Sunspots 634

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

Christianity: Relevant has an essay, "Can Patriotism Become Idolatry?"

Relevant also has an article on why the Travel Ban is misguided, and points out that "just 12 percent of American evangelicals say that their views on immigration-related issues are primarily influenced by the Bible." (The Bible has over 30 passages that relate to treating strangers and aliens with charity.)


Ethics: In case you hadn't heard, Hobby Lobby illegally imported artifacts from Iraq, and Sojourners, and other outlets, say that they must have known that what they were doing was wrong.

Health: The Scientist tells us what changes happen when we fast.

History: National Public Radio tweeted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, and several people took that as an attack on President Trump. (NPR has been posting the Declaration on July 4th for several years.)

Humor: (or Architecture): Wired reports on a building with elevators that can go up, down, sideways, and slantways, and the advantages of having such elevators. No cables, either.
 

Politics: Oh, dear. The US Embassy in Afghanistan refused temporary visas for a team of six schoolgirls, who were seeking to enter an international robotics competition in the US. They don't look like terrorists . . .
Update: on July 13, National Public Radio reports that the girls have been allowed to compete in the US, through direct intervention by President Trump.

Science: Listverse tells us about different types of twins, including one case of "twins" born to two different mothers.




Image source (public domain)

Some important equations

In the graphic above, there are ten important equations, some apparently simple, some not so simple.

Equal: Agreeing in quantity, size, quality, degree, value, etc.; having the same magnitude, the same value, the same degree, etc. - from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Project Gutenberg, public domain

The equals sign, which we now take for granted, was first used in 1557, by a Welsh mathematician named Robert Recorde. (See the Wikipedia article on the equals sign.)

Equations used are these: three equations from “simple” arithmetic; Ohm’s law; Einstein’s energy/mass equivalence equation; Euler’s equation; the law of Sines; An equation for compound interest; Slope-intercept formula for a straight line; Newton’s law of universal gravitation.

The largest equation in the graphic, from "simple arithmetic" illustrates one of the main ideas of arithmetic, namely that a thing is equal to itself. Another one uses a zero, which symbol and concept we now take for granted. Zero was invented in India in the 9th century AD. Euler's equation, also known as Euler’s identity, relates perhaps the most important constants of mathematics, e, pi and i, the square root of minus one. There are other ways of representing compound interest, depending on the situation, but the equation used will cover many of them. The law of Sines has been used in astronomy, to measure distances of bodies within the solar system from the earth.

Two of the most important statements in English that use the word equal are:

Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (King James version)

and

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - U. S. Declaration of Independence (I know. At the time, all men weren’t considered equal, and women weren’t included. But it was, and is, a great idea.)

Thanks for looking, and, perhaps, thinking. The graphic is a link to a Flickr page, where larger sizes of it should be available.