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The discovery of five remarkable new fossils has confirmed that birds evolved from dinosaurs, Chinese scientists claimed tonight.Because the fossils - unearthed in rock formations in north-eastern China - are older than previous discoveries of similar creatures, the find adds weight to the theory that birds descended from predatory dinosaurs.The fossils all have feathers or feather-like structures. The clearest and most striking of the specimens can be seen to have four wings, extensive plumage and profusely feathered feet.

Sept 23, 2009 — Imagine never having to wash your windows again. That would be a huge boon not only for window washers on skyscrapers, but for astronauts on the space shuttle or space station. It may become a reality, thanks to the lotus plant...

William Dembski, the “intelligent design” creationist who is a professor in philosophy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, has some rather interesting requirements for students of his creationism courses — 20% of their final grade comes from having written 10 posts promoting ID on “hostile” websites: Academic Year 2009-2010. Spring 2009 Intelligent Design (SOUTHERN EVANGELICAL SEMINARY #AP 410, 510, and 810; May 11 – 16, 2009) NEW! THE DUE DATE FOR ALL WORK IN THIS COURSE IS AUGUST 14, 2009. Here’s what you will need to do to wrap things up: AP410 — This is the undegrad...

We are losing our children! Research indicates that 70% of teens who are involved in a church youth group will stop attending church … [1] Similar statements from Christian leaders aren’t new, but many still can’t seem to identify the root cause of the problem. However, most front-line evangelists in the Western world have reached a consensus. The following quote is from a person who shares his faith more times in a month than most Christians ever will in their lives...

Child-Eating Eagle No Longer a Myth by Brian Thomas, M.S.* The Maoris, or native New Zealanders, for generations told stories about a giant bird that could swoop down and carry away human children. As it turns out, those stories held some truth after all...

Irving Kristol, Darwin Doubter, RIP If you’re ever given a choice between seeing one of two doctors about a health concern, with all else about them being apparently equal, you’d be well advised to choose the older one. Oh but won’t the young guy have all the latest techniques and therapies at his disposal, fresh from med school? Maybe or maybe not. What’s more likely, and more important, is that the seasoned practitioner will have wisdom and experience of the human condition. So too in the political world, where on the conservative side of the spectrum you have “neocons,” “paleocons,”...

Sept 21, 2009 — “Were crocodiles responsible for the stones we call tools?” is the title of a surprising letter to the editor in Nature last week.[1] Patrick Dempsey (the archaeologist, not the actor) raised a possibility that paleoanthropologists and the journals have been making a big mistake for a long time. He asked, “Could Nature have been unknowingly publishing papers for the past 80 years about crocodilian gastroliths (stomach stones) instead of stones concluded to be 2.5-million-year-old hominid tools?” Surely anthropologists have thought of this and know how to tell the difference, right?...

ichard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and perhaps today’s most famous Darwin apologist, has a new book that hit bookstores this month. The Greatest Show on Earth promises to meet his high standard of creative and convincing tale-telling. “Evolution leaves God with nothing to do,” Dawkins wrote in a Wall Street Journal article that posted before the book’s launch. Then, revealing a stunningly pantheistic faith, he asserted that “life is arguably the most surprising and most beautiful production that the laws of physics have ever generated.”[1] But does the book present support for this assessment from the actions of...

Sept 21, 2009 — The Martians are singing How dry I am. Scientists have a new explanation for how Mars turned red without water...

Bunnies Bug Darwin Rabbits are cosmopolitan, herbivorous mammals in the scientific order Lagomorpha, which includes cottontails, pikas ("conies"), and hares. Rabbits burrow and give birth to blind, naked young, whereas hares are born above ground, fully furred with eyes open. Pikas' hind limbs are only slightly longer than their forelimbs. Tooth structure is one big difference between rodents (gnawing mammals) and the lagomorphs. Both have long incisors that constantly grow. But unlike rodents, lagomorphs have additional peg-like incisors behind the first pair. Most fossil mammals are fragmentary, sometimes containing just teeth. The enamel microstructure of various mammal teeth differs widely,...

Genesis: Real, Reliable, Historical by Andrew A. Snelling, Ph.D.* Introduction to (new book entitled) Earth's Catastrophic PastWhy Take Genesis Seriously? The first eleven chapters of the Bible have been relegated by many to the category of myths, not real history. These are said to contain spiritual truth, but they cannot be taken seriously as records of real people and events. Many sincere Christians who believe the Bible do not know what their pastors believe about the historicity of Genesis. Is it safe to assume that these believe in the following truths? 1. God created everything in six 24-hour days. 2...

Man-made geographical high points in southern England and Wales have been observed for centuries, including earthworks, stone monuments like Stonehenge, and hill camps. But something quite unexpected about their distribution may have been verified...

No bridge was ever built with girders like this! The bones in our bodies aren’t just strong and flexible, they’re constantly building and repairing themselves. --snip-- Bones serve three kinds of critically important functions in our body—mechanical functions, maintenance of mineral levels, and blood production...

Limbaugh: 'We Need Segregated Buses' Politics | Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 11:06:51 am PDT A lot of lefty blogs are calling for a boycott of Rush Limbaugh after he indulged in blatant, ugly race baiting. I’m not joining that call, because I don’t believe boycotts are a good thing, in general. People like Rush Limbaugh should be allowed to say this kind of stuff; it makes it easier to see what they’re really advocating, and who really supports it. I searched, and found not a single right wing blog denouncing this vile rant. As far as I can tell,...

Two paleontologists met one day to have a chat. No, this is not the start of a joke—though aspects of it might sound that way when we see what they talked about. When Hans Larsson, the Canada Research Chair in Macro Evolution at Montreal’s McGill University had discussions with internationally renowned paleontologist Jack Horner (who served as scientific advisor for all three Jurassic Park movies), they came up with a truly astounding project. The two were conferring about how they might better illustrate evolution to the general public, when Horner boldly shared his personal vision with Larsson. Horner, who gives...

There is a poll question at this site that asks what do you believe, Evolution or Creationism. Where do you stand in the Creation/Evolution Debate What follows is a description for the four choices available. There are also three other poll questions. Freep them all, there seems they expire at midnight tonight, so lets freep them. A CREATIONIST: A creationist is a person who rejects the theory of evolution and believes instead that the each species on earth was put here by a Divine Being. A Creationist might accept "micro-evolution" (changes in the form of a species over time based...

There are four polls here that look interesting. On the creation/evolution poll, it looks like the Darwinians are winning. If you believe in a 6 day creation then you are in second. Time to freep the poll Christian Freepers. Who do you believe? Click on God and His Son if you believe them.OR Click on Darwin if you believe him. If the images just confused you, then go here and you can freep the poll.Where do you Stand in the Creation/Evolution DebateThe other three polls are on who you want for President, one for Vice President, and one for what...

There is a poll question at this site that asks Freepers what we believe in, 1.) Micro-Evolutionary Creationist (God used evolution)2.) Young Earth Creationist (God did it in 6 days about 6000 years ago)3.) Intelligent Designer (It may or may not have been by the God of the Bible)4.) Evolutionist (I accept Darwin's basic theory)Click here to take the poll Here's an excerpt from the article. At a site called Exploring Constitutional Conflicts, I found this description of for each choice in the poll. After some feedback, I have realized how inaccurate my poll is in the questioning, but it...

In Oklahoma, Darwinist Choir Sings the Praises of Suppression and Censorship It’s funny how a little thing like a documentary film can send the Darwinist choir into tizzy tantrums. If Darwin’s theory is the be all end all of science, why are they so worried by a small, independent film? Because, it is the power of the ideas in the film that have them scared. The makers of Unlocking the Mystery of Life and The Privileged Planet have produced the third in their trilogy of films about intelligent design, Darwin’s Dilemma The Mystery of the Cambrian Explosion. It’s a fantastic...

The Wide Area Search for Planets (WASP) project has discovered a planet that orbits backward, against the rotational direction of its star. Methodological naturalists think collisions or near-collisions are the causes of unusual cosmic phenomena like this. But this reverse-orbit observation adds to a growing list of astronomical features that should not exist if collisions and other random physical processes are all that could have caused them.[1]...