Sunspots 911

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

Computing: Gizmodo reports on commonly used passwords that are too easy to hack.

Health: The Scientist reports on a study wherein tetraplegics were able to control a special wheelchair by thinking about where they wanted to go.

Humor: (and food and politics) PBS reports on the question of which President started the tradition of pardoning one or more turkeys at Thanksgiving time. The report has lots of bad puns, by and about various Presidents and turkeys.

Politics: (or something) NPR reports that government employees involved in carrying out executions are often traumatized by their participation.

Science: Tired of, or confused by, milli-, kilo-, tera-, and all the others? NPR reports that these prefixes are not enough, and more have recently been added.

Gizmodo reports that the Leap Second (something like a Leap Year, only a lot shorter) will become a thing of the past. (No joke intended there.)

Sports: NPR reports that women are slowly becoming part of major college and minor league men's baseball teams.

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

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 794

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

Christianity: (and health) In Christianity Today, a preacher reflects on his experience when he apparently caught COVID from the worship leader who was on the platform (and singing and talking) with him.

Christianity Today also reports on a survey that indicates that most Christians, especially those who are well off, don't really give very much to charitable causes.

Christianity Today also has published an article on Christian attitudes during a season of on-line dating.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware suggests that RadioBox is a good, free program for listening to lots of radio stations.

Gizmo's Freeware also suggests a free alternative to Microsoft Office.

And Gizmo's Freeware points us to over 900 free-to-use fonts.

 

Education: Grammarphobia tells us whether "news" is singular or plural.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that internal government documents state that the proposed border wall is the biggest threat to endangered species in the southwest.

Health: Gizmodo discusses the ins and outs of a vaccine for COVID-19.

Politics: (and Christianity) Relevant discusses the moral misguidedness of each of the major political parties.

Christianity Today discusses Joe Biden's Catholic faith.

FiveThirtyEight discusses the probable impact (or not) of Kamala Harris as a vice-presidential candidate.

Relevant discusses the religious background of Kamala Harris.

Science: Gizmodo reports that invading toads are doing well in Qatar, which is not where you'd expect to see toads flourish.

Gizmodo, and other outlets, report that Death Valley has probably had the highest surface temperature ever recorded, during the past few days.

Sports: FiveThirtyEight tells us why left-handed pitchers often do so well.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 746

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:

Christianity: Relevant on the most neglected spiritual discipline. (You should be able to figure out what that is.)


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware evaluates a browser add-in that extracts text from photos, .PDF files, and other on-line stuff.

Education: Grammarphobia discusses the use of the word "scrub." (Note: that word is used in computing, as well as in floor care.)

Environment: (or something) Listverse tells us about 10 beautiful and bizarre natural features.

Catherine Rampell attacks the Trump administration's recent roll=back of clean water regulations, and questions the supposed growth-causing effect of the general roll-back of regulations, and also points out that at least some industries don't want environmental regulations affecting them rolled back.

Earther asks, and answers the question: "when will we run out of water?"
 
Finance: (or something) Changes are coming to the Amish in Pennsylvania, says NPR.

History: Michael Gerson says that the Founders, like Jefferson should have known that slavery was wrong -- there were those that spoke out against it in their time.

Politics: Relevant reports that President Trump accidentally insulted the pastor of a church in Kentucky. The pastor responded, saying that "Your heart must be in a dangerous place to have such a consistent flow of defamation and disrespect towards so many." He also suggested that Trump exercise more self-control, and that he try to be humble and apologize more.

FiveThirtyEight charts the most recent Democratic debate.


Science: Catherine Rampell tells us about some of the ways that the Trump administration is trying to downplay the importance of measurable facts. The recent flap over a weather report is just one such episode.

The Scientist, and other outlets, report that an electric eel, packing a walloping 860 Volts, has been discovered.

Sports: High tech in baseball: FiveThirtyEight discusses how being able to measure the spin of a thrown or batted ball may be affecting home run frequency.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 699

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

The Arts: Christianity: Christianity Today on why the news isn't as important as most of us seem to think it is.


Finance: (or something) China is to open the world's longest over-ocean bridge today, according to National Public Radio.

History: (or something) From the New York Times, a map of every building in the US, with some accompanying text.

Humor: (or something) Relevant reports that a man ordered two glasses of water in a restaurant, and left a $10,000 tip.

Politics: Christianity Today has reported on a survey of evangelical voters. Sojourners has criticized the methodology of the survey.

Women are often treated badly in South Korea, according to National Public Radio. One symptom is that voyeurs place spy cameras in public bathrooms.

Science: Christianity Today also has an essay on how, and why, God seems to stay hidden -- not immediately visible.

Earther reports that climate change is expanding tick infestations on moose in New England, killing lots of moose.

Sports: (and science) A professor at the University of Illinois has produced the physics of baseball.


The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 683

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

Christianity: A Christianity Today editorial on immigration.

Christianity Today also reports that multi-ethnic Protestant congregations are becoming more common, especially among evangelicals.


Computing: Gizmodo discusses the frequent failure of governments web sites, and the causes.

Health: (or something) FiveThirtyEight points out that using a phone hands-free while driving can also be dangerous. And so can the car's complicated controls.

Earther reports that, until now, most plastic waste that's recycled goes to China for such treatment. However, the Chinese are clamping down on importing plastic.

National Public Radio reports that an analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that, US county by county, there is a strong correlation between opioid over use and voting for President Trump in 2016. This does not prove cause. Both phenomena may have been caused by something else, such as the local economy.

An article on the use of superlatives in reports of cancer research. Claiming too much happens a lot.

Politics: Sojourners discusses an analysis of word use in Vice-President Mike Pence's recent speech to the Southern Baptist Convention. He used "President" 61 times, "Trump" 12 times, but "God" 9 times and "Christ" twice. Some Southern Baptists, including leaders, were not happy with his speech.

The Washington Post tells us where President Trump got his figure of 63,000 people killed by illegal immigrants. Someone basically made it up.

Science: ListVerse tells us 10 interesting things about salt.

Gizmodo reports on the real cause of the "drip, drip, drip" sound made by a leaky faucet, and on how to stop that sound quickly and easily.

National Public Radio discusses the advantages of increasing the beaver population of the Western US.

Sports: The Associated Press says that pitchers are throwing fewer fast balls, and why.
Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 625

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

Christianity: An article on the National Association of Evangelical's web site, indicating that almost 90% of "evangelical leaders" don't believe that pastors should endorse politicians from the pulpit. This survey was taken before President Trump's executive order of last week on (more or less) this subject. Christianity Today discusses the executive order, and says, among other things, that only a small minority of churchgoers believe that pastors should endorse politicians from the pulpit.


Computing: (or something) Elon Musk wants to attach our brains to the internet. We're a long way from being able to do this, but, if we could, there are all kinds of issues. "Could I be hacked?," for example.

Benjamin L. Corey asks "How many people in your local community does your church provide comprehensive medical care for?"

Finance: Listverse reports on the hidden costs of shopping at dollar stores.

Humor: (Not exactly) Listverse describes how people survived 10 different bear attacks. (In most or all cases, the bear was surprised. Normally, they don't go around looking for people to attack.)

(Also not exactly) Scientific American reports that all the TVs in the US Food and Drug Administration have been set to show only the Fox News channel.


Politics: NPR reports that President Trump doesn't like compromising, and claims that he hasn't done so.

NPR also informs us that, as of May 6, there are 129 people officially in the race for President of the USA in 2020. Plus some more who may end up running.

Science: Scientific American reports that, contrary to dogma, nerve cells in a single organism do not have identical DNA.

FiveThirtyEight reports on how many insects there are in the world. The answer? A lot, but not as many as there used to be.

Scientific American has a historical essay on our obsession with lawns.

Listverse reports on 10 strange objects in space, including an asteroid, planets, and galaxies.

Sports: (and finance) National Public Radio reports on the shockingly low pay of minor league baseball players.


Image source (public domain)

Rest in peace, Yogi Berra

Lawrence Peter ("Yogi") Berra has passed away. Berra was a great baseball player, being on the winning side in 13 of 21 World Series appearances, as player, coach, and manager. Some consider him the greatest player, at his position, in baseball history. I'm old enough to remember number 8 of the New York Yankees, appearing, it seemed, every year, on TV, as the catcher for the Yankees.

In addition to his baseball prowess, Berra was also known for "Yogi-isms," which, as the Wikipedia says, were "either an apparently obvious tautology or a paradoxical contradiction." (Example: "Nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded." Here is a link to some of these sayings, and here is another, with some duplication. And here is a compilation of 50 Yogi-isms.

Berra was known for his work with youth, after his full-time baseball career was over. His wife preceded him in death. They had been married 65 years.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 429

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

Computing: National Public Radio reports that the NSA, which supposedly can look at lots of our personal e-mail and telephone calls, says that it is not able to search its own e-mails. Hmmm . . .

Gizmo's Freeware has updated its article on "How to Harden Your Browser Against Malware and Privacy Concerns."

Science: The New York Times reports on a study indicating that smokers continue to smoke because their self-control is not as good as that of non-smokers.

Sports: ESPN on why the national anthem is sung at baseball games. (Babe Ruth, and a player who ended up living close to where I used to, Fred Thomas, are mentioned in the article.)



Image source (public domain)

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)