cultural observation
grrlscientist | December 15, 2009tags: 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 15, 2009tags: Christmas Gift Ideas, entertainment, comedy, satire, funny, fucking hilarious, BBC Worldwide, Harry Enfield, streaming video
It's only ten days away! You're starting to panic, what can you get for those on your shopping list? Here's some good suggestions to make everyone happy.
grrlscientist | December 14, 2009tags: Christmas Cake recipe, fruitcake, holidays
I just had to share this amazing Christmas Cake recipe that I am going to try this year -- just in time to celebrate my first Christmas!
 Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 stick butter
1 cup of water
1 tsp baking  soda
1 cup of  sugar
1 tsp  salt
1 cup of  brown sugar
Lemon juice
4 Â large eggs
Nuts
2 Â bottles wine
2 Â cups of dried fruit
Sample the wine to  check quality. Take a large bowl, check the wine again. To be sure  it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat.  Turn on the electric mixer. Beat…
grrlscientist | December 13, 2009tags: The Conjugal Rights Guide, entertainment, comedy, satire, funny, fucking hilarious, BBC Worldwide, Harry Enfield, streaming video
Now that the weekend is over, let's go back to my social education -- some of my social training includes *gasp* conjugal unpleasantness.
grrlscientist | December 11, 2009tags: Hickory, North Carolina, street map, city planning, comedy, humor, fucking hilarious
Image: Google Maps [larger view].
This is the Google street map for Hickory, North Carolina. Take a close look at this map and then tell me that the city planner wasn't high on some seriously mind-altering drugs. I'll bet this city requires a PhD for its pizza delivery people and postal workers, and no formal education at all from its city planners (courtesy of my friends at Reddit).
grrlscientist | December 11, 2009tags: Hamburger Make Up Artistry, food porn, Buy Me That, streaming video
This video is a segment from the popular series "Buy Me That." Featured is a "makeup artist for food," who provides us with this behind-the-scenes look at how burgers (and fries) are made to look their best for television.
This just makes you want to run out to buy and eat some fast food, doesn't it?
grrlscientist | December 10, 2009tags: It Hasn't Happened Yet, entertainment, comedy, satire, funny, fucking hilarious, Christmas music, William Shatner, streaming video
I was hanging around on my little internet radio station last night, playing some music (of course), because none of my possessions have arrived in Germany yet -- including all of my music. This "Christmas song" is one that never fails to make me laugh, so I had to share it with you this morning.
Isn't that a great band that Shatner has? And the soloist, Fleming McWilliams, who backed him up is amazing .. and that note that she hit at the end .. wow!
grrlscientist | December 9, 2009tags: Women: Keep Your Virtue!, entertainment, comedy, satire, funny, fucking hilarious, BBC Worldwide, Harry Enfield, streaming video
More homework into the social/cultural side of things. Hrm, how did the BBC comedy chaps learned the story of my spouse and why I married him?
grrlscientist | December 8, 2009tags: Women: Know Your Limits!, entertainment, comedy, satire, funny, fucking hilarious, BBC Worldwide, Harry Enfield, streaming video
This video is a clip is part of my research. Since I have been invited to some social events in Germany, I thought I'd brush up on my etiquette. This is especially important since the only social events I've attended in my adult life were watching sporting events on TV whilst drinking beer in a pub somewhere (astonishingly, I even managed to offend NYCers by making publicly known to my beer swilling colleagues my opinion about the Yankees -- an original…
grrlscientist | December 6, 2009tags: speech, Public School, Don't be an Individual, Paideia School, Nick Kocher, comedy, funny, humor, social commentary, streaming video
This is an (obviously) amateur streaming video of a speech given at the Paideia School Senior Dinner a few days before graduation. I think many of us can empathize, and those of you who cannot, well, why are you reading my blog?
Like Nick, get pimples and dry skin at the same time, too. My skin is a never-ending battle. But I should mention that a particular shade of purple really is my favorite color.
Incidentally, if you wish to learn more about Nick…
grrlscientist | October 31, 2009tags: halloween prank, fake trick-or-treater, humor, funny, prank, scaring the neighbors, streaming video
This is a funny video of a series of pranks committed on the videographers' neighbors. Truly inpsired!
This is the original in high definition. For this Halloween Prank, the videographers (and pranksters) fixed up a life size dummy to look like a trick-or-treater, complete with bag of candy and hidden microphone. Then they went door to door with their fake "Timmy" to see what kind of reactions they would get.
More videos from this videographer.
grrlscientist | October 18, 2009tags: religion, fundamentalism, christianity, hate mail, Richard Dawkins, streaming video
Richard Dawkins responds to some hate mail sent by those architects of brotherly love, god's own followers, christians.
grrlscientist | October 15, 2009tags: plastics, oceanography, pollution, environnment, streaming video
This is a message by Captain Charles Moore, an oceanographer who pioneered the study of plastic debris, and was recorded during the Strategic Council on Plastic Pollution convened at the Google Campus in Mountain View, California on June 4, 2009. It was the first meeting for the council on plastic pollution, which was recently formed to raise awareness of this rising threat to the world's oceans. Council member and marine biologist Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, noted that "we are finding plastic in the stomachs of sea turtles,…
grrlscientist | October 12, 2009tags: marriage, love, relationships, sex, commitment, Chris Brickler, How Will We Love?, Chris Brickler, streaming video
Chris Brickler made a documentary about love and marriage. In this video, How Will We Love?, he starts by interviewing his grandparents who have been married for 68 years and builds on that interview and finds that more than 50% of marriages end in divorce even though many of us still cling to the hope of a happily-ever-after, life-long romance.
Brickler also interviews experts in the field of marriage, relationships, sexuality, and communication, as well as sharing…
grrlscientist | October 11, 2009tags: atheist life, godlessness, Imagine, streaming video
This video is a list of famous people who are atheists, put together for a school project and using John Lennon's song "Imagine" as the background music.
grrlscientist | October 10, 2009tags: atheist life, godlessness, streaming video
Being an atheist, you believe that this is the only life, and live it to the fullest. Atheists and skeptics lack proof and evidence of certain deities and spiritual beliefs. So there is no intent for us to harshly bash other religions and forms, for we humbly have our own perspectives in life.
If you however think that atheists are a threat to the general community, first take a look at the mirror. Millions of people have died just because of religion, "religious" wars, and rejection due to contradictory beliefs.
"Skeptic does not mean him who…
grrlscientist | October 9, 2009tags: Obama family, miserable Americans, comedy, humor, satire, funny, ONN, Onion News Network, streaming video
This daring news interview with the nations' top thinkers comes right out and says what we've all mumbled under our breath to ourselves in the privacy of the unemployment line: the Obamas are too damned happy! They're so happy that it's downright unAmerican!
grrlscientist | October 4, 2009tags: religion, fundamentalism, amputees, god, atheism, streaming video
Theists who try to respond to the question, Why doesn't God heal amputees? end up avoiding the question altogether and lecturing the questioner about a bunch of unasked questions. Could it be that they have no good answer for why their god refuses to heal amputees every single time, so they try to explain why they're god allows bad things to happen instead and hope we don't notice? This video discusses this observation and the reason why the question itself is important.
grrlscientist | October 3, 2009tags: religion, advertising, satire, humor, atheism, streaming video
Get Religion Today! Funny satirical ad which hits the nail on the head with modern organized religion.
grrlscientist | September 29, 2009tags: Blasphemy Day International, religion, politics, free speech, human rights, streaming video
Blasphemy Day International is a campaign seeking to establish September 30th as a day to promote free speech and stand up in a show of solidarity for the freedom to challenge, criticize, and satirize religion without fear of violence or reprisal: murder, litigation and other forms of intimidation. It is the obligation of the world's nations to safeguard dissent and the dissenters, not to side with the brutal interests of those who demand "respect" for their beliefs (i.e., immunity to being…