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Conservapedia – The Trustworthy Encyclopedia

Out there in the endless information space of the internet, a small stronghold of untainted knowledge exists that heroically resists the onslaught of information distorted by liberal democrats or satanic atheists:

Conservapedia

One example from the entry on evolution (yeah, I know, that topic again):

Lack of Any Clear Transitional Forms

Bird or dinosaur? The Thermopolis specimen

The Thermopolis specimen
By joe_tourist,
used under cc license

… today there are over one hundred million identified and cataloged fossils in the world’s museums. If the evolutionary position was valid, then there should be “transitional forms” in the fossil record reflecting the intermediate life forms. Another term for these “transitional forms” is “missing links”.

Charles Darwin admitted that his theory required the existence of “transitional forms.” Darwin wrote: “So that the number of intermediate and transitional links, between all living and extinct species, must have been inconceivably great. But assuredly, if this theory be true, such have lived upon the earth.” Darwin wrote: “Why then is not every geological formation and every strata full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely-graduated organic chain; and this perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against my theory.”

Scientist Dr. Michael Denton wrote regarding the fossil record: “It is still, as it was in Darwin’s day, overwhelmingly true that the first representatives of all the major classes of organisms known to biology are already highly characteristic of their class when they make their initial appearance in the fossil record.

Creationists assert that evolutionists have had over 140 years to find a transitional fossil and nothing approaching a conclusive transitional form has ever been found and that only a handful of highly doubtful examples of transitional fossils exist.

David B. Kitts of the School of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Oklahoma wrote that “Evolution requires intermediate forms between species and paleontology does not provide them…”.

… the late Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould … admitted the following:
“The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology. The evolutionary trees that adorn our textbooks have data only at the tips and nodes of their branches; the rest is inference, however reasonable, not the evidence of fossils … In a 1977 paper titled “The Return of Hopeful Monsters”, Gould wrote: “The fossil record with its abrupt transitions offers no support for gradual change….All paleontologists know that the fossil record contains precious little in the way of intermediate forms; transitions between major groups are characteristically abrupt.”

The senior paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History, Dr. Colin Patterson, put it this way: “Gradualism is a concept I believe in, not just because of Darwin’s authority, but because my understanding of genetics seems to demand it. Yet Gould and the American Museum people are hard to contradict when they say there are no transitional fossils….I will lay it on the line — there is not one such fossil for which one could make a watertight argument.

In 1980, David Woodruff wrote in the journal Science the following: “But fossil species remain unchanged throughout most of their history and the record fails to contain a single example of a significant transition.”

The late Ernst Mayr … a prominent Harvard biologist … a staunch evolutionist and atheist … maintained that evolution was a fact … was compelled to make the following admission regarding the fossil record in relation to the theory of evolution: “Even the fossil record fails to substantiate any continuity and all novelties appear in the fossil record quite suddenly.”

Ah, using decade old quotes, a strategy that never gets old. But to be fair, the following is also part of the entry:

After having been incessantly quoted by creationist … Gould stated the following in 1981: “Since we proposed punctuated equilibria to explain trends, it is infuriating to be quoted again and again by creationists – whether through design or stupidity, I do not know – as admitting that the fossil record includes no transitional forms. Transitional forms are generally lacking at the species level, but they are abundant between larger groups.”

And now, if you are a) still reading this and b) still interested in the other side’s point of view (and honestly, why would you? All those quotes are pretty compelling, aren’t they?), here is (an excerpt) of the Wikipedia entry (reservations towards the trustworthyness of online resources apply!):

dinosaur w/saddle

The little known transitional state between
Dinosaur and riding Horse
By williac,
used under cc license

According to modern evolutionary synthesis, all populations of organisms are in transition. Therefore, a “transitional form” is a human construct

Not every transitional form appears in the fossil record because the fossil record is nowhere near complete. Organisms are only rarely perserved as fossils in the best of circumstances and only a fraction of such fossils have ever been discovered. … the total number of of species of all kinds known through the fossil record was less than 5% … which suggests that the number of species known through fossils must be less than 1%

Proponents of creationism have frequently made claims about the existence or implications of transitional fossils … some of these claims include:

  • ‘There are no transitional fossils.’ … Such claims may be based on a misunderstanding of the nature of what represents a transitional feature
  • ‘No fossils are found with partially functional features.’ Vestigial organs are common in whales (legs), flightless birds (wings), snakes (pelvis and lung), and numerous structures in humans (the coccyx, plica semilunaris, and appendix).
  • … creationists have claimed that evolution predicts a continuous gradation in the fossil record, and have misrepresented the expected partial record as having “systematic gaps”. Due to the specialized and rare circumstances required for a biological structure to fossilize, only a very small percentage of all life-forms that ever have existed can be expected to be represented in discoveries and each represents only a snapshot of the process of evolution. The transition itself can only be illustrated and corroborated by transitional fossils, but it will never demonstrate an exact half-way point between clearly divergent forms.

Also, you might want to look at the List of transitional fossils, the Evolution of the horse or the Evolution of cetaceans (Whales, dolphins etc.).

Aura Dione – Song for Sophie

[youtube]WcLRD9g2Yrg[/youtube]
Corny song, incredibly stupid video and that annoying shalala-part, but still, I really like it.

Verona Panorama

The broken hard disk with pictures from Italy has been restored. Hooray!

Here is the first result, a panorama of Verona, stitched from seven single images with Hugin. The photos were taken when the sun was high, so the lighting is far from perfect, but it’s not too bad.

Verona-Panorama

Just do it

David duChemin

David DuChemin
By Yogesh Sarkar,
used under cc license

David duChemin – world & humanitarian photographer, best-selling author, and international workshop leader (his words, not mine 😉 ) – had written a blog post that I really needed right now:

You can generate idea after idea, fill your Moleskine notebooks so jam-packed with great ideas the world would fall down at your feet if only they knew how creative you were. But the trap lies in thinking that coming up with the ideas is where the value is. It isn’t. The value lies in your ability to execute. Forget all the hundreds of ideas. Pick one. And do it. Then pick another, and do it too.

We get paralyzed sometimes by too many options. A million ideas and we’re stuck because we can’t pick one. Stop it. Pick one. Move forward.

How does this apply? For working photographers or those who aspire to it – pick one project and do it. Finish it. Then do another. Which one? Who cares! Pick the one you most want to do, the one your dog wants you to do, or the one on the top of the list. But pick one, and do it. Because picking the “wrong one” and getting it done puts you in motion and is better than doing nothing at all. … Don’t stare at it, don’t whine. Just pick the thing at the top of the list – or better – the one you most dread doing, and begin. Just begin.

… That old adage about creativity being 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration? It’s true. Don’t let your piles of notes and your great-sounding ideas lull you into thinking you’re making progress. You make progress when you begin. Ideas are great, but they’re no substitute for the thrill of creation, of seeing that idea become real. All you need to do is begin. And then finish. But beginning is the hard part. There are a million excuses – we’re too busy is the best one.

Staat zahlt 442 Millionen Euro für Kirchengehälter

Bischof Werner Thissen

Bischöfe erhalten ihr Geld vom
Staat. Wer hätte das gedacht?

Via SPOL:

Die sieben Bistümer des Freistaats [Bayern] haben jährliche Kircheneinnahmen von rund 1,2 Milliarden Euro, trotzdem zahlt das Land die Gehälter von beispielsweise sieben Erzbischöfen, zwölf Weihbischöfen, 60 Kanonikern sowie 33 Erziehern an bischöflichen Priester- und Knabenseminaren.

In Bayern flossen dafür allein im vergangenen Jahr 65 Millionen Euro vom Freistaat an die katholische Kirche, hinzu kamen 21 Millionen für die evangelischen Kollegen. Auch Baden-Württemberg zeigte sich gegenüber den Geistlichen großzügig: Je 49 Millionen zahlte das Land 2009 an die katholische und die evangelische Kirche.

Die Regelung geht … auf vereinbarte Ersatzzahlungen zwischen Staat und Kirche zurück – dieser Beschluss stammt aus dem Jahr 1803.

Am 25. Februar 1803 enteignete die Reichsdeputation in Regensburg die alte Reichskirche mit ihrem enormen Besitz … Mit diesen Immobilien wurden die weltlichen Fürsten für jene Gebiete entschädigt, die sie an Napoleon hatten abtreten müssen. … Im Gegenzug bekommen seither die Kirchen für ihre Vermögensverluste jährliche Zahlungen aus der Staatskasse.

Dass die Vereinbarung auch 200 Jahre später noch gilt, daran habe damals niemand gedacht, erklärt Professor Horst Herrmann, Experte für Kirchenrecht. Trotzdem stelle seit jeher niemand das Abkommen in Frage: “Das Kaiserreich hat gezahlt, die Weimarer Republik hat gezahlt, Hitler hat gezahlt und die Bundesrepublik zahlt immer noch”, so Herrmann.

Äh, hallo? Der Staat bezahlt Leute dafür, dass sie den Glauben an eine übernatürlich Macht verbreiten? Ja geht’s noch? Die Kirche ist ein Dienstleister wie jeder andere und soll sich gefälligst selbst finanzieren.

Bezahlt der Staat eigentlich auch die Nachkommen der früheren Adelshäuser für den Besitz, den man ihnen abgenommen hat?

Freaks and Geeks

Ok, I know I am about ten years late on this, but this is the most awesome series EVER. How did this get canceled after one season???

Chronologie der Ölpest im Golf von Mexiko

Coagulated Oil

Strand mit Öl
By AdamCohn,
used under cc license

Interessante Übersicht über die Ereignisse von Spiegel Online.

Ein paar Highlights:

20. April 2010, 17 Uhr: Ein weiterer Drucktest erfolgt, um mögliche Gaslecks zu identifizieren. Der Test verläuft nach späteren Angaben von BP-Vizepräsident James Dupree “nicht zufriedenstellend”. Sprich: Das Bohrloch ist nicht hundertprozentig versiegelt – Gas dringt in das Bohrrohr. Eine Reparatur würde allerdings mindestens eine Woche dauern und BP zwischen fünf und zehn Millionen Dollar kosten.

20. April 2010, 20 Uhr:Es ist eine klare Nacht über dem Golf von Mexiko. Trotz des “unschlüssen” (unschlüssigen? Anm. von mir) Testverlaufs und internen Meinungsverschiedenheiten zwischen BP und Transocean beschließt BP, mit dem Abziehen des Bohrrohrs zu beginnen: Die Lage “rechtfertigt es, den Test zu beenden und fortzufahren”, so gibt ein BP-Anwalt die Entscheidung später wieder.

24. April: Erste BP-Schätzungen besagen, täglich flössen rund 1000 Barrel (rund 160.000 Liter) aus.

14. Mai 2010: BP-Chef Tony Hayward bezeichnet den Ölteppich in einem Interview … als “relativ winzig” im Vergleich zum “sehr großen Ozean”.

15. Mai 2010: Unabhängige Wissenschaftler geben bekannt, dass sie im Golf von Mexiko riesige, versteckte Ölschwaden unter Wasser entdeckt haben, darunter eine, die 16 Kilometer lang und fünf Kilometer breit sei. Das Ausmaß der Verseuchung sei damit offenbar weit größer, als der Ölteppich auf der Meeresoberfläche bisher vermuten ließ.

Angenommen, es zeigt sich, “Die Lage ‘rechtfertigt es, den Test zu beenden und fortzufahren’” bedeutet, dass in Wirklichkeit eine Berechnung “Risiko für ein Leck * kalkulierte Kosten einer Katastrophe” gegen “Kosten für eine Reparatur” stattgefunden hat (und das würde ich mal vermuten), dann hoffe ich, dass der verantwortliche Manager mit einer angemessenen Gefängnisstrafe belohnt wird, inklusive Zwangsverpflichtung zur eigenhändigen Reinigung der Küsten.

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