Sunspots 508

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

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware tells us how to configure Adblock Plus (an add-in for major browsers) so that it does a better job of blocking ads.

Relevant warns of some dangers of social media. They aren't all the same ones you've already heard about.

Politics: Michael Gerson, columnist for The Washington Post, does not think President Obama's response to terrorism has been serious enough. But, he says, the President, nor the one before him, should or could have spoken against Muslims in the way that some people think that they should have.

Science:  Wired reports that the Hubble Space Telescope has captured three of Jupiter's moons, moving in front of the planet's surface. Eclipsing, in other words.

Wired also tells us that the hydra, a common, but nearly-microscopic animal, is potentially immortal.

Wired also tells us how it is possible for a baby to have three parents, in the sense that she gets genetic material from all three of them.

Sports: USA Today, ESPN, and many other outlets tell us that Dean Smith, great men's basketball coach, and greater man, has passed away.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 406

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

Humor: Some Japanese men announce their love for their wives publicly (and loudly).

(This is not humor, but I don't have a category for it.) CNN reports that there are quite a few fires on cruise ships, and that workers on cruise ships may work long hours for low pay.

Sports: Dean Smith, legendary North Carolina men's basketball coach, is losing his memory.

Sports Illustrated has posted a gallery of 100 photos of Michael Jordan, who played for Smith, and in the NBA. Jordan turns 50 this year, and is arguably the best basketball player of all time.

The Arts: Rebecca Luella Miller has written a fine piece on 21st Century idolatry. She is particularly interested in idol worship of characters such as Harry Potter, Frodo, Katniss, and whoever is in the Twilight books and movies (she knows, but I'm not sure). As she points out, one reason for idolizing fictional characters is that we know that Frodo is never going to be caught in adultery, or get so old that he can't sing or sink a putt. Idolized humans, even Christian ones, all too often disappoint us.

Christianity: Rebecca Luella Miller also has some serious thoughts about reading fiction as a discipline, not as entertainment, or at least not just as entertainment.

Image source (public domain)