This link has been bookmarked by 302 people . It was first bookmarked on 17 Jul 2006, by Erik.
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On this day in 1860, a debate on the merits of the theory of evolution took place at Oxford University. It occurred as part of the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Darwin's book On the Origin of Species (1859) had just been published seven months earlier, and was hotly contested by scientists and theologians on both sides of the issue. Noted biologist Richard Owen had written a scathing review of the book in the Edinburgh Review, and he also coached the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, in his condemnation of the book. On the pro-Darwin side of the issue were several liberal theologians — including mathematician and priest Baden Powell — as well as scientists Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Henry Huxley. Huxley was such an ardent and vocal supporter of evolutionary theory that he came to be known as "Darwin's bulldog."
Bishop Wilberforce, one of the most famous orators of the day, was to be one of the speakers on Saturday the 30th. The hall was packed and hundreds lined up outside to hear the discussion, which came to be known as the Wilberforce-Huxley debate (or the Huxley-Wilberforce debate, depending on whose side you were on), even though there were many contributors to the discussion. There is no transcript of the day's events, but one exchange has reached the status of legend. Wilberforce asked Huxley whether he was descended from an ape on his father's side or his mother's, and Huxley retorted that he was not ashamed to have a monkey as an ancestor, but he would be ashamed to descend from someone who used his great gifts to obscure the truth. Most accounts include some version of this story, but according to Hooker, that may have been all that most people heard. In his report to Darwin (who was too ill to attend), Hooker wrote:
"Well, Sam Oxon got up and spouted for half an hour with inimitable spirit, ugliness and emptiness and unfairness ... Huxley answered admirably and turned the tables, but he could not throw his voice over so large an assembly nor command the audience ... he did not allude to Sam's weak points nor put the matter in a form or way that carried the audience. The battle waxed hot. Lady Brewster fainted, the excitement increased as others spoke; my blood boiled, I felt myself a dastard; now I saw my advantage; I swore to myself that I would smite that Amalekite, Sam, hip and thigh if my heart jumped out of my mouth, and I handed my name up to the President as ready to throw down the gauntlet."
Hooker was the closing speaker of the discussion, and he felt that his speech had carried the day (of course, Wilberforce and Huxley each felt the same way about their own speeches). In the end, though each side claimed victory, most accounts chalk it up as a win for the Darwinians.
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Tonight is Midsummer Night's Eve, also called St. John's Eve. St. John is the patron saint of beekeepers. It's a time when the hives are full of honey. The full moon that occurs this month was called the Mead Moon, because honey was fermented to make mead, and that's where the word "honeymoon" comes from. It is a time for lovers. An old Swedish proverb says, "Midsummer Night is not long but it sets many cradles rocking.
Shakespeare set his play A Midsummer Night's Dream on this night. It tells the story of two young couples who wander into a magical forest outside Athens. In the play, Shakespeare wrote, "The course of true love never did run smooth."
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25 Apr 14
Amber Hadleygreat poetry resource
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Gator TeacherDaily reading by Garrison Keilor on NPR. Downloadable audio available. Broadcasts in DC M-F 6:30 AM
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Carl SetzerCool! My poem "grandmother" is read today on NPR's The Writer's Almanac: http://t.co/dfSMLuY6w8
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He said, "Then it was that books began to happen to me, and I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas."
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Flaubert said: "Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work."
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They each edited the other's work, and they gave each other ideas, and together they helped formulate the school of philosophy known as existentialism, which was the idea that human beings should consider themselves completely free to define their own existence, without regard to religion, culture, or society.
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Simone de Beauvoir said, "The writer of originality, unless dead, is always shocking, scandalous; novelty disturbs and repels."
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05 Dec 12
Melissa WileyRilke wrote: "Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue [...] Live your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers."
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03 Oct 12
Erin McDermottNPR, but specifically The Writers Almanac, is a great tool for students to use to gather information and listen to podcasts, radio shows, and different works of literature. ISTE NET-S 3C
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Áine MacDermotRT @ClaraJeffery: "Whatever the fight, don't be ladylike." --"Mother" Jones, born Cork, Ireland this day in 1837 http://t.co/BNYaTowl
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Candy Boyernew poem read aloud each day - 7 min. daily recording
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26 Mar 12
Chris KervinaSince I teach high school, I also like to share The Writer's Almanac with them. http://t.co/J3WKnIhP #titletalk
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Karen BoschLocal Holland, former Hope College poet Jack Ridl featured at the Writer's Almanac today. http://t.co/JiB36z4z
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William PughThe Writer's Almanac is a five-minute literary offering that appears on hundreds of radio stations throughout the United States. Narrated by author and man-of-many-hats Garrison Keillor, the show offers up poetry and information about authors from the past and present. Each show usually starts with a short poem and then goes on to feature short profiles of various authors, such as Erich Maria Remarque and Zora Neale Hurston. Visitors to the Writer's Almanac website can search the archive (which dates back to 1993) by poem title or author. Visitors can also contact the staff members at the program, take a look at their interactive "Bookshelf", and learn when the Almanac appears on their own local radio station.
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Eoin O'DellRT @KTKING: “On this day in 1644 John Milton published Areopagitica, arguing for freedom from censorship.” http://writersalmanac.publicr ...
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kbhugheyThe Writer's Almanac: http://bit.ly/ttZe6 #writing #amwriting
– Jon Winokur (AdviceToWriters) http://twitter.com/AdviceToWriters/status/26303182222 -
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James Neal"Breakfast at the Road Runner Cafe" a poem by William Notter featured on G. Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac" http://j.mp/9pRdTe - #NewMexico
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Tess AlfonsinA poem a day can help keep you sane and give you a momentary escape from the crisis du jour at your school. Literacy Coach Jan Miller Burkins explains in her book Coaching for Balance why the first email she reads each day is a poem - the daily feed from The Writer's Almanac. She writes, "Even if I have 300 emails in my inbox and they are all flagged urgent, I read the poem first. The poems are rarely about education, so they let me start my day in a neutral mental space. I print out the poems that move me and put them into a notebook. Through this process, I have assembled a personal poetry anthology and have given myself a mental vitamin to jumpstart each day."
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