MIRACLE ON THE MENU

Have you seen any miracles lately?

Perhaps you enjoyed one or two for breakfast?

Well, you’ve had 1 of the ~5,000,000,000 chicken eggs laid every day and every one is the miraculous product of an intricately controlled assembly line.                    

Not only that, ~100,000,000 chickens are miraculously hatched every day.

Did you notice all the air bubbles escaping from your egg, especially from the larger end, when you gently dropped it into warm water? Over 10,000 pores in the shell admit oxygen for the chick and release carbon dioxide and water.                                      

After 19 days of incubation the chick discovers an air cell between the inner and outer semipermeable membranes, at the larger end of the egg and takes a 6 hour nap.  Not likely. Using the egg-tooth that has grown on its beak, it quickly commences pipping and cutting its way through the outer membrane and shell in search of more air. On day 21 it has recovered from the effort and is ready to stand on its own two feet and face the world in search of food. 5-7 days later that egg-tooth decides it’s no longer needed and drops off.
That’s all very convenient for the chicken – and it all conveniently ends up on our plate anyway.

So every chicken came from an egg – yes?

And every one of these eggs came from a chicken – yes?

So which came first?...the chicken or the egg?
The world’s philosophers have debated this for thousands of years. Aristotle chose the easy option by saying: “Both bird and egg must have always existed.”

Hang on - what about the rooster? Doesn’t Cockadoodle-do get any credit?

Obviously the philosophers weren’t backyard chicken farmers as kids or they would know, without a rooster and a hen, you can’t make pocket money selling chickens. (We know, don’t we kids!)
So where did the first poultry couple come from?
Perhaps a Creator did make ‘every winged bird’ after all??

Acknowledgements:                                                                                                                               wikipedia.org                                                                                        
chickscopebeckman.uiuc.edu
Dr. Jobe Martin, ‘Incredible Creatures’, Exploration Films .com
World Book 2005

LOUIE'S FLYING FLYBARS

What on earth are ‘halteres’?......or more to the point: what in the air are ‘halteres’?

Don’t you know??                                    
Come on, everyone knows what a haltere is……..(not really)
We had never heard of them either until just recently; in fact, how do you pronounce the word?...perhaps it’s: ‘halt airs’?

Take a look at this tipulid fly.

Can you see those little knobby arms sticking out from its thorax (chest), behind the wings? Notice how they are carefully aligned at right angles to each other and 45 degrees to the body. Diptera insects such as flies, mosquitoes and gnats have these halteres or ‘vibrating structure gyroscopes’, with tiny sensors called campaniform sensilla at the base which inform the insect of spatial orientation and movement during flight. In other words, this is the balance system and like all good aviators, it will refuse to fly if this vital equipment is rendered unserviceable.  

So why are they called halteres?  Athletes in Ancient Greece used to handcraft their own halteres (dumbbells) from stone and use them in long jump competitions – make your own rules of course. 

Hang on a minute, the connection is obvious with weighted arms but the main benefit for the athlete was extra propulsion, not so much balance or stability.

Okay, so where have we seen something like this before that also relies on Newton’s First Law of Motion?

Bell 47D

Got it! Have you ever noticed those extra little rotors called ‘flybars’ that some helicopters have? They stabilize the main rotor by automatically changing the cyclic pitch, reducing the effect of turbulence and improving controllability.  Arthur Young used this device in developing the Bell helicopter while Stanley Hiller Jr. patented a similar device.

Come to think of it – how can something just ‘evolve’ in nature then be patented as an ingenious design by Man who then profits by millions of dollars?

So next time you miss Louie the fly with the fly-swat, at least admire his aerobatics thanks to this marvel of aeronautical design from the Engineer who thought of flybars first.

You might like to hear Dr. Carl Wieland explain ‘why a fly can fly like a fly’, by going to: http://creation.com/why-a-fly-can-fly-like-a-fly

Acknowledgements:
wikipedia.com
Photo credits:
amentsoc.org
Bell 47D / flickr.com                                                                                                                                                             fiddlersgreen.net

 

Who's this blogger?

Let’s check out this blogger by asking him some questions:

How old are you and are you married? 
60 and yes, I married Janette.

Do you have a family?
Sort of. We have 4 married sons and 15 grandkids but our family has been wrecked by church politics.

So you’re a Christian?
What’s a ‘christian’ these days? Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord.

Any regrets?
I now wish I had honoured my parents and parents-in-law unconditionally, no matter what – as the Bible teaches and contrary to what I was taught among the Exclusive Brethren.                                                                 

Are you a scientist?
No, I dropped out of Chemical Engineering – too boring! I’m not even a ‘creation scientist’. I’m just an ordinary guy who tries to use some of that grey matter that keeps my ears apart.

Well, what about a teacher?
The closest I get to being a teacher is having taught aviation theory at a flying school and now teaching SRE Scripture to over 200 public school students. You will find their questions & answers on godspostbox.blogspot.com.au. with illustrations.

So why the blog?
As soon as I stopped being ashamed of the Bible I was asked to teach it to kids (funny that!), only to find that they aren’t sure if God even exists, despite Australia having a Christian heritage. (See our October post: Australia's First School-house')

The Bible tells us that we can learn about Him just from the things He has made, so we’re just having a look around and invite you to join us – what have we got to lose?

The controversial topics that Christians argue about are discussed on hotspuds.blogspot.com and a bonus on Islam in Australia is included.

BIG LUNGS ON THE TENNIS COURT

Look out Maria – you’re meant to hit the ball, not swallow it! No matter what sort of tennis you play, we all know your lungs work well - some say too well.

So are our lungs just wind bags or is there some delicate engineering down there?
How about:

·       2,400 kilometres of airway

·       300 - 500 million air sacs (alveoli) supply their own surfactant to prevent collapse

·       alveoli walls only 10 microns thick, separating blood vessels from the inhaled air

·       992 kilometres of blood capillaries to facilitate gas exchange

Impressive? Well how about an internal surface area of at least 70 square metres - the size of A PLAYER’S TENNIS COURT!

Our lungs are over-engineered, with surplus capacity that proves useful at high altitude, after suffering injury or following the onset of tuberculosis, emphysema from mining, smoking…

So why don't we gradually drown in the muck that goes south?
Some cells produce mucous to trap inhaled debris and bacteria while others have fine hairs (cilia) which rhythmically beat towards the throat, driving that muck back up north. How handy is that!

What else do our lungs do? Alter blood pH, filter small venous clots, filter blood microbubbles, provide airflow for vocal sounds, provide a reservoir for blood………

Well is this all just good luck, or is there a Creator who has provided for us generously with these bellows we take so much for granted?   Perhaps He anticipated the Earth’s atmosphere would offer a reduced oxygen concentration after the Great Flood??

By the way, every mammal relies on the same standard of engineering design.

      Acknowledgements: 
        wikipedia.com
        Anatomica, Global Book Publishing, Sydney, 2006
        Photo credit: globoesport.globo.com                                                                  

SATURN'S GOLDEN AGE DANCE ACADEMY

Saturn was once known as ‘ father of gods’, 766 times larger than Earth and taking 29.46 years to slowly drag himself around the Sun, but since Galileo took a peep with his new telescope in 1610 we’ve had to change our ideas.  Saturn seemed to be surrounded by moons until Christiaan Huygens found in 1656 that it was really a complex ring system, making the old fella the ‘star attraction’ in the golden age sky.
  

We now know that old man Saturn is not so slow – he simply has a long path to travel, and his moon entourage is so complex that astronomers are….umm, dumb-struck! Rather than being just a big planet surrounded by rock and ice, he actually seems to be operating his own very successful dance academy with billions of students and only about 53 named by us!

But was Galileo so wrong? Countless dancers -ranging from a speck to the size of a house - are performing nicely in a neat whirl 270,000 km wide, while other couples do their own thing in perfect synchrony.  Lone dancers practise, while some like Iapetus in a stunning black and white outfit, keep to the edge of the floor, with Phoebe daring to orbit in reverse.

Let’s meet some dashing couples with unique personalities:

Mimas bravely pairs with 3 times larger Tethys, who is chaperoned by the tiny twins: Telesto and Calypso.

Gigantic, youthful Titan with his own toxic atmosphere, is gallantly teaching tiny and chaotically hyperactive Hyperion the waltz.

Volcanic Enceladus has taken a partner, Dione, more than twice his size.

So what sort of a dance is it?  ‘Orbital Period Resonance’ with a variety of timings and at least one of the dance partners must face the master at all times - of course!

What about the dance-master himself? 
Light on his feet (lighter than water) what a ball of energy Saturn is, radiating 2½ times the energy received but stormy at times with winds up to 1800 kmh.  He’s charismatic with gravity and a strong magnetic field but don’t get too close!...his body odour is methane and ammonia.  Not to be outdone by big boy Jupiter, Saturn even shows a Great White Spot every 30 years and pirouettes at more than 37,000 kmh, making him wider than he’s tall! 

Oh…we mustn’t miss the dancing darlings - Epimetheus and Janus  - juniors who switch (yes, switch) orbit every 4 years!

If Saturn is just ‘another ordinary planet from a random chance event’ where did all these unique moons come from, with their marvellous dance movements?

 

Acknowledgements:                                                                                                       wikipedia.com                                                                                                                                                                              Britannica 2001

Image credit: envazhi.com

THE DANCING MALA WALLABY

Mrs Mala is a tiny kangaroo or to be precise, a Rufous-hare Wallaby (Lagorchestes hirsutus) who lives on one of two remote islands off the coast of Western Australia, near Shark Bay.

She lives where food can be scarce and cut off from any medical facilities, so like other macropodids, her Designer has wisely given her special family planning ability so that she can control her pregnancies. (Now that would be handy!) Gestation lasts 124 days but the interval between joeys can be shortened to produce 3 in one year, or when there’s not much food in the cupboard an embryo can be put on hold – unattached to the uterine wall (embryonic diapause) – or even aborted if necessary.                              

Good times or bad, mum and dad like to kick up their heels in a lively dance.

*Special thanks to Year 5/6 - 2012, Beechwood Public School, NSW, Australia



Joey on the milkbar

 

Acknowledgements:
wikipedia.com                                                                                                                                                             environment.gov.au                                                                                                    umich.edu                                                                                   

Photocredits:
aqob.com.au
sharkbay.org                                                                                                                                                                     en.wikipedia.org
Wildlife Fact File

HUNTING A BULL WITH A SUBARU

Look into the night-sky towards the tropics and you will see a bull with a blood-shot eye, wearing a Subaru badge and facing a hunter whose sword belt is sagging!

The hunter of course is ORION (his belt forming the base of 'the saucepan'); further west you will see the faint but beautiful cluster of the SEVEN SISTERS called THE PLEIADES on the flank of Taurus the Bull. His blood-shot eye is the red star, Aldebaran.

Our upside-down view from 'Downunder'! 

Will Orion have to let out his belt as he gets older or is that sword just getting a bit heavy?

Will the Seven Sisters go their own ways or prefer to stick together?

These two celestial sights can be seen from anywhere in the habitable world, with Orion being the brightest constellation, hovering over the Equator. Betelgeuse, is Orion's shoulder and the giant blue star, Rigel, on his foot.

Last century, astronomers with modern telescopes were able to observe that the stars, Mintaka and Alnilam in Orion's belt, seem to be moving towards each other, whereas the other major star, Alnitak, seems to be drifting away.





Orion Nebula flashes from the hunter's sword

 

They also observed that the cluster of The Pleiades seems to be moving together towards the south-east.

 

 

The book of Job in the Jewish Scriptures was written at least 2,700 years ago and was probably the first book written about 3,500 years ago, long before the world’s first telescope was made by Hans Lippershey in 1608 AD.

God challenged Job:
“CAN YOU BIND THE BONDS OF PLEIADES OR LOOSEN THE BELT OF ORION?” 

How about that! So God is just a myth??

Okay, why the Subaru badge?   Subaru is Japanese for The Pleiades.
According to Greek mythology, the seven daughters of Atlas were: Electra, Maia, Taygete, Asterope, Celaene, Alcyone and Myrope who is not old enough to stay up as late as her sisters so she’s difficult to see with the naked eye.

Now you know why Subarus the world over, like Taurus the Bull, proudly wear the 6 star badge representing 6 stunning sisters. By the way, what else does Taurus wear- on his head for the next few months?....Jupiter!

Who said that God hasn’t got a sense of humour?

 

Acknowledgements:
Isabel Lewis, United States Naval Observatory
Dr. Robert J. Trumpler, Lick Observatory, California
"Curiosities Of The Sky" by Garrett P. Serviss 
Subaru (Australia) Pty. Ltd. and Port Macquarie Subaru

Image credits:
Night sky & Orion Nebula / Stellarium
Pleiades / Rogelio Bernal Andreo / DeepSkyColours.com

Posers from uni students

While you're waiting for the next article here's a bonus to liven up your dinner table, with some questions commonly raised by uni students:

1.         Where is the evidence that God exists?..........Give us some 'iopnas'!

2.         Why all the suffering?......................................Fix it God!

3.         Hasn't science proved with the 'theory of evolution' that God doesn't exist anyway?..........................................................Give us facts not myths!

A 4th question will keep for a rainy day and before you throw these 3 into the ring,

·         how can we explain the survival of Israel, and its sacred Book with its historic accuracy and archaeological evidence?

·         have we ever actually seen a man flogged nearly to death - then crucified naked with nails?

·         is the 'theory of evolution' actually based on empirical evidence or another human belief system?  Is it true science or religion?  Fair question?

Good luck!

DIAMONDS 4 EVER

What is DIAMOND?.... a lattice of carbon atoms.                    

We are told that diamond is formed under high pressure and temperature, beneath Earth’s crust, then surfaces by volcanic activity.  When did it form or how long did it take?

Obviously no-one observed it but geologists say: 1 to 3.3 billion years – a big range.
Can you get your head around that?

Here is the Star of Africa, a 530 carat diamond that now adorns the sceptre in the English Royal Crown Jewels. It was cut from the largest diamond ever found, ‘The Cullinan’ (3106 carat, 0.6kgs) from the Premier Mine in South Africa in 1905.

Diamond can be manufactured synthetically by a variety of processes and since it can be harder and more pure than the natural stone it can be preferred for industrial use such as delicate transistor manufacture.
Under controlled conditions how long does the manufacture of synthetic diamonds take?  
It looks like chemists are embarrassed to say…… a matter of days at most!

Apparently an isotope of carbon, radiocarbon known as Carbon 14, can be detected in natural diamond (along with coal, oil, limestone, graphite, natural gas, marble, and fossils).  So??
Carbon 14 has a ‘half- life’ of 5,730 years so it should be undetectable after only ~100,000 years.

Do you think perhaps it would be better to rely on historians to tell us about history?

Acknowledgements:           wikipedia.com

DINO AMONG DUSTCOATS

This really sets the cat among the pigeons or ‘Dino among the dustcoats’!.......

A paleontologist from North Carolina State University, Mary H. Schweitzer, was involved in a large fossil dig at Hell Creek in north-east Montana. In 2001 so many remains were collected from the site that even smelled of death that a 3.5m long thigh bone from a particular Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil had to be broken to fit into the helicopter. Bone fragments were taken back to the laboratory and dissolved with acid to reveal fibrous bone matrix. Further examination revealed that the dinosaur was probably a pregnant female and heme, a haemoglobin component in blood, also remained. As a result of this and other unfossilised finds, a new field of science has emerged - molecular paleontology.

An adult T-Rex was about 12 metres long and stood about 3.7 metres tall. We are told that they died out 65 million years ago but that soft tissue and nucleated red blood cells could not be expected to survive anywhere near that long, even in a protected environment within rock.

What has been the response from academia? Mary has been accused of: being mistaken, allowing contamination, lab testing outside her expertise, rushing the tests due to funding constraints, confusing matrix with bacterial biofilm…but no scientist who values his/her career dares question that sacred dating of 65 million years. The only option now is to rethink fossil mineralisation and preservation rates.                                          

According to the Geological Column in the textbooks:
How is the 65 million years decided on by paleontologists?........by the age of the rocks?
So how is the age of the rocks decided on by geologists?........by the age of the fossils?

And what drives science these days?  Objectivity… or money? careers? bias?

Just by the way, Mary is reported having said about God: “…I think He kind of designed it so that we’d never be able to prove His existence.”


Acknowledgements:                                                           

en.wikipedia.org                                                                                                                                      www.smithsonianmag.com
discovermagazine.com
Photo credits:
T-rex / cosmonoticias.org
Hell Ck / berkeley.edu
                                        

SURTSEY'S BIRTHDAY

Here’s an unexpected find – an ancient island 31 kilometres south-west of the Icelandic mainland, with a diverse ecosystem and evidently millions of years old.

Just kidding.....Surtsey Island has its 51st birthday today!

 

 

Who said they’re not making any more real estate?

This is Surtsey being born by volcanic eruption on 15 November, 1963, or as some imagine – Surtur the mythological god of fire breathes out a brand new island.

 

Despite being protected by restricted access from outside interference, Surtsey Island has quickly acquired a diverse ecosystem of over 60 plant species, at least 12 bird species, seals, spiders, insects, worms…..

No....Surtsey is not so old after all.

 

Acknowledgements:           wikipedia.com
Photo credits:
Surtsey now / geology.rockbandit.net
Surtsey born / en.wikipedia.org
Birdlife / vulkaner.no