Sunspots 1001

 

CNN and other outlests are reporting on possible dangers from the geological faults in Southern California.

Gizmodo reports on research on laughter. There are two kinds of laughter. One spontaneous and one not so  much.

BioLogos has an article about the apparent long lives of people in Genesis.

MSN, and other outlets, report that Pope Leo has excommunicated priests who reject some of the changes proposed and adopted during the 20th Century.

The flag seen in "the dawn's early light" near Baltimore, which was under attack by the British, was real. Here's more on Francis Scott Key who wrote what we now know as the "Star Spangled Banner." Key freed at least some of his slaves.

Gismodo reports that dust from the Sahara Desert is blowing across the Atlantic to North America.

Sunspots 509

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

The Arts: National Public Radio reports that seismic shifts were used as a basis for music from the bell tower on the University of California's Berkeley campus. The tower is 100 years old, and Berkeley is in an area that experiences lots of motion in the earth.
Computing: (Sort of) Wired warns us not to buy a Smart TV yet, because TV manufacturers have ruined them. Translation -- too many ads, and they aren't talking about the ads in the programs.
Education: NPR on why little kids should play with blocks.
Health: National Public Radio reports that a higher percentage of Tanzanians are vaccinated against measles than the percentage in the US.
NPR also reports that cancer patients don't often understand what their doctors are saying about their survival time.
Politics: The Equal Justice Initiative has released a report on lynchings of African-Americans in the South, which report says that the number of lynchings had been under-reported, and that lynching was a form of terrorism.
NPR reports that less than 1% of the US Federal budget is for foreign aid, and that the most of that is for health.
The Washington Post has posted maps of the most gerrymandered congressional districts in the US. Some really strange shapes. (Gerrymandered districts are designed to put a lot of people who vote for your opponents together, making it more likely that you will win in non-gerrymandered districts. It has been practiced by both parties.)
Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 390

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

Science: An astronomical object, 20 million light-years in length -- that's really long -- has been discovered, according to Wired.

Scientists in Italy have been convicted of not giving sufficient warning about an earthquake, according to The Daily Beast.

Dinosaurs probably had feathers, and the feathers may have been colored, perhaps used in courtship displays, according to reports by National Public Radio and the Scientific American. See here and here.

Philosophy: Do plants have rights? Some think that they do. (Some don't!) NPR reports.

Computing: You may think you own books, and other media, that you obtain from Apple, Amazon, and other commercial sources. Not so. Furthermore, Wired reports that all the content you have paid to use may be removed. Whoops.!

Christianity: Project Gutenberg has recently released the public domain Rand-McNally Bible Atlas by Hurlbut, in several versions. There is an abundance of maps and charts. I took the HTML version and went to the large version of a couple dozen maps or so, and saved them for later use. I also took the Windows Snipping tool (any screen capture tool should work) and saved some of the charts, some of which were on subjects I had never thought of, such as how much land each tribe got, under Joshua. I also hope to use the Kindle version. There are more versions.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 362

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

Humor: (or advertisement, or something) A company in Germany built a barrel organ that plays Star Wars music, out of Legos, as part of a promotion for the latest Star Wars movie release.

Science: How human activity is causing earthquakes in the US, reported by National Public Radio.

The Arts: 60 Minutes, the CBS News program, gives an uplifting video report on the world's only all-black orchestra. (Warning -- some commercials are included.)

Computing: Gizmo's freeware has some tips for searching for files on your Windows 7 or Vista computer.

Image source (public domain)