Sunspots 859

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

The Arts: (and humor) NPR has posted winners of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Award.

Christianity: (and politics) A Relevant writer makes a good case that "the media" are not massively anti-Christian, and warns against taking one issue (such as abortion) and making that the only issue.

A Christianity Today writer reflects on on-line giving of various sorts, as putting money in an offering plate becomes less common.

Another Christianity Today article describes the results of surveys which indicate that committed Christians are less likely to have sexual relations outside of marriage than was true in the recent past.

A blog post says that the term "evangelical" has been hi-jacked, and has come to mean, in many people's eyes, not a group of beliefs, but a certain kind of politics. The article says that there are people who identify themselves as "evangelical" who do not use the Bible as a guide, don't attend church, or who are actually Muslim or Hindu in belief.

Computing: FiveThirtyEight discusses disparities in exposure to environmental problems, such as toxic waste. Minority groups are more concerned about these matters than "average" persons.

Education: FiveThirtyEight reports that predicted teacher shortages didn't happen much (there have been some places where they did), and that teachers have become more vocal about safety and other issues in schools. (There have been serious shortages in bus drivers and other non-professional education staff.)

Finances: Gizmodo discusses the question of why gas prices are so high. It's complicated.

Health: CNN reports on the loss of smell in some people who have had COVID.

History: (and health) NPR goes over the history of vaccination requirements, all the way back to 1818. There have always been objections.

Politics: NPR discusses yet another book on the last days of the Presidency of Donald Trump. Some scary stuff.

I am not making this up. Gizmodo reports that hundreds of QAnon cultists gathered at the site of the assassination of President J. F. Kennedy. Why? They were expecting Kennedy's son (who died in a plane accident several years ago) to appear and announce that Donald Trump is the legitimate President. It didn't happen.

There's an update to the previous article, here, and it's serious.

Science: An anonymous donor (!) gave a large, poisonous spider, with fangs strong enough to pierce a human fingernail, to an Australian animal park.

There are YouTube videos, such as this one, showing the annual crab migration in Australia, which involves millions of red crabs.

Gizmodo tells us about examples of animals from two different species cooperating for the benefit of both.

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

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.