Sunspots 993

 

Gizmodo discusses the history of the domestication (sort of) of cats.

NPR (and other outlets) discuss the evolution of kissing.

Gizmodo reports that astronomers may have found an exomoon. (A satellite of a star which is not in our solar system.)

Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength tells us how to stay happily married.

Ken Schenck on how the New Testament doesn't always interpret the Old Testament in context.

Sunspots 990

 

Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others. Graphic from NASA.

Bible Scholar Ken Schenck on the different interpretations of early Genesis.

Schenck also has posted an analysis of what the Bible says about God's omniscience. It's not as straightforward as I thought..

Sojourners has an article on ministering to Christians with dementia (usually in their home). Sojourners allows you to read two articles a month, free.

Gizmodo has a chilling report on the firing of the Centers for Disease Control head, less than a month after she was confirmed, by Rober F. Kennedy, Jr., and how he is not using real science in his decision-making.  

Gizmodo also reports that a significant number of people say that they are in some sort of relationship with a chatbot.

Sunspots 971

Things I have spotted that may be of interest to others. I try not to post anything that requires a

password, and/or money, to access. 

A PhysOrg writer discusses the two species of rats that live in the US.

Learn about the matador bug, which waves warning signs, which are part of the insect's back legs.

Newsweek (and other outlets) point out that Hawaii is not protected by NATO. (It's in the Pacific, not the Atlantic).

Bible scholar Ken Schenck gives us a one-post interpretation of Revelation.

A Conversation writer points out sales pitches by the nutritional supplement industry.

PhysOrg reports that most of us believe in conspiracy theories.

PhysOrg also reports on how we are losing estuaries, which are important out of proportion to their sizes.

Sunspots 896

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

Christianity: Ken Schenck writes about what the Bible says about gender and sex.

Education: A Conversation post on why there is a teacher shortage.

Food: (and Science) Gizmodo reports on developments in lab-grown fish sticks.

Health: (or something) Gizmodo reports that a surgery-performing robot is about to be tested in the International Space Station.

Gizmodo reports that UPS drivers are enduring dangerous heat. There's no A/C  in the trucks, and the rear part of the trucks (where most of the packages are) can get really hot.

Science: A Conversation writer tells us about coyotes in urban environments.

SciTechDaily reports that human genes have been transferred to yeast cells, and apparently work just fine.

Sports: C. Vivian Stringer, first African-American college coach to win 1000 games, has retired.

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

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 880

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

Christianity: Ken Schenck has published "explanatory notes" on Bible passages relating to Holy Week. Here's one of these.

Environment: (and politics) Gizmodo reports on a scientist who finally decided that "...  It's not political to tell the truth" about climate change.

Gizmodo reports that sea urchins are dying off rapidly. They are important members of reef communities. The reason for the deaths is unclear.

Finances: Gizmodo reports on how much the very rich pay in income taxes.

Science: (or something) A man with over 100 snakes in his house, several of them poisonous, was found dead in the home, according to Gizmodo and multiple sources.

ListVerse tells us a lot about the tiny, and extremely resilient, animals known as tardigrades.

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.

 

Genesis 1:1 in terms of today's science

Genesis was communicated for the culture of its time. It says nothing about bacteria, cells, atoms, or galaxies. That doesn't mean, of course, that God didn't know about these things!

Ken Schenck has reverently re-written Genesis 1:1 in terms of modern science. (The result will be more meaningful, the better science background you have. Schenck, who is Dean of a School of Theology, has a fine background in science.) In case you are wondering, Schenck's essay says nothing about how old the earth is, nor about the origin of humans. It's about the origin of everything, from nothing.

Thanks for reading. Read Schenck!

Sunspots 584

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

Christianity: “A man cannot live one hour a godly life unless by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Andrew Murray, Absolute Surrender, public domain.

Ken Schenck has a post (which does not refer to any particular person or situation) on the pitfalls that may beset church leaders.

Schenck also has an important post on issues Christians disagree on.

A Relevant writer says that it's no wonder that pastors of mega-churches often fall spectacularly, explains why, and says that it's also the fault of the rest of that church.

Relevant says that more Christians were killed for their faith last year than in any year in modern history.

Education: (And computing) NPR reports that students who use computers (and tablets) in college classrooms get somewhat lower grades on tests. (The test grading was automated, so there wasn't teacher bias during grading.)

Health: Listverse reports on 10 facts about the human skeleton.

Wired reports that experiencing racism threatens health.

History: Archaeologists are learning more about the Philistines (Goliath and Delilah were Philistines), but still don't know where they came from, according to National Public Radio.

Do you think that pink has always been a girl's color? Think again.

Politics: Wired says that some areas are un-paving roads, as a way of saving money, and of making terrible paved roads into not-so-bad un-paved ones.

Relevant says that the new UK Prime Minister is a committed Christian. God help her.



Image source (public domain)  

Why educated people should know something about science

An acquaintance of mine, a frequent blogger, is Dean of a Seminary, for a Christian university. He posts on lots of different topics. But he rather surprised me, a couple of days ago, by defending the teaching of science and math in a university curriculum. This was a preemptive strike at those who say (sometimes loudly and frequently) "Why should we have to learn this? We'll never use it."

It shouldn't have surprised me, because Professor Schenck, I happen to know, began his college career as a chemistry major at the school where I taught until my retirement. He was called to the ministry while in college, and changed majors.

So why should science and math be included in a college curriculum, even for music, art, and English majors? Here's what he said, with some brief commentary by me:

1. Knowledge in science and math is based on evidence. Scientists and mathematicians are not supposed to claim to have discovered something without giving good evidence for what they are claiming. Unfortunately, some people seem to think that "Because I said so," or "Because that is what I want to believe," is good enough. It shouldn't be a way of establishing "truth."

2. "This may sound mean, but one of the most important functions of math and science in a curriculum is to confront us with how stupid we are. In America, everyone thinks their opinion is as valuable as anyone else's." - To me, this is a re-statement of point 1.

3. Studying science and math help us understand how the world works.

Schenck went on to say that he understood that Christian colleges need to be very careful in dealing with certain matters, by which he meant origins, and Young-Earth Creationism. Some of their constituents, including donors, Board members, students, and some faculty, may believe that YEC is the only valid Christian belief, and stop giving, enrolling, or teaching, if a faculty member of a Christian college is bold enough to claim that there may be alternatives.

Here are two additional reasons for studying science and math in college. They are mostly expansions of point 3:
4. Educated people should have some idea of how dependent on the natural world we are, and also that we need to take care of it. In fact, we have a God-given duty to do so. We are absolutely dependent on photosynthesis, radiation from the sun, the properties of water, Hydrogen, Carbon and Oxygen, and a lot of other things.

5. Educated people should have some idea of how large the universe is, how old it appears to be, and how small cells, molecules and atoms are. They should also have some idea of the diversity of life, and the variety of materials that the universe is made of, and the many types of objects found in the universe.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 414

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

Christianity: Ken Schenck continues his readable and concise series on practical theology with thoughts on "God as All-Powerful."

(and Sports) An opinion piece in USA Today says that Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey were both men of deep faith.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware has an extensive, annotated, up-to-date (almost) list of the best free Android Apps, for phone and tablet.

Gizmo also has eight tips on how to make your smartphone battery last longer.

Science: (and politics) National Public Radio reports on the issues involved in a Supreme Court case, on whether two human genes, involved in breast cancer, are patentable. NPR also reported on what the Supreme Court justices, and advocates, had to say before the Court.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 410

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

Humor: (or something) A truly amazing card trick. (A video, lasting 90 seconds or so.)

Health: (or something) I have learned a new term, benevolent sexism, from an article in Prevention.

Science: The Independent reports on the great variety of planets orbiting stars other than our own sun. A couple of them apparently have a density less than that of styrofoam, to name one bizarre possibility.

Sports: Congratulations to Vivian Stringer, coach of the Rutgers Women's Basketball team, on her 900th win.

Politics:  (and computing) Wired takes on the thorny issue of who owns devices such as a cell phone. Legally, it usually isn't the person paying for it.

Computing: Google Reader has announced that it's going away. (I have used it a lot for several years.) Gizmo's Freeware has an article on 6 free alternatives. I'm going with Feedly, but there are others. (P. S. I can't seem to get Blogger to remove the bold from this item, no matter what I do to the HTML. Sigh.)

Christianity: Ken Schenck, who ought to know, posted "Ten Common Mistakes about the New Testament." He then got rebutted, by Weekend Fisher. A most interesting conversation.

An interesting post -- a Bible study -- on the question "Can The Devil Influence The Spirit Through Music?"

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 371

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

Science:  USA Today tells us that recycling cigarette butts has become important.

The Arts: (sort of) Wired has an article, with photos, on trends in office/cubicle design. The article also tells what happened to one paperless office.

Computing: From Gizmo's Freeware, some tricks to recover files you have mistakenly deleted, in Windows 7.

Christianity: Ken Schenck finishes a series on how to read the Bible. The last post deals with the context.

Image source (public domain)

Three different ways of reading the Bible

Ken Schenck has posted on three different ways of reading the Bible. As always, what he says is worth reading.

Ken Schenck on the separate existence of the soul

Most Christians accept, uncritically, that we have a soul that is separate from the body. Some Christians believe that there are three entities that are parts of us, namely the body, the soul, and the spirit. Have Christians always believed these things? Is it necessary to believe them now?

Ken Schenck, a theologian at Indiana Wesleyan University, has posted on the view of the relationship between the body and the soul throughout history, among Christians, and their Jewish predecessors. In his part 1, he claims that the idea of a soul, disembodied and separate from the body, is a Greek introduction, not a Christian one. In part 2, he continues, and says that Daniel 12:2-3 is the only passage in the Old Testament that indicates a belief in an afterlife. In his part 3, he concludes, indicating that there is evidence of belief in an afterlife, and perhaps in a soul separate from the body, in the New Testament. But he is not sure that the New Testament writers believe in such an entity. He says this: "Because the Bible gives us varied pictures of human psychology and of the afterlife, we probably should not consider any of these pictures absolute."

I have written extensively about this matter, in a three-part on-line document. See here if interested.

Thanks for reading.