Monthly Archives: December 2009
Emyn Muil
I never got around to writing about a lot of my adventures in Germany, partly because I was having trouble uploading pictures to WordPress. So, I guess you’re in luck, ’cause I figured that out. When my parents came and … Continue reading
oh my, partial bodies
Well, you don’t see that every day. This was in front of a teaching hospital. My guess is they’re for people to practice doing intubations. (Anybody know for sure?)
DotW: LEO Deutsch-Englisches Wörterbuch
One of my favorite online dictionaries, Leo, is this week’s Dictionary of the Week. Actually, it’s kind of last week’s Dictionary of the Week. Hey. I was busy. Yep, the online dictionary gets an unattractive picture of my computer screen. … Continue reading
sexy fruit flies
Fruit flies may all look the same to you. But not to other fruit flies! A new study in the journal PLoS Biology finds that males prefer bigger females. In fact, they harass the big girls so much, those females … Continue reading
DotW: Finnish-English
Now for a language I really, really don’t speak: the Dictionary of the Week is a Finnish-English English-Finnish Dictionary from 1967. In 2005, the Christmas Revels had a Scandinavian theme. Since I speak Norwegian, I could understand most of what … Continue reading
train ride in real time
Last Friday evening, one of Norway’s national broadcast stations showed a documentary called “Bergensbanen minutt for minutt” – “Bergen Line, Minute for Minute.” It was a seven-hour-long documentary showing, in real time, the train trip from Bergen to Oslo. Seven … Continue reading
photographer in antarctica
Chris Linder, the photographer who took me to the Bering Sea, is on another adventure – in Antarctica on an Artists & Writers grant. He’s there to take pictures of south polar skuas, which means several weeks camping at Cape … Continue reading
montgomery county history
Look how cute! And historic! It’s a cardboard model of a house in Cabin John, Maryland, made in 1947 by the mechanical engineer who lived there. You can get this and so much more local history at A Fine Collection. … Continue reading
what is a mineral?
This week I happen to have gone on a lot of geology-related reporting trips around town. I’m sorry I never took geology in college. Carleton has a great geology department, and the geology majors always seemed to have fun. All … Continue reading
rocks from the sky (and plain old rocks)
The other day I went to the Smithsonian’s natural history museum to look at some meteorites. It was really cool. I held a piece of Mars in my hand. Actually, two pieces. Of MARS. The PLANET. Which is in OUTER … Continue reading