Sunspots 976

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

The BBC reports on the discovery of very large squid. (or is it squids?)

A-z animals, and other sources, report on a newly discovered orangutan population.

Ken Schenck discusses the importance of context in Bible interpretation.

Ars Technica, and other outlets, report on experiments that show that bonobos can tell when a human doesn't know the location of a treat, as compared to when the human does know.

Yahoo! and other outlets report that a group of over a thousand dolphins has been seen in the Pacific.

Columbia Journalism Review reports on Elon Musk's dislike of the Wikipedia.

Sunspots 813

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

The Arts: (or humor) School buses performing from the Nutcracker. Really.

Computing: Gizmodo reports on a study that shows that Google searches are biased toward large news outlets, and against smaller local outlets.

Gizmodo also reports on the most read Wikipedia pages of 2020.

Education: Grammarphobia tells us more than we may have wanted to know about the ampersand (&).

Environment: Gizmodo reports on the deaths of large numbers of birds, at least partly because of climate change.

Humor: (or something) Relevant on how some familiar Christmas songs are really strange.

Politics: NPR tells us about some real bipartisanship in Congress!

Science: Gizmodo reports that a previously unknown population of blue whales was found because of their unique songs.

NPR reports that smoke may carry disease germs into the air, where we can inhale them.

(or maybe Humor) NPR reports that octopuses sometimes punch fish.

 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 761

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

Christianity: (or something) NPR reports on how a couple who moved into a neighborhood recently had a deaf child, and the neighbors, who had all lived there a long time, have decided to learn sign language.

N. T. Wright on how most Christians have the wrong idea about heaven.

Christianity Today, and other outlets, report that a Chinese pastor has been sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Computing: Gizmodo reports on what people wanted most to know in the Wikipedia.

Gizmodo also reports that anti-robocalling legislation has been approved by Congress, and signed by President Trump. Gizmodo also guesses that it will help some, but maybe not enough.


Education: CBS News reports that Princeton University has honored lunchroom, and other non-professorial workers, by hanging their portraits.


Environment: A Relevant article on why Christians should care for the environment.

Health: A woman with sickle-cell anemia has been treated with her own cells, modified with CRISPR. The results are promising.
 
Politics: Relevant reports that white evangelicals are further from the mainstream in their attitudes concerning immigration than they are on abortion.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 688

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

Christianity: A female Christianity Today writer, who had a homosexual relationship in the past, discusses how to deal with other women in a homosexual relationship, with compassion.


Computing: Gizmodo on what Chromebook computers can and can't do, as compared to the more expensive Apple and Windows devices.

Gizmodo also warns about letting our information appliances get too hot.

And Gizmodo reports that face recognition software from Amazon wrongly indicated that 28 member of the US Congress (out of 535) were criminals. Furthermore, errors were more likely for non-white members.

Health: Gizmodo, and other sources, say we don't apply sunscreen correctly.

National Public Radio tells us that, in most cases, tap water is just as good for us as filtered or bottled water, or better, and it's better for the environment.

Humor: The Wikipedia reported that US Senator Orrin Hatch has died. He hasn't.

Science: The BBC says that because of a recent heatwave, some amazing archaeological features have been discovered in the UK.

The BBC also reports on that after-the-rain smell. (Thanks to one of my brothers for these two links!)

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 663

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

Computing: (And sports, and politics) Hackers are targeting the Winter Olympics, according to Wired.

National Public Radio, and other outlets, on the question of whether or not there is such a thing as screen addiction, and, if so, how important is it?

Health: (and food) NPR reports that eating leafy foods has significant positive health benefits.

History: There is a Presidential Culinary Museum, in Grover (apparently named after a President) North Carolina. Why not? Among other things, the institution has china from a number of first ladies.

Humor: (or something) Anyone can edit most Wikipedia pages. (I've done that myself) Listverse discusses 10 cases of feuding edits.

Literature: The Wired Guide to Star Wars.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight analyzes resignation by members of Congress, where there has been an unprecedented number of such, for various reasons.

Listverse discusses 10 examples of how Donald Trump has (they say) manipulated the news media, to his advantage.

NBC News reports that Christians have been arrested for providing water to immigrants crossing the border in the Southeast, and that federal agents have destroyed water caches left for immigrants crossing on foot.

David Brooks compares the US to a divided Germany, on the question of immigration access, or not, in the New York Times.

Science: Wired doesn't think the moon should be called blue, blood, or super.

Long Beach, California, is taking steps to cool down its temperature, in some interesting ways, says Wired.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 632

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

Christianity: Relevant and Sojourners report that many evangelical organizations are calling for prison and sentencing reform -- there are too many people in prison for too long, and too many of them are African-American. Attorney General Sessions, on the other hand, seems to want to put as many people behind bars as possible, for as long as possible.

An article in Christianity Today argues that most evangelical Christians have either mostly ignored social injustices, or ignored Biblical principles about sex and family matters.


Computing: The Wikipedia is has competition various right-wing on-line encyclopedias, according to Wired.

(sort of) National Public Radio reports that a man has been fined $120,000,000 for placing millions of robocalls, including some to emergency numbers and hospitals.

Education: "Why teachers suck."

History: Listverse discusses 10 things about our history that most of us get wrong.

Politics: Sojourners reports that a broad coalition of Christians is expressing united opposition to the President's budget, and to the House's health-care bill, and warning against what they believe to be coming in the Senate version of this bill. Their chief complaint is that help for the poor would be cut drastically. (Note - budgets submitted by Presidents rarely, if ever, are approved without significant changes.)

Relevant says that it's time for the church to address gun violence.

National Public Radio reports on a survey, which indicates that more than 80% of Americans believe people with mental illness should not be allowed to have guns; background checks should be done for private sales and gun shows; and guns should not be sold to people on no-fly or terror watch lists.

Science: The Anchorage Daily News reports on how killer whales are interfering with fishermen, apparently communicating with each other, and teaching their young in interference techniques.

National Public Radio reports on why different bird species have eggs with different shapes.




Image source (public domain)