This is why we study evolution

To help people.

Learn how our DNA changes naturally and you can use that knowledge to make people's lives better.

A Haiku and a Limerick

First, the Haiku. It's a tribute to that master of clutchness, Derek Sanderson Jeter.

Jeter, anusface
Jeter, Jeter, anusface
Jeter, anusface

Second, the limerick. I'm stealing it from Christopher Hitchens. I heard it on the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe premium content episode number two.

God's plan made a sporting beginning
'Till Eve spoiled his chances by sinning
We trust that the story
Will end with God's Glory
But at present, the other side's winning

Weepings and Seepings

Lloyd Alexander passed away on May 19th.

I am just learning this now, and I am crushed.

Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain were one of the genuine treasures of my childhood. I never really thought about it before, but of all the things I read as a child, it is the lessons of the Prydain series that have stuck with me more than any other. While I enjoyed—and still enjoy—the Narnia series I didn’t absorb those lessons and today I completely reject their Christian base.

While the Prydain series is a fantasy series—in essence a fairy tale—the lessons it teaches are not supernatural in nature. Yes, there is magic and prophecy and miracles the lessons are about people. Taran spends the whole series worrying about his parentage, ultimately realizing it doesn’t mean a damn thing. What mattered in the end was not who his parents were but who he was. When making his choice in the final chapter, Taran thought not of what his parents would have wanted but about building the seawall at Dinas Rhydnant and making the Red Fallows bloom again. The lesson is to find out who you are and to stay true to yourself. If you do that things will work out, not by some kind of magic but because you’re making decisions you can live with, doing things you’re happy doing, and dealing with people you respect and trust.

And speaking of those you respect and trust, the Chronicles teach that it’s not the high and noble and learned. There are as many bad nobles as good, but bad and good they all leave at the end leaving Prydain in the hands of men and women like Annlaw Clay Shaper, Hevydd the Smith and Dwyvach the weaver—good solid people who work hard and make the world a better place.

These are the lessons of Prydain—the ones I absorbed anyway. I think they are good ones, and I thank Alexander for them.