Sunspots 170

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

Humor:
(Except that it's sadly true) Ellen Goodman on the outsourcing of work -- to us.


Science:
Carl Zimmer on the discovery of a fossil fish that may have been a precursor to the flounder. (The flounder has both eyes on one side of its head.)

Computing:
Do (mostly) young people spend so much time on Facebook and MySpace that the country is going to collapse? (And so little time reading.) Maybe, maybe not.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 169

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

Humor:
Scott Uselman has posted some good advice for husbands. (It's serious, too.)

Science:
From an article on Einstein , a statement about his job in the patent office: ". . . this supposedly menial position that a world uncomprehending of Einstein’s genius forced him to settle for actually worked to his advantage. Ascending the career ladder at a university might well have stifled creativity rather than encouraged it; senior professors don’t appreciate it when their junior colleagues overturn the accepted order of the universe."

Politics:
Chuck Colson has argued that the Bible teaches that government must be limited. Henry Neufeld disagrees, and gives some good reasons for doing so.

This isn't exactly politics, but I have no category for a heart-warming story on raising the status of the "untouchables" of India . From CNN.

Literature:
A reflection on the attitude of C. S. Lewis on technology, based on a remark of Lewis in a letter to Arthur C. Clarke, no less.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 168

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

Humor:
The Onion reports that 98% of US commuters favor public transportation -- for other people.

Science:
Slate, on the supposed health benefits of Dannon's yogurt, and its imitators.

Slate, analyzing the differences between the way men and women think -- there are some, but there's not nearly as much as some people would have you believe.


Politics:
The Spanish parliament is expected to declare that animals have rights. William Saletan has some thoughts about that, in Slate.


Sports:
When their contracts are completed, National Basketball Association players become free agents. Charley Rosen, of Fox Sports, has a cynical view of some of the newly available players: " Anybody out there looking for a soft, athletic, outside shooter who can't guard a fire hydrant?"

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 167

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

Science:
More than you probably wanted to know about itching, but fascinating, indeed. People have killed themselves by scratching. (From The New Yorker.)

Christianity:
Henry Neufeld has some excellent thoughts on the recent poll on religious attitudes in the US.

A devotional from Elisabeth Elliot on doing what you don't really want to do.

He Lives analyzes "blind faith."

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 166

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

Humor:
On bad mornings in the church nursery.

Politics:
One of my favorite authors of fantastic literature, Elizabeth Moon, has written her congressman about high oil prices, and the actions of the Republicans on the subject for the last few decades. She is from Texas.

Computing:
Firefox 3 is now available for download. Many experts recommend this browser as more customizable, and less vulnerable to various kinds of attacks, than Internet Explorer. I don't use IE myself, unless some download requires it.

Literature:
Slate has an article on the history, and decline, of the semicolon.

Christianity:
Ken Schenck, New Testament Scholar, on church membership in New Testament times. Splendid.

We are going to do some traveling, seeing the grandsons, so I won't be posting much for a couple of weeks.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 164

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

Science:
Have a look at parts of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Nature News reports that trees have ways of regulating leaf temperature, and seem to prefer 70 degrees F/21 degrees C.

Nature News also reports that certain areas of the brain are associated with wanting to hang on to things we own.

Computing:
I am not making this up! If you are concerned about wanting to contact your friends and loved ones after you have left the earth in the Rapture, there's a web service for you.

Wired reports that some domain names (.gov, for one) are almost all safe to surf, but some others are much less safe. The article suggests being very careful with purchasing pharmaceuticals from sites in some domains.

A paralyzed man has been able to manipulate a second life character with his brain waves (and appropriate apparatus).

Literature:
(or something) Leonard Pitts, columnist, has a daughter who has recently graduated from high school. Anyone with a daughter (or maybe a son) should read this.

Christianity:
Bonnie on gender imbalance (or not) in churches. Splendid analysis.

Jan deals with the question of whether or not the Song of Songs is pornography, or erotic, or neither, and whether there's a difference between them.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 163

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

Science:
Some photos from the Phoenix, newly landed on Mars.

Joseph Kimojino, a Masai park ranger from Kenya, posts wildlife photos from Africa.

You may think that there is general agreement as to what a species is. Not so. Carl Zimmer has posted the text of his article in June Scientific American.

Sports:
The National Basketball Association has received an "A" rating for its diversity, because of the number of minorities and women in executive positions.

Christianity:
Richard Colling, a science professor at Olivet, has written a splendid post, entitled "Evolution and Faith: Communicating their Compatibility in Christian Higher Education."

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 162

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

Science:
(or something) From ABC News, an article on a college class in creative writing, that writes about how to properly let alien beings know about us.

The Scout Report recommend the University of Montana's web site on butterflies and moths as one of the best of the past year.

Slate reports that there are ants that like to live in computers.

Politics:
Wired reports that a new newborn blood sample storage law is raising some fears about privacy violation.

Music:
The Scout Report recommends the Exploratorium's The Science of Music site as one of the best websites of the past year.

Sports:
A minor league baseball player was traded for 10 baseball bats. Really.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 161

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

Science:
Wired reports that exercise, even before the teen years, can help prevent breast cancer.

Wired also reports that the mantis shrimp can perceive light in a way that is apparently unique. The article shows a great photo of the eyes of this shrimp.

Politics:
(or something) Wired reports on plans for new nations in the ocean.

Music:
I was pleasantly shocked to discover that music by Bach made the top of the popular music charts in March.

Christianity:
Henry Neufeld on a revival in Florida.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 160

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

Science:
D. W. Congdon has posted four theses against Intelligent Design.

The Wall Street Journal says that Eight Belles, the horse who was euthanized shortly after the Kentucky Derby, was descended from Native Dancer through three of her four grandparents, and that all 20 of the horses in the Derby were Native Dancer's descendants.

The Exploratorium has a Microscope Imaging Station , with some great images.

The Templeton Foundation has a web site where twelve well-known thinkers, from diverse backgrounds, answer "Does the Universe Have a Purpose?" The answers are interesting and varied.

Literature:
A YouTube version of Till We Have Faces, by C. S. Lewis. See here for the producer's blog post about the video, a college class project.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 159

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

Humor:
(or something) K has tried a new kind of fruit, with photos.

Science:
Wired on a giant squid, with the largest eye ever studied.

Literature:
An interview with Patricia A. McKillip, wherein she answers questions about her writing habits. Spoiler: she listens to Telemann while writing.

Christianity:
Bonnie on how to keep up with what's going on in the world (or not).

Russell on how men look at women, and how they should (or shouldn't).

Slate has a disturbing article (disturbing because of what it says about some Christians) about alternative Christian culture. For example, I had no idea that there was a "Christian pro wrestling." What makes it Christian? Do they hit each other's heads with softer chairs?

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 158

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

Science:
An amazing case of rapid evolution in lizards.

Wired reports that the South Koreans have cloned dogs for drug-sniffing.

Wired also reports that the US Congress has passed a bill prohibiting discrimination because of genetic makeup. The President is expected to sign the bill. (Perhaps already has)

A news source on stem cells , that seems to be kept up-to-date.

Politics:
Slate says that the real problem with all those mortgages was very simple: widespread lying.

Computing:
What CNet calls the 100 top webware applications. These included the Firefox browser, YouTube, and a lot more.

Literature:
From Christianity Today movies: a suggestion that Prince Caspian, the character, has a lot in common with C. S. Lewis, the author.

Christianity:
In Christianity Today, Charles Colson and Anne Morse warn about Christians being too concerned about pets. (They understand that some concern is appropriate, but question the appropriateness of healing services for pets, for one thing.) Say they:
These are signs of Christians weakening their best defense against activists on what constitutes the distinctiveness of humans.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 157

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

Humor:
From The Onion: The U. S. Citizenry has agreed to stop talking about politics.

Science:
Slate on "How to really change your kid's behavior."

Slate also asks why we worry so much about relatively unimportant agents that might cause cancer (like cell phone use) rather than the important ones.

And, again from Slate, an essay on how incest is fairly common in nature .

From New Scientist, 24 misconceptions about evolution.

Politics:
(or something) Wired on how flying still beats driving, in four different ways.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 156

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

Science:
From David Heddle, practicing scientist: "I tell anyone who cares to ask either at the national lab I work at or at my university where I teach physics that I think the universe was intelligently designed by God. In fact, I have had many such discussions." Then, he goes on to indicate why he is unhappy with the Intelligent Design movement. (As am I .)

Carl Zimmer on how a species of clams comes from the sperm, not the egg. (You read that right!)

The film, Expelled, arguing that Intelligent Design should be taught in the public schools as a scientific alternative to evolution (I have not seen it, and probably won't) gets a bad review from Fox News. Variety didn't think much of it, either. New Scientist says: "Ultimately, the Discovery Institute's support may be the film's undoing. The institute has argued long and hard that ID is not about religion, yet in the film the connections are explicit. If challenged on this, the institute may have to distance itself from the film, discrediting Expelled in the process."

Politics:
Whether you vote for him or not, here's a great story about John McCain and Mo Udall , Arizona politicians, one Republican, one Democrat, from back when McCain wasn't running for President.

Music:
Slate on the peculiarities of musical instruments, and also the people who make them, and perform on them.

Computing:
Wired show us that someone at MIT has figured out how to turn computer virus attacks into works of art.

Christianity:
April 27 is Internet Evangelism Day.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 155

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

Humor:
(or not so funny) Doonesbury on fiscal irresponsibility in the White House.

Science:
Diagrams and illustrations of how neurons (nerve cells) work, from the University of Toronto.

From National Geographic (and many others): Fossil human poop/dung/feces shed(s) light on how long humans have lived in North America.

Lets just use the title: "Sex and Financial Risk Linked in Brain," from Wired.

Politics:
Slate on how the next President should fix US healthcare policy (or actually start us on the road to having one). The article says that up to 100,000 US residents may have died because of poor healthcare, which is a horrible scandal.

Literature:
. . . the more writing I do, the more reluctant I am to analyse and deconstruct it. There’s a real element of navel-gazing in the way some writers discuss their own work, and I’m quite uncomfortable with that. I think many readers would be surprised at how much of what writers do is instinctive rather than carefully technical – the knack lies in getting the technical elements right without being too conscious of what you’re doing. Good advice for aspiring writers might be: learn the tools of your craft so well you don’t need to think about them, then let your imagination loose. Juliet Marillier, "Talking Heads," Writer Unboxed, April 3, 2008

Christianity:
Trinitarian theologians use the word perichoresis to describe the happy fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Their relationship is often pictured as a tireless and joyful divine dance.) From Christianity Today)


Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 154

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

Science:
CNN reports that gray wolves are no longer officially endangered.

Henry Neufeld on Expelled, a new movie about Intelligent Design, featuring Ben Stein:
The problem for intelligent design is not that it hasn’t been considered
In fact, it hasn’t even truly been presented yet, and I don’t mean that the meanies in the educational establishment didn’t allow it a hearing. Rather, it simply has never presented a scientific program that could truly be tested. The ID crowd want something for nothing. They want to be regarded as purveyors of a scientific theory without doing the work. Some want their theory to be presented in high school, without going through the process of consensus building.

Computing:
Wired says that Adobe has released a free version of Photoshop.

Wired interviews a Mozilla leader. Mozilla makes the Firefox browser, which I use, and the Thunderbird e-mail application.

From Office Watch: Word has a built-in calculator. The article tells how to find it.



Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 153

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

Science:
Wired reports that Titan, Saturn's largest moon, may have an ocean of water below its surface.

Wired also has published an article by Carl Zimmer, who writes that, for now, it is possible to distinguish artificially produced DNA from natural DNA.

Politics: (or something) Slate on why out-of-wedlock births are a "National Catastrophe."

Joe Carter on the real problem with Obama's religion, which, he says, is something called Black Theology. I would be interested in other posts on problems with McCain's, or Clinton's, theology. And then, of course, there are the problems with my theology, and, perhaps, even with yours(!) The text of Obama's speech is here , by the way.

Sports: There were four upsets in the NCAA men's tournament in Tampa, FL.

Pat Summitt of Tennessee became the first NCAA basketball coach in history to win 100 NCAA tournament games. Her Tennessee team is going to the regional semi-finals (aka Sweet Sixteen) for the 27th time in a row. I would have supposed that John Wooden might have had more such victories, but he doesn't. Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 152

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

Science:
Some leading Southern Baptists, including three of the four most recent presidents, have issued a statement saying that their church has not spoken out about global warming as it should have. Those concerned have a web site of their own.

The most important young-earth creationist organizations have sponsored a study on the age of the earth. Their conclusions are 1) that dating analysis indicates that the earth is very old and 2) it isn't really. (Which is amazing, to say the least!) The American Scientific Affiliation has produced a web site on this RATE project, which attempts to include material from both young-earth creationists and their critics.

Sports:
Clemson University (and the NCAA) has helped an African-American football player serve as guardian for his younger brother, until now, says Sports Illustrated, which reports that the older brother's scholarship has not been renewed:
"In short, the McElrathbey brothers' lives are again up in the air thanks to [Clemson Football Coach Tommy] Bowden's lack of compassion. Apparently having an extra inside linebacker or tight end is more important to him than showing loyalty to a young man who has given three years of effort to the program -- to someone trying to raise a teenager."

From Slate: a mathematical formula to tell when a basketball game has been won (before the final whistle, that is).

The New York Times reports that the Houston Rockets finally lost a game, after winning 22 in a row, the second longest win streak in NBA history, to the Boston Celtics. They lost by 20 points.

Christianity:
Bonnie on our deceitful everyday lives.

Henry Neufeld on how he received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.


Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 151

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

Humor:
This isn't exactly humor, but I don't have a category for it. The Chicago Tribune says that there are more Chinese restaurants in the US than the combined total of McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King.

This isn't exactly humor, either. Wired has an article on how to make a suit of armor with pull tabs from canned drinks, with illustrations.

Science:
Wired describes the recent deliberate flooding of the Grand Canyon.

Sports:
The NBA has called for a replay of the last bit of a basketball game, because of a scorekeeping error. Slate details why it's a silly idea.

Literature:
Arevanye has posted a poem by C. S. Lewis, on what love is.

Christianity:
A website on Charles Darwin's writings about religion. (I haven't looked further than a sentence or two, as yet)

Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 150

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

Science:
Male birds fed some pollutants can be more attractive to females, according to an article in Wired.

Wired selects the top ten chemistry on-line videos. (Nine from YouTube, one from PBS.)

Politics:
An editorial in USA Today , calling for a special prosecutor to pursue the issue of torture carried out by the US. Here's an excerpt:

In refusing to allow a criminal investigation, therefore, Mukasey has chosen an argument often used by criminal defendants: He blamed the lawyers. It was not a crime, Mukasey has said, because Bush relied on advice from his handpicked lawyers. Because the lawyers said it was OK, it was: "Whatever was done as part of a CIA program at the time that it was done was the subject of a Department of Justice opinion through the Office of Legal Counsel and was found to be permissible under the law as it existed then."

Of course, any crime could be magically transformed into a non-crime by simply hiring clueless or collusive counsel. Ironically, while Bradbury was one of those misguided lawyers, Mukasey is seeking his confirmation as one of his top lawyers. It is enough to make the most mobbed-up lawyer blush.

Computing:
(or politics) An allegation that the Clinton campaign darkened Obama in a TV ad.

Christianity:
Jan points out that, in one New Testament story, the men were fixing the meal while a woman was engaged in evangelism.

Thanks for reading! Keep clicking away.

Image source (public domain)