so to continue in my recent vein of posting stuff written by other people, here's a nice little essay about plants.

Green, Life-Giving and Forever Young

By NATALIE ANGIER

Show somebody a painting of a verdant, botanically explicit forest with three elk grazing in the middle and ask what the picture is about, and the average viewer will answer, "Three ( Read more... )

Thousands of starfish have been washed up by a rip tide. They are dying in the sun. One by one, an old man picks them up, carries them to the water and drops them in.

A young girl comes along and says, “What’s the point? There are so many you can’t even make a difference”

The man says, “Tell that to the one I just put back in the water."
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ( Read more... )

ok so, i got over the hurdle of lab meeting. my presentation was slightly dumb but it was funny and pretty (oh my god it was a mirror of ME), and everyone seemed to get a kick out of it. Steven wasn't there, so we were relaxed, which was nice.

the semester is dying a slow horrible death, unfortunately. I wanted it to be quick and painless, but well ( Read more... )

so ive been reading for the past two hours... so i needed to distract myself with ....

1.) Name one person who made you smile today.  My students always make me laugh.

2.) What were you doing at 11:00 this morning? I was up to my elbows in fetal pig.

3.) What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Emailing a student.

4.) What is something you will never forget ( Read more... )

why i don't date italian men, part a million ( Read more... )

oh i forgot to broadcast this on the internet.....
as some of you know, i teach general biology here at Rutgers. In general, my students are really fun and really smart. some of them, however...are not.

recently the students were required to write lab reports based on a series of experiments they performed in lab. one of the themes of the lab was a ( Read more... )

hah. yeah. so some people, when they get stressed out have back or shoulder pain. i get those, but i know im *really* stressed when my calves are sore. yeah. so i can barely walk today.  i mean i can, but it's painful ( Read more... )

oilbird2351: so question.... do you take classes or teach in the summer or what....because for ecologists summer is extra pressure because its field work season ( Read more... )

check out this article about Javan Myna birds and a phenomenon known as "anting"

http://besgroup.blogspot.com/2005/10/anting-ants-in-my-pants.html

i wonder where the insult bird-brain actually comes from, since birds are clearly extremely intelligent.

translation from last night.

Original text:
wow oops clyd is relly fub.
reay nice placw, 
reaktt niuce.
i haventw upatde my ljh in a lodhg timewas.
so iym updatng tonoght gra schoool is very stresdful.
thend

literal translation:
wow oops, clydz (an upscale martini bar in NB) is really fun.
really nice place.
really nice.
i have'nt updated my livejournal in a ( Read more... )