Subject: Test

From: "R.Stephens" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:41:42 +0000

Darwin Day Celebration

AN INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF SCIENCE AND HUMANITY

2682 Middlefield Rd., Suite P, Redwood City, CA  94063-3467 l  
[email-masked]  l  650-701-1948

 

To:

Subject: Darwin Day Celebration 2007!

Date: 1 December 2006

Dear <name-of-advisor>,

Another year has rushed by and it's time to begin promoting Darwin Day 
Celebrations again, that will take place on, or near, February 12, 
2007.  Of course our long-term objective is to evolve a GLOBAL 
celebration of Darwin, Science and Humanity by 2009, Darwin's 
bicentennial birthday and the sesquicentennial of the publication of his 
famous book /On the Origin of Species*.*/  With only two more years to 
reach out to the world more effectively, our staff has just completed 
the development of a Web architecture based on /Dreamweaver /technology 
that replicates a common "tree" of Web pages for each language.  That 
structure will/ /permit volunteers in any country to translate our Web 
site into their language with a minimum of complexity.  We will also 
provide translators with a blank page on which to present perspectives 
for their own culture, including an opportunity to showcase their 
scientists, philosophers, writers, etc.  If any of you have students or 
know of individuals with good computer skills, who speak a non-English 
language, and for whom English is a second language, we would welcome 
their participation as translators in this project!

As was reported earlier this year, DD celebrations held on February 12, 
2006, were a tremendous success, with over 650 events being held around 
the world in at least 13 countries.  In addition, */we made the news in 
a big way/*, appearing in over 150 newspapers, E-news articles and even 
on prime time TV news -- all of which must have reached at least a few 
million members of the public, assisting them to understand and 
appreciate more about Charles Darwin and his influence on modern life.

We have already received information from some of the organizations that 
intend to have very meaningful Celebrations in 2009.  Among these are;

/1.      /The Town of Shrewsbury, Darwin's birthplace where the 
following quote was taken from their website --/ "Organisers have drawn 
together the arts and the sciences to create a// /constantly evolving 
and wide ranging programme that will expand over the coming years, 
culminating in 2009 with a calendar of events, which/ /will form the 
epicentre of the global anniversary celebrations".///  To visit their 
website go to //*darwinshrewsbury.com/about/index.html 
<http://www.darwinshrewsbury.com/about/index.html>*./

/* */

2.      /The Beagle Project, where plans are well underway to build a 
replica of the Beagle in Pembrokeshire to be launched in 2009.  From 
their Web site -- "//The replica Beagle will serve to remind the world 
of the greatness of Charles Darwin, of the bravery of all who sailed in 
the quest for discovery and as a means to inspire a new generation of 
young scientists by sailing in the wake of the greatest biologist ever 
to live: Charles Darwin ------ the replica Beagle will be built in 
Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, will cost £3.3 million and be launched in 
2009 before embarking on a recreation of the 1831-36 voyage"/.  To visit 
their website go to,/ *thebeagleproject.com 
<http://www.thebeagleproject.com/>.*/**

* *

3.      An Internet group planning for 2009 that impresses me, describes 
itself as an '*Internet* *Congregation*' and is hosted by a group from 
Bangladesh know as Mukto-Mona.  I encourage you to visit the Darwin Day 
section of their website where it suggests /"Plan a big celebration on 
Darwin's 200^th birthday in 2009,"/ *by **going to 
*mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm 
<http://www.mukto-mona.com/Special_Event_/Darwin_day/index.htm> ./ /**

/ /

The Darwin Day Board of Directors and staff greatly appreciate the 
collective contribution of our Advisory Board in their efforts to 
promote Darwin's legacy in their work and in the publications that they 
regularly produce.  I'm personally pleased to see that many of you have 
participated in Darwin Day Events during the past several years, and 
this brings me to a question I've been pondering for several months --- 
can any of you imagine and suggest something that all members of our 
illustrious Board of Advisors might do together, once a year over the 
next 3 years, leading up to Darwin's bicentennial, that would be 
publicly visible enough to promote Darwin Day, as an AUTHENTIC GLOBAL 
CELEBRATION?  My best suggestion is to issue a joint press release, 
bearing all of your names, to an increasing number of the national and 
international news agencies and organizations each year.  From my 
experience with press releases for Darwin Day I've found that the most 
effective ones are those sent just prior to the date of the Celebration 
in late January or early February.  If any of you have had more 
experience with the international press and/or would be willing to 
author a press release that all could sign, I would be pleased to hear 
from you.  For easy communication I have also included everyone's name 
and email address at the top of this E-letter for you to use in this 
regard.  In addition, I look forward to any suggestions that you might 
have that would be more audacious and catch the attention of all kinds 
of media outlets.  Currently we have about 163 news services and other 
outlets on file mainly in the USA and we would appreciate any assistance 
you can offer.

The Darwin Day staff at www.darwinday.org <http://www.darwinday.org/> 
will be working hard to expand the number of EVENTS that take place in 
2007 and appreciate your continuing support!  By the way, we often 
receive compliments on the aesthetics of our website, so if you haven't 
visited it for a while, I invite you to browse there for at least a few 
minutes.

Sincerely yours,

Bob Stephens, President, Darwin Day Celebration