A Lonely Pintail

Strange, but it took me three days to identify a female pintail. She's staying in a large group of mallards in the Lopuhin's Garden. What brought my attention to her was her size (a little bit smaller than mallards), color (rather grey, with yellowish head), and voice (she sounds almost like a goose).

Pumpkin Pie & Pumpkin Pudding

I scored 8.5 of 9.0 for my first asignment in scientific writing. :) That's pretty much good! I completed the second asignment today, and I'm afraid i won't score so high this time :(
Today we undecorated our home after Helloween and finished the pumpkin.

Halloween

Today I woke up to the New White World. This year snow is an early bird. Actually, I can't recall a Halloween with snow. So we have another holiday fun: we will make snowmen!

Assignment

I just completed the first writing assignment for the Writing in the Sciences course. It was inspired by Prof. Kevin McCartney. My thanks to professor. Here it is:

I was just about to summarize a “hot paper” in my field, but suddenly realized how it would bore non-specialists. Let's talk about some major trends in biological evolution. 

If you look at fossils, especially old ones, you would see that they are huge. Many organisms--reptilies, insects, or even microalgae--exceeded all conceivable limits in size. One-meter dragonfles flew among 30-meter trees, whale-sized dinosaurs trampled tree ferns, millimeter algae competed for silicon to build their shells. But then something happened. Up to 90% of Cretaceous organisms extinct, replaced by new Paleogene species. Between Cretacious and Paleogene fossils lies a thin layer known as the K-T boundary, which corresponds to the geologically short time of mass extinction. Scientists hypothesize that the extinctions were caused by one or more catastrophic events, including at least one asteroid impact.

Let's think about it carefully. Why Cretaceous forms are so large? And perhaps even more interesting, why modern forms are so small? Scientists have come up with many answers to the former question, for each group of organisms separatly: entomologists explain the large sizes of insects by a high oxygen content in the atmosphere; zoologists believe that the gigantism of dinosaurs was caused by competition between predators and prey; phycologsts think that algae build massive skeletons because of the greater availability of silicon. I think it is very strange to explain the same phenomenon by so different reasons.

We still do not know basic things about the world we are studying. A few people--even among scientists--ask basic questions. Everyone's just to busy to do so. Nobody seriously addressed the issue of why the life has not become so huge again. What has changed in the world so much that living organisms must be tiny now? This is an excellent reason to think for a while and an endless opportunity for new research.

How much I didn't do...

...and how much I will not do.
I completely lost yesterday, I didn't go to Coarsera classes or to a bank, as I intended. So now I'm just trying to catch up, listening yesterday's lectures (they are not so inspiring, as I hoped) and making a german cake with broccoli. My son mastered a scooter today. I never saw a toddler so fascinated by any thing on wheels.

Struggling through lectures

I'm really struggling. I have three ongoing cources and this is too much. However, I made it today. And yesterday. I just have to hold on to the end of the week. And then another two weeks. And that's all besides my normal duties.
My son developed a new game. He really enjoyes piano now. He's trying to play on every flat surfaces, accompanying himself with songs. I will bring him to frends, who have a piano, this week. I think, he would like it. Let's see.

Learn to write

I haven't been writing here for a while, but I'm going to change it. I just started an online course "Writing in the Sciences", so I want to apply some new skills.
In the first lecture there was a set of rules to become a better writer. There they are:
- Read, pay attention, and immitate.
--> I'm reading as much as can without advises.
- Write in a journal.
--> That's I'm trying right now.
- Let go of "academic" writing habits.
-->This is a good advise, but I don't know how yet.
- Talk about your research before trying to write about it.
--> As soon as I catch someone and make him still enough.
- Write to engage your readers---try not bore them!
--> I try, but up to date I haven't been successful
- Stop waiting for "inspiration,"
--> I wait only for my little son to sleep a bit.
- Accept that writing is hard for everyone.
--> Certainly. Otheways everyone would write forty papers a year, not four.
- Revise. Nobody gets it perfect on the first try.
--> I promise.
- Learn how to cut ruthlessly. Never become to attached to your words.
--> It is very hard, indeed.
- Find a good editor!
--> If I only knew where.
- Take risks.
--> That sounds good!

(The rules are from the Kristin Sainani's lecture)