NewsWatch

Dino-to-Bird Dogma

Creation.com, 8/31/24, “Bird breathing anatomy breaks dino-to-bird dogma” [Excerpts]: Do we eat Kentucky Fried Dinosaur? According to the dogma of many evolutionary propagandists for the last decade or so, indeed we do—they believe that birds evolved from the carnivorous dinosaur group...theropods. Yet there are many problems with this idea. Research into the birds’ lung and leg anatomy provides more strong evidence against it.

However, there have been some lonely dissenters even among evolutionists. For example, Dr Storrs Olson, Curator of Birds at the National Museum [the Smithsonian Institution], wrote: “The idea of feathered dinosaurs and the theropod origin of birds is being actively promulgated by a cadre of zealous scientists acting in concert with certain editors at Nature and National Geographic who themselves have become outspoken and highly biased proselytizers of the faith.”

Yet another problem for the dino-bird theory is that birds and reptiles have very different lung systems. Reptilian lungs operate like bellows....But birds have a complicated system of air sacs, even involving their hollow bones. This system keeps air flowing in one direction through special tubes (parabronchi, singular parabronchus) in the lung, and blood moves through the lung’s blood vessels in the opposite direction for efficient oxygen uptake, an excellent engineering design.

Recent research has shown that Archaeopteryx skeletons had pneumatized vertebrae and pelvis. This indicates the presence of both a cervical and abdominal air sac, i.e. at least two of the five sacs present in modern birds. This in turn indicates that the unique avian lung design was already present in what most evolutionists claim is the earliest bird.

https://bit.ly/41GBQBi

Reading to Your Child Is So Important

IntellectualTakeout.org, 5/9/16, “Reading to Your Child: This Is Why It’s So Important” [Excerpts]: So what happens to children when they participate in shared reading? Does it make a difference to their learning? If so, what aspects of their learning are affected?

A number of studies have been conducted showing the value of shared reading in children’s language development, especially in vocabulary and concept development. Early childhood researcher Vivian Paley...found that kindergarten children learned when a story was dramatized in shared reading. Not only did children develop oral language, they imaginatively learned the conventions of a story, such as character, plot and themes....children also learned how to use language in multiple ways.

Other researchers have found that when parents, specifically mothers, knew how to interact with their children during shared reading using positive reinforcement and asking questions about the story, both children and mothers benefited.

What’s more, shared story experiences have also been shown to have an influence on children’s understanding of math concepts and geometry in kindergarten.

https://bit.ly/4gDdmgr

Divinity Students Forced to Read Witches Spell

TheCollegeFix.com, 9/3/24, “Yale divinity students forced to read from witch’s ‘spell’ at orientation” [Excerpts]: Yale’s Divinity School coerced students to read from a “spell” written by a “witch” as part of its Before the Fall Orientation.

One of these small group periods was the first activity of orientation. Participating as an incoming student in one of these circles, I saw how the discussion opened with a set of “Restorative Circle Rules.” These rules boiled down to a warning to be open minded: all viewpoints were expected to be heard, that you only have to take what you want from the circle and participate as wanted—at least nominally.

After this show of inclusion, we as students were led to read aloud, line by line and one by one, from Adrienne Brown’s “Radical Gratitude Spell.”

Brown has been described by Meeting of Minds as a “mixed-race Black queer American writer, community organizer, facilitator, witch and—may I say—goddess.”

This context of Brown, her work, and her particular spiritual inclinations was not given to students before participating in the reading. As such, the group reading of the spell took on an undeniable coven-like feeling, with students unable to fully consent to the pseudo-ritual knowingly, despite the Circle Rules.

https://bit.ly/4iI7jsB