Piltdown Superman

Many years ago, my mother told of an encounter with a deer when she was driving on a highway one evening (we lived in Michigan). Instead of  waiting, the fool beast ran alongside her car and then jumped over it. My mother saw the hind legs as it went onward. This adds to what many people know, that deer are fast runners and strong jumpers. Cropped from a nice scene on Freeimages / Juha Soininen Then there's the story of the woman who called the radio station to complain about the deer crossing signs. She was upset that the deer didn't obey the signs. If that call happened (and there are several versions of the story), I think it was probably done as a prank. On a more serious note from TQEP 's Public Service department, a good guideline for motorists is to never assume that there is just one.  If you stop for one in the road, keep an eye out for others. I can verify this from more than one experience. Let's move on. There are many of the deer kind around th...

There's a heap of fossilized trilobites. I'd like to be under the sea in a submersible vehicle, seeing if an octopus' garden contains any living fossil trilobites. Wouldn't that be great? Well, the coelacanth was considered extinct, but it was found doing mighty fine. Maybe trilobites exist way down there and don't want to be seen, did you ever think about that? Trilobite, US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Although fossilized, scientists have been able to determine the composition and function of their eyes. They had multiple lenses in each eye, so they had excellent vision under the sea. In fact, they could see things in three dimensions, sometimes double 3-D. Other kinds of trilobites had eyes on stalks, so they could do 3-D 360. To believe that such amazing specified eye complexity is the product of blind (heh!) chance processes in evolution, well, ya gotta wanna believe that. It makes far more sense to admit that the evidence support...

Yes, it seems like an dull subject, but blinking is important for many creatures so they can keep their vision. People who have dry eye syndrome need treatment. Although blinking is not a conscious activity, it can be controlled for a short time. In " Mudskippers Blink, Evolution Tinkers ," we considered how Darwin's disciples study the mudskipper for evidence of evolution, assuming  it is evolution in action and that life evolved in the sea — then things decided to evolve further on land. Yet there is no evidence for mudskipper evolution. Blink and smile, Flickr / Lee Haywood ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ) Controlled winking and blinking are often used for communication. When a cat gives you a slow blink, that's affection, Alfred. In the book of Proverbs, those planning evil signal with blinks and such ( e.g. , Prov. 6:12-15). More importantly, autonomic blinking cleans and lubricates the eyes. Evolutionists study mudskippers, ignoring the fact that there is no evidence for evolu...

The 1981 remake of the song "Bette Davis Eyes" was a huge hit, but this child failed to see what was special about them. Could she move each one independently? Mayhaps a rewrite about someone who "has chameleon eyes" would be interesting. When discussing alleged facts by evolutionists, likely, probably, scientists think,  and other terms are used to dodge the issues but still promote their faith. In this case, discussing how the eyes and vision of chameleons operate practically require such words — the reptiles are not talking. Chameleon on a branch, Pixabay / Shilona We have examined the most obvious trait of chameleons before, the ability to change color . It seems their vision has been underrated, which presents problems to evolution. No other land animal has the independent eye motion which still makes sense because of the brain's intricacies. What we have here is yet another example of the Master Engineer's work. Most vertebrate animals have their eyes ...

People who deal with sewing or looms, whether on a personal or an industrial level, know that precision is required. My wife has longed for a self-threading needle, as have probably many other people. Sewing machines and looms break down and need maintenance. Sure would be mighty fine if the things performed their own maintenance, wouldn't it? Credit: Morguefile / cohdra Imagine something similar on a much smaller scale. Remember those microscopes you used in school? Not good enough. This is about an aspect of our internal self-repair, where ribosomes correct faulty RNA (which is a good friend of DNA) so we can continue living. The intricate design and specified complexity involved is another reason to reject common-ancestor evolution, and realize that the evidence supports biblical creation. What does it take to slip a tiny thread through the eye of a needle and then use that thread to accomplish a purpose? Chimpanzees and other apes can’t do this. It takes fine, precise...

In another startling example of "It was right in front of us all the time", we have the eyes of scallops. Sure, many of us like to have them fried up in a pan or something, but the thing you see on your plate or for sale in the market are quite a bit different than the processed kind. Maybe you've seen where Sally sells seashells by the seashore, and seen those things. You're getting closer, but in real life, they are rather startling to behold.  Flam scallop image credit: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management / James Sinclari (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Most humans have two eyes that work quite nicely, but there are various numbers on all sorts of critters. There are different species of scallops, and some of them have over 200 eyes. They work on a principle similar to using mirrors. Of course, Darwin's disciples give pantheistic praise to evolution for this "masterpiece of engineering" as if evolution was a kind of entity, d...

Back in the olden days, we were told in school that molecules make everything, and molecules are made of atoms. Atoms are made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, with protons having a positive charge, neutrons are neutral, and electrons are negative. Right, got it. Is class dismissed yet? Not hardly! Image credit: Pixabay / geralt People toyed with the idea that if we could get extreme magnification, we'd see that there's another universe way, way down yonder with stars, galaxies, planets and intelligent beings. That's been pretty much dismissed, except for the final moment in the first Men in Black movie. If you want an interesting story from 1932 about a race from down there that comes up here to try and take over the world, click on "The Seed of the Toc-Toc Birds", by George Henry Weiss . As research and knowledge progress, scientists should be humbled that there is still more to learn. There are several subatomic particles in quantum physics. (No,...

Over a year after her passing, I still miss Basement Cat. Like other people, we marveled at what I call the feline machine — those amazing abilities given by the Master Engineer. Stalking, jumping, focusing on sounds, and all that good stuff. Loud noises prompt instant reactions. Domestic cats seem to think they are tigers. They do have quite a bit in common with the great cats. When angry or feral, some of those similarities become even more apparent. Biblical creationists believe all cats came from the original created kinds  in Genesis . Pixnio / Pixel-mixer Yes, we accept speciation and varieties. This is not a concession to particles-to-puma evolution, because they didn't turn into something else. Also, our Creator designed organisms to have a rich genome that allowed for variety as well as being able to survive and thrive in various environments. Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? — from The ...

Scientists are constantly prodding and scrutinizing brains, human or otherwise. Naturally, our own brains have a special interest. Many secularists deny the existence of consciousness. Other scientists know that the brain is not the mind but the mind uses  the brain. When my wife was stricken and there was no hope, I gave the order to terminate life support. When I was talking and reading to her, I thought I saw a flicker of response in her eye. The doctor said nothing could be happening, but others and I disagree. Information on uncommunicative comatose patients may support us. Brain graphic by  yodiyim  at FreeDigitalPhotos It was not long after she died that I came across the article linked above. To take it further, studies show what is being called covert consciousness . Comatose people show signs of consciousness as revealed by testing and brain scans. Efforts are being made to increase care for those people (see " We’ve Discovered 'Covert Consciousness' — But Now ...

The word drone  has many meanings, but is clarified by context. People drone on about boring subjects, a drone can be a mindless person, bagpipes and other instruments have single-note drone pipes, and more. Our focus today uses what is arguably the most common defintion today, that of unmanned vehicles controlled remotely or by computers. (This child has embedded videos by drones (often called quadcopters) on this site several times.) Modern drones are impressive, but some researchers want to improve their performance. Swift, Wikimedia Commons /  Dr. Raju Kasambe ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) People may recall grainy silent videos of early attempts at flight, some including vehicles that had flapping motions. These may be considered biomimetics , which is drawing inspiration from creation for human applications. Those were on the right track, but the flapping of wings is far more intricate than people can see with the unaided eye. Researchers developed drones that are not flying with pro...

Believers in universal common descent evolution appear to have cognitive difficulties, or mayhaps it is bravado. I say this because when faced with data they cannot explain, deep-time anomalies, theories shown to be false, they pretend to receive good news and something important about evolution has been learned. Indeed, fundamentalist evolutionists may shuffle the deck and deal again, but they do not question if the deck is valid in the first place — the deck being evolution. They need to cowboy up and question evolution itself. Fighter pilot with nice eyes wearing an oxygen mask, Flickr / Aviatrix (public domain) In their determination to give praise to Papa Darwin, some of his disciples compared the eyes of mammals with those of cephalopods. Interesting that people and critters have two eyes, but many like birds and cuttlefish use each eye independently — but some cuttlefish occasionally use stereoscopic vision. The differences in eyes also means the organisms with them need to hav...

Yes, I did say camouflage. It's based on the French word for disguise, camoufler. Disguising itself is something the cuttlefish does quite well, and it is quite impressive. Seems a bit surprising that the critter can hide itself, what with having all those bright colors and all. Credit: Freeimages / John Boyer It's first trick: it's not a fish, exactly. It's a cephalopod, like it's squid and octopod cousins. The name came from the shell-like bone on the inside, the cuttlebone. Why fish was tacked on is anyone's guess. Also, the cuttlefish is not exactly huge. The cuttlefish can change its appearance on the fly (so to speak), even in the process of swimming! When stalking for food, it can mimic kelp, the ocean floor, a black-and-white chessboard, or something else. (Okay, so it doesn't cotton to imitating chessboards in the wild, but it has been observed doing so!) Excellent eyesight and intelligence help the camouflage process. In addition, it has ...

We have been exploring the Continuous Environmental Tracking engineered adaptability model from the Institute for Creation Research. It has been fascinating to see how the Master Engineer has built adaptations and variations into organisms. Modified from a photo at Freeimages / Tolga Kocak Charles Darwin bushwhacked natural selection and made it his own so he could take God out of the picture. His paradigm is that external forces cause creatures to evolve into something else, but that is not the case. Instead, the CET model shows that adaptations are front-loaded into living things to not only adapt, but anticipate changes. This affects not only individual organisms, but entire populations. For the past two years, the Engineered Adaptability series of articles has explored ways in which scientific methodology and understanding benefit when engineering principles are applied to how living things function. In the process, we have built a conceptual framework for a design-based m...

Back in the olden days while studying contract law, one thing was frequently emphasized: for a contract to be valid, there has to be a meeting of the minds. That is, both parties need to understand the terms of the agreement. Ever sign a legal document or read the terms of service for many products online? Words and expressions are defined, often in excruciating detail. This is foundational to reduce confusion. Credit: Pixabay / PDPics Ambiguity can be fun. Some owlhoot challenged me to a debate while I was stuffing feathers into a pillow. So, I threw down on him. "Throw down" can be literal, or the colloquialism for engaging in a challenge. It may have originated in days of old when knights were bold, and one would throw down the gauntlet when issuing a challenge.  We don't need confusion on terms when trying to understand or debate a subject. I disremember when and about what, but I was having an argument with a guy for parts of two days because we each had a...

There are several words used to describe the how humans copy things in the natural world for our own use. I use biomimetics, others use biomimicry , and today I learned a new one: bioinspiration. Has a nice sound to it, don't you think? Today, we take a lesson from Bicycle Repairman . First successful flight of the Wright Flyer by the Wright brothers Image via Wikimedia Commons I was getting a mite playful for a moment. This is about Wright brothers, who had several interests, including bicycles. They were firm creationary Christians, and wanted to know how to fly. The Wrights were right in studying birds, and they were very meticulous and scientific in their studies of how the Master Engineer created flight.  They also looked at the failures of their contemporaries. Ever see old videos of "early flight attempts" or "flight failures"? Some were just weird, and many seemed to think that flight is a matter of flapping up and down, sometimes with paddles...

The title of this post was inspired by the poet William Blake, who could conceivably have been inspired by how God described Leviathan and Behemoth when he wrote " The Tyger ". In the last stanza he asked, Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? Taking a much bigger picture, it is evident that the solar system itself is in symmetry. Believers in cosmic evolution sometimes get angry when told that the appearance  of design exists because it really was  designed. Solar system artwork by NASA (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Secularists are constantly baffled by what is observed, but that is because the evidence does not fit their materialistic presuppositions. They don't know how or why the planets keep each other in balance , or who set it up. I have a vague memory of a story about an alien race that wanted to move into our solar system, but they wanted to remove one of the ...

If you ever get a notion to have a 1970s-themed party, you should consider inviting the Thwaitesia spider, because you will not need a mirror ball. It is the mirror ball. Well, sort of. There are patches on the abdomen that are like sequins or a series of mirrors. Scientists think they know what causes this effect. Thwaitesia argentiopunctata image credit: Wikimedia Commons / Poyt448 Peter Woodard ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Although these spiders have not been studied extensively, scientists think it is likely that the same thing is happening here that has happened in other spiders. More specifically, a waste product called guanine is stored in special cells under the skin. It really does reflect light. Also, the cells with the this material are not static, and the spider can make them almost disappear when it has the notion. They are not there by chance or at random. If you reflect on it, you can see that our Creator is exhibiting his design skill once again. The eye-catchin...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Many biblical creationists have encountered misotheists who act like they have amazing super powers that should make us shake in our cowboy boots. We need to stop allowing them to put us on the defensive, and use truth and reason to put the pressure on them. Credit: Flickr / zimpenfish ( CC BY 2.0 ) One of the first things that we can do is to remember that truth and logic are on our side. Indeed, logic and math are impossible without God , and the  same principle applies to science itself . We cannot argue on " neutral ground ", which is essentially admitting that what God says about the unbeliever is wrong, and let them decide in their corrupted human wisdom whether or not God is worthy of worship and honor. Are you catching on to the importance of why we must not be obsequious before scoffers? As a side note, I seldom refer to skepticism . In one sense of the word, people who are skeptical about something are willing to evaluate reasons f...