Sunspots 781

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

Christianity: Christianity Today reports that the Gideons are changing their emphasis from Bible distribution to evangelism.

Christianity Today also reports that Q, a supposedly Christian organization, is promoting non-standard "cures" for COVID-19.

Relevant discusses a survey on how long pastors, and listeners, think a sermon has lasted.

Christianity Today reprints advice from Martin Luther on fleeing from a disaster, such as an epidemic.

Ravi Zacharias, India-born world-wide Christian apologist, passed away, from cancer, on May 19, 2020.

Education: As of two years ago, the salaries of college graduates, by specialty. Philosophy and Art History weren't so bad.


Environment: Gizmodo reports that the Arctic is experiencing record heat (for the Arctic) which is bad news for the world.

Humor: Under recent circumstances, it's been tempting to do some projects at home. NPR reports on three of them that didn't go quite as expected.


Politics: FactCheck examines President Trump's claim that the US and Germany have the lowest COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people of any nation in the world, and finds it to be seriously false.

Science: Jupiter's moon, Europa, emits plumes of water from time to time. It, and its sister satellite, Enceladus, may be able to support life as we know it. Report in Gizmodo.

Gizmodo also has posted really old film footage of a Tasmanian Tiger.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 772

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

Christianity: (And Politics) Christianity Today reports on a survey that indicates that most white evangelicals do not like the President's behavior, but do like some of the policies that he has pushed. 

Christianity Today reports that regular church-goers are less likely to perceive the threat of the COVID-19 virus.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware reports on a site that helps you be really private when on-line.

Listverse tells us about 10 flaws of the Wikipedia. (I still use it)l
 
Health: (or something) Listverse debunks some myths about washing your clothes.

A COVID19 tracker, that gives numbers of those testing positive and negative in each state, and the numbers of deaths.

(and Politics) Relevant reports that Jerry Falwell, head of Liberty University, believes that the recent virus outbreak was caused deliberately by North Korea, and maybe China, or was a politically motivated attempt to bring down President Trump. The Scientist, on the other hand, reports that at least one Chinese official says that the US started the spread of the disease in China. (President Trump has also complained about this action by some part of the Chinese establishment.)

History: Gizmodo reports on recent discoveries related to ritualistic sports, involving a court, and a rubber ball, in Mesomerica.

Relevant reports that Martin Luther had some good advice for communities threatened with a pandemic.

Science: The Scientist reports that some beetle larvae are able to live and grow on polystyrene, a plastic. This may mean that there is hope for getting out from under the load of plastic we are adding to the environment.

The Scientist also reports on the skull of a very tiny dinosaur, preserved in amber.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 601

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

Christianity: Relevant tells us five things we need to know about prayer.

(and History) National Public Radio reports on how Martin Luther went viral (in 1517!).

A Relevant article favors sexual abstinence before marriage, but points out that this doesn't mean that a couple will have "great sex" on their wedding night.


Food: National Public Radio reports on a truffle auction. Would you believe 6 figures for a truffle?

History: ListVerse on why many of us think things are really bad (for example, that our children are less safe than in the past) and why we shouldn't think so.

ListVerse also discusses the craziest (and most violent and fraudulent) Presidential election in U. S. History. It wasn't the one in 2016.

Humor: National Public Radio reports (in verse!) on sculptures created by Dr. Seuss.


Politics: The Oxford Dictionary has made "post-truth" (!) the word of the year. Relevant and Sojourners react to that choice.

Science: Scientific American tells us why skaters don't get dizzy when they spin.

Scientific American also has photos of Ceres, a dwarf planet. Here's the Wikipedia article on Ceres.





Image source (public domain)