Sunspots 922

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

Christianity (and Sports): According to KMBC News, Patrick Mahones, Kansas City quarterback, is not shy about his Christian faith.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that the court system might finally hold oil companies accountable for knowing that use increased climate temperature, but denying that.

Food: (and Science) A Conversation writer tells us a lot about the processing of chocolate.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight analyzes the current congressional  Republicans.

FiveThirtyEight also discusses the effectiveness of gun laws. We don't know much about this because government was forbidden to study some of these, until recently.

NPR on why we didn't hear about 4 other incursions by Chinese balloons.

Science: Gizmodo reports that Neanderthals hunted what would today be supersized elephants, several thousands of years ago, in Europe.

NPR reports that artificial intelligence programs are a dismal failure at planning for a rocket launch.

NPR also reports that commuting may make working life less stressful.

Gizmodo reports that Jupiter has 92 verified moons, which is more than Saturn has, but searches for more around Saturn are continuing.

The Scientist reports that structures made from human brain cells respond to visual stimuli when placed in rat brains.

Todd Wood on Neanderthal hunting of giant elephants.

Sports: (and Finances) FiveThirtyEight shows, graphically, how the NFL has captured the attention of the US over the past several years.

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

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 744

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

Christianity: Michael Gerson says that white evangelicalism is dying rapidly, and its leaders don't seem aware of this, or to care. Most of the offspring of older white evangelicals don't consider themselves evangelical, or even religious.

Education: Grammarphobia discusses usage of "mens," and "men's," and related matters.

Food: Listverse has an article on things you probably didn't know about chocolate.

Health: (or something) Listverse tells us how to be more attractive.

NPR examines the effect of high summer heat on people's health, and finds that the poor, in large cities, are exposed to more heat than those of us who are better off.

Humor: Relevant on the importance of having fun.


Politics: NPR has outlined the Trump administration's many actions, and attempted actions, on immigration. The goal is clear - keep people out, or send them back, as often as possible.

Science: Listverse shows us 10 cases of animal mimicry.

Sports: NPR reports on a 103-year-old female athlete from India.

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

Sunspots 695

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

Christianity: Relevant, and other sources, report that China is attacking Christians and churches, and other religions, too. In another report, China is blocking on-line Christian services.

Richard Mouw, in Sojourners, argues against uncritical support for Israel, and claims that the Bible does not teach such support.

Some prominent Christians have recently argued that Christians have no business trying to work for social justice. Russell Moore, of the Southern Baptist Convention, begs to differ.


Food: Listverse has posted 10 little-known facts about Avocados.

In case you didn't know it, cacao (the plant that chocolate comes from) is susceptible to plant diseases. Scientific American reports on attempts to find resistant cacao plants.

Gizmodo on whether breakfast cereal is good for us or not.

Politics: Not a surprise. Scientific American reports that more people are killed by active shooters when they are using semi-automatic weapons.

Earther reports that, as Hurricane Florence neared landfall, President Trump called the government's response to Hurricane Maria, in Puerto Rico, an "unsung success," in spite of plenty of contrary evidence. Then, later, he claimed that the death toll, about 3,000, was a figure made up by Democrats, to make him look bad.

The Trump administration is in process of relaxing regulations on institutions that lend money to military personnel, and has done so without consulting the Pentagon, which is opposed to these changes, according to National Public Radio.

Relevant reports that the number of Christian refugees entering the US has fallen sharply under the Trump administration.

(Not really politics, I hope) Gizmodo reports that a system is being developed to allow the President to send a warning text message to every cell phone in the US, in case of terrorist attacks, weather disasters, and the like.

Science: Barrier islands in the Atlantic Ocean, which protect North and South Carolina from some hurricane damage, are disappearing, says Scientific American.

Gizmodo reports that there is a plan in place to sequence the DNA of all living vertebrate species, about 66,000.

Earther reports on a typhoon that was stronger than Florence, at about the same time.

Scientific American reports on a study that indicates that people who are new to us dislike us less than we think they do.

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 645

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

Christianity: Benjamin L. Corey is not at all happy about President Trump's threat to destroy the entire population of North Korea, and he's even less happy with Franklin Graham's reaction to the speech.

The editor of Christianity Today weighs in on athletics and the national anthem.

Ken Schenck answers the question, "Who is God?"

A writer in the Washington Post compares Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick, and reaches a sobering conclusion about today's Christianity.

 
Food: The New York Times reports that the plants that produce chocolate may be in danger from a fungus.

History: (and politics) Listverse describes 10 states of the US that never came into being, but were more or less seriously proposed.

Humor: (not really, but I don't have a category for this one) Listverse also reports on 10 things were are running out of. Interesting, and scary.
 

Politics: (Sort of) FiveThirtyEight points out that the news media, including some important "mainstream" entities, treat probabilities as if they were certainties, and those who are predicting (meteorologists and polling organizations) are putting out probabilities.

Science: (or extraplanetary travel) Listverse tells us why a trip to Mars would be more uncomfortable than most of us would think.

Scientific American reports, somewhat poetically (!) on the discovery of fungi, living about a half mile down in bedrock. The article mentions that possibly one-fifth of all the living things on earth live in the earth's crust, seldom, if ever, seen.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 643

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

Christianity: Christianity Today points out that (in spite of Article VI of the US Constitution) there now seem to be religious tests for public office.


Computing: A Scientific American commentary argues that e-mail should go back to being text-only, for the sake of cyber-safety.

Food: Relevant tells us that there is now a new kind of chocolate -- and it's pink.

History: Listverse tell us some facts about hurricanes, including how the naming system has changed.

Humor: (and health) Relevant reports that the tooth fairy refused to accept a tooth, because the child had not taken proper care of the tooth -- too much sugar, etc.

Scientific American has an article entitled "The Rise of the Recliner as a Male Social Space." Really.
 

Politics: FiveThirtyEight analyzes the changing religious affiliation (or lack of one) of voters for both political parties, and finds that both parties will have to change to continue to attract voters.

National Public Radio looks at Steve Bannon's view of US history, and finds it to be rather inaccurate.


Science: Nature reports that humans are evolving toward living longer.

Scientific American tells us how global climate change is making severe hurricanes more likely.

And Scientific American also reports that fireflies are in danger of going extinct in China, and why.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 496

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

Education: A former University of North Carolina football player has filed suit, claiming that the university did not provide him with the substantial education that he was promised when recruited. (The university apparently let some students "take" classes that they didn't even attend.)
Health: (or not) We're running out of chocolate, according to The Washington Post and other outlets.
Science: Wired reports on how a study of the cat genome sheds some light on how domestic cats are genetically different from their wild relatives.

National Public Radio has a fine series on color. One post is about how our perception plays tricks on us when we are considering color. Another is about how animals get color from what they eat, partly -- flamingos are an example -- and how rare blue coloring in animals is.
Wired also reports on nudibranches, sea slugs, who eat defensive mechanisms from other creatures, and use them to defend themselves. They are also spectacularly colored -- some are blue.

 Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 360

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

Science: National Public Radio reports on a study that suggests that eating moderate amounts of chocolate helps keep weight off.

NPR also reports on potential problems in giving a heart transplant to a patient who is as old as former Vice President Cheney.

And NPR also reports that the earth has more than one moon. (No, that's not an April Fool's joke!)

The Arts: The BBC reports on the remains of what appears to be the oldest stringed instrument ever found in Europe.

Image source (public domain)