Sunspots 701

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else: 

Christianity: Christianity Today asks if the United Methodist Church has a case against Jeff Sessions, Attorney General.

Education: Grammarphobia on how (mostly English) families got their names.

Ethics: Remember Scott Pruitt, Trump's first head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who was removed after several ethical clouds? Ryan Zinke, Secretary of the Interior is probably going, for similar reasons, according to UnDark. Unfortunately, both of their replacements, or likely replacements, are likely to be more efficient, if that's the right word, at removing environmental protections, than the original appointees.

Food: Relevant reports on how long candy should be stored before discarding it.

NPR reports that immigrating to the US probably causes changes in the gut bacteria, and that this, in turn, may lead to obesity. (The study involved Southeast Asian immigrants.)

Health: Relevant reports on a study that found that over 8,000 children are hospitalized because of gunshots, each year. (More are killed, or are not brought to a hospital.)

Humor: The man who inspired the appearance, and name, of Super Mario, of video game fame, has died, according to NPR.


Politics: The Supreme Court is allowing a lawsuit, by some young people (one is 11), against the Federal Government, saying that federal actions and/or inactions related to climate change are depriving them of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Listverse describes nine Senate filibusters, and one in the Texas State Senate.

Politico reports that most Americans want stricter gun laws. That is true of Republicans, too.
White supremacy groups are using video game participation as a recruiting tool, says NPR.


Science: Earther shows us some newly discovered sea slugs. Fabulous photographs!

Gizmodo considers how much dead human skin cell material we take into our bodies.

Sports: Greg Popovich, coach of the San Antonio Spurs, has been with the team for a long time. Every other NBA team has changed coaches during his tenure, usually several times.


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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 686

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

Computing: Gizmodo reports that internet filters are not effective in keeping children from viewing pornography.

Gizmodo also reports on privacy concerns for those of us who have smart TVs.

Health: Scientific American reports that the Environmental Protection Agency wants to drastically curtail the use of scientific and medical evidence it uses in producing or modifying regulations.

The New York Times reports that administrative costs related to health care are very high in the US, probably mostly because of the complexity of the health care "system."

Listverse discusses the bacteria in our guts.

Humor: (or something) Gizmodo reports, with photos, on a man who let the fingernails on his left hand grow for 66 years.

(or something) Scientific American discusses the fear and joy of riding a roller coaster.


Politics: Gizmodo reports on the newly appointed acting chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, Andrew Wheeler.

To the surprise of many, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission has serious doubts about allowing Sinclair broadcasting to add more TV stations, according to Gizmodo.

Analysis of the falsehoods President Trump tells.

Science: Listverse tells us about 10 amazing extinct animals. Not Tyrannosaurus, or saber-tooths, but even more impressive beasts.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 535

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


Christianity: Relevant tells us that private communion shouldn't be a chore, and makes some suggestions to make it more interesting. They suggest communion through food, among other things.

Stephen L. Corey points out that God created, or at least allowed, people who are not exactly male or female.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware on privacy (or not -- some leaks can be fixed) in Windows 10.

Education: National Public Radio reports on how public schools in the US are neglecting the smartest kids.

Science: National Public Radio reports on research linking our leanness, or lack thereof, to our gut bacteria.

NPR also reports on very low-frequency communication sounds made by elephants.

Wired reports that Pluto's atmosphere seems to be being renewed. Its gravity is too weak to hold it as well as the earth holds ours.

Wired also explains why water gets stale when left out overnight.

Wired also reports on an on-line database of mathematical sequences, and the man who has maintained this database for 50 years. (Examples: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 . . ., the Fibonacci sequence, or 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29 . . ., the prime numbers.) There are many, many more of these sequences in the database.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 502

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:
Christianity (and Astronomy): Reviews of a book about "Blood Moons" by John Hagee, claiming that eclipses are a sign that something important is going to happen to Israel, and it's about to happen. The reviews demolish the book's thesis thoroughly.
Health: Walking is good for you. It's a lot easier in some places. You can determine the "Walk Score" of any address here.
Science: A reporter for National Public Radio had her gut bacteria, and those of her husband, mother, and dog, analyzed.
NPR reports on dwarf galaxies, some quite near (in astronomical terms) to us.
The University of Aberdeen has posted a video of creatures living in the Mariana Trench, which is as much as 10,000 meters (nearly 7 miles) below sea level.
NPR reports that there may be a connection between what we hear and how we taste food.


 Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 445

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


Literature: “But what the best fantasy does, in my opinion, is to transform it into something truer, and more real, than it was to begin with.” Ashlee Willis, Speculative Faith blog.

Politics: A Pennsylvania newspaper, which called Lincoln's Gettysburg Address "silly," 150 years ago, took it all back.

National Public Radio, optimistic as ever, reports that some states are trying to end extreme partisanship (both sides of it) by changing the way primaries are conducted, or changing the way congressional districts are drawn. I hope so.

Science: NBC News, and other news outlets, tell us about the oldest living animal -- now dead, and killed by scientists -- a clam.

Wired reports on yet another theory of what causes consciousness.

NPR reports on gut bacteria again. This time, it's about how they may influence how we think. Possibly some mental illnesses could be treated by infusing bacteria from a "normal" person into the gut of the sufferers. Amazing, but very preliminary.

Sports: Sports Illustrated says that Michael Jordan, perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time, has selected his most memorable dunk.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 426

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

Christianity: A fine review of a book I decided not to get, among the Amazon user-contributed book reviews: "Basically, my reaction to this book is this. Reading a book about the Bible is a lot like watching someone else play a video game. You can learn some things but you can't have the experience until you do it yourself."
"A . . . scholarship focus can set up a dangerous mindset that knowledge is the point of the Bible. When actually it is to get out and share the saving grace of Jesus with the world."


Science: Discovery reports that spider webs may attract prey because the webs, and the prey, are electrically charged.

Three National Public Radio reports on gut (that's a perfectly good biology word, meaning the apparatus between the mouth and the anus, by the way) bacteria and their importance:

Gut bacterial populations seem to be quite stable over long periods of time, and we may get much of that population from our mothers or other relatives.

Gut bacteria may produce a substance, after helping us digest meat, that increases risks for heart attacks.
Gut bacteria populations may cause some forms of malnutrition.



Image source (public domain)