Sunspots 968

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

CNN tells us a lot about Wordle.

The Visual Capitalist shows us which languages are most widely used. 

A Conversation writer discusses the complicated relationships between orthodox  Jews and the Israeli government.

Another Conversation writer explains why airlines charge bag fees. (There are laws that make this almost absolutely necessary!)

And another Conversation article is about how bad nursing home care can get, and how the goal seems to be making as much money as possible.

Gizmodo reports on a government report that says there are no UFOs (aka UAPs), and mentions some people who are not convinced.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 603

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

The Arts: Relevant reports on some amazing sculpture made from paper.

Christianity: A Relevant article says that the idea that we have a hole in our heart that only God can fill is dangerous.

Relevant also examines the idea of the "war on Christmas."

BioLogos analyzes the theology of Dr. Strange.


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware tells us how to download the Microsoft Solitaire Collection for iOs and Android devices.

Gizmo's Freeware also lists the top 50 games for Windows, released in the last 10 years. Most of these are also available for other platforms.

Education: National Public Radio reports on the benefits of bilingual education.

History: Listverse tells us about 10 diseases that had a profound effect on history.

Humor: A video of 11,000 dominoes falling.


Politics: (and other things) Benjamin L. Corey says that fake news isn't the problem -- it's that people believe fake news, because they want to.

National Public Radio reports that the military has been discharging thousands of veterans who suffer from various emotional an cognitive disorders, resulting from combat, in such a way that they can't receive all the benefits of those honorably discharged. And tried to cover this up.

Science: National Public Radio also reports on the question of what birds hear when they listen to bird songs.






Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 597

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

Christianity: Lifeway Research has set forth four questions that indicate whether someone is an evangelical.


Computing: Gizmo's freeware has updated its annotated list of free games for Windows machines. (Some of these have Ios and Android versions.)

Finance: The New York Times discusses Walmart's higher wages, and, perhaps, treating workers better, and the effects of these changes on the bottom line.

Food: Relevant says that newly developed sweet potatoes may prevent blindness in many people. (The potatoes have not been genetically modified.)

Health: Scientific American says that weight loss surgery also alters the brain.

Gizmo's Freeware points us to a hearing test that requires just a computer and headphones.

History: Listverse on clowns that terrified people in the past.


Politics: Charles Krauthammer, no one's idea of a left-winger, claims that the election of Mr. Trump would be very dangerous, and tells why.






Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 514

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:

Christianity (and Mathematics): He Lives has addressed the question, posed by some, about 1 Kings 7:23, which implies that the Israelites thought that the circumference of a circle was 3 times its diameter, not pi (3.14159...) times its diameter.
Computing: Gizmo's Freeware gives an annotated list of 18 free Android games that have been downloaded more than 100 million times each.
Education: Relevant reports on a study that says that US Millennials "aren't very skilled."
First Things has a short essay on why studying the humanities in college is important, and how university officials, who say that, aren't really being specific enough.
 
History: King Richard III of England is to be re-buried. He died in 1485. Read more at the History Blog.
Humor: "The 50 Funniest Puns in the History of Funny Puns." Sample: A plateau is the highest form of flattery. Thanks to a niece for drawing my attention to this web site.


Image source (public domain)

Word puzzle

Think of a two-letter word, such that when the letters are reversed, a new word, commonly used, is made. (Example: start with the opposite of "off.")

OK. Now think of a three-letter word that has letters that can be re-arranged so that you can make three or more distinct, relatively common, three-letter* English words out of them. (No proper names, such as Joe, allowed)

Can you think of a four-letter word that has letters that can be re-arranged so that you can make four or more words, using the same constraints? How about a five-letter word with letters that can make five or more words, six, etc.? Post your answers as a comment.

I found three-letter and four-letter in a few minutes. I didn't find five- and six-letter words that fit, at least not yet.

There are only two possible arrangements of the letters in a two-letter word. There are six arrangements of the letters in a three-letter word, provided they are unique. (The first one can be any one of the three, then the second either of the two left, then the third the remaining letter, so the number of possibilities is 3 x 2 x 1, or 6.) By similar reasoning, there are 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24 possible arrangements of four unique letters, and 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 120 possible arrangements of five unique letters, and so on.

Try it! Thanks for reading.

*Katherine spotted a misprint here, which I have corrected. Thanks!

Sunspots 52

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

WebMonkey has posted excerpts from a book on how to take better photographs. I have some new perspectives on doing that after reading.

Charles Colson and Anne Morse on at least some current Christian worship music, and thinking, or lack of it, in Christians.

Catez has a solid post on the atheistic assumptions behind Stephen Hawking's writings.

For anyone interested in quicker games of sudoku, try Jigsawdoku. The cells, or whatever you call them, are 2 by 3, rather than 3 by 3.

Joe Carter has posted on Ussher's Chronology. And then the comments began . . .

Here's the Discovery Institute's post on the discovery of a fossil animal which may have been intermediate between fish and amphibians, which says that the discovery is "does not challenge ntelligent design." Here's a post on The Panda's Thumb, dissecting the first post.

This is, apparently, my 52nd post in this series of Sunspots. Thank God, then, for more than a year of being able to do this. (I didn't post during a travel hiatus a time or two, and I had another name for such a column of briefly annotated links before hitting upon Sunspots.)

This week's Christian Carnival is here. (For information on locating these Carnivals, see here)

When I don't tell where I found an item above, I either found it directly, or was probably pointed to it by the Librarian's Internet Index, SciTech Daily, or Arts and Letters Daily. All of them are great.

Image source (public domain)

Thanks for reading!

Confessions of a FreeCell addict

I'm a FreeCell addict. If I'm in recovery, it doesn't show. I probably play 4-12 games a day. (For those who may not know, FreeCell comes with Windows. Except for computers where it was not installed, it is available as a game, from the Start menu.)

When thinking about posting about this subject, it suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't looked at the game as a scientist. For one thing, how many games are possible? I thought about it, and decided that I'd look it up, rather than trying to figure it out. So I did. "FreeCell, Frequently Asked Questions," tells even addicts more than they would want to know. One thing it told me was that the first version had 32,000 different deals. Way more than that are possible. Way, way more, like "roughly 1.75 x 10 to the 64th power."

The link above includes a link to a freeware game, FreeCell Pro, which has some interesting options. These include more than one undo, keeping track of all your moves, so they can be printed out or saved in digital form, adding more than four freecells, and other options.

So where are the confessions?
Well, I've got just one, and it's this. I spend more time playing FreeCell than I should. I like to think that it is covered by Philippians 4:8*, as something I can think about, but I think about it too much. Sorry. I'm also sorry for the title, or should be. The first word looked better as a plural than as a singular.

Three lessons1) As in life, nearly everything is solvable, if you are doing what you should. The aforementioned FAQ states that only one game, in the original set of 32,000, is unsolvable. That's number 11982. That can be solved with FreeCell Pro, by adding some freecells.

2) Plan ahead. Don't just blindly move. Think about the consequences.

3) The best way to win is to aim to build up from the Kings. That's my own observation. It's tempting to worry about the Aces, and often you have to, but the goal should be to get the Kings where they belong, namely at the bottom of a stack, and build from there. There's a moral there, of course. Put the King where He belongs, and you'll win.

*Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (ASV)

P. S. (November 14, 2006) I'm now coming off several months of Sudoku, slowly, and easing back into FreeCell.

P. P. S. (August 4, 2013) I now have FreeCell on my Android tablet. Unfortunately, it's more appealing than the Windows version.