Darwin Day is coming!

(From The BBC 'Digi-magazine, via the Loom)

In fact, I have trouble navigating the online magazine and I hope the downloaded version works better.

D-26!

I hunted for a countdown widget but many in the Blogger directory were broken and the few I tried from off-site didn't work.

In less than a month, it will be Darwin's birthday. If he were alive now, he would be hailed as the most amazing man ever - nobody else is 200 years old!

That aside, in his time, he was one of the most famous men alive. Even before he published On the Origin of Species, he was well known from his Beagle travel diaries and his scientific work.

John Wilkins, on his blog, Evolving Thoughts, reminds us, however, that we should not deify Darwin. He was a remarkable man, but evolution has changed greatly since his time.

There are many Darwin day events in the US and elsewhere, including one in Yeoksam Dong in Seoul. It appears to be organized by a computer company and I am not sure what is planned. I will contact them and give further news. The contact website, currently with no Darwin Day information, is Zenitum.

Below are two images of the man. The first shows the currently iconic Darwin, old and bearded, while the second shows him as he likely appeared during his voyages as a young man and is from the Darwin Day website, linked above..



Oh, my understanding that America's first Jewish president was born on the same day. C'mon, Abraham is a Jewish name, isn't it? It was funny when Meathead said it on Archie Bunker.

"In one famous episode in the TV sitcom "All in the Family," Archie Bunker said that Jews had a secret way of identifying each other -- they changed to Anglo last names but kept their Jewish first names. Then Meathead piped up with another example, "Abraham Lincoln," and Edith responded, "I didn't know Lincoln was Jewish."

(im from missouri)