Fact: 65 % of Americans believe literally in the story of Noah's Arc. And a freakishly large brigade of Friends of Adam and Eve believe that 6,000 years ago, after a whirlwind six-days, man and dinosaur co-existed. This just in: most scientists think otherwise.

This Spring, The California Academy of Sciences will celebrate Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of his book, “On the Origin of Species” with EVOLVE 2009 - a war on the war on science. The city-wide celebration will begin February 12 with a kick off party --  let’s call it a monkey bash --  where Darwin-enthusiasts can sip cocktails and get all Neanderthally. Party-goers get to  touch snakes and check out the Academy’s Islands of Evolution exhibit without the usual swarm of tourists and strollers.

The creationists and their Bibles not Big Bangs notions alarm Greg Farrington, the director of the new Academy of Sciences, to no end. Farrington gets utterly irked when some folks (probably not too many san Franciscans) say they don’t “believe” in evolution. Evolution, Farrington stresses, is not a religion, so it's not a “belief”.

Throughout the spring, the Academy and other San Francisco cultural institutions, including the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, the San Francisco Botanical Garden and the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, will host a series of evolution-themed programs and events designed to boost public understanding about evolutionary theory and its applications in modern science.

So, in the words of the immortal New York Dolls, “you’re designed so intelligent/Ain't no way that was an accident/C'mon shake your monkey hips/My pretty little creationist/Oh yeah!"