Animal Recordings. Dotcom.

Eat my educational interactives baby! The Cornell University Lab of Ornithology project I designed won second place in Science magazine’s 2006 Visualization Challenge.

Plus, we were on the front page of Der Spiegel last week, so Germans love us!

What does this mean for you? It means you can now go online and visit the world’s largest collection of animal sounds and video. Listen to animal recordings and watch videos for free. Explore the crazy world of animal behavior.

Right now you can use Realplayer to listen to sounds, or you can download our plugin that lets you watch and manipulate spectrograms in real-time. Which has never been done before, incidentally.

So, to summarize, alligators, elk, robins, and whales, all online and free. Good? Go nuts. Version two should be out in a few months.

Flint Photos


I put up some photos from my recent trip home. Flint, MI. is the same as ever, but with a new 10% unemployment rate.

Not to mention the State takover due to a bankrupt city treasury!

Enjoy the squalor and car parts, folks.

Escape from Flint, MI

77028410v1_240x240_Back.jpgI returned to work this morning and jumped straight into an application QA test. It was one of those 10 emails a minute, every-tester-pointing-out-the-same-bug days. It was great. We got tons of feedback, and our application didn’t explode and leak metadata all over the desk.

In other news, there is an inch of mold in the bottom of my tea stein.

Hope you all had a good Labor day break. Here are my photos of Flint, for your morbid pleasure.

Earthen Jar!

I ate at the Earthen Jar in Ann Arbor. I am full. And smug. Full of smug.

I miss this town. It’s big enough to be livable, but small enough to feel friendly and be full of trees.

If only Ann Arbor houses cost under a million dollars.

Labor Day

I’m going to Flint tomorrow. I’ll be in town through Tuesday.

I hope to visit my mom’s library on Friday, assuming I don’t expire from the cold I have developed.
For your envy and amusement, my itinerary: I’m getting up at 4am so I can leave Ithaca at 4:30am so I can get to the Syracuse airport at 5:30am so I can fly at 6:30am so I can tranfer in DC at 8am so I can arrive in Detroit at 9:30am.

All to get to Flint.
Has mankind ever made such efforts?
Has anyone ever had to work so hard to get to Flint?

Spider week

sos.gifEvery year the spiders come. They come in herds. They come alone. Through the drains and under the door, they come.

Spiders. For a week in September, our home is not safe from their octo-legitude. They get together, pick a time and make themselves at home.

This weekend I vacuumed about 35 spiders from various parts of my house. I vacuum every week. This isn’t lazy housekeeping. This is an invasion.

I complained to friendErin, but she had no sympathy. “In Arizona,” she said, “the local tarantulas migrate. There can be up to three miles of solid tarantula on the road.”

Not much fun in a moped.

Wishing you a bipedal day,
-Erica

Staff picnic

The staff picnic is today. There are a few firsts this year, including the availability of beer (gasp!) and wine (eek!) provided by our generous overlords. This is a controversial move. Alcohol and Campus Events are a lawsuit-attracting combination, and it takes a brave administrator to go down the Dark Road of Official Permission Forms. avengerhero.pngUnless, of course, the intent is to butter up potential funders, in which case let the vino flow!

Mary, my mentor, boss, and friend has foolishly volunteered to orchestrate an hour of children’s games. In the interest of preserving her sanity (that I might make use of it in the future), I have volunteered to help.

Mary’s plan: lots of candy.
My plan: Superhero games.

Who can jump the highest?
Who can turn invisible?
Who can talk to animals? Quick! Rescue that heiress!
Over there!
Waaaaaaay over there!

For your amusement, the HeroMachine. My superhero has bat wings and an electrical aura. Neyah.

Wish me luck.

My new shopping technique is unstoppable

(apologies to mnftiu.cc)

I visited the Cornell Dump & Run this weekend, an ingenious fundraiser that sells the cast-off detritus of graduating students. I went last year and got a pretty good idea where the good stuff was located. I made a beeline for the bags, dresses, lamps, and women’s tops.

For $28, I came away with:

  • Gucci handbag
  • Banana Republic handbag
  • Kate Spade handbag (washable stain on bottom)
  • Paul Frank monkey wallet, new
  • Liz Claiborne purse and wallet
  • $360 red BCBG dress (looks new, fits!)
  • Banana republic jeans that mysteriously fit my body
  • Ann Taylor cashmere sweater and shell
  • Esprit fall jacket, new w/tags
  • University of Chicago hoodie, looks new & warm
  • DKNY party skirt to Ebay (size 4, free to any interested anorexic readers)
  • A variety (20 or so) of nice work clothes from various high-end retailers
  • A variety of nice work clothes that don’t fit me but will fit friends
  • Wood beaded necklace
  • Benetton blazer, one loose button
  • Chrome clamp-on desk lamp, looks new
  • Various office supplies
  • Swanky Lexus Keyring

Ladies and gentlemen, beware my discount bling!