Sunspots 674

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

Christianity: Relevant cites polls which show that most people in the US, who claim to be Christians, don't read the Bible.

Relevant talks to the head of the Evangelical Environment Network, who has some suggestions as to how to get Christians to see that climate change is real, and is potentially disastrous.

History: FiveThirtyEight considers the questions: "who built the first house?" "what is a house?"

Humor: (not exactly) National Public Radio reports that tumbleweeds have piled up as high as 7 feet in Victorville, California, and it has been difficult to remove them.

Relevant reports that someone decided to make a playable record (the kind that goes round and round) out of breakfast cereal.


Politics: Many former intelligence officers, including those with the highest rank, have petitioned the US Supreme Court to strike down the Trump travel ban, on the grounds that it decreases national security, according to NPR.

Science: Gizmodo reports on a newly-discovered enzyme that breaks down some plastics.

NPR reports on studies that show that tiny ocean animals can cause significant movement of ocean water, and the things that that water carries.

Scientific American (and other outlets) report on a study that indicates that prehistoric humans caused the extinction of many species of large mammals.

Gizmodo reports on ants that break open (and die) to attack invading insects with the goop that comes from their bodies.

And Gizmodo asks some experts "which animal kills the most humans?"

Sports: With the death of head coach Gregg Popovich's wife, and his absence, assistant coach Becky Hammon moved from behind the San Antonio Spurs bench to the front row thereof, and joined acting head coach Ettore Messina, and another assistant coach, in huddles during time-outs. I'm pretty sure that this is a first for women in men's professional sports in the US.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Wild hogs, aka wild boars, aka wild pigs

My wife and I recently saw, for the first time for either of us, a wild hog. It was road kill, on Georgia 181, just across the Georgia-South Carolina border, near Hartwell Dam. That got me to searching for information about these animals. I have linked to four such sources, below. In one sentence, their numbers are expanding rapidly, there doesn't seem to be any way to stop this, and they can do a lot of damage to property and the environment. Some of the problems are because hunters want hogs brought in so they can be hunted.

A Fox News local TV station in Alabama has an article about a boy who killed a giant hog, weighing over a thousand pounds, and was over nine feet from nose to the base of the tail. There's a photo.

The State newspaper (Columbia, SC) has an article on what the animals are doing in South Carolina, and how hard they are to control.

The Charleston, SC Post and Courier has a similar article.

There's a fascinating article, in the Atlantic, about the history of the animals, hunting them, a wild hog festival in Georgia, wild hogs and Republican domination in local politics, and many other things.

None of the above articles are current, (one was from 2013, the others somewhat older) but all were of considerable interest.