Piltdown Superman

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

Okay, a tree can only be friendly when it is given human traits in stories. But if one could actually be friendly, it would be the baobab (its counterpart would be the poisonous manchineel tree ). Nine species have been counted that have some basic similarities. A grown baobab may have been in place for a thousand years, so it has an impressive circumference. Leaves? It only grows them during the very short wet season. Although the top branches look like roots, the actual roots run deep. The Creator built it to survive those harsh conditions. Avenue of the Baobabs in Madagascar, Pexels / Beau Botschuijver Baobab trees have many uses. The leaves are edible, the branches trap rainfall, even the seeds can be eaten. The bark can be used to make clothing and rope. But baobabs are not in a hurry to grow, so they are difficult to cultivate — except researchers in Ghana have some promising work happening. These trees are in several diverse regions, which causes so much controversy among evolut

There are a few in the secular science industry who are not content with a simplistic " it evolved " response, they want do dig in deeper. Especially when something like the Venus flytrap has baffled them for years. The more they study, the more puzzling it is. This little plant from the Carolinas in the formerly United States has been treated like a toy by some people. It will not snap shut by just any touch. Similarly, a rapid increase in heat can cause it to snap shut. Venus flytraps, morgueFile / xianstudio Researchers tested the plants with heat to see what happens, and this child wonders if they had a bit of fun like some kids might. Imagine... "Whatcha doin' with that hot air blower, Bo?" "Gladja came along, Cletus. Watch this." He blows hot air on the Venus flytrap and it closes. Well, I would have had fun. Anyway, those plants are not going to close up shop just because it's a hot day. The blower experiment revealed that they shut their t

Southeast Texas has a national preserve that covers a great deal of ground. Texas can handle Big Thicket National Preserve , though. A national preserve is like a national park , but hunting and mineral extraction are permitted under close regulation. There is a variety of recreational activities partly because it has several ecosystems, so both hiking and kayaking can happen on the same day. Naturally, this means there are several different kinds of lifeforms. One that is our focus shows the genius of the Creator and planned mutualism. Cypress slough habitat, Big Thicket National Preserve, WikiComm / William L. Farr ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) Pitcher plants show design through their shape, which takes in some rainwater under the hood, and a fragrance attracts insects. They get in there and become food for the plant. In the days before the plants grow pitchers, they attract bees but do not trap them. However, the plant is designed to nudge the bee to pollinate other flowers! Many things in natu

Although professing atheists claim that living things only appear to have been designed, people who do not filter their observations through that opinion can easily see that living things were not only designed, but designed by our Creator (Rom. 1:18-23). I will go further: I believe part of his purpose was for our pleasure — and meet our needs. They are like living jewels with an incredible array of colors, but they fade away when their time is done (Isaiah 40:8). One does not have to be a botanist to appreciate them. Pink peonies, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen , modified at PhotoFunia Flowering and reproduction are complicated systems (being a botanist is helpful for understanding these details). Birds, bees, flowers, trees have some connections to it. Many flowers need insects and sometimes animals for pollination, and seed dispersal is done through birds, insects, various animals, the wind, and so on. By the way, believers in particles-to-peonies evolution claim that everything c

Back when Darwin roamed the earth, he called the ginkgo a living fossil. Some organisms with that moniker disappeared from the fossil record, then were found alive and well ( such as the coelacanth ). Others have remained essentially unchanged over alleged millions of years when compared to their fossils. A frequent rescuing device when something remains unchanged is stasis : It had no need to evolve. To be blunt, that is a stupid excuse because a lot can happen over all those years. No, one reason it did not change is because the earth is not as old as evolutionists claim. Gingko leaves in autumn, Wikimedia Commons /  Joe Schneid  ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Moving on from the living fossil aspect, people can easily find ginkgo biloba supplements in "natural" food stores and in vitamin sections of stores. Like with many health benefit claims, those not fully researched . Coordinated international research would be nice. Ginkgo is a large, hearty tree. It also has a large genome — bigge

Once again, the narrative is more important than empirical science. We learn that some of Darwin's disciples evosplain (and make a false assertion) that they have observed  the evolution of single-celled algae into multicellular organisms. That is the opposite of the truth. Like everything else, organisms split from their ancestors early on. The differences between land plants and Zygnematophyceae (a class of green algae) are extensive, and land plants have cells and tissues. There is inference instead actual evidence for their common ancestor. Spirogyra green algae, Wikimedia Commons / Bogdan ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Sure, they can build a plan of likely evolution, but again, these researcher are presuming evolution in the first place. (Indeed, we saw similar self-serving logic just recently involving fish hearts and our hearts .) There are also assumptions made about " selection pressure " (that occur over millions of Darwin years and cause things to evolve). It is taken by fa

People who study origins and evolution have heard of Darwin's Abominable Mystery. Like the irreducibly complex eye was a serious problem for Darwin  (yet he still believed in gradual evolution anyway), the fact that flowering plants appear in the fossil record too soon was another problem for him. Neither was resolved. Evolutionists are prone to lying to con people to accept evolution, and they did so a spell back about DAM . This time, however, they are honest about the inescapable conclusion (based on their systems) that flowering plants existed millions of years sooner than they previously thought. Phylica pubescens , WikiComm  Marco Schmidt ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Something that adds to their problem is that a flower found in amber is a Phylicia, which is basically identical to its living counterparts. It did not see fit to evolve after being subjected to "evolutionary pressures" through all those alleged millions of years. In addition, there should be a chain reaction in e

Although it only lives in a small area of the eastern United States, the Venus flytrap is quite famous. Cultivated versions are available for sale, but in its native habitat, it is endangered. People like to try to trigger it to close, but the Venus flytrap discriminates. The right areas must be touched a certain number of times, then that 100-millisecond trap springs shut. Potential prey seldom escapes, but this plant is still checking on what was caught. If it had received a false positive, it relaxes. Otherwise, it begins digestion after five more stimuli occur. Venus Flytrap, Flickr / Mark Freeth ( CC BY 2.0 ) The entire activity of Snappy has been studied all the way down to the DNA, and researchers learned that the best-watered plants have the fastest closure times. There is still more to learn, and Darwin's acolytes are using typical "it evolved" nonsensical words — nonsensical, because they are used to bamboozle the masses because they have no evidence. In reali

Before we get into this, some discussion is necessary. I have become much more circumspect regarding the use of material from the Institute for Creation Research. The main reason is their vehement denial that natural selection exists , and also their Continuous Environmental Tracking model. Biblical creationists, like other scientists, have models and disagreements among themselves. Some creationists dislike the CET model, which is a work in progress. I am not convinced that I need to reject it and delete all the other posts I have done over the years about it. Rocks (pareidolia, see the face in the rock?) and plants, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen However, the post featured below claims to have support for CET. In this case, I think the author is unconvincing. The discussion about how new studies on plants reveal design from an engineering perspective is interesting. Therefore, the article is presented for your consideration. As science and technology develop, things are far less simp

Believers in universal common ancestor evolution want others to believe as they do, so they commence to posturing. Since people are willing to bow down to what they perceive as superior knowledge by scientists, they tend to self-censor any questions. We have seen numerous times that Just-So Stories are passed off as serious research (a recent example is in the  post about electric fish ), but they evosplain much without giving any real science. Since all life supposedly began in the sea, evolutionists must explain how plant life developed on land. Hedge Bindeweed, my photo modified with FotoSketcher Mayhaps the self-censoring of questions and objections is partly because people are not taught critical (logical) thinking skills much nowadays. They might see in an article all the assertions without evidence, and appeal to secular miracles.   Yes, secularists have their own miracles, but they have antipathy toward admitting it, so they rename them. Sound familiar? Atheists and Darwin'

Ever hear of peat? That and peat moss grow in boggy places, and they contain decaying plant material. They are acidic and help improve soil. Kick it up a notch and we get lignite, which is called brown coal. It has noticeable plant material. Lignite has uses, but less energy output than true coals. Lignite was found in Iceland, and the plants of the lignite beds were preserved by lava layers on top of each other. Uniformitarian scientists are baffled as to how some plants reached Iceland in the first place. Lignite Brown Coal, WikiComm / Anton Lefterov  ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) The usual belief is that plants were buried where they grew, but there is no evidence that several of the plants in the Icelandic lignite ever lived there. Some plants can reach remote islands through various means. A few of those in the lignite, however, are not good travelers. Secular scientists suggested ad hoc rescuing devices, but once again, the best explanation for what is observed is found in creation science G

If you study on it, seeds are masterpieces of engineering. A well-engineered system will perform the purpose for which it was designed. From the science of genetics pioneered by Gregor Mendel (peas be upon him), scientists have learned that seeds are packed with a passel of information. Big seeds, little seeds, big plants, little plants — but one does not necessarily correlate with the other. They are designed to tell plants what they are going to be when they grow up, but also contain information on self-repair and reproduction. Variety of seeds image credit:  US Department of Agriculture  (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) The Master Engineer involved critters in seed dispersal, such as squirrels burying many more nuts than they can ever find again, and birds swallowing seeds that are often pooped out somewhere else, fertilizer conveniently added. In addition, plants are equipped to communicate with each other ! Design specifications, growth, repair, reproduction, co

Once again, my prospector friend Stormie Waters had ventured past Creek Road and was in sight of the Winkie Guards at the Darwin Ranch ( not   the one in the Bridger-Teton National Forest ). At that moment, foreman Rusty Swingset was heading out, so Stormie hid behind some   greasewood . Rusty passed close to her, but he was busy talking with some ranch hands about land plant evolution from stonewort and didn't notice her. (She gets shy when trespassing.) Some evolutionists are writing checks on the bank of science that cannot be cashed. Stonewort image by   Jeremy Halls   at Flickr ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ) If you study on it, evolution is taken by faith, not by sight. People have believed it by relying on   science of the gaps : eventually, evidence would be found. Materialists presuppose evolution, and when it comes to land plants, believe they have found a way to fill in the evolutionary gaps appealing to genetics. However, they have no actual evidence, and many questions are left unans

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This article is going to be mighty different from our usual fare. If you or someone you know is a lighthouse aficionado, the first part may prove interesting.  Warning beacons are ancient, ranging from open fires to building more permanent structures when possible. The most famous lighthouses of old include the Pharos of Alexandria, Egypt and the Tower of Hercules (which still exists, albeit with reconstructions and such). Rebuilding happened frequently throughout history, and many restorations are done even now. Smeaton Lighthouse at Eddystone The word "lighthouse" is often used generically because although they were lights, not every one had living quarters. Some were visited by the keepers. Also, that word has connotations of the famous big towers, but there were other kinds. Let's look at a few on the Hudson River. The "spark plug" tower at Tarrytown had living quarters. Look at the  Saugerties Lighthouse , it strongly resembles a ho

Down Florida way, the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, you will likely see mangroves. Those shrubs may be the only friends the much taller manchineel tree has. Some people have toxic personalities, but this bad boy is literally toxic in practically every way. While its distant relative the poinsettia (poin-SET-tee-uh, with four  syllables) has an unjustified reputation of being poisonous , the fruit of the manchineel is sometimes called the death apple. This tree looks like so many others that bear fruit — which makes things worse. Credit: Flickr / Anne and David (given to public domain) It is dangerous to eat the fruit, touch the tree, burn it, breathe the smoke when it burns — about the only safe thing to do with the manicheel is to just look at it. So, what good is it? Like other organisms that have poison, humans are able to use the toxic parts of the tree for helpful purposes. Also, when it is cut down and the wood is dried, it makes good furniture. The very existence of the manicheel

As discussed previously, dendrochronology  (counting tree rings) a favorite of people who believe in an old earth, especially because important facts can be omitted so they can get the deep-time numbers they so desire. However, this and other methods of counting layers are terribly flawed . In fact, they like it so much, secularists still use dendrochronology on children as a propaganda tool . With all the difficulties that have been found in counting supposed annual layers , you wooden think they still used that method. Credit: Public Domain Pictures.net / Sheila Brown Some tinhorns exclaim, "Aha! There are trees with rings that date them older than you people believe. Take that , creationists!" Rein in there a mite, Hoss. The basic idea of one growth ring per year is misleading, since some trees produce multiple rings each year, other trees may take a notion to skip a year, and others produce none at all. What is seen is more likely a record of past climate and other enviro

People who read this weblog have probably determined for themselves that our Creator likes variety and beauty. Someone who wants to appreciate nature can be overjoyed at Acadia National Park , found way up yonder in Maine.  For people who do "color tours" in the fall, it should be  quite a sight . As for mountains, well, depends on your perspective. Cadillac Mountain is the highest point on the Eastern seaboard at 1,530 feet. Taller than some, a molehill compared to others, but people like the view. Acadia National Park photo credit: NPS (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Look for the ubiquitous markers that government agencies put up about the age of the earth and the granites at Cadillac Mountain. The propaganda has been refuted, but old myths die hard with a vengeance. Lots of trees, varieties of wildlife, and more to inspire awe (see " Awe Demands an Awe-Giver "). Acadia’s visitors can enjoy appreciating creation ecology—especially wildlife and

Seaweed is found in a variety of sizes and colors, and many boat owners can tell you that it is extremely annoying when caught in the propellers of a motorboat. Fish eat it, and that huge brown sugar kelp can be eaten by humans . Nobody has offered me any. Sugar kelp grows along the coastlines in colder oceanic areas. There is some trading off in the animal kingdom with this seaweed that demonstrates how our Creator cares for the critters. For that matter, kelp's benefits to humans is beginning to be explored. Sugar kelp image credit: Flickr / Byrnes Lab  ( CC BY 2.0 ) Seaweed uses photosynthesis to get nourishment from the sun, but it is anchored so it doesn't get pulled out to sea. Sea otters are not interested in chowing down on the kelp, but other animals are — and the otters eat them. In addition, there is another interesting benefit from the otter-kelp pact. Tidewater-tossed seaweeds display God’s providence. Hidden in plain view, tidewater seaweeds are spectacular exhibi

Although it may take quite a while, plants find the nutrients they need. They also have a habit of growing and reclaiming land and getting into the foundations of buildings. I remember one time when the sewage for a house had backed up because a tree root had grown into the pipe. Plants are persistent things. They also play a big part in biblical creation science models. It is reasonable to use what is observed today regarding living things and expect that they acted much the same way in the past, yes? Creationists present evidence for the Genesis Flood, but it is understandable to wonder how plants played a part in the earth's recovery in the aftermath. Banding in quartzite image credit: Flickr / James St. John  ( CC BY 2.0 ) By the way, I really despise alphabet/Google/Blogger with a passion. This site may become an archive, so eventually the excitement may very well be at  Creation Cowboy  if I can get the hang of the interface. Back in 1980, Mt. St. Helens provided evidence fo