Sunspots 934

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

Computing and Politics: Gizmodo talks to a member of Congress who wants to require acknowledgment of such when deepfake (computer-generated material masquerading as the real thing) technology is used.

Environment:  (and Politics) The Guardian reports on a detailed plan, for an incoming Republican President,  to eliminate the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency, and other such governmental entities.

The heat is so high, in Arizona, that even saguaro cactus plants are dying.

Food: Does Subway's tuna really contain tuna?

Health  (and Politics): Gizmodo reports that Republican people have been more likely to get COVID than Democrats, at least partly because of misinformation about the vaccines by prominent Republicans.

Science: The Associated Press and other outlets report that the  family of Henrietta Lacks has been compensated for the use of her cells, which were taken without her knowledge or permission. They have been used widely in science.

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

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 933

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

Environment:  FiveThirtyEight reports on attempts to undo steps to reduce global warming.

Gizmodo reports that the US Supreme Court has become interested in the deception practiced by oil companies.

Politics: A Conversation writer compares the visions of Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas.

Some Tennessee state officials are trying to remove mention of slavery from the history of the Civil War, according to a Conversation writer.

Science: Gizmodo reports that scientists are turning dead bird carcasses (including feathers) into drones.

Gizmodo (and other outlets) report on a massive study of the DNA of many types of mammals.

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

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 923

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

Computing: Gizmodo reports that voice actors are in danger of losing compensation for their work, because of artificial intelligence productions.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that California authorities have restricted access to fields of wild California poppies, because of the damage caused by visitors/selfie photographers during the last superbloom (after a rain).

(and Science) According to Gizmodo, some scientists are exploring the possibility of slowing global warming by shooting moon dust into space, to block some of the sun's light.

Politics: (or something) NPR reports that the military shot down an "object" over Alaska. Whatever it was, it doesn't seem to have been as sophisticated as the Chinese balloon shot down off the South Carolina coast.

The Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agency has released a report on the use and distribution of guns in the US. It's scary, and indicates that gun violence will increase.

FiveThirtyEight reports that President Biden's Cabinet officers have stayed put longer than is typical -- they must really like their jobs.

Science: A woodpecker, or a family of them, stored 700 pounds of acorns in a chimney, according to NPR.

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

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 803

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

Christianity: Relevant reports that the Chinese government is removing crosses, and other items identifying Christianity, from state-approved churches.

Christianity Today reminds us that devotional books are not to be a substitute for the Bible. Thanks.

(And Politics) Ken Schenck discusses interpretation of the Bible, and considers how the US Constitution is interpreted by the Supreme Court. ("Originalism")

Environment: Relevant reports that September was the hottest September in history.

Ethics: A Gallup poll from June examines the acceptability (or not) of various behaviors. Marital infidelity was the behavior most unacceptable, to 89% of respondents. As FiveThirtyEight put it, it's hard to get 9 out of 10 Americans to agree on anything, but they seem to on this.

Health: (and politics) FiveThirtyEight tells us why we didn't learn much from President Trump's COVID illness.

Gizmodo reports that over 1,000 current and former Centers for Disease Control officials have asked that the CDC be given back its traditional role as leading the fight against COVID. The article closes by doubting that this will happen, at least not soon.

But the CDC has published a new study, documenting how much more serious COVID is, compared to seasonal flu.

Humor: Listverse tells us about 10 wacky names of towns in the US.

Politics: (or something) FiveThirtyEight on how the QAnon conspiracy theory hurts effective efforts to stop child trafficking and sexual abuse.

(And Religion) Relevant reports on a survey, which asked people from 9 different groups (white evangelicals, Hispanic protestants, unaffiliated, non-Christian, and more) about what issues were most important to them. White evangelical protestants were the only group that had abortion and terrorism among their top three issues, and were the only group that didn't list the COVID pandemic among their top three issues.

Science: NPR reports that there are mountains capped by methane frost on Pluto.

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

Thanks for looking!

 

Sunspots 794

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

Christianity: (and health) In Christianity Today, a preacher reflects on his experience when he apparently caught COVID from the worship leader who was on the platform (and singing and talking) with him.

Christianity Today also reports on a survey that indicates that most Christians, especially those who are well off, don't really give very much to charitable causes.

Christianity Today also has published an article on Christian attitudes during a season of on-line dating.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware suggests that RadioBox is a good, free program for listening to lots of radio stations.

Gizmo's Freeware also suggests a free alternative to Microsoft Office.

And Gizmo's Freeware points us to over 900 free-to-use fonts.

 

Education: Grammarphobia tells us whether "news" is singular or plural.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that internal government documents state that the proposed border wall is the biggest threat to endangered species in the southwest.

Health: Gizmodo discusses the ins and outs of a vaccine for COVID-19.

Politics: (and Christianity) Relevant discusses the moral misguidedness of each of the major political parties.

Christianity Today discusses Joe Biden's Catholic faith.

FiveThirtyEight discusses the probable impact (or not) of Kamala Harris as a vice-presidential candidate.

Relevant discusses the religious background of Kamala Harris.

Science: Gizmodo reports that invading toads are doing well in Qatar, which is not where you'd expect to see toads flourish.

Gizmodo, and other outlets, report that Death Valley has probably had the highest surface temperature ever recorded, during the past few days.

Sports: FiveThirtyEight tells us why left-handed pitchers often do so well.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 703

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

The Arts: Christianity: He Lives considers the image of God, and humanity's relationship to non-human creatures.


Health: Relevant reports on a study that shows we are having less sex than in the recent past.

Humor: The President of Finland says that he has never talked to President Trump about raking the forests of Finland. But the Finns (and others) are hilariously demonstrating how raking Finnish forests might look.


Politics: Two Senators, one from each party, are pushing legislation that would seriously slow down robocalling, according to Gizmodo.

Science: Earther points out that air conditioners contribute significantly to global warming.

Gizmodo has another report on what is probably the world's largest organism, a fungus in Michigan that weighs 440 tons. Scientific American has another candidate for the world's largest organism, which is a grove of connected aspen trees in Utah.

Gizmodo also reports on the effects of rain in Chile's Atacama Desert, which, until recently, hadn't had a rain in 500 years. Microbes adapted to such dry conditions were devastated.

Gizmodo also reports on the discovery of millions of termite mounds, approximately 4,000 years old, in Brazil. They are large enough that they can be seen from space.

Scientific American reports that city buildings can make hurricanes striking cities more serious.

Scientific American also tells us why we don't forget how to ride a bicycle.

FiveThirtyEight explains the abundance of fires in California.


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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 693

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

The Arts: CBS Overtime shows a young lady, not in high school yet, create a piano sonata from four random notes picked out by Scott Pelley.

Christianity: Relevant has a good article on how the Bible says to treat refugees. However, the article didn't mention Isaiah 16:3, which says "Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don’t betray the fugitive! 4a Let my outcasts dwell with you! As for Moab, be a hiding place for him from the face of the destroyer." (This was in spite of the fact that the Moabites hadn’t always been good to Israel. See Josh 24:9, Judg 3:12-30, 1 Sam 12:9.)

(And politics) The current President of the Southern Baptist Convention is one of the evangelical leaders invited to the White House for a dinner. He recognized the possible pitfalls, and says that he did not sign a Bible for Mr. Trump, which contained an inscription including these words: "History will record the greatness that you have brought for generations."

Sojourners has an article with more to say about this meeting with President Trump, and a recent previous meeting of the President with African-American pastors. One thing that article points out is that James Dobson, and other evangelicals, called for the removal of President Bill Clinton, because of the Lewinsky affair, but are lauding President Trump, in spite of his affairs with several women.


Health: Scientific American reports on the dangers of earwax buildup, especially in the elderly.

Gizmodo on grudges. Animals can carry them for long periods of time. They can do considerable harm to us, if we carry them.

Humor: Listverse tells us about the 10 strangest roadside attractions.

(or clothing) The Pudding compares pocket size (and existence) in female vs. male clothing.


Politics: Gizmodo reports that there are controversies over whether to allow bobcat hunting, in Ohio and elsewhere.

A Yale opinion map, showing, by county, Congressional District, metropolitan area, or state, what people believe about global warming.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 627

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

Christianity: Benjamin L. Corey argues that a Christian pacifist, and/or a Christian who refuses to use a gun on others, is not, therefore, a coward.

FiveThirtyEight reports on a study that says that as much as 25% of the US population may be atheists, although most of them don't identify themselves as such.

Christianity Today analyzes the influence of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr on James Comey, the recently fired head of the FBI, and on other prominent public figures.


Computing: Pro Publica reports that some Trump properties, including Mar-a-Lago, used by the President and other important figures, have networks that could easily be hacked. Wired has more on this.

Open Broadcaster Software is a free tool for recording and live streaming video.

The Conversation argues that banning laptops on airplanes would do little to increase security.

Listverse discusses the origin of 10 fonts currently in use.

Politics: Scientific American reports that the Republican governors of Vermont and Massachusetts are seriously concerned about the current and future effects of global warming, and are urging the Trump administration to continue trying to slow it down.

FiveThirtyEight gives a thorough analysis of the likelihood of President Trump being removed from office by the Congress.

Science: The History Blog reports on a fossil Nodosaur.

Scientific American reports that plants may be able to hear.

Scientific American also reports on an apple-picking robot. (With video)


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 557

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

The Arts: Stephen Burnett has some advice for those who are working on a film version of The Silver Chair, the great book by C. S. Lewis.
.
Christianity: An article on the main reason that young people leave the church.

A Sojourners article urges us to "wage peace," and indicates how that should be done.

Ken Schenck considers, carefully, what the Bible says about suicide and end-of-life decisions. (It doesn't say much!)

Computing: (This is different from the item in last weeks Sunspots.) Gizmo's Freeware tells us how to get an instant, unique e-mail address.

Gizmo's also has an annotated list of the best free software for the Mac OS.

Wired reports on how to create an e-book, from something you've already written, or from a public domain work that isn't available in digital format.

Education: National Public Radio reports on research that indicates that "pretty girls make higher grades."

Health: The BBC reports that beards may help fight infection. Really.

Humor: (or something) The BBC, and other news outlets, report that a church shaped like a glass slipper has been built in Taiwan. Really.

Listverse is a site that puts up bizarre lists frequently -- example: "10 Ridiculous Political Parties You Won't Believe Got Elected."

Politics: FiveThirtyEight points out that politicians, and the rest of us, are not mentioning the US national deficit, or our debt, as much as we used to, and considers why that is so. (The deficit has dropped in recent years, but a deficit of even $1 adds to the national debt, which has increased, of course.)

Science: Wired reports on the bearded vulture, or lammergeier, a bird that eats almost nothing but bones.

Wired also reports on a study that finds that you have a lot more insects in your home than you thought you did.

And Wired, and many other sources, report on the possible discovery of another planet.

FiveThirtyEight reports that, again, the past year is the hottest ever recorded.

Sports: ESPN and other sources report that, for the first time, an NFL team has hired a female full-time assistant coach.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 532

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

Christianity: An essay in Relevant on "What We Get Wrong about Humility." A lot, it seems.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware tells us about a free Windows program to recover deleted files.

Gizmo's also advises on upgrading (or not) to Windows 10.

And Gizmo's points to a treasure trove on YouTube: Over half a million old news clips, of the kind you used to see with movies, if you can remember that far back.

Education: FiveThirtyEight, the statistical site, says that having students evaluate teachers is actually working pretty well.

The New York Times tells us that there aren't really many differences between colleges.

The Environment: FiveThirtyEight (and other outlets) tells us that the first six months of 2015 were the hottest such ever recorded. The report gives details for a number of US cities, some of which experienced some cold weather, too.

Politics: (Or violence) More US residents have been killed, in terror attacks, by white supremacists, than were killed in terror attacks by jihadists, since September 11, 2001. See here and here, for details.

And Relevant gives us some shocking statistics about gun violence in the US.

Benjamin L. Corey asks if my (or your) version of Christianity has become Americanized.


Image source (public domain)

The Pope's encyclical on climate change

As you are probably aware, Pope Francis has released an encyclical on climate change. (Here is a link to that document.)

Here is extensive coverage from CNN, including some video reports on papal infallibility, and on climate change.

Wired and Christianity Today have commentary on the pope's action. So does the BioLogos forum, an organization of Christian scientists and others. These comments are largely favorable.

Some commentators associated with Fox News were not so positive, by a long shot. See here and here, for samples. Some prominent Republicans, including some Catholics, also did not support the Pope on this matter.

Thanks for reading!

2014 was the hottest year on record

Fox News (and many other news outlets) recently reported that 2014 was the warmest year on record. Records go back to 1880.

Wired has published more detail from the report by NASA and NOAA. Among other things, the report indicates that a large part of the US was not warmer than usual, although the world as a whole was, indeed, warmer than it has ever been. The Wired report includes some helpful charts.

Thanks for reading!

Cosmopolitan Ethics

Some time ago, I read World Ethics and Climate Change: From International to Global Justice, by Paul Harris. (Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Here is Columbia University Press's page on the book.) 

The book is pretty well summarized by its title.

A concept that I was not familiar with is cosmopolitan ethics.

Harris says, correctly, that so far, international efforts (if that's the word) to stop climate change have been feeble, at best. One reason is that developed countries, such as the US, don't want to take the brunt of efforts to bring emission of greenhouse gases down. Another is that developing countries, such as China, don't want to stop development, and wish to go down the same road as the developed countries, becoming, if anything, even worse polluters than we are. And then there are the undeveloped countries, who wish to join the developing and developed countries. There are other reasons, of course. It's a complex issue, requiring unprecedented international cooperation.

Cosmopolitan ethics is a scheme that would hold individuals, as well as countries, responsible for their actions. Harris says that there are hundreds of millions of people, all over the world, who are as affluent, as polluting, as upper middle-class and wealthy people living in North America. Why should they be allowed to go on living as they are, with no immediate consequences to their actions? On the other hand, why should poor North Americans be penalized for actions that they haven't taken?

The idea seems fair enough. Harris also claims that adopting it would allow a re-thinking of attempts to limit the emission of greenhouse gases, so that countries could come to enforceable, effective agreements. Maybe so. I don't have a lot of hope. As I say, it's a complex issue.

Thanks for reading.

The Global Warming Petition Project

Whether or not there is global warming, what effects it might have, if there is such, and what is causing it are a matter of some controversy.

This pamphlet, by Calvin Beisner and others, is part of the evidence that there is, indeed, controversy. The pamphlet, authored by four confessed Christians, is concerned with the fundamental questions above, and with effects on the poor, which is commendable. The authors doubt that there will be serious effects, and believe that the evidence for global warming is weak, at best.

Part of their argument (it's not all of it, by any means -- read the pamphlet for the whole picture) is that many scientists, over 30,000 in the US, to date, have signed a petition, (sometimes known as the Oregon Petition) which states that there is not credible evidence that global climate change will cause serious effects, and that increasing the Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere may even be beneficial. Interesting!

I have examined the list of signers of the petition. I didn't look at all of them, but I did decide to look at some possible signers (There are currently 369 listed) from my own state, South Carolina. Here's what I found.

Of the first six Ph.Ds listed, one is deceased, and I could not locate information on three others. The remaining two are a chemist, specializing in Lithium, and a nuclear engineer, specializing in medical use of isotopes. Neither of these specialties have much to do with climate.

The only University in the state with a climate-related department is the University of South Carolina. Here's the list, as of December 9, 2014, of 21 persons listed as having some expertise in climate. Some of those are not climate scientists (one is a psychologist). Of those who, judging from the information on the web page, have some expertise in climate, not one is found among the signers of the petition. The State of South Carolina has a State Climatology Office. There are four persons on the staff. None of them have signed the petition.

South Carolina is not particularly friendly to Democrats, or to accepting global warming as a danger. A former Republican US Congressman, Bob Inglis, lost to a Republican challenger, after eight terms in the House, apparently because of his stated belief that global climate change was real, and we needed to deal with it. We have no state-wide office filled by a Democrat. The State Government has joined in a lawsuit against President Obama's recent immigration executive orders, and refused to accept federal funds to help with the expenses of healthcare for the poor. Former Vice President and Democratic Presidential Candidate Al Gore has probably been the most prominent communicator about the dangers of global warming. Republicans, by and large, have often publicly disbelieved in these dangers. See here for a speech stating her disbelief, by former Republican Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann, who displayed an appalling lack of understanding of science. She claimed that Carbon Dioxide, being a natural substance, can't be dangerous. Try breathing it, if you believe that! You might suppose that there would be some encouragement, or at least no discouragement, for professionals in my state to sign this petition, because we are a Red state. But the ones I checked haven't signed it. 

The petition web site lists signers, with, in most cases, terminal degrees after their names. Many of them are Ph.Ds, but the petition's web page indicates that less than one-third of those signing have that degree. There is no easy way to tell how many of them have an earned doctorate in some area of climate science. Some of the signers are listed as MDs. No MD that I know of, including one of my close relatives, has anything approaching expertise in climate science. Neither do I, in spite of my Ph.D. (Which was in genetics and zoology.) There is a Wikipedia article assessing the credibility of the signers. The petition, with its many signers, is not solid evidence for the position of Beisner and others.














Is the petition the whole story on global warming? No. Perhaps the concerns of Beiser, and others, are valid. But perhaps they aren't. Thanks for reading.

Hottest year ever

Wired reports that this year, 2014, although it is not over yet, is likely to be the hottest year ever recorded. Those records go back to 1880. The report also says that it is likely that 2015 will be even hotter.

Thanks for reading. Read Wired for the justification for these claims.

Epistemic closure

I learned a new phrase yesterday, "epistemic closure." See here for the Wikipedia article on the subject. The article says:

The term "epistemic closure" has been used in US political debate to refer to the claim that the belief systems of political conservatives are closed systems of deduction, which cannot be affected by empirical evidence.

In other words, political conservatives don't listen to facts that contradict their belief systems. They tend to listen to conservative talk radio, watch only Fox News news and commentary, follow right-wing web sites, and read conservative-leaning newspapers.

The article is actually mostly about the theory of knowledge, as a philosophical matter, and the sentence quoted above is almost all it says about politics.

There have been recent examples of epistemic closure in political discourse. One of these is the mis-prediction of right-wing political "experts" on how the recent Presidential election would turn out, most famously Fox's Karl Rove doubting that the Fox News experts had called Ohio correctly, and reports that Mr. Romney, himself, on election night, didn't believe that he could lose. Other news sources, and the Obama campaign, believed, in the days before the election, that Mr. Obama would be re-elected.

Another example relates to Hurricane Sandy. The Wikipedia can be edited by anyone. (I have edited it a little myself, but not on substantive political matters.) A report, based on analysis of who was doing the Wikipedia editing, says that a single individual deliberately kept references to global climate change out of the Wikipedia article on Hurricane Sandy for several days, because he didn't believe there was any such thing. (I credit The Foundry for much of the information referenced above.) The article on Hurricane Sandy does, now, refer to global climate change.

Epistemic closure by right-wingers is bad enough. However, I'm sure that the Left has its own epistemic closure, and that's bad, too. But, far more serious, is epistemic closure about eternal things. I am epistemically closed about salvation. I believe that I have a sin problem, which condemns me to eternal separation from God and the good. I believe that the only solution is to accept the sacrifice of the crucified and risen Christ, and go on to follow Him as Lord of my life. Can I prove this? No. I seldom even read or listen to sources that discredit these views, or think about them. I'm epistemically closed. There are those with other views, of course.

I recently had an on-line discussion with an atheist, who asked why an all-powerful god would be so concerned about sin, and why a blood sacrifice was necessary to pay for it. These are good questions. I attempted to answer them, and some others did, too, but I doubt that this person was much impressed -- he has his own epistemic closure about this subject.

I believe that there's a sin problem in the world, and Christ is the solution. I hope you do, too.

Thanks for reading.

The US Presidential campaigns on Global Climate Change

I have examined the "Issues" pages of the Obama and Romney campaign web sites, to see what they say about global climate change.

I found no evidence that Governor Romney's campaign site so much as mentions global climate change. The Issues page of that site does include a link to an Energy page, which is here. However, lest I mis-characterize Mr. Romney on the subject, I quote my own blog, from July 1 of this year: ". . . Republican Presidential candidates Mitt Romney and John Huntsman believe that the climate is changing globally, and that humans are influencing that." At that time, when the Republican candidates for President were interested in support from my state, South Carolina (There was a debate between them in South Carolina) the state's most widely circulated newspaper had an article which was my source. That article is no longer available, as far as I can determine. I don't know if Romney still holds to that view. He has changed his views on several issues, apparently. The other Republican candidates for President, at that time, did not agree with Romney and Huntsman, but Romney is the candidate.

President Obama's campaign site also has an Energy page, under Issues, which is here. The only mention of climate change is a graphic, which says "climate change is not a hoax."

In case you didn't know it, there are some people who believe that "Global warming is the liberal hoax that the world is becoming dangerously warmer . . ." 

Both major party candidates said more about global climate change, leading up to the 2008 election, than either of the candidates are saying this time.

The Green Party, as would be expected, has a lot more to say about the subject than the two major parties.

Thanks for reading.

*  *  *  *

Added on October 19, 2012: Shell, Chevron, and BP all state that there is such a thing as Global Climate Change, and that using fossil fuels contributes to this. So does Exxon Mobil.

Sunspots 387

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

Humor:  (dark humor) Pippa the Weathergirl on global warming.

Leonard Pitts was going to rant about something, but thought about it. Whoops!:

This was going to be a rant.
Then I thought about it, which was a mistake. As any experienced ranter can tell you, thinking about it has the unfortunate tendency of turning a good, clean rant into a muddy quagmire of fine points, conditional sentences, and digressions as delicately balanced as a Swiss watch.

Science: National Public Radio tells us that there are strange black spidery things that appear seasonally on Mars. We don't know what they are.

Politics:  National Public Radio reports on something you may have noticed by its absence: Neither Romney nor Obama are saying much about their religious faith. It's probably better that way. What do you get when you mix religion and politics? Politics.

This is not exactly politics, but here goes: There's a big fight about feral (wild) cats. Should they be caught and euthanized, caught and sterilized, or let be? Feral cats have contributed significantly to the endangerment of other kinds of animals.

Ken Schenck, Dean of the Seminary, Indiana Wesleyan University (I am also a Wesleyan) on why pastors/churches should not endorse any particular political candidate.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 378

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

Science:  Wired reports that scientists attached a small camera to a cormorant, and recorded video from a 150-foot dive.

Wired also reports that the melting of the Greenland ice sheet may not be as big a disaster as we thought.

Computing: Gizmo's freeware has a detailed article on how to tell if your Windows computer is infected. It also has another on how to clean an infected computer. (It's easier to prevent than cure!)

Christianity: (or Hinduism) A blog post about ministering to women who have been involved in the Hindu practice of devadasi, temple prostitution, in India. I don't know how widespread this practice is. Here's the Wikipedia article on the practice.

Image source (public domain)

How insignificant humans are!

Leonard Pitts, columnist for the Miami Herald, has written a splendid column about, of all things, the Titanic. Yes, the ship that sunk. There is a re-make of a movie about it, showing in theaters now.

His point? We thought the Titanic was unsinkable. Even God could not sink it, they said. We thought we had it made. But we were wrong, 100 years ago, and we'd better not get to feeling too proud now. Even the Titanic was just a dot in an enormous ocean, an ocean so much older than the Titanic that we can scarcely imagine it.

Pitts doesn't mention it, but the building of the tower of Babel comes to mind. According to the story in Genesis, the builders had far too much appreciation for their own ability. Disaster struck. Pitts doesn't mention climate change, either, but that's just one place that the next disaster we aren't prepared for may come from. Or it may come from our dependence on the all-too-vulnerable North American power grid, from the European (and US) debt crisis, from Iran or North Korea starting a nuclear war, from disease germs becoming resistant to antibiotics, or from any one of a number of things I haven't thought of, or, of course, from the Second Coming. But a disaster will come. And we won't be ready, no matter how smart and well off we think we are.

We are recently evolved (or created, or both) inhabitants of a small planet around an ordinary sun in an ordinary galaxy, a very small spot, in time and space, in the grand scheme of things, and we forget that at our peril.

Thanks for reading!