Sunspots 762

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:

Christianity: An article in BioLogos discusses the relationship between Down Syndrome and the image of God.

Education: Grammarphobia on the use of shrink, shrank and shrunk.

Health: The Scientist reports that smelling natural surroundings appears to relieve stress.

The Scientist also reports that the effects of natural surroundings may be due, at least in part, to exercise.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight says that the majority of poll respondents believe that there is sufficient evidence to remove President Trump from office. But that is unlikely to happen, at least until the election of this year.

FiveThirtyEight also discusses the divisions about President Trump's actions in the Middle East, within the two major parties. (Not between, within!)

President Trump says that the US will target some Iranian cultural sites. NPR reports on how striking them would be illegal.

Science: Gizmodo, and other outlets, report that puffins use a tool to scratch themselves.

NPR reports on why some knots hold better than others.

Listverse tells us some common interesting misconceptions about colors.

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

Sunspots 757

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

Christianity: A Christianity Today report indicates that giving by evangelicals has not changed much as a result of the recent tax overhaul.

Education: Grammarphobia tells us why a turkey's leg is called a drumstick.

Environment: A strong argument that climate change is not really the problem.
  Health: NPR has a reflection on sibling relationships.

Humor: (or something) Listverse describes the achievements of 10 successful people with Down Syndrome.

Politics: A FiveThirtyEight writer analyzes what happened to Kamala Harris's campaign for President.

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

Sunspots 619

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

Christianity: A Christianity Today writer tells us why Down Syndrome children are valuable.

Fox News reports that some Muslim refugees are converting to Christianity, in Europe.

(and health) From a blog: "What I'll say to my Children if I'm Diagnosed with Alzheimer's." (Thanks to a regular reader for the link.)


Ethics: A Sojourners article says that President Trump's lies are putting us on the brink of a moral crisis. The article notes other lies from other Presidents, but claims that Mr. Trump's lies are bolder, more frequent, and, apparently, deliberate.

History: The History Blog reports on a toilet seat that was made nearly 2,000 years ago.

Listverse tells us 10 interesting things about trains. (Some of these are about Japanese trains.)

Humor: (sort of) Listverse tells us 10 stupid things that the CIA did years ago.


Politics: FiveThirtyEight and other sources, including Scientific American, indicate that President Trump's recent roll-back of environmental regulations affecting coal won't have much effect -- the coal industry, and coal miners, aren't going to be helped significantly.

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)