Category: nature

And They Say We Believe in Silly Things REPRINT

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

   From May 15, 2016

Way back in 2004, some scientists–I use the word advisedly–trotted out a theory that Homo erectus, formerly known as Java Man, had a really thick skull, much thicker than ours, because the males had a habit of popping each other over the head with clubs. This cartoon-like image was carefully dressed in the most posh scientific language , but it’s still a cartoon.

Working from scanty evidence, if we might be so kind as to call it that, scientists reasoned (if we may call it that) that Mr. Erectus evolved his thick skull because the other guys were beatin’ on him: in their words, a lot of Erectus’ anatomical features “evolved in response to interpersonal violence.”

I can’t tell whether this is bosh or tommyrot. Are they really asking us to imagine untold generations of Alley Oop conking each other on the noggin until thicker skulls “evolve”?

Yeah, yeah, I know, natural selection and all that: the lads with the thin skulls get clubbed out of existence, and only the ones with the thick skulls survive to make bambinos with thick skulls, chips off the old blockhead. Except DNA can be so uncooperative in that regard! It keeps on reproducing the same thing, unless somehow interfered with. But most of those random mutations are either harmful or totally without effect, so the great humanist god, Chance, is called upon to work miracles.

Loaves and fishes, no. Thick skulls from thin skulls, can you gimme halleluia?

Meanwhile it’s 50 degrees outside today on May 15 and there’s a frost warning on for tonight… and you can bet the house that sooner or later some government scientist is going to come along and declare that this has been the warmest May in recorded history, blah-blah-blah…

And they say we Christians believe in silly things.

 

By Request: Byron’s Baby Picture REPRINT

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

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From May 29, 2019

While I grow older and vegetate in the doctor’s waiting room this morning, we have a request from “Unknowable” for Byron the Quokka’s baby picture. Always happy to oblige, so here it is.

There is, of course, a whole family album to trot out; but Byron eschews celebrity status. I am not sure he knows what “eschews” means. The last time I used that word, he said “Gesundheit.”

‘We’ll Bring Back the Mammoth!’ REPRINT

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

 From February 16, 2017

 

The Original Sin was to disobey God in order, as the Serpent put it, to “be as gods” (Genesis 3:5). That sin is very much with us today.

Scientists have announced a plan to bring back the extinct woolly mammoth by messing about with mammoth DNA and Asian elephant DNA, cutting and pasting and “editing genes” to create a mammoth embryo ( https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/feb/16/woolly-mammoth-resurrection-scientists ). Then they can re-introduce a population of mammoths to the Siberian tundra to combat global warming! Oh–and as an added benefit, they predict these techniques can soon be refined so as to “reverse aging” in human beings.

As much as I would love to see a woolly mammoth, what I would be seeing here would not actually be a mammoth,  but rather an elephant that’s been tampered with to make it look like a mammoth–a counterfeit.

Does anyone honestly expect this to work out as advertised? Do a lot of us need to see Jurassic Park again?

Somehow reading stuff like this makes me feel like I’m getting stupider, not smarter.

Come, Lord Jesus, come–and save us from the folly of our worldly wisdom.

Another Darwinian Fairy Tale REPRINT

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

From April 17, 2016

Thanks to Global Warming and all that, says a scientist at the University of Kent, UK, rising sea levels are going to inundate the earth and the human race will evolve to live underwater, complete with gills, webbed feet and hands, an extra layer of fat for insulation, etc., etc. ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3396624/Webbed-feet-cat-s-eyes-gills-Features-just-humans-evolve-deal-water-world-global-warming-second-ice-age.html ) And voila! The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

It’s hard to decide how to label this. Is it poppycock, humbug, or just B.S.?

If a population of human beings devoted themselves, every day for hours at a stretch, to jumping as high as they could and flapping their arms, how long would it take for their arms to “evolve” into wings?

Or, if that’s asking too much of people who just might have better things to do, perhaps we could perform an experiment. Take some bats and don’t let them fly, but rather keep them in a watery environment day in, day out, for as many generations as it takes for the bats’ wings to evolve into flippers. What will we get out of this, other than a lot of wet, uncomfortable, and down-hearted bats?

I mean, is this stuff even science anymore? Our man from Kent relies on mutations to transform the human race into mermaids. That seems like a long shot, to me. But then that’s why the Darwin set insists on millions, or even billions, of years for Evolution to work its magic. Alas, the vast amounts of time involved make observation somewhat impractical. “You just wait a couple million years, and then you’ll see we were right!” What bunk.

And they say we Christians believe in silly things.

 

The Octopus and the Teddy Bear REPRINT

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

From June 5, 2016

There’s something very poignant, don’t you think, about the image of a little teddy bear getting washed out to sea. I know, this video’s a set-up all the way: but it’s very nicely filmed, and the music is sweet and relaxing. And in the end, the octopus doesn’t try to eat the teddy bear–a wise move.

What is it with this guy? He keeps showing us octopus videos.

No ulterior motive–I just like looking at God’s stuff. The octopus is an intelligent animal, but they haven’t yet found a way to make him stupid and corrupt.

Kentucky’s Rare Yellow Cardinals REPRINT

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of yellow cardinal

From June 12, 2017

Hi, Mr. Nature here–dyin’ from the heat. Last week we had our winter coats on. Today it’s 95 degrees. Well, that’s New Jersey for you.

One thing we don’t have in New Jersey is yellow cardinals–the birds, I mean, not wishy-washy churchmen. For that you have to go to Kentucky.

But even in Kentucky, the yellow cardinal is quite rare. So much so, they urge you to take pictures if you see one. The Northern Cardinal most of us know is bright red (the males) or sort-of red with a green-brown overlay (females). Cardinals mate for keeps, and where you see the male, the female won’t be far behind–and vice-versa. The yellow form, ornithologists say, is a rare genetic mutation.

God has gifted these birds with spectacularly beautiful color, and we delight in them. Even in its fallen state, the world He has created offers beauty.

Whatever will it be like, when He regenerates His whole creation?

A Welcome Weed REPRINT

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for dead nettle

From April 9, 2017

The first plant to come up in my wife’s little garden, this year and last year, is the purple deadnettle.

Hi, Mr. Nature here–and it’s called the “dead” nettle because it doesn’t have a sting like the real nettle. It’s a member of the mint family, memorable for its delicate purple flowers and its leaves that are arranged like a stack of dishes. It grows all over the place, around here.

Bob Bakker–the scientist who, more than anybody else, popularized the concept of warm-blooded, active dinosaurs–once told me one of the things that most draws him to God is the self-evident delight which the Creator takes in His creation. I agree! Even this fallen world, the Father stocks with beauty. Even the weeds!

I was happy when I read that a lot of people have come to appreciate the deadnettle for its beauty and are now planting it on purpose, usually as a border for a garden, and because it so delights our eyes.

Give thanks for the beauty of God’s handiwork: it tells us something good about its Maker.

The picture doesn’t do it justice, and yes it still comes up every year PD

I Think I’ve Been There REPRINT

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Entelodon | Cool Dino Facts Wiki | Fandom

From July 5, 2020

This is Charles R. Knight’s 1894 painting of Elotherium, an extinct animal that resembled a wild boar. That’s cool–but what I’m really interested in is the backdrop.

This reproduction, the only one I could find, doesn’t quite capture the dried-out yellowish tones of the banks of this gully. You’ll have to imagine that. The gully is full of water and the animals are crossing it. Farther up toward the horizon, the gully feeds into a more permanent stream. And then a river? Then the sea?

The thing is–I think I’ve been there! Years and years and years ago. You got there if you went all the way down Orchard Street, back when there was still an orchard there, well past all the houses, and then just park your bike where this little bridge went across the gully. You could easily climb down and wade in the water–which of course you wouldn’t do if  there were Elotheriums present. They look irritable.

It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Knight used real places as the backdrops for his paintings of prehistoric life. I wonder: did he wander into my childhood, or did I wander into one of his paintings?

God’s Stuff Works: Spring Peepers REPRINT

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From March 4, 2016

Very soon–if not already, depending on where you live–some of you will be blessed by the music of these tiny frogs calling for mates. Spring peepers usher in the spring.

The procession of the seasons, according to God’s ordering of things, is an infallible sign of His sovereign government over all of His creation–a very good thing to remember, in the face of the tide of wickedness and folly that overflows this present age.

Someday, according to God’s plan, all of that will be abolished. He will regenerate His entire creation, and put all of it under Jesus Christ, the King of Kings.

Trust in the Lord.

These frogs do.

Beware the Puss Moth Caterpillar REPRINT

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Image result for images of puss caterpillarVideo to follow  (from August 6, 2016)

 

Hi, Mr. Nature here! I haven’t been around much lately because I don’t want anybody to think I even know Joe Collidge.

But I’m here today to warn you off those furry, cuddly-looking caterpillars that just say “Pet me!” when you look at them. Believe me, you’ll be mighty sorry if you do pet one of them.

These critters are found throughout the Southeastern US, as far west as Texas, where they’re all over the place, and as far north as New Jersey.

If you’re really lucky, getting stung by one of these–and the venom is injected on contact, the caterpillar doesn’t have to do it on purpose–it will only be extremely painful. If you’re not so lucky, it will be much worse. It won’t kill you, but the sting of the puss caterpillar has been likened to that of a scorpion. In some parts of the country they’re called tree asps. (If you don’t know what that means, you need to do more crossword puzzles.)

I repeat: don’t touch!