It’s Charles Darwin’s birthday today, I hope you all have plans to celebrate. I think I’m going to just stay home and try to get over my bad case of toomuchtravelitis, and also…CRASH A POLL! Go get ’em, everyone.
Do you accept Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Yes
(65%)
No
(35%)
Happy Monkey Chuck D!
:)
When I voted, it was 84 over 16.
Up to 87% for me. I’ll be celebrating the day in Master Gardener class, spending the day learning about plant identification amongst 51 other people who also accept the Theory of Evolution.
Happy Darwin Day! We need cake!
Happy Darwin Day, PZ, to you and all of the Pharynguloid hordes.
Obligatory complaint about the wording of the poll: “Charles Darwin’s theory” makes it sound like it hasn’t changed in the last 150 years. But, in the spirit of “choose the best answer from those given”, I voted “yes”.
Happy Darwin Day to all of you! As a present, I bumped the poll up to 89% vs. 11%. I’ll be celebrating by spending all day surfing the internet.
On a side note, PZ, did you notice that you’re considered to be one of the 50 most prominent atheists?
http://brainz.org/50-most-brilliant-atheists-all-time/
O Frabjous Darwin Day!
Argh argh argh argh!!!!!!
It’s Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, not “Darwin’s theory of evolution”. That makes it sound as if he came up with evolution all by his lonesome, which I just spent two painstaking weeks instructing my students that he most emphatically did NOT. That’s one of my biggest peeves about evolutionary understanding, that he did the entire kit and kaboodle.
I voted at least ten times before it moved from 94% – 6% to 95% – 5%. It was fun, thanks.
As Mr. Garrison of South Park fame might sing,
“In case you haven’t noticed, it’s Darwin’s birthday,
So get off your f*cking heathen ass and f*cking celebrate!”
It’s up to 96% as of 10.00 am CST.
Have a great Darwin Day everyone.
Happy Monkey!
Celebrating with a meeting of an evolution journal club… and beer.
Sing to the tune of “Happy Days Are Here Again”:
Happy, happy Darwin’s Day,
Oh, happy, happy Darwin’s Day,
Oh, happy, happy Darwin’s Day,
Happy, happy Darwin’s Day!
97%! That was the quickest Pharyngulation I’ve seen. Actually, I prefer Wallace’s Theory of Evolution.
Still at 96% at 9:10 a.m. Arizona time. A couple of years back my newspaper decided to do a yearlong series about anniversaries of each day. Some religious observance was on Feb. 11, I believe, so I proposed that we note that Feb. 12 was Darwin Day. The editor looked at me as though he had stepped in something in a pasture.
Have a good one professor! Tonight, to celebrate, some monkey business!!! :)
Happy Darwin Day! The poll is still 97% to 3%.
That’s not Darwin! Where’s the beard?!
98% now!!!
At 97% Yea / 3% Nay as of 10:20AM CST or (1620 GMT -aka ‘ZULU’- for you airline and military folks out there.)
Maybe he shared the follicles with Einstein, so they couldn’t both be using them at once.
It hadn’t evolved yet?
“Yes” is at 98%.
It’s a rather stupid question. As was pointed out, Charles Darwin didn’t think up the idea of evolution.
And his theory was rather incomplete (what a pity Darwin and Mendel never got together). So technically no, I don’t accept it as a complete explanation for speciation. But I don’t think that’s what they mean.
You can see the beard evolving from some bad ass side burns.
Yes (99%)
No (1%)
We have totally trashed the opponent here!!!!!
I tend to view these polls as a multiple choice question on a test where the instruction say “Choose the best answer” ie. not necessarily the right one.
In most cases, the best answer is the one most likely to piss off the poll creator.
never has one scientific theory gotten so many people so insanely upset, not since the first experimenters discovered that the earth was round, like your head!
Happy Monkey!
We’re making a tradition of celebrating Darwin Day by going out for a banana split. I love this whole “happy monkey” thing, it’s one of my favourite pharyngulisms.
Happy Monkey!
Since the results are to nearest integer*, we should be able to make this a 100% to 0% rout.
* Oh jeez, I can’t remember if 0 counts as an integer or not. Isn’t there some distinction between integers and whole numbers?
better
Hmmmm. Little bit of facial hair, glasses, paint a bridge behind him…….
I was taught1 that “integers” included both positive, negative and zero; “whole numbers” were non-negative integers (including zero); and “natural numbers” were positive integers (not including zero).
[1] This doesn’t mean it’s true. I understand there is some ambiguity depending on who you talk to.
99%! Makes me wonder what the people running the poll are thinking right now.
Happy Monkey, Pharyngulites!
Number of votes not shown.
“Why I hate Darwin’s beard”
:-)
No.
0 is a natural number (nowadays at least).
According to the math text I use, tsg is correct and David Marjanovic isn’t. The natural numbers (or counting numbers) are the positive, non-zero integers. The whole numbers are the natural number plus zero.
Wolfram Mathworld: “Regrettably, there seems to be no general agreement about whether to include 0 in the set of natural numbers.”
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/NaturalNumber.html
Who is Darwin?
IOW, are you pig-ignorant and proud of it?
After all, I wouldn’t claim that a lot on our side know more than almost nothing about evolution, but it’s the old adage that it’s better to be thought a fool than to admit that you’re creationist/anti-vaxxer/astrology believer.
What, we’re trying to cover for the proudly stupid? Yes, I know, it’s slightly better than not to do so, since one part of ignorance is the belief that if there’s a lot of smoke, there must be a fire.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
I voted on this one just because of the wording. “Do you ACCEPT Darwin’s theory of evolution?” Rather than “believe in”. Heck yeah I’m not in denial of reality.
I tend to write Z+ when I want to notate the positive integers and N when I want 0 and positives. When 0 is included, it’s almost always a special case, so its inclusion is obvious. (Both Z and N are written in the blackboard bold style, of course.)
Huzzah! I’m going to bake a cake and celebrate. The poll was 99% “yes” when I voted.
Yes 99%
As I read through Why Evolution is True and The Greatest Show on Earth, I become more and more astounded of Darwin. What an amazing mind he had.
It’s my birthday too :)
Happy Abracharlesham Darwincoln Day!
Two thoughts:
1- Happy birthday, Chuck!
2- Holy Cow! Paul Bettany totally does look like Charles Darwin. http://www.awardsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/darwin.jpg
In most of the elementary math texts I’ve used, the “natural numbers” are identified with the “counting numbers”: 1, 2, 3, etc. Then 0 is adjoined to the natural numbers to form the “whole numbers”. Then include their negatives to form “integers.”
Frankly, I find that it is not helpful to dwell on nomenclature too much in introductory math classes. While it’s important to have names for things, fine distinctions are distracting to adult students who are taking remedial math. (They’ve been failing math their whole lives by the time they get to my developmental math classes at my community college and a blizzard of fussy labels just blinds them.) I tend to use “whole numbers” a lot as a descriptor when we’re learning basic arithmetic operations and then say “signed whole numbers” when extending the operations to include the entire set of integers.
Now if I could do something about the excessively formal way that intermediate algebra books introduce the function concept…
Happy Darwin Day everyone. Now, go out and naturally select someone :-)
Perhaps because of my previous career in programming, I’m a big fan of using the functions that students already know, such as addition, to introduce the concept. “Same input leads to same output every time,” is a lot easier to justify than things like the vertical line test — that introduces the problem of graphing simultaneously, which has always seemed like a recipe for frustration.
My complaint with the wording centers on the verb “accept” (suggests that the average internet surfer is a person of consequence with the authority to accept or reject) but I went with the implied meaning and voted accordingly.
On a tangential note, wouldn’t it be interesting to see a secondary poll: Do you UNDERSTAND the basic points of Darwin’s theory of evolution (by natural selection)?
I postulate that the bar graphs would be almost exactly mirror images of each other.
Current stats aren’t hard to guess for this crowd:
Do you accept Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Yes (99%)
No (1%)
Here’s to the poor benighted fundies, whose blinkered fear of their own evil holds them in thrall and keeps them from appreciating one of the great insights into the workings of nature and one of the great achievements of human intelligence.
Why does it feel so good to crash the polls??
99%
go team
Smashing the opponent, was not my intention to do.
I’m quoting Infected Mushroom now. Don’t mind me.
99% when I voted as well, but that was some time ago.
Personally I’m celebrating Darwin day with bourbon and a cigar when I get home from work. Nothing says ‘Happy birthday Chuck’ like a little mouth cancer.
KJ
I celebrated by trying to consume an entire pack of spaghetti with mushrooms.
Such is the life of a student.
Happy Darwin Day, everyone! Voted, yes: 99%
#60
Aaauuugh. Don’t talk about food. I’m hungry and still have 40 minutes before lunch. :(
Who cares about Darwin’s birthday? His cake has so many candles on it that it’s a fire hazard. Of much greater importance is today is Michael McDonald’s birthday. He was with Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers.
Oh yeah, it’s also Arsenio Hall’s birthday.
99% to 1%
as always, my pleasure to be part of it.
My favourite thing about Darwin Day? All the lecturers on evolution that appear online from various institutes.
Voted yes on the poll, though I really should have voted no. I don’t believe in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, I believe in the modern synthesis (and when it comes out I’ll probably believe in the extended synthesis; the notion of evolvability makes so much sense). I’ll go where the science goes.
Happy Darwin Day! The fact that CD and AL had the same birthday is a good excuse to mention a fascinating-looking book I’ve just bought (but reading it will have to wait until I finish one of the others on the go): Darwin’s Sacred Cause: Race, Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins, by Adrian Desmond and James Moore, already known for a biography of Darwin. Its thesis, based on “unpublished family correspondence, manuscripts and rare books” is that Darwin’s detestation of the slavery he saw at first hand in South America was a key stimulus to developing the theory of common descent, via his conviction that all human races shared ancestry. I’ll report back when I’ve read it.
I voted 99 to 1 still so I think that is the limit.
I will also boast that it is my birthday as well. It is stupid to feel pride in such a meaningless coincidence, but nonetheless, it makes me feel special!
99% to 1%
Exactly what I was thinking.
CRASH A POLL! Go get ’em, everyone
Meow, trundels off
roflmao
Thank you for participating in our survey.
Do you accept Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Yes (99%)
No (1%)
I agree with David @39, I hate the way Darwin is always portrayed as old and bearded. He was a very attractive young man and much better worth looking at in this portrait!
It’s my wedding anniversary too, 28 years. (I was a child bride …)
Happy Darwin day.
Happy Darwin Day, everyone.
Been a very long week, so my celebrations are going to consist of that old favorite: going to bed early ’cause I’m tired, but I’ll pour myself a wee dram before bed just the same.
Voted. Happy anniversary to Janet Holmes, birthday felicitations as applicable, etc.
Still learning,
Robert
Happy Monkey Day, indeed, Mr. D! Of course, you were a genius and lucky as well, but by all accounts, you were a great example of what a human life can be made into.
Yes 99%
No 1%
That’s nicely Pharyngulated…
Happy Monkey Mr. Darwin!
I have celebrated today every year since 1993 when my youngest two, twins (obviously!) were born. So, Happy Birthday to everyone else who was born on this auspicious date!
It went from 99-1 to 65-35… what’s up there?
I love the young spunky Chuck picture and it’s hardly ever used to portray him. Everyone always seems to use the old crusty, got-a-pissed-off-look-on-my-face portrait and it’s so unflattering to a person that, by all accounts, was a bit of a lad.
Although I’m the first to admit I’m not a facial hair kind of girl, even with the young Chuck mutton chops, I’d still hit him.
DARWIN WAS WRONG! That is why I don’t believe in his B.S. so why would I celebrate his Birthday!
1. You’ve no scientific evidence to support the claim that he was wrong.
2. Evolution does not need to be believed. Evolution happens, like gravity. (and both are “just theories”.
3. No one is forcing you to celebrate it. Just like you can’t force everyone to celebrate the birth of your diety.
4. It’s MARCH.
THE CAKE WAS A LIE!
I mean May.
HEADDESK.
Way to come in three months late, dumbass.
Plus I’d love to hear your reasons for not believing.
Dear Scholar of Shen Zhou,
I am writing to inform you that we have received several complaints from all of your neighbours. The details and incidents vary, but generally they consist of you shouting various curses, usually ending with “… a dumbfeck!” followed by a repeated banging noise, sometimes on the wall, floor, and in one case, the ceiling.
Almost needless to say, the amusement value is long gone, and this your neighbours are concerned.
May we respectively request that, in the future, when someone is wrong on the Internet, you very carefully take aim to ensure your head does indeed encounter the desk.
Sincerely yours,
Concerned Trolls for Internet Safety