Sunspots 913

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

The Arts: NPR reports that Pantone has selected its "color of the year."

Christianity: A Christianity Today article on "The Theological Foundations of Natural Science."

Computing: (and Sports) FiveThirtyEight discusses the high-tech balls being used in the World Cup competition.

Education: Grammarphobia considers three different meanings of the word, "lap."

History: Gizmodo reports on some scribbles in the margin of a medieval manuscript.

Politics: An article in The Conversation says that a federal judge has ruled that it is illegal to prevent domestic abusers from having access to guns.

Science: The Scientist reports that some moths emit noises to avoid being eaten by bats.

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

Thanks for reading. 

Sunspots 644

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

The Arts: National Public Radio reports on the most popular plays and musicals put on by high schools.

Christianity: A Christianity Today writer on the fallacy of spiritual gifts.

A Christianity Today writer says that there's no such thing as a "Christian numerologist," and that the world isn't going to end in the next few days.

Sojourners asks if we have ever heard a sermon about domestic violence. (I haven't)

Christianity Today summarizes the careers of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. It's a cautionary tale -- there, but for the grace of God, and vigilance on my part, go I (only not so far, I guess).

Relevant says that churches shouldn't try to be cool.


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware reminds us that, with a bit of tweaking, we can do a Google search for copyright-free images.

Wired reports on font detectives -- experts who evaluate the authenticity of printed materials based on the fonts used. For example, a document supposedly printed in 1980 is a fake if it uses a font created in 1995.

Relevant suggests a method for determining how authentic a web source is -- for example, identifying fake news.

History: Listverse discusses 10 Roman Emperors that you've probably never heard of.

(and mathematics, and philosophy) The History Blog reports that an Indian manuscript, using a precursor of what we call zero, or naught, dates to at 400 AD, or older. The post also discusses the rise of the modern understanding of zero.

Humor: (or something) National Public Radio reports on a 10-year-old boy who volunteered to mow the White House lawn for free, and got the chance, at 11 years old.


Politics: FiveThirtyEight has checked into how much of books by politicians that people actually read.

Relevant reports that white evangelical Christians have become remarkably more accepting of immoral behavior in politicians, in the last six years.

Science: (and Christianity) Ken Schenck reverently re-writes Genesis 1:1 in terms of modern science. (This probably won't be meaningful unless you have a pretty good science background. Schenck, who is Dean of a School of Theology, has such a background.) I posted about this essay two days ago, but it's important enough that I am mentioning it again.

The BBC tells us why it is so hard to swat a fly -- it has to do with the speed of their vision, and behavior.

I learned, from the Wikipedia, that there is an artificially produced element named for the state of Tennessee -- Tennesine, element 117.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 590

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

Christianity: A Florida State football player ate lunch with an autistic boy who was eating alone in his school cafeteria, says Relevant.

A blogger has posted some stupid phrases, or good phrases used stupidly, for people in crisis.

Benjamin L. Corey says that Christian parents should be celebrating Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand during the National Anthem.


Computing: Bloomberg warns us that our new refrigerators may be watching us (and sending information to others.)

Education: National Public Radio reports on a study that indicates that when a child in school is exposed to violence in the home, it affects the entire class.

Health: Wired says that too many of us still aren't wearing seat belts.

Scientific American, and many other news outlets, on why the ingredients in many antibacterial soaps have been banned. (Regular soap is just as good!)

History: ListVerse on 10 people who rescued others, who were on the other side, during World War II.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight discusses facts about immigration, based on real data. (Example: Hispanic immigrants learn English as well as, or better than, German immigrants did in the past.)

Science: Wired has posted a graphic, showing how rapidly climate has changed over the past 160 years or so.

FiveThirtyEight discusses what starlight tells us about the universe. As the post says, pretty much everything we know.

Scientific American discusses the matter of calling family members by some other family member's name.

Scientific American also discusses the subject of communicating with aliens -- how could we learn their language (or the reverse)? (There's a movie about that coming out soon.)

NPR reports that some lizards are starving to death, because it is too hot for them to forage during most of the day.



Image source (public domain)

A few thoughts on the National Football League, and domestic violence

Domestic violence is currently much in the news. Whether that news is being attended to by Jane Smith and John Doe is another question. Maybe.

The problem is, as some have said, bigger than the National Football League.  According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1 in 4 women (24.3%) and 1 in 7 men (13.8%) aged 18 and older in the United States have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. That's almost one in four women. The problem is a LOT bigger.

As to the National Football League, violence is necessary to the entertainment product that it sells. It's not surprising that some of the players don't seem to know where the playing field ends. Those who have trouble with this should seek counseling and spiritual healing, but it shouldn't be a shock that some of them haven't done so, or have done so, and it didn't stick.

One aspect of this situation is that the NFL's purpose is to make money. The Commissioner, Roger Goodell, earned (or not) $44,000,000 in 2012, according to Business Week. There's something terribly wrong with our priorities when someone makes that much money, contrasted with teachers, firefighters, social workers, police, nurses and child care workers, whose professions are designed to help people, but probably won't make 5% of that amount over their entire working life. No wonder bad things happen in the NFL. Consider also the mess over brain damage to players, and how poorly those players and their families have been compensated for the irreparable damage done to their quality of life, and for the early deaths some have suffered. The New York Times gives figures for the estimated number of players and former players effected, and the total amount of the settlement. According to my calculations, the players will get about $160,000 each, on the average. (There will be sliding scales, depending on the damage and the age of the players.) All of us who watch the NFL are partly guilty of these crimes, too, I guess, because we have, by watching and otherwise paying attention, encouraged the NFL's money-making activities. (It's OK to make money. But we shouldn't expect a money-making organization to have the best interests of its customers or employees at heart, as opposed to the interests of the owners/stockholders.)

Will the NFL lose significant money over all this? Probably not. TV advertisers will continue to buy ads, most likely. Anheuser-Busch, beer producer, and advertiser, has indicated that it is not pleased by the NFL's handling of the domestic violence situation. Now that's a real irony. No doubt a lot of the domestic violence carried out was done while the perpetrators were under the influence of alcohol, some of it from Anheuser-Busch products.

Leonard Pitts, nationally syndicated columnist, wrote the following, in relation to celebrities getting away with domestic violence:
We are a celebrity-besotted people who too routinely conflate fame with worth, giving the talented, the beautiful and the well known benefit of the doubt we do not extend to the untalented, the unlovely and the unknown. Indeed. We probably get the entertainment we deserve. If that's true, God help us, worshipers of money-making, celebrity and violence that we are.

Thanks for reading.