If you don’t have any fun plans yet, you can find fun events in your area here.
I’m having a belated Darwin Day celebration. The Seattle Atheists are having their party on Sunday the 13th. They’ll be at the Juanita Community Club from 1 to 4:30 pm with games, prizes, food (including birthday cake!). The event is family friendly, so you can bring your kids too!
I hear there will be a game of “Phylum Feud,” which I plan to own. Or more likely, be an embarrassed biologist when I fail miserably.
Though if you’re on the opposite side of the country, you should check out the event Harvard is having. They’re hosting the exclusive New England screening of Matthew Chapman’s (Darwin’s great great grandson) new thriller The Ledge. It’s about atheism! And Christianity! And a “lethal battle of wills”! You can get more information about the free event here.
Rats. I will be on the eastside installing a fence.
I’ll be there. I’ll be hosting the “Natural Selection Raffle,” and other things.Here’s a preview of the sweet raffle: http://wp.me/pRGiK-du
Daniel, Juanita Community Club is on the Eastside. :)
I just had the biggest nerdgasm ever. I AM SO EXCITED!
That’s even more awesome than a drawing to win a motorcycle, which was my initial interpretation of the comment :P
Matthew Chapman, not Michael.
Whoops, brain fart, thanks
I would not have believed raffles capable of such awesome.
Jen McCreight is the best! Thanks from the Harvard Humanists!Link to Darwin Day Exclusive Film Screening: http://www.facebook.com/event….
What is “Phylum Feud”? Google doesn’t say anything useful (therefore is probably doesn’t exist).
I’m an atheist but I refuse to celebrate Darwin Day because I don’t think it sends the right message. Evolution is a science no more than Gravity, Geology, or Mathematics. Yet there is no Einstein Day, No Lydell Day, and no Newton Day. To me, it seems that holding Darwin up on a pedestal above the likes of Newton or Archimedes is lending a bit of creedence to the creationist claim that we revere and even worship him. Do we revere Darwin or not? Additionally, many biologists are quick to point out to creationists that evolution has expanded so far beyond Darwin that it really isn’t “his” theory anymore. Evolution “belongs” to Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins as much as it “belongs” to Darwin. I understand the desire behind Darwin Day, and I realize that ignoring creationism isn’t going to make it go away. But we don’t have to fuel the fire any more than we have to. Why not have a holiday devoted to Science or Reason as a whole and not just limit it to a single 19th century biologist?
Me? All I’ll be doing is writing and recording a song, like I do every year when I do FAWM (February Album Writing Month: http://fawm.org). This year my style seems to be mock bubblegum, so I’ll be doing a musical parody of creationist silliness. And then when I’m done and the song is posted, I’ll go on to my annual snarky Valentine’s Day song…
Here’s the announcement that I got in my inbox yesterday for the event in Shreveport, (NW Louisiana):=====================================Hi Everyone,Thanks to Cran Lucas, we have a great Darwin Day celebration planned for this coming Saturday: Location: LSU-Shreveport Campus — Science Lecture AuditoriumDirections: Entering from Youree Drive, turn right and follow the signs. Time: Saturday Feb. 12 (Darwin’s birthday) at 1:00 PM Activity: An acclaimed movie depicting Charles Darwin’s struggle between science and religion will be shown. It is the BBC production “Creation” with Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connally. The movie depicts Darwin’s struggle between science and religion before he publishes Origin of Species. Darwin’s wife, whom he loved deeply, was very religious and disturbed by his book. Local biologists, including Dr. Cran Lucas, will lead a discussion following the movie. Refreshments: Popcorn and drinks will be provided during the movie. A birthday cake for Darwin will be served and coffee provided afterward. Sponsors: LSUS Secular Student Alliance, Fellowship of Freethinkers, Ark-La-Tex Freethinkers The public is invited. Please tell your friends and family. This is a contribution to real science education in Louisiana!=====================================
Carnegie Mellon University celebrates Pi Day, March 14, by writing pi in chalk on the sidewalks starting at the main road that goes by campus and continuing to some umpteenth digits. Even in foot-high numbers, it covers lots of the sidewalks all over campus. [Aside, I just found that “umpteenth” is in the spell checker.]
I like Darwin day. I think we revere him, depending on your definition of revere. These are people who would claim that they don’t worship the Founding Fathers, or the Virgin Mary, or Saints, or Falwell, or Bush, or whoever, but they certainly revere them. If they can make that distinction, surely they can understand that we respect and celebrate Darwin without worshiping him as a god. They pretend they can’t because it suits them it doesn’t matter what we do.
But I would also support a Newton Day, Einstein Day, Sagan Day, etc. We could have a secular scientist holiday for every religious holiday. But if we really want to have one big one, and some are dissatisfied with it being Darwin, I propose Galileo day. Since he helped to create modern science and had a profound impact in a number of fields and was silenced and prosecuted by the church for promoting facts that disputed their cosmology, he’s the perfect scientist to celebrate.
BTW, his birthday is coming up on the 15th, so we’d hardly have to change the date. We could even make it a joint Darwin/Galileo day.
Um, Einstein, and the rest of physics were celebrated in 2005 with the “Year of Physics” (2009 was the year of astronomy and 2011 is the year of chemistry). Newton was far more arrogant than most and as such I believe should not have a day devoted to him. Darwin’s Birthday is in the most depressing month of my calendar, as such I need the pick-me-up more on Darwins birthday than say Fermi’s (Sept 29th for those wondering). Partying with the living on their birthday is cool, celebrating their birthday without them while they are still alive is both creepy and stalkerish. One final comment – Single day devoted to science – December 10th. Single day devoted to science shenanigans – Pi Day, Carnegie is not the only university that parties down on pie day. Most student organisations I have been involved with make at least some kind of effort on the mathematically tasty day.
I’ve celebrated both Newton Day (on 25 December though it should have been some time in January) and Einstein Day (14 March, by coincidence my birthday), as well as Galileo Day (15 February) for years–probably from before most of you were born. Come to think of it, though, I don’t think I’ve ever celebrated Darwin Day.
I’ll be hosting my son’s eighth birthday party with a bunch of his friends at Leonardo’s Basement (http://www.leonardosbasement.o… which does science and technology workshops for kids!
‘Hopefully’ marking papers …
Well – during the day I’ll likely take some aluminum cans to be recycled, maybe do a bit of shopping at Costco, perhaps pick up some junk at Apache Reclamation; in the evening I am attending the ASU Origins Great Debate – What is Life (http://origins.asu.edu/news/gr… – which should be a suitable way of “celebrating” the day, right…?
Juanita!!?? That ain’t Seattle!
They couldn’t have had an “observed” Darwin Day in the summer when I could have a party in the back yard, and put some highly-evolved herbivore meat on the grill?
I looked for dates and it’s near impossible to find a good celebratory date for Darwin in Summer. He wrote the notes that would become the origin and had his initial sketch of a “tree of life” in July. He died in April. That’s about it. But then again, Darwin day is perfect for Australians.
Also for Californians, since it’s also summer here. >.>
That’s actually close enough to where I live that might consider attending. Too bad it’s a members-only event…
Not doing anything personally, but the ladyfriend managed to get a bio professor to speak to her club about evolution, and I lent her my copy of Inherit The Wind to play for the club afterwords.
I am going to get together with some members of my group, the Fredericton Freethinkers, to have dinner. Yesterday, one of the groups on the UNBF campus had a Darwin Day celebration. We played Pin the Tail on the Beagle, using a Snoopy towel. Ha ha ha ha ha!
“Why I WON’T be celebrating Darwin Day 2011”