The phrase that means “God faked the age of the Earth”

I've run into more than a few fundamentalist Christians who have insisted that the Earth is only 6,000 years old. "Then please explain the results of radiometric dating," I typically ask, adding that even carbon dating can accurately date materials up to 60,000 years old, far older than 6,000 years. Most modern savvy Young-Earthers won't fight me on the general usefulness or accuracy of carbon dating. Instead, they will insist that A) God has created an Earth that only looks like it is billions of years old, and B) I need to have faith. That is how they would explain everything older than 6,000 years old, including the Old Tjikko tree in Sweden, which certainly appears to be 9,550 years old. God must have transplanted it from another universe when he made this universe. The Young-Earthers thus offer an provocative argument. I don't believe it, but there's would be no way for me to disprove it.

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Photos from San Francisco

No, I'm not simply trying to curry favor with my mother-in-law. Her name is Cynthia Jay, from Huntington, New York, and she is an exquisite painter and art curator--and a polymath. She is also learning to use her new camera, the same model that I so often carry around, the Canon SD1100SI (costs less than $200). Cynthia is in St. Louis this weekend, and she shared some recent photos she took in San Francisco. I found two of them especially beautiful. The first was taken in the San Francisco Academy of Sciences Aquarium. Image by Cynthia Jay - Click for larger image The subject of the second photo is a tree opposite the DeYoung Museum:

Image by Cynthia Jay - Click for larger image

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Natural holly

You'll sometimes see festive indoor holly displays during the holiday season.   The magic is already happening outdoors, though, and it's fun to watch how it naturally happens.  These beautiful berry-filled branches erupt without any human assistance.   Truly, there are two big holly trees in front of my family's house, and…

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Macro Oregon: one final walk through Washington Park

My conference wrapped up today. Tomorrow, they would have had to drag me onto a plane back to St. Louis, except that I miss my family so much. I'll leave willingly, but with some sadness. I've also fallen hopelessly in love with Oregon. Lots of bicycle commuters. Lots of free…

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