What Really Happend to the Dinosaurs?

[kariberi]

I need to rant. I am usually a level headed person. Raised Catholic (mostly went on Xmas and Easter), over the years i have become to lose faith in organized religion. I have faith in a higher power, believe in good morals. ETc. Etc. I happend to notice a photo of my cousin who was reading a dinosaur book to her son. She was raised as a christian and was homeschooled. She even has her masters degree in Psychology. She is a sweet and loving woman and I adore her. But the book is about a character named Dinky the Dinosaur and its based off of creationism. I looked up the book on Amazon and came across another title "What Really Happend to the Dinosaurs", by John Morris Ph.D. :oops:

I am having a hard time wrapping my finger around this. The way they describe the book, saying "Ken's emphasis is on the relevance and authority of the book of Genesis and how compromise on Genesis has opened a dangerous door regarding how the culture and church view biblical authority". :hand:

And that it states the book that was re-written the fiction of secular dinosaur lore. and calls it a fun-filled adventure and scientific teaching of a biblical alternative. :think:

The author has a Ph. D. Has studied science. Technically he is a scientist.

But they make this book out to be truth. Never minding about proof from those other heathen scientists out there that have made discoveries and proved certain theories. I know my cousin will most likely homeschool her kids, which is her choice and I am glad that she is able too. But I wonder if once her kids get to college, wont they struggle with certain science courses, let alone struggle at all? I know she did, mentally and physically but she did it. She was going to be a therapist, but started to have babies. But that is her choice.

I would like to try to talk to her about what she plans on teaching her kids and if its only creationism without any exposure to evolution. :naughty:

But I do not want to start a fight and cause a rift if you know what I mean.

I am still dumbfounded and ignorant to the fact that there is published stuff out there on this. I do not mind "Veggie Tales", but the whole creationism thing has me scratching my head.

[bananacat]

The author did not "study science" unless he got his degree from some diploma mill that offers generic science as a major. A quick google search shows that his degrees are in various types of engineering. I'm an engineer and I have worked as a scientist, but they're not the same thing. Plenty of students can churn through engineering and become quite good at math, but still misunderstand the scientific method. His B.S. is in civil engineering so straight science played very little part in it. His PhD is "geological engineering" which I have never even heard of and is so niche as to be practically useless; he surely was already a creationist and took that route to try to cherry-pick arguments for his side. But even if he were a scientist, being knowledgeable in one field would not mean that he is knowledgeable in every field. And scientists are still human and can be wrong even in their field of study.

As for your family situation, there's not much you can do. Sadly, even many students who are taught evolution and "believe" in it don't understand it very well. But on the plus side, your nephew won't be very far behind the curve.

As for publishing, it's super easy for authors to self-publish and a lot of junk gets out there. It's part of life.

Oh, and this is rich: the author put his salary on his Wikipedia page, clearly as an attempt to impress people. He's a tool.

[PennySycamore]

Damn! I thought he meant this classic cartoon by Gary Larson:

http://bitsandpieces.us/2010/09/19/the- ... e-extinct/

[ohnomoe]

His PhD is "geological engineering" which I have never even heard of and is so niche as to be practically useless; he surely was already a creationist and took that route to try to cherry-pick arguments for his side.

Just wanted to chime in and say that geological engineering is far from useless and really just a specific kind of civil engineering. It is probably a great practical thing to study a phd in and would potentially lead to a high income. It also has absolutely nothing to do with biological science, the age of the earth, dinosaurs or evolution.

Unfortunately it also allows allows him to whack the phd tittle against his name and give his "work" in another field a false air of authority. People who don't know what geological engineering is might mistake it as having something to do with the scientific study of the ground, including age of rocks, fossils, etc, rather than the engineering of man made things in the ground. To me this is really ethically questionable and belittles the institution of higher education which he probably owes a lot of his success too...

edit: ha who lists their income on their wikipedia page? It isn't even that impressive, I mean it is well above average but not out of the ordinary or high enough to be interesting.

[GeoBQn]

This is what really happened to Dinosaurs. :crying-yellow:

pPTUA_wdp78

[Rescinded and Mended]

Worst ending for a series in the history of the world. :(

[bananacat]

Just wanted to chime in and say that geological engineering is far from useless and really just a specific kind of civil engineering. It is probably a great practical thing to study a phd in and would potentially lead to a high income. It also has absolutely nothing to do with biological science, the age of the earth, dinosaurs or evolution.

Unfortunately it also allows allows him to whack the phd tittle against his name and give his "work" in another field a false air of authority. People who don't know what geological engineering is might mistake it as having something to do with the scientific study of the ground, including age of rocks, fossils, etc, rather than the engineering of man made things in the ground. To me this is really ethically questionable and belittles the institution of higher education which he probably owes a lot of his success too...

edit: ha who lists their income on their wikipedia page? It isn't even that impressive, I mean it is well above average but not out of the ordinary or high enough to be interesting.

You're right; I shouldn't have framed it that way. Geological engineering is very specific and not particularly useful except for someone who is already in that field and intends to stay there, which is certainly a legitimate career choice but not a highly common one. It's sort of like how petroleum engineering is a specific type of chemical engineering, but I chose the broader one to have more career flexibility.

But he didn't get this PhD to pursue civil engineering; he did to give himself false authority like you pointed out. It's a shame that people fall for it but the people buying this book would likely have bought it even if had no PhD at all.

[nelliebelle1197]

His inherited his job and his beliefs from his creationist father.

The fact that educated people can be so warped by religion that they call 5,000 year old fairy tales science is unfathomable. The Maori creation myths, for example, ain't that different from the ancient Jewish myths on which all this is based. Io creates everything from nothing. There are even Adam and Eve characters in Rangi and Papa and women are formed from elements in the earth. But I don't see anyone running around saying this is the myth are to buy, the tiny group of Maoris have the facts! That science proves that creation myth. It is just astounding.

[August]

The author did not "study science" unless he got his degree from some diploma mill that offers generic science as a major. A quick google search shows that his degrees are in various types of engineering. I'm an engineer and I have worked as a scientist, but they're not the same thing. Plenty of students can churn through engineering and become quite good at math, but still misunderstand the scientific method. His B.S. is in civil engineering so straight science played very little part in it. His PhD is "geological engineering" which I have never even heard of and is so niche as to be practically useless; he surely was already a creationist and took that route to try to cherry-pick arguments for his side. But even if he were a scientist, being knowledgeable in one field would not mean that he is knowledgeable in every field. And scientists are still human and can be wrong even in their field of study.

As for your family situation, there's not much you can do. Sadly, even many students who are taught evolution and "believe" in it don't understand it very well. But on the plus side, your nephew won't be very far behind the curve.

As for publishing, it's super easy for authors to self-publish and a lot of junk gets out there. It's part of life.

Oh, and this is rich: the author put his salary on his Wikipedia page, clearly as an attempt to impress people. He's a tool.

The discovery institue actually sends people in to be "moles", they say all the logical things, act like they ave brain cells, then get their phd and go straight back to crazytown trying to act like authority matters. The stupid people's obsession with authority is very telling.

[Shoes Grace]

His inherited his job and his beliefs from his creationist father.

The fact that educated people can be so warped by religion that they call 5,000 year old fairy tales science is unfathomable. The Maori creation myths, for example, ain't that different from the ancient Jewish myths on which all this is based. Io creates everything from nothing. There are even Adam and Eve characters in Rangi and Papa and women are formed from elements in the earth. But I don't see anyone running around saying this is the myth are to buy, the tiny group of Maoris have the facts! That science proves that creation myth. It is just astounding.

Actually, the similarities between so many creation myths is the only thing that I would find compelling me to believe in a knowing creator. I mean, if someone said, "hey, look, this story is similar to this story, is similar to what these guys believe: look at the parallels. I think we might need to consider that maybe the Great Kuklafran'nolly might be ALL of these gods." Well, except for the fact that we also know that humans have a need to explain the world according to their knowledge, so, a creation myth for the entire race that looks like a divine version of actual human reproduction? Gee, wonder how that happened.

[Sailing on Europa]

Recent conversation with a creationist:

me: So, people who think the earth is "young" don't think an asteroid caused the dinosaur extinction?

him: well, I've heard pastors explain it that... they just died off

me: and what do you think a pastor would say if you pointed out some of this evidence? [i was tutoring him, and we had just covered a chapter on that topic.]

him: ummmmmmmm

me: I think they would say "God acts in mysterious ways!"

him: yes, that's what they would say! [at least he acknowledged that they would, indeed, give some bullshit non-answer like that.]

[Becket70]

Damn! I thought he meant this classic cartoon by Gary Larson:

http://bitsandpieces.us/2010/09/19/the- ... e-extinct/

It's hard to say which Gary Larson cartoon is your favorite but this really is one of my favorites. Another is the one which is set in a fridge where the mayonnaise holds a gun against the other condiments: "When Mayonnaise Goes Bad". There should have been a law forbidding Gary Larson from retiring.