Even his likeness gazing down at me from above my desk failed to inspireToday is Darwin Day, celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin on this day in 1809, and I got bupkiss for it. I’ve known it was coming for over a week, even had routine reminders popping up in my calendar, and haven’t found a damn thing to actually post about. This holiday really shouldn’t occur in February (and February shouldn’t be spelled February,) and maybe I’ll make the effort to change this in some way. We could always use July 1 (1858,) which was the date that Darwin’s and Wallace’s ideas were first screened by the Linnean Society, or November 22 (1859,) the first publication of Origin of Species (or to be complete, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life,) though November 22 is only slightly better than February 12 for finding something that illustrates Darwin’s ideas decently. Or perhaps I’m just being close-minded and not contemplating the options available to me right now. I mean, there are two domestic shorthair felines asleep on the desk alongside me right now (though not alongside each other – they won’t let that happen,) and I could speculate about the factors that allowed and encouraged this state of affairs, but I’d be more blathering than informing, and certainly not reflecting Darwin’s meticulous examinations in the slightest.
So you’re on your own this time. Do a little research, poke around online, get out those books that you’ve been meaning to read, take part in a five-year sailing voyage taking copious notes on geology and obtaining specimens – whatever works. Just, like, do a better job than I have. I set the bar low for you; no thanks are necessary.
