Great Darwin Beard Challenge – Week 3
Stripped of all biologically advantageous or meaningful body hair, there comes a time in every man's life when he ponders just why the eons of molding, shaping, and changing forces of natural selection have left what little remains.
The answer comes, quite naturally, to all who discover that certain magical stage of hirsute facial existence. There is but one purpose - one singular defining function of this keratinized expression of manhood: to look like a bad-ass.
Thus, we now present to you Week 3 of the Great Darwin Beard Challenge in a new order of presentation.
Great Darwin Beard Challenge Week 3 (click for larger version)
Though our voyage of Darwinian proportions has only just begun, in time we shall bridge our initial childish faces with the woolen wisdom of Darwin himself gracing our chins.
Unless I get an interview...
Join us over at Deep-Sea News for Week 4 in our quest to look a little more like the man himself in our Great Darwin Beard Challenge.
Great Darwin Beard Challenge History:
- The Origin: Deep Sea News, Southern Fried Science, Biochemical Soul
- Week 1: Biochemical Soul, Deep Sea News
- Week 2: Southern Fried Science
Biochemical Sole
In honor of the flatfishes...
The above image arrived in my email inbox last night from the preeminent coral reef expert and blogger extraordinaire Rick MacPherson of Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice & Sunsets.
The subject line simply read "I'm just sayin..."
The pun came from his recent Carnival of the Blue #22 in which he wrote of my post on Flatfish Eyes & Recapitulation Theory :
More Weird Fish Eyes
If you still need some additional fish weirdness, Carnival of the Blue first-timer (hopefully long-timer) Daniel Brown of Biochemical Soul dredges-up memories of 9AM Developmental Biology class as he explores the evolution of flatfish eyes. This post has it all... some ontogeny, some phylogeny, some eyeball migration. Perhaps with the right encouragement we can get Daniel to focus exclusively on the ocean and change his blog title to Biochemical Sole?
Rick's wit never ceases...
Go check him out to see what I mean.
I'm actually finding myself craving fish now.
The Great Darwin Beard Challenge – Week 2
This week's installment of the Great Darwin Beard Challenge is live over at Southern Fried Science. We are in week two now, our sandpaper faces replaced by millimeter stubble.
It seems a long way from here to our bushy-bearded Darwinian goals. The "contest" will end on October 1st, the 150th anniversary of the inside cover date of the 1st edition of The Origin of Species - we began on Darwin's 200th birthday, February 12th.
Tiring of simple photographs of our burgeoning bearded faces, Andrew instituted a theme of "hats" this week. Apparently in the Southern Fried Science world, "enormous fake afro" is synonymous with "hat."
What will next weeks theme be? Who knows. Give us some ideas.
We will be rotating through the blogs of Deep Sea News, Southern Fried Science, and here - so be sure to visit all three weekly 
Great Darwin Beard Challenge History:
- The Origin: Deep Sea News, Southern Fried Science, Biochemical Soul
- Week 1: Biochemical Soul, Deep Sea News
Top 6 Search Engine Queries Leading Here
In the past month... (top 6 in entertainment value)
"im a man in panties"
"Sarah Palin is a idoit"
"end of human race dna replication"
"truckpulling black widow"
"preparing for world war iii"
"i'm not even sure we exist same level of consciousness"
I have no idea how most of those came to me.
Really...
XKCD: Beliefs
This comic is a bit old, but it's just so (agelessly) pertinent right now.
XKCD (Randall Monroe): The best nerdy comic artist on the internets