Sunspots 984

 

Gizmodo reports that ICE is adding the DNA of immigrants, including of children as young as four, to a government database.

LiveScience considers the question of how birds know how to get to their migration endpoint.

Earth.com tells us that men may lose their Y chromosomes. Hmmm.

Ken Schenck has posted a fine essay on the interaction between Christianity and politics. "The church does its best work not when it commands the government, but when it reminds the government who it’s supposed to serve. Not when it demands special privilege, but when it loves its neighbor – especially the ones the world would rather forget. The credibility of the church has never come from controlling the culture. It has come from resembling Christ."

Sunspots 982

 

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

Gizmodo reports on a study that found that all of the largest US cities are sinking.

Kenneth Schenck discusses politics and Christianity.

Gizmodo reports that the new pope (and the previous one) has warned about possible dangers from artificial intelligence.

Equus, and other sources, report that horses are especially able to move fast because of a gene peculiar to horses and their relatives.

Gizmodo on whether Pope Leo XIV is an environmentalist (and on whether Francis was).

CNN reports on the melting of polar ice and its dire consequences.

NPR reports that the Centers for Disease Control is no longer warning the medical community about disease threats.

Sunspots 955

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

Computing:  Gizmodo reports on a study that indicates that teenagers in the US spend nearly five hours a day on social media.

Gizmodo reports that New York is considering requiring a background check in order to purchase 3-D printers.

Education: Grammarphobia tells us that there are too  many exclamation points in communication.

Medicine: Gizmodo reports on transplanting pig kidneys to monkeys. Seems quite successful.

Politics: A Conversation writer discusses the failure of Israel to be ready for the recent attacks.

Science: A new kind of ice has been discovered, according to a report on ScienceAlert.

A Conversation writer tells us why space is so dark, even though there are lots of stars.

Gizmodo reports that special wildlife exits, avoiding traffic, are, indeed, being used by ocelots and other animals, in Texas.

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

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 720

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

The Arts: Listverse describes stories that probably influenced J. R. R. Tolkien's writing.

Christianity: Not a surprise. Relevant reports on a study that shows that larger Protestant churches are more likely to be growing than small ones.


Computing: NPR reports that electronic medical record-keeping hasn't lived up to its promise, and explains why.

Finance: Catherine Rampell reacts to the Trump administration's budget.

Health: NPR reports that Alzheimer's is not the only form of dementia. There are other common forms, all bad, but treatment for some of the effects may be possible, provided the actual form of dementia is known.

Politics: A USA Today columnist is not happy with the President, but explains why he might win in 2020.

Michael Gerson explains why Trump's base is loyal. It isn't pretty.

FiveThirtyEight analyzes the various lawsuits against the President, and his businesses, especially a suit involving the emoluments clause of the Constitution. The Supreme Court is going to be busy, apparently.


Science: Listverse tells us a lot of interesting facts about ice.

Gizmodo reports on calculations that say that Mercury is closer to the earth than Venus is.

Gizmodo also reports on an enormous geological event that we didn't feel, but was detected by seismographs all over the world.


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

Sunspots 712

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

The Arts: Gizmodo reports that the Mona Lisa doesn't really have the Mona Lisa effect (the eyes follow you, whatever your position relative to the painting) but other paintings do have it.

Christianity: Christianity Today reports on the 50 countries where it's hardest to follow Christ. Only two of these are in the Western Hemisphere. India has risen, if that's the word, to being in the top 10 most dangerous countries.
Ken Schenck presents Biblical (and other) arguments for having women in ministry.


Computing: An article on NPR suggests that parents spend more time on-screen with their children. 
This article lists the top 10 moneymakers on YouTube, for 2017. The highest one was 7 years old at the time. See also this article in Scientific American, which says that technology use doesn't harm teenagers much, or any.

A Gizmodo reporter tried hard to live without Amazon. She found it to be impossible -- Amazon controls so much of the internet.

Google has an on-line phishing quiz -- can you spot attempts to harvest your information?

Finance: Listverse describes 10 jobs where you get paid for doing (almost) nothing.

Food: Earther reports that half, or more, of wild coffee species are likely to go extinct.

The web site for an institution that keeps samples of strains of microorganisms used to make sourdough.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight analyzes the chances, in the primaries, of 17 possible Democratic candidates for President.

FiveThirtyEight also reports on various legal cases involving the President.

S. E. Cupp is not happy that our troops, for the first time ever, are not getting paid during a government shut-down, and she blames the President.

Gizmodo reports that photos of the President, on his official social media accounts, have been edited to make him look better.

Science: A giant disk of ice is floating on a river in Maine, and slowly rotating.

Phys.Org reports that plants that get fresh water from sea water produce more brine than fresh water.


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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 706

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to

someone else:


Christianity: Comedian Stephen Colbert on how he found his faith again, through a New Testament (Gideon?) given to him on the street.
A BioLogos writer discusses how evil can be in the world, in spite of God's existence and power.
(And politics) Relevant reports on Pastor Tim Keller points out the dangers of nationalism, applying the book of Jonah.


Computing: Gizmodo reports on 22 apps for Android devices that drain batteries rapidly, and may contain malware.

Education: Grammarphobia explains the use of "clear" and "clearly."

Health: (And politics) Michael Gerson on the anti-vaccination movement in Italy (and the U.S.).

Humor: One of my Flickr contacts has been imagining really big helpings of several kinds of food.


Politics: Scientific American reports that the Department of Interior is not protecting the environment -- quite the opposite.

FiveThirtyEight asks whether the Republican Party has given up on attracting black voters, and discusses the history of the question.

Science: Relevant reports on studies that show that almost all old ice in the Arctic is gone.


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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 574

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

The Arts: Listverse reports on 10 amazing objects made from ice -- some small, some quite large.

Christianity: Philosopher Alvin Plantinga on why science does not rule out miracles.

Sojourners reports that Southern Baptists, Jews, Sikhs, and Hari Krishna worshipers have come out against a zoning ruling that a mosque couldn't be built.

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware points to a free web-based video studio.

Wired says that ransomware -- making a computer or network unusable, then demanding money to reverse this -- is becoming the most common type of Internet attack. The article discusses ways to avoid this.

Politics: Some reactions from important Christians to Mr. Trump: Sojourners reports on a "called to resist bigotry" statement, signed by sixty important religious leaders. The report includes a long excerpt from an article by Russell Moore, an important official of the Southern Baptist Convention, who signed the statement. Here's the Moore article.

Science: Listverse tells us about 10 organisms (not all are animals!) that may be as or more intelligent than we are.

Sports: Congratulations to Tim Duncan. His team, the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association, did not win the championship this year. (They have in the past.) But Duncan has won more games with the same team than any player in the history of the NBA.

Image source (public domain)