darwins beagle's blog

The world is a large and wonderful place filled with numerous opportunities. It is often said that if we work hard enough we can do anything. While I like that can-do attitude, the fact is it is a bit of a hyperbole. Even with all that we have, we simply do not have enough to do everything we may like to do. Our resources are great, but they are limited.  Read More »

On the afternoon of Tuesday, November 12, 2010, Haiti experienced an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale. Many people have died and/or are going to die from it. No one knows the exact number, I have read estimates that range from 40,000 to 500,000. Fortunately official estimates that are coming in seem to be at the lower end of the spectrum.  Read More »

Back when I was in high school, which was long before most of the readers here were born, I went through a stage in which I searched for profound meaning in things. And in searching I quite easily found just what I wanted to find ... things that seemed so profound that only a genius could truly understand them, and by extension some type of uber-genius must have thought them up.  Read More »

One topic that I have yet to blog about is abortion. One reason is because it is contentious issue that does not affect me. I am male, happily married, with one (male) child. Furthermore, I have had a vasectomy so I will not have any more children. Abortion is not likely to be a subject that is going to play prominently in my personal life.  Read More »

I am a big proponent of basic science. That is science for science's sake. By taking an interest in a question, even one that on the surface can seem mundane, research can lead to unexpected, exciting, and important discoveries.  Read More »

I have written 107 blogs up to this point. If you go through them very few deal with politics ... perhaps 2. The reason for that is because I don't know much about politics. If you ask for my opinion on science or religion, I feel pretty comfortable telling you what I know. If you ask me my position on government health care, then I'm in a quandary. I believe our system now is not so good.  Read More »

Charles Darwin was a robust young man when he went on the around-the-world trip on the HMS Beagle. That voyage took 5 years, and he collected data that would eventually lead him to come up with a theory that would change the mind set of the world. But that was the first and last time he would ever leave England. He would marry his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood.  Read More »

Today begins the Copenhagen summit on climate change. I have high hopes that something beneficial will be achieved. But it is not going to be easy. There is a well organized, well funded, and politically powerful opposition to doing anything with respect to global warming.  Read More »