Sunspots 636

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


The Arts: Speculative Faith complains about the sex in Game of Thrones. (This is one of the reasons, but not the only one, I've never watched it, and that I long ago stopped reading the books.) Relevant also has an article seriously questioning whether Christians should watch Game of Thrones.

Christianity: An article in Relevant, about purity. It also explains why the Jewish Law existed.



Computing: Wired on how to stop receiving notifications of long, and irrelevant, Gmail threads.

Health: FiveThirtyEight tells us that many of us eat too often.

National Public Radio tells us that many drugs are still effective, long after their given expiration dates.

Scientific American argues that increasing taxes on alcohol would reduce violence, including suicide.

Humor: (sort of) Listverse reports on 10 famous entertainers who were told that they had no talent.

(or Science) A video of a song, about the elements of the periodic table.

Politics: Wired tells us that climate change denial threatens our defense capability.

Wired also reports on the Trump for President in 2020 campaign, which has paid (probably legally) over half a million dollars to Trump properties and businesses.

Politifact has a list of fake news sources. It's not all of them!

Christianity Today reports on a survey studying religious practice and belief against gun ownership.

Relevant reports on an evangelical pastor who has been arrested by ICE, for deportation. His wife and two small children are US citizens. Not exactly a "bad hombre."

Science: Listverse describes 10 recently discovered, but unexpected, phenomena in space.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 592

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

Christianity:A Christianity Today article on the pervasive role of coffee in many churches.

Christianity Today also has an article on reasons why we can't afford not to pray for each other.

A writer for Relevant points out three lies that churches often teach about dating.

A Christianity Today interviewee wants us to stop reading the Bible in little pieces.


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware points to a helpful article on how to sort, and how to find most anything in your gmail.

Education: A Scientific American contributor weighs in on whether tablet devices are a good teaching tool.
 
Politics: A Relevant writer says that "we" are not in a holy war with ISIS.

Science: Scientific American reports that people react differently to moral dilemmas when they hear about them in a language other than their native tongue.

Scientific American also reports that a bipartisan group of military leaders is urging action to prepare for climate change. (The Republican-controlled Congress has specifically barred the military from doing so!)

And, says Scientific American, there is an almost unknown group of soil microorganisms, the Cercozoans, that occur in immense numbers, and astonishing variety, and are important in soil ecology.


Sports: (or something) The Associated Press reports that an 800-plus pound alligator has been caught in South Carolina.

Congratulations to In Gee Chun (aka Chun, In-Gee) on arguably achieving the best score ever in a major tournament, by a golfer of either sex, in the recent Evian Championship. (ESPN; Wikipedia)





Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 458

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

Computing: You aren't the only Gmail user to have complaints about the way the service handles Contacts, according to Wired.

Gizmo's Freeware has found a free .PDF to Word file converter.

Politics (and economics): Three reports from National Public Radio:
It really does pay to go to college, in spite of high tuition and fees.

On how much waitresses (and waiters) who get tips get paid, or should get paid. It's complicated.

On the costs of alleviating global climate change.

Science: Wired tells us that crocodiles and alligators can climb trees rather well.

Wired also shows us a beautiful photo of a nearby galaxy.



Image source (public domain)