Extinct Animals

This article is a fascinating study of the extinct animals that once inhabited our planet. Read all about these animals from the not so distant Caspian Tiger, which went into extinction around the 1970s; to the Sea Cow, which disappeared from the Bering Sea. What we need to understand is that all through time, man in quest of advancement has been the cause of the extinction of the different species of animals, flora and fauna.

The twentieth century has probably seen the most extinction due to degradation of the natural habitat of animals and plants, overexploitation, human induced climate changes and human borne infections and diseases. The 21st is doing its best to outdo the damage done in the previous century.

Some of the more rare extinct animals can be classified as follows:

The Caspian Tiger was once found in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Mongolia and surrounding countries and was also referred to as the Persian tiger. It was the third largest of the species with a stocky body, strong legs, wide paws and unusually large claws, with a furry growth resembling a beard around the cheeks. In color the Caspian tiger was similar to the Bengal tiger. Varying reports claim the tiger went into extinction around 1950 to 1970; there have been reported sightings that have not been proven. This species has been systematically eradicated with Russia playing a major role in their extinction due to their major land reclamation plans. Deforestation and intensive hunting drove the Caspian tiger further and further from their habitat until they reached the mountains and certain extinction.

Most of us have probably never heard of the Irish Elk or Giant Deer, one of the largest of the deer species to inhabit the earth. Carbon dating places its extinction around 7-8 thousand years ago. The species was characterized by their distinctive antlers that were truly huge in size. Recent research indicates that large amounts of calcium and phosphate were required to form the antlers, which the animals met from their bones, leading to a condition similar to osteoporosis in the animal. Probably human presence and a decrease in their natural habitat led to their disappearance.

Extinct animals includes the non-threatening, passive sea cow found in the Bering Sea was discovered by Georg Steller and is commonly referred to as Steller's Sea Cow. This animal weighed a massive three tons and was much larger than a dugong or manatee, and looked like a very large seal. It lived only in water never touching land and was completely tame. The most likely explanation for its disappearance is probably human presence.

Teen Anxiety Disorder - Signs, Symptoms And Remedies To Know About

Childhood anxiety is on the short list of most-dreaded-events facing parents and families. Like complex development "sponges", kids are vulnerable to any number of incoming influences. Other kids impose tough pressures and choices on your child. School and the values culture are force-fed to your child.

Could all this "stuff" create confusion, fear through patterned repeating behavior, triggering the onset of teen anxiety disorder, phobias, escape into drug abuse, obsessive compulsive disorder, general withdrawal and anti social outlook? Yes...it's a serious and present danger for many kids.

Teen Anxiety Physical Symptom - What Parents Need To Look For. What seems like "tough" on parents is dilute compared to the growing nightmare experienced by children. The list of Bad Guy anxiety physical symptoms parents need to spot include breathing difficulties, elevated heart and pulse rate, headaches, dizziness, nausea, sleeping disorder, on-off-again eating habits along with gastrointestinal issues.

Teen Anxiety Depression Symptom - Altered Behaviors To Look For. While the physical insults of teen anxiety represent one serious class of issues, the deeper imbedded behavioral roots of anxiety depression disorder pose a greater and more complicated challenge in terms of intervention and remedy.

* Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Signals. Parents cannot be too diligent in focusing attention on their kids, looking for telltale signs of obsessive compulsive disorder...a restless and fidgety obsession with minutiae that might begin innocently enough with things being in a certain place, fear of dirt and germs, eating disorders showing like bulimia.

* Anti Social "Isolating" Behavior. Increasingly, anti social behavior shows itself in a defensive and protective response to growing fears and uncertainties. "Keeping the world out", isolating herself within a "safety" zone of her bedroom or other safe spot becomes her number 1 concern, and obsession.

* Denial Of Self - Drift Into Dream State Filled With Anxiety Panic Attack. Deeper yet grows anxiety depression in your child's mind, where they begin the process of self-denial, where they separate out themselves in a form of ongoing abstraction, de-personalizing themselves. What is your child feeling? Like they're beginning to go mad, a feeling like they've begun to drift away from their very self

Teen Anxiety Disorder Medication - Psychiatric Drugs And Impacts. Stress hormones like cortisol along with other physical and psychiatric symptoms have drawn millions of troubled teens and their agitated parents into a new experience with powerful mood-altering psychiatric drugs.

* Major Classes Of Prescription Anxiety Medicine. The chemistry is complex, however parents need to know the generalities of these profound mood-altering anxiety medicine include beta blockers, anti depressants, mild tranquilizers, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, anti convulsants and benzodiazepines such as brand labels Xanax or Valium or Librium.

* Drug Strengths And Target Focus Area. These psychiatric drugs are all about intensity and neural targeting. Drug strength, like carbon dating, is measured in "half life strengths". Parents need to ask, and understand, the basic targeting scope of a particular drug.

* Anxiety Medicine Side Effects. Serious drugs carry serious user risks. While 70% of the user population may experience more-or-less gratifying and stabilizing results, continued drug use sets up a teen or adult for drug-dependency...which is polite talk for drug addiction. Withdrawal creates its own personal hell, unless a months-long carefully managed program of incremental tapering in usage is carried out. Meanwhile, kids and adults may experience intense withdrawal symptoms, with anxiety panic attacks, confusion, sleep disorders, eating disorder and weight loss, mental confusion, muscle cramping, diarrhea, and more.

Considering Non Prescription Teen Anxiety Herb Remedies. Before modern pharmacology dominated the treatment scene, people relied exclusively on plant kingdom remedies and support groups. Botanicals including rosemary, ginseng, St. John's Wort, kava and others have been shown in modern British side-by-side studies with pharmacy drugs to have substantially similar positive intervention potentials, with none of the negative side-effects of anxiety disorder medication.

Explore additional info regarding teen anxiety disorder, and natural options for managing your child’s brain health and moods while promoting natural rest and life cycles.

What Does Dating Mean?

It can mean to estimate the age of something, as in 'carbon dating'. That doesn't mean going on dates with carbon and is probably not the kind of dating you mean. You probably mean either going on dates with different people or going out with someone. 'Going out with someone' actually sounds like a bit of an Anglicism. Americans tend to say they are dating someone or seeing someone when they are entering into a relationship.

First, let's look at the 'going on dates' interpretation of the word. A much over-rated activity which in movies usually looks exciting but in real life is something which incites dread in the average non-extrovert. It really means finding a context in which to get to know someone. Unfortunately it is usually an artificial context and the feeling that one is there to judge and be judged is never far from the surface. I once read that the fact that first dates often take place in restaurants already dooms most of them to failure since one thing that makes women tense is food and eating while one thing that makes men tense is money; so you take two strangers who desperately want to seem relaxed and immediately put them in a situation where they have to deal with food and money.

Speed dating is something which has captured the imagination of the public both as an activity to try out and as a televised spectator sport where the practical nature and cruel grotesqueness of the modern world and its haste and desperation confront the traditional idea of getting to know someone and gradually falling in love with them. 'What do you do? How much do you make? What kind of music do you like? Next!' It brings out the worst of our social and class prejudices but nevertheless has a morbid fascination because it does reflect something about our real priorities.

And then there is 'dating' as in to be in a relationship with someone. No doubt the term carries connotations of being in the early days of the relationship; still sizing each other up perhaps. If someone says 'I'm dating this guy who's really tidy' you don't imagine that they've been together for two years but more probably two months or maybe two weeks. That early dating period is the most exciting and, for many, a period they look back on with nostalgia; when he used to bring her flowers or she used to give him massages. However, it also seems to be a traumatic period for many; just look at the number of articles on dating, particularly in women's magazines but also now in men's magazines and on all the majors on the Internet. 'Dating 101', 'Is he/she the right one for you? How to read the clues 'Is he/she cheating on you?' etc. etc. etc.

The fact that we need or heed the advice of so many 'professionals' in this field suggests that we're all a little lost. Is it too much choice? Unrealistic expectations? More educated individuals with greater economic freedom allowing more mixing of socio-economic groups than would have occurred before? Who knows? Were we happier before when we dated and married people from our neighborhood and shared possibilities and expectations bound by social-economic background? It sounds horribly conservative, not to mention downright boring, to suggest such a hypothesis, but if sociologists and divorce statistics are to be believed it might just be that when it comes to dating our enhanced freedom of choice and freedom from parental and societal pressure actually leaves many of us in relationships which ultimately fail and which smug outsiders will describe as doomed from the beginning.

So, how to avoid such painful outcomes? Doing dating better could be one answer, for that is when we have the opportunity to gauge our compatibility with a potentially long-term partner. But how do we do dating better? I honestly don't know how we can get our hands on that superior, more reliable compass, but a compass is what we need and you can see again and again how the most practical among us use one. It seems the rest of us are not well-equipped for the task and therefore simply not very good at it.

Peru's Chavin Civilization

There were many advanced civilizations that existed in Peru before the Incas. One of these was the Chavín. This culture was dominant in Northern Peru during their time periods. Here we take a look back.

The Chavín

Although the Chavín were once thought to date from 900 to 200 BC, carbon dating at the principal archaeological site for the culture, Chavín de Huantar, has reveal Chavín style artifacts dating from around 1200 BC. The site may even have been inhabited earlier than that. The influence of the culture was widespread, from as far north on the coast of Peru as Piura down to as far south as Paracas. In the highlands, it ranged from Chavín in the North to Pucara in the south.

The people had advanced abilities in metallurgy and were able to refine gold. They domesticated llamas for working animals, for the wool and for eating. Trading llama jerky was a great part of the Chavín economy. They also cultivated crops, particularly quinoa and potatoes, using an irrigation system to aid in the growth of these foods. Guinea pigs, birds, deer, clams and shellfish were also part of their diet.

As with other early cultures in Peru, this one is well known for its use of ceramics. The temples at Chavín de Huantar are decorated with pottery and sculptures, as well as with carvings. Among the animals depicted are not ones found locally but, rather, such creatures as eagles, jaguars and caimans. Felines, in particular, are important in the culture's artwork. The inclusion of such exotic animals has led some to think that the people may have originally come from the jungle.

Among the deities of the people, the principal one is a fanged god with hair that is made from snakes. Also present are a flying caiman representing food, anacondas representing the god of the underworld and jaguars to represent the supernatural world in general.

A central theme of the culture's religion is the idea of shape shifting, that is, the transformation of humans to animals or part animals through the use of hallucinogenic plants. A typical transformation involves the changing of the human head to that of a jaguar. The San Pedro cactus grows in the area surrounding the site and is used for ritual ceremonies for their hallucinogenic properties.

Shamans were highly respected and referred and accorded power due to their connection to the divine. It is believed that through the rites and ceremonies, these religious leaders could and did knowingly affect change in the civilization. It is not yet known if only the shamans took San Pedro or if the people in general did so as well.

The Chavín de Huantar site, in addition to being a religious center, was a political one as well. It is a huge site, believed to have been completed around 900 BC. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site where visitors can see the extensive planning and complex construction of this important center.

The Art Of Tattooing In Ancient Egypt

Man had been marking his body for thousands of years. These markings could be elaborate or plain and were used to show their status in the society or tribe, as amulets, highlight religious beliefs, as a form of punishment, or as declarations of love. The first evidence of tattoos was found on many female mummies from ancient Egypt. The mummies dated back to 2000 BC. Even an iceman recovered from the Italian Austrian border in 1991 had tattoos on his body. On carbon dating the iceman, archaeologists found that the remains were about 5,200 years old.

In archaeological excavations, ancient tattooing tools have been found from the town of Gurob in northern Egypt. These tools were used around 1450 BC. The tools were made from bronze. Initially, the archaeologists assumed that the just females of dubious character were tattooed in ancient Egypt. However, the female mummies with tattoos were found at Deir el-Bahari, the site where royals and other important people were buried. And, of the female mummies was identified as Amunet based on the inscriptions and she was a high priestess in ancient Egypt.

For a long time, people thought that in the ancient times just prostitutes were tattooed, but this not true. According to Smithsonian magazine, women in ancient Egypt were tattooed, so that they would have a permanent amulet that would protect them during their pregnancy and subsequent birth. These tattoos were found around the stomach, on the upper parts of the thighs, and on the breasts. They were in the form of dots, distributed in a net-like manner. The fact that the mummies were found with figures of Bes, the household deity during ancient Egypt, convinced the archaeologists that this was a female custom during those times.

Although there is no written evidence about who made the tattoos in ancient Egypt, it is believed that the older women from the community were responsible for tattooing the younger women, similar to how it was done in Egypt during the 19th century. The tattoos were made using tools that had sharp points with wooden handles. One such tool was discovered in Abydos as well as Gurob by an archaeologist named W.M.F. Petrie and he dated the tool back to 3000 BC. The tool was made from bronze and looked very similar to a flat and wide needle. Most probably a bunch of the needles were used to make several dots on the body.

It may be interesting to note that these ancient tools used for tattooing were very similar in appearance to the tattoo tools used in Egypt during the 19th century. An English writer named William Lane described the way tattooing was done in ancient Egypt. He claimed that around seven needles were tied together for pricking the skin. Black wood or oil smoke was mixed with the woman's breast milk and then rubbed into the patterns that were pricked. The gypsy women were responsible for tattooing and the girls between the ages of 5 and 6 were tattooed. The patterns were diamond shaped or lines made up of dots.

Cave Of Forgotten Dreams

There is no better filmmaker in existence to have made this film, a document of one of the greatest treasures in human history made by a director who is one of the greatest living legends in cinema history. Werner Herzog, who deftly alternates between fiction and documentary films like no other filmmaker alive (Spike Lee has done fairly well in this regard, too), presents a truly jaw-dropping 3D journey through the Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, a cave in southern France that houses some of the oldest known artworks of the human race. Through his necessarily limited exploration of the cave (the crew was allowed to film only four hours a day for one week, and only under the strictest of guidelines) and extensive interviews with various fascinating and eccentric experts, Herzog delves into the mysteries of the beginnings of human consciousness and, by looking deep into the past, ultimately considers the possibilities of the future.

The deep underground cave explored and documented in loving detail by Herzog and his crew of four was discovered in 1994 by Jean-Marie Chauvet (for whom it was named), Eliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian Hillaire, who found it by following an air current coming out of the ground. A landslide over 20,000 years ago had sealed the cave, effectively making it a perfect time capsule for the ensuing millennia and keeping its extraordinary artifacts amazingly fresh, which led to suspicions by some that the paintings on the walls were, in fact, a modern hoax. This is briefly addressed in the film, with experts pointing out the layers of calcification over the charcoal lines of the paintings that could only have been produced over thousands of years. The excitement and emotion felt by the many archaeologists, scientists and other experts in various fields is palpable, and the often amazing cinematography makes it infectious.

This is 3D filmmaking at its finest and most essential. While successful past films like James Cameron's Avatar (2009) used the technology to make a fantasy world that the audience could never physically experience into something real and almost tangible, Cave of Forgotten Dreams does the same for a real, earthly place that the audience has no more hope of actually physically experiencing, since the French government has again sealed off the cave in order to protect its contents for generations even further into the future. In a way, then, Herzog's film is like the cave art itself - a unique and truly exceptional piece of human history to be treasured. The use of 3D accentuates the contours of the cave walls and the way that the ancient artists used them in their depictions of the various animals they painted, most of which are now extinct (or at least evolved into the elephants, antelope, bear, lions and other mammals we know today). While the 3D effect is not always as slick and perfect as in CGI extravaganzas like Avatar, the reality of the surfaces it is used to photograph makes it an even more immersive experience; at times I was transported back to the wonder I felt when I saw my first 3D movie as a child, the 1953 Jack Arnold sci-fi thriller It Came from Outer Space (no, I'm not that old - it was a revival), and I literally felt like I could crawl into the screen and walk around the cave myself.

Beyond the visual experience, though, amazing as it really is, Cave raises a number of very intriguing and tantalizingly unanswerable questions about the nature of human development. At one point, we are shown a series of overlapping paintings of antelopes which were created a few thousand years apart (determined by carbon dating), which provides one possible answer for the eternal question of why early humans began to create such art: whether intended or not, perhaps the expressions of the first painter provided instruction for that of the later ones. Additionally, we see several examples of animals depicted with multiple legs, indicating motion in a surprisingly early prototype of cinematic imagery itself. Herzog follows one of these revelations with a throwaway point-of-view shot of one of his 3D cameras in use that, when seen in the intended way on the big screen in 3D, will seriously mess you up.

Many critics and audience members have complained about the film's score by Ernst Reijseger, which is a bit intrusive and gratuitous at times, as well as its slow pace, which I personally found more contemplative and, as the title suggests, dreamlike, and therefore perfect. There is also a "Postscript" at the end of the film that seems to come out of left field and has also been cited as a source of alienation for some, but this actually points, in a somewhat oblique way, to the unanswerable questions that have come before. Herzog, to his great credit, is not interested in answers and solutions, but rather in exploring the great mysteries of the human experience, and this particular excavation is well worth the trip. More impressive than the surprisingly advanced paintings found in the Chauvet cave is the cave itself, which often resembles some sort of alien planet in its strange and sometimes seemingly impossible formations. Even if the ancient paintings that serve as the film's ostensible subject seem a little primitive to our modern eyes, nature is still as wild and wondrous as ever, and Herzog captures it like no other.

Many Evangelical Christians Claim Carbon Dating And Evolutionary Theory Are Bogus

Carbon Dating of rocks, ancient civilizations and even Dinosaur bones is somewhat problematic for the Christian Religion and assisting in authenticating the Holy Bible, which is said to be the absolute word. Recently in an online think tank exchange a devout Christian stated that; "you know carbon dating is bunk and has been proven to be false."

Indeed, he was not comfortable with what the results were in carbon dating old human fossil remains or even dinosaurs. Interestingly enough, I myself am quite comfortable with the carbon dating and other dating methods. Sometimes I have a hard time trusting all absolutes uttered by the paleontologists-scientists, but many I trust completely.

For instance Richard Leaky, his son and others I have studied, I believe to be correct and I think I would recommend reading the books on the Gobe Desert, UT excavations, Lucy and all the rest and Bill Bryson has something to say about the arguments of the Geological Society of days gone by in Europe.

Even all that said; Evolution we see in our lifetime in Viruses, bacteria, insects (with manipulation), so we know that occurs, as change is the only constant or someone once said. Thus, if it is a debate Evolution VS. Biblical Theory, it is hard for one with scientific knowledge to take a literal approach to all those words in the good book.

Nevertheless, I would never claimed that Evolution; Cataclysmic, survival of the fittest, natural selection or any of the rest has it 100% right, and without better measurement we cannot know all, but the evidence suggests a lot more proof than anything written in the good book. So I hang my hat with the "flying spaghetti monster" creator for the time being unless you can offer more.

Trying to deny the Dinosaurs I know is a real tough one for faith based carbon based bi-pods, but of course one has to deal with the facts eventually. And the explanation that Satan put the Dinosaur Bones there to trick us is about the biggest bunch of malarkey I have ever heard! [opinion-CYA, as not to offend].

Even with that said, I do not trust the world of publish or perish academia or most scientists 100% either, because I have seen way too much abuse recently over the Global Warming scare. Indeed after reading "Lucy" I can tell you I think I want to puke over the way scientists, Indians, politicians, academia and even non-profit museums handle these things and the economic development associations that play it up to increase tourism.

Evolution is not a Philosophy, as some might call it and to that point I suppose next they are going to tell me the Earth is flat and held up by Desert Turtles stacked all the way down like a pyramid? The only decent debate that I have heard from an Evangelical Christian in regards to Creationism is the one which states; Life can occur from non-organic material.

But even to that argument we know that calcium makes up your bones, blood is mostly water and minerals, vibrational energy, lightening and such are just different degrees of power and frequency. Sulfur, heat, gamma rays, heavy metals, water, you know we are all made up of what the Stars are made of anyway and thus the comment that life began from no-life is possible in my opinion. And it is all in how you define what life is, after all one could say the planet is alive with the right definitions.

Of course in all due fairness this debate cannot be won or lost in such a short philosophical argument. I certainly hope this article is of interest and that is has propelled thought. The goal is simple; to help you in your quest to be the best in 2007. I thank you for reading my many articles on diverse subjects, which interest you.

Christian Right and Global Warming Debate

Many of the top Christian TV Evangelists have joined the Global Warming Fear Motif. Some have asked what do the Christian Right TV Evangelists have to gain by doing this? Well some say they will have more access to the major media news outlets. Previously they could only get on TV with pro-Conservative news shows. By joining the environmental, Al Gore Global Warming debate they can have it all.

One would suppose the Christian Right has nothing to gain, except appeasement due to the fact that the Global Warming Scare has now gone from a trend to a movement. Like the Catholic Church had done thru the ages, it is therefore expanding its base and keeping control of defection and attrition of its membership by shifting its focus to include more socialistic viewpoints.

The Global Warming Fear was adopted as you recall by the Democrats and Socialists; and the Christian Right is now allowing itself to find middle ground and the ratchet towards the over all trend moves to center only to find the new center further left, which will move once again sometime in the near future. It is how things go in history.

Since I am not of any religion, I just watch and observe it all. The Christians have a lot to gain by adopting yet another fear such as Global Warming because Fear of Hell, well no one believes in that anymore. So, fear of the future and evoking the Maslow's hierarchy of needs; self-preservation is pretty high up there.

The Global Warming Fear is also able to use over played video of Natural Disasters like Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Ice Storms, Heat Waves, Wild Fires, Parched Earth Droughts too. Actually it really is even a Bigger Fear than Y2K, or Russian Nuclear Threats. It is right up their with the Fear of Speaking German and NAZIs taking over the world.

One would suppose next will be Fear of Space Wars with China, Terrorism with Nuclear Weapons, Computer Network Melt Downs and this Global Warming things is a real hoot I tell you. Long live the Global Warming Fear God. I hope this article makes you think n 2007.

Scientific Dating Theories Vs The Bible Account of Creation and the Flood

Dating Schemes

Various chemical elements are radio active to some degree. These elements are constantly disintegrating into other elements or isotopes. The rate of this disintegration can be measured. If a mineral contains enough of the original or the parent element and the new or the daughter element to be measured then a simple mathematical computation will tell how long the daughter element--that is the new element that the old element has disintegrated into--has been accumulating radiation.

The Case of the lost Whatchamacallit

This is not as complicated as it sounds. To demonstrate that fact, we use a simple illustration. Suppose a barrel of apples is taken off a truck and set along side another barrel. A man is taking apples out of one barrel and putting them into the other. Let us suppose that you come along as this transfer is in progress. You decide that you will time this operation to see how long it takes to remove an apple from barrel A (the parent barrel) and put it into barrel B (the daughter barrel). Your measurement tells you that it take 10 seconds to transfer an apples. Then you count the apples in the second barrel and there are 30 of them. So you conclude that this process has been going on for 5 minutes. This seems like a simple and basically fool proof deduction; but there are a number of considerations left out of this formula that makes it much more complex than it first seems. I will try to explain this in a simple language.

The Great Difficulty in Mineral Measurements

First of all, measurement of the amount of the elements in a given mineral is very complicated, difficult, and imprecise. In fact it is mostly a matter of theoretical interpretation. There are many uncertainties and limitations which are largely ignored by scientists who make these measurements. It is as if I were to say to you, "Based on the size of barrel A, I am sure that this man must have started this transfer with 10,000 apples." But you say to me, "Well, maybe not. The truck carrying the barrel was stopped up the road and I think they may have put some apples off there. And then, I saw some apples scattered on the road by the big bump down near the bridge, and I think some apples may have bounced off the truck when they hit the bump. Also, someone said that the barrel was not full when the truck left the produce market." So I say to you: "You can pretty much tell by how full barrel B is." But you reply, "Perhaps, but what if barrel B already had some apples in it when the man started the exchange?"

These things illustrate in some small way the kinds of problems such measurements present. There are a number of different elements and minerals in which the elements are found that are used in these measurements. Let us take a case in point. One such measurement scheme is based on the disintegration of uranium and thorium into lead. Both uranium and thorium are parent or original elements, and they break down through a change of elements and isotopes until they reach a condition where they are stable, which, in this case, is lead. It is sort of like a heavy air conditioning unit falling through the sky light of a five story building. It continues to break through floors and fall downward until it reaches the cement floor in the basement. It cannot break through the cement floor, so it stops and become stable with respect to its downward movement. In our analogy, lead is the cement floor. When the element reaches lead it cannot disintegrate any further. In order for this process to mean anything at all there must be a highly accurate measurement of how much of these elements were present in the mineral to start with and then the exact and precise rate of which they decayed. Another problem is that of common lead or lead that is non radiogenic. This lead cannot be used in the formula and so it must be discounted; but it has not been in the past.

Still another problem in making such measurements is that uranium is known to have leached out or leaked out of the rocks by way of weak acid solutions often found in rain water or sea water. The techniques necessary to make these measurements are extremely difficult and subject to very large error. Even so, these measurements have been accepted on faith by the scientists for whom this process suited their theories. And it is upon this basis that billion of years of age have been claimed for the earth. But now most of these same scientists have admitted that all the work done from 1930 to 1950 is useless because the errors were great, the methods were wrong, and conclusions were misleading.

This has prompted L. T. Aldrich, in an article entitled Measurement of Radio Active Age of Rocks, Science Digest volume 123 May 18, 1956, to say, "In fact the time scale given by Homes is based in part on these discordant or conflicting ages which are very difficult to interpret." In other words, his information and his methods were wrong, and he used conclusions which did not agree among themselves. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to make anything useful out of this time scale. Yet historic geology, historic paleontology, and astronomy continue to use the age theories that were formulated before the turn of the century. There have been no new age theories that are in any significant use or degree of acceptance that have been developed since 1950.

To try to give sophistication and credibility to these radioactivity measurements, the half-life theory has been hatched up and thrown in. The half-life theory indicates how long it takes for half of a given element or isotope to disintegrate. There is not enough space for us to wade through all these various elements and isotopes and describe what has been theorized, and the flaws that render those theories useless. If we were to do so, we would see that common considerations relate to all of them.

1: How many apples were in barrel A, the parent, or original, to start with?
2: Were all the apples transferable or are some of them rotten and to be thrown away?
3: Has the rate of transfer always been the same or has it varied at times? And if it's varied, how much is it varied? 4: How full is the second barrel, which is the new or the daughter, or in other words barrel B?
5: Is everything in barrel B apples or is there something else in there?
6: Did all the apples in barrel B come from barrel A or did Barrel B have some apples in it already?

Until you know the definite answer to all of these questions, you have no way of knowing how long this transfer has been going on. It may have been going on for hours, or it may just have started when we got there, and unless we can find someone who was there when it all started and knows exactly what the situation was from the beginning, we will never be able to do anything but guess.

The Half-Wittedness of the Half-Life Theory

The half-life theory tells us nothing about the past, even if the rates were unchanged, because it cannot tell us when it started. It is double talk-gobbledygook-filibustering that is deliberately designed to confuse, to mislead, and to buy time. By way of illustration, suppose we are walking in a building and we come into a room. On the fireplace mantle there is a candle in a brass holder. It is already burning when we come into the room. We are interested in this candle so we make some measurements. First, we measure the candle to see how long it is and we determine it is 10 inches long. We then note the time on our watches and decide to come back and check on this candle in five hours. When we come back, we discover that it is only five inches long. So now there are some things that we know. We know that the candle was already burning when we first saw it. We know that when we first saw it the candle was 10 inches long. We know that it is burning at the rate of an inch an hour. We know that if the environment remains the same, and nothing else happens to change the burn rate, it can continue to burn for five hours. Now, armed with that information, let us ask some questions:

1. How long was the candle when it started burning?
2. When did it start burning? How long has it been burning?
3. Has it always burned at the rate of an inch an hour?
4. Does the fact that it took five hours for five inches to burn mean that it has been burning for 10 hours, since it was 10 inches long when we first encountered it?

Every child who has learned to do simple algebra knows that we cannot come up with the answers to the questions 1, 2 and 3 with the amount of information that has been given. It is impossible to tell how long it has been burning, how long the candle was, or what the burn rate has been in the past before we got a chance to measure it. Of course, question 4 is abstract and illogical. Maybe the candle was 10.1 inches long and has been burning for six minutes, or maybe it was 60 inches long and has been burning for several days. It is easy to see the gross misinterpretation that has accompanied these troubled and arbitrary theories.

How Wide Is The Gap?

Nevertheless the question arises: how much can these theories be off? Even if they are off by a factor of 100 times, we would still have an earth that is a million years old or so. To answer this, we quote from Morris-Whitcomb and The Genesis Flood, pages 344 and 345: "We reply, however, that the Biblical outline of the history of the earth with the geologic framework provided thereby, would lead us to postulate exactly this state of radioactivity evidence. We have already shown that the Bible quite plainly and irrefutably teaches the fact of a grown creation, one with the appearance of age of some sort analogous to the appearance of age of a mature Adam at the first instance of his existence. These processes include the phenomena of radioactivity. It is perhaps possible that only the parent elements were originally created, but it is eminently more harmonious with the whole concept of a complete creation to say that all of the elements of the chain were created simultaneously."

Adam, when he was one second old, looked like he was 26, or however old he looked. Trees when they were made, put in the earth, and commanded to grow, looked like they were many years old; and a brand new rock looked like it had been there for thousands of years. The elements in the rock, such as lead, immediately contained parent and daughter elements and isotopes or uranium and thorium.

Let us go back to the example of the candle in the room. Without knowing it, we have walked out onto a stage. A drama is about to unfold. The scenery director has set a candle on a mantle made of distressed wood to make it look old, in a holder that is tarnished so it will look as though it has been there for a while. He has placed an accumulation of wax at its base so it will appear to have been burning for some time. All of this has been done to set the proper mood, atmosphere, and environment for the drama that is to take place. The actors cannot come onto the stage until the scene is set. Thus, Genesis says that God created man and placed him in the Garden that God had made for him. God told Adam to begin at that point in time and history, to go forward, and to set in motion the drama of life.

Astrophysics

Astronomic methods are more bizarre still and farther afield. Says T. S. Jacobsen in an article titled "Review of space time creation," Science Monthly, Volume 128, September 5, 1958, page 527: "The current estimates of the expanding universe, whether on the old or new time scale are very far from being in any sense factual. While it is true that the Hubbell constant enters into the computation of age, McVilly has stressed that a factor depending upon the model, a pure guess, that the present radius of curvature is about 100 times the original Einsteinian radius, has the result that we know nothing for sure about the age of the universe." This is the same Hubbell in whose honor the giant telescope that was just put into space was named. As a result we have heard about supposed discoveries and facts on the evening news, based on formulas that are pure guesswork, according to these very people--guessing that Einstein was wrong by a factor of 100 times and using density of matter for calculations that will result in very off-the cuff information being given out that may be, in the minds of many scientists, one thousand times wrong.

In space measurement there is also a new theory out that is being enthusiastically supported and promoted by many astrophysicists who also question the Euclidean model of the universe. These people view the universe with much more realism than Einstein did. They see it as three dimensional (where Einstein saw it as two dimensional) just like the real world. They strongly question the constant velocity of light in space and time--the theory that light never changes its speed for any reason. They believe that light moves in a velocity that is consistent and constant with its source rather than with respect to its observer, as Einstein did. In other words, Einstein believed that light movement could and should be observed and measured. These observances and measurements were made by man on the earth as he moved from one place to another and the appearance of movement by the stars.

Astrophysicists believe that such an approach to the velocity of light is meaningless in terms of deep space. They believe in what is known as Reimanian space and the Reimanian theory. This has as its base the mathematical theories that have to do with Georg Frederick Reiman, a Swiss-German scientist from about the middle of the 19th century. These people have an entirely different theory as to how light moves in space. Without trying to explain this theory any further, their studies show--pay attention to this--that light from the farthest star could reach the earth in 15 years. This in contrast to Einstein's several billion years. Hubbell believed that Einstein was off by a factor of 100. This means that the measurements that they are going to make with the Hubbell telescope will be based on much greater times still.

Wild, Undisciplined, Unenlightened Guesswork

So we go from hundreds of billions of years for light to reach the earth from the farthest star in the Hubbell theory to 15 years for light to reach the earth by the Reimanian theory. Yet the Reimanian theory has much more acceptance in the scientific community than Einstein's theories did when they first appeared and nearly as much credibility as Hubbell's does now (which radically challenges Einstein). In the light of these disparities between equally qualified scientists in the field of astronomy and astrophysics, can anyone possibly think that the wanton guesswork and speculation that you will be hearing with respect to the findings of the Hubbell telescope can have any useful, practical, or trustworthy meaning? Remember the 15 years of the Reimanian theory when you hear scientists droning on about the "billions and billions of light years."

Carbon Dating Methods

Then there is the radio carbons method of dating which is supposed to supply accurate dating in the last 32,000 to 40,000 years. Carbon-14 is the radioactive isotope of ordinary carbon which is used in this method. There are three assumptions which must always function as constants, and also they must function as anticipated for this method to mean anything.

1. The carbon dioxide cycle is always constant. This has to do with the means and the quantity by which carbon dioxide is present in the atmosphere.
2. The cosmic ray flux has been constant on the hundred year scale. This means the radiation from cosmic rays can fluctuate within a 100 year period, but that over that 100 years it must add up to exactly the same as the last 100 years and the next 100 years.
3. The decay rate of carbon 14 has to be constant. There can be no change in it at all. This would mean that the contents of the ocean and the atmosphere have been absolutely constant for 30,000 or 40,000 years.

All of these assumptions are questioned, they are doubtful, and they are in dispute. Even so, those who believe in the so-called carbon-dating system claim that it has been proven beyond doubt that all of these things are true. In light of such an outlandish claim, it is interesting that W.F. Ruby, in an article entitled "Radio Carbon Dating," in the American Scientist, Volume 44, January 1956, page 107 says:

"The first shock, Dr. Allen and I had, was that our advisors informed us that history extended back only 5,000 years. Well, we had thought initially that we would be able to get samples all along the curve back to 30,000 years, put the points in and then our work would be done. You read books and you find statements that such and such society or archeological site is 20,000 years old. We learned rather abruptly that these numbers, these ancient ages are not known. In fact, it is about the time of the first dynasty in Egypt that the last historical date of any real certainty has been established."

And to this, Morris-Whitcomb comment on page 372 of The Genesis flood:

"It is obvious, therefore, that any genuine correlation of the radio carbon method with definite historical chronologies is limited only to sometime after the Flood and the dispersion. The major assumptions in the method are evidently valid in this period, but this does not prove their validity for more ancient times, the periods in which we would infer that the assumptions are very likely wrong and therefore the datings are also wrong."

Commenting on radio carbon dating Dr. Charles B. Hunt, in an article entitled "Radio Carbon Dating in the Light of Stratigraphy in the Weathering Process", Scientific Monthly, Volume 81, November, 1955, page 240, says:

"In order that a technique or a discipline may be useful in scientific work, its limits must be known and understood. But the limits of usefulness of the radio carbon age determinations are not yet known or understood. No one seriously proposes that all determinations of dates are without error, but we do not know how much many of them are in error: 25%? 50%? 75%? And we do not know what dates are in error, and by what amounts or why."

A Down-Hill Slide

In the years since Dr. Hunt wrote this article, things have gone from bad to worse for the radio carbon dating method. It has been abandoned altogether by the vast majority of those seeking to establish accurate dating methods. The conclusion that we come to is that the only accurate dating system in all of those known to be used in historic science is carbon-14 after the Flood or back to about 4,000 years to the days of the pharaohs. The only reason that this process is accurate is that it can be correlated with recorded history which it gives scientists a bench mark to check against. This is classically true of all historic scientific endeavors. They can never be anything more than religious faith when they go back beyond recorded history. Therefore, there is no proof, and there never has been anywhere at any time and there never will be, that can show the earth to be older than 4,300 years. Actually, it is about 6,000 years old by orthodox chronology. But historical records of the first 1700 years are non-existent due to the destruction of the Genesis Flood. Recorded history begins fairly soon after the flood. This is just what we would expect to be the case if the Genesis Flood was real, as the Bible says that it was.

A Colossal Religious Failure

For all their fervor, false claims, threatening, chiding, pleadings, and religious zeal, historical dating methods--radio carbons or radioactivity or space measurements or what have you--do not support the religion of evolution and do not discredit the Biblical account of the Genesis Flood.

I have 29 books on most of the New Testament and all of Genesis published on amazon.com Kindle page. This text can be read on Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, blackberry, all Kindle devices, and a few others. Covers, Titles, and a short piece about the book can be viewed prior to purchase. All information and needed software is available at the amazon site. To access, go to amazon.com, pull down "Kindle page" with the drop down arrow in the left hand text box and put my name, Earl Cripe, in the right hand text box.

Super Science Fair Projects

Even if kids deny it, winning the science fair is a pretty big honor. It is something a student will get to boast about for years to come. Instilling pride in their school work and sparking a genuine and possible lifelong interest in science is something not many subjects can do through a fair or a competition. Just like in any competition, most children will not want to submit something that will be so-so. Even if it does not win, a science project submitted to the fair has to be world class. It has to be one of the super science fair projects!

Depending on the year level of your child, as well as their branch of science of choice (usually, you have three branches throughout a child's elementary and middle school life), there are many super science fair projects out there. The first step to getting a super science fair project is to carefully study the rules of the fair. Each fair is different depending on the school or school district. Getting to know the rules, as well as the criteria of what the judges are looking for will help you and your child come up with something worthy of the colored prize ribbons.

Earth Science is the science that studies our world and what it is made of. Think geology, anthropology, carbon dating, and the like. The most famous earth science project out there is probably the baking soda and vinegar volcano which shows how magma can rise from the earth and out over the volcano simulating a volcanic eruption. The project also demonstrates a basic chemical reaction. For a super science fair project that involve earth science though, try coming up with your own system for carbon dating. Study the method behind carbon dating and see if you can probably do the same with a few household tools.

One of the more popular choices for super science fair projects in the lower grades is a project that involves life science. Life science is the study of trees, animals, humans, and all other living things. Something as simple as comparing plant growth will count as a science fair project. In order to win, though, take the project up a notch and try growing plants through a hydroponic or aeroponic system. The most important thing is that your child comes up with a good system that they understand and can present healthy growing plants without the use of soil!

Finally, there is physical science, which is by far the most commonly used concept when it comes to super science fair projects. If you pick physical science as your branch, be ready for the competition! If you have a lesson outline of your child's physical science lessons, choose a lesson ahead of what they are currently studying, and base the project on that lesson. This will assure you that your child's project is unique and will throw everyone off by surprise. Being ahead of everyone else in terms of concepts or theory is always a sure winner!