Halloween Treat - Ghost hunting Snohomish County

It looks like ghost hunting never goes out of style.

A group called Research Investigations of the Paranormal Northwest also known as the Northwest Paranormal Investigation Agency (what a mouthful!) is having a grand ol' time investigating hauntings in Washington State's Snohomish County.

The local newspaper published several photos of dubious reputation. I wonder if these folks have ever tried astrophotography? Then they'd truly realize how many frustrating ghosts can mess up a treasured shot.

ID returns to its roots

The intelligent design movement has no shortage of apologists who insist that the Discovery Institute has little to do with young-earth creationism.

It's pretty easy to overlook if you ignore Dean Kenyon's role in "Of Pandas and People". But I wonder how the Discovery Institute would explain their own blog's proud announcement regarding an upcoming young-earth creationist conference?

And the icing on the cake is that the conference itself notes Dean Kenyon's decades long adherence to young-earth creationism.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

StarCalc: Still around and still useful

My recent review of StarCalc, a free planetarium program has been posted to the Cloudy Nights website. Check it out.

The 2009 Seattle Creation Conference

On Friday evening, October 9^th, Halloween came early to Seattle in the form of the fifth annual Seattle Creation Conference. The conference was put together by the same folks who provide the inimitable CreationWiki – the Northwest Creation Network. The Northwest Creation Network is run primarily by Chris Ashcraft and his tireless efforts are a large reason why local skeptics and creationists are treated to these festivities year after year.

I hadn’t attended in quite a few years, having largely written off young-earth creationists as irrelevant and turned my attention to one of my childhood hobbies, amateur astronomy. So when I learned that the 4^th Day Alliance, a “creation astronomy” group announced their intention to provide a presentation, well, curiosity got the best of me.

Anyone with only a passing familiarity with the creation/evolution debate naturally assumes that creationist objections largely have to do with Darwin’s theory and modern biology’s fondness for the theory of evolution. Within seconds of entering the conference held at the Family Life Center Foursquare Church in Mukilteo, Washington, one would quickly put that assumption to rest. All major branches of science were under assault. It was a “take no prisoners” kind of night.

When I sauntered in, ICR lecturer Steve Austin was indulging in his specialty, “Geology and the Global Flood” and “Catastrophic Plate Tectonics”. Austin animatedly explained to his audience how the Pangaea continent didn’t break up until the Great Flood. His calculations, if you can call them that, estimated that the continents broke apart and skidded along the surface of the earth at the rate of one meter per second before coming to rest.

Hey, I didn’t make this up. He did.

One of the audience members incredulously asked Austin as to how such a break up was possible. Surprisingly, Austin cited subduction as the mechanism. This contrasts with creationist Walt Brown’s assertion that subduction is impossible and hasn’t been observed.

Such strange contradictions among various creationists pose an interesting question. It’s obvious that creationists aren’t familiar with modern day scientific research but are they even aware of each other?

One other odd thing about Austin’s lecture was his insistence that volcanic activity, and presumably earthquake activity, has been decreasing over time since Noah’s Flood. This flies in the face of others in the conservative Christian arena, particularly those enthralled by the Rapture, who insist that natural disasters are increasing as we usher in the second coming of Jesus.

Austin concluded his talk by explaining that all life could have formed in the first few days at a substantially accelerated rate before Adam and Eve took their first breaths of life. For a group who hold Genesis to such a literal interpretation, I was quite struck by how many in the creationist movement have developed an affinity for relativistic physics.

A ten minute break was announced. I milled about with the others at the voluminous book stands and noticed Donald Chittick’s latest edition of “The Puzzle of Ancient Man (2006)”. Had he finally removed all references to the Coso Artifact that had caused him such headaches years earlier? A quick scan of the book revealed that the answer apparently was yes.

Though the Discovery Institute pleads that they're not creationists, numerous books by Discovery Institute members were present including Stephen Meyer's "Signature in the Cell", which coincidentally was the topic of Chris Ashcraft's lecture on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, the representative at the ICR booth was exhorting me to take some free literature. Despite the 200+ in attendance, there seemed to be few takers. A small boy next to me peppered the ICR representative with questions about dinosaurs on the ark. The ICR person tried to reassure the boy that Noah was able to fit dinosaurs on the ark by taking the smallest and juveniles. The boy didn’t seem to be buying it but he smiled politely. There were definitely true believers in the audience, but I certainly got the feeling that there were more than a few folks who found the extraordinary claims just a bit too much to believe.

Then, it was onto the main show, “How Big Is God?” presented by Diego Rodriguez. A multimedia show of the heavens!

Fresno native Diego Rodriguez recently started a new creation astronomy group called the "4^th Day Alliance”, a clever play on the fourth day of Genesis when the Sun and the stars and the planets were allegedly created. One may reasonably ask why Diego felt the need to form a creationist group dedicated to astronomy. In an introductory email to new members, he laid out his intentions in a veritable Mein Kampf of biblical science, complete with exclamation marks and full word capitalizations:

“While most people are familiar with Charles Darwin’s theory, few realize that an even greater fight is being waged in the area of astronomy. This is because evolution, as it pertains to astronomy, doesn’t just deal with the origin of life, but with the origin of EVERYTHING! If belief in evolution is defeated in the area of cosmology and astronomy, then other forms of evolutionary belief don’t have a leg to stand on. This is why evolutionary astronomers are some of the most dogmatic philosophers in existence today. Their ENTIRE WORLDVIEW rests on the foundation of evolutionary cosmology and astronomy. This is why evolutionists often times feel most threatened by Creation Astronomy and wage the most virulent attacks against Creation Astronomers.”

And how does Diego see this battle progressing? By taking on local amateur astronomy clubs of course:

“There are literally hundreds of astronomy clubs around the country, but to our knowledge there is only ONE that is unapologetically Christian and that believes in the absolute truth of the Bible – the 4th Day Alliance. Astronomy clubs are responsible for teaching and introducing the public to astronomy. Unfortunately, 99.99% of the time they are teaching the myth of “billions of years” and false theories like the Big Bang. We need to turn this around. The only way to do this is for local Christian astronomy clubs to start springing up around the nation who will teach and inform their communities the truth about Creation Astronomy! Are you willing to join the battle? Are you willing to start a local Christian Astronomy club?”

And as with anything in life, these battles require money. So the 4^th Day Alliance has started selling local chapter affiliate kits to start your very own amateur astronomy franchise.

Rodriguez seems to think that evolutionists “wage the most virulent attacks against Creation Astronomers” but having sat through a presentation by the 4^th Day Alliance and reviewing the interviews they’ve done with creation astronomers, one cannot help but feel that these attacks are self inflicted.

A vivid example was the experience of Steve Miller, former president of the Calumet Astronomical Society. Miller was under the mistaken impression that presenting creation astronomy videos at their regular meetings would enjoy a positive reception among normal Americans who had a strong familiarity with current astronomical research. This is what could charitably be called a “faux pas”. As Miller recounted to Rodriguez, he was promptly removed from the presidency and within short order, he was out of the club. Miller now runs the Indiana chapter of the 4th Day Alliance. For a taste of what his former Calumet astronomy club members experienced, feel free to review Miller's attack on the Big Bang theory.

As a result of their previous experiences, Rodriguez is going to try something different. His strategy is to create a new set of amateur astronomy clubs dedicated exclusively to a literal six days of creation interpretation of the Bible. As the lights dimmed and Rodriguez began his “How Big Is God” presentation, an impending train wreck was immediately apparent.

With booming, emotional music and wide screen displays, Rodriguez took the audience through a multimedia extravaganza describing how big the universe really is. He started small, with the state of Texas, and with the help of numerous videos cribbed from various sources, he made the Earth seem smaller and more insignificant as his presentation wore on.

By the end, Rodriguez resorted to grave robbing Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot” photo that Sagan had lobbied so hard for before Voyager had left our solar system. But that wasn’t enough. Rodriguez had also aggrandized Sagan’s declaration that that pale dot represented, “…home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.” Rodriguez added onto that unreferenced statement that this dot represented where Jesus was born, died and was resurrected. In light of the sheer scope of the universe he just spent an hour showing to the audience, the statement seemed almost laughably irrelevant.

The other odd thing about the presentation was Rodriguez’s use of light years to measure distances. It was clear from Austin’s previous presentation and the subsequent confusing discussion regarding light taking “short cuts” in space, and Russell Humphrey’s disparate time dilation theories to accommodate the seven days of creation, that creationism is in a crisis. A visit to the 4^th Day Alliance’s website’s special section on starlight and time reveals an even worse jumbled mess.

Creationists realize the growing evidence of extreme ages makes a mockery of a literal interpretation of Genesis. But their four decades long fixation on such an interpretation cannot be easily overturned overnight. And by doing so, they’ll wind up accommodating dissenters like Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe. So they resort to ever more desperate attempts to appeal to relativistic time differences, ludicrously rapid growth speeds, and “short cuts” through space and time.

If you’re an amateur astronomer and are looking for a diverting afternoon exploring the outer limits of human belief, a trip to the 4^th Day Alliance’s website is highly recommended.

Diego Rodriguez thinks that “evolutionists” are most threatened by creation astronomy but at this point I would strongly disagree. Most amateur astronomers are unaware that creation astronomy even exists due to its sheer absurdity. They assume that biblical creationists haven’t taken on astronomy since the days of Galileo. The rest of us who know of the 4^th Day Alliance are simply amused.

At the conclusion of the night, a final prayer was offered and the conference organizers checked once again to see if the heavens above would allow a star party with the telescopes Diego Rodriguez had brought along. Alas, God smote such plans with a cloudy night.

Reflection Time

M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, taken on September 10th, 2009. Telescope used was an Astro-Tech AT66 on an Orion EQG mount running EQMOD. Camera used was a Nikon D50 at ASA 800. 5x5 minute exposures. Stacked with DeepSkyStacker and post processed with Photoshop CS3.

UFOs: Where are they?

NBC ran a recent segment on UFOs that didn't answer any questions that haven't already been answered or debunked.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

As an amateur astronomer, I can't help but wonder, why don't I see any of them after spending countless hours watching the sky? Why is it that when I visit Cloudy Nights or a host of other online astronomy forums, no one seems to post any sightings that ordinary people report so often on a regular basis?

One possible answer is that experienced amateur astronomers readily recognize terrestrial objects that would intrigue an ordinary person. Perhaps the best and most common example are satellites that pass through atmospheric turbulence. In situations such as those, satellites can appear as small bright objects performing astounding maneuvers that airplanes can't hope to match. It's surprising that this isn't noted more often in the media.

Of course, there have been rare exceptions. In 1997, an amateur astronomer named Chuck Shramek imaged an object that lead to the horrific Heaven's Gate suicide incident in California.

I was once so intrigued by these reports that in the course of my investigations, I stumbled across Peter Davenport's National UFO Reporting Center, now located in eastern Washington. Peter's site has a plethora of eyewitness accounts of UFOs that have been seen by ordinary citizens. When I first stumbled across his site, there was an invitation to "researchers" to access his database's details for further, in depth investigations. I decided to take him up on his offer and contacted him. Peter turned me down flatly because he thought I was a "skeptic". Apparently, one has to have one's mind made up in a favorable manner before one's allowed to have access. Call me old school but when NUFORC only invites investigation before the decision's been made, there's not much value in such data.

Geocentrism and the Modern Day Astronomer

Amateur astronomers familiar with Rod Mollise’s blog were treated to his surprise recently when he received a brochure in the mail touting the virtues of geocentrism. This caught Mollise by surprise but experienced watchers of creationism know that there’s subversive subculture within the creationist community that still has problems with the notion of heliocentrism.

My own introduction to modern geocentrism occurred when I was attending a slide show put on by the late Walter Lang, founder of the national Bible-Science Association. Lang’s group was one of the early forerunners of today’s creationist groups and is credited by Henry Morris for helping start the Institute for Creation Research.

With his traditional Kodachrome carousel slides in a darkened room, Lang treated me to a memorable recounting of his search for Noah’s Ark in Turkey. Others who journeyed with him included a very young John Morris, now president of the Institute for Creation Research. The slide show was a strangely intimate affair, with Lang animatedly recounting tidbits of how the trip went, much like one would experience during a family reunion, but with a decidedly paranormal flavor to it all. In all honesty, I was enthralled. Despite Lang’s completely ludicrous notions regarding Noah’s Ark, I was utterly disarmed by his charm and personality.

Afterwards, he had told me that despite the excitement of the search, he lamented that it was likely no one would ever find Noah’s Ark. We spoke for a while afterwards and I didn’t volunteer any information that I was quite a skeptic of creationism. His personal warmth and charm really drove home to me how he was able to help launch a national paranormal movement that severely conflicted with this tapestry of life normal Americans like to refer to as reality.
As we continued our conversation, I remember asking him about how creationism had changed over the centuries and he made a passing comment about how the Copernican notion of the solar system was “adopted for largely philosophical reasons.” That was a perspective I had never heard before.

“What do you mean by philosophical reasons?” I asked.

Lang came closer to me, as if he was going to disclose a revelation akin to one of life’s great secrets.

I was rather astonished as he related to me his fondness for geocentrism and how it provided a view of the universe that was more consistent with Biblical teachings. I was knocked onto my heels. When I’m speaking with folks like who embrace the outer limits of human belief, it’s usually best to stay cool and let them continue talking. Sometimes one can be amazed at how deep the rabbit hole can go.

Walter became excited at my patience with his revelation. “Most folks already dismiss geocentrism but you’d be surprised how hostile some folks around here (his creationist brethren) can be about it. They can be worse than the evolutionists! If you like, I can take you down to my basement and let you see the rest of my book collection that talks about this in more detail!”

When I arrived for Walter’s slide show, I was already prepared for an orgy of creationist rantings. But this was about as far down the rabbit hole as I was prepared to go that night. I politely declined his invitation.