he found that light from a distant quasar, a star-like object, had absorbed the wrong type of photons from interstellar clouds on its 12 billion year journey to earth. Anybody out there who can translate this from idiot journalist back into correct science?
Sounds like the spectral lines from the gas cload are wrong. Perhaps Mr Creationist just forgot about red shift?
Uh, no I don't think the red shift was forgotten. Perhaps you've forgotten that in 1987 William Tifft discovered that red shift measurements showed quantization, distinct jumps to from one plateau to another, with distinct breaks inbetween the plateaus (see: Astrophysics Journal, 206:38-56, 1976; 211:31-46, 1977; 211:377-391, 1977; 221:449-455, 1979; 221:756-775, 1978; 233:799-808, 1979; 236:70-74, 1980; 257:442-449, 1982, etc.) This poses significant problems with the model of the expanding universe. The universe can't expand in fits and starts.
To prove Tifft wrong, two Guthrie and Napier collected their own data, and to their chagrin determined that Tifft was right.