Charles Darwin, age 6. An 1816 chalk drawing of Charles Darwin at age 6, derived from: Charles and Catherine Darwin, 1816, chalk drawing by Ellen Sharples. Public domain.
According to the National Center for Science Education, International Darwin Day, which is technically Darwin’s birthday on February 12, actually begins today in Denver. You may find a worldwide schedule here. A plurality of celebrations occurs on February 12, but you may find other events into April.
Additionally, NCSE reminds us, Religion and Science Weekend is February 13-15 and approximately coincides with Darwin Day.
Ludwigia peruviana – Peruvian primrose-willow. Mr. Lundin submitted the picture to the 2023 Photography Contest saying, "sp. unknown, found at Lemon Bay Park and Environmental Center, Englewood, Florida, April, 2012." Google Lens thinks it is L. peruviana. The US Geological Survey shows the range of L. peruviana in North America to include Florida and thereabout. The plant is native to South America. Comments invited!
Coracles, probably Baghdad; what the real Noah's Ark would have looked like. By Nile and Tigris. Journeys in Egypt and Mesopotamia on behalf of the British Museum between the years 1886 and 1913 (1920), showing coracles, or circular boats woven from reeds and sealed with pitch. Wikimedia, public domain.
According to my monthly Kentucky Open Records Act (KORA) request, December Ark ticket sales were the lowest ever (with the exception of 2020 – during the Covid pandemic). In December, 2025, the Ark sold 35,223 tickets, about 4,000 less than December, 2024. Of course, these ticket sales numbers don’t include lifetime pass members or children under 10.
The December ticket sales number means that the Ark sold 652,342 tickets in 2025. These numbers indicate that the Ark will never come close to the 1.4 to 2.2 million attendees per year projected when the Ark was begging/shaking down Grant County, Williamstown, and Kentucky Tourism for perks including 100 acres of land for $2, $200K cash, reduced taxes, a $62 million bond, and $1.825 million/year in sales tax rebates.
Because of massive donations, AIG and its shell companies are not in danger of collapse. They, are not, however, doing as well as in previous years.
According to AIG opponent, Evangelical Christian, and biologist Dr. Joel Duff, there have been layoffs recently at AIG and the Ark. See his analysis here: apparently, there have been numerous layoffs, retirements, and other departures from AIG.
This is just a short note, with no comment, to alert our readers to a splendid article, Killing the Golden Goose: Evangelicals, Trump, and the War on Science, by Rodney Kennedy. Dr. Kennedy is a writer and was formerly pastor at the First Baptist Church of Dayton, an American Baptist Church, and several other churches. His article is hosted by Righting America, which is a forum for scholarly conversation run by William Trollinger and Susan Trollinger.
In brief, Kennedy argues that science is the goose that laid the golden eggs and made America prosperous. Evangelicals, he says, have targeted science for over a century. But now something has changed, and conservative evangelicals allied with Donald Trump have taken direct aim at the entire scientific enterprise.
Kennedy outlines “only a few of [Robert F.] Kennedy’s devastating moves,” “Trump’s disastrous handling of the pandemic,” and how “[s]cience before MAGA [made America] the greatest scientific nation in the world.” As a result, he says, scientists are desperate to find jobs in Europe, Canada, and elsewhere.
To comment on this article, click on its title, which will bring up the article on its own page, with its Disqus comments section after the post.
Taygete decemmaculella, Boulder, Colorado, July17, 2025. Found inside house. I have no idea whether this moth is rare, but Butterflies and Moths of North America (the link above) shows only a handful of sightings and none in Colorado.
