Sunspots 26

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Wired has a blog on autos. (There is subscription information at the bottom of the page)

If you subscribe to RSS feeds, using Bloglines or a similar service, you might want to subscribe to the Blogger status report. This is especially true if you use Blogger to produce your blog.

The 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for olefin metathesis.

Best Fall Foliage and Autumn Color Web Cameras for 2005, from About.com. Some of the most interesting are Bushkill Falls, in PA, the Elk Cam in Winslow Hill, PA (both of which you can control, if someone else isn't), Old Forge, New York, Canyon's Restaurant in Blowing Rock, NC, Brasstown Bald South, GA, and Brasstown Bald North, also in Georgia. (For those who don't know, a Bald is, in this sense, a place without trees. Brasstown Bald is the highest point in Georgia.)

We saw the trailer for the new Narnia movie. Based on it, there will be lots of emphasis on the battle near the end of the book (Which C. S. Lewis didn't spend a lot of prose on). The poster in the theater had the White Witch's sleigh drawn by three white bears, not by reindeer.

Google Moon doesn't go all the way around that body, but it is impressive, showing quite a bit of the terrain, craters, and all, using NASA imagery. I have already referred to Google Earth, which I like a lot, in a previous Sunspots. Our house doesn't show up well at all, but my church does. I can't wait for Google Mars.

This is NOT an advertisement for Google. Check our bank account, if you don't believe me. However, I have been using the Google desktop for several days. I was hoping that it would replace Windows search, which I use to find files created every day or so, so as to copy them to a second computer, but it doesn't seem to easily find all the files in My Documents created today. I decided not to install the sidebar--I've got enough stuff on my desktop. What Google desktop does is to search for files on my computer containing whatever words I wish. This searching includes e-mail, including at least messages in the folders of Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird. Perhaps most importantly, your search finds files in both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox caches, so I can easily find web pages that I vaguely remember seeing, but can't remember where, or when, so long as they are still in the cache, and I can remember a word or two of them. It even shows thumbnails of these web pages!

For example, I just now used Google desktop to recover a post by Arevanye, quoting C. S. Lewis, who speculated about why Potiphar had Joseph thrown in prison, rather than having him executed.

RElliott is probably one of many who has posted some photos of hurricane damage and recovery.

Arthur Caplan has accused the Bush administration of trying to get the Supreme Court to "legislate from the bench," as related to the Oregon Assisted-Suicide law. Here's the closing paragraph:

The administration constantly bemoans the fact that Roe v. Wade [sic-should have italicized this] imposed a policy on the American people about abortion that was never legislated. Oregon has a policy on assisted suicide that was legislated — twice. Bush and his administration should be ashamed for trying to use the Supreme Court to do what they claim they do not want any federal judge or court to do. The ethical hypocrisy involved is beyond description.

About's Christianity: General editor has posted a list of the top 10 Christian magazines.

Benjamin Carson, African-American neurosurgeon, tells about the influence of his hard-working, God-fearing mother. Available in text form, or you can hear Carson, here. Part of National Public Radio's excellent "This I Believe" series.

The 1918 flu virus has been reconstructed, or resurrected, or something. Avian flu may become a killer. The 1918 virus killed more people than the Black Death. Some experts say that the recreated virus is almost certain to escape.

This week's Christian Carnival is here.

Anyone who prays, don't forget the vote on the Iraqi constitution on Saturday, October 15th. Do I know how it should go? No.

Thanks for reading.

Image source (public domain)