Sunspots 956

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

Computing: Gizmodo reports that workers who work accompanied by robots tend to slack off more than workers who work with humans.

Ethics: A Conversation writer has studied lies and lying: how often, in what circumstances.

Health: A Conversation writer tells us that chicken soup really does us some good.

Gizmodo reports on a woman who had a spider living in her ear. Really.

Politics: (or something) NPR reports on an analysis that shows that children of married parents are better off than children of single mothers.

(or something) A Conversation writer discusses traffic roundabouts.

Science: Nature reports on the question of whether there is life on earth. Really.

Sex: A Conversation writer points out that neither humans nor animals are entirely male or entirely female, and discusses other aspects of sex and reproduction.

(and the Arts) NPR reports on a study indicating that young people think there is too much sex in movies and TV.

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

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 859

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

The Arts: (and humor) NPR has posted winners of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Award.

Christianity: (and politics) A Relevant writer makes a good case that "the media" are not massively anti-Christian, and warns against taking one issue (such as abortion) and making that the only issue.

A Christianity Today writer reflects on on-line giving of various sorts, as putting money in an offering plate becomes less common.

Another Christianity Today article describes the results of surveys which indicate that committed Christians are less likely to have sexual relations outside of marriage than was true in the recent past.

A blog post says that the term "evangelical" has been hi-jacked, and has come to mean, in many people's eyes, not a group of beliefs, but a certain kind of politics. The article says that there are people who identify themselves as "evangelical" who do not use the Bible as a guide, don't attend church, or who are actually Muslim or Hindu in belief.

Computing: FiveThirtyEight discusses disparities in exposure to environmental problems, such as toxic waste. Minority groups are more concerned about these matters than "average" persons.

Education: FiveThirtyEight reports that predicted teacher shortages didn't happen much (there have been some places where they did), and that teachers have become more vocal about safety and other issues in schools. (There have been serious shortages in bus drivers and other non-professional education staff.)

Finances: Gizmodo discusses the question of why gas prices are so high. It's complicated.

Health: CNN reports on the loss of smell in some people who have had COVID.

History: (and health) NPR goes over the history of vaccination requirements, all the way back to 1818. There have always been objections.

Politics: NPR discusses yet another book on the last days of the Presidency of Donald Trump. Some scary stuff.

I am not making this up. Gizmodo reports that hundreds of QAnon cultists gathered at the site of the assassination of President J. F. Kennedy. Why? They were expecting Kennedy's son (who died in a plane accident several years ago) to appear and announce that Donald Trump is the legitimate President. It didn't happen.

There's an update to the previous article, here, and it's serious.

Science: An anonymous donor (!) gave a large, poisonous spider, with fangs strong enough to pierce a human fingernail, to an Australian animal park.

There are YouTube videos, such as this one, showing the annual crab migration in Australia, which involves millions of red crabs.

Gizmodo tells us about examples of animals from two different species cooperating for the benefit of both.

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 758

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

The Arts (and Education): NPR reports that Carroll Spinney, who played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch from the beginning of Sesame Street until a year or so ago, has died.

Christianity: (and politics) There is an attempt, in Congress, to pass legislation that would protect the rights of homosexuals, and also the rights of Christian organizations and small businesses.

(and science) BioLogos reports that one of this year's Nobel laureates in Chemistry is a believing Christian.
  Humor: (or something) Listverse describes the 10 best board games ever created.


Politics: Another way in which the Department of Education is hindering, not helping, students with disabilities, and Congress is not happy, according to NPR.

Science: Listverse has a compilation of arguments used to prove that evolution is false. None of these arguments do that.

NPR reports on a comet that has apparently come from another solar system.

NPR also reports on a fascinating Dubna, Russia-Oak Ridge, TN scientific collaboration that resulted in the production of six short-live atoms of a new element, Tennessine. There is one mistake in the report: "Element 117 fits in a column of the periodic table filled with compounds called halogens - fluorine, chlorine, bromine." It should have been "elements called halogens."

And NPR reports that fresh-water mussels are dying, and on why this matters.

Gizmodo reports on using wood as the basis of optical fibers.

Gizmodo also reports on a newly discovered widow spider, which lays purple eggs.

The Scientist reports that it is now possible to store instructions for replicating the object in the object itself. A related application might be to store information on how a medical device or implant was made in the device or implant, itself. This sort of study may be coming close to creating a new kind of life.

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

Sunspots 587

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

Christianity: (or Religion) Listverse sets forth 10 common misconceptions about Hinduism. (See also the Wikipedia on Hinduism -- the two sources do not agree on every point.)

Listverse also sets forth 10 common misconceptions about Jews.

Computing: National Public Radio reports on storage of information in arrangements of individual atoms. Potentially, our hard discs, thumb drives, etc., could be superseded.

Education: Wikipedia articles (here and here) on the development of a written Cherokee language, in about 1820, by a Native American named Sequoyah. His system of symbols made it easier to teach reading and writing than the symbols most of us use today.

Finance: John Wesley's sermon on "The Use of Money."

Food: National Public Radio reports on the discovery that cockroach milk is very nutritious.

Politics: (Not really. but I don't have a category for this.) Two young women are hitchhiking across Europe with a sofa (!) in an attempt to help refugees.

Wired reports that your political posts on Facebook or Twitter don't change anyone's mind.

Science: Listverse reports on 10 mysteries involving spiders.

And Listverse also reports on 10 amazing things that 10 species of animals can do.

National Public Radio reports on some very old sharks (like more than two centuries, at least.)

NPR alsoreports on why sunflowers follow the sun. ("Follow" means that the flowers turn toward the sun throughout the day).

And NPR reports that earthworms really do enrich soil.





Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 547

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

Christianity: Christianity Today has an article on how to help people in need, without creating beggars, or destroying their dignity. The article considers both foreign and domestic charity.

Relevant has an article warning Christians not to judge those in need.

Humor: Relevant shows us what Dunkin' Donuts' "Holiday Cup" looks like.

Politics: A thorough analysis, comparing the amount residents of each state pay in federal taxes, compared to the amount that state, and its individuals, receive back from the federal government. Over all, "red" states are more dependent on the federal government than "blue" states. Some of the reasons for that are that Southern states tend to have more retirees, and also more people in poverty, and that natural disasters tend to strike Southern states more often. There's a lot more, including many comments.

The New York Times reports on simplifying the tax code. It's not as simple as some people think it would be.

People speaking for Muslim countries have condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.

BuzzFeed has posted a picture essay on where and how Syrian refugee children sleep.

Science: Public Radio International has a post on myths about spiders. (They aren't as scary as we seem to think.)

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 526

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

The Arts: The History Blog tells us about the return of the best-known (and almost the only) picture of J. S. Bach to Leipzig
 
Christianity: An article on the errors the so-called Prosperity Gospel makes in interpreting the Bible.


Benjamin L. Corey thinks that John Calvin either didn't understand Christ's teaching, or deliberately disobeyed it, and explains his thinking.

Health: (or something) As of June 11, 2015, Amazon was offering a free book, in Kindle format (the price may go back up in the future) entitled How to Survive by Eating Insects and Learning Entomophagy [eating insects]. I didn't download it, but it caught my attention.


Science: Wired points out that the wings of the dinosaurs in Jurassic World aren't large enough.


The courtship display of a peacock spider, in a 3 minute 2 second video.


Wired also has an essay about dinosaurs in general. If we did produce one now, would it be like the extinct ones? How would we know? and other interesting questions.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 501

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

The Arts: Christopher Tolkien, son of J. R. R. Tolkien, is not happy with the movies made by Peter Jackson.


Christianity: Speculative Faith sticks up for Santa, partly due to Father Christmas in The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe.

Computing: FiveThirtyEight, a news web site that majors on statistics, especially in sports, but also in other subjects, like politics. For example, there's an article that says that the conventional wisdom on oil prices has almost always been wrong. You have to see it to understand it.
 
Humor: (Sort of) Wired reports that NASA tells us that we can see the added illumination caused by Christmas lights from space.
 
Science:  National Public Radio reports on why Arctic ice is melting so rapidly. Wired also reports on this subject.
Wired shows us what must be the most bizarre-looking spider in the world, and describes it.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 490

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:

The Arts: (And Christianity) A fascinating discussion of so-called "white magic," which is illustrated thus:
Many Christians, including many parents, are practicing “white magic” whenever they fear and shun objects, symbols, and Things more than they fear Jesus Christ and hate inner sin.
Health: National Public Radio reports on how many days dying patients spend in hospitals, and what causes the variation. It varies widely, almost three times as much in New York and New Jersey as in Utah and Idaho.
Science: NPR reports on a portion of the brain that may be a main cause of unselfish behavior.
The BBC asks if all the ants on earth weigh more than all the people. I thank one of my brothers for this link.
Wired reports on a spider that lives its entire life underwater.
(And politics) Some right-wing news outlets are trumpeting a recent study, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as showing that global climate change is not caused by human activity. Not exactly. Here's a report on the study, from the Associated Press. To quote the AP: "The study ... does not question global warming but argues that there is evidence that in at least one place, local winds are a more important factor explaining ocean warming than greenhouse gases." Critics of the study have pointed out that local winds, themselves, are probably influenced by human activity. And, of course, even if human activity has no effect on winds, the report is not global, and it does not question that human activity effects ocean warming. Here's a press release, from NOAA, on the report.
Sports: The scoring summary of the September 21, 2014 NFL game between the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders. All of the scoring (a touchdown, an extra point, and six field goals) was done by three players, Sebastian Janikowski, Rob Gronkowski and Stephen Gostkowski. That must be some sort of record . . .

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 485

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

Christianity: A post in Relevant says that complaining is a spiritual problem.
Education: National Public Radio reports on Turnitin, a service that checks the papers submitted by college students, for plagiarism.
Health: An amazing 3-minute video on what we look like to an ultraviolet camera. The video also shows graphic evidence that we should use sun-screen, aka sunblock, and that glass blocks UV waves. See here for a report on the video, in Slate.
Humor: (Or something) Coffee is now being made from coffee beans eaten, then passed through the gut, of elephants. Really, says National Public Radio.
Science:  Wired reports that city spiders grow bigger than spiders not in urban areas.
NPR reports on using people with Down syndrome as subjects for research into Alzheimer's. It turns out that, if they live long enough, all people with Down syndrome develop Alzheimer's.
Wired also reports on fungi that control the behavior of ants.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 450

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

The Arts: A video of Julia Fischer, who is an accomplished violinist and also a very good classical pianist.

Computing: Wired says that the next big change in information appliances, and it's already started, is wearable devices.

Science: The Milky Way (the galaxy we are inside) has been awarded four arms, not the two previously given, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

Perhaps more than you want to know about cockroaches, from the History Channel.

Wired reports on strange structures built by spiders in the Amazon area.

P. S. You may not have noticed, but I have been posting the "Sunspots" on Wednesdays for several years. This time, this one is going up on Tuesday, because Wednesday is Christmas. I know -- we don't know what year or month Christ was born, let alone what day, but December 25th is a day of celebration for Christians, and tomorrow's post is related to that celebration. Thanks for reading.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 426

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

Christianity: A fine review of a book I decided not to get, among the Amazon user-contributed book reviews: "Basically, my reaction to this book is this. Reading a book about the Bible is a lot like watching someone else play a video game. You can learn some things but you can't have the experience until you do it yourself."
"A . . . scholarship focus can set up a dangerous mindset that knowledge is the point of the Bible. When actually it is to get out and share the saving grace of Jesus with the world."


Science: Discovery reports that spider webs may attract prey because the webs, and the prey, are electrically charged.

Three National Public Radio reports on gut (that's a perfectly good biology word, meaning the apparatus between the mouth and the anus, by the way) bacteria and their importance:

Gut bacterial populations seem to be quite stable over long periods of time, and we may get much of that population from our mothers or other relatives.

Gut bacteria may produce a substance, after helping us digest meat, that increases risks for heart attacks.
Gut bacteria populations may cause some forms of malnutrition.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 280

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

Science:  In case you want to know, CNN tells us what to do if  body parts become detached.

I wish this was in the humor category, but it isn't. There's to be a conference on geocentrism -- the view that the earth is the center of the universe. The headline on the main page says "Galileo was Wrong."

NPR reports on the largest, strongest spider web known. (There's a photo.)

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 243

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

Science:
Wired reports on an analysis that indicates that the decline of bee colonies has several causes, rather than a single one.

Wired also reports (with a photograph) on a newly discovered, very large species of spider.

A small asteroid will come pretty close to the earth today, according to Wired.

Christianity:
Henry Neufeld objects to the notion that Christianity is a "deal."



Image source (public domain)