Piltdown Superman

Sebastian the latrine digger at the Darwin Ranch (up yonder by Deception Pass) had cleaned himself up nicely and rode into town on payday. I happened across him at an eatery, and we had a nice lunch together. Conversation meandered, and he displayed a great deal of knowledge about cowboy life. He told me that the heyday of Texas-to-Kansas cattle drives ended long ago, but the need for horse-mounted livestock herders exists in many parts of the world — even in present times. We talked about how South American vaqueros and gauchos educated American cowboys, and I wondered why bolas never caught on here — but the bolas spider has that skill perfected. Bolas spider, Flickr / Judy Gallagher ( CC BY 2.0 ) To be blunt, these tiny spiders are ugly, making it a mite difficult to appreciate their interesting talent. A gaucho could twirl a bola (a cord with two or three balls or rocks for weight) and fling it at an animal, entangling its legs and bringing it down. Night-hunting bola spiders pref

Whether one believes the biblical creation account or the secular myth of origins and cosmic evolution, after it began, the universe was raring to go . Then it started slowing down and acting like it was tired. Eventually, the universe will come to an end, but that will happen according to the Creator's timetable. Creationists have pointed out (and many secularists admit) that there are numerous problems with deep time speculations. That is, what is observed is not consistent with the alleged ages of things. Dog Tired , C. R. W. Nevinson, 1916 The rings of Saturn cannot be explained, either their origin or how they could exist  the huge number of years that secular scientists allege. Geologic structures are not acting their ages, either. Consider that arches have been collapsing . Languages are becoming less complicated and even disappearing, and evolutionists trying to find the roots of languages in ape grunts is...truly bizarre. This tired old universe is wearing out. But that&#

We looked at how people suppress the truth about evidence for the Creator , now we will see an example of how ridiculous these efforts can be. Indeed, using evolution as a vague means of explanation is just an excuse for lazy thinking . Claiming to have examples of and proof for evolution is a good way to get the grant money flowing in. Consider flight, for example. As we have seen, Darwin's acolytes tend to ignore important material in their rush to claim victory for evolution. Mosquito, CDC / James Gathany (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Flight involves specified complexity. No problem, an alleged researcher can just shout down the questions by citing evolution repeatedly. Also, promise to explain how something evolved, but don't deliver. True believers will not notice. New PhD grad Jeff Gau puts on his Darwin-tinted glasses and announces, “We’re looking back 400 million years into how ancient insect muscles must have behaved from an evolutionary standpoi

Somewhere around 56 AD, Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans. Presuppositional apologists such as this child frequently refer to Romans 1:18-23 which explains that evidence for God is obvious to everyone. They are without excuse, choosing to unrighteously suppress the truth. As I have stated before, science and technology progress and humanity discovers all sorts of things that testify of the Creator. These can be in the deepest parts of space or found under high-powered microscopes. Scientists are realizing that organisms appear to be engineered. Ribosome mRNA, Wikimedia Commons / LadyofHats (PD) When someone in the secular science industry uses words that even hint at design and creation, it's "Katie, bar the door!" time. They want the praise to go to evolution. Someone will say that things appear  to be designed but they really are not. That is a theological opinion, old son, not science. Indeed, some are skittish about discussing biological machines  because those ar

Christians know that the Bible is the written Word of God, and many unbelievers admit that it is historically accurate. However, people have struggled with correlating the chronologies with historical events. There are several reasons for discrepancies. Biblical creationists like the dates of James Ussher, but a few consider them almost sacred text. He did have some flaws in his methodology, and in the years since, new knowledge has come to light. Also, other historical records are sometimes inaccurate or use different dating methods. Clocks, Pixabay / Gerd Altmann ( geralt ) It was learned that different anchor dates  were used in texts. Those were not always used consistently and sometimes changed altogether, so adjustments had to be made. There are two major schools of thought on chronologies that are discussed in the paper linked below. Although it is rather long and detailed, people like me are able to get something useful out of the material, and not study the numerous charts. Th

It has long been known that there is a reproducibility crisis in many areas of science. Briefly put, someone will conduct research, submit a paper for peer review, get recognition — but the research cannot be replicated by other scientists. Social sciences such as psychology are notorious for having research that is not reproduced, but other sciences have few such problems. Biology and the like have reproducibility problems as well. The public and other scientists want to be able to see results in the same way with the same data. Scientist with seaweed, Pexels / Chokniti Khongchum A big-time study on reproducibility indicates that it is a problem because of scientists themselves. That is (as mentioned many times here) scientists have strengths and weaknesses, and they have biases that influence their work. Each researcher may give a different response even when given the same data. It also reinforced what many people know: Peer review is not a guarantee of accuracy or truthfulness. Rep

Although darker-skinned people do it as well, blushing is very noticeable in people of European descent. Some blush easily and others may not ever. It is considered attractive, and women's makeup includes a blush tint. Fish, animals, and flowers may have reddish tinges that are called blush. Charles Darwin did not appreciate the notion of his time: Blushing was designed by God to display human shame. (Mayhaps that is true, but this child is not convinced.) What is interesting is that apes and other animals do not do it. Blushing bromeliad, Flickr / Tanaka Juuyoh ( CC BY 2.0 ), an article on the flower is here Darwin's disciples try to evosplain blushing, but they cannot get around the fact that it does not contribute an "evolutionary advantage." And why is it confined to the face and neck? Interestingly, blushing seems to be caused by an adrenaline release because of an emotional trigger. (It just occurred to me that it would be interesting to see if there's a si

Many Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving Day, but are mainly doing it out of tradition. Family, food, friends are great and we should be thankful for them. What is often missing from the lives of many people is a thankful heart. We must give thanks to our Creator , and recognize the things he has given us. Study on it a spell and be amazed that the Creator of the universe cares about you and me. Indeed, he does not have to, because we are all sinners in need of salvation through Jesus Christ. Give thanks, Unsplash / Adam Winger I've you've a mind to read it, I wrote something more substantial and from the heart at " Having Just Another Thanksgiving Day? "

A word that is commonly used in discussions of genetics is alleles . Simply put , they are pairs of genes, one from each parent, that match. Alleles are on the chromosomes. They often have slight differences, and those as well as similarities affect organisms. People have tried to figure out where new traits that were not in a lineage came from. The Bearded Buddha had some ideas that he put into his version of natural selection. Gregor Mendel pioneered genetics (peas be upon him), and his research showed that Darwin was on the wrong trail. Wallkill Rail Trail at Kingston, NY, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen (modified at PhotoFunia ) For a long time, it was believed that random mutations married up with natural selection to drive evolution. It was learned that DNA is heavily influenced by epigenetics . Evidence also shows that the Master Engineer designed living things to adapt, change how genes are expressed, and environment does not cause the changes. Sorry, Charlie. No, not really so

As shown many times before, the secular science industry supports leftist attitudes and causes. Gender confusion and same-sex attraction are two of these. Years ago, and even today, people claimed that homosexuality was genetic, but no so-called gay gene has ever been found. There are people who claim that homosexuality exists in nature (such as the alleged gay penguin couples) and the way dogs act. However, it seems to be anthropomorphizing  by humans instead of real same-sex romance in animals. To further blur reality, research has been committed in efforts to find same-sex attraction. Evolution was not only presumed, but was claimed that homosexuality evolved many times in different animals. (It seems like an escape to say something happened many times, so evidence is not produced — or demanded. Clever.) The owlhoot who is trying to use science to deny God's order in creation did not seem to take into account that animals act in certain ways for their own reasons, and not for ro

It is interesting that atheists and other unbelievers will ridicule Christians for believing in what they call "fairy tales" such as creation and the Genesis Flood. This is a modern, enlightened age. But they give believers in paganism a pass. Just before my wife's memorial service, a woman came up to me and gave me a stone and a quartz crystal. She said they have special properties. New Age, pagan, and other occult practices are accepted, not mocked, and are increasing today. Indeed, they have been gaining popularity for quite some time. Pagan robe and mask, Unsplash / Rob Griffin It is my contention that many people want to feel that they are better than others, having the inside track, belong to the One True Church, read the real Bible , support the correct political movement, pick the winning sports team — we become idolators. Atheists pretend to be smarter than theists. Evolution is saturated with paganism, such as pantheism. The atheopath who calls himself Aron Ra

Believers in cosmic evolution have no desire to admit that there is a Creator, and that their naturalistic origins stories have no value. Sometimes they seem like children playing a game, making up the story as they go along. If secular cosmology worked, would it need four main stories about how the earth got its moon? Genesis 1:16 tells us that God made the moon, the lesser light, to rule the night. Secular formation tales cannot explain why it is beneficial to us . Now they want to retool the impact hypothesis. Silvery Moonlight , John Atkinson Grimshaw, 1882 You know the story. After a night of binge drinking, a celestial object about the size of Mars crashed into our still-molten world, and the resulting devastation gave us a moon of just the right size. Secularists knew the tale was full of hooey, but to admit that there's a Creator is unthinkable. Now they're trying to salvage the impact story with other nonsense. There have been four proposed mechanisms for the formation

Stormie Waters and her fiancé Roland Meadows stopped by my place and invited me to a piano performance in town. I agreed and we rode into town in their wagon. Lisa Myworries was outside the theater, having been stood up by her date, so she joined us. A lackluster performer started out and we could tell that the piano was just adequate. The main performer, however, managed to make the piano sound like a high-quality instrument. (It reminded me of " The Touch of the Master's Hand .") We had an interesting discussion while dining afterward. Playing the piano, Pixabay / Holger Schué (music4life) Stormie had been reading an article about how the epigenome can be likened to playing a piano. Lisa spoke up, "The epigenome is above the genome, that's where the name came from." While the genome is vitally important, it is like a musical instrument. Genomes have faults, so they may not "play" as well as others. Scientists have learned about DNA and the genom

While box jellyfish are notorious for having painful or even lethal stings from their tentacles, this one is harmless to humans. Mayhaps it is because they are so tiny. These little fellas are north of South America and the Caribbean Sea around mangroves. They swim vigorously near the surface. One would not expect anything interesting out of these brainless creatures, but the Creator shows his design skill in even the tiniest organisms. These box jellies have a complex nerve system. Researchers were amazed that they showed associative learning, not just reflexive responses. Box jellyfish, iNaturalist / snigdhasehgal ( CC BY-NC 4.0 ) Of course, foolish scientists gave praise to Darwin and made up some unsupportable speculations about the "dawn of the evolution of the nervous system," since we're all related. Because evolution. Even with all the evidence of creation and design in extreme details, Darwin's acolytes still refuse to give glory to God for what they discove

When Darwin's acolytes evosplain, anything goes. The complex scientific principle of Making Things Up™ is frequently invoked, bringing along compatible principles such as bad logic, ignoring inconvenient facts, and all that good stuff. When dinosaur soft tissues were found, it was, "Katie, bar the door!" Evolutionists assume deep time (it is imperative for their storytelling), so they tried all sorts of rescuing devices to get away from the implications. Similar things happen with ancient DNA. Derived from DNA and clock images at Clker clipart DNA is fragile, so it should not last very long. Ideal conditions can extend its shelf life on occasion. The narrative demands deep time, so it is presumed that Neanderthal DNA is 50,000 years old. Because evolution. Darwinists put on top hats and tap dance around the age limits of DNA. They simply cannot allow themselves to face the fact that evidence consistently shows that the earth is far younger than they want to believe. Ther

Social Darwinism is the logical extension of evolutionary thinking, making his biological ideas into a worldview. It has been documented on creationist sites that many totalitarian dictators put survival of the fittest and other principles into practice. Eugenics (eliminating those thought unfit for breeding) was taken to its logical conclusion by these dictators. One of the atheists who is responsible for murdering millions was known as Pol Pot, and it was indicated that his policies were more vicious than even those of Hitler. The Darwin connection is largely ignored by popular history sites. Pol Pot during meeting with Nicolae Ceaușescu, WikiComm / Romanian Communism Online Photo Collection (modified) Pol Pot was an atheist, communist, and evolutionist. He was especially devoted to the communist writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Joseph Stalin, and Mao was also a tremendous influence to Pot. In addition, he was a tremendous racist. The Khmer people of Cambodia were numerous, but

In India and that area, extending into Southeast Asia and Northern Australia, is a genus of ten species called archerfish. Quite a range for a small group. Most are about the size of an adult human's hand, but one doubles that. What is interesting about them is how they get food. When people swim, they often play by getting a mouthful of water, compressing, and squirting out a stream for a few seconds. Not very powerful or accurate. The archerfish does something similar, but with great force and accuracy. Archerfish, Flickr / Feline Groovy ( CC BY-ND 2.0 ) There are many factors in play, including principles of sciences, that make this water jet ability even more amazing. Consider how it sees its perching insect target and accurately blasts it into the water — and has calculated where lunch will land, so it is there before it escapes. Speaking of jet, biomimetics gets involved, as people are studying the archerfish for (wait for it) inkjet printing. Once again, we see the brillian

Not only has the secular science industry been promoting leftist causes and twisted morality, but it seems to be lacking the ability to do basic science. A few mavericks in their ranks will pull back on the reins and slow things down so scientific claims can be reexamined, which is a plus. When something is caught such as, say, Piltdown Man , toffee-nosed secularists may excuse it with "science is self-correcting." (That particular fraud fooled the secular science industry for over forty years!) Yes, things get corrected, but too many should have been caught much sooner. This "1889 Guy" was colorized at  Playback.fm , further modified with  FotoSketcher Now I'm going to say a few things in defense of those in scientific practices, because scientists may not have believed certain things that have been kicked to the curb recently. Some claims are considered  scientific, but the public as a whole does not utilize healthy skepticism or critical thinking; they need t

In a discussion with Dewey Lye from the Darwin Ranch, I was attempting to change his mind about how the population grew after the Genesis Flood. (Trevor "Red" Schnapper stopped to listen just when it was getting good.) Dewey claimed that the Flood never happened because there were only eight people left alive in 2348 BC, there would not be time to build the population up to the current eight billion. The expression "do the math" is often used to tell someone to check the facts, and this case, it is also literal. Plastic people figures under globe, RGBStock / Sanja Gjenero Red asked, "The Bible records eight people, but to be blunt, weren't Noah and his wife done breeding at this point?" True, nothing is said about that old couple having additional children. Based on what we see in the rest of Scripture, including the Table of Nations (Genesis 10), there were only three couples having children. Mr. Lye's prejudicial conjecture can be negated with a

As discussed on several occasions, biblical creationists use irreducible complexity arguments. These have been in use before Michael Behe coined the term. It essentially means that all the parts in certain organisms or devices must be in place at the same time or nothing makes sense. Zebrafish are a favorite of aquarists, and scientists like using them for study. Interesting new research startled some believers in descent with modifications evolution. A form of irreducible complexity was seen, but it happened in a different way! Zebra danio, Flickr / Bob Jenkins ( CC BY 2.0 ) Their hearts start early — too early to fit evolutionary ideas. The rest of the circulatory system has not been developed, but hearts seem to be enthusiastic about being put into their proper place. This is clearly an example of the Master Engineer's work. Harvard University Professors Bloomekat and Chi’s zebrafish research concluded that the “heart cells in zebrafish start beating suddenly and all at once to

A spell back, we used the expensive word anthropomorphize , which basically means to assign human traits to animals and other things . It is also a very common thing to do. Charles Darwin saw evil in the insect world and wondered how a loving God can allow this. Others have wondered about similar things. Evil is actually rebellion against God and his Word, and critters are doing what they know without considering morality. In discussing biology, however, their predatory behavior is often called  natural evil . Wasp on grape, Pixnio / Bicanski We tend to think of the big wasps that sting just about anything, but smaller species escape our attention because they cannot sting us. Wasps often go after each other. After all, they want to survive and reproduce. Their methods are often brutal and even disgusting to us. The source of this behavior is not found in natural science, but theology — go back to Genesis. Who hasn’t had a picnic ruined by angry, stinging wasps coming out of nowhere, o

While time is erroneously considered to be a hero of the particles-to-paleontologist evolution story, it is often useful when sorting out evolutionary speculations. Evolutionists seek fame, and it is not uncommon for them to make assertions based on mediocre evidence. They often have woefully incomplete skeletons displayed as evidence for their story. In the case of Supersaurus , a few bones were found in the 1970s. Very large bones. Presenting for your pondering pleasure, Ultrasaurus ! (And the crowd goes wild) . It was portrayed in many places. However, there were problems... Supersaurus , Wikimedia Commons / LadyofHats (PD, modified) The paleontologist did not make the moniker  Ultrasaurus  official, so someone else used it for his own version. The first one was renamed it Ultrasoros , changing the next-to-the-last letter. That's bad enough to cause identity problems for the critter, but it was later determined that the bones belonged to two different types of dinosaurs, one

There is an expensive word we need to define: anthropomorphizing. That means giving human characteristics to non-humans, such as those talking rodents in cartoons or animatronic bears in pizzarias. It seems to be human nature to give human traits to things. It is similar to reification , which is a logical fallacy. F'rinstance, "Science insists..." No. "Evolution gave this creature..." No, again. Those are concepts  that are given human characteristics. The part about reification is a bonus for you, now look at how the smart plants know that autumn has arrived here! Burning Bush changing colors, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen , modified at PhotoFunia The vocabulary lesson may seem trivial, but there is something deeper going on that the author of the article linked below wants to present. Regular readers have seen that there are many plants that seem intelligent, even with the ability to communicate with each other . It has been claimed that plants "know&qu

Many of the planets in our solar system are recalcitrant toward deep time, as seen from  Pluto at one end and Mercury at the other . There is a frequent problem for cosmology in that planets and moons are showing signs of relative youth, not billions of years. Indeed, our own moon shows geological activity . Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system, only slightly larger than dwarf planet Pluto. But it has a magnetic field (as predicted by biblical creationist Dr. D. Russell Humphreys ). It is also showing recent geological activity. NASA / Johns Hopkins University APL / Carnegie Institution (usage does not imply endorsement) Secular scientists expect that planets cooled after their formation from hot gasses a mighty long time ago, but they are seeing that evidence does not fit their views. Certain features on the surface of Mercury are dated at an upper limit of 300 million years. (Anti-creationists may scoff at this and other upper limits because they don't support bib

It bears repeating that everyone has the same evidence to work with; it is not uniformitarian evidence  in a cage match against creationist evidence . (This principle extends to other fields of science, of course.) It is the interpretations  of the evidence that are controversial — even within their fields. Worldviews drive the interpretations. The uniformitarian worldview adheres to slow and gradual processes over long periods of time. At least, it's supposed to, but we have seen that scientists invoke rapid catastrophic processes when they find it necessary. They are doing this more nowadays. Grand Canyon , Maxfield Parrish, 1902 People scoff at creation scientists as if they obtained their degrees at Billy Joe's Bible Church Academy and Bait Shop. Nope. They have legitimate degrees and have published scientific papers, and put a tremendous amount of work into their Genesis Flood models. It is interesting how some of the secular proposals have creationist leanings (some even

People have been modifying parts of their world for millennia, and that includes livestock as well as plants. Since selective breeding is slow, scientists started working on  genetically modified organisms  (GMOs). Those are safe , but people are afraid of them anyway. Move forward to people wanting to improve themselves. One way is to have an implant, prosthesis, or some other benefit from science and technology. This can be taken to extremes in transhumanism . Human gene editing (HGE) has similar ethical problems as forming improvements through technology. CRISPR genome editing, National Institutes of Health (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Secular scientists are prone to ignoring ethics, and they have demonstrated that in HGE. They have a fundamentally-flawed worldview based on materialism (no God, therefore no ultimate moral standard, belief in evolution just material exists). Sure, some can be good, moral people — relatively speaking. But only biblical values c