Geography (and economics and arithmetic) lesson: In case you didn't know it, Louisville, KY is on the Atlantic Coast, and Oklahoma is in the East.

(Image from Pixabay) So. The Pac-12 athletic conference is going to shrink to 10 members. Texas and Oklahoma, which aren't exactly in the east, will be joining the Southeast conference. The Big 10 is already up to 14 members, and will apparently be adding 2 more, making it the Big 16, maybe. The Big 12 currently has 13 members, and will shrink to 8. The Atlantic Coast Conference includes Notre Dame (sort of) and Louisville, which are both about 600 miles away from the nearest ocean. Have you got all that? It doesn't really matter very much if you do, because there will be more changes, barring the Second Coming. By the way, there are more sports than football, but that's the big one.

Why is all this happening? Money, money, money. Major college sports is an industry, more than a sport. It reflects our values pretty well.

See here for Wikipedia's reporting on this phenomenon, without my editorializing:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Five_conferences

Sunspots 657

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

The Arts: Relevant discusses the extraordinary effort put into filming the Battle of Helm's Deep, in The Two Towers.

Christianity: National Public Radio reports that, at the trial of a white policeman, who was convicted of depriving her African-American son of his civil rights (he was shot in the back, and died), the victim's mother told the shooter that she forgave him. (The shooter apparently told her that he was sorry.)

A Relevant contributor discusses that perennial topic, the so-called "war on Christmas."

Relevant also reports on a survey, which indicates that Muslims and Jews give more to their religions than Christians do.


Computing: Developers of artificial intelligence are thinking about some of the ethical questions associated with this technology, according to Wired.

Here's a web site that will tell you if your information, such as Social Security number or financial accounts, has been compromised. Just enter your e-mail address. It doesn't tell you what to do about such problems.

Wired tells us that a lot of e-mail is being tracked -- the sender is informed as to when a message was opened, where the opening was, and on what type of information appliance, and more.
  Finance: Listverse describes some types of money that used to be used in the U. S., but aren't, any more.

Health: National Public Radio reports on the much more frequent deaths of black women, in, or shortly after, giving birth, and points to the stress of being the target of racism as at least one of the causes.

History: Listverse reports on some interesting aspects of life in ancient Egypt.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight reports on the change in attitude toward Israel in Republicans, over the last few decades.

(And Computing) Wired reports on false, or misleading, claims made by the 3 Federal Communications Commissioners who voted to do away with net neutrality.

(And Health) The Centers for Disease Control has been told not to use seven words/phrases, according to the Washington Post and other outlets. One of these is "fetus." (!) Scientific American, and others, are outraged at this directive, and believe that it will have real health consequences, bad ones. Shades of 1984.

Thanks for looking!

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 656

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

Christianity: National Public Radio reports that, at the trial of a white policeman, who was convicted of depriving her African-American son of his civil rights (he was shot in the back, and died), the victim's mother told the shooter that she forgave him. (The shooter apparently told her that he was sorry.)

A Relevant contributor discusses that perennial topic, the so-called "war on Christmas."

Relevant also reports on a survey, which indicates that Muslims and Jews give more to their religions than Christians do.


Computing: Developers of artificial intelligence are thinking about some of the ethical questions associated with this technology, according to Wired.

Here's a web site that will tell you if your information, such as Social Security number or financial accounts, has been compromised. Just enter your e-mail address. It doesn't tell you what to do about such problems.

Wired tells us that a lot of e-mail is being tracked -- the sender is informed as to when a message was opened, where the opening was, and on what type of information appliance, and more.

Finance: Listverse describes some types of money that used to be used in the U. S., but aren't, any more.

Health: National Public Radio reports on the much more frequent deaths of black women, in, or shortly after, giving birth, and points to the stress of being the target of racism as at least one of the causes.

History: Listverse reports on some interesting aspects of life in ancient Egypt.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight reports on the change in attitude toward Israel in Republicans, over the last few decades.


Thanks for looking!


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 587

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

Christianity: (or Religion) Listverse sets forth 10 common misconceptions about Hinduism. (See also the Wikipedia on Hinduism -- the two sources do not agree on every point.)

Listverse also sets forth 10 common misconceptions about Jews.

Computing: National Public Radio reports on storage of information in arrangements of individual atoms. Potentially, our hard discs, thumb drives, etc., could be superseded.

Education: Wikipedia articles (here and here) on the development of a written Cherokee language, in about 1820, by a Native American named Sequoyah. His system of symbols made it easier to teach reading and writing than the symbols most of us use today.

Finance: John Wesley's sermon on "The Use of Money."

Food: National Public Radio reports on the discovery that cockroach milk is very nutritious.

Politics: (Not really. but I don't have a category for this.) Two young women are hitchhiking across Europe with a sofa (!) in an attempt to help refugees.

Wired reports that your political posts on Facebook or Twitter don't change anyone's mind.

Science: Listverse reports on 10 mysteries involving spiders.

And Listverse also reports on 10 amazing things that 10 species of animals can do.

National Public Radio reports on some very old sharks (like more than two centuries, at least.)

NPR alsoreports on why sunflowers follow the sun. ("Follow" means that the flowers turn toward the sun throughout the day).

And NPR reports that earthworms really do enrich soil.





Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 577

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

Christianity: A Christianity Today columnist who is not a Trump supporter cautions against looking down on evangelicals who do support him.

Benjamin L. Corey on the question of whether Jesus was a pacifist, or not.

Relevant has an essay on "How to Pray When You Don't Feel Like it."

E. Stephen Burnett argues that Christians need fantastic literature that appeals specially to them. Maybe so. I confess that I'm not a huge fan of most such literature. (I am a fan of good fantastic literature, whoever writes it.)

Weekend Fisher argues that rational thought is a natural process -- it isn't miraculous. (Which, of course, does not deny that God made it possible.)

Computing: Wired on Facebook's new privacy settings.

Education: Listverse tells us 10 facts about the English language that you may not have known.


History: (and economics, and Christianity) Ken Schenck on what the Bible says about economic structures in society.

Politics: (or economics) Wired reports on a book about the economics of Star Trek, which has what is apparently a fictional money-free society.

Science: Listverse has a post on 10 strange anatomical facts about animals. Among other things, the post discusses the tongues of frogs and the location of a tick's eyes.


Image source (public domain)  

1 Timothy 6:17 poster

 

An attempt to illustrate 1 Timothy 6:17, which, in the World English Bible, says "Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy."

God is not a cosmic bully. He does provide for our needs, as He knows them, not necessarily as we do. It's a good thing He doesn't provide for them as we think of them -- some of them wouldn't be good for us. But He also provides for some of our wants, and, sometimes, surprises us with unexpected and unanticipated pleasures.


Thanks for reading and looking!

Sunspots 493

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

Computing: National Public Radio says that Facebook won't let you have an account, if you are 100 or older, and give your real age.

Humor: (or something) NPR reports on corn-picking contests. No machinery, just the person.

Politics: (sort of) NPR reports on the reluctance to accept that Ebola is not an air-borne virus.

Relevant reports that, if you have $3,650, or more, after debt is figured in, you have more money than half of the people on earth. (That's $10 a day, by the way.)

Science:  NPR reports that we might have been better off living in villages with about 150 people, than living with the type and number of social interactions that most of us have.

Wired reports on new techniques to determine if there really is awareness in a person in a coma, or an apparent persistent vegetative state. Apparently, sometimes, there is.
 



Sports: from USA Today, and other media: Lauren Hill, college freshman basketball player, hopes to enter her first game on November 2, provided she hasn't been incapacitated completely by an inoperable brain tumor by that time. There are videos of this, from CBS, and ABC.
Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 477

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

My usual categories don't exactly hold several of the things I've spotted this week.

Computing: (sort of) More than you want to know, but you should know, about sex trafficking.
Health: (and, unfortunately, rape) The BBC on the difficulties Indian woman experience in going to the toilet, or in getting along without such a facility.
Politics: (sort of) "What gives a dollar bill its value?" a YouTube video, less than 4 minutes in length.
(sort of) A Fox News commentator on the sudden influx of children from Central America. Public Radio International reports on the same matter.
National Public Radio reports on how much it takes to finance a terrorist attack. Not very much.
NPR also reports on how government grants to local police have made it more likely that SWAT teams will be used inappropriately, and they have been so used, unfortunately.
Science: Wired reports on harp sponges, a really strange primitive animal.
  Image source (public domain)

I'm thankful for money

I’m thankful for money. The Bible warns me that I shouldn’t love it – I must not make the pursuit of money the center of my life – but it doesn’t say that I can’t use it. The Bible has a lot to say about helping those who have less than I do. I don’t know why I have enough to satisfy my needs, and some of my wants, when some people don’t. It isn’t because I deserve it, and it could all be gone in minutes. But God has provided for me, and I have responsibility, according to the Bible, to pay taxes, to pay my debts, to take care of my family, and to cheerfully support God’s Kingdom work. As one of my Facebook Friends said, during the month of November, “and God provides.” He does, and I am undeserving, and grateful.

Thanks for reading! Don't try to pay me.

Sunspots 361

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

Science: National Public Radio on the possible bad consequences of the record warm weather that most of us have been having.

Fox News on the very atypical March temperatures.

Politics:  (Sort of) The Canadian government will stop minting pennies this year, according to the National Post.

Computing: An assessment and comparison of free digital image editors.

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 183

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

Humor:
(or something, perhaps art?) Wired has a gallery of Star Wars-themed carved pumpkins.

Science:
Wired reports that it is possible to see black printed numbers in color, under hypnosis.

Wired also reports that Harvard scientists, using records made by Henry David Thoreau, have discovered that some of the plants that were around Walden Pond are no longer there, probably because of the warmer temperatures.

Christianity:
(with a little politics) Henry Neufeld on religion and politics. Sample: "Then there is the little slogan 'In God we Trust' on our money. Some think it’s a national motto. Actually it’s a national joke. We don’t actually trust in God. In financial affairs we trust least of all."

He Lives on giving your possessions to the poor.

Image source (public domain)

Paul on what caused the current financial crisis

1 Timothy 6:9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (ESV)