Piltdown Superman

It was a nice evening, so I saddled up and took a ride into town so as to get some oil for my lamp and watch the show. The townsfolk like entertainment of some sort or another, and Crappie Crankbait from the Darwin Ranch was giving a talk about his specialty, ancient marine reptiles. The topic was ichthyosaurs, which brings a struggle to Crankbait because there is no record of their evolution; they appeared suddenly in the fossil record. Dinosaurs are found in the same rock strata as these fish lizards. Ichthyosaurs, Heinrich Harder, 1916 Interesting that a fossil or remains can be found but not excavated for several years. This happened with an interesting ichthyosaur fossil was named Fiona. This critter met her demise while pregnant or even giving birth, and her last meal was identified. Almost ninety other ichthyosaur fossils were also discovered. Secularists invoked a form of catastrophism, saying that numerous underwater rockslides buried them. That many? On the continent?  No...

To be blunt, people who insist that we are all doomed because climate change is an existential threat are hard to take seriously. There have been many extinction predictions  which have failed spectacularly . Further, the secular science industry has a history of making pronouncements on things they do not fully understand. For example, secularists did not understand DNA, so they assumed certain areas were "junk." Creationists disagreed and were vindicated . Climate is a tricky thing, and those tinhorns famously ignore pertinent data. Also, scientists are learning that they need to be learning. Illustration of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano eruption. Yunqian Zhu , NOAA  CIRES (usage does not imply endorsement) Biblical creationists believe that God keeps his promises and that humans are not going to burn up the world he has given us to care for. For the most part, climate scientists are evolutionists (including geologically) and believe in uniformitarianism (gradual pr...

People who have been reading this weblog for a spell know that I emphasize definitions, as people can argue with each other about different subjects with the same name. Something that is strange to me is that metals mean something different to astronomers than to the rest of us: Anything heavier than an the atomic weight of helium is a metal. Now that we know, we can see something amazing. Most stars are overwhelmingly composed of hydrogen and helium. Secular cosmology has a story about the origins of metals that does not work. Nebula W51,  NASA  / JPL-Caltech (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) One of the latest threats to the Big Bang story is distant galaxies , and metals are also problematic. Metals are found in stars by using spectroscopes. Different elements have different signatures in the light. Our sun is like the other stars in the universe, and also nebulae, by having only trace amounts of those other elements. Earth, however, has numerous elements a...

Make a first, then extend your little (pinky) finger. Place it up to the corner of your mouth and say, "400 trillion " like Dr. Evil. That is about how many viruses live within you. No need to get flustered because only a few are owlhoots . They are a part of our microbiome . Strange thing is, viruses are not considered living things! They can mimic life by bushwhacking living cells, infecting them, and reproducing. There are many types of viruses and they do not all work in the same way. Our sub-life friends are viruses called bacteriophages . Working on a motor, Unsplash / Han Dora Viruses are much smaller than bacteria and are selective in their targets. Bacteriophages (phages for short) hunt the bad bacteria and leave the good ones alone. To do their work, they have to work on the DNA molecules in the bacteria. Not only did the Master Engineer give living things built-in viruses to ambush bad bacteria, he also gave viruses a special molecular machine to conduct such detai...

For quite a spell, Darwin's acolytes insisted that it took a mighty long time for a critter to get enough variation to classify it as a separate species. (Scientists often throw down on each other over what constitutes a new species .) Rapid speciation was inconceivable . Charlie Darwin was fond of deep time and he used it to develop his evolution conjectures. Scoffers may be locked into that old paradigm, challenging biblical (young Earth) creationists by saying all the species we have now could not have evolved in a recent creation. Wanna bet? Downy and hairy woodpeckers from  Birds of New York  by  Louis Agassiz Fuertes , 1910 & 1914 (PD) Instead of taking great amounts of time, variation and speciation (deceptively called evolution  because the changes were minor and genetic information was not added) have been happening in a hurry. Evolutionists are shocked — shocked , I tell you — by elephants having shorter or nonexistent tusks , also green and brown anol...

Go out on some clear night and look up at the stars, realizing the beauty that the Creator has provided. Get away from city lights and see more stars. People have built telescopes to see even more. The Hubble space telescope provided amazing images, and the Webb has yielded truly amazing images. You probably know that one reason the James Webb Space Telescope was put up there in the first place was to support the Big Bang and cosmic evolution stories. Instead, it has caused consternation in the deep time camp. Big Wheel galaxy (cropped), Wikimedia Commons / Safiy14 (PD) Since galaxies have many stars, sometimes in the multiple millions, they are rather complex structures. Some formation stories (such as galaxies merging) would ruin their shapes. Cosmologists have their stories about how galaxies formed, but there is no observational evidence to back up the stories. The JWST was pointed at what was assumed to be the early universe...it did not go well. Creationist predictions were conf...

Cuttlefish, squids, and octopuses are grouped as cephalopods , and are fascinating in and of themselves. We looked at the brain and neurons recently; the neurons of cephalopods are mostly in their arms, not their brains. Other things about them to amaze is that they are intelligent (even conniving), use their tentacles to grasp things, and have a camouflage ability that is truly startling. They blend in very quickly — yet they are colorblind. This is because the brain is not involved in the color-changing process. Cuttlefish, Freeimages /  John Boyer Some folks like to criticize the military for keeping secrets and trying to find advantages in combat. Well, sure. There are people who want to hurt your country and people, you know. Getting the upper hand is common in the business world as well. The US Navy is studying these critters to learn how they do their camo thing. It is another aspect of biomimetics , where what is seen in nature is imitated for use by humans. Credit seldom ...

For many years, evolutionary scientists wanted to know the cranial capacity of humans and apes they discovered. This came from the idea that a bigger brain meant greater intelligence. Some folks seem to believe this today, an indication of how bad science gains a foothold with the public. Some animals have bigger brains than humans but are not as smart. It could be related to body size. The brain-to-body-size ratio shows that humans have larger brains in comparison to body size than some animals. Where does intelligence come from, anyway? It seems that intelligence is a product of consciousness, but secularists tend to reject its existence . But they also wonder how it evolved . Attempting to explain intelligence appears to be an acceptance of its existence. Another question is, "How is intelligence measured?" Dunno. Part of our brain is gray matter (you may have been told to use your gray matter as a way of urging you to think), Those brain cells called neurons  reside there...

Paleontologists see what appears to be fuzz in dinosaur fossils, so they tell a tale of protofeathers. Since most evolutionists believe that dinosaurs evolved into birds, the story needs plot points. If dinosaurs had feathers, they must have originated from something, so this possible fuzz is mow protofeathers . They keep majoring on minors, tap dancing around numerous fundamental flaws in their scenario. F'rinstance, the skeletal compositions between birds and dinosaurs are radically different. Also, feathers have specified complexity and there are different feathers for different functions. Fuzzy T. rex made with AI Image Generator What would dinofuzz do for the animal? Make it cute? Mayhaps scientists could venture further into Making Things Up™ and give dinofuzz and "evolutionary purpose", such as a defense mechanism because it tickles predators. It may have been for warmth. When looked at in just the right way, it could resemble hair, so they were going to evolve int...

The largest shark in the world today is the whale shark, an endangered resident of tropical waters that grows around 17 meters (55.7 feet). Be amazed but not afraid because it eats plankton. Something that might have kept people cautious when swimming was  Otodus megalodon . New information on megalodon has been issued where it could have grown up to 24.3 meters (80 feet), and it apparently was a predator that would eat lots of things, including other predators. It could have lived for hundreds of years, so it did not reach maturity any time soon. Otodus megalodon , The Royal Society Publishing / Jose L. Herraiz et al ( CC BY 4.0 ) Biblical creationists are interested in growth calculations for the megalodon because of how humans and organisms lived for extended periods until after the Genesis Flood. More data are needed to be certain of calculations, but it is also reasonable to compare their size (and therefore age) to the Greenland shark for reference. Fossil remains of the gia...

Atheists and other evolutionists have a tendency to use the word evolution  loosely, conflating change  and variation  with universal common ancestry. That bait 'n' switch trick is used to fool people into believing that Darwin was right, so there is no Creator. If anti-creationists bothered to learn what we believe and teach, they would learn that natural selection , speciation, and other variations are accepted by most creation science models. Also, many evolutionists misunderstand and misrepresent natural selection. Consider the alleged evolution of Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades. Burmese python in Everglades (slightly cropped), USFWS / Susan Jewell ( CC BY 2.0 ) These big snakes are native to Southeast Asia (the name kind of gives that away), but some people illegally have them in Florida . (I wonder how many pythons there were named Monty? Just something I had to squeeze in here.) They escape or get turned loose, and are an invasive species that causes ha...

There are people who claim that they cannot see evidence that God exists, but that is willful ignorance. A bit more difficult is evidence for the global Genesis Flood, Uniformitarian (slow and gradual processes over long periods of time) geologists say there is no evidence for it. While the average person does not have the training to see Flood evidence, these folks are also willfully ignorant. Planation surfaces baffle them, the Great Unconformity testifies against standard views, other things — plus the massive detachment fault at Heart Mountain. Heart Mountain from Exshaw, Wikimedia Commons  Jack Borno ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Wyoming is home to Heart Mountain, and that sure is a lot of pet food — "You're thinking of Hartz Mountain, Cowboy Bob! The pet food company was named after a mountain in Germany." Oh, thanks. Heart Mountain had a huge rock slide in the past, and uniformitarian geologists have to leave their preferred paradigm and admit to catastrophism. That is, the ...

Every once in a while, Darwin's Flying Monkeys™ drop by The Question Evolution Project on Fakebook. Essentially, they tell us that they are smarter than creationists, we do not understand science, if God exists then he is bad, deep time is proved. and so on. Interesting how they do not follow the "science" they believe. Some evolutionists want it scrapped , soft tissues in dinosaurs  are a serious threat to evolution, the lunar formation story and the moon's recession contradict science, and many more problems for naturalism. Speaking of the moon, how about that volcanism, huh? Mare Crisium (modified at PhotoFunia ), NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University (usage does not imply endorsement) The prevailing Just-So Story about how the earth got its moon is that when the earth was still forming, the hot stuff was smashed into by a Mars-sized planet. Big hot splash. Then everything settled down into the earth and moon system with its amazing symmetry and beneficial aspe...

Whale evolution is a convoluted story, what with evolving creatures in the sea moving to land to continue there, then some went back to the sea, and all that. Believers in descent with modification tell that absurd story with straight faces, but it is disputed. Also,  genetics refutes whale evolution . Language is a strong evidence for creation . Despite the efforts of evolutionists to show language recognition and usage among great apes, the Creator gave us the capacity to use and refine it. But...humpback whales are exhibiting language as well? Humpback whale image credit:  NOAA.gov via  Wikimedia Commons  (usage does not imply endorsement) A scientist recorded humpback whale songs. Lots of them. Over several years, not just a weekend at the beach. Although no whale was recorded singing "Louie, Louie,"  it seems that the whales have a kind of language. Indeed, the songs would even increase in complexity later on. This is markedly different from when birds sing...

His father,  William, was a Christian and a slavery abolitionist , and Samuel (1805-1873) took his faith further. He became a bishop in the Church of England. Samuel was also a contemporary of Charles Darwin and unimpressed by his work. Interestingly, scientists tended to reject Darwin's version of evolution while the clergy was embracing deep time, then eventually rode for the Darwin brand. Wilberforce is known for a misrepresentation of his confrontation of T.H. Huxley . There something else of significance that is less known. Samuel Wilberforce by George Richmond , 1868 Sam was involved in a debate with Darwinists and also published an essay in 1860. He did one thing that I deplore in any Christian apologetics effort, and that was to leave God out of the discussions. However, he did take Darwin to task on scientific grounds. "But Cowboy Bob, he had no business taking on Darwin because he wasn't a scientist!" Actually, Darwin's only degree was in theology — he ...

The existence of soft tissues in dinosaur fossils has been a tremendous problem for evolutionists, so they have spent a great deal of time working at the fudge factory. (That is, fudging rescuing devices for the problem.) Some appear to mitigate the damage when important details are omitted. A one-off anomaly or two could be set aside, but there are numerous examples of blood vessels, proteins, DNA, and all that good stuff existing for alleged millions of years. Reality sits at the back of the narrative bus; the story is more important. Some scientists as well as Darwin's Flying Monkeys™ on teh interwebz denied their existence at first, but many are finally admitting the existence of soft tissues. They cannot get past biblical creationists who point out the facts and implications. Smug evolutionists have come up with yet another rescuing device called crosslinking . They think they can keep their deep time and use it to evosplain other things dear to their cold hearts. Logic? No t...

Proponents of minerals-to-musician evolution are passionate about their beliefs, often refusing to admit that biblical creationists have pointed out many problems in the current story. Some folks have said that scientists are in agreement about evolution, but disagree about details. That remark is self-refuting if you study on it. Also, there are scientists who admit that there are serious difficulties, which has been known for many years. Darwin's disciples ignore those comments or accuse creationists of " quote mining ." However, they fail to show that we are misusing the quotes. Pond, Unsplash /  Cowboy Bob Sorensen  (cropped) While many evolutionary scientists seem to go with the flow and think what they are told (but criticizing the predominant paradigm can end a career), some have enough standing to speak their radical ideas. While biblical creationists show that evidence supports a creation orchard instead of Darwin's Tree of Life, it has been said that evolut...

It is interesting that atheists and other evolutionists strongly react to biblical creationists discussing created kinds , almost as if the current system of taxonomy was devised by a higher power. Ironically, this system used by secularists was originally developed by Carl Linnaeus, who was a creationist. Nobody seems to be advocating the replacement of the current system. It is pretty useful for reference points. Biblical creationists study the created kinds (baraminology), and most of them place kind  near the family  level of current taxonomy. Basement Cat photo by Cowboy Bob Sorensen, enhanced with FotoSketcher It may come as a shock to some people, but facts can fit opposing models; "Their" facts and "our" facts is false. Natural selection is an accepted part of most creation science models, for example. We also have no problem with speciation and hybridization. Creationists have the cat kind, dog kind, horse kind, and so on. There are variations within them ...

Some folks consider Elon Musk a visionary, making long-held hopes of going to Mars seem possible. It appears that he is not consulting with scientists about the journey. Radiation from the earth to the moon was bad enough, but traveling  farther away could be disastrous to travelers . Dust on earth gets unsightly and makes people sneeze. The dust on the moon was different than ours, causing problems for the Apollo astronauts. It could conceivably tear their suits, and it was a great concern for protecting their equipment. Then there is Mars dust. Curiosity rover takes pictures of Mars dust storm, NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS (usage does not imply endorsement) Aside from looking for life and trying to support dust-to-Darwin evolution, devices sent to Mars did some analysis of the land. That dust contains dangerous chemicals. It also has electrostatic charges. Also, some of it is so fine, particles cannot be coughed out of the lungs. To make things worse, it moves. There are huge dust ...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen It seems like practically everywhere we turn, AI is in use. Some people consider it a tool, others a threat . We can interact with it unknowingly. My most frequent use is internet searches; AI gets the query, scours the web, and answers rapidly. Plus it gives links for research. For the arts, I want material done by people. Sure, use computers and AI for small adjustments, but overall, make it human. A Christian hard rock channel on YouTube has at least eight "albums" by a fake band, and the write-up is deceptive . AI Cyborg adored by mindless masses* Some folks don't want AI writing and "performing" their music because it's sterile; it lacks...soul. The "band" mentioned above has Christian lyrics, but since so much material is cranked out, I lack belief that anyone is checking the lyrics for theological accuracy. Christian lyrics, even sermons, by AI should be of concern to Christians. People dislike artificial intelligence ...

Interesting how the western part of America has so many things of interest to geology and paleontology, yes? Lots of national parks and national monuments protected by the government. Most are quite large. Dinosaur National Monument spans parts of two states, Utah and Colorado. This national monument appears in science news frequently, especially because of dinosaurs. Obviously. There is also some interesting geology. That and geology bring along deep time propaganda. Someone can also go camping, river rafting, hiking, and things. Hiker at Dinosaur National Monument, NPS / Jacob W. Frank (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) The uniformitarian narrative has rocks building up over hundreds of millions of years. Slowly. The Morrison Formation contains the dinosaurs, and they say it is 150 million years old. The story of how the fossils formed is out of kilter with the usual tale. There are details of what is actually observed with the fossils and the rocks that are far be...

After a spell of target practice with my .44-40 Winchester (same loads for rifle and pistol), I saddled up and rode into town for gun maintenance supplies and ammo. While there, I encountered Russell Watchtower, who heads up the Ministry of Truth at the Darwin Ranch. We  went into the local eatery for lunch. I had burger steak and eggs, and Russ had beef liver with onions. In my childhood days, I couldn't stand liver. My parents let me have a hamburger instead. "I wonder if cannibals eat livers," I mused. Human liver, Wikimedia Commons / BruceBlaus ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) "Sure they do," he replied. "Disgusting to us, but our burial practices are disgusting to those people as well. Some ate parts as a funeral ritual, others wanted to gain the strength of their enemies." I said, "Seems strange to want the strength of someone you've already defeated." He stopped with his fork in midair and stared, then guffawed. "Good point!" "You ...