After linking to the NCSE’s mocking “Don’t Diss Darwin” site, I sent them an email asking if they might add a link to Evolver Zone (which has long had a prominent link to NCSE on the main site). Apparently they “link only to permanent institutional websites” to prevent broken links to fly-by-night pages. Nevertheless, they link to Ray Comfort’s site, Funny or Die, Youtube, and various others that are not permanent institutions as far as I can see. Given that EZ is a free educational resource created by an evolutionary biologist who also happens to be Associate Editor of Evolution: Education and Outreach (which they link to), you’d think they might have been more receptive. But that’s ok, they can focus on making fun of Kirk and Ray rather than drawing attention to actual resources if they like. I have to say I’m pretty disappointed in the NCSE on this one, however.

We have uploaded another set of designs for Darwin Year gear. Be sure to check out the shop (http://www.cafepress.com/darwinyear2009), and for additional stuff keep watching the related website which is still in progress.

If you have a blog, we would certainly appreciate a plug (remember, 50% of the proceeds go directly to charity, and the rest will be spent on developing evolution web resources).

Here are some more examples of what you can find there:

If you get it, you definitely deserve to wear it:

More quotations:

These I am really hoping will turn out on t-shirts:

http://www.cafepress.com/darwinyear2009
http://www.darwinyear2009.com

Two years ago, I had t-shirts made up for my evolution course that depicted Darwin’s notebook sketch of a simple tree diagram capped by the words “I think”. In total, we generated about $500 for conservation charities, and the students got a pretty cool shirt (I still see them around campus fairly frequently). Had I been teaching the course this semester, I probably would have produced the t-shirts again. This is Darwin Year, after all. But I’m not, so I won’t.

Instead, I have teamed up with a good friend (and former fellow grad student) who is now a website designer and graphic artist to come up with a whole line of Darwin Year gear. We are planning to donate 50% of the proceeds directly to conservation charities, and the other 50% is to be invested in developing other evolution-related websites (hint: www.evolverzone.com and www.darwinaut.com). We’ve been having a lot of fun coming up with ideas, and we’ve also been working on a dedicated webpage with recommended books, links, and so on.

Our view is that Darwin Year is not just about Darwin, but is meant to be a celebration of the achievements of the entire scientific discipline that he helped to establish 150 years ago.

If you are looking for evolution-related shirts and other stuff, I invite you to check out the store at www.cafepress.com/darwinyear2009 or the main website www.darwinyear2009.com. Both of these are still under construction, and we’ll be producing many more designs in the near future. But you can already access quite a few designs.

What will you find? Here are some examples:

Word use in the Origin (one of many designs):

www.cafepress.com/darwinyear2009
www.darwinyear2009.com