The religion of Charles Darwin

I previously mentioned the strange significance often placed on deathbed recantations, and specifically the (false) rumor that Darwin recanted and became a creationist on his deathbed. In this lovely post by Carl Zimmer, he dismantles the proposition (occasionally propounded both by creationists and by atheists) that the idea of evolution by natural selection was what destroyed Darwin's religious faith.

pantom was wrong; <user site="livejournal.com" user="jackwalker

In the short term, Katrina isn't going to hurt Bush at all. Approval of his handling of the situation runs 46%-47%, strongly divided by party. Given that this is better than his job ratings just prior to the hurricane, and the way crises focus public attention, I expect his job-approval numbers to go up a little. Expensive gasoline, though, that might cause him some trouble.

Meanwhile, very far away

The Mars rovers are still operating; Spirit is at the top of the hill it's been climbing for the past year, and has been sending back some nice panoramas of the view.