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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Sunspots 641

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



Christianity: He Lives argues, from the Bible, that the days of Genesis 1 were not necessarily 24 hours in length.

And He Lives discusses the importance (or not) of belief that Mary was a perpetual virgin, and the evidence for and against that idea.


Computing:Wired warns us that robots can be hacked. In other words, we don't have to wait until they are intelligent and self-aware to be in possible danger from them.

Gizmo's Freeware suggests an easy way to download YouTube videos to your information appliance.

Finance: Wired reports that California's emphasis on cutting down on Carbon Dioxide emissions, and on green energy, has not hurt their economy.

Health: Listverse reports on 10 common "health" practices that aren't really healthy, such as the use of hand sanitizer.

History: Listverse reports on 10 controversies involving monuments, all but one of them outside North America.

Humor (or Literature): National Public Radio reports that the University of Southern California and UCLA are arguing over whether William Shakespeare should be spelled without the final e.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight tells us that there are now fake polls, in addition to fake news. And, I was surprised to learn, one of the main reasons for publishing a fake poll is to make money through betting on the outcome of a political contest. Oh, dear. Here's another post on the subject from the same source.

Wired reports that Exxon agreed that climate change was real, and human activity was an important cause of it, but did not say these things in its advertisements.

Science: Scientific American reports on studies of fairness in young children, who seem to have an inborn sense of fairness.



Image source (public domain)

5 comments:

FancyHorse said...

I do look forward to your Sunspots, even though I haven't commented lately.

The article about the monuments was interesting! I'm surprised that the Sioux people weren't consulted about the Crazy Horse monument. They absolutely should have been!

That Japanese shrine is sort of like the Confederate monuments; it honors those were convicted, in this case of war crimes, and in America, of treason. However, the ex-Confederates were eventually, much later, pardoned and their American citizenship posthumously reinstated.

Martin LaBar said...

Thanks for your comment. I've missed them.

The monument issue raises lots of questions. One of them is "why so few monuments to those who brought peace?" (and so many to those who were in wars)

FancyHorse said...

That's a good point. In Birmingham, Alabama, there is a statue of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as one for "Three Ministers" - 3 of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, all on their knees praying. Also one of "Four Spirits" in memory of the girls who were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

BhamWiki article

Birmingham Daily Photo blog

Martin LaBar said...

I didn't know that, and that's a good thing. Thanks.

Martin LaBar said...

Thanks for the links, with photos and description.