Piltdown Superman

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 ...

Out yonder past Mars is the asteroid belt, followed by Jupiter, Saturn, surprising Uranus , and Neptune. Those last four planets are called gas giants . The average person may think they were put up there to look nice (which they do through telescopes and astrophotography), but they have purposes. In addition to the asteroid belt, there are rocks and things floating around up there. Those big boys have an influence on celestial rocks with their gravity. The largest is Jupiter, and it has been observed being a protector of Earth. Jupiter and a moon,  NASA  / JPL (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Outer planets protect Earth, but Jupiter has been seen doing so. F'rinstance, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was broken up by Jupiter's gravity and its pieces were drawn into the gas giant. It could have been a serious problem for Earth otherwise. Also, a meteor hit is in 2019 . (Interesting that news sources use phrases like "slammed into" Jupiter, but it is gas.) I...

Some weather channels and sites have news related to climates, and they would do well to post about deserts. They form under certain conditions. The Namib is a desert like a strip along Namibia and a bit north and south in Africa along the Atlantic Ocean. It is actually a cool desert (Antarctica is also a desert but obviously much colder). The air is laden with moisture, so there is early-morning fog. The darkling (or fogstand) beetle has a very interesting way of getting the water it needs in this arid region. Fogstand racing stripe beetle, Wikimedia Commons / Hans Hillewaert ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Since water is in the air, the beetle angles its backside into the breeze. Those bumps on its shell help it collect the moisture. Droplets are formed and directed so that the beetle can drink the water. Once again, we see that the Creator equipped a creature with special survival features, but descent with modifications evolution storytellers are unable to come up with a plausible development sc...

One of the most aggravating concepts for Darwinoids is irreducible complexity , a concept that Michael Behe of the Intelligent Design movement named, but biblical creationists have been using for years. Essentially, everything must be in place and fully functional at the same time, or nothing works. Evolutionists try to get around the problem , but although they may find weaknesses in some examples, the concept itself is still is a serious problem for them. They cannot explain how necessary components evolved through time, chance, and mutations. Communication is irreducibly complex. Books of languages, Freeimages /  dog madic Communication requires  expression, reception,  and  comprehension . (Note that in this definition, communication is one way. A two-way communication would be a conversation.)  Trees and other plants in the Wood Wide Web have special nonverbal communication, and critters like birds and prairie dogs sound calls of alarm or help. Verbal comm...

Up in these parts, alligators and crocodiles are unlikely to be encountered in the wild. Down Florida way, there are many millions of gators and a few crocs, but crocs are more common in southern latitudes. How to tell them apart? In the picture, one is a gator. The the other is a croc. Easy! One more: An alligator will see you later and a crocodile will see you in a while. Joking aside, there are a few visible differences . Crocs have tapered snouts, gators have broader snouts and are darker in color. Like snakes, just leave them alone. American alligator and crocodile, Flickr / Abi Skipp ( CC BY 2.0 ) By the way, judging from their similar appearances, it would seem that crocodiles and alligators could mate. Nope. Genetically, they are quite different, so there are no allidiles or crocogators roaming around. Alligators are often a nuisance in Florida and such, lumbering across the road (residents are used to it, tourists often stop for pictures) or getting into places uninvited. Sna...

It is often said that someone has a false front or is putting on a façade. That is, presenting an appearance that is not necessarily true. In architecture, a façade would be the front of a building that was given extra treatment. Potemkin villages were mostly fictional, almost entirely false fronts. Yes, people want to present themselves in a good way, but it should not be for deceptive purposes. Disciples of Darwin have built false fronts for various aspects of the evolution story. News media, scientists, and atheists present these façades with the expectation that they will be believed. Ironside false front ruins, Flickr / Larry Myhre ( CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ) Putting up the fronts was an easier task in the early days of old evolutionism. After all, they did not have nearly the insight into so many things that have been brought by education and technology; the cell is not so simple. DNA was unknown and parts of it were considered "junk" until they were discovered to be important...

If you saddle up and ride out California way, head on over to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Then you can find Sequoia National Park . There you will see the giant sequoias which are the largest trees in the world. People sometimes confuse them with giant redwoods — the tallest  trees. So how did they get up there in such a limited area? There are several factors work together for giant sequoias to propagate. Also, the way water gets all the way to the top is an engineering feat. Finally, their existence and location fits the biblical timeline. Giant sequoias, one on right with fire damage, Wikimedia Commons (PD) It is interesting how in the wake of forest fire destruction comes renewal. Fires and scorched ground are essential for giant sequoia seed growth. The trees have been around for thousands of years, and can reach heights around 99 meters (325 feet). Human engineers marvel at how giant sequoias pump 1,890 liters (500 gallons) up each tree every day. Also, the Genesis Fl...

There is, at a glance, an insignificant blob of flesh in the digestive system. Long derided as "vestigial," is the appendix. Because of evolutionary thinking, it has been surgically removed from people. Vestigial structures are considered leftovers from our evolutionary ancestry, so we do not need these vestiges anymore. Like other so-called vestigial organs, it has been discovered that the appendix is important. Evolutionists and much of the medical science community believed stories  about the past without using empirical evidence. Like "junk" DNA , they didn't understand something's function, so they labeled it as useless. The entire digestive system is complex, beginning from salivation. Organs work together. Some evolutionary sidewinders are so insistent on their lie that allegedly useless leftover prove evolution (which is assumed, not demonstrated), they even redefine the word  vestigial ! (When caught going against the truth, use semantic trickery , ...

While visiting Ruby Slippers to discuss the upcoming nuptials of our mutual friends Stormie Waters and Roland Meadows, I was distracted by her pet chameleon. It was a real one, not an anole sometimes sold as a chameleon . This one was fully grown. It was feeding time, which is interesting. Ruby puts worms and crickets into the cage every other day, and I was there at the right moment. She opened the top and dropped them in. "Liz" was the name of the female lizard, and I saw an eye move and focus on lunch. Panther chameleon, Wikimedia Commons /  Charles J. Sharp  ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) "Liz is interested. Watch and see if she —" A blur of motion and I was surprised at how fast the lizard zapped up a cricket. "There you go," said Ruby. "I'm amazed at how they were designed to have such specialized vision  and that it works with precision shooting of that sticky tongue. There's also a suction cup kind of thing on there." "Yes, clearly some sp...

Believers in descent with modification evolution are locked into their paradigm, so they have difficulty doing much more than telling stories that fit. They put on their evolution glasses and interpret what they see through those lenses. Few ask if evolution happened in the first place, being content to evosplain how they think traits developed. Using critical thinking skills, people can see that stories about insect evolution actually lack science. The same kind of thing happens when discussing phasmids  — that group of insects that resemble leaves and sticks. Malayan jungle nymph, Flickr / Tyler Karaszewski ( CC BY 2.0 , slightly modified) There is no traceable evolutionary history for insects. Proponents use words and descriptions that include words like "probably." They also go against evolutionary doctrine by saying why  a characteristic supposedly evolved. The disguises and body part arrangements of phasmids are mysterious to evolutionists, but biblical creationists b...

As any well-schooled child knows, there are rankings in science. Someone makes observations and makes a few predictions for a hypothesis. This can graduate to a theory if it is well-substantiated with facts and testing. A law is something that summarizes observations and is unchanging under certain conditions. Charles Darwin had speculations or a hypothesis of evolution at best, but not a theory — and definitely not a law . Some owlhoots took a notion to fabricate a new law to explain how life as they see it has increasing complexity. Police cars at night (slightly modified), Unsplash / Acton Crawford This fundamentally-flawed thinking involves evolutionary presuppositions. Also, it has deep time assumptions. Add to this the thought that some laws take up where others fail, such as Newtonian rules getting replaced by quantum mechanics or relativity. No, those two things only apply in special circumstances, but there is no "replacement" going on. These scientists think evoluti...

It looks like requirements for habitability on extrasolar planets are getting more complicated, even mystical. The planetary habitable zone concept was simple, where water was a must , the right kind of star, proper distance from it, and a few others to make the Goldilocks Zone. Not only are hopes of finding lucky planets in that zone dimming , there is speculation that for a planet to be able to support life, it must have life. Sounds like the concept is folding in on itself, but it is being considered. HD 149026b (Smertrios),  NASA  / JPL-Caltech / T. Pyle (SSC) (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Study on it a spell: Living things have an impact on their environments. (For example, beavers help ecosystems and supposed climate change . Also, creatures under the ground have tremendous effects.) Researchers examined the energy that critters produce, which is significant — and it was from a limited number. Someone wondered if the need for an ecosystem is an ar...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  The age of Gentlemen of the Rails — hobos — is mostly gone, but they had a long run mainly from the end of the American Civil War to the 1940s. These guys would hitch rides on freight trains and try to find short-term jobs. Television and movies had various portrayals of them that probably should not be taken as based in fact. Also, they were willing to work, unlike traveling tramps or sedentary bums . While itinerant workers like this were found worldwide, most were American. Locomotive 721 Entering Railroad Yard, Texas & Pacific Railway Company, Flickr / DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University The main reasons for the decrease in hobo migrants involved more economic opportunities appearing after WWII, but also the fact that steam engines were being replaced. Steam (choo choo) trains were a mite easier to climb aboard. It could be from a jerkwater town , a big city trainyard, or anything in between. With that bit of background done, we can ride...

There is nothing more pleasant than a cold glass of dihydrogen monoxide, even though it is often used as a solvent or to cut through rock. (Expensive alternative term for water there. Baffle your friends.) As anyone in searching for extraterrestrial life knows, water is essential. When put under tremendous pressure and tightly focused, waterjets cut through rock and metal. It is a solvent because it dissolves quite a few substances. Earth is mostly water, though most of it is not in drinkable form. The human body contains a large percentage of water. Small waterfall on river, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen The three basic states of matter are solid, gas, and liquid. Interesting that there is a huge — indeed, yuge  — range of temperatures in the universe, but water is only liquid within a few degrees. Earth has the right kind of star to let water exist in this important state. Water's specific heat characteristic helps keep the temperature of this blue marble rather steady. Oh yes...

One way to spot a fool is when someone says or believes, "There is no God." This is also seen through life choices as if the Creator and Judge does not exist or care (Psalm 14:1). While believers in molecules-to-microbiologist evolution may have been taught only evolution, they are still without excuse (Romans 1:18-23). Perhaps their efforts to deny the truth are increasing, as there is quite a bit of silliness passed off as evolutionary research. Consider the inane logic in studying nitrogen networks. Aminotransferase monomer, Wiki Comm / Deposition authors - Mcphalen, C.A., et. al . Visualization author - Synpath (PD) Amino groups get transferred from amino acids to keto acids — a very important function. These amino groups are the building blocks of proteins. Using tendentious tree of life formulas and the scientific principle of Making Things Up™, some owlhoots decided that "all of life" worked together to create the complex nitrogen network. No evidence, thoug...

Although it seems less frequent nowadays, cancel culture  is a method of punishing those who dare to go against the prevailing viewpoint. I believe that people want to be "right" or in the "best" movement, whether it is religious (including atheism), a political party, or something else. Those who disagree are shunned and even canceled. A form of this happened when C. Richard Dawkins was "deplatformed" at the University of California, Berkeley. He said something people did not like about Islam. He has said other things that caused people to dislike him. These come about because someone goes against the trend. Image from "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" by Sidney Paget , Strand Magazine , 1904 (enhanced at iLoveIMG ) Creation science and the Intelligent Design movement are unwanted on social(ist) media, and many times atheists try to have it stamped out. Calls for trolling raids, feculent comments, ridicule, and more are common fare ...

Those with Atheism Spectrum Disorder suppress evidence for the existence of God that is clearly seen (Romans 18:1), needing to repeat the mantra that things only appear  designed. They would have to count many Darwin beads and chant very fast when seeing hidden layers of complexity. In medical science and other areas of biology, advances in technology enable us to view microscopic things we never realized existed, such as cellular machines. In the trees, under the soil, in the oceans are amazingly complex worlds testifying of the Designer. View of Onteora Lake, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen George Washington Carver was a Christian and a creationist. He prayed for wisdom, and God guided him to discover about 300 uses for the peanut. The peanut . It was designed to have many uses. Indeed, Proverbs 25:2 tells us that God has concealed things, and kings discover them. They are not hidden because he does not want them found, but concealed so his work is gradually seen in many areas. H...

At one time, people had souls. Some classical philosophers called it perception. Nowadays, secular scientists and philosophers are almost making their research into a comedy by their conflicting views. Many deny the existence of consciousness but still try to find it in the brain. Someone named Mr. Gordons referred to humans as "meat machines." Alan McComas is a neurosurgeon, one of many people to think they have a location for consciousness in the brain — which he says is an organic machine. Brain as a machine,  MR LIGHTMAN  at FreeDigitalPhotos.net His comparison may seem reasonable at first, but it has some problems because his criteria can make many things into "machines". Also, McComas thinks those clumps of neurons called hippocampi are where consciousness resides. This idea falls apart as well. The truth is that we are created in the image of God, each one with a soul (or consciousness), and it is not a part of the container in which it resides. Over centurie...

A couple of days ago, I was out riding and happened upon my friend Hammond Suisse out riding fences. He would find a place where the fence had a flaw, and either fixed it or made a note to come back later with more equipment. We rode together a spell, and conversation turned to how I had been fighting off a lingering cold. Hammond said, "We have an amazingly complex immune system that God engineered for us. After the fall of man, it gets overwhelmed sometimes." He glanced at a scrape on his arm. Arms and hands, Pexels / Daria Liudnaya (modified at PhotoFunia ) "Seems to me that I got something in common with immune systems." "How so?" I asked. "We're both riding fences. You know, doing work that's often unseen but sure is important. Churches, stores, companies have often unseen people doing work to keep those things going." He glance down. "I better clean that up. Good thing I'm almost done," he added. Then he asked, "...

It seems like something out of an animated film, but the story is rather real. Imagine that an octopus sidles up to a fish that was going about its business, then presenting a proposition. The goal is to work together and do a bit of hunting. Octopuses continue to amaze scientists with their abilities and intelligence. The octopus is normally a loner, yet it socializes with the fish. It is interesting that both parties have a say in the conspiracy and its execution. Octopus, Unsplash /  Diane Picchiottino An octopus researcher appealed to the non-answer of convergent evolution in an attempt to explain their brains. But secular scientists cannot explain where octopus traits originated, nor can they explain why these loners would cozy up to a companion — especially when it can hunt very well all by its lonesome. Efforts to cling to naturalism use bad logic and fake science; evolution has nothing to do with it. Design by the brilliant Master Engineer is the logical conclusion from wh...