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 502

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity (and Astronomy): Reviews of a book about "Blood Moons" by John Hagee, claiming that eclipses are a sign that something important is going to happen to Israel, and it's about to happen. The reviews demolish the book's thesis thoroughly.
Health: Walking is good for you. It's a lot easier in some places. You can determine the "Walk Score" of any address here.
Science: A reporter for National Public Radio had her gut bacteria, and those of her husband, mother, and dog, analyzed.
NPR reports on dwarf galaxies, some quite near (in astronomical terms) to us.
The University of Aberdeen has posted a video of creatures living in the Mariana Trench, which is as much as 10,000 meters (nearly 7 miles) below sea level.
NPR reports that there may be a connection between what we hear and how we taste food.


 Image source (public domain)

"Blood Moons" and Christ's return

I don't know when Christ is returning. As I understand the Bible, no one else does, either. Bible scholars do not even agree on a timetable for His return. Some believe that the Biblical signs of His return have all been fulfilled already. Some believe that the indications of His return are for our spiritual warning only. Some believe that there will be a Rapture, with Christians taken away. Some don't. Some Christians believe that there will be a seven-year tribulation. Some don't. See here for a conservative (in the sense that he takes the Bible very seriously) scholar's take on some of these beliefs. Based on prophecies that the Bible, itself, tells us have been already fulfilled, it seems that interpreting prophecy is a difficult job. The Bible says a lot less about End Times than some people seem to think that it does.

Nonetheless, throughout history, there have been many people who have proclaimed that something or other is a sign of Christ's return, and even predicted the date of that return. See here for a recent unfortunate, and well-publicized, example. The result of all these predictions seems to have been that people take the prospect of Christ's return much less seriously than as if those explicit predictions hadn't been made.

Why do we try to predict the future, when Christ, Himself, said that we don't know what it will be? One reason is curiosity. There was clearly some of that, about end times, in the New Testament church, so it's not surprising that there should be some now. It's not up to me to judge the motives of other Christians, so I won't go further to answer the question.

A recent prediction is that, because of the connection between lunar eclipses and the Jewish festivals, great events, most likely the return of Christ, are imminent. This has been proposed by a Mark Biltz, and also by TV preacher John Hagee. Perhaps. If you do a Google search for "Biltz blood moon," as I did, you will find that there are some people who believe Biltz and Hagee on this matter, and some who don't. In fact, the first web site that came up was a site that said it debunked Biltz's theory about the eclipses and End Times.

I looked at Answers in Genesis, a ministry that, whatever its faults, is steadfast in its belief in the Bible as the word of God. A scientist who writes for their web site has an article, casting considerable doubt on the blood moon prediction, and explaining, in terms understandable by lay people, what causes so-called blood moons. I recommend that anyone interested in this subject read that article.

Thanks for reading! I thank one of my introductory biology students for bringing this topic to my attention.

*    *    *    *    *
Added September 23, 2015: Mr. Hagee is predicting that something important is about to happen, involving Israel, associated with the current tetrad of "blood moons." He mentions September 28, in particular. Perhaps he is right, perhaps not.

You may want to look at the most negative reviews of Mr. Hagee's book, Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change. (The first review, and the majority of other reviews on Amazon, are very positive, but the rest of them from that link aren't positive at all, citing errors, such as in the book's use of history, and scriptural problems, as well.)