And Now For Something Completely Different
When I was in Italy, we went dessert wine tasting in Marsala - the almond flavor is very sweet. We also checked out the archaeology museum. I have been in this room and seen this Punic ship. Possibly from a naval battle in 241 BCE, remains of two warships were found in 1969-71, only 70 m from each other. You can read more about it under Marsala Punic Ships but if you're interested there are a quite a few underwater archaeology sites to choose from.
Even more (but not much more) closely related to my field is the discovery of the remains of the HMS Beagle. I don't know if they're going to find any 'ape to man' illustrations on board or even what they are looking for, but it would be good to take a look at the old girl. Probably not for Darwin though. He is described in Voyage of the HMS Beagle as being incredibly seasick, which accounts for all the time he spent on land collecting specimens. Also, he jumped onto turtles to see what they could do. Keep in mind he was a young man - he didn't write Origin of the Species until much later in life. Maybe that's why he kept jumping on turtles.
Even more (but not much more) closely related to my field is the discovery of the remains of the HMS Beagle. I don't know if they're going to find any 'ape to man' illustrations on board or even what they are looking for, but it would be good to take a look at the old girl. Probably not for Darwin though. He is described in Voyage of the HMS Beagle as being incredibly seasick, which accounts for all the time he spent on land collecting specimens. Also, he jumped onto turtles to see what they could do. Keep in mind he was a young man - he didn't write Origin of the Species until much later in life. Maybe that's why he kept jumping on turtles.
posted by The Grave Digger at 4/12/2005 09:42:00 AM
4 Comments:
Carthaginians - kings of the seas! ...until we Romans kicked their butts. Thrice. So much bloodshed in those days...sigh.
I think Darwin is one of those famous folks who married or was in love with their cousin. I think it's Darwin, Einstein, Tennyson, Poe...I think there's another. I don't have any hot cousins, so I'm safe. :-)
Darwin was married to his cousin, as many of the rich folk did in his day - keep the money in the family. Later in life, when he was experiencing numerous health problems (as were his children) he too late began to recognize the disadvantage of incest.
I heard the children of first cousins aren't really any more likely to have mental or physical health defects, as was once thought. Which means the Mrs. and my dirty little secret need never get out.
Having children with first cousins is about as dangerous as having children after 40. But if first cousins have children for several generations (as the Darwins likely did), eventually you end up with hemophilia or some other nonsense.
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