grrlscientist | January 28, 2006tags: blogosphere, meme, 23-5 meme
I was tagged with a meme by my good friend, Philaelaethes, author of Bouphonia. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Phila is the man who single-handedly puts together the world-famous Friday Nudi Blogs, which recently began incorporating poetry (an especially fine touch, in my opinion). The meme goes like this;
1. Go into your archives.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Post the fifth sentence (or closest to it).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same thing.
Despite…
grrlscientist | January 27, 2006
According to the Movies.com Which Movie Star Are You Like? quiz, you're ..
.. most like George Clooney
Everyone loves you, and you're only getting better (and better-looking!) with age. You're a generous, loyal and fun-loving friend, and you also seem to really care about your politics, consistently putting yourself on the line for your beliefs. We wish there were more of you out there.
Take this quiz at Movies.com
I thought this quiz was trying to match me to the movie star whom I most resemble, instead of whom I'd be most likely to allow to drop potato chips in my bed.
Thanks, Dawn.
.…
grrlscientist | January 26, 2006
Female Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus.
By Bill Ferensen, Seattle.
(click image for Bill's site).
People Hurting Birds
Deceived by all the bird flu sensationalism, an Egyptian farmer abandoned 10,000 newly hatched chicks to their fate on a desert road east of Cairo fearing they might be infected with the deadly bird flu virus, a police official said on Wednesday. Shocked motorists travelling on the road about 130 km (80 miles) east of Cairo contacted police after seeing the chicks running loose on the tarmac on Tuesday, the official added. Health officials gathered the chicks and confirmed…
grrlscientist | January 26, 2006
The Cry (or The Scream)
By Edvard Munch (1893)
(click on image for a larger version in its own window)
Many people think this painting depicts a man experiencing an existential crisis, but I disagree. I think it depicts a man whose computer just crashed and ate all his $#@%&@!! work!
Why am I posting this here? Let me sum it up in one word:
Blogger
Need I say more?
This evening, I was putting the finishing touches on the text file that was supposed to be this week's installment of Birds in the News when Blogger crashed and ATE IT! It destroyed the document, all those beautiful links…
grrlscientist | January 26, 2006
I found an interesting commentary in Nature about a new genre of literature, LabLit [text or PDF]. Even though I read widely, I was surprised to learn that I had never heard of this genre, and the titles mentioned in the article were also new to me. The author of the article, Jennifer Rohn, was trained as a molecular biologist and is now the editor for LabLit magazine so she obviously knows what she is talking about.
LabLit is not science fiction. According to the LabLit website, "'lab lit' depicts realistic scientists as central characters and portrays fairly realistic scientific practice…
grrlscientist | January 25, 2006A friend saw this story and asked what is happening with my own little power bill drama. Since several others of you have also asked, I thought I'd let you all know that I checked my bill status online yesterday, worried that there would be a notice there saying that Harry and Guido were waiting in my apartment to break my kneecaps for non-payment, but I instead discovered that, after receiving a heart-stopping bill for nearly $800, I now owe ..
Nothing.
Well, so far (I am suspicious). My slumlor ... er, landlord, the evil vermin-loving and money-grubbing Scott, will be so relieved to know…
grrlscientist | January 25, 2006I am pleased to see some people visiting this site because Scientific Life was listed as a finalist in the Koufax Awards' "Most Deserving of Wider Recognition" category. Even though I put a notification on my original site regarding my relocation, it is gratifying to see that a few of you are actually trickling in here to see part 2 of this particular story.
There are almost 300 nominees listed in this one Koufax Award category, and since the nominees are listed alphabetically, this baby blog is found nearly at the bottom of the sixth screen out of twelve total -- smack-dab in the middle of…
grrlscientist | January 24, 2006
I posted my first message here on the 12th of this month and after only 12 days, 10,000 people have visited my site (thanks for the links, PZ)! I am excited! I can hardly wait for 100,000! Thanks for reading, everyone!
grrlscientist | January 24, 2006
Okay guys, if you had a choice between having a big brain or big .. er, testes .. which would you choose?
A recent scientific paper reveals that as sexual selection pressures increase in promiscuous bat species, males evolve larger testes and smaller brains. But in bat species where females remain faithful, males had comparatively smaller testes and larger brains. Conversely, male sexual behavior had absolutely no effect on either brain or testes size.
Because brains and testis are the most metabolically expensive tissues to grow and maintain, the balance between their relative sizes…
grrlscientist | January 23, 2006 Scientific Life was nominated for several "Bloggie" Award categories, but it is not a finalist for any of them. In fact, none of the blogs listed as finalists have primarily scientific content, unfortunately! But nonetheless, there are some excellent examples of weblogs represented there, including several blogs that I regularly read and nominated. The best thing about all the weblog awards is they provide a one-stop opportunity for you, the public, to access blogs that are widely perceived as being high quality without you having to spend months or even years poking around the web searching…
grrlscientist | January 23, 2006
Ornithologist and Ivory-billed Woodpecker expert, Dr. Jerome Jackson, who has an impressive list of professional accomplishments, including the excellent book, In Search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Amazon (2004), has finally spoken out about the rediscovery of the IBWO in a peer-reviewed paper [free PDF] that was recently published in one of the most respected ornithological journals in the world, The Auk.
In this 15-page paper, Jackson asserts that the evidence put forward by the search party participants simply doesn't rise to the level of scientifically valid "proof" as portrayed by…
grrlscientist | January 22, 2006
Sun in an Empty Room by Edward Hopper (1963).
(click image for desktop wallpaper).
no loneliness, space
Morris to New York City
no space, loneliness
tags: haiku, Edward Hopper, Empty room
grrlscientist | January 22, 2006
Rainbow Bee-eater, Merops ornatus.
(click on image for a slightly larger version in its own window).
This visit is the best gift I've ever received.
Heartfelt thanks to John and MA for the providing these broken wings with the gift of flight, Hernan (the bullfighter) for caring for the parrots, Tom for a terrific meal, and especially PZ and his wonderful family for providing a nest and companionship to this wandering spirit.
Starlings in Winter
Chunky and noisy,
but with stars in their black feathers,
they spring from the telephone wire
and instantly
they are acrobats
in the freezing…
grrlscientist | January 21, 2006 I have finally accomplished something of value; using the the infallible methods of Gematria developed by Mr. Ivan Panin to determine how good or evil a web site or a text passage is, I discovered that the gematriculator has declared Scientific Life to be 99% evil.
.
tags: online quiz, silliness
grrlscientist | January 21, 2006Even though today is Saturday, my site meter tells me that Scientific Life is getting hundreds more hits than usual, even if this was a weekday (Scientific Life received more than 1,100 hits by noon, NYC time). So, worried that last night's party with PZ and pals was more entertaining than I recalled, I had to check Scientific Life to make sure that no one had posted a picture of me without my shirt on, or something equally er, horrifying exciting.
But instead, I found that besides the NYTimes mention of Living the Scientific Life (hey, that's ME!!), the whole lot of us at ScienceBlogs were…
grrlscientist | January 20, 2006
PZ is broken hearted, no one is attending his party. How can people be so cruel? But I think that I am worth at least five guests because I traveled more than 1,000 miles to be here (and I would travel farther than that if I had to), whereas the rest of his guests would only have to travel a few blocks.
(Shhh! don't tell him that I took his picture and posted it here .. he's a little bit upset at the moment).
.
tags: silliness
grrlscientist | January 19, 2006
Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis.
Photo by permission. Arthur Morris, Birds as Art.
Birds in Science
Two University of Canterbury biologists are part of a team whose evolutionarily-informed approach to conservation is aiding the recovery of New Zealand's critically endangered parrot, the kakapo, Strigops habroptilus (pictured). Bruce Robertson and Neil Gemmell, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, are members of a research team that has just had a paper published in the Royal Society of London's prestigious journal Biology Letters. The manuscript outlines how the team, led by…
grrlscientist | January 19, 2006
In an effort to make their research freely available to the public and to support a greater global exchange of knowledge, Avian Conservation and Ecology provides open access to all of its content. Such access is associated with increased readership and increased citation of each author's work. This journal is available in both English and French.
.
tags: online journals, ornithology, birds, avian, conservation
grrlscientist | January 19, 2006
The latest collection of articles in Journal of Biology is now available to view free of charge on the Journal of Biology website. The Journal of Biology is the open access journal for exceptional research. Published by BioMed Central, it provides free access to research articles of the broadest importance and interest. By providing immediate, permanent, unrestricted access to these articles, Journal of Biology ensures the widest possible dissemination of the research it publishes.
In the most current issue avaliable, the featured open access article written by Dr. Lukas Sommer and…
grrlscientist | January 18, 2006The latest edition of the Tangled Bank is online at Greythumb, however, I am having trouble accessing that site. Can anyone else see it? If so, what is the magical OS-browser combination that you are using? I linked to the expanded link, and managed to see it just now, but PZ still can't see it and he tried to access it approximately 2 minutes after I did and he is sitting across the table from me!
Tangled Bank is looking for volunteers to host future editions once again. If you are interested in hosting, please send email to PZ. I know that I have my most favorite time slot lined up already…