Sunspots 830

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

Environment: An environmental activist, writing in Gizmodo, says that it's time to "kill Earth Day."

Food: (and drink) The Scientist reports that a different species of coffee may be useful as a substitute for the species now commonly grown, which is susceptible to global warming. So susceptible that there's a coffee shortage coming.

Science: NPR reports on an experiment that has been going on for over 140 years.

Gizmodo reports on an Oxygen-generating device that NASA included in a recent Mars landing. The device, or something like it, may make it possible to return to earth from Mars (plus giving Mars scientists Oxygen to breathe.)

Gizmodo also reports that sponges can move.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this

Thanks for looking!

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, 82

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here.  As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

‘Prayer and fasting;’ Or, The Cure of Unbelief.
‘Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible to you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting’—Matt. xvii. 19-21.

WHEN the disciples saw Jesus cast the evil spirit out of the epileptic whom ‘they could not cure,’ they asked the Master for the cause of their failure. He had given them ‘power and authority over all devils, and to cure all diseases.’ They had often exercised that power, and joyfully told how the devils were subject to them. And yet now, while He was on the Mount, they had utterly failed. That there had been nothing in the will of God or in the nature of the case to render deliverance impossible, had been proved: at Christ’s bidding the evil spirit had gone out. From their expression, ‘Why could we not?’ it is evident that they had wished and sought to do so; they had probably used the Master’s name, and called upon the evil spirit to go out. Their efforts had been vain, and in presence of the multitude, they had been put to shame. ‘Why could we not?’
Christ’s answer was direct and plain: ‘Because of your unbelief.’ The cause of His success and their failure, was not owing to His having a special power to which they had no access. No; the reason was not far to seek. He had so often taught them that there is one power, that of faith, to which, in the kingdom of darkness, as in the kingdom of God, everything must bow; in the spiritual world failure has but one cause, the want of faith. Faith is the one condition on which all Divine power can enter into man and work through him. It is the susceptibility of the unseen: man’s will yielded up to, and moulded by, the will of God. The power they had received to cast out devils, they did not hold in themselves as a permanent gift or possession; the power was in Christ, to be received, and held, and used by faith alone, living faith in Himself. Had they been full of faith in Him as Lord and Conqueror in the spirit-world, had they been full of faith in Him as having given them authority to cast out in His name, this faith would have given them the victory. ‘Because of your unbelief’ was, for all time, the Master’s explanation and reproof of impotence and failure in His Church.

How many offspring will a maple tree have?

Maple seeds/fruit

The maple seeds/fruit (known to botanists as samaras, and, in some cultures, as whirlybirds or helicopters), are usually abundant. There are a couple of dozen of them in this photo, which is of a small part, maybe 2 or 3 percent or less, of the whole tree.

How many of these would you expect to grow to be mature maple trees? And, more broadly, how many new adult trees would you expect this maple tree to have as offspring, during its life?

The answers to these questions may surprise you. They are none, and one. Why? Here's why. If each and every one of just the seeds in this photo grew to maturity, and other maple seeds did the same, and continued to do so for a few generations, the world would be covered in maple trees. It isn't. Unless there is an expansion of maples, each maple, on average, produces one offspring that reaches maturity and makes another generation's worth of maple seeds. On the other hand, if the replacement rate is less than one new maple per maple tree, it wouldn't take long for maples to vanish.

The usual replacement rate for organisms is one adult descendant in the next generation.

There are exceptions, but they must be temporary. Humans have often produced more than enough to replace themselves, and human populations have expanded. But this can't, and won't, go on forever. Other organisms have also had growing populations. Fire ants in the southeast US come to mind. There didn't used to be any, but now many a pasture has lots of nests visible. And, conversely, other types of living things have disappeared, or have nearly done so, such as cougars, because they don't replace their population numbers.

Darwin's concept of natural selection used the ideas of lots of offspring, and that the fittest survive. Although we can see no important differences between the maple seeds in the photo, it is likely that there are some genetic differences, giving some seeds a better chance than others. (Chance also plays a role -- where the seeds land surely would make a difference in their ability to survive.)

Keep growing and multiplying, but don't take over the earth's surface! Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 829

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

Christianity: NPR on a book claiming that evangelicals have distorted Biblical teaching on women's roles. For related matters, see my "Female Headship in the Family: Biblical Examples."

Environment: Gizmodo reports on a study that found that the ecology of about 97% of the land areas on earth has been damaged.

Gizmodo also reports on how the Colorado River water flow has been reduced so much that restrictions on water use are being put in place.

Food: (or finance) Gizmodo reports that ketchup packets are selling for premium prices.

Humor: (or something) ListVerse shows and tells us some interesting history of chess.

Politics: Relevant reminds us that we've known about racism in the US, and its consequences, for at least 70 years, and nothing much has changed.

FiveThirtyEight discusses so-called independents in US politics, and finds that there aren't really very many.

Science: Gizmodo reports on a study that indicates that ermine (aka stoats) are not one species, but at least three.

NPR reports on entities made from a combination of monkey and human cells. There are ethical concerns.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, 81

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here.  As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

O my God! I do believe in Thee. I believe in Thee as the Father, Infinite in Thy Love and Power. And as the Son, my Redeemer and my Life. And as the Holy Spirit, Comforter and Guide and Strength. Three-One God, I have faith in Thee. I know and am sure that all that Thou art Thou art to me, that all Thou hast promised Thou wilt perform. Lord Jesus! increase this faith. Teach me to take time, and wait and worship in the Holy Presence until my faith takes in all there is in my God for me. Let it see Him as the Fountain of all Life, working with Almighty Strength to accomplish His will on the world and in me.
Let it see Him in His love longing to meet and fulfil my desires. Let it so take possession of my heart and life that through faith God alone may dwell there. Lord Jesus, help me! with my whole heart would I believe in God. Let faith in God each moment fill me. O my Blessed Saviour! how can Thy Church glorify Thee, how can it fulfil that work of intercession through which Thy kingdom must come, unless our whole life be FAITH IN GOD. Blessed Lord! speak Thy Word, ‘HAVE FAITH IN GOD,’ unto the depths of our souls.

Sunspots 828

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

Christianity: He Lives on the requirements for being baptized. (Many churches have a lot more than the New Testament church had.)

Relevant reports on a survey that indicates that over 40% of self-identified evangelicals go to church less than twice a year.

Peaceful Science has a good discussion of ways that Adam and Eve could have come to be.

Environment: Gizmodo on a report that methane release was alarmingly high in 2020. (Methane is a greenhouse gas.)

Science: Phys.org reports on greatly enhanced ability to turn genes off. This technique, a variation of the CRISP procedure, when studied further, might, for example, be used to fight Alzheimer's.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, 80

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here.  As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

Precious lessons that Jesus has to teach us this day. We seek God’s gifts: God wants to give us HIMSELF first. We think of prayer as the power to draw down good gifts from heaven; Jesus as the means to draw ourselves up to God. We want to stand at the door and cry; Jesus would have us first enter in and realize that we are friends and children. Let us accept the teaching. Let every experience of the littleness of our faith in prayer urge us first to have and exercise more faith in the living God, and in such faith to yield ourselves to Him. A heart full of God has power for the prayer of faith. Faith in God begets faith in the promise, in the promise too of an answer to prayer.
Therefore, child of God, take time, take time, to bow before Him, to wait on Him to reveal Himself. Take time, and let thy soul in holy awe and worship exercise and express its faith in the Infinite One, and as He imparts Himself and takes possession of thee, the prayer of faith will crown thy faith in God.

Sunspots 827

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

The Arts: Gizmo's Freeware describes a search engine that turns up public domain art, from art museums. See graphic, which comes from the New York Public Library: 

Computing: Gizmodo reports that the National Weather Service's computing structure is in danger of failure, at times when we need it most.

Gizmodo links to a tool that lets you see if your phone number was among those acquired in a massive Facebook data leak. (Mine wasn't, thank God!)

Education: More than half of the US states have names coming from Native American languages.

Environment: Former Environmental Protection Agency head, Scott Pruitt, did his best to cripple the agency's science advisory boards, for example by placing people on them that claimed that air pollution is good for us. The Biden administration is working to reverse the damage.

Gizmodo reports that the cherry blossoms in Japan are blooming earlier than they've bloomed within the past 1200 years.

Politics: The Pacific Standard analyzes gun laws, and finds that you are more likely to be shot in states that have less restrictive gun laws.

FiveThirtyEight discusses media distrust among Republicans.

And FiveThirtyEight tells us why, after losing the senate and the white house, Republicans aren't looking to change anything.

The graphic usually used in these posts (below) is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this. 

Thanks for looking! 

With Christ in the school of prayer, by Andrew Murray, 79

I know. It's Easter! Christ is risen! But I continue a series, on things made possible by the power of the Risen Lord.

This post continues a series of excerpts from With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this public domain work available. To see their post of the book, go here. The previous post is here. As usual in this blog, long quotations are in this color. Murray continues his discussion, based on Mark 11:22-24:

Every special exhibition of the power of faith was the fruit of a special revelation of God. See it in Abraham: ‘And the word of the Lord came unto Abram, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield. And He brought him forth abroad, and said . . . AND HE BELIEVED THE LORD.’ And later again: ‘The Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, I am God Almighty. And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold my covenant is with thee.’ It was the revelation of God Himself that gave the promise its living power to enter the heart and work the faith. Because they knew God, these men of faith could not do anything but trust His promise. God’s promise will be to us what God Himself is. It is the man who walks before the Lord, and falls upon his face to listen while the living God speaks to him, who will really receive the promise. Though we have God’s promises in the Bible, with full liberty to take them, the spiritual power is wanting, except as God Himself speaks them to us. And He speaks to those who walk and live with Him. Therefore, HAVE FAITH IN GOD: let faith be all eye and ear, the surrender to let God make His full impression, and reveal Himself fully in the soul. Count it one of the chief blessings of prayer to exercise faith in God, as the Living Mighty God who waits to fulfil in us all the good pleasure of His will, and the work of faith with power. See in Him the God of Love, whose delight it is to bless and impart Himself. In such worship of faith in God the power will speedily come to believe the promise too: ‘ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER YE ASK, BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE.’ Yes, see that thou dost in faith make God thine own; the promise will be thine too.