Piltdown Superman

Several years ago, astronomers thought exoplanet K2-18b would be a good candidate for life because of its atmosphere. Then the negative aspects were considered. One of these is that it has an orbit of thirty-three days around a red dwarf star. That makes for extreme temperature ranges. The James Webb Space Telescope was used to detect dimethyl sulfide. This is thought to only come from life, so it is labeled as a biosignature . It is an odoriferous gas produced on Earth by algae and by humans to some extent. Too much is dangerous to us. Artist concept, exoplanet K2-18 b, NASA, CSA, ESA, et al. (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) A problem for secularists is that dimethyl sulfide is not  only produced by living things. That means it's not necessarily a biosignature. There are numerous assumptions made about life on K2-18b, including abiogenesis and evolution. (Some reports that will probably be forgotten soon after their self-humiliation, lying  that ...

God the Son, the second person of the Trinity , humbled himself and became the man Jesus. Out of love for us, he was crucified, dead, buried, and bodily resurrected. These are well-attested facts in the four Gospels. However, they have differing accounts about the details of what went on that morning. Scoffers have claimed that the differences are contradictory, but such claims cannot be supported. Written accounts of eyewitnesses are available from history. Close examination of the records is needed to deal with alleged contradictions and piece together the full narrative. Four Gospel booklets, Unsplash / alabaster_co Care must be taken to avoid placing modern approaches to writing onto ancient texts. For instance, women were traveling early in the morning. Was the sun up yet? How much of it? (After all, dawn  can mean different things, such as when the first part of the sun is above the horizon, or the entire solar ball.) How many women were there? Were they there at the same tim...

It has been said that the flat-earth movement has some characteristics of a cult. There is no authoritative set of doctrines , and beliefs are varied, as seen in a cursory view of the Flat Earth Society FAQ . Some are typical, such as Earth being flat and round like a disk, but others hold views that are...truly bizarre. Some of the strange views are found online (the internet has given flat-earth views a wide audience ). Members had a chance to put up or shut up with something called The Final Experiment. It did not go well. Flat Earth rendering, public domain image, Wikimedia Commons /  Trekky0623 Another trait that flat-earthers share with cults is a victim mentality; they're all out to get us. NASA photographs proving the spherical earth? Faked for various reasons, and thousands of people are in on the deceptions. (Was I forced to wear a NASA T-shirt while I wrote this post, or will people believe me when I say that it's entirely coincidence?) Flat-earthers have many rescui...

It has reached the point that people demanding imaginary gender rights have much influence, even the forms to fill out with blanks for "gender you were assigned at birth." Those really put a burr under my saddle. Worse, they appear on medical forms. What! While there are sexual abnormalities and disorders, there are only two sexes and two genders. (Leave gender designations for languages.) Those who insist otherwise are science deniers. Interestingly, they tend to hate the Creator, but science and the Bible are in agreement on the fact of only two sexes or genders. Man and Woman, RGBStock /  Scott Snyder By the way, it is interesting that atheists frequently support causes on the political left such as this one, but a few are on record for saying the truth about genders . After all, someone can take hormones and have "reassignment" surgeries, but it does not change their internal structures or DNA . Transsexuals seem to be very angry and depressed people, using sne...

Long ago, I encountered a computer program called ELIZA on the TRS-80, which was a machine for beginners. The Tandy version of ELIZA mimicked a therapist but it could be tricked with clever wording. This was early stages of artificial intelligence. AI is ubiquitous, especially online. (Indeed, when I highlight a block of text I am composing, a particular browser offers to use AI to rewrite it. No. The mistakes and possible cleverness are mine.) It is being used in some amazing ways but some see it as a threat. Robot using computer, Pixabay /  Lukas Many people think that AI will put artists out of work. Some graphics it produces are impressive, but others (especially at the free level) are risible. Many videos on YouTube are entirely made by AI, but there are certain flaws in narration that give them away. (I expect lawsuits because the voices of famous people are often used.) Music is composed by AI that is acceptable but...unsatisfying. Some folks have such a high opinion of arti...

While it has been discussed at length that believers in atoms-to-alien evolution have an incoherent worldview, they do try to live it. (Of course, morality and such cannot be rationally explained by atheistic materialism, so they have to draw from the Christian worldview.) Study on it a spell and see that evolutionists believe that the Big Bang ultimately gave rise to life (“You are star stuff, and to star stuff you will return," said Carl Sagan). Other stars had alien races evolve, so we should be able to detect them. Person under starry sky, Pixabay / Gerd Altmann (geralt) Many organizations and individuals around the globe have been interested in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and NASA is one of those. They even have an astrobiology section, though there is no astro to biologize — no alien life to study. NASA had a SETI section that had its government funding cut, restored, cut, then funded through private contributions. The beginning listeners for alien signals ...

The morning of the one-year anniversary of my wife's passing , I wanted to commemorate the day. It began by going to the Hudson River in the morning. Those parks open at sunrise, which I looked up online. It happens on a predictable basis. Why should it? Some folks do not like this, but presuppositional apologetics  has its ultimate starting point in the authority of God's Word and character as revealed in the Bible. Science, logic, and other things are not possible in a worldview of atheistic materialism; they only make sense in a biblical worldview. Morning on the Hudson River, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen We all have presuppositions and an ultimate starting point. The sun will rise tomorrow, a lighter will make a candle burn, pictures on the wall will not float upward. Things happened before, so they will again — but that is circular reasoning! God holds the universe together, making logic (inductive and other kinds) possible. From there, science is possible. And mathemati...

People have concepts about Noah's Ark, but most of them probably come from cutesie books for children. Mayhaps they imagine those floating bathtub things with giraffes sticking their heads out. Atheists (and many Christians) laugh at Noah's Ark because of what the Bible does not  teach. It may come as a shock that paintings and such showing animals going on the Ark were modern animals, and are probably wrong. The artists worked from what they knew. What Noah carried were the biblical kinds from very long ago. Ark Encounter, Pixabay /  Michael Wysmiersk Several articles have been featured on this site from Answers in Genesis regarding several aspects of the Ark, how it was seaworthy, the way it may have been built, how many animals, and more. But the critters themselves? They researched that aspect as well, presupposing the truth of the Bible but also incorporating paleontology and other sciences. Several things to think about are presented. Formerly a zookeeper at Answers in ...

Anyone who has worked the land, even a small patch, has encountered weeds. Sometimes a plant is called a weed simply because it grows where it is not wanted. Many weeds can be considered aggressive: They are hardy, grow quickly, and hog resources. Indeed, some weeds grow larger and taller than desired plants so they  can get the good stuff. Some even suppress the growth of other plants. Yet weeds can be useful , even helping reclaim damaged land and reduce soil erosion. Dandelions are edible . Multiflora rose is a weed, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen Some plants look good, but they are weeds. Goldenrod (also called ragweed) is an enemy of people with allergies. One name of  Achillea ptarmica is sneezewort ( wort  means plant ). Multiflora rose was actually brought into the Americas to help with soil erosion, but it was realized that the plant should have been left alone. Some weeds are deceptive. Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the tares , and tares (called darn...

There are many reptiles with venom, most of which are snakes. People think of rattlesnakes, cobras, and others. Ever hear of the gaboon viper? The bite is often fatal, and if not, tissue damage may necessitate amputation. Narrowing the list, there are lizards with venom. Unlike snakes, they do not have injection mechanisms. The Gila monster (pronounced HEE-la) in the American Southwest and down Mexico way a mite, latches on and chews its venom in. Rarely dangerous to humans. It is fair to wonder why these exist when creation was very good (Gen. 1:31). Gila monster, Wikimedia Commons / Josh Olander ( CC BY 4.0 ) The question becomes more challenging for biblical creationists because we maintain that in the beginning, everything was vegetarian (Gen. 1:29-30). But some critters are built to be fatal. God created everything with genetic diversity, and one possibility is that when Adam sinned and brought on the curse, genetic switches were activated so they could survive in the changed wor...

It seems that theories of relativity are the domain of mathematical geniuses, but it is said that us reg'lar folk can get a handle on them. Uncle Albert Einstein had two theories, General and Special. When physicists study motion, that is mechanics . When the motions of objects in different locations are compared, that is relativity . People have studied motion and relative positions for millennia. Aristotle had some ideas, but got things wrong. Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei got on the prod about Aristotle's teachings and did his own studies. This brought changes in physics. Albert Einstein explaining relativity on chalkboard made at Hetemeel Then Isaac Newton got involved and further developed the relativity that Galileo had been working on. Great, Newtonian laws of motion were developed. Then came Albert Einstein and his theory of special relativity. Some folks say that his work replaced Newtonian physics, but that is not the case. He expanded on it. Interestin...

Scoffers often accuse Jews and Christians of stupidly accepting ancient texts and legends, then incorporating them into our belief systems. They claim Mithras, Osiris, Krishna, and other pagan myths had striking similarities to our beliefs — but those claims are utterly false . False religions and others have presented books and letters attributed to the apostles and other church leaders. In tense times, the canon was decided upon using specific criteria . The book of Revelation was not enthusiastically embraced at first because church leaders wondered if it was authentic. Heaven clipart, Free Christian Illustrations I'll allow that Revelation reads quite a bit differently than other New Testament books, and it has been used by heretics for their own agendas. But then, selecting verses for cultic agendas happens with rest of the Bible itself. Liberal scholars have tried to find reasons to downplay Revelation, but those sidewinders have been doing that stuff for quite a long time — ...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Although Reddit is really big on teh interwebs and seems to have evolved from newsgroups , I have little use for it. Interesting because I was involved in newsgroups for a spell. They were like the Wild West; there was no town marshall, so almost anything could be posted. Reddit is a bit moderated, I hear. Someone posted about Question Evolution Day . As expected, atheists and other anti-creationists went ballistic. A cursory glance shows that they still reject rational discourse and logic — yet they claim to be the rational ones. The first thing I noticed (again, cursory glances) is that the substance of QED was not discussed. Instead, they used straw man arguments, prejudicial conjecture, and some fabricated complaints that were decades  old (railing against a book from 1997). One complained that creationists are always lying, which I have pointed out is ludicrous even on the surface: Why would we, who believe in a holy and righteous God who hates lyi...

Denizens of the secular science industry have a habit of telling stories, especially when they need to protect deep time. After all, the Bearded Buddha needs many years to make his evolution story seem plausible, so they give it to him. Evidence for the Genesis Flood is rejected out of hand. Some time ago, Dr. Andrew Snelling was pondering the folded rocks at Grand Canyon. Try to bend or fold a rock now, it shatters under the force. He wanted to take some rocks for examination, but government officials discriminated against him and refused permission . Monument fold in the Tapeats Sandstone, Flickr / Nate Loper ( CC BY 2.0 ) Fortunately, Dr. Snelling won the lawsuit and was able to collect fifty-three samples. His goal was to see if secular scientists could adequately explain rock folds or if they were just using the principle of Making Things Up™ again to bolster their story of 500 million years to fold those rocks. Tomorrow is Question Evolution Day The samples were processed with g...

While woolgathering the other day, I thought back to a small get-together at my prospector friend Stormie Waters' place. There were equine games. I knew Stormie's friend Ruby Slippers was skilled at horse riding, but in the speed, turns, and fine maneuvering, she and the horse were like a unit. In the heyday of the nineteenth century American cattle drives, riders and horses worked together. Such unity is common. Long ago, people were using horses for transportation (riding and pulling wagons), pack animals, and more. So why say there were not designed to be ridden? The Cowboy , Frederic Remington, 1902 We have looked at dysteleology  arguments (that something supposedly had bad design, so the Creator does not exist or is incompetent, therefore evolution) several times. Sorry, Wilbur, but the argument can be used about the horse. Of course. Although poor design imaginings are used to prop up evolution, they are theological opinions, not scientific, in nature. Interestingly, th...

Admit it, you have occasionally tried to avoid bad luck or enhance good luck. If you study on it a spell, you can see that luck is treated like an entity that dispenses favorable or unfavorable events. Mayhaps it is like the Force of Star Wars , or  the Fates . Many superstitions are widespread but have no known origins. A remark attributed to Groucho (Julius Henry) Marx is if a black cat crosses your path, it means the animal is going someplace. It is bad luck in some places but good luck in others. Groundhog, Pexels / Abdullah Dawud It is interesting that Groundhog Day actually has an old history, and the rodent was first associated with it by Germans. Many of them settled in Pennsylvania, so their traditions eventually blossomed into Punxsutawney Phil, the weather predictor with a lousy track record. Why that name, Cowboy Bob? I dunno. This burrowing cousin of squirrels (who can climb trees) has other monikers. How about Woodchuck Day? Better yet, Whistle-pig Day? How ...

Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS, so named because two observatories discovered it at almost the same time, dazzled the sky in late 2024. It has naturally prompted a great deal of discussion about orbits, eccentricities, and all that good stuff. Biblical creationists have pointed out that short-term comets would have ceased to exist if the solar system was billions of years old. Comets orbit, burn off some of their mass near the sun, repeat and fade. Also, some comets have collisions, get ejected from the solar system, and have their orbits changed, so those disappear as well. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, NASA / Eric Bordelon (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Of course, secular scientists are committed to a universe that is billions of years old and the solar system of about 4.5 billion years. One rescuing device for the problem of comets is the Kuiper Belt out yonder around Pluto. That has been disappointing them. Also to the rescue is the Oort Cloud, a huge collection of rock...

It is amazing that professing atheists proclaim that they are " good without God ," but so many lie. A lot. I wrote an article about Dr. Duane Gish and the legendary "Gish gallop" debate tactic. It has never been shown to exist , but they gleefully spread this falsehood. Misrepresentation and ridicule should be red flags to thinking people that someone has no valid material to use against his target. (It may also indicate laziness.) Dr. Andrew Snelling is a prominent figure in biblical creation science, and he has to deal with a dishonest decades-old attack. Angry atheist monkey, Freeimages / vangeldere (modified) Many of the assaults we face are actually laughable in their schoolyard simplicity. I'll allow that it's difficult to not respond in kind, which may very well be the kind of distraction that such misotheists are seeking; we go off-topic to chase every little dog that nips at our ankles. Indeed, I have challenged some to show where the science in a...

Stevia Dolce, the baker at the Darwin Ranch, made one of her stealth visits to my place. (This is because she does not dare show doubts about evolution for fear of her job.) As I chewed on a croissant she brought, Stevia said that her questions may have been tolerated by foreman Rusty Swingset, but she was not sure. The first question is quite reasonable for believers and unbelievers alike: In the Genesis Flood scenario creationists describe, how could the Ark avoid capsizing? Second, why were the animals punished and called "corrupted?" Ark Encounter, Pixabay /  Michael Wysmiersk Those are  good questions. After complimenting Stevia about her thinking (and baking), I admitted that I had a bit of work to do because I had not considered either question very much. Now, I don't think the Ark was the very first ship built, ever; Noah and his sons would have had shipbuilding skills . Also, while the Flood and many aspects of it were miraculous, not everything involved was . Co...

To use a bit of reification, nature does not like to be controlled. (It could be that the second chapter of Genesis had a couple of hints about this, as Adam was supposed to tend the garden and not let it do whatever.) After Mt. St. Helens erupted, arthropods , fungi , and other humble parts of nature began to reclaim it. The island of Surtsey was formed from a volcano and now critters are living there. Over the years, plant roots grow and crack concrete. When left alone, nature tries to reclaim desolation and also urban areas. Remnants of cement works at Sojourner Truth State Park, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen Some critters are making themselves at home in cities. Peregrine falcons like the tall buildings so they can go into power dives after some tasty pigeon meat, coyotes are becoming more frequent in American cities (occasionally breeding with pet dogs), and others living things are seen in cities. Our Creator provided his creation with genetic diversity so organisms can adapt. ...