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Happy Darwin Day! It's birthday #199 for the great old man of evolutionary science.

The beauty of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, as a billion better minds than mine have amply pointed out, is its remarkable simplicity. Simple enough even for me to grasp!

In honor of Darwin Day, here's what I'm going to do: summarize, in all its wonderful brevity, the theory of how natural selection works to create change in a population – how it powers evolution, in other words. To challenge myself, I'll do it from the brainpan: no glancing at any sources to refresh my memory or make sure I've got things right. (That's a risky undertaking for a semi-witted layman like me, so I greatly welcome corrections and suggestions for improvement.) Readeth thou more

I'm not (yet) too familar with the Freedom from Religion Foundation, though from the start I like the cut of its jib. In any case, I happened to notice its efforts to erect a monument commemorating the role of non-believers in the US military.

That reminds me of a peeve. "There are no atheists in foxholes" has always irked me as a particularly inane claim. There is of course, the blatant falseness of it, which the Foundation above is attempting to set right. But beyond that: what's the point of the retort? Readeth thou more