Sunspots 620

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

Christianity: Christianity Today interviews an author of a study on cohabitation vs. marriage, which found that marriage is considerably better for the children involved.

It seems that Vice President Pence won't eat a meal alone with a woman other than his wife. Sojourners discusses this, and the reaction to this behavior.

(And Science) A pastor writer in Christianity Today has been in dialog with geneticists who are getting close to the possibility of producing "designer babies." He considers the morality of such activity.


Education: There is a British apostrophizer -- he adds (or deletes) misplaced apostrophes on billboards.



Health: National Public Radio reports that lonely people are more deeply affected by colds.

NPR also reports that the infant death rate has dropped significantly, world-wide, in recent years.

History: Listverse on how socks (the things we wear on our feet) changed history.

Politics: (or something) NPR reports on a man who spent 25 years in prison for crimes that he didn't commit has had his story written by a prominent TV executive. He explains his attitude, in spite of the wrong done to him.

Science: National Public Radio reports that there were far fewer cases of microcephaly, associated with the Zika virus, in Brazil, than were predicted.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 575

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


Christianity: Bible scholar Ken Schenck on what the Bible says about wealth.

E. Stephen Burnett has written two "duh!" posts, about truths Christians need to be reminded of: our non-Christian neighbors don't get God's law, and they don't even understand God's grace in a rudimentary way.

Christianity Today on Pascal's wager. (The wager was about whether it makes sense to be a Christian believer, even if, say, Christian teaching about heaven is false.)

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware points to a site that will tell you how hard it would be to crack a password.

The Environment: (or something) Listverse discusses the 10 loneliest things in the world.

Food: Listverse reports on 10 strange soda (aka soft drink) flavors.

Health: National Public Radio reports on whether or not women need to have menstrual periods.

Politics: (and health)  National Public Radio reports that a ten billion dollar program which was supposed to speed up getting treatment visits for veterans has actually made things worse. Oh, dear.

Science: Wired on why insect stings really hurt.

Listverse reports on 10 bizarre-sounding proposals by scientists, most of which were suggested as ways to alleviate Global Climate Change.

NPR reports on research designed to find out why we gossip.

Sports: FiveThirtyEight reports that women get concussions from participating in sports at higher rates than men do.

Image source (public domain)  

Sunspots 515

Although this is posted on April 1, none of it is designed to be an April Fool's joke:

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity: Christianity Today reports that so-called "Heaven Tourism" books will no longer be carried, or sold, by a major Christian bookstore chain, and why.

The Environment: Relevant discusses six commonly-used items that we shouldn't be using, because of their effect on the environment.

Health: Two articles on the dangers of loneliness: here and here.
(and geopolitics)

Michael Gerson warns that humanity is not ready for the next really big epidemic, and Ebola isn't it.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight has published an extensive analysis of the Republican candidates for US President, and concludes that Senator Ted Cruz cannot win. He will draw plenty of media attention, though.

Science:  From Science, an interesting study on how life may have originated from non-life.





Image source (public domain)