WHAT do creationists make of dinosaurs? The Arkansas-based Museum of Earth History () has some surprising insights. You might have thought, for example, that the dinosaurs couldn鈥檛 fit on Noah鈥檚 ark 鈥� but the museum reveals that God carefully selected pairs of young dinosaurs small enough to fit on board, who could go forth and multiply when the Flood receded. The description of Behemoth in the Old Testament鈥檚 book of Job, written 300 years later, 鈥渃learly matches the description of a sauropod (commonly known as a brontosaurus)鈥�, the museum鈥檚 website reports.
And what finished off the dinosaurs? The museum, obviously in no doubt that dinosaurs and humans existed at the same time, puts the blame on human pressure, which it calls 鈥渢he most significant factor in animal extinction, including dinosaurs鈥�.
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But the biggest surprise on the site is the dating of all dinosaurs, including triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex, to 10,000 years BC. From the creationist point of view, this is positively scandalous. Does the museum not know that 17th-century bishop James Ussher鈥檚 careful biblical chronology dated the creation of the Earth itself to 23 October 4004 BC?
鈥淭he web page of Cranfield University鈥檚 Institute of Bioscience and Technology in Bedfordshire, UK, promises the world 鈥淏usiness鈥eyond technical feasibility鈥�. So much more ambitious than your average mission statement鈥�
At the risk of embarrassing the museum, we must point out that Ussher鈥檚 chronology receives strong support at another site, 鈥淭as Walker鈥檚 Biblical Geology鈥� (). This site, as reader Alex Ritchie notes, dispenses with all those confusing geological periods such as the Cambrian and the Devonian and replaces them with four neat time divisions: Creation Event, Lost World Era, Flood Event and New World Era. Walker鈥檚 comparison of biblical chronologies puts the Creation Event at some time between Ussher鈥檚 4004 BC (Walker鈥檚 preferred date) and 5470 BC, a difference rightly described as 鈥渟mall compared with dates published by secular historians鈥�.
Museum of Earth History take note. If you鈥檙e going to hack it as young Earth creationists, at least make sure you agree on the same dopey dates.
A CONCERNED reader has written to New 杏吧原创 wondering why the magazine hasn鈥檛 urged readers to stockpile kimchi (Korea鈥檚 spicy answer to sauerkraut) after the Feedback item describing the fermented food鈥檚 alleged efficacy against bird flu (26 November). It seems our item was a bit too po-faced for everyone to notice that it was tongue-in-cheek. Just to make things completely clear: despite the claims faithfully reported in that story, we at Feedback are not entirely convinced that fermented cabbage cures bird flu.
That said, and to show that we are not the only ones on the block with a dodgy sense of humour, here is another bird flu joke that teeters even closer to the brink of bad taste than our sauerkraut story did. It is provided by the anonymous creator of 鈥淗5N1 wear鈥� (), a line of T-shirts, sweatshirts, baseball caps, badges and even a baby suit, with slogans such as 鈥淧andemic fever 鈥� catch it!鈥�, 鈥淎sk me about bird flu鈥� and 鈥淏ird Flu World Tour 2005-2006鈥�.
But the trouble with bird flu jokes, as we have seen, is that not everyone finds them funny. The H5N1 collection used to include a take-off of the US advertising slogan 鈥済ot milk?鈥�. It used instead the slogan 鈥済ot tamiflu?鈥�, in reference to the antiviral medication made by Swiss firm Roche, which is being stockpiled by many countries and not-a-few scared private citizens. Sadly, the site laments, those products were 鈥渞emoved, per the very persuasive request of attorneys representing Roche鈥�.
C鈥檓on guys. Where鈥檚 your sense of humour?
SORRY, could you say that again? Having just installed Adobe Photoshop on his computer, Keith Duncan went online to check for updates and got the following message: 鈥淭he Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update Adobe Updater now?鈥�
AND sorry, could you say this again, too? Mike Bradfield was attempting to uninstall a copy of his Nokia phone software from his PC when he got this message: 鈥淚nstallation found Nokia PC Suite on this computer. Because Nokia PC Suite and Nokia PC Suite cannot function flawlessly in the same computer, installation was cancelled. To use Nokia PC Suite in this computer, first uninstall Nokia PC Suite.鈥�
FINALLY, in the little town of Sandwich on the UK鈥檚 Kent coast, there is a small street called 鈥淣o Name Street鈥� complete with its own nameplate. Chris Moody, who noticed this, says: 鈥淢ake of that what you will.鈥�
But what would Moody make of the street sign that Russell Pearse spotted near Ararat in Western Victoria, Australia? If you understand French, 鈥淪ans Nom Road鈥� has no name. Has it? But if you don鈥檛, it has. Hasn鈥檛 it?