Piltdown Superman

There are many schools of psychology, some of which borrow concepts from each other. They are all wrong because they are not only atheistic but also have Darwinian foundations. Although secular psychologists deny the existence of the soul (mind, consciousness), they still try to understand it . In behaviorism, humans are essentially meat machines. They respond to stimuli — behaviors come from conditioning. This includes reward and punishment. Conditioning is gradual, a piece here and there over time. Interestingly, some aspects of behaviorism can be accurate. Brain and network, Pixabay /  Gerd Altmann  (Geralt) Psychologists lost their affection for behaviorism because they liked cognitive approaches and because it failed to explain language. The extreme specified complexity of language speaks (heh!) of the Creator , which flies in the faces of Darwinism and behaviorism. The Intelligent Design article linked below ends with a bit of a cop-out: "The science is clear. Mind, not ...

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...

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...

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...

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...