Topic Challenge 2009... Huh?

Retrieved by Pat Darnell

PHOTO**

*Endorsements from religious leaders are extended in their personal capacity, and not on behalf of any house of worship, organization or denomination.

Whew! That's a load off... now let's see what the topic is this year.
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Coming out
January 8, 2009 5:46 AM, by John Whitfield [SOURCE]
Hi! My name is John [Whitfield]. I've got a PhD in evolutionary biology, and I've spent much of the past decade writing about evolutionary ideas, as applied to everything from literary criticism, to language, to anti-terror policy, and even on occasion to biology. And I've got a confession - I've never read the Origin of Species.

Do I shock you? Good.

I am not proud of this (really, I'm not), but if my professional life has been less stellar than it might have been, it's not for want of reading Darwin. Here's why. [continue reading HERE]

John Whitfield is a London-based freelance science writer. He writes mostly about evolution, ecology and conservation; his work has appeared in Nature, Science, Scientific American, Seed, New Scientist and others

{PHOTO: John Whitfield

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Blogging the Origin
Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, chapter by chapter.
by Virginia Hughes • Posted January 13, 2009

We hope our readers, whether familiar with the Origin..., The, or not, will join Whitfield in his month-long journey through this classic work.

Darwin Day is a recently instituted celebration intended to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin on February 12, 1809. The day is also an opportunity to highlight Darwin's contribution to science and to promote science in general. (why Ikki peed ya)

I [John Whitfield] ...want to imagine it's the 24 November 1859, and that the copy I've just picked up at my local book shop (the 1982 Penguin Classics edition) is in fact one of the 1,250 first editions published that day...That evening, I settle in the parlour, put a taper to the gaslight, toss another urchin on the fire, and begin reading. Will I be thrilled? Horrified? Sceptical? Baffled? Bored? Let's use part of our brains to try and ignore all that we now know about Darwin's biography and legacy, pretend that this is our first encounter with his theory, and that evolution must stand or fall on the quality of the science and writing in the Origin.

I [John] have two main, and entirely contradictory, aims. [What I say above and] , I want to read Darwin from the perspective of someone reasonably clued up about evolution at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and see how the man's ideas stand up in the light of what we know and think about genetics, ecology, evo-devo, paleontology and the like.

__________________________*Be as if you are a first reader in 1859, with no Man\Ape buildup? Do you, my fellow Americans, find it a little bit funny it's 2009, one-hundred and a half-hundred years later since Darwin is born, and in the recent election not once did any one of the McObamaClintonCainDubya -- Cheney -- Planet of the Ape -- HestonKennedyPalinBidenGoreTex groups discuss Evolution Theory, without putting religious tags on it?

Like Jack Pribek's gig bag, covered with stickers...

I, Pat Darnell, do not believe in evolution as stated in Origin of Species, The, simply because by now something should have jumped out of the ocean and started walking. And I did read Origin of Species, The, ...at least pigs should have flown by now ...don't you think so?

Reference
*PRESS RELEASE from Obama for America; Dec. 4, 2007. Renowned Faith Leaders Come Together to Support Obama, Unprecedented group of nation’s top Black religious leaders unveiled, retrieved ( HERE)

**{PHOTO: KENNETH SPENCER RESEARCH LIBRARY, Retrieved HERE, [first edition of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was published in London on November 24, 1859; after deducting author's review and legal deposit copies from the edition of 1,250 copies, all remaining 1,170 copies were taken up by booksellers on that same day]