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Home Free MMO Games 2D MMO Navy Field
Navy Field
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Navy Field (5)
About the game:
Title: Navy Field
Status: Released Graphics: 2D
Genre: MMORPG
Developer: SD EnterNet
Publisher: SD EnterNet
Navy Field is a free to play massively multiplayer online (MMO) tactics simulation game based on World War II naval warfare by SD EnterNet. Be prepared to experience intense naval battles against large teams of real opponents from across the globe. To help you on your quest to be the ultimate commander of the sea, almost 100 different WWII era naval vessels are available to use. Start with a humble frigate as you again experience and points for superior classes of ships including: destroyers, battle cruisers, and aircraft carriers. Each model reproduced in painstaking detail. Equip your vessel with a massive selection of historically accurate naval guns, torpedo launchers, Fire Control Systems, engines, and armor.
Explosive Features:
Multiple game modes
Epic battles
Unique gameplay
Navy Field Minimum System Requirements:
OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, or 8
Processor: Pentium III
Memory Ram: 256GB
Hard Disk Space: At least 1GB of free Space
Video Card: 16 mb video memory
Each game profile contains useful information about the game, gameplay videos, user reviews, gameplay screenshots, system requirements and more!
NF Death Sentance August 6, 2016 at 9:21 am
Navyfield is Dead! They have completely screwed this game up. Just close down the game, why waste everyones time?
WuttDuu November 22, 2015 at 3:23 am
that game needs 256 GB of ram?
Andrei August 15, 2015 at 3:21 pm
Navyfield 1 is a waste of time. After playing for some years now i'm very dissapointed abt who is in charge of this game. The GM's are banning old players who invested money and time in this game.
I you ask questions on their site they delete the posts and ban your account. I guess they are making people leave the game so they can close it. What they are doing is illegal and not fairplay to people who are playing this game. Shame!!!!!!
nick August 12, 2015 at 2:53 pm
Well played this game for 8 years and am very well known. Now the GMs are basically on a if you don't like what we do don't play the game kinda attitude. I don't suggest playing this game at all to anyone. Your just wasting your time. Within one year it will probably be shut down.
bow March 26, 2015 at 5:00 pm
join this site to join this game but by all the reviews i think this game is a rip-off and will not play it.
thank for the great info
Matt October 17, 2014 at 1:51 pm
BEWARE OF THIS GAME!
This game being free to play is alright. However, I purchased 4 premium ships premium crews and other consumables and they were all removed from my account. I contacted the mods and was basically told to go fly a kite and that no in game purchases are garaunteed to be permanent. What kind of customer service is that? They take your money and take back the product afterwards? If it wasn't such a trivial amount of money I would seek legal action, however I've decided to wait for the release of a different naval warfare game from a company with a reputation of great customer support, and keeping data safe, accurate, and untampered with.
Alan! Alan! Alan! October 11, 2014 at 6:39 am
Two years on, NF remains pretty much the same, but with a few changes – the server merge in 2012, for instance, and the rise in in-game events. These changes, in my opinion, have done well to preserve the player base.
I disagree with many who claim this is more of a pay-to-win game. I started a couple of years before the server merge, but found the grind unbearable – at that age, I found grinds intolerable. But now, just a year after the merge, I'm happily on German BB 3.5 (Bismarck 1943, yes, it is a premium) while having spent nothing but time on this game.
Skill and teamwork are everything in this game, as the newbie will quickly find out. You might be able to get away with a guns-blazing suicide run in a tiny FF, DD or even a CL, but in the late-game it's the players who can coldly calculate what gun angle they should be firing at or the player who knows the importance of both attack and defense on a carrier that eventually hit the big-time in NF. Learning hotkey skills is a big thing in NF, and the faster you learn it, the more fun it is.
I will admit that NF does have its downsides, like outdated UIs and constant crashing, but as long as you're committed to getting your hands on those late-tier BBs, CVS and SSs, you'll hardly notice. Be warned, however – you will get frustrated eventually. This is a game that you will most certainly be having a love-hate relationship with.
SOME ADVICE FOR THE NEW PLAYER:
Credits and points will be a nightmare to grind, and you'll eventually hit a point where you can't advance to the next tier purely because of the lack of credits (usually last CA before the BBs and BCs).
My strategy was to build a parallel crew (no heroes/premium, but with 11 or 12 rolls), level it to the pre-BB point, then sell on the Trade Market (Support sailors will fetch a bigger price than gunners generally, but constantly compare the market price) . I did this with with a full RM BB crew and picked up all the credits I needed.
In terms of building crews, it all depends on which line you're headed. Reading the forum guides will help you immensely, but as a general rule of thumb build 2 gunners, 2 AA gunners, at least 2 engineers to go with your BO. (That's for a BB build. CV builds are generally a lot different.)
DaMmNn October 15, 2013 at 2:38 pm
hmmm, I'll just wait when War Thunder brings out the ships
ugurano August 10, 2013 at 5:34 pm
your right s
Pete Finley April 24, 2013 at 4:26 pm
SDenterNet / Navyfield are thieves. They will delete your account if you go inactive. Any items you purchased (real money) will be deleted and they will not refund you. Luckily Mastercard did a charge back and got my money back, but there are many others who lost their account AND their money to this bunch of internet scammers.
Avoid Navyfield and Navyfield 2 completely. World of Warships is far superior in gameplay and graphics if you are looking for a naval warfare game.
Ariako July 6, 2013 at 7:36 pm
Ignore Pete Finley. He's butthurt because he was inactive for months and lost his account. I suggest that he reads the ToS more deeply before throwing money at a game, and I think everyone would agree, that is no excuse to talk trash about a perfectly good game.
S August 7, 2013 at 12:55 pm
There are "Premium Ships" with superior stats which you can only obtain with real life money, never ever can you get them as a free player. Also some other items. Therefore Navy Field is a pay-to-win game.
George Georgesonson September 9, 2013 at 8:49 pm
Ya know, Wows isn't out yet…
world of warship is in beta and all their testers are praising this game 1000% and paying money with your account getting voided is bad buisness.
Extevan March 21, 2013 at 12:01 pm
NavyField 2 coming soon!!!!
FeedbackGuy March 2, 2013 at 1:54 pm
Seems really nice, i thing i will try this out.
Kamran November 8, 2012 at 7:26 am
Navy Field in my personal opinion is best MMO game available. In this game when you get start playing you feel comfortable from the very start up. But you have to put efforts to master the skill and it surely takes some time.
Game play is very user freindly and you will soon be addicted to the game. As you progress and your crew get promotions you have to choose from 5 different WWII era nations naval forces. At bigger naval ships you will be given option to load small aeroplanes. Then there are specific carrier vessel if you like to have one which can only be loaded with planes.
Overall an amazing game and a complete battle engagement feel for players.
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Dr Dan Jolley teaches aspiring personal trainers at South Metropolitan TAFE, in Perth, Western Australia. He has a BSc in exercise sciences, and an MSc in exercise physiology. His doctorate is in educational psychology, examining the knowledge, and critical thinking skills, of Australian fitness students and personal trainers.
Dan is a level 3 AusREP, and was one of the first personal trainers in Australia to complete Fitness Australia's Accreditation program. He is a member of Fitness Australia's Industry Standards Council, which develops and reviews standards and codes to improve safety, and service quality, in the fitness industry.
He is also a member of the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association, and has worked as a strength and conditioning coach for a number of teams, including the Perth Scorchers (WBBL), and in the semi-professional Western Australian Football League competition. He was the head of strength and conditioning for the Australian national gridiron team for two world championship campaigns, following a successful playing career.
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Inaugural Polking Fellows Announced: Margo Borders & James O'Toole
The Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture is excited to announce the first two recipients of the new Polking Family Fellowship. As the inaugural Polking Fellows, Margo Borders and James O'Toole will begin studies in Fall 2016 at Notre Dame Law School.
"The Polking Family Fellowships are awarded to select incoming law students that have shown a great deal of potential to develop as leaders who understand the connection between the law, public policy, and building a sustainable culture of life," said O. Carter Snead, Director of the Center for Ethics and Culture. "We are excited about what Margo and James will achieve in the coming years as our inaugural Polking Fellows. We believe that their work with the Center, its visiting fellows, its research, and its special events will serve to build a tremendous foundation for their professional careers."
Borders will graduate in May 2016 from the Honors Program with a focus in Theology at Boston College, and hails from Oklahoma City, OK. During her undergraduate studies, she has served as president of the campus Pro-Life Club, interned with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, and mentored inner-city girls in goal setting and the virtues with the Midtown Educational Foundation in Chicago. "Because the field of law is so crucial at a time where family values and basic human dignity are constantly threatened in our society and legal system, my future practice of the law should work to build the culture of life that is so intrinsic to the faith," said Borders. "My aspirations to work for the common good of all people will be enabled, enriched, and strengthened by working with the Center for Ethics and Culture."
O'Toole, a native of Verona, NJ, studied English Literature at the University of Dallas and has been teaching middle school Latin in Manhattan while preparing for his law studies. "I taught for the last two years because the formation of the future generation as thoughtful and respectful men and women matters to me," said O'Toole in his Polking Fellowship application. "Similarly, I want to ensure that our country going forward will continually honor and respect its citizens' right to life in all ages. I am excited to begin my adventure as a Polking Fellow, willing 'to put out into the deep,' to defend our liberties and to contribute to the creation of a culture of life in the United States."
The Polking Family Fellowship was established in February 2016 to recruit and provide funding for top law school candidates who have a demonstrated passion for the Catholic mission of the Law School and who share Notre Dame's commitment to the inalienable dignity of every human life from conception to natural death. The fellowship was made possible through a generous endowment made by Paul and Joan Polking. Polking '59 B.S., '66 J.D., is a retired executive vice president and general counsel for the Bank of America Corporation. He is also a member of the Law School Advisory Council.
Originally published by Kenneth Hallenius at ethicscenter.nd.edu on April 15, 2016.


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Posts Tagged 'Kazumi Ohigashi
Cop out?
Tags: Akihiro Ienaga, Alberto Zaccheroni, Argentina, Atsuto Uchida, アルゼンチン, アルベルト・ザッケローニ, クローリー・タウン, コパアメリカ, サムライブルー, Copa America, Crawley Town, 細貝萌, Daiki Iwamasa, Daisuke Matsui, Eiji Kawashima, 遠藤保仁, 長谷部誠, 長友佑都, 闘莉王, 藤本淳吾, 阿部勇樹, 西川周作, 香川真司, Hajime Hosogai, J.リーグ, J.League, Japan, Japan national team, Jungo Fujimoto, Junji Ogura, Kazumi Ohigashi, Kazuya Yamamura, Keigo Higashi, Keisuke Honda, Makoto Hasebe, Masahiko Inoha, Maya Yoshida, Michihiro Yasuda, Ryo Miyaichi, Ryoichi Maeda, Samurai Blue, Shinji Kagawa, Shinji Okazaki, Shoki Hirai, Shuichi Gonda, Shunsuke Ando, Shusaku Nishikawa, Takayuki Morimoto, Takuya Honda, Takuya Okamoto, Tohoku, Tomoaki Makino, Tulio, Yasuhito Endo, Yasuyuki Konno, Yosuke Kashiwagi, Yuki Abe, Yuto Nagatomo, 内田篤人, 前田遼一, 吉田麻也, 大東和美, 安田理大, 安藤駿介, 宮市亮, 家長昭博, 小倉純二, 山村和也, 岡崎慎司, 岡本拓也, 岩政大樹, 川島永嗣, 平井将生, 日本, 日本代表, 本田圭佑, 本田拓也, 東北, 東慶悟, 松井大輔, 柏木陽介, 森本貴幸, 槙野智章, 権田修一, 今野泰幸, 伊野波雅彦
The will-they-won't-they concerning Japan's participation in the Copa America is dragging on a bit so I decided to clear it up for Weekly Soccer Magazine.
The J.League and JFA certainly have some tricky decisions to make over the coming weeks, and just how the five rounds of postponed J.League matches can be made up in an already packed schedule is not an easy problem to solve.
Luckily I have had a lot of time on my hands lately though, and so have been able to come up with the answer for Mr. Ogura and Mr. Ohigashi: and the good news is that the J.League and Copa America can both still go ahead.
Essentially there were three options available:
Option 1. The national team travel to Argentina with any players that Zac wants to take and the J.League keeps the mid-season break as scheduled. The five rounds of matches are then made up throughout the course of the season, with one extra round per month in May, June, September, October and November.
Option 2. The national team withdraw from the Copa America and during that scheduled five week break the J.League make up the matches.
Option 3. The national team still take part in the Copa America and the J.League play rounds 2-6 at the same time. Either Zac is asked to function without any J.League regulars, or clubs are asked for their co-operation in the matter.
None of these options are ideal and somewhere along the line somebody is going to have to compromise. However, the recent events in Tohoku mean that flexibility is required – and should be expected – to resolve the situation.
Initially I was leaning towards the first option. All of the J.League players are professional athletes who are paid to keep themsleves in top physical condition. As such, asking them to play five matches a month rather than four is not a particulalry big demand. As a fellow journalist pointed out to me the other day, if Crawley Town of the English Blue Square Premier League (5th Division) can play twice a week, then surely J.League players can.
The problem with this option though was the break in the middle of the season. The more I considered it, the more that five-week period bugged me. It would essentially be a week for each player who is actually likely to be missing from the J.League and featuring for Japan in Argentina (Nishikawa, Inoha, Tulio, Endo, Maeda). This seems like an awful lot of time to be wasting when there are games to be played, and so I began to consider option 2.
The national team pulling out of the Copa America would ease the strain on the players but it just seems a little drastic – again bearing in mind the number who will actually be missing from the J.League. There are a few other domestic players who are on the fringes of the national team (Iwamasa, Kashiwagi, Fujimoto, Honda) but their spots could easily be filled by young J.Leaguers yet to cement places at their clubs, or J2 or University players.
And so I settled for option 3; the best of both. But, are J.League teams asked to get by without their stars or does Zac have to choose his squad solely from overseas players and the lesser-lights?
The latter. The Copa America is, essentially, meaningless. Japan are travelling to Argentina to gain experience (and probably make a few yen, of course), and none of the J.League players who will be missing out are lacking in either. The European-based players will have finished their seasons by then and will bring more than enough quality to the squad, with the remaining places being taken up by satellite members of J1 teams, second division players and members of Sekizuka's Under-22 team.
If I were in charge, for example, my squad would look something like this:
Eiji Kawashima, Shuichi Gonda, Shunsuke Ando; Atsuto Uchida, Takuya Okamoto, Michihiro Yasuda, Maya Yoshida, Tomoaki Makino, Yasuyuki Konno, Yuto Nagatomo; Yuki Abe, Makoto Hasebe, Hajime Hosogai, Keigo Higashi, Akihiro Ienaga, Ryo Miyaichi, Kazuya Yamamura, Daisuke Matsui; Shinji Kagawa, Shinji Okazaki, Keisuke Honda, Takayuki Morimoto, Shoki Hirai.
Still a strong line-up, with some potential Samurai Blue regulars of the future getting some crucial experience around the full national team, while the J.League can go about its business as usual until December.
So there you have it, problem solved.
The Back Post – Charity begins at home
Tags: カズ, ショーン・キャロル, チカラをひとつに, デイリーヨミウリ, Earthquake, 藤田俊哉, 陸前高田, 鹿島アントラーズ, J.リーグ, J.League, Japan, Japan national team, JFA, Junji Ogura, Kashima Antlers, Kazu, Kazumi Ohigashi, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Ofunato, Rikizen-Takata, Sean Carroll, Shunsuke Nakamura, Team as One, The Back Post, The Daily Yomiuri, Toshiya Fujita, Tsunami, Yuji Nakazawa, 地震, 大東和美, 小笠原満男, 小倉純二, 日本, 日本代表, 津波, 中村俊輔, 中澤佑二
Speaking before last week's charity match in Osaka, Mitsuo Ogasawara described the scenes that greeted him and his family when they travelled to Tohoku in the days after the tsunami.
These comments and how he thinks football can continue to help the region formed the basis of this month's Back Post, for The Daily Yomiuri.
Japan as One
Tags: カズ, ショーン・キャロル, チカラをひとつに, ベガルタ仙台, 週刊サッカーマガジン, 蹴球ベイベー, 鹿島アントラーズ, J.リーグ, J.League, Japan, Japan national team, JFA, Kashima Antlers, Kazu, Kazumi Ohigashi, Kazuyoshi Miura, Sean Carroll, Team as One, Vegalta Sendai, Weekly Soccer Magazine, 大東和美, 日本, 日本代表, 三浦知良
Before travelling down to Osaka for the Japan v. J.League 'Team as One' match at the start of the week, I wrote about the importance of the game for Weekly Soccer Magazine.
Nagai Stadium is certain to be an emotional place on Tuesday night.
While I was very disappointed with New Zealand's decision to back out of their scheduled game with the Samurai Blue, I think that it is crucial this match goes ahead and feel that the time is right for Japan to come together to not only remember all of the victims of the tragic events of the past few weeks, but also to look forward.
Indeed, if New Zealand had honoured their commitment they would have found themselves in a no-win situation. Most likely they would have come up against a hugely fired-up Samurai Blue team who would have been more determined than ever to put in a performance and secure a good result in front of their own fans. Had the Kiwis been able to brave this onslaught and been victorious themselves though, it would have been hugely dispiriting for their hosts.
Now, with the match set to be contested between a full strength national team and a selection of the biggest stars currently playing in the J.League it is sure to be stirring occasion for everybody packed inside the ground and the many millions watching at home – particularly when Kimigayo strikes up.
Such was the desire to be involved in the match and to help out in any way possible, J.League chairman Kazumi Ohigashi revealed that he had to turn down several requests from players to be included in the 'Team as One' squad.
Speaking at JFA house when announcing the selection Ohigashi said, "Many players wanted to join but we only had room for 20 members so I was very sorry that I had to refuse some players."
With competition so fierce it is little surprise that the chosen few were so eager to accept their call-ups, with everybody desperate to do what little they can to help out in the current circumstances.
Ohigashi confirmed this keenness – including on the parts of players from Kashima Antlers and Vegalta Sendai, two of the most affected areas:
"All the players said yes to our offer as soon as possible. Sendai and Kashima experienced a lot of damage but their players said 'ok, and thank you for the offer'."
This enthusiasm to be a part of the event was shared by supporters, with tickets at the 50,000 capacity venue selling out in under 2 hours – an incredible feat.
The chairman's rationale for the evening, which will be shared by players, supporters and media alike, is simple:
"This match I want to be brave and positive for the victims," he said.
One man who is certain to embody this spirit is Kazu, who Ohigashi revealed was the first man to confirm his availability for the match.
Employing Kazu's star status was a smart move on the part of the J.League, and the 44-year-old – who was an unannounced presence at the 'Team as One' press conference – sparked a flurry of activity upon arrival as photographers scurried around to get the perfect shot.
He expressed relief at being given an opportunity to do something to aid the relief efforts, however small, having experienced a similar helplessness to most of the population as the tragic events unfolded.
"After the earthquake I was thinking 'what can I do to help?'" Kazu said. "This was a very difficult question for me. I wanted to do something to improve the situation through football, and so when I got the offer to join this charity match I was delighted to have the opportunity to cooperate with the Japanese soccer world."
When asked if he had a message for those affected most deeply by the tragedy Kazu replied.
"This is a very difficult and very serious situation. Maybe I can try to imagine how they feel but I think their real situation is beyond that – it is unvbelievable."
And this is something that everybody involved should bear in mind. Real people have experienced, and are still experiencing, real suffering and this game is merely a diversion to raise much-needed funds and to provide some brief respite from the current difficulties. It does not mark the end of the situation but might just provide a point from which the country can start to pick up the pieces and begin to look to the future.
Coming together to give strength
Tags: カズ, ショーン・キャロル, チカラをひとつに, デイリーヨミウリ, ニュージーランド, Daily Yomiuri, Eiji Kawashima, 阿部勇樹, J.リーグ, J.League, Japan, Japan national team, JFA, Kazu, Kazumi Ohigashi, Kazuyoshi Miura, New Zealand, Sean Carroll, Team as One, Yuki Abe, 大東和美, 川島永嗣, 日本, 日本代表, 三浦知良
The Japanese national team took on a J.League 'Team as One' on Tuesday, to raise money for the relief efforts in the wake of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Here's my preview for the match, including comments from Yuki Abe, Eiji Kawashima and Kazu.
J.League 'Team as One' squad announced
Categories: the-AFC.com and Uncategorized
Tags: 本田圭佑, カズ, ショーン・キャロル, チカラをひとつに, ベガルタ仙台, Eiji Kawashima, 長友佑都, 鹿島アントラーズ, J.リーグ, J.League, Japan, Japan national team, JFA, Kashima Antlers, Kazu, Kazumi Ohigashi, Kazuyoshi Miura, Keisuke Honda, Sean Carroll, Team as One, the-AFC.com, Vegalta Sendai, Yuto Nagatomo, 大東和美, 川島永嗣, 日本, 日本代表, 三浦知良
On Tuesday the J.League called a press conference to announce its "Team as One' squad to face the national team next week.
The full squad and comments from J.League legend Kazu can be found here.
Interview with Alan Wilkie, Part Two
Tags: Alan Wilkie, アラン・ウィルキー, ショーン・キャロル, 週刊サッカーマガジン, 西村雄一, 蹴球ベイベー, JFA, Junji Ogura, Kazumi Ohigashi, Sean Carroll, Weekly Soccer Magazine, Yuichi Nishimura, 大東和美, 小倉純二
Here is the second part of my interview with Alan Wilkie, who has just concluded a stint as Top Referee Instructor for the JFA. It appeared in Weekly Soccer Magazine on the 23rd November.
In last week's column former English Premier League referee Alan Wilkie provided his opinions on the stadiums, fans and players in Japan. Having come here to assist in referee development though, what are his thoughts on the men in the middle?
Well, upon arrival a year and a half ago, some differences were immediately clear.
"Referees would not manage or engage with the players – communication was a big problem. My initial impression was that referees in Japan referee in isolation, they are not part of the game they are peripheral to the game. That was one of the main things we had to break down as a team of coaches."
How did the Japanese officials take to being told what they were doing wrong though?
"Once people recognised that I had something to offer the support and the camaraderie in the JFA refereeing team was very good. There are some very good people working in the JFA.
"What I try to do is influence people, I don't tell anybody anything. I try to persuade them and give them a good example."
The biggest problem, he believes, lies not in the ability of the officials, but in their confidence.
"The issue in Japan is that most of the referees are very, very self-conscious and self-deprecating. I will not allow the de-brief to be 'you did this wrong, you did this wrong'. The way that I de-brief is that I get people to accept that they may have been able to do things a little better, and it works."
Increased confidence results in increased respect – something Alan does not believe Japanese referees receive much of at the moment.
"In Japan, cautions mean nothing. You can tell nobody cares by the demeanour of the player when the referee's cautioning him, he'll just walk away and wave his hand. That shows complete disrespect and I'm trying to get the referees to change the yellow to a second yellow and red because it's dissent."
Diving and other gamesmanship is also on the rise, but Alan is surprisingly not totally against this.
"It doesn't matter whether I think it's negative or not, this is football. If the J.League wishes to be in the top 10, or perhaps the top 5, in the world, they will have to be able to compete and deal with exaggeration, overreaction and gamesmanship."
2010 was a fantastic year for one J.League referee – Yuichi Nishimura, who was 4th official at the World Cup Final – and Alan is very proud of the 38-year-old's achievement.
"Nishimura was my best pupil. The way that he handles and uses his body and the way that he engages with players is European. That's why he's a success."
He also has a lot of respect for his boss, Yasuhiro Matsuzaki.
"[He] has football and refereeing at heart. His vision is to see football in Japan develop into a European style. I admire his vision very much and think he's much-maligned and much misunderstood."
So, as his time here comes to a close, what are his final thoughts?
"The best thing is seeing progress, seeing success, seeing referees develop. [But]I'm not finished! This is ongoing. I keep saying to the referees that if you sit and look at the good things you've done you'll be left behind. Keep going."
And has he learned anything to take back to England with him?
"I'm taking away masses and masses of training techniques because in Japan the methods of training leave England way behind. Every time they do a practical training session there's two football teams there. In England we pretend and make referees be players, can you believe that?!"
Recent changes at the top of Japanese football also encourage him, and he expects big things of the game here in the future.
"There is a change of chairman in the J.League and I have great faith in his vision. [Kazumi Ohigashi] gives me the impression of being a man of integrity and direction."
"Junji Ogura; I have great aspirations for him. I think he will be monumental in the development of football. Great vision and also an extremely nice man. Sometimes they don't go hand in hand, but I think with him you will get results. I quite seriously have great hope for Japan, I really do."


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Palestinian Minister of Women's Affairs says mothers should sacrifice children as suicide bombers
Home / Unlabelled / Turkish newspaper linked to the Erdogan regime celebrated the Notre Dame fire
Turkish newspaper linked to the Erdogan regime celebrated the Notre Dame fire
Online April 17, 2019
While most of the people watched in horror the heartbreaking scenes of Notre Dame cathedral in flames, A Turkish newspaper linked to the Erdogan regime celebrated the Notre Dame fire as revenge for France's recognition of the Armenian Genocide.
As you can see in the tweet down below the post shared by prominent right-wing activist Paul Joseph Watson sparked ouyrage throughout social media.
Notre-Dame de Paris, also called Notre-Dame Cathedral, cathedral church in Paris, France. It is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages.
Many world leaders include President Trump, Prime Minister of Israel expressed shock and sent condolences and their deep regret to Paris concerning the fire that erupted in France's Notre Dame Cathedral.
"...So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!..."-President Trump tweeted.
A Turkish newspaper linked to the Erdogan regime celebrated the Notre Dame fire as revenge for France's recognition of the Armenian Genocide. https://t.co/8lVQO0ym0U
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) 17 באפריל 2019
By Online ב- April 17, 2019
Muslim Professor on TV Says Rather Have Hand Chopped Off Then Shake hands with a Jew


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A clear tunnel in the world's deepest pool
Photo Credit: House Beautiful
Who thinks its a good idea to add a clear tunnel inside a pool? Deepspot thinks so. Located near Warsaw, Poland, Deepspot, a diving training facility sinks to remarkable depth of 148 feet (45 meters), which is about a 15-story building reports House Beautiful.
You may have heard about the biggest pool in the world located at the San Alfonso del Mar resort in Algarrobo, Chile, but Poland felt that they needed to top that and build the deepest pool in the world. We see them!
"The amount of water needed to fill it is equivalent to 27 Olympic-size swimming pools! It will officially get crowned the world's deepest pool when it opens in August, unseating the current record-holder, Y-40 The Deep Joy pool in Italy, which is 131 feet." according to House Beautiful
Don't believe us? Check out the pic below:
Photo Credit: Deepspot
The facility is deigned for divers to train and practice in; it even has structures that simulate caves for real world applications. From advanced all the way to beginners, divers of all sorts will be accepted.
The water is expected to be heated so people can get in with or without wet suits, just like at the beach or sea. Now the real question is "will the water be fresh or salty?" If we had to venture a guess, we'd say fresh with a hint of salt.
One of the coolest aspects of this facility is the clear tunnel where observers can walk through and experience an unprecedented view of the underwater and see the divers in action (see cover photo). This is actually why we covered this story because of the clear tunnel. We've walked through underwater tunnels before with fish and sharks swimming above us but never humans.
It turns out that Deepspot isn't just a deep pool, but rather a destination spot built to contain underground restaurants, hotel rooms, and conference spaces, most with windows that look directly into the pool, so you can see all the action. Here fishy, fishy!
It would be funny if someone played a prank and snuck in some live fish and releases them in the pool. How long will it take to capture the fish? Our guess? Probably a very ling time. Imaging seeing someone fishing to catch the fish from your hotel window. Now that would be hilarious; no? Either way, it would be a spot we'd like to check out.
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Easter Sunday Christ's Rising: Life Stronger than Death
"On the third day He arose again from the dead." By these words in the Apostles Creed, Christians are declaring, forthrightly and unequivocally, a radical conviction, full of cosmic implications. He is stronger than death. His triumph over the grave ensures the defeat of any pretender to his authority and rule.
Dale Cooper
"At the heart of the Christian faith lies the question of Jesus' resurrection. Why did Christianity arise, and why did it take the shape it did? The early Christians themselves reply: 'We exist because of Jesus' resurrection.' There is no form of early Christianity known to us…that does not affirm at its heart that after Jesus' shameful death God raised him to life again." ~ N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Easter.
Jesus' coming to life again, well beyond human ability to understand or explain, is nonetheless real. It's a "reality more real than our own," as Brother John of Taize puts it.
"On the third day He arose again from the dead." By these words in the Apostles Creed, Christians are declaring, forthrightly and unequivocally, a radical conviction, full of cosmic implications. They are proclaiming that Jesus' resurrection (and the wildfire-growth of the Christian church which happened as a result of it) proves that nothing—neither heavy gravestones nor Pilate's posted sentries, neither the fabricated falsehoods of Jerusalem's religious authorities nor shrill denials from the mouths of subsequent history's naysayers—simply nothing can any longer stand in the way of the risen Lord's mission to complete the full arrival of his kingdom. He is stronger than death. His triumph over the grave ensures the defeat of any pretender to his authority and rule.
"When they saw him, they worshipped him." (Matt 28.17). The earliest eyewitnesses of the risen Lord fell on their knees when they saw the risen Lord standing before them. Of course they did—how else properly to respond? So, too, believers bow before him today. Every Sunday morning—the Lord's resurrection day—they gather to hear again the glad report: "The Lord is risen!" Joyfully they respond: "He is risen indeed!" And they worship him.
Eyewitnesses of the risen Lord were under explicit Divine orders to report immediately what they had seen and heard. They were sent first to their fellow disciples, a signal that the Lord intended to gather into a community again his closest followers who after the crucifixion had scattered in fear. Despair had overtaken them. Aimless and alone, each of them felt cut off from their Master and from one another. But Jesus wanted to form them into a tight fellowship again, full of courage and hope, prepared to proclaim the good news to "the ends of the earth." (Matt. 28.19ff) The news about his resurrection having been reported to them, a little while later he himself instructed them: "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." (cf. John 21.19-22). Jesus made clear that through this freshly regathered community news about his death and resurrection would reach the entire world—indeed, every single person in it.
But the Lord did not issue his call to proclaim only to the first generation of his followers. To every following generation, he issues his charge: "Go, and make disciples." (Matt.28.19ff) Jesus' last words on earth, recorded in Luke (24.26-29), declare his intention to employ his believing community, the church, to herald the Gospel:
"You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the death on the third day, and then a total life-change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in his name to all nations—starting from here, from Jerusalem! You're the first to hear and see it. You're the witnesses. What comes next is very important: I am sending what my Father promised to you, so stay here in the city until he arrives, until you're equipped with power from on high." (Luke 24.26-29)
Under the authority and in the power of the risen Lord, the church keeps announcing the Good News for all to hear. Doing so, she carries forward the thrust of salvation history.
Christ's resurrection community goes forth boldly, confident that his rising is God's pledge that believers, too, shall arise. What is more, his triumph over death convinces them of an undefeatable, everlasting kingdom that is to come.
Thus, as she goes forth to herald the news, the church of Jesus Christ also sings in triumph:
Rejoice the Lord is king;
Your Lord and king adore;
Rejoice, give thanks, and sing
And triumph evermore.
His Kingdom cannot fail;
He rules o'er earth and heaven;
The keys of death and hell
Are to our Jesus given.
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
Believers stand on tiptoe, awaiting eagerly the final working out of God's plans to "make everything new" (Rev. 21.5)—to establish forever Christ's kingly rule. Their hope rests solidly and foursquare on the foundation—the fact—of the Lord's resurrection.
We give thanks for the gift of Easter
That runs beyond our explanations,
Beyond our categories of reason,
Even more, beyond the sinking sense of our own lives.
We know about the powers of death,
Powers the persist among us,
Powers that drive us from you, and
From our neighbor, and
From our best selves.
We know about the powers of fear and greed and anxiety,
And brutality and certitude.
Powers before which we are helpless.
And then you….you at dawn, unquenched,
You in the darkness,
You on Saturday,
You who breaks the world to joy.
Yours is the kingdom….not the kingdom of death,
Yours is the power….not the glory of death.
Yours….You….and we give thanks
For the newness beyond our achieving.
(Walter Brueggeman)
Read Coop's Column
coops column, easter, easter season, lent, radiant preciousness of jesus series
Coop's Column - Spirit at Work: Revealer
How do we humans know what we know or, at least what we think we know? The question of knowledge is one of the most centrally important—and vexingly complex—issues facing humankind today, and cries out for a solid, appropriate answer.
Coop's Column- All Your Wondrous Works Proclaim
With so much around us to invite our curiosity and to evoke our wonder, a bored attitude toward life is sinful. A day's adventure in the world ought to end, after all, with an exclamation point of thanksgiving to God.
Three Reasons to Join a Preaching Peer Group
Sermon preparation is a recurring task that can be lonely and draining. A Texas pastor describes how a peer learning group revitalized her preaching.


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Risk-free, low cost and low emission barrels: why flaring is the oil and gas industry's $27 billion opportunity between the trees
A thought piece by Capterio | 1400 words | Reading time: 7 minutes
Cover image (courtesy of Getty and BBC) which highlights flaring at the Nahr Bin Omar natural gas field, just north of Basrah, Iraq.
Oil and companies invest c. $550 billion each year to explore and develop new oil and gas resources to replace the c. 60 billion oil-equivalent barrels (i.e. oil + gas) consumed each year, plus meet the additional growth the world is (still currently) demanding according to the IEA and BP. Assuming steady state, each new barrel therefore costs to find and develop (with a unit cost of c. $9 per barrel, but considerably higher when production costs, royalties, and taxes are included), and often takes years to come onstream (typically between 3 and 10 for conventional resources).
Flare capture represents an opportunity to add $27 billion-worth risk-free, low-cost new barrels
The latest figures from the World Bank highlight the scale of the flaring opportunity. Each year some 145 billion cubic metres of gas is flared, and probably at least another 16 BCM is released by flares as methane (due to incomplete combustion). Add in the liquids which are released and combusted by the flares and together flaring wastes c. 2.8 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, or 1.7% of total oil and gas production (see figure 1). That's $27 billion per year of lost revenue potential and 1.3 billion tonnes of potentially avoidable CO2-equivalent emissions (more than airlines, see article). In addition, there is, according to the IEA, an additional 112 BCM of natural gas that is being wasted as methane, through venting and leaking. Adding these sources of waste and the total oil-equivalent production to 4.6 million oil-equivalent barrels per day, $43 billion revenue opportunity and 7.7 billion tonnes of CO2-e emissions – see figure.
Figure 1: The size of the global prize from tackling flaring (burning of waste gas, often incompletely), venting (deliberate release of methane) and leaking (accidental release of methane). Data from World Bank GGFR, IEA and BP Statistical Review of World Energy . Note we are deliberately quoting the figures in terms of oil production (on an energy-equivalent basis) to make the linkage with global oil demand (see this article for data in conventional gas units).
Flare capture presents an immense opportunity and a better way
To be clear, flare capture is a huge opportunity, but it can be very complex technically, politically and commercially. But the prize is significant:
Firstly flare capture can add reserves and production immediately (saving years of development times and unnecessary infrastructure). Secondly, unlike virtually all other resource types, there is near zero risk (after all the hydrocarbons have been found and developed – and produced – and the production outlook is likely stable over time). Thirdly the resources are cheap (we estimate an upstream unit development cost in the range of $1-5 per barrel, some 2-10x cheaper than drilling a conventional producer well). And fourthly, the barrels are low carbon (in the sense that the net emissions from delivering more energy to the market is virtually zero) – enabling countries to make a meaningful contribution to meeting their Paris climate agreement NDC commitments (see article) and accelerating the adoption of gas as a lower-carbon fuel to support the energy transition.
Putting this together, flare capture projects should stack up very well against almost all other growth options at oil and gas companies – and help them to make progress against the issue of our time, the climate crisis. Put that another way: flare capture projects are one of the largest decarbonisation opportunities the fossil industry has – and in realising it, real commercial value can be created.
Seeing the value between the (palm) trees
Figure 2: Image left (courtesy of Getty and BBC ) highlights flaring at the Nahr Bin Omar natural gas field, just north of Basra, Iraq. Image right is a satellite image of (the plumes indicate that it is likely to be pulsating every few seconds) flaring from space, from Capterio's Global Flare Intelligence Tool (GFIT), with image courtesy of Maxar Technologies and Google. Power transmission lines are seen in the photograph, and are clearly observable from space.
It's interesting to consider an operation like the Nahr Bin Omar natural gas field (pictured above) – and to try and identify the opportunities between the palm trees. Nahr Bin Omar is fairly typical (at least in its scale of flaring) of many fields we have evaluated world-wide.
Our unique and global Global Flare Intelligence Tool (GFIT) tracks and reports on 10,000+ flares in real-time. Our analysis identifies that the Nahr Bin Omar field has flared some 45 million scf day from 4 flares for many years (quite possibly, for decades). This waste, itself eye-watering, becomes more startling when a careful inspection of the power lines in the photograph highlights an obvious potential solution: turning waste gas into much-needed electricity. (There are many other possibilities too as we have outlined in other articles, but Iraq has a well-known and acute need for power.)
By capturing a flare like this, the asset owner(s) could add up to 9.1 kboepd (7.8 from oil and an additional 1.4 from associated liquids) by our calculations. That's an additional or 33 million oil-equivalent barrels (MMBOE) of proved reserves over 10 years (and likely considerably more given the field longevity). At near-zero risk, this could be highly competitive with exploration and even most development projects.
Fixing this problem is frequently perceived to be challenging. But whilst there can be many complex process engineering, political and organisational issues to address, there are also many practical solutions and opportunities for process optimisation (see article).
Indeed, one initial solution which could provide immediate improvement with liquids recovery and flare quality would be to better optimise the separator and field conditions. Many operators today fail to fully realise the benefits of optimisation of their temperature and pressure conditions. A more comprehensive analysis that better explores the trade-offs (e.g. between the desire to meet crude RVP stability requirements vs. a desire to improve water separation vs. a desire to minimise the need for additional compression to deliver gas to the grid) can often identify opportunities to minimise systemic waste.
This satellite image also shows another interesting feature. The separate plumes of smoke in the image flare almost-certainly tell us that the flare is pulsating, perhaps every few seconds. These pulses possibly originate from episodic flow in the flare system that can result from sub-optimal pressure at the separator. Under these conditions, the flare may be entraining additional liquids into the flare stack, leading to the particularly black smoke. If these observations are correct, there is a clear case for process optimisation.
This opportunities for optimisation are important and deserve proper attention. Too-often we have seen situations being sub-optimised when decisions are driven purely by cost reduction rather than complete and well-evaluated economic analysis.
We have not looked into this opportunity in any detail, however, based on some of our recent work in North Africa, we might expect that flares like those in the photo could be abated for an upstream capital investment of the order of $18-30 million (to install separation, compression, and tie-in to the local pipeline grid – if available). Assuming that power generation is the optimum downstream solution, based on similar-sized operations we might expect an investment of some $50-150 million in a power plant. That equates to an upstream unit development cost of $0.5-1 per barrel of proved reserves (or a total unit development cost of $2-5 ber boe), some 40-70% lower than the conventional projects of a similar scale. Plus it would reduce CO2-equivalent emissions by up to 7 million tonnes per year (assuming 80% combustion efficiency, 30 barrels per scf of liquid and 20-year global warming potential of methane) and, very likely, deliver attractive returns on investment and NPV (Net Present Value) under reasonable fiscal terms and commercial structures.
Time for a tangible investment in Nahr Bin Omar?
The good news in Iraq is that a major flare abatement operation is already underway. The Basrah Gas Company (a joint venture between Shell, the Iraq government and Mitsubishi) is already embarking on a major investment programme to recover the gas to generate power and reduce the import demand – with some considerable success (over a billion cubic feet per day is now captured, creating 3.5 GW of power). Whilst three fields are currently involved (Rumaila, West Qurna 1 and Zubair) at 18 BCM there is room for considerably more.
And whilst this programme is very ambitious, there are hundreds of similar-sized opportunities globally, the core focus of Capterio.
In today's challenging times for the oil and gas industry, we need fresh approaches. With strong political will, consumer pressure and operational leadership, asset owners can partner with project developers which specialise in financing and delivering on-the-ground flare abatement solutions, such as Capterio to make a difference. Together we can deliver a "triple win" (for asset owners, for governments and consumers, and for the planet).
As Bob Dudley (BP's outgoing CEO) recently put it, "flaring can and must be tackled … and gas itself can and must be increasingly decarbonised".
Our industry has always been innovative and progressive. Now the energy transition is underway we're being called on again.
Together let's get it done.
About Capterio:
Capterio is an agile project developer focussed on monetising waste gas in oil & gas energy systems. We build solutions to capture waste gas and utilise it, taking it to pipelines, injecting it (for storage, enhanced recovery or disposal), converting it to power, liquids (e.g. CNG, LPG, GTL, LNG, etc) or other creative solutions.
We screen and source opportunities, we select and procure technology, we negotiate commercial contracts, we provide project financing – and oversee construction and operations. We bring together assets together with technologies, know-how and financing to deliver on-the-ground, real-world, safe and reliable solutions.
We would like to thank former colleagues at EDF, Shell and BP for lively discussions on this subject.
Download Capterio Perspectives
Developed by Capterio, FlareIntel tracks every gas flare globally via satellite. FlareIntel is a digital tool that allows anyone to explore gas flares around the world, incorporating data from the Earth Observation Group.
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contact@capterio.com
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Melbourne Documentary Film Festival Review: Woodstock At Fifty paints the famous concert with too broad a brush
Natalie Salvo
Woodstock was one of the most important concerts in history. This year marks 50 years since those infamous three days of peace, love and music. The film, Woodstock at Fifty is a documentary that gives a rather backstage view to the show thanks to some interviews with various key players. While some parts of this work well, this film ultimately paints things with such a broad brush that the point is often missed.
This film is directed by Melbourne filmmaker, Aidan Prewitt, who has also written a book about the same topic. The likes of D. A. Pennebaker, Dick Cavett, Country Joe Macdonald, Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) and Michael Shrieve (Santana) feature here. They offer some great anecdotes but the most exciting talent is certainly Chip Monck, the lighting tech who got people to avoid that pesky brown acid.
This documentary is very broad in scope even though it's called Woodstock at 50. There are questions about Monterey Pop (because Pennebaker made the famous film) and Altamont (because Chip and other interviewees were there). While it's useful to know what came before and after Woodstock, some viewers might be disappointed at not having things examined more deeply. This is especially the case when you consider that this film is quite short at 52 minutes.
Some of this documentary feels like a psychology experiment. Prewitt investigates the enormity of this mass gathering and draws parallels to the Nuremberg Rally. This is a novel approach and not what you'd expect from a standard Woodstock doco.
Unseen 8mm footage from the concert also features here. There is an excellent moment where Janis Joplin is seen in her element laughing in the background, but for the most part this new footage is of different crowd shots. Some more video from the performances, particularly rarer ones (like Creedence Clearwater Revival's set) would have really hit the mark.
People approaching this film thinking they're going to get an in-depth look at Woodstock will be somewhat disappointed. Instead, Prewitt looks at Woodstock in a new light and offers up the broader context in terms of cultural history. Some of the results are very illuminating while at other points you could glean more from watching the original Woodstock film. They say if you remember Woodstock you weren't really there, but Prewitt's documentary certainly helps people to remember some things.
TWO AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Woodstock at Fifty plays as part of the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. For more information head HERE.
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Tags: Aidan Prewitt, Country Joe Macdonald, D. A. Pennebaker, Dick Cavett, Documentary, Ian Anderson, Janis Joplin, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, Melbourne International Documentary Film Festival, Michael Shrieve, Woodstock at 50, Woodstock at fifty


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by Quinn Brockton
Your favorite Queer as Folk characters take you along on their youthful journey of sexual self-discovery in a new line of books based on the record-breaking Showtime series hailed as "fiercely realistic" by The New York Times. USA Today raves, "There's never been anything else like it on TV."
They've been to the prom and signed the yearbooks. Now Brian and Michael are apart for the first time since grade school. Brian's soccer scholarship takes him to Carnegie-Mellon where he finds that he's a fresh — if not a small — fish in a big new pond. Meanwhile Michael, Deb, and Uncle Vic embark on the annual Novotny family vacation in the Poconos, where Michael makes some "new" friends. When the trip is cut short because Vic doesn't feel well, Michael learns that his uncle has AIDS and that their family must come together more closely than ever. Soon classes begin for both boys, and new passions and adventures put their friendship to the test. Lindsay, a pretty, talented art major at Carnegie-Mellon, is quickly becoming a fixture in Brian's life, and Emmett, whom Michael met at Babylon, becomes a good friend outside the club too. As sex becomes more than experimentation for both, Brian and Michael struggle with jealousy, homophobia, the realities of HIV, and finding a place of their own as they find their way back to each other.
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Why TVO.org is translating Indigenous stories into Indigenous languages
EDITOR'S NOTE: Canada tried for more than a century to erase Indigenous languages. In the spirit of reconciliation, we must all help to protect them
By Graeme Bayliss - Published on Oct 18, 2019
At least 139 residential schools operated in Canada between 1831 and 1996. Over the course of 165 years, Indigenous children at these schools were physically and sexually abused, forced to give up their cultural practices, and stripped of their traditional languages.
There are more than 70 such languages spoken in this country, according to Statistics Canada. Many of them are endangered.
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued 94 calls to action. One of them states that "Aboriginal languages are a fundamental and valued element of Canadian culture and society, and there is an urgency to preserve them."
TVO shares this view. That is why we are embarking on a new initiative. Until now, TVO.org has published stories from its Indigenous Hub reporters in English only. Going forward, we intend to publish as many such stories as possible both in English and in an Indigenous language relevant to the community we are covering.
For the past several weeks, we have been working to develop a network of Indigenous translators. We hope to expand this network in the coming months. At publication time, we are capable of translating stories into Cree, Mohawk, and Ojibwe.
There will be stories that we are unable to translate: we may not have a translator available in a specific language or at a specific time. But we will do our best. Canada brought about the endangerment of these languages. Canadians, working together with Indigenous communities, must do what they can to protect them.
Portrait Image
Graeme Bayliss
Graeme Bayliss is the Editor-in-Chief of TVO.org.
Follow @gdbayliss
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What Evolution Is and What It Isn't
What evolution is…
Change in allele frequencies over time
Variation in a population's gene pool
Struggle for existence/differential reproductive success
Natural selection/survival of the fittest
Random mutation
Common descent
Modern interpretations of the theory
…and what it isn't
Abiogenesis or cosmology
Random chance
Single-step selection or the "tornado in the junkyard"
"Survival of the meanest"
New organs
A process that occurs to individuals
A process with long-term goals
A march of progress or a "great chain of being"
Monkeys evolving into man
A religion
A moral guide
Many people who argue against evolution do so because they do not understand it. The straw-man caricatures of evolution commonly presented by creationists are indeed illogical, implausible and unscientific. But they are precisely that – straw men – and do not accurately represent what evolutionary theory really says. When presented in its true form, the theory of evolution is not only simple and plausible, but the only explanation of biological diversity that is scientific and consistent with the facts.
Unfortunately, creationists work through the political process, not the scientific one. They spread misinformation as to what evolution is and work to prevent its teaching in public schools so that people do not learn the truth. These people then reject evolution based on their creationist-generated misunderstandings of it, and a vicious cycle is perpetuated. This essay will attempt to clear the air and show how creationist caricatures of evolution are faulty.
So what is evolution? In its simplest sense, evolution can be defined as change over time, and that is what the theory of biological evolution means at the most basic level: a change in the frequency of alleles in a population over time. Alleles are different versions of genes that control specific traits. To slightly oversimplify, there is, for example, a gene that controls what color eyes you will have. One version of this gene – one allele – codes for brown eyes, another allele codes for green eyes, a third allele for blue eyes, and so on. Evolution states that over time in a population of living things, some alleles become more common and eventually dominate, while others become less common and may disappear altogether.
But of course, there is far more to the theory of evolution than that. It is to the complexities of evolution that this essay will now turn.
Charles Darwin opened his groundbreaking On the Origin of Species with a common-sense observation: namely, that great diversity exists among life, not just between different species, but among members of the same species as well. From the breathtaking mix of hues in a flower garden to the countless different melodies of songbirds and whales, from the millions of different beetles to the vast branching tree of the mammals, from the lowliest of bacteria to the most brilliant geniuses of humanity, modern biologists have more than confirmed Darwin's observations on this point by classifying the enormous diversity of life into a system comprising hundreds of classes and families and millions of species, with new ones being discovered constantly. For further proof, one need only witness the dozens of remarkably dissimilar varieties of dogs, cats and other domestic animals that human breeders have brought forth in only a few hundred years. As modern geneticists now know, the ultimate source of all this variation is a population's gene pool, the entire set of alleles collectively possessed by all the members of that species. With thousands or millions of alleles that can be combined in countless ways, the potential for variation among even a small population is almost limitless.
Darwin followed this up with another observation that was both simple and obvious: all life is a struggle for existence. Prey must escape their predators to survive, while predators must catch and kill their prey if they are to keep from starving. Plants growing near each other must compete for sunlight, water and nutrients. Bacteria, viruses and parasites cannot reproduce without a host organism, while the host's immune system must constantly work to fend them off. And everything must find sufficient food, water and other vital resources, resources which are often scarce. Out of this constant struggle, some organisms emerge triumphant, flourishing and reproducing abundantly. Others lose the struggle, dwindle and die off. This process is readily observable in all things living today, and the fossil record shows that it occurred in the past as well – the losers (and there are many of them) are preserved in stone. Over 99% of all the species that have ever lived are extinct today.
Darwin's next observation formed the crux of his theory, and yet it too was so amazingly simple that it's almost hard to believe no one thought of it before him. As stated above, all living things must struggle for existence, must compete for resources and avoid predators and other hazards. Since the hazards are many and the resources scarce, it is inevitable that not all organisms will survive. In fact, in every population – every species – more organisms are born than can survive. But due to the vast amounts of variation in the gene pool, no two organisms of the same species are exactly alike. They all differ from each other, even if only in subtle ways. By chance, some of these slight variations will make some members of a species more adept at competing for survival than others. The lucky few that are more adept – more "fit" – will survive and produce many offspring. Others, which are less fit, will not be as well suited to their environment, will not be as adept at competing in the struggle for existence, and will die off having produced fewer offspring or none at all. Thus, in time, the traits that make organisms more successful, more fit, will predominate, while the traits that make organisms less fit will disappear. This blind process of winnowing is known as natural selection or, alternatively, survival of the fittest. The way in which it interacts with the idea of changing allele frequencies is obvious in the light of modern genetics. The genes of successful organisms, which carry the traits that make them successful, will tend to be passed on and proliferate. The genes of unsuccessful organisms will tend to vanish from the gene pool because less fit organisms reproduce less abundantly or not at all.
Natural selection is not a conscious process; it does not have goals or intent, and it does not "choose" which organisms will survive. It is the result of environmental pressures which eliminate those organisms less suited to survive them and leave alive those that are better suited. To take a concrete example, on the African savanna, the ability to run quickly might be an indication of fitness in a herd of gazelles. Gazelles that can run faster are better at escaping cheetahs and other predators; thus they survive and produce offspring (they are selected for). Gazelles that can't run as fast are more likely to be caught and killed (they are selected against), and thus do not reproduce. It is important to note, however, that the cheetahs do not "choose" to attack any specific gazelle; they pursue all of them, and it is the faster and more fit ones that escape. Similarly, in a culture of bacteria exposed to an antibiotic, some might have resistance to that antibiotic. Those ones with resistance will survive and reproduce (they are selected for). Those without resistance will die (they are selected against). Again, the antibiotic does not consciously choose to kill any specific bacterium. It targets all of them, and the ones with resistance survive while the ones without resistance die. That is natural selection at work.
Note, however, that natural selection does not necessarily imply that less fit organisms will die. Organisms that are less fit (meaning that they produce fewer offspring) may be incapable of reproducing because of injury or disease, or simply because they cannot attract a mate. For example, female peacocks tend to favor males with larger, brighter tail feathers as mates. Males with shorter or less brightly colored feathers are selected against, and tend to reproduce less abundantly or not at all.
But why should some gazelles run faster than others, or some bacteria have resistance to an antibiotic while others do not, or some peacocks have more colorful feathers than others? To put it another way, where does all this variation – all these different alleles – come from? At the time Darwin proposed his theory, this was its greatest weakness. He could not explain the mechanism or the source of variation. Of course, that information is now known, and the wealth of knowledge provided by modern genetics has been integrated with Darwin's original ideas in the modern theory of evolution known as the neo-Darwinian synthesis.
Genetics provides for many sources of variation within a population's gene pool. As an example, there is genetic drift, a statistical "sampling error" of the gene pool: alleles may increase or decrease in frequency purely by chance. In species that reproduce sexually, there is also recombination, where the parents' alleles are mixed and matched to produce offspring. But, as the creationist might object, neither of these produce new information, only swap around alleles that already exist. This is correct, which leads to the next major component of evolutionary theory: mutation.
Packed within the nucleus of every cell of your body is a tightly wound double helix. DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, is literally the instruction manual of life. This intricate, complex molecule contains all your genes, all the alleles that make you unique, encoded in a series of nucleotide bases that can be read by the cell's transcription machinery and converted into proteins that control the functions of life. Every time a cell in your body divides, the new cells must be provided with a copy of these instructions so that they know how to perform their specific duties. For this to happen, the DNA of the original cell must be replicated. The molecular machinery present in every cell does this job with a degree of fidelity that would put any human copyist to shame. Nevertheless, DNA is a long, complex molecule and the replication process is not perfect. Frequently, when DNA is copied, there are small errors, slight changes. A single nucleotide "letter" might be changed to another, or a segment of DNA might be deleted entirely, flipped end-to-end or added where one did not previously exist. These changes are mutations.
Most mutations are silent – that is, they don't do anything at all. Of the non-silent ones, most are deleterious and impair the fitness of the organism that has them. Natural selection sees to it that these mutations are quickly eliminated from the gene pool. Those that remain – a small percentage of all total mutations, but they definitely do exist – are beneficial. In some way, even a small one, they contribute to the fitness of the organism that has them. Since organisms with this beneficial mutation have a survival advantage, they are selected for and tend to reproduce more abundantly than those without it. In this way, the mutation spreads throughout the population and eventually becomes "fixated" in the gene pool.
It is important to recognize that mutations are changes to the genome, the set of instructions that dictates how an organism develops. Therefore, every non-silent mutation makes the organism that has it slightly different from every other member of its species. It may be something as simple as a tiny alteration in the shape of a blood protein, or something as complex as a change to the skeletal and muscular structure that determines the body's ultimate shape. The point, however, is that each mutation makes the organism different in some way, and over thousands or millions of years, these differences add up. Eventually, as mutations spread and accumulate, a population of organisms may evolve to a point where it is considered to be a separate species from the population it descended from. This is called speciation or macroevolution, and contrary to creationist claims, it has been observed and documented. See Observed Instances of Speciation and Some More Observed Speciation Events.
It should be noted that in biology, the definition of the word "species" is a little fuzzy; it has several different meanings. It does not necessarily mean that two species will look entirely different or have entirely different body structures (though it can); it does not necessarily mean that two separate species will have very distinct genes (though it can). Indeed, two organisms from different but closely related species may have virtually identical genes and look so alike that only an expert observer can tell the difference. The key concept, and the one most commonly used to define what constitutes a species, is reproductive isolation; that is, two organisms from different species will not be able to mate and produce fertile offspring. Organisms that can mate and produce offspring which are invariably sterile hybrids are considered to be of separate species.
Although species are not required to be drastically different, over time separate species do tend to become distinct, since mutations acquired by one population cannot spread to the other. Living things today possess enormous variety, but it can be shown that separate but closely related modern species all evolved from a common ancestral species. For instance, modern apes and humans both diversified from a primitive line of ancestors called hominids. However, those common ancestors were in turn linked to other organisms by their own common ancestors. If one extrapolates backwards far enough, it is possible to show that all organisms alive today have a single ancestor in common, a simple unicellular organism that existed between four and five billion years ago, from which all modern life descended and diversified. This is known as common descent and constitutes the final major component of evolutionary theory.
Within the scientific community, evolution is as solidly established a fact as gravity, and whether it occurs is no longer a matter of any serious debate. However, there is some debate over how quickly evolution occurs and the relative importance of the different mechanisms by which it proceeds. Until fairly recently, the prevailing interpretation was phyletic gradualism, which holds that evolution occurs constantly at a slow, relatively steady pace. However, in 1974, Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge proposed the theory of punctuated equilibrium, PE for short, which holds that life consists of long periods of evolutionary stasis punctuated by brief (on the geologic time scale) intervals of rapid development and speciation. PE has won fairly general acceptance, though it is important to note that neither of these models precludes the other, as the rate of evolution may be different at different places and times. Other scientists have made other contributions to the theory as well. For example, Japanese biologist Motoo Kimura proposed the neutral theory of molecular evolution, which holds that genetic drift may play a more important role in the development of some genes than was previously thought. American Lynn Margulis has also contributed the endosymbiotic model of evolution, which holds that certain microscopic structures in the cells of all living things (chloroplasts in plants, mitochondria in animals) were originally separate organisms that colonized host cells and eventually became permanent parts of them. Both of these theories have become more or less accepted additions to the neo-Darwinian synthesis, but healthy debate is ongoing today; the frontiers of knowledge continue to advance.
With that established, we turn to what evolution is not. Contrary to any creationist claims, what is described above is the whole of evolutionary theory. Significant departures from it, such as the more commonly heard ones listed below, are straw-man arguments made up to make it seem ludicrous and improbable.
One of the most common misrepresentations of evolution is to extend it beyond its boundaries, claiming it says more than it actually does. The theory of evolution says nothing about the origin of the universe, the origin of the earth or even the origin of life. Evolution concerns itself only with the subsequent development of life once it already existed. The manner in which life first came into being is irrelevant to evolutionary theory, though it is covered in a related field, abiogenesis. (If God had miraculously created the first living cell in the primordial soup, evolution could have taken over normally from there.) The origin of the universe and other cosmological bodies is not biology at all; it is sometimes referred to as stellar evolution, but it is an unrelated branch of science and has nothing to do with the theory first proposed by Charles Darwin. Statements such as "Evolution says that hydrogen gas turned into people," "Evolution says that particles develop into people" or "Evolution says that life and/or the universe came out of nothing" are all examples of this faulty type of argument.
Another common misrepresentation is say that evolution proceeds only according to chance, accident, blind luck or random behavior. This is completely false. Evolution is anything but random. It is guided by natural selection, a non-random process that follows a fixed, specific set of rules. It is true that mutations, which provide the raw stuff for natural selection to operate on, are random events, in the sense that they are not predisposed toward increasing fitness. Nevertheless, they are frequent enough for it to be a certainty that a few beneficial ones will arise, and once they do, the process of filtering by natural selection takes over. To say that evolution is a random process would be equivalent to flipping a thousand coins, removing all those that didn't turn up heads, and then saying that the all-heads result came about purely by chance. (For more on this, see here.)
In a related vein is the "speciation by mutation" argument, often phrased as "It's impossible that an X could have given birth to a Y," such as in, "There's no way a reptile could have laid an egg that hatched into a bird." This is another argument that demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of evolution. Speciation and other profound changes are not brought about by many sudden, drastic, simultaneous mutations – in other words, they do not occur by saltation. Rather, they are brought about by tiny, incremental changes gradually accumulating and building on each other over long periods of time, with natural selection filtering out those that do not improve fitness. Over time, this process can lead to organisms that are very different from their evolutionary precursors.
Astronomer Fred Hoyle once said that evolution is as likely as a tornado blowing through a junkyard and assembling a fully functional Boeing 747. Hoyle, however, was not a biologist, and this statement demonstrates a severe misunderstanding of the subject. A tornado assembling a jetliner would be an example of a saltationary jump owing purely to random chance in a process of single-step selection with a predetermined goal. This fails as an analogy to evolution on four counts. As stated above, evolution does not operate by saltation, nor is it guided by random chance, nor does it have goals specified ahead of time. And most especially, it does not operate by a process of single-step selection, where an end product entirely unlike the beginning product is assembled in one large chance step. As Richard Dawkins states in his book The Blind Watchmaker, evolution actually operates by a process of cumulative selection, where large changes are brought about through a gradually accumulating series of small changes guided by selection at each step. Rather than a tornado assembling a 747 in one step, send the tornado through the junkyard not once, but thousands of times, with each time representing a single generation. Rather than tearing apart its past work each time, assume that, once assembled, collections of parts that could function as part of an airliner will survive. Do this long enough and a 747 may indeed emerge – or, to complete the analogy to evolution, allow the end product to be not just a jumbo jet, but any functioning piece of machinery. In this way, cumulative selection can achieve in a short time results that would take trillions of years to produce by pure-chance, single-step selection. (For more on this, see The Tornado in the Junkyard.)
Nor does evolution predict "survival of the meanest" – in other words, it does not predict that every species should be a vicious, carnivorous killer bristling with claws, fangs, stingers, spikes, and so on. What evolution does predict is that every species needs a niche, a way to make a living and successfully reproduce, and different species have adapted to different niches. Some are predators; some are not, instead getting their energy from eating plants, or making their own. In fact, it could be argued that it is easier to make a living as a plant or an herbivore than a carnivore. Not only is it easier to eat food that doesn't try to run away, but due to considerations of usable energy, successively higher levels of the food chain can only support smaller and smaller populations. Thus, it could be said that in terms of reproductive success, the deer and gazelles are more "fit" than the wolves and lions – some of them will certainly be killed by predators, but their counterstrategy is not to fight back, but to breed so rapidly that enough of them survive to allow the population to continue. Evolving strong defensive measures like the ability to fight back would be a significant drain on their energy and resources which could more profitably be used to reproduce. Some prey species have evolved their own defenses where it is cost-effective for them to do so; others have not. They each have their own niches and their own ways of making a living, not all of which involve being the strongest or the meanest.
Another argument is often heard as "Evolution says that we should develop X, but we don't," where X is some significant change to bodily structure, such as another arm, feathers or new internal organs. However, these statements are wrong. Evolution does not state that our body structures should change drastically. Rather, it builds on what already exists. A case in point is the basic tetrapod (four-limbed) body form, which has been preserved to some degree in all vertebrate animals. Even some snakes have small vestigial limbs. A radical change to this well-established body form, such as growing a new limb, would not be in keeping with evolutionary theory; nor would the appearance of a new organ, since the vertebrate body structure already has all the organs necessary for survival. The basic body plan, including separate organ systems, evolved at a very early stage of life's history. The chances of drastic changes arising now in a well-established and complex body plan are virtually nil. Another note: It is absurd to claim "Evolution says I should grow a third arm because I could use one," or something of the like. Mutations are random events and do not favor what changes would be best for the organism; it is simply that the ones that do turn out to be useful are the ones that are kept.
A subtle point worth noting is that individual organisms do not evolve, not even if a particular organism is the one possessing a beneficial mutation that later spreads throughout the population. Populations evolve; individuals do not. This answers the occasional absurd creationist objection that "Evolution can't explain how the first member of a new species could find a mate." This is like saying the first speaker of English wouldn't have been able to find anyone to carry on a conversation with. As follows from the above refutal of the "speciation by mutations" argument, an individual organism never arises that is an entirely new species from its parents.[1] Populations gradually change over time, and while many of the intermediate stages would probably be able to interbreed, the original species and the end product would not be able to. There is rarely a specific and exactly defined point where speciation occurs; it is a process that usually happens in slow, incremental steps, one step shading into the next.
Related to the last point, it is also important to mention that evolution, although it is not a chance process, does not have long-term goals or targets either. Natural selection has only one immediate short-term goal – to increase the fitness of organisms – and it does not care how that goal is achieved. It cannot traverse a "valley" of temporary decreased fitness to reach a "peak" of increased fitness. A river might be a helpful analogy. The water of the river has a goal, namely, to seek the lowest point – to flow downhill. As long as it is on a level downward slope, the river's behavior is predictable. If it passes onto a flat plain, the direction it will take can be influenced by many different features of the terrain, causing bends and meanders, and thus is no longer entirely predictable. Nevertheless, the river will continue to follow the general law of always seeking the lowest point. It cannot flow up the side of a mountain – not even if, by doing so, it would be able to get over the top and flow down the other side to a much lower level than it was at before. Like evolution, the river's goal is only in the immediate short term. Likewise, although the modern vertebrate eye is what exists now, this does not mean that natural selection "intended" to produce it. The modern eye is the result of a long series of chance mutations, guided by natural selection, operating on the original eyespot; different mutations at various points along the line could have produced a completely different result, as long as every intermediate step conferred a survival advantage. Natural selection does not look ahead, which is why it is sometimes referred to as the blind watchmaker; it is a blind natural process without long-term goals.
Another all too frequent misconception is that evolution is a steady march of progress, an increase in complexity or an upward climb towards perfection. This is not the case. This popular but erroneous idea is based on a nineteenth-century teleological concept called the "great chain of being" which has since been discredited. Natural selection guides organisms only in the direction of increased fitness; depending on the circumstances, this can entail either an increase or a decrease in complexity. (An example of the latter would be some types of parasitic intestinal worms which have lost their digestive systems; they no longer need them, since they can directly absorb food from their hosts through their skin.) Nor is there any ultimate standard of perfection toward which evolution builds, as fitness is a strictly regional characteristic determined by local environmental factors. Organisms only adapt to their own environment, by definition, but an organism that is extremely well adapted to one environment may be at a severe disadvantage in another. For example, penguins are well suited for life in arctic climates, but at the equator they would not survive long. Likewise, humans are primarily tropical creatures. It is only technology that has made us able to survive at colder latitudes, but this does not mean that we are more perfect or even more highly evolved than any other living thing on earth. Every species alive today, from bacteria to monkeys to man, is the result of four and a half billion years of evolution – theirs has simply taken different paths than ours.
And as such, it is also worth noting that man did not evolve from monkeys, or frogs, or slime molds, or bacteria. This misunderstanding is very common, perhaps one of the most commonly heard among creationists, but it is wrong. Humans are not directly descended from any species that is alive today; instead, we share common ancestors with them. Humans and apes both descended from an original common ancestor, a variety of hominid, that is now extinct. Likewise, humans and frogs both descended from an common ancestor, albeit one much more distant than the common ancestor of humans and monkeys. The same is true of insects, plants, slime molds and bacteria, though the common ancestor is progressively farther back in each case. The common ancestor of humans and insects dates back to the original emergence of animal life, while the common ancestor of humans and plants or humans and bacteria was not even multicellular. But in every case, these common ancestors are now extinct; they either died out or evolved into an entirely new species themselves. No extant species is evolving into any other extant species, which answers the occasionally heard objection that "if evolution is true, why don't we see monkeys still evolving into humans?" The answer is that monkeys' evolution has taken a different path than ours, and the odds against the two paths ever converging again are next to nil. Evolution has a virtually infinite number of possible pathways, and it is extremely unlikely, to put it mildly, that humans would evolve again – that it would take the exact same path – if, so to speak, the tape were replayed. (The claim that monkeys should be evolving into humans also partakes of the erroneous concept of the "great chain of being", debunked above. Humans are not the ultimate goal of evolution – the evolutionary path of every species has gone its own way, each adapting to different niches.)
Some creationists have claimed that evolution is a religion, but this claim too is false. Evolution is well supported by evidence, and all its basic mechanisms can be observed to operate today; unlike religion, it does not require faith. In addition, no one claims evolution is an inerrant doctrine – like all branches of science, it is being constantly tested and refined, and it could be falsified and rejected if the right evidence turned up. No one prays to evolution. Also like all sciences, evolution is theologically neutral. It says nothing, one way or the other, about the existence of God or the supernatural; it does not require divine intervention, but nor does it forbid it. Atheists can accept evolution without believing there is anything more, while theists can accept evolution and believe that their god controls it. Any god can be given credit for using evolution as the method of creation, and indeed, theists of all denominations accept it – click here for a partial list, or see here for more on atheism, religion and evolution.
In addition to not being a religion, evolution is also not, nor does it pretend to be, a moral guide. Creationists sometimes charge that "if we're descended from animals, we should act like animals," but this is an example of a classic logical blunder – the naturalistic or "is implies ought" fallacy. Just because things are some way does not mean that they should be that way, or that it is right that they be that way. It is true that, in nature, there is much pain, suffering and death, even things that seem needlessly cruel. Natural selection can be a harsh and uncaring process, if we insist on subjecting an unintelligent force of nature to a human value judgment. But this does not mean it is right to be cruel and uncaring, just as the theory of gravity does not mean we should push people off tall buildings, or the germ theory of disease does not mean we should not treat sick people. Like all sciences, evolution is descriptive and not prescriptive. It is merely a statement of the way things are, not a statement of the way they should be. And for what it is worth, for every example of cruelty in nature, there is at least one counterexample of love, kindness, or cooperation. Many animals are monogamous, care for their offspring and defend them with their lives. Symbiosis, or reciprocal generosity, has proven to be a very effective survival strategy. Some of our closest relatives among the apes even care for and feed the wounded, sick or crippled among their numbers, displaying an almost human compassion. This is not meant to alleviate the cruelties and violences nature often also displays – it is merely meant to illustrate the uselessness of trying to derive moral rules from scientific theories.
The final creationist distortion is to charge that evolution is "just a theory," as if this were a point against it. In truth, however, to label it "just a theory" is to support it, not denigrate it. In scientific parlance, "theory" does not mean "wild guess" or "hunch," but rather describes a scientific idea that is strongly supported and has stood the test of time. Furthermore, evolution is more than just a theory. It has also been directly observed to occur, and thus, in addition to being a theory, it is also a simple fact, as undeniable as the sphericity of the Earth. (For more on this, see here.)
When the distractions of creationist straw men are removed, evolution is a process that, at its core, is both simple and plausible. Knowing what it truly says, and just as important, what it does not say, is a boon both to proponents of evolution who must defend their science against religious attacks, and also to creationists who wish to argue against evolution. While no one is denying them the right to do this, arguing against a faulty caricature of the theory based on misunderstanding, rather than against the theory itself, will earn them only ridicule.
[1] The experienced reader will note that this is an oversimplification. In cases of speciation by polyploidy, it is indeed possible that a new organism that also constitutes an entirely new species will arise in a single step. However, in the majority of speciation events morphological diversification occurs first, eventually followed by reproductive isolation.