Sunspots 503

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

The Arts: A man with cerebral palsy creates artwork with a typewriter. Amazing. The Mind Unleashed includes a video, less than 5 minutes, of the man and his work.
Christianity: From The Daily Beast: Rap artists using their music for Christianity.
Computing: (and maybe Politics) The National Security Agency released a report on December 24th -- the release date, by itself, suggests that there were things to try to hide -- on how data collected on US citizens has been misused, and how it hasn't helped catch terrorists, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
Science:  Wired has an article on the most amazing discoveries about microbes, in 2014. There were a lot of them.
National Public Radio reports that scientists are making progress on producing artificial organs (which include cultured human cells) as a way of looking for cures for various disease conditions, where mice are not a good model of human physiology.
Sports: Michael Jordan, arguably the best basketball player ever, turned 50 last year, not too happily.

 Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 406

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

Humor: Some Japanese men announce their love for their wives publicly (and loudly).

(This is not humor, but I don't have a category for it.) CNN reports that there are quite a few fires on cruise ships, and that workers on cruise ships may work long hours for low pay.

Sports: Dean Smith, legendary North Carolina men's basketball coach, is losing his memory.

Sports Illustrated has posted a gallery of 100 photos of Michael Jordan, who played for Smith, and in the NBA. Jordan turns 50 this year, and is arguably the best basketball player of all time.

The Arts: Rebecca Luella Miller has written a fine piece on 21st Century idolatry. She is particularly interested in idol worship of characters such as Harry Potter, Frodo, Katniss, and whoever is in the Twilight books and movies (she knows, but I'm not sure). As she points out, one reason for idolizing fictional characters is that we know that Frodo is never going to be caught in adultery, or get so old that he can't sing or sink a putt. Idolized humans, even Christian ones, all too often disappoint us.

Christianity: Rebecca Luella Miller also has some serious thoughts about reading fiction as a discipline, not as entertainment, or at least not just as entertainment.

Image source (public domain)