Broad Swath

This is a busy time for birthdays that I feel are worthy of our memory, if not celebration. The Trump administration and our current cultural maelstrom have breathed new life into a whole library of songs about social turmoil and resistance.  What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding comes to mind. But today is George Harrison's birthday, and over the last two years I've been listening to Beware of Darkness ...    a lot. Beware of Darkness (All Things Must Pass, 1970) Watch out now, take care Beware of falling swingers Dropping all around you The pain that often mingles In your fingertips Beware of darkness Watch out now, take care Beware of the thoughts that linger Winding up inside your head The hopelessness around you In the dead of night Beware of sadness It can hit you It can hurt you Make you sore and what is more That is not what you are here for Watch out now, take care Beware of soft shoe shufflers Dancing down the ...

I'm sitting here wondering what we're going to do to celebrate Charles Darwin's birthday.  What are your plans? A few years ago I placed a portrait of Darwin, the one shown here, in the middle of the dining room table and surrounded him with sea shells, pine cones, and skulls.  I then served a dinner that had a reasonable level of species diversity on the plates.  Dim the lamps, light the candles, and the overall effect was enchanting.  My family thought I was being weird...    again. "Just wait until Theodor Geisel's birthday," I thought. In the process of gearing up for another run at this I discovered that the five kingdoms of my high school biology class (animals, plants, fungi, protists, and monera) had been expanded.  I vaguely knew this, but I discovered additions that had escaped me, and I feel like biologists need to know they have complicated my celebration planning.  My initial idea was to map out a multi-course dinner w...