Sunspots 909

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

Christianity: Russell Moore, the editor of Christianity Today, is angry about the attack on Paul Pelosi, and about the lies that supported that attack (and still are).

     (sort of) A Christianity Today author reviews the scandals associated with Jerry Falwall, Jr., and Liberty University.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that composting plastics doesn't really work.

Finances: A Conversation writer on insurance fraud, which is described as all too common, and as a low risk crime.

Science: NPR reports on research showing that a lot of animals, not just birds, make noises.

Gizmodo reports on the tallest volcanic plume ever measured.

NPR reports on research that indicates that bumblebees play with objects in their surroundings.

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

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 773

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

Christianity: Relevant tells us about St. Patrick.

Relevant also tells us some things to remember when we get anxious.


Computing: Gizmodo compares several streaming services.

Finance: FiveThirtyEight tells us that the restaurant business is hurting badly, and gives state-by-state data. Restaurant employees, or suddenly laid off workers, are hurting even worse.

Health: Lifehacker tells us why we shouldn't name diseases after locations.

The virus is everywhere! Grammarphobia tells us what "deadly" means.

Politics: (and Health and Finance) Gizmodo reports on some Senators who may have had advance warning of a stock market collapse, and who sold stock before the panic set in.


(and Health and Education) Relevant reports that a Liberty University professor has openly criticized Jerry Falwell, head of the University, for his bizarre theories on the origin of COVID-19, and for requiring employees to work on campus. Here's more on that same story, from later, also from Relevant, which may explain Falwell's actions, at least to some extent.


Science: The Scientist reports that some beetle larvae are able to live and grow on polystyrene, a plastic. This may mean that there is hope for getting out from under the load of plastic we are adding to the environment.

The Scientist also reports on the skull of a very tiny dinosaur, preserved in amber.

Gizmodo reports on NASA's detailed photographs of an asteroid that is scheduled to be landed on, sampled, and have the samples returned to earth.

FiveThirtyEight describes how COVID-19 tests actually work.

Sports: March Madness, sort of. FiveThirtyEight describes the women's NCAA basketball tournament that wasn't.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 772

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

Christianity: (And Politics) Christianity Today reports on a survey that indicates that most white evangelicals do not like the President's behavior, but do like some of the policies that he has pushed. 

Christianity Today reports that regular church-goers are less likely to perceive the threat of the COVID-19 virus.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware reports on a site that helps you be really private when on-line.

Listverse tells us about 10 flaws of the Wikipedia. (I still use it)l
 
Health: (or something) Listverse debunks some myths about washing your clothes.

A COVID19 tracker, that gives numbers of those testing positive and negative in each state, and the numbers of deaths.

(and Politics) Relevant reports that Jerry Falwell, head of Liberty University, believes that the recent virus outbreak was caused deliberately by North Korea, and maybe China, or was a politically motivated attempt to bring down President Trump. The Scientist, on the other hand, reports that at least one Chinese official says that the US started the spread of the disease in China. (President Trump has also complained about this action by some part of the Chinese establishment.)

History: Gizmodo reports on recent discoveries related to ritualistic sports, involving a court, and a rubber ball, in Mesomerica.

Relevant reports that Martin Luther had some good advice for communities threatened with a pandemic.

Science: The Scientist reports that some beetle larvae are able to live and grow on polystyrene, a plastic. This may mean that there is hope for getting out from under the load of plastic we are adding to the environment.

The Scientist also reports on the skull of a very tiny dinosaur, preserved in amber.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 736

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

Christianity: A Relevant writer warns of the dangers of patriotism, for Christians.

Kaiser Health News reports that small churches can wipe out millions of dollars in other people's medical debts. 

A Relevant writer on why the Bible is trustworthy.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware on what you can do with the Function keys (F1, F2, etc.) in Windows, and Office.

Education:  Listverse tells us some things we probably didn't know about newborn babies.

Health: NPR on how to pick a doctor, or how to change doctors.

Politics: Catherine Rampell on incriminating, or nearly such, e-mails between a Republican gerrymandering expert and a Census Bureau employee, a few years ago, about adding a question about citizenship to the census. There's also a discussion of the effect of adding such a question.

Relevant reports that when Russell Moore, an official of the Southern Baptist Convention, was one of many Christian leaders who decried conditions for immigrant children, Jerry Falwell, Jr., attacked Moore.

FiveThirtyEight posted "The First Democratic Debate in Five Charts." (The report combines the two nights of the debate.)

NPR reports that President Trump recently portrayed himself as helping the environment a lot.

Michael Gerson says that the President celebrated military victories, but not the character of the US.

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

Sunspots 735

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

 
Christianity: Christianity Today reports that men who attend church regularly are much less likely to watch pornography than others.

Relevant asks if Christians should own nice things.

(and politics) Relevant reports on a study that shows that the number of people who are refugees because of their faith, and let into the US, has dropped drastically.

Michael Gerson points out the dangers, to evangelicals, of continuing to praise President Donald Trump.

Computing: Gizmodo on whether your smart devices (such as a smart TV) can be attacked by a virus.

Education:  Grammarphobia on the use of "pee" for urination, and on related matters.

Health: A writer attempting to cover a national anti-vaccination conference describes that movement, and how she (and other reporters) was or have been kicked out.

Gizmodo reports that sitting and watching TV is worse for your health than other kinds of sitting.
 
Politics: Catherine Rampell on incriminating, or nearly such, e-mails between a Republican gerrymandering expert and a Census Bureau employee, a few years ago, about adding a question about citizenship to the census. There's also a discussion of the effect of adding such a question.

Relevant reports that when Russell Moore, an official of the Southern Baptist Convention, was one of many Christian leaders who decried conditions for immigrant children, Jerry Falwell, Jr., attacked Moore.

FiveThirtyEight posted "The First Democratic Debate in Five Charts." (The report combines the two nights of the debate.)

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

Sunspots 728

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

Finance: Catherine Rampell doesn't think President Trump's bashing of the Federal Reserve, or his apparent eagerness to get into a trade war with China, are good ideas. She says that these two mistakes will work together to hurt the US economy more than either, by itself.

Food: Relevant reports that a Rhode Island school district is going to give students who owe lunch money jelly sandwiches. In a later report, NPR reports that this policy has been rolled back. Some school districts are giving meals to children whose parents/guardians who haven't paid for lunches, when, apparently, they could do so, and have spent many thousands of dollars to feed these children.

Politics: Relevant reports that Jerry Falwell, Jr., says that President Trump should be awarded two extra years in office, because of the attacks on him during the first two years.

Relevant also reports that a Georgia politician believes that intermarriage between whites and non-whites is against the Bible's teaching.

Gizmodo, and other news outlets, report that the US refused to sign a declaration that climate change is endangering the Arctic environment.

S. E. Cupp reports that the Obama administration used drones in conflicts in some questionable ways, and that the Trump administration is using even more drones as deadly weapons.

Science: (or something) Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon, and the richest man on the planet, says we need to move some of us off of the earth, in order to save humanity. The editor of Earther begs to differ.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 662

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

Christianity: (And politics) A Christianity Today writer takes Jerry Falwell, Jr., to task for defending President Trump's sexual indiscretions on dubious scriptural ground.


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware recommends a program that checks your Windows computer for vulnerability to the Spectre and Meltdown malware, recently discovered to be dangerous, with vulnerability built in to many information appliances. (The computer I'm using now is not vulnerable, probably due to some recent updates.)

Wired doesn't think Facebook is going to do much better than it has on feeding users reliable news. [Personal note: I glance at the Facebook news feed about once every two weeks, and never click on something. After such a glance, I search for the topic, maybe once every couple of months. Facebook is not a good way to get news.]

National Public Radio discusses best "screen time" practices for parents, including a quiz. Oh, oh.

Health: (or something. A YouGov survey reveals that a lot of us don't make our beds every day.

History: Listverse describes some recent archeological discoveries related to the ancient Greek civilization.

Politics:  National Public Radio reports that several top positions in the Trump administration (such as an ambassador to South Korea) have not been filled, and that morale among federal employees is low.

NPR also reports that the Trump administration is continuing protection for some lands in Alaska. Good for them!

Science: Listverse on ideas about whether life exists elsewhere in the universe.


Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)