Searching for Dragons

[chrisberez]

This just had me laughing my ass off. Perhapse I should have posted in the humor forum, but oh well. Oh, what will those wacky Creationists get up to next? Read and enjoy.

With screwdrivers, hammers and shaving brushes for tools, the group was seeking and, as far as it was concerned, unearthed proof that the animals perished not millions of years ago but in Noah's Flood circa 2300 BC.

OK, that's nothing new, but it still cracks me up.

Lecturing to a rapt audience of 20 like-minded Christians after a hard day in the field, Russ McGlenn, a self-styled amateur archaeologist and palaeontologist and head of Adventure Safaris, said: "Heavenly Father, we thank You for the evidence of a catastrophic flood event. We thank You for the time to study Your creation. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the evidence of a catastrophic flood event."

.......................................................................................................

"It's just dumb to believe that everything came from one kind of bang or fish or something," said Katy Carlson, 13, one of the youngest on the dig.

This is begining to stop being funny for me and starting to be just irritating as hell. I believe I don't have to say why; the statement speaks for itself.

According to the most recent poll, nearly half of all Americans, 48 per cent, believe in the Book of Genesis's version of our origins. The Creationists fervently hope that number may even be rising.

Sweet Zombie Jesus, I hope this statistic isn't true.

Evolution is "the dumbest and most dangerous idea in the history of humanity", said Kent Hovind, a vocal enthusiast for the cause who also runs the theme park in Florida. Explaining his Creationist creed, he said: "We think dinosaurs were part of the normal Creation and were just big lizards. Noah took some of them on the Ark, probably babies, when the floods came.

"Throughout history, there are stories of people killing the animals that survived but they called them dragons."

Oh, Kent Hovid, you wild and crazy guy, you should be in comedy.

You know, the thing that sucks about this is that these morons (who don't know a damn thing about archeology) are taking away bones that could possibly aid in further scientific understanding of these creatures. Who knows what bones these idiots are carting off. What a gigantic waste.

 

[steenkh]

According to the most recent poll, nearly half of all Americans, 48 per cent, believe in the Book of Genesis's version of our origins.

I would like to know what the questions were. Even though I can easily believe that there many fools in the world, it is my experience that many people can accomodate opposite facts in their heads at the same time. If those who were asked about the origins of the species were also asked if they believed that the dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, I think that quite a lot would answered "yes".

 

[Lisa Simpson]

According to the most recent poll, nearly half of all Americans, 48 per cent, believe in the Book of Genesis's version of our origins. The Creationists fervently hope that number may even be rising.

A small moment of parental pride--son #3 brought home all of his school work when school ended last week. I was going through it, and there was one paper his teacher had them do at the beginning of the school year. It was about things he wanted to learn in third grade. One of the things he wrote was "I want to learn how humans evolved from apes." I doubt he learned anything at all about evolution, but still, YAY for son #3.

 

[Suezoled]

when I was a child I thought I could make a rock garden by planting rocks. Maybe I didn't pray to Vishnu hard enough to make them grow?

 

[chrisberez]

A small moment of parental pride--son #3 brought home all of his school work when school ended last week. I was going through it, and there was one paper his teacher had them do at the beginning of the school year. It was about things he wanted to learn in third grade. One of the things he wrote was "I want to learn how humans evolved from apes." I doubt he learned anything at all about evolution, but still, YAY for son #3.

That is comforting news indeed. Congrats on raising such a sharp kid, you've obviously done something right.

 

[Psi Baba]

A small moment of parental pride--son #3 brought home all of his school work when school ended last week. I was going through it, and there was one paper his teacher had them do at the beginning of the school year. It was about things he wanted to learn in third grade. One of the things he wrote was "I want to learn how humans evolved from apes." I doubt he learned anything at all about evolution, but still, YAY for son #3.

And the fact that he already knows the difference between apes and monkeys puts him WAY ahead of much of the population.

 

[zakur]

It's just dumb to believe that everything came from one kind of bang or fish or something," said Katy Carlson, 13, one of the youngest on the dig.

Wow. Just...wow.

And yet it's not dumb to believe that dinosaurs were just "big lizards" taken aboard Noah's ark as babies, surviving into modern times as "dragons."

 

[Dragonrock]

I pi$$e$ me off, how much they are interfering with legitimate scientific research. They could be making off with pieces of a perfectly intact triceratops, but we'll never know because trained palentologists don't get to supervise the dig. I wonder if they are even recording the position of the bones before they haul them off.

 

[chrisberez]

I pi$$e$ me off, how much they are interfering with legitimate scientific research. They could be making off with pieces of a perfectly intact triceratops, but we'll never know because trained palentologists don't get to supervise the dig. I wonder if they are even recording the position of the bones before they haul them off.

Yeah that's EXACTLY what I'm so pissed about. Or what if they are making off with bones of new species? They won't know, and because of that, neither will we. What if they are finding bones that would provide a more complete picture of species that we know little about.

It is infuriating. Really infuriating. These people are so psychotic they're determined to destroy true knowledge for everyone else.

 

[zakur]

Darwin-Free Fun for Creationists

PENSACOLA, Fla., April 29 - Robert and Schvn Passmore took their children to
Disney World last fall and left bitterly disappointed. As Christians who reject evolutionary theory, the family scoffed at the park's dinosaur attractions, which date the apatosaurus, brachiosaurus and the like to prehistoric times.

"My kids kept recognizing flaws in the presentation," said Mrs. Passmore, of Jackson, Ala. "You know - the whole `millions of years ago dinosaurs ruled the earth' thing." So this week, the Passmores sought out a lower-profile Florida attraction: Dinosaur Adventure Land, a creationist theme park and museum here that beckons children to "find out the truth about dinosaurs" with games that roll science and religion into one big funfest with the
message that Genesis, not science, tells the real story of the creation. Kent Hovind, the minister who opened the park in 2001, said his aim was to spread the message of creationism through a fixture of mainstream America - the theme park - instead of pleading its case at academic conferences and in courtrooms.

[...]

At Dinosaur Adventure Land, visitors can make their own Grand Canyon replica with sand and read a sign deriding textbooks for teaching that the Colorado River formed the canyon over millions of years: "This is clearly not possible. The top of the Grand Canyon is 4,000 feet higher than where the river enters the canyon! Rivers do not flow up hill!"

 

[zakur]

I pi$$e$ me off, how much they are interfering with legitimate scientific research. They could be making off with pieces of a perfectly intact triceratops, but we'll never know because trained palentologists don't get to supervise the dig. I wonder if they are even recording the position of the bones before they haul them off.

Here is a description of another creationist dig:

Getting to the Actocanthosaurus claim (finally)...Yes, Baugh or some associates did in 1986 find an Acrocanthosaurus skeleton (or most of one) along the south bank of the Paluxy River, several miles West of Glen Rose. Had the excavation been handled properly, it would have been a very important find. It evidently was a fairly complete skeleton, and was located close to the track layers. Also, few other Acrocanthosaurus skeletons are known.

Unfortunately, Baugh utterly botched the excavation, so we shall never know exactly what was found. He and a local church group tried to excavate the entire find within a couple days, covered many of the bones with plaster without covering them with paper first, and stepped all over on many of the smaller bones. By the time I got to the site only a couple days after the initial discovery, they had damaged or destroyed most of the bones. One large bone partially embedded in marl and partially in a limestone layer was the only recognizable bone left when I arrived. Baugh arrived carrying several gallons of hydrochloric acid, announcing that he was going to burn the bone out of the rock. I could not bear to stay and watch. Wann Langston of the University of Texas also arrived at the scene shortly after the discovery, but so much damage had been done by that time that he refused to get involved.

Although the skeleton was found right on the riverbank, which is apparently state property (because of easment laws), no one at the state level acted to stop the excavation at the time, nor has since taken any steps to consfiscate the material, or otherwise pursue the matter. Since the dig, Baugh has apparently done no work on the bones, and has refused to turn them over to a competent institution or preparator. The result is that an important find has evidently been lost to science.

 

[Blue Monk]

What puzzles me about this is exactly how they expect to prove the dating.

I mean, finding dinosaur bones is nothing new but if they use scientific methods to date them then they will surely prove exactly the opposite of what they intend.

I suspect that if they do claim a ‘discovery’ they will inaccurately date it, probably by making erroneous claims as to the strata it was discovered in, claims that will no doubt be impossible to verify once the bones have been removed.

 

[Psi Baba]

The thing is, Blue Monk, is that they will just claim whatever they want to. They're not going to do radiocarbon dating anyway, since they don't believe in it. What riles me is that these dumbasses who constantly denounce science (and have absolutely no clue as to how it works) are pretending to use science to validate their pathetic mythology. And all they're accomplishing anyway is to reinforce their own beliefs. It's not going to change the mind of anyone who knows how science works.

The only hope is that this kind of stuff could backfire on them, in the sense that it could get the younger people interested in science for science's sake. They're likely to become more inquisitive and may want to see what else science can show them. So when they learn how to do science properly, they will find out what real science has revealed and why the creationist's version of it is bogus.

 

[chrisberez]

Here's a great bit from the daily show about creationists' views on dinosaurs, called Tyranasaurous Redux.

Watch it, if you haven't seen it already. And if you have, watch it again because it's really funny.

 

[thaiboxerken]

That brought tears to my eyes. I mean.. this guy actually believes that Land of the Lost and Flintstones are scientific.

 

[Achán hiNidráne]

I've given creationism, or at least the politics and psychology surrounding it, a lot of serious thought lately. Besides the fear that evolution throws a major monkey wrench (no pun intended into the biblical concept of "God" and the "morality" and philosophy it entails, I also think that fundamentalists cling to creationism because it's a bit of a personal self-esteem booster. They want to believe in creation because the alternative, in their eyes, is too horrifying to contemplate.

The Genesis account claims that God "created man in his own image;" that we are the living embodiment of the divine. Such a belief would make you feel VERY special, wouldn't it? We are superior to all other lifeforms that ever existed because God made us to look like him.

Now, along comes Mr. Darwin who points out evidence that humans and other lifeforms didn't just spontaneously generate from nothing. That through mutation and natural selection, we evolved from lifeforms that swung from trees, fling poo, and pick lice off each other. Hardly an appealing image at first glance, isn't it?

Listen to a creationist when they talk about the teaching of evolution in public schools: "I don't want my children learning that they came up from monkeys," is perhaps the most common complaint I've heard. They sound as if the very concept of natural selection is an affront to their very dignity.

How neurotic and low must one feel to accept superstition as fact in the face of overwhelming evidence just to feel better about themselves? Is life so depressing that you have to embrace a myth just to get through the day?

Creationism--indeed all tenants of organized religion--is security blanket we create not just to explain what we can not understand, but it's also something we hide under when faced with the ugly facts about existence Rather than come to grips with reality, the creationist will ignore science, pervert logic, and demand to bring the power of the almighty state down upon on the unbelievers just so they can be in their theological "happy place."

 

[Elektrix]

That's an interesting point Mark, but I would think you could get the same satisfaction (if not more so), from evolution. I mean, think about it......as humans, we're the end result of millions of years of species fighting for supremacy, evolving into something better, etc.

I mean, you look at the things that make up humans, the brains we've developed, our capacity to create beautiful art and music, etc.........

I would say that if you look at us as the end result of evolution, all humans can feel very special and very proud of where we have come to today.

-Elektrix

 

[Psi Baba]

Here's a great bit from the daily show about creationists' views on dinosaurs, called Tyranasaurous Redux.

Watch it, if you haven't seen it already. And if you have, watch it again because it's really funny.

That was funny. "Double-wide research institute."

 

[tracer]

I mean, think about it......as humans, we're the end result of millions of years of species fighting for supremacy, evolving into something better, etc.

Yes ... but so are moden chimpanzees and modern cabbages and modern E. coli bacteria.

 

[zultr]

According to the most recent poll, nearly half of all Americans, 48 per cent, believe in the Book of Genesis's version of our origins. The Creationists fervently hope that number may even be rising.

Sweet Zombie Jesus, I hope this statistic isn't true.

Why wouldn't it be true? I've seen stats that show something like 80% of the US is Christian. Throw in the Jews and a few others on the fringe, you're looking at 85% that are supposed to believe in it. That only 48% do could actually be a positive sign.