October 29, 2005

Seadragon's Science and Books Meme

I am doing seadragon's cool science meme just to prove that we humanities people can do science. And because I want my blog to be interdisciplinary.

Favorite Plant: Cattails. Beautiful and edible. I love the way they ripple in a strong wind.
Second Favorite Plant: Oak trees. The most patient plants I know.
Favorite Moss Genus: Dicranum. It's all about the strong female.
Favorite Amphibian: Frogs. The ones I hear at night.
Favorite Reptile: Painted turtles. Who sun themselves at the edge of the marsh.
Favorite Bird: Great Blue Herons. Who build big untidy nests high in the branches of dead trees.
Favorite Mammal: Humans. Yes, I know that they are destroying the earth. Yes, I know they are a reckless, arrogant, irresponsible species. But still .... I've got this soft spot for them.
Favorite Biological Concept: The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis. The diversity of species is highest when disturbance occurs at an interval between the extremes.
Favorite Ecological Concept: There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Favorite Economic Concept Based on Science: The more places you drill for oil, the more expensive the oil will be.
Favorite Scientific Law: The amount of time a professor spends blogging is directly proportional to the number of papers she has yet to grade.
Favorite Chemical Bond: A covelant bond - when atoms share electrons. Because I am all about sharing.
Least Favorite Chemical Bond: A coordinate covelant bond - when one atom provides both electrons for the pair. That just doesn't sound like a healthy relationship, now, does it?
Favorite Number Associated with Science: I am torn between pi and the mole. Such a difficult choice. Or maybe I should go with the speed of light ....
Favorite Acronym from Forestry: DBH or Diameter at Breast Height. No, I am not making that up. It's how trees are measured.
Favorite Science Writers: Natalie Angier, because I love her feminist take. Robin Wall Kimmerer because I love the way she pairs traditional ecological knowledge with scientific knowledge. E.O.Wilson because he makes me see things I never would have noticed. David Quammen because everyone needs to read Song of the Dodo. Sandra Steingraber because she shows what we are doing to our bodies when we dump toxins into the environment.
Authors who can Change my Mood: Adrienne Rich. Linda Hogan. Audre Lorde. bell hooks. Barbara Neely. Sue Monk Kidd.
Book I Read Secretly and Rarely Admit to: Jill Conner Brown's The Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love.

3 comments:

Mon said...

Impressive! You took me back to my very first (of four) college major with the covalent bonds!!

YelloCello said...

Smiling, because I always liked the concept of covalent bonds, too. And I love Natalie Angier and Sandra Steingraber.

J.K.F. said...

Yay! I love supporting the idea that humanities and science are not mutually exclusive! This post makes me happy. I love the fact that you know about the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. I just like the second law of thermodynamics because it gives me an excuse to allow my office to get messy.

Now I have to read Song of the Dodo. I need good books.

I once wrote a speech using an extended metaphor about chemical bonds and human relationships. There are some interesting parallels...

Thanks for playing. hee.