Happy 200th, Charles!

[caliban]

200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. (Also Lincoln's 200th birthday, as well.)

Darwin's theory of natural selection (which is not "just" a theory, but a theory with overwhelming evidence behind it and don't you forget it) is arguably the most important and influential scientific idea, ever. More so than relativity, more so than quantum mechanics, more so than Goedel's theorem or chaos. It's also so elegant and self-evident a mechanism, it's really quite beautiful.

So celebrate and kiss a monkey today! (Well, not really, they might bite you.)

[Windwalker]

Yes, I see it operate in my own research. When you think about it, it's amazing -- how beautifully it unifies and explains the astonishing diversity of lifeforms.

In celebration I will kiss my Copper Yeti, who's of course an evolved bonobo (*grins*).