the 1, 2, and 3 trains.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
The pair of 7'x20' glass mosaic murals, entitled "The Return of Spring" and "The Onset of Winter", depict various New York City street scenes and were paintings translated to mosaics by Artistic Mosaics Travisanutto…
grrlscientist | September 8, 2008A reader of mine posed a series of questions to an earlier blog entry that I unfortunately neglected to respond to at the time. I am researching an article that I am freelance writing for a journal (deadline TODAY, YIKES!!) and ran across her original comment, which I reposted below the fold, and I am really interested to read your thoughts about this.
A couple months ago, Chardyspal asked;
I have a few questions for those who consider blogging to not be a good thing for scientists to do...hopefully the connections to blogging will not be difficult to make -
What do they think of teaching (in…
grrlscientist | September 8, 2008tags: London England, science-themed pubs, Nature Network Science conference
You might recall that I went on a science-theme based pub crawl Friday before the Nature Network Conference was held. We went to four different pubs, starting with the Jeremy Bentham, the Museum Tavern, the Ben Crouch Tavern and the John Snow. Here is a podcast by The Mr. Science Show where the author of that blog interviews Matt Brown about the medical and science-based themes for the pubs that we went to in London [roughly 20 minutes long]. Several other people appear on this podcast, including Mike Dunford, Frank…
grrlscientist | September 8, 2008tags: Harry Potter Lexicon, copyright infringement, JK Rowling, Steve Vander Ark
A little while ago today, I heard a special news announcement on the radio that JK Rowling won her lawsuit regarding infringement to her copyright by the Harry Potter Lexicon and awarded $6,750 in statutory damages to Rowling and Warner Brothers.
The U.S. district court judge, Robert Patterson, ruled that Steven Vander Ark's "Harry Potter Lexicon" would cause Rowling irreparable harm as a writer because it "had failed to establish an affirmative defense of fair use." Patterson stated that reference materials…
grrlscientist | September 8, 2008tags: common nighthawk, Chordeiles minor, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Common nighthawk, Chordeiles minor, photgraphed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 29 August 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | September 7, 2008tags: West 42nd street/Times Square Subway Art, The Return of Spring, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC
The Return of Spring.
Artist: Jack Beal (1999).
West 42nd Street/Times Square glass tile mosaic art #2 [Detail 4]
as seen on the mezzanine for NYC's Times Square stop at Broadway and 41st for the 1, 2, and 3 trains.
Image: GrrlScientist 2008 [larger view].
The pair of 7'x20' glass mosaic murals, entitled "The Return of Spring" and "The Onset of Winter", depict various New York City street scenes and were paintings translated to mosaics by Artistic Mosaics Travisanutto…
grrlscientist | September 7, 2008tags: Broad-winged hawk, Buteo platypterus, identify this bird, birds, nature, Image of the Day
[Mystery bird] Broad-winged hawk, Buteo platypterus, photographed at Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 2 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
grrlscientist | September 7, 2008
Front door to London's Piccadilly Backpackers.
Image: GrrlScientist 6 September 2008 [larger view].
For those of you coming to London who might be searching for a cheap and livable place to crash, there is a hostel in Piccadilly Circus called Piccadilly Backpackers. That's where I am staying (in a coed dorm -- even though they advertize female-only dorms, they don't follow that in my experience). I think this is a great hostel: affordable, quiet, no/little theft, safe and impressively clean.
A typical dorm room in the Piccadilly Backpackers hostel (this was my room, which was an eight-…
grrlscientist | September 7, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
The Birdbooker Report is a special weekly report of wide variety of science, nature and behavior books that are or soon will be available for purchase. This report is written by one of my Seattle bird pals, Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, and is published here for your enjoyment. Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will…
grrlscientist | September 6, 2008My gratitude to you, my readers, is inexpressible for sending me to London for the Nature Network Science blog conference. This was an amazing gift and I was so thrilled to meet so many amazing scientists who write so eloquently about their craft, their careers, and their personal lives for the purpose of educating and enlightening the public. This experience was exciting and inspirational and it meant more than I can ever say to be able to talk openly about blog writing with scientists. Throughout the next week or so, I plan to transcribe my notes from the presentations for you to read, and…