Sunspots 900

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

The Arts: A Christianity Today writer on Tolkien's world, and ours.

Christianity: A Christianity Today writer on how corporate worship may bond us together in ways we don't realize.

Christianity Today has posted links to several articles on the late Mickail Gorbachev.

Politics:  A Conversation writer says that Iran is winning the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Gizmodo notes that former President Trump has incriminated himself on his own social media platform.

Science: Gizmodo on 7 animals that use tools.

A web page that tells us that fruit flies have been important in Nobel-prize-winning research.

A writer for The Conversation points out that over half of human fertilized eggs die before the woman knows that she is pregnant, but that laws protecting human embryos don't take this into account.

Another writer for The Conversation discusses what we know about fish sleep.

Sports: FiveThirtyEight tells us which of the big universities are football schools, and which are basketball schools.

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

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 697

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

Christianity: Christianity Today reports on the shockingly low numbers of refugees, and refugees who have been persecuted for being Christians, that entered the US last year.

A Christianity Today author on the stress of caring for kids at home and for aging parents, at the same time.

Relevant responds to a question about whether giving to Christian charities makes it unnecessary to tithe to one's church.

Relevant also offers an essay on "Five Myths of Christian Political Engagement."


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware on an application that lets you listen to radio stations from all over the world, free.


Health: National Public Radio reports that patients with colds want doctors to prescribe antibiotics, even though such medications aren't effective against viruses, and may contribute to antibiotic resistance.

National Public Radio also reports on using apps to help you go to sleep. Some of them work!
The Scientist reports that abdominal fat can play a role in protecting us. (Too much of it is still bad for us!)

Philosophy: A Scientific American writer argues that science can never solve the mind-body problem. (Here's the Wikipedia article on that problem.)


Science: Listverse tells us about Europa, the most interesting moon of Jupiter.

Earther reports on high-flying (like about 8+ kilometers up) bacteria, and their effect on weather, and maybe on disease transmission.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain.
Thanks for looking!

I'm glad Jesus got out of bed

The Bible tells us that Jesus, although God in human flesh, was tempted, just as we are. (Hebrews 4:15, all references to the ESV) This verse strongly implies that He was not only tempted, but tempted in the same ways we can be (He was tempted "in every respect").

Note, then, Mark 1:35: "And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed."

If it had been me, I would have been tempted to roll over and go back to sleep. (He had had a hard and busy day previously.) So Jesus must have been also tempted like this. But He got up, and prayed. I'm glad He did. What if He hadn't? If He hadn't, He would, I suppose, have sinned, by yielding to temptation, and, if He had sinned, He would not have been a sinless sacrifice for me.

I'm glad Jesus got out of bed.

Thanks for reading. I hope I pray more.

Sunspots 481

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

Christianity: "7 Signs we may be worshiping the family," instead of encouraging our family to be worshipers.  
Health: In parts of Pakistan controlled by the Taliban, polio vaccination is not being done, according to National Public Radio. NPR also reports that, even in other parts of Pakistan, keeping people from getting polio is difficult.
Humor: (Or something) Wired on how lots of human cultural groups have had the idea of werewolves. (Even from places where there are no wolves.)
(Or something) NPR reports that Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee, has halted a program designed to make some of its workers sound less Southern.
Science:  Wired tells us that sleeping more than usual doesn't satisfy, and why.
National Public Radio reports on a significant science fair project by a sixth-grader.

Image source (public domain)