Welcome back to the GvD Blog coverage of the 2008 International Conference on Creationism! We are now on Day Two of ICC (Tuesday), and it has proved to be even better than the first day! Today's coverage has more information, more session coverage, more pictures, and more interviews!

As promised, the following are more pictures of the vendor tables, and the huge amount of creation information. (below)





The first session of Day Two of ICC '08 I attended was entitled "The "Eve" Mitochondrial Consensus Sequence" by Robert Carter. It was one of the most interesting talks I've attended yet! For those who don't know, the mitochondria (the cell's "powerhouse") has it's own set of DNA unique from the DNA in the nucleus. The mitochondrial DNA (commonly called mtDNA) is primarily passed from mother to child. MtDNA studies are commonly used by evolutionists and organizations like National Geographic to try and "prove" the "Out-of-Africa" model of evolution. As Carter pointed out, organizations like National Geographic commonly use only bits and pieces of the mtDNA from different people, then add on an evolutionary bias to the results. Essentially they could make any lineage they wanted only using little bits of mtDNA.

Instead of taking such an approach, Carter obtained about 2000 full-length mtDNA sequences. He then removed any sequences which had ever been called into question. He lined the remaining full 827 sequences up, and found that 83.9% of mtDNA is invariant throughout the samples. This will become important in a moment. He also found that of all the positions in the genome where it is variable, 43.8% are "private mutations" (only one individual had them). Lastly he found that 99% of all variation is found in almost no one.

If that seemed bit wordy or technical, the importance of the numbers is that there is almost no global variation in the mtDNA. This is a serious problem for evolution, as the mitochondria is under high selection pressure and mutations. If the mtDNA were millions of years old, there would be a wide range of differences in different people groups due to isolation. This research highly suggests a young age for mtDNA. What they eventually found out in their research that there are about 22 differences in the today's mtDNA from what the original woman Eve would have carried. This is easy to accomplish even in the about 150 generations since the flood. Sorry if I spent too much time on that talk, but I found it very interesting, especially now that many organizations are trying to push evolutionary ideas through mtDNA studies.


At 10:45 John Woodmorappe gave a talk entitled "Noah's Ark Design: Factoring Partial Composite Action." He talked about arguments commonly raised by skeptics about the design of the ark and whether is was truly seaworthy. I caught him at the last minute for a quick interview about his research (and what he really thinks about atheistic blogs and sites such as Talk.Origins).

(if audio does not load go to direct link)
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Next I attended a talk by Dr. John Whitmore called (excuse the long name) "Using Suites of Criteria to Recognize pre-Flood, Flood, and post-Flood Strata in the Rock Record with Application to Wyoming (USA)." In essence, it was about trying to establish a relatively definitive area in the record where Flood deposits start and end. They established some criteria as to what would determine a Flood sediment. They showed a very interesting graph I wish I could get my hands on and post which had bars next to each criteria showing when (pre-Flood, Flood, post-Flood) these features would be most prevalent.

But I am overlooking two VERY important presenters today. Dr. Andrew Snelling presented two papers today on radiohalos in different types of rock, and their evidence of rapid burial and the Flood. Dr. John Baumgardner gave the closing lecture of the night (to a very large crowd) entitled "Catastrophic Plate Tectonics: A Mechanism for the Flood" (perhaps the most eye-opening talk of the conference). Why am I overlooking them? Well, I am only doing so temporarily, and you will not be disappointed. I have interviews with each of these widely-published and popular scientists, each of which will be posted tomorrow for the the final GvD Blog Update from the 2008 International Conference on Creationism (though there will be an overview article on the conference later).


But don't worry, to satisfy your interview-needing appetite I have an interview with Kevin Anderson, who yesterday (Monday, August 4) gave a great talk entitled "A Creationist Perspective of Beneficial Mutations in Bacteria." In it, he briefly explains how a creationist should approach beneficial mutations, and more! (audio and picture below)

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Kevin Anderson (middle) talks with two men about various types of mutation

Thus concludes the second day of the GvD Blog coverage of the ICC '08. Tomorrow is the last day of the conference, and sure to have some excited talks! Come back tomorrow for more updates, session overviews, interviews, and more!

Happy Trails,
GvD Sam

For those readers who are used to the science-and-scripture-filled lines of the GvD Blog, you will have to excuse the following short story...

I wake up to the radio playing from a clock that reads "4:00." The nearly five hour quest to reach ICC 2008 has begun! With only a few hitches (i.e. getting lost and accidentally driving away from Pittsburgh, nearly getting run over by traffic, etc.) we arrive at the Raddison hotel.

We're already late for our first session, so instead of checking out our room, we immediately make our way down the hallway on the left to the ICC Registration tables. Before I can even put on my name tag, I (literally) bump into famed creation geologist Andrew Snelling. That's when it really hit me: "I'm finally here at ICC, I am among the top creationist minds in the world."

As we were already late to the opening session, we browsed around the huge bookstore and many vendor booths set up about the conference hall. (pictured below)



Then came the next session. The very clever vendors made their tables so interesting that I was five minutes late to even the next session! I walk into "The Tectonics of Venus and Creation" by Robert Hill and... confusion. That's when I learned you have to be to the talks on time!

Thus ends the great introduction of the ICC '08 Quest... now on to the coverage of the talks I attended!


"The Tectonics of Venus and Creation" by Robert Hill covered the known geology of Venus and attempted to answer some questions about resurfacing and plate activity. One example he gave involved the RATE Team's research into accelerated nuclear decay possibly bringing about the catastrophic plate tectonics (causing the flood on earth). He proposed that the heat caused by the decay could have brought about the plate resurfacing on Venus.

At 3:15 we went to "The Creation of Cosmic Magnetic Fields" by Dr. Russ Humphreys, one of the most interesting talks I have heard yet. Rather than explain the whole talk in text and ruin the fun, why not let Dr. Humphreys himself explain it for you! I recently got an interview with Dr. Humphreys, a physicist, where he explained his talk, the history of his theory, and more! (below, followed by picture)

(note: audio may take a bit to load, depending on your connection speed)
(if audio takes too long to load, go to the direct link)
(to download: right-click direct link and "save as")


















Sam and Dr. Humphreys talking magnetic fields, galaxies, helium diffusion, etc.


Later that night we went to a very interesting session by Dr. Steve Austin called "Understanding the Mudrock Revolution." Many of us have been taught that sediment slowly builds up on the bottom of rivers. In his talk, Dr. Austin showed why that is not always true, and gave many indications seen in rocks which indicate they were formed quickly, such as evidence of cross lamination, rather than the slow planar lamination of layers. But rather than steal all his steam, it would be easier to let him explain it. I also got an interview with Dr. Steve Austin after his talk, as well as a picture of the crowd during his talk. (both below)

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The large crowd at Dr. Steve Austin's talk

That's all for Day One (or two if you count last night's opening talk as a whole day) of the 2008 International Conference on Creationism! Check back tomorrow for Day Two, sure to be just as amazing! Be on the look-out for more updates, more information, more pictures, more interviews, and... well... MORE!

Happy Trails,
GvD Sam

(note: this post was delayed due to problems with the audio software, lack of sufficient time, etc. Thus the Day Two post will be posted tomorrow.)