Sunspots 899

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

The Arts: Gizmodo  describes 13 streaming services, ranging from free to ad-supported to paying, that you have probably never heard of.

Tor.com has published an article on Galadriel, as Tolkien portrayed her. (Note that the article isn't based on the upcoming Rings of Power video series.)

Christianity: (or something) A Conversation writer discusses the role of dragons in religions.

A Christianity Today writer writes about the possibility of having artificial intelligences as worship leaders and preachers.

Health: NPR on how sweat that smells stinky protects us.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight reports on Republican election deniers who won their elections.

Science: (or something) CNet tells us about things that make us more attractive to mosquitoes.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading. 

Sunspots 872

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

The Arts: The Federalist claims, with evidence, that Amazon's production of early times, in Tolkien's vision, will be a disaster, at least in the sense of adhering to Tolkien's ideas.

Food: Senegalese farmers are learning to encourage growth of a plant formerly treated as a weed.

Health: The Scientist says that COVID is transmitted by tiny particles in the air, not by large drops.

NPR says that Neil Cavuto, a Fox News host, thanks vaccination, without which he says that he wouldn't be alive. Cavuto earlier received some death threats for advocating vaccination.

Science: Gizmodo reports on a study of DNA found in ocean depths. Most of it is from previously unknown species. Such organisms play an important part in the Carbon cycle of the earth.

Gizmodo also reports that the Webb telescope is working perfectly, so far.

NPR reports on a pack of killer whales who successfully (for them) killed a blue whale.

Gizmodo reports that we may not be prepared for accidental contamination of earth, or some other planet.

The Scientist reports that mosquitoes can remember the smells of insecticides.

Sports: FiveThirtyEight gives us an in-depth look at NBA refereeing.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

*I try not to include items that require a password or fee to view.

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 824

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

It's St. Patricks' Day. See this article from the History Channel.

The Arts: Listverse shows us beautiful, or interesting, photos of abandoned structures.

Christianity: (and politics) an insightful review of a book on Christian nationalism, by Tim Keller.

Christianity Today has an article about Henrietta Mears, who, in many ways, founded the 20th-century evangelical movement, and was a positive force for Christ. Billy Graham probably would never have come to prominence without her influence. (I'd never heard of her.)

Relevant reports on a survey that indicates that pastors are leaving churches because a significant portion of their attendees have become QAnon believers.

Christianity Today has an article urging redress of sentencing guidelines that have been unfair to African-Americans.

Computing: (and Education) Gizmodo reports that lots of children (and adults) still don't have internet access.

Health: Gizmodo reports that diphtheria infections are on the rise, because of mutated bacteria.

NPR reports that the frequency of alcohol-caused liver disease in young women has risen sharply.

Politics: (and Health, and Race) FiveThirtyEight examines the reasons why African-Americans are getting vaccinated against COVID less. It's not because they don't trust the shots, but because many of them lack internet access for signing up, and because distribution centers are less likely to be close to where they live.

Science: Gizmodo reports that some deep-sea bacteria are "invisible" to human immune systems. That is, they are not recognized as foreign, and attacked. This could be dangerous.

Gizmodo also reports that rainbows look different in Hawaii, and tells us why. (The article also explains rainbows, wherever they are.)

A mosquito, which carries human infectious diseases, has entered Florida from elsewhere, according to NPR.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 796

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

Christianity: Relevant reports that some Christians were seriously put off  by Vice-President Pence, "whose Wednesday address raised eyebrows for paraphrasing Hebrews 12 (which is fine), but swapping out the biblical language for patriotic buzzwords (which is not)."

Christianity Today has two articles on what the Bible says about police and policing. The articles are here and here.

(and Sports) Christianity Today also has a discussion of the role of Christian athletes, mostly black, but some white, in the racial justice movement, over the past few decades. There's very little mention of women, unfortunately.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that wolverines, which have been absent from the area for a century, have returned to Mount Rainier.

Gizmodo also reports on a study that shows humans have about as large a footprint in the oceans as they do on land.

Health: Gizmodo expands on the six foot/two meter social distancing guideline.

Gizmodo also reports on the puzzling change in COVID testing guidelines, from the Centers for Disease Control.

The Huffington Post takes on the claim that only 6% of those said to have died from COVID actually died of it. It's complicated, but one quote: "Since March, when the pandemic started, the United States has suffered 200,000 more deaths than usual."

Politics: (And religion, unfortunately) Christianity Today points out the dangers of QAnon.

Science: The Scientist reports on an attempt to cut down on dengue fever, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, in Indonesia. Mosquitoes infected with bacteria were released, and the frequency of dengue fever dropped dramatically.

Listverse tells us about some amazing mushrooms.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, it is free to use like this.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 369

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

Science:  National Public Radio reports on why raindrops don't kill mosquitoes when the mosquito gets hit.

NPR also reports on why horseshoe crabs have blue blood, and other things you almost certainly didn't know about these animals.

Politics:  (Sort of) The Brookings Institution has published an on-line interactive guide to the location of manufacturing jobs in the US.

Image source (public domain)