Posts Tagged ‘evolution’
Lincoln and Darwin Sitting in a Tree…
February 12th, 2010
It’s that time again! Happy Birthday, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin! This year they would have turned 201 years old.
Last year was the big year – 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of “The Origin of Species.” This video essay was my first project for Time Magazine’s website. Produced by Craig Duff and edited by Jim Fields:
Stand Up for Evolution!
February 28th, 2009
Continuing our celebration of 2009 as The Year of Science, this is my second video for the COPUS Project.
Science Comedian, Lincoln, and Darwin on Time.com
February 16th, 2009
If you know me, you probably know I’ve always had a thing about Abraham Lincoln. Nothing kinky. It goes back as far as 2nd grade – at least that’s my oldest surviving writing about Abe.
Now, combine that with my obvious respect for Charles Darwin – who shares his birthday with Lincoln (February 12, 1809) – and you’ll know how excited I am to have tied it all together in a video piece celebrating their birthdays – and also the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.”
I wrote the piece and it was produced by Craig Duff – and today it’s featured on the front page of Time.com – as a “Must See” video about Lincoln and Darwin.
“Lincoln and Darwin – Birthdays and Evolution”
Check it out, let me know what you think – and please feel free to forward it to EVERYONE!
* Update 2/23/09: Although it was only a “Must See” video for a short time, now it’s displayed as one of the most popular videos!
Stand up straight!
August 7th, 2008
My mother used to tell me to “stand up straight.”
It was one of her favorite things to say: “Stand up straight!”
Many other people, I have discovered, also grew up hearing that phrase. It’s nearly universal. As if mothers were programmed to say it. In fact, I believe mothers have been telling their children to “stand up straight” longer than we realize. Perhaps even to pre-human days.
What if that were the driving force behind the evolutionary trend to walk erect?
Mothers nagging their children up the evolutionary ladder:
“Stand up straight!
“Don’t drag your knuckles when you walk!
“What’re ya born in a tree?
“You want the other families to think we’re not evolving?”
“No, mom…”
Then: “How many times do I have to tell you?”
And, therein lies the origin of mathematics:
“How many times?…well, if I put the three here and carry the one….”
Science Comedy Video
August 5th, 2008
A montage of some of my science comedy routines, taken mostly from two events at the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences (in 2006 and 2007).
A couple clips from my 2008 performance appear earlier in this blog (on cell phones and Karma) and more are coming soon.
