Sorry to interject but:
antiLIE writes:
... then spent his career of twenty years studying mineral deposition and radiometric dating techniques
Isn't that what one would call credentials?
You are ok with a self studied person with 20 years of experience being called an authority but reject a professor with 20 years of the
same experience being called an authority? It appears you base this upon the fact that a professor
"payed lots of cash and has papers to say he is smart", but given that he has written exams and
proved he was smart; how is it that you base a differing conclusion on one or the others authority?