8 January 25

As requested by Carter Rae Beatty, I'm wearing my moths-flies-and-beetles tie, to honor their birthday (7 January). Carter is my niece, married to Matt Lang. They live in Asheville, where Carter enjoys looking for the critters (bugs) native to western North Carolina! Carter works for Southern Highland Craft Guild.

25 September 23

Today marks the birthday of Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945), early-20th-century researcher in genetics. He was born in Lexington, KY, and his childhood home "Hopemont" is preserved as a museum and special events venue. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933, becoming the first Kentuckian on the Nobel lists. His work with fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) came at a time before genetics was recognized as a distinct field of study, but his experiments with inherited factors led directly to establishing the theory of chromosomes as the carriers of genetic information. My tie shows other flies along with moths and beetles.

23 May 23

Carl Linnaeus, the "Father of Taxonomy," was born on this date in 1707. Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist. My tie celebrates the orders of moths, butterflies, bees and wasps, beetles, and grasshoppers and crickets -- Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera. Today also marks the birthday (in 1910) of Margaret Wise Brown, author of Good Night Moon and The Runaway Bunny.

23 May 22

I'm wearing my moths-flies-and-beetles tie to honor the birthday of Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the creator of the taxonomic system we grew to love in biology classes. Today is also the birthday of William Kester (1787-1866), far less famous than Linnaeus but still honorable as one of my third-great-grandfathers (of which there are sixteen in standard genealogies). I usually use the "K" tie bar for Kleppingers, but it is certainly suitable for Kester ancestors too. I described the convoluted Kester and Webster intermarriages earlier this year; William Kester married Mary Webster, who was his second cousin from four directions!

12 February 21

 Today marks the birthday of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). As noted by others, there's a calendar-counting curiosity in the fact that these two (as anyone else born on that date) would be 212 on 2/12/21. My tie celebrates Darwin Day with images of moths, flies and beetles such as the specimens the great biologist collected as he studied the diversity of species on our planet. I will also take this chance to note the birthday tomorrow of our son-by-inclusion David Anderson, who has recently moved to a student services position at Vanderbilt University. Happy Birthday, David!

25 September 19

Today marks the birthday of Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945), early-20th-century researcher in genetics. He was born in Lexington, KY, and his childhood home "Hopemont" is preserved as a museum and special events venue. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933, becoming the first Kentuckian on the Nobel lists. His work with fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) came at a time before genetics was recognized as a distinct field of study, but his experiments with inherited factors led directly to establishing the theory of chromosomes as the carriers of genetic information. My tie shows other flies along with moths and beetles.

22 May 19

Happy Birthday, niece Aimee Moiso! Aimee is married to my oldest nephew C. Nolan Huizenga, and they live in Nashville, TN. Aimee is a doctoral student in Homiletics and Liturgics at Vanderbilt University. When I asked her to choose a tie for today, she said "Given the changing of the seasons in recent weeks, I think I probably need to go with the bug one - with the moths, etc. on it." And the names for the insect orders on this tie makes it particularly appropriate to honor the birthday tomorrow of Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the "father of modern taxonomy."

3 July 18

Today's tie featuring moths, flies and beetles honors the birthday of German writer Franz Kafka (1883-1924). His most popular work, Metamorphosis, tells the story of Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, who wakes one day to find that he has become a monstrous beetle or cockroach ("ungeheures Ungeziefer"). Gregor and his (human) family face monstrous challenges as they gradually become aware of their new circumstances, and while there are some moments of sympathy/care, it's clear that love cannot triumph for the Samsas. The framed print on my office wall is Salvador Dalí's "Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory" . . . with elements resembling the disintegration of Gregor Samsa's life!

23 May 17

Carl Linnaeus, the "Father of Taxonomy," was born on this date in 1707. Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist. My tie celebrates the orders of moths, butterflies, bees and wasps, beetles, and grasshoppers and crickets -- Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera. Today also marks the birthday (in 1910) of Margaret Wise Brown, author of Good Night Moon and The Runaway Bunny.

25 September 16

Today marks the 150th birthday of Thomas Hunt Morgan, native of Lexington, Kentucky, who pioneered genetic research with Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) around 1900. He received the Nobel Prize in 1933 for his work that established the chromosome as the unit of heredity. Fruit flies belong to the order Diptera, the true flies.

24 November 15

On this date in 1859, Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species," documenting the theory of evolution through natural selection. His research involved the collection of specimens and field observations of thousands of animals, including moths, flies and beetles. You can view the specimen collection of Darwin's comrade Alfred Russel Wallace at http://goo.gl/7rKE5W.

3 July 14

The bugs on today's tie are celebrating the 1883 birthday of Franz Kafka, most famous as the author of "Metamorphosis." That is the story where Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman, wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed into a "monstrous verminous bug," usually pictured as a gigantic cockroach.

20 August 13

Today is World Mosquito Day, honoring the date of the discovery (in 1897) that female mosquitoes transmit malaria between humans. My tie features other winged insects and their taxonomic orders. Mosquitoes are in the order Diptera, the true flies.

23 May 13

Carl Linnaeus, the originator of modern biological taxonomy, was born on May 23, 1707. My tie celebrates the orders of moths, butterflies, bees and wasps, beetles, and grasshoppers and crickets -- Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, and Orthoptera. Today also marks the birthday (in 1910) of Margaret Wise Brown, author of Good Night Moon and The Runaway Bunny.

22 May 12

To celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity, I'm communing closely with my office Norfolk Island Pine and also sporting my tie with flies, moths and beetles.

23 May 11

Today is the 101st birthday of Margaret Wise Brown, author of Goodnight Moon and other children's books. I don't have any appropriate tie (except maybe Van Gogh's "Starry Night," or "Bedroom at Arles"!) for the theme of "Goodnight comb / And goodnight brush / Goodnight nobody / Goodnight mush / And goodnight to the old lady whispering 'hush.'" So instead I'm honoring the birthday (in 1707) of Carolus (Carl) Linnaeus, the "father" of biological taxonomy, the system of naming and classifying organisms by kingdom-phylum-class-order-genus-species. The bunny in Goodnight Moon is probably an Eastern cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus.

16 November 10

Celebrating taxonomy, even without a specific occasion for this date. The detail photo is accurate for the tie but didn't capture the true greenness of the shirt!

22 April 09

Today is Earth Day. Beth suggested dragging a tie through dirt before wearing it, but I chose to celebrate moths, butterflies and beetles instead.

26 October 08

With no special occasion known for today, I asked my mother-in-law to select a tie, and she chose the one that shows typical specimens from the entomological orders for moths, butterflies, and beetles. You can glimpse my mother-in-law in the entry for 23 October.

6 July 08

In summer our yard is filled with bees, beetles and butterflies, buzzing and fluttering around wonderful flowers like bee balm and lilies.