I’m not apologising for who I am.

But I frequently feel like I should.

introspection, postsecret

Two things that are going on which everyone seems to be writing about, except me:

The Large Hadron Collider. This is freakishly cool and awakens the physics envy in me. Biology never gets this much attention. Except that when I think about it, I realise that it’s not actually physics that’s getting everyone’s attention, but engineering. People’s interest is only peaked when there are cool gadgets involved, such as mars rovers and particle accelerators. So while it might annoy me that not everyone thinks tardigrades surviving in space or bees chasing away predators by shaking their asses is as cool as I think it is, neither does the man on the street consider the finer points of quantum physics particularly interesting.

The US presidential election. I’m hopeful and terrified all at once. Need I really say more?

Now a picture of a tardigrade (taken by myself, no less), because they’re just so cute:

lhc, large hadron collider, physics envy, biology

…well ok, it’s an egg. But a decidedly bean-like one.

This was laid today by one of my parents’ hens. It’s quite possibly the first or second egg she’s ever produced and they can be a bit weird in the beginning. It’s like they have to practise a few times before they get it right.

eggs

Why is it that I always have my brightest flashes of inspiration when it’s impossible to write? Like when I’m in the shower. Once I get to a PC (or pen and paper, but… well), the inspiration and inclination to write is nearly always gone and I end up thinking, “Wow, that would have been a great blog post, and here I am feeling like the last thing I want to do right now is actually write it down.”

Is there a cure for this?

writers block

I’m currently sitting at the kitchen table at my parents’ place in the Swedish countryside, right next to a large window facing the sun and the forest. Sunlight through birch leaves is one of the prettiest things in nature. Also right outside the window is a wooden contraption on which three bird feeders hang (picture was taken in the midst of summer). This spring, my parents decided not to stop feeding the birds but continue all through the summer. It’s been a very rewarding experience for all involved.

The three feeders contain different things - peanuts, sunflower seeds and hemp seeds. We used to buy mixed seeds but they tend to contain a lot of oats, which only yellowhammers seem to like. Given that this is horse country, there’s much more oats to be found around the stables and hence yellowhammers aren’t particularly numerous guests of ours. In the winter we also provide fat, in balls or coconut fat slathered onto a nearby tree, as well as apples thrown out for the bigger birds.

The number and species composition of feeder guests has fluctuated over the year. In the winter, the regulars are a lot of great tits (by which I mean sometimes more than 20) and blue tits, as well as a couple of nuthatches, a few greenfinches, marsh tits, blackbirds and chaffinches, one or two coal tits, a common treecreeper and a very brave crested tit (according to the books, crested tits are not supposed to visit bird feeders). Then of course there’s the gang of eurasian jays that raid the place every once in a while. Once or twice a year we’ll get a flyby of the irresistably cute long-tailed tit.

As the spring progressed and we didn’t remove the food, we experienced a veritable invasion of chaffinches, with as many as 25-30 at a time hopping around on the ground around the feeder. Oddly enough, almost all of them seemed to be male. I have yet to discover an explanation to this rather odd phenomenon. They disappeared as spring progressed into summer. The great and blue tits also left, except for a couple of nesting pairs, but they their chicks insects and weren’t particularly interested in seeds. They were replaced in the beginning of the summer by siskins, which we can’t recall having seen here before.

Also, we had another invasion, this time of greenfinches. As the summer months have passed the flock of greenfinches seems to have grown, and now they can’t really be counted accurately anymore. Somewhere in the vicinity of 30 individuals, for certain, although they’re rarely here all at once. They especially enjoy the hemp seeds but will take sunflower seeds if the hemp dispenser is occupied.

An especially interesting and lovely-to-look-at guest we have had the pleasure of feeding this summer is the hawfinch. This is a bird which the books claim is very shy and difficult to get a good view of. Indeed I have only seen it a couple of times at the feeder in the winter, and then it’s only stopped very briefly and then left again. But this summer we have had no less than two pairs regularly turning up at the feeder and staying long enough for us to get a good look at their beautiful golden heads and gigantic, metallic beaks. We’ve also enjoyed the occasional visit from the visually low-key (but possessing a beautiful voice) dunnock.

Then of course there’s the sparrowhawk, which shows up every now and then regardless of season. We’ve seen several amazing acrobatic displays right outside our kitchen window as the sparrowhawk has taken advantage of the great concentration of small birds. We don’t resent it - all birds need to eat! And it is a very beautiful raptor.

Six great tits, one blue tit and a couple of greenfinches at the feeder

Now as autumn is rapidly approaching, the great and blue tits have returned (together with the new generation in their faded colours), the greenfinches continue to dominate, the nuthatches, marsh tits and coal tits continue their steady presence, and a mound of discarded seeds and shells has grown underneath the feeders. (Yes, this will be removed.) It has been a very rewarding summer. Each bird species has its own beauty and interesting set of behaviours: The greenfinches mostly bicker amongst themselves to get to the hemp seeds. The blue tits - even though they’re the smallest - will try to chase away anyone who gets too close to their perch on the peanuts. The nuthatches fly in, violently throw seeds and bits of peanut about as they grab the choice bits, and fly out again. The marsh tits are the last to flee when you approach the feeders, perching in a nearby bush and staring accusingly at you. The chaffinches always remain on the ground, seeming loath to actually approach the feeders. The coal tits move quickly and carefully among the rest, seemingly aware of their small stature.

These are obviously not all of the birds we observe in the garden and surrounding forest. There are usually at least two or three nesting pairs of pied flycatchers around in the spring, the trees are full of warblers, robins hunt insects in the rose garden, wood pigeons coo in the forest… and so on and so forth. But nothing gets you quite as close to wild birds as feeding them and setting up nesting boxes.

Update, September 13: The great spotted woodpecker is back! Or one of them, at least. I didn’t get a good enough look at it to see if it was the male or female. They have been fairly frequent guests in the winter but have on occasion perused the peanuts during the summer as well.

Also, the greenfinches are increasing in number - I think there may be between 40 and 50 individuals here today. Probably some of them are moving south and have just merged with the “resident” flock temporarily.

For my Swedish readers, here’s a list of the birds mentioned with their latin and swedish names:

Blackbird (Turdus merula): Koltrast
Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus or Parus caeruleus): Blåmes
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs): Bofink
Coal tit (Parus ater): Svartmes
Common treecreeper (Certhia familiaris): Trädkrypare
Crested tit (Parus cristatus): Tofsmes
Dunnock (Prunella modularis): Järnsparv
European jay (Garrulus glandarius): Nötskrika
Great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) Större hackspett
Great tit (Parus major): Talgoxe
Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris): Grönfink
Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes): Stenknäck
Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus): Stjärtmes
Marsh tit (Parus palustris): Entita
Nuthatch (Sitta europaea): Nötväcka
Pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca): Svartvit flugsnappare
Robin (Erithacus rubecula): Rödhake
Siskin (Carduelis spinus): Grönsiska
Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus): Sparvhök
Warbler (Sylviidae): Sångare
Wood pigeon (Columba palumbus): Ringduva
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella): Gulsparv

birds, birdwatching, bird feeding, ornithology

Physics Rocks:

Brian Cox, CERN Physicist and former member of chart-topping band D:Ream, meets some celebrity enthusiasts of particle physics.

He talks to Alan Alda and John Barrowman about their enthusiasm for one of the largest and most ambitious scientific experiments ever undertaken. He travels to CERN with former quantum physicist turned comedian Ben Miller, discusses the shape of the universe with ex-cosmologist Dara O’Briain and ponders the validity of the big bang with Eddie Izzard.

Go listen, only a week left! Apart from nice commentary on CERN and physics in general and Eddie Izzard talking about monkeys playing banjo, there’s thrashing of homeopathy by Dara O’Briain!

physics, lhc, science, popular science

This is probably entirely unoriginal, but having just suffered through a long-ish subway journey with two men sporting two very elaborate combovers right in front of me I just have to make a few points. If you happen to be a man who is going somewhat bald and are thinking of trying to hide it, read carefully:

1. A combover does not hide your baldness. Everyone can see that it is a combover, and everyone knows what it’s for. Ergo, a combover does in fact enhance your baldness.
2. Combovers are not pretty. The hair is always pointing the wrong direction. Even if it’s not oily or waxy, it still looks unnatural. Combovers are ugly.
3. Sporting a combover tells other people that you are aware of your baldness, and that it bothers you. It makes you look ashamed of yourself, like you’re trying to hide who you are, and that in turn makes you look pathetic, because it’s so obvious.
4. Whereas bald men are a everywhere and no one cares if you’re thinning out on top and hence usually won’t even notice, a combover is about as subtle as those huge yellow exclamation marks hovering over quest-givers in World of Warcraft. It’s fair enough to want attention. But really, wouldn’t you prefer people to be staring at your amazing choice of clothes or stylish new glasses than an atrocious hairdo that doesn’t fool anyone?

Conclusion: If you’re bald or balding, pretend it doesn’t bother you, and it won’t bother anyone else.

combovers, hairstyles, hair, baldness

You know, that thing that some blogs have where if you mouse-over a link an image appear of the site you’re linking to? I can imagine it might be useful in some cases (such as if you’re linking to pictures, hence giving people a way to glimpse the pics before actually clicking it), but on a blog, in the actual text? Please, no. I tend to move my mouse about the screen a lot when I read, selecting blocks of text at random and just generally busying my idle hands, and those snapshots that keep turning up are really annoying.

Yes, I’ve turned them off. I’m just wondering, who likes them? What do they actually give you as a surfer of the interwebs? Are they there to do anything but making the owners of the sites that use them feel a little spiffier, a little cooler, more hip, movin’ with the times? Maybe they’re just there to annoy me. I can only imagine the irritation I would feel if I was on a dial-up connection (do those even exist anymore) as well…

For those of you who don’t follow Greta Christina’s Blog (although I don’t understand why you wouldn’t, considering its excellent and original mixture of atheism and sex), at least go read her latest post: In Defense of Atheist Blogging:

Among many theistic commenters, there seems to be an odd expectation that every single post I write about religion should address every single aspect of religion that exists, or has ever existed. When I write about X, it’s pointed out that I didn’t write about Y; when I write about Y, I’m scolded for not writing about Z. (Or about X, for that matter.)

While I personally haven’t experienced that particular form of bizarre argument, I do recognise the following:

When atheist bloggers write about extreme, hard-core, fundamentalist- type religions, we get scolded for picking easy targets, and we almost inevitably have it pointed out to us (as if we didn’t know) that “not all religion is like that.”

But when we criticize progressive religions, we get scolded for being mean and divisive and going after people who should be our allies.

What’s more: When we criticize the overall concept of religion in general, we’re accused of over- generalizing, of not understanding the rich variety of religious belief and thought.

But when we criticize one particular form or aspect of religion, we somehow, once again, get accused of over- generalizing — of not seeing that the one form or aspect we’re talking about today doesn’t apply to every form or aspect of religion that exists or has ever existed.

So what on Earth are we supposed to do?

One point that I would like to make in addition to Greta’s fine post is that even though many atheists will happily argue with believers, I suspect that this is not the reason why most of us writes. There may of course be as many reasons for blogging as there are bloggers, but one thing that I think most atheists know is that you can’t convert another person to your own beliefs. You can try to make them convert themselves by encouraging them to think in a different way, but there’s very few religious people that are actually open to considering your actual arguments (and yes, I’m aware that religious people would probably say the same of us, even though I’d contend that allegation).

So why write? I think a large part of it is to compose our own thoughts and arguments into more cogent forms. Another is to connect with other likeminded people and share ideas, experiences and arguments with them. And a third is to reach those who have yet to decide what they think, or who are wavering in whatever belief they previously held and are exploring the options.

At least that’s what I think. I may of course be wrong, but so far I don’t think I’ve encountered any atheists, bloggers or no, that were actually out to convince religious people they were wrong. The arguments are not made for the sake of our opponents, but for those who are watching.

religion, science, atheism, blogging

Like I warned you, this blog is going to broaden its perspective somewhat, and today I’m going to talk about tv shows. There is nothing quite like relaxing in front of the tv … well, computer (since I don’t own a tv), when you’re too tired or depressed to do anything else.

So, what kind of shows does a girl like me enjoy? Usually I tend to prefer scifi or fantasy. I have the same taste in books - I’m of the opinion that if you’re in the business of making things up, you might as well go to town on it and be creative. That said it does happen that I watch more “realistic” shows.

Here’s a few that I’ve watched this summer, as I wait for more Battlestar Galactica, Heroes and House:

Doctor Who: I had only vaguely heard of the old series and was rather wary of watching the 21st century stuff. I suppose I was worrying that the stench of cheese would suffocate me. As it turned out, I absolutely fell in love with the show. (I may even have had a dream about Ten. It wasn’t terribly exciting, he helped me find a new apartment.) I can’t quite say what it is about Doctor Who that makes the show so great and I’m sure other people have written more eloquently about it. I’ll just settle for saying that it rocks, and if you think your suspension of disbelief is good enough to get around the fact that not only is it incredibly cheesy but also riddled with holes rather like a - wait for it - cheese, you will love it. ETA: I forgot to mention one of the awesomest things ever: Richard Dawkins appeared in a Doctor Who episode. w00t!

Torchwood: Knowing there was a spinoff series of Doctor Who featuring the extremely loveable Captain Jack made it somehow easier for me to accept that there would only be four series to watch and that I’d have to wait more than a year for the next one. Unfortunately, Torchwood was a massive let-down. It’s written like a really bad, angsty fanfic that’s too morally repressed to go properly slash-y, the dialogue is abhorrently cheesy, and Jack, who used to be cheerful and outrageously flirtatious in Doctor Who, has turned into a brooding, secretive Angel-clone. He screws around, but there’s no heart in it (and besides, all you ever get to see is kissing). In the end I stopped watching after the first series (and the first episode of the second, because of the guest actor). If someone can swear that it takes a massive turn for the better later on, I may take it up again, but otherwise I think I’m just going to let it be my last-measure back-up plan for when there’s absolutely nothing good left to watch.

Tell Me You Love Me: One of those supposedly realistic shows I happen to stumble across occasionally. I’m not entirely certain what I think of this one. It was well-written and I quite liked the characters; they seemed like real people with real problems. But the way they dealt with their issues didn’t ring true to me. Perhaps that’s because I deal with my own issues so differently. Their complete failure of proper communication irked me - it’s the same in all soaps, sitcoms and drama shows. All problems seem to stem from a total collapse of communication. People more or less deliberately misunderstand each other and then refuse to talk to sort it out. Is that how normal relationships actually happen, or is it just the really fucked-up ones they show on tv because they’re more interesting than the ones where the partners actually sit down with a problem and talk it out? I suppose people who like this show either watch it because they can relate to it, or because it makes them feel morally superiour and happy about their own relationships. For me, it would be the latter, except that after ten episodes of the same floundering incompetence, I’m rather put off.

(I’ve also watched last year’s World Poker Tour, but that doesn’t really count, does it?) Now that you know what I like, feel free to give me hints as to what you think I might like that I’ve missed out on so far. Right now the only series I’m feeling curious about is The Riches, because it has Eddie Izzard in it. I love his comedy but so far his acting hasn’t been very good, so it’d be interesting to see what got this series Golden Globe- and Emmy-nominations.

doctor who, torchwood, tell me you love me