Sunspots 687

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

The Arts: (and astronomy) Gizmodo has posted some stunning astronomical photos.

Computing: (and politics) Gizmodo writes about President Trump's charge that whoever broke into the Democratic National Committee's e-mail could be found, if the server involved was available, and his implication that, somehow, the server wasn't provided to the FBI.


Education: Grammarphobia on the use (and misuse) of "should" and "would," in Downton Abbey and elsewhere.

Ethics: A Council on Bioethics, in the UK, has concluded that allowing gene modification, even in germline cells (where the modification may be passed on to future generations, should not be completely prohibited.

Health: The new head of the Environmental Protection (?) Agency has presided over a rollback of coal ash requirements.

New Scientist reports that cell phones do not cause cancer.

(or something) A store to nap in has opened in New York City, according to Relevant.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight looks at the life expectancy of each of the current Supreme Court justices, including the recent nominee.

Gizmodo reports that a Microsoft official says that the Russians have targeted candidates running for office in the 2018 US elections.

Science: Scientific American reports on what we know about planets orbiting other stars. We know a lot more than we did a few years ago, and our solar system is rather odd.

Gizmodo reports that we really don't remember what happened when we were younger than 42 months old, or so, but we often think that we do.

(and politics, unfortunately) FiveThirtyEight tells us what global climate change is doing now. Too much.

Sports: Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks have agreed to a contract for Nowitzki's 21st year with the same team, a record for the National Basketball Association.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 447

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

Christianity: Christian History has published an issue on the church's response to Darwin, from the time of the publication of The Origin of Species to the Scopes trial. The issue is available as a free .PDF file.
Ken Schenck has summarized his view on how to interpret scripture. Readable, and concise.
Politics: National Public Radio reports that we may pick our location, at least to some extent, to accord with our political preferences.
An editorial in The Washington Post says that, in government, managing for efficiency is not rewarded. In fact, managing inefficiently may be.
Science: Wired reports that lemurs can anticipate what other animals will see, but not what they will hear.
USA Today reports that pre-wedding jitters may predict problems in the marriage.
National Public Radio reports that our brains geotag memories, so that events are associated with places.
NASA has posted a video on sungrazing comets. By the time you read this, Comet Ison will, or will not, have survived its trip near the sun. (It probably did survive, or some of it did.)

Image source (public domain)