Sunspots 773

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

Christianity: Relevant tells us about St. Patrick.

Relevant also tells us some things to remember when we get anxious.


Computing: Gizmodo compares several streaming services.

Finance: FiveThirtyEight tells us that the restaurant business is hurting badly, and gives state-by-state data. Restaurant employees, or suddenly laid off workers, are hurting even worse.

Health: Lifehacker tells us why we shouldn't name diseases after locations.

The virus is everywhere! Grammarphobia tells us what "deadly" means.

Politics: (and Health and Finance) Gizmodo reports on some Senators who may have had advance warning of a stock market collapse, and who sold stock before the panic set in.


(and Health and Education) Relevant reports that a Liberty University professor has openly criticized Jerry Falwell, head of the University, for his bizarre theories on the origin of COVID-19, and for requiring employees to work on campus. Here's more on that same story, from later, also from Relevant, which may explain Falwell's actions, at least to some extent.


Science: The Scientist reports that some beetle larvae are able to live and grow on polystyrene, a plastic. This may mean that there is hope for getting out from under the load of plastic we are adding to the environment.

The Scientist also reports on the skull of a very tiny dinosaur, preserved in amber.

Gizmodo reports on NASA's detailed photographs of an asteroid that is scheduled to be landed on, sampled, and have the samples returned to earth.

FiveThirtyEight describes how COVID-19 tests actually work.

Sports: March Madness, sort of. FiveThirtyEight describes the women's NCAA basketball tournament that wasn't.

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

Thanks for looking!

Outrageous: Deporting veterans and refusing service in restaurants

According the the Associated Press and National Public Radio, immigrants who served in the US military, and were promised a path to US citizenship, have been discharged, and deported. That's outrageous! Snopes has checked this, and finds it true.

So is refusing to serve people in restaurants, just because their politics isn't compatible with the restaurant staff, whether the person in question is Sarah Huckabee Sanders, or, for example, Rev. Al Sharpton. If someone comes in and insults the staff, or does not comply with a dress code prominently posted next to the entrance, has a history of not paying, or, without provocation, makes loud statements, displays, or noises that annoy other customers, OK. Ask them to leave. But not just because they work for the President, whoever he or she might be, or have different political views than the management. That's outrageous!

The Golden Rule tells us to do to others as we would want them to do to us, and says nothing about them belonging to our intellectual tribe, whatever tribe that may be.

Thanks for reading!