Figure 1. The Creation Evidence Museum, just north of Glen Rose, Texas,
is a creationism "poster child."
| Volume 14 Number 1 | www.ntskeptics.org | January 1900 |
Fred van Liew has sent us an audio tape from his radio program in early December. The program, which he hosted, was Your Health, Your Choice. Fred introduced his guest for the show, Dr. Carl Baugh, founder of the Creation Evidence Museum, which is just north of Glen Rose, Texas.1
Figure 1. The Creation Evidence Museum, just north of Glen
Rose, Texas,
is a creationism "poster child."
Fred congratulated his guest on his remarkable accomplishments in refuting the phony case for evolution. Dr. Baugh accepted the recognition and reminded listeners that he, too, once believed in evolution. He had been schooled in Darwinism, as had an entire generation of students. However, after years of research it has become apparent that evolution is baseless.
Dr. Baugh also told about his new book Why Do Men Believe Evolution
Against All Odds, which contains over 200 technical references.
Baugh mentioned that he has been invited by NASA to lecture their scientists
and engineers about Earth’s original ecosphere. He pointed out that
they wanted independent scientific sources without reliance on religious
beliefs.
He took some time to praise Fred van Liew’s research on energized water. Van Liew’s results are in agreement with the creation model (of which Baugh is a strong proponent).
Dr. Baugh went on to explain how all of this ties together. The famous German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss originally studied the Earth’s magnetic field about 200 years ago and found that it was decreasing. Actually it is not only decreasing, but it is varying up and down. It is pulsing. It pulses about eight cycles per second, and this action is what energizes water naturally.
The structure of water accounts for this effect. As shown in the diagram, a water molecule is two atoms of hydrogen bound to an atom of oxygen. The three atoms are not in line-the hydrogen atoms are separated by about 104.5 degrees (see Fig. 2). This angle can stretch and rebound, and this motion is what puts energy into the water.
Figure 2. Diagram of water molecule showing angle between
hydrogen atoms.
In clouds the molecules are spiraling downward. When a water molecule passes through a thermal barrier this angle is flexed, and the water picks up energy from its environment. This is why clouds darken. Clouds get darker because the water is picking up energy.
One NASA engineer has told Baugh that they are producing mechanisms to energize water following Baugh’s principles. They have learned that today we are depleting ourselves of energy by constricting the spiraling of the molecules. Pipes, conduits, and channels constrict the natural flow of water and de-energize it. Water that has so been mistreated takes energy out of our bodies rather than adding it.
An engineer added energized water to his regular organic fertilizer and was able to produce corn eighteen feet tall with three ears per stalk. On another occasion at a university they added a few gallons of energized water to a sour well, and by the next morning the anaerobic bacteria in the well had been wiped out.
A rancher in West Texas once told Baugh that he now realizes why his cattle will drink rain water in muddy puddles rather than well water. The cattle feel more energy from drinking the energized rain water than from drinking the de-energized well water. Van Liew agreed, citing the fact that dogs drink out of puddles rather than their water dish. The rain water still contains all the information that God put in it.
Baugh explained that living systems today use only 3% of the information stored in their DNA. The other 97% is what geneticists call “junk” DNA. In reality, that 97% tells the active 3% how to respond. Energized water corrects this problem (presumably making more of the 97% active). By conducting experiments in gene splicing and recombination geneticists today are playing God, and they need to stop that and get back on track.
Toward the end of the program van Liew and Baugh took calls from listeners. Nancy posed the question of whether life on Earth would be more viable today had Adam and Eve never sinned.
Baugh was glad to reassure listeners that life today would be much better without the legacy of original sin. For example, originally there were no poisonous plants (they were all good to eat) and no poisonous snakes. Snake venom viewed with a scanning electron microscope is gnarled and unstructured. The sulfide bonds in snake venom produce the toxic agent under such conditions.
When ultraviolet light is eliminated and the atmospheric pressure is doubled (simulating conditions that existed before The Flood) the venom regains its structure. As always, he emphasized that he is having independent tests performed to confirm these findings.
Manfred Bauer is a scientist from Germany who is famous for his work in energizing water. Carl Baugh obtained a special mug from Bauer that energizes water. This mug is one of the products marketed by Essential Water & Air, the sponsor of the radio program. Baugh explained how the mug works. The mug’s lining contains energized water, and water poured into the mug is affected by the water in the lining. Water inside the mug is “singing” (spiraling) at a different spin-it is energized.
Baugh lent the mug to his friend Robert Summers, who used the energized water from it to resuscitate a wilting cilantro plant. The plant, which had been only an inch tall, blossomed and grew to seven inches tall within 24 hours.2
While they were on the topic of health Fred took time to emphasize that
no drug makes us healthy. Modern drugs just eliminate symptoms.
The root illness remains.
Baugh agreed. Given sufficient volume, energized water could
turn around the environment, because it attracts oxygen. Fred was
ecstatic at this revelation. Suddenly everything became clear to
him. That’s why energized water is so beneficial.
Fred went on to lament modern medicine’s dreadful practice of removing
cancerous organisms. To him this seems like just removing defective
parts (as from a machine).
Also Carl Baugh brought listeners up to date on the status of the man tracks in the Paluxy River. Up to summer this year his workers had identified 303 dinosaur tracks. An additional 175 have since been added. They have also identified 70 human prints in the Cretaceous limestone. On July 3rd of 1997 they discovered a 9-3/4 inch human print along with some matching prints that make up a trail. This shows that people and dinosaurs lived contemporaneously, completely refuting the theory of evolution.
Fred was astounded that modern scientists still try to bury this significant evidence.
In closing, Baugh noted the new Web site for the Creation Evidence Museum.
I’ve checked it out, and you should, too. It looks really great.
The URL is
http://www.creationevidence.org.
The company Essential Water & Air markets a number of useful devices for energizing water. I will just note two of them. The mug that was previously mentioned is available in 16 and 14-ounce sizes. They are being offered for $63.30 and $55.20 on special sale. Literature from the company indicates that you should place water in the mug for 60 seconds before transferring it to your preferred glass or dish.
Another product is the “whole house wand.” One model is about 22 inches long, and you attach it to your existing main water supply pipe to positively energize water to all taps in your house. The wand does not hook directly into the water system. You just strap it to a straight run of pipe with non-conducting tape. Two sizes are on special sale for $220.15 and $293.25. Supplies will probably not last long at these prices.
Along with the audio from the radio program Fred sent me his marketing video. His product line includes several models of reverse osmosis water purification systems for home and for travel. He also touts an electrostatic precipitator that provides a nice side benefit. Plants nearby have their immune systems improved. “Get healthy” he reminds us.
Carl Baugh will be remembered from early discussions in this newsletter.3 Years ago he appeared to have given himself a Ph.D., since the college that awarded his degree was a religious school in which he was involved in the management. Closer inspection disclosed that the address given for the school mapped to a frame house on a street in Irving, Texas. More recently Baugh has received a Ph.D. from Pacific College Incorporated, in Australia.4 His academic background is long and storied, as previously reported.5,6,7
The Creation Evidence Museum is what we call a creationism “poster child.” In a previous experience a nice gentleman admonished me by letter that I should go to the museum and see the evidence for creation myself. I could not have expressed it better. I recommend this to all who say they favor creationism in the schools. You may hear about creationism, and you may talk about creationism, but you have never actually seen creationism in action. If you really want to get up close to creationism, if you really want to experience creationism, if you really want to “ride side-saddle on the golden calf,” then you need to head on down to Glen Rose.8
[John Blanton is current Secretary of The North Texas Skeptics. He was born and raised near the dinosaur track site.]
References
1. Blanton, John, “Creation evidences museum” in The Skeptic, September 1996.
2. Robert Summers, who grew up in Glen Rose, is the artist who created the famous cattle drive bronze sculpture that graces the Dallas City Hall grounds. He is an avid young Earth creationist, and has produced some of the sculpture art in the Creation Evidence Museum.
3. Blanton, John, “Creation science education” in The Skeptic, July 1998.
4. Blanton, John, “Living Dinosaurs at MIOS” in The Skeptic, February 1997.
5. Hastings, Ronnie, Rick Neeley, and John Thomas, “A Critical Look at Creationist Credentials” in The Skeptic, July-August 1989.
6. Kuban, Glen J., “A Follow-Up on Carl Baugh’s Science Degrees” in The Skeptic, September-October 1989.
7. Glen Kuban’s Web page on creationists’ degrees is at http://members.aol.com/Paluxy2/degrees.htm.
8. The quote is from Bob Dylan.
(The first part of this article was published in the December 1999 issue of The North Texas Skeptic. -- Ed.)
8. The walls of Lindsey’s rectangular city are oriented north 17º east and north 73º west. But there may be an interesting correlation here; the sides of Lindsey’s city approximately parallel the probable orientation of joints around Rockwall. Reference to the local topographic map (USGS, Rockwall, Texas, Topographic Quadrangle) indicates that many of the streams form a trellis pattern with two preferred orientations, one approximately north 20 to 30º east and the other at approximately north 60º west. Streams often preferentially erode along joints, and it seems likely that the orientation Lindsey has been measuring is the orientation of joints along which the sandstone dikes were intruded. The dike I examined in the field had an orientation of approximately north 65º west, which is in the general orientation of joints suggested by stream patterns.
The original Rockwall “wall” was measured as having an orientation of north 26º west, while the attempt of Ellwood, et al (1992) to relocate this feature from magnetic measurements found an anomaly with an orientation of north 20º west. These orientations do not seem to fit either the general alignment for joints that I suggested above or the orientation of the walls of Lindsey’s city. Apparently the control on dike orientation is more complex than now recognized.
Aside from the geologic aspects of his discussions on the rock wall, there are a few other aspects of Lindsey’s presentation which deserve comment. For instance, at the start of his lecture Lindsey stated that the city’s wall is rectangular. From a map he showed there appeared to be only three control points. Later in his lecture he showed a map, apparently based on more control points, which had an irregularly shaped line along the east boundary. Lindsey admitted that on the other three sides there is no data to connect the scattered control points.
Another point Lindsey makes is that the top of the wall has an elevation
of 550 feet above mean sea level at all locations. He does not say how
he knows this. Did a surveyor make this measurement? If he is estimating
the elevation from a topographic map, I doubt he could be accurate enough
to make that statement. My estimate (from the topographic map) of the elevation
of the sandstone dike I examined is about 525 feet, which suggests that
all dikes are not at the same elevation.
In addition to trying to pervert the geologic data to fit his speculation
that the dikes are man–made and not natural, Lindsey has also presented
some weak archeological evidence to bolster his case. This evidence consists
of some type of small (about six inch long) carved or molded stone, animal–like
head allegedly found on the surface near a wall in 1948. He related it
to figures made by the Mayans. The only other archeological evidence presented
in the lecture was a series of writings in an unknown language supposedly
found engraved on a block of stone from the wall in 1949 and now existing
only as a photograph. The photo and stone head surfaced after the idea
of the wall as an ancient city had been circulating, and one or both may
well be a hoax. As far as I can tell Lindsey has not found any archeological
artifacts himself.
Lindsey believes that by excavating along the walls with a backhoe he will remove the ice age flood deposits and reach the floor of the city where all the artifacts are buried. He also seems to believe that the city is built on the Austin Chalk Formation, as is Dallas. Now here is a testable hypothesis. I predict he will have to excavate through approximately 100 feet of Marlboro Marl, 100 feet of Wolf City Formation, and 500 feet of Ozan Formation before encountering the Austin Chalk, and that he will not encounter any artifacts along the way. With a little luck, however, he may uncover a mosasaur or plesiosaur, large marine reptiles occasionally found in the Taylor Group (Finsley, 1989).
If he had searched the records of wells drilled in Rockwall County, Lindsey might have saved himself a lot of field time. If available, these records would indicate what rock layers were encountered and at what depths. Another obvious method of approaching this problem is suggested by the inferred locations of his city’s walls. Lindsey’s maps show the west wall of his city crossing Squabble Creek just west of Caruth Lake and extending southwest into the west side of the channel of the East Fork of the Trinity River southwest of downtown Rockwall. Due to erosion by the streams, the wall and the alleged basal occupation layer would be exposed in these areas. These two areas should have been the first places to look for evidence of the alleged city.
From what I have heard and read concerning Lindsey’s work, I can only conclude that either his understanding of geology and archeology is abysmal, or that he is deliberately trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public. Lindsey is an architect. He therefore could be excused for not being scientifically proficient at the outset of his work. But after several years he should have either learned something about scientific methodology or engaged the services of some reputable scientists to assist in his project. In any case, Lindsey is writing a book about his project. It would be a shame if he did this without waiting for the mother load of evidence he expects to find at the base of his city, because up to this point he has presented no credible evidence to support his assertions. Or, he may feel his chance of finding real evidence is pretty weak, so he had better get the book into print while there is still hope of finding something unusual.
In a related note, the editors of the Eclectic Viewpoint Forum said this about Lindsey’s work, “This is a significant and history making event. It [his lecture] is the first public announcement of one of the most important archeological discoveries of this millennium.” My feeling is this whole project is more like one of the biggest jobs of deception in this millennium. It appears Lindsey has found his niche with the Forum. Judging by their comments and the types of lectures and videos they support (Hidden History of the Human Race, Time Travelers from Our Future, Mars Warning to Earth, Evolutions Third Wheel, ad nausium), the Forum is trying to become a leader in the propagation of pseudoscience to the uncritical and scientifically illiterate public.
[James Cunliffe, Ph.D., is a Consulting Geologist.]
References
Ellwood, B. B., J. Payne and G.L. Long, 1992, The Rockwall in Rockwall Texas: A Study of Unusual Natural Magnetic Effects in Geoarcheological Surveys Produced by Mineral Oxidation: Dallas Geological Society Newsletter, September, pages 26–28.
Finsley. C., 1989, A Field Guide to Fossils of Texas: Texas Monthly Press, Austin, 189 pages.
It’s the year 2000. How the heck are you?
From the information I’ve gathered so far, it looks like this whole Y2K crisis has been nipped in the bud. Nation after nation slipped over the International Date Line into the New Year as the Earth continued to revolve, but the Y2K complaints have been pretty scarce so far. It may still be a little premature to say for certain, but it looks like we’ll be just fine.
To tell you the truth, I really haven’t followed much in the way of Y2K doomsday prophecies. Sometimes I would hear a radio broadcast of Southwest Radio Church or The Prophecy Club where someone would go on a tear about the coming Y2K apocalypse. Even when I attended Preparedness Expo ‘99, I didn’t pay much attention to the guest speakers, many of whom were preaching the gospel of Y2K readiness. The most recent issues of Skeptical Inquirer (Volume 23, #6) and Skeptic (Volume 7, #3) contain a lot of good articles on millennium madness and doomsday prophecies. Now that the dust is settling from all the hoopla, it might be worthwhile to take a peek at those articles if you haven’t already done so.
Of course, my fiancée Ginny Vaughn and I didn’t rule out the possibility that some minor inconveniences might come about. We bought some supplies such as flashlights, bottled water, non-perishable foods, and extra radio batteries in an attempt to make some common-sense preparations. No harm done; besides, we needed that stuff anyway.
Now, about this whole millennium thing...
In the off-chance that someone out there hasn’t stumbled upon this yet, I hate to break the news to you, but we won’t actually reach the new millennium until January 1, 2001. Here’s the scoop. There is no such thing as Year Zero in the Gregorian calendar system; the year 1 BC smoothly transitions into 1 AD at midnight on New Year’s Eve. If memory serves me right, the mere concept of zero as a numeral didn’t become widespread among nations that used the Julian calendar until the Middle Ages, when they slowly began using Arabic numerals instead of Roman numerals. (To make a long story short, the Julian calendar was created by Julius Caesar in what we now call 46 BC, but it had a few timekeeping flaws that Pope Gregory XIII tried to remedy during his papacy in the 16th century.)
An anchorman on KDFW’s news program responded to one person who pointed this out by stating that the individual was “mathematically correct,” but that trying to tell it to the world would be “futile” at this point. (Hey, I was a hard sell on that concept once upon a time, myself.) If you happened to peek at the 12/30/1999-1/5/2000 issue of the Dallas Observer, you probably read this commentary from Patrick Williams on page 17, which was perhaps a little less diplomatic than the observations from the Fox 4 anchorman:
Nineteen ninety-nine, the last year of the millennium, a time to...
OK, hold it right there. Among the dozens of you reading this
are no doubt some who just slapped their foreheads, muttered “idiot,” and
grabbed a pen to fire off a letter pointing out that 1999 is not the last
year of the millennium. Since there was no year zero, you say, the
new millennium doesn’t start until 2001.
Uh-huh. And a peanut is not a nut, and George Washington’s false
teeth were not made of wood. Thank you. We know. Here’s
some information for you in return: Nobody cares. Now shut up.
It’s okay, Patrick; relax. I’m not trying to spoil the global millennium party by mentioning all this. I’ll even concede that you might have a point. Why is everyone making such a fuss over 2000 instead of 2001? It’s the same reason why Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter performed a weekly skit called “In the Year 2000" instead of ”In the Year 2001." Let’s face it; it’s just plain fun watching the odometer roll over, whether such an event brings a new millennium or not. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be here at this point in history - even if it is based on an ethnocentric reckoning of time. The universe around us still continues on, and has done so long before Earth even existed.
I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year’s celebration. Just remember one thing, dear readers - even if you shouted “Happy New Millennium!” along with many other folks, December 31 will be back with us before we know it, and we will have the good fortune to celebrate the new millennium — twice.
[Danny Barnett is President of The North Texas Skeptics.]
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I keep trying to remember whether it has been ten years or a hundred. I still recall the day back in January 1990 when John Thomas phoned me to say he was stepping down as President of the NTS.
It seemed like a serious matter, so I skipped a scheduled symphony concert and showed up for the annual NTS election meeting. That started a new chapter in the history of The North Texas Skeptics.
I volunteered to be the NTS President and turned from being a sometimes helper to fully involved in the future of the NTS. The first crisis came soon when we learned that Mel Zemec, the previous Vice President, had passed away just days prior to the meeting. Joe Voelkering stepped up to fill the void. Later in the year Tony Dousett asked that we try to find a new Secretary/Newsletter Editor. Keith Blanton joined the group just for the opportunity to do the newsletter. Barely a few weeks into the year the leadership had turned over almost completely. Only Mark Meyer remained as treasurer from the previous year.
Since that time many others have come forward to keep the group going. Some are still with us, while others, such as Joe, have passed on.
The group has grown and shrunk in recent years, but surprisingly not by much. There seems to be some invisible hand that wants to keep the NTS from getting too large or too small. New arrivals are offset by others who drift away.
Early on it seemed that our mission was clear. There were obvious errors to be set right, after which the NTS could just fold up and retire. Creationism was the bugaboo in 1990, and there was a local psychic named Catchings, whose notoriety seemed inconsistent with his psychic abilities. Additionally we had our own nationally-famous faith healer.
Catchings and the preacher man soon vanished from the scene without any help from us. However, despite our best efforts, creationism seems to be plugging along, doing better than ever. Besides that, new curiosities have come to the front.
Quite frankly, we did not see the millennium madness until it was almost on us. After all, we are not psychic. That, too, seems to be correcting itself. This column is being composed on a Windows 95 computer over the magic midnight with little noticeable loss (or gain) of text. I greeted the new year by watching my computer clock roll over to 2000 (don’t anybody say get a life). Even my $30 wrist watch, which I have had since I joined the Skeptics rolled over to Saturday, January 1, 2000. The predictable number of millennium crazies have so far been dealt with by the constabulary, so the NTS was able to take the night off.
Who would have thought that “magnetic therapy” would be a rising star at the end of the 20th century? I first picked up on MT a few years back from an in-law who was pitching a line of magnetic products. Since that time MT has gone mainstream. Foley’s, my favorite department store, now carries a full line of MT products. In 1998 we first reported on the two lines carried in their housewares department. Now this area is so chock full it’s a wonder they still have any data on their computer’s hard drive. I have a prediction: It will not be sufficient to just remind people that no proper, scientific tests have confirmed the remarkable claims of these MT products.
Speaking of remedies-herbal. Ads for these products are no longer relegated to 2 a.m. TV slots alongside truck driver schools and worker’s compensation lawyers. Your favorite network shows now tout herbal remedies to a prime time audience that believes anything “natural” is safe for the body. They are not thinking of purple nightshade, of course.
Cold fusion has come and gone. Well not quite. Beginning in 1989 it followed the path typical of pathological science described by the late Nobel chemist Irving Langmuir. First there were announcements of amazing experimental results. This was followed by a flurry of attempts at replication by other researchers along with a smattering of confirmations. Later many confirming results were retracted by their authors as the phenomenon became increasingly elusive under proper scrutiny. The number of publications quickly peaked, then slumped to a trickle. Finally respectable journals refused to accept any new papers on the topic, and the diehard defenders retreated into their labs and established their own journals that they circulated among themselves. The final test for cold fusion after nearly eleven years ought to be this: Don’t accept data from any group that has to buy electric power.
Without elaboration, let me just add: Rupert Sheldrake. Crystal power. Homeopathy. Joe Firmage. Free energy. John Mack. Psychic Friends Network. Exorcism and deliverance.
The list is long and growing. I have stopped trying to keep up. They make this stuff up faster than I can follow it. We still have our fishing line out in the form of our $6000 challenge. Not that we have had to fend off a horde of challengers, though. Since our encounter with the map dowser a way back we have not had any serious dialogs on the matter. Plans are under way to up the prize to keep things interesting in these affluent times. We are planning for the future.
Being a natural born skeptic I don’t put much stock in significant numbers, but it is hard to avoid the feeling that with this issue we lurch into a new era. Don’t ask me if the NTS will still be around at the end of the third millennium or even the twenty-first century. I would be willing to bet money that it will not. We have to set our sights on more realistic goals. We need to be shooting for 2010.
And so we are.
The aims of the NTS for the next millennium remain the same. We will work to encourage people to think and to listen and to cast off the baggage of myth and superstition of the last 1000 years. We will continue to remind people to ask the right questions and to check the answers. We intend to be that small voice that says “It ain’t necessarily so.”
[Editor’s note: The author is fully aware that the new millennium
starts on January 1, 2001.]
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By Prasad Golla and John Blanton
Copyright 2000
Free, non-commercial reuse permitted.