Sunspots 975

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

Gizmodo reports on diamond batteries, which would hold a charge for hundreds of years, and not have the dangers of lithium batteries.

Science Alert reports on evidence for high intelligence in Cephalopods (relatives of octopi).

SciTechDaily discusses the prevalence of saber teeth in animals of the past, and why they arose in more than one lineage, and why they disappeared from the fossil record.

Northern cardinal males are known for their bright red plumage. However, as Popular Science and other outlets report, occasionally they are yellow, not red.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 784

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

Christianity: Sojourners tells us what the basic responsibilities of white Christians are, in these times.

Computing: Listverse tells us about 10 persistent myths about high-tech devices.


Environment: Gizmodo reports that COVID-19 is being used as an excuse to roll back various environmental regulations.
 
Finance: FiveThirtyEight analyzes the May jobs report.

Politics: FivethirtyEight argues that President Trump's use of force to break up a peaceful demonstration, for the sake of a photo opportunity, violates deeply held American values, not just Presidential norms.

FiveThirtyEight discusses the effectiveness (and not) of fact checking.

FiveThirtyEight also gives us data on prosecutions of police for alleged misconduct. There aren't a lot of prosecutions, and many of them don't result in conviction.


(and Sports) FiveThirtyEight says that support for Colin Kaepernick, NFL quarterback who refused to stand during the national anthem, four years ago, has significantly increased.

FiveThirtyEight also discusses what protests accomplish. 

Science: (and Christianity) An article in Christianity Today on the importance of birds to us, and, apparently, to God.


One-celled algae evolved into multi-celled organisms in less than a year, under selection pressure from a predator.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 534

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

The Arts: Relevant has some questions for us to ask ourselves before we watch an R-rated show.


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware has an annotated list of the best free Windows apps, in several categories.


Gizmo's also tells you how to hide the live tiles in Windows 10. The article also tells about a program that restores the Windows 7 interface to Windows 10.


Gizmo's has begun to rate for-pay items. They have rated the best Virtual Private Network (VPN) services. In case you haven't heard of VPNs, you should have. They shield you from, say, someone hacking into your motel's network (or the one at your home or business).


From Windows Secrets: How to make the lithium-ion batteries in most modern information appliances last for years (and how not to!)


Humor: (Sort of) FiveThirtyEight examines people's behavior when they split a check for a meal. Interesting.


Science: Wired reports on a giant starfish that can catch fish.
 
In a photo, Wired also demonstrates that crystallized DNA is beautiful.
 
National Public Radio reports on why different animals have different pupil shapes.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 438

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

Christianity: The Skeptical Zone has an analysis of the Intelligent Design movement, with documentation, that claims that the Intelligent Design Movement is trying to establish a theocracy, or, as the article puts it, "totalitarianism."

A post, in the BioLogos Forum, from a man who discovered that, unfortunately, some people have lost their faith because they have been told that you can't believe that the earth is very old, and be a Christian, and who also discovered that it is possible to disagree over origins, and still love and respect fellow believers.
Computing: Wired says that we shouldn't keep our laptops plugged in all the time.
Politics: (and health) National Public Radio has published an on-line Obamacare calculator, which is supposed to calculate how much you will have to pay for health insurance, if you purchase your own.
Science: NBC News reports that a new island has been formed, off the coast of Pakistan, as the result of a volcano.
NASA has found evidence of clouds on a planet outside the solar system, according to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.


Image source (public domain)
documentation, that claims that the Intelligent Design Movement is trying to establish a theocracy, or, as the article puts it, "totalitarianism."

Sunspots 188

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

Humor:

Science:
Maybe salmon find their way to their home streams by detecting the earth's magnetic field, and, if that's true, maybe we can re-program them, reports Wired.

Politics:

Music:

Sports:

Computing:
(or something) Wired reports that Apple is defending itself against a lawsuit by claiming that no reasonable person would believe its advertisements.

Slate on energy consumption by laptop computers -- more when using the battery, or more when plugged in? (The article says that laptops are more efficient, energy-wise, than desktops.)

Literature:

Philosophy:

Christianity:
What a one and a half ton steer knows about faith, from Slate.

Bonnie posts on style.

Jan has been questioning the emphasis on leadership in some corners of the church. A recent post is here.

Julana has spent all of last month, more or less, reminding us of ordinary things that she is thankful for. The last such post is here.

Image source (public domain)