Sunspots 648

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

The Arts: A photo of two children, exploring the outdoors, which is really a commentary on war.
(And Christianity) A Relevant writer argues that horror films often have Christian values, and that the genre can teach us important truths.

Christianity: (And Politics) Sojourners is not happy with the recent actions of Vice-President Pence, at a football game.

Christianity Today reports on bias against Christians. A quotation: “We have a right as Americans not to be persecuted. ... We don’t have a right not to be ridiculed.”

FiveThirtyEight reports that going to a university is not a major factor in young people's loss of faith.

Benjamin L. Corey doesn't think we should say, "God never gives us more than we can handle," and explains why.


Computing: Wired on how difficult it would be to hack North Korea's computers.

Health: The BBC reminds us that flush toilets have a simple mechanism that keeps almost all of the stink from coming back up to us.

Politics: (or something) FiveThirtyEight says that we don't really know what a "typical" sexual harasser is like.

Science: Scientific American reports on a new kind of telescope for amateurs, that makes what you see in it look like what you see in good stellar photos.

A Scientific American writer says that we use far too much plastic, and suggests some ways to change that.

Scientific American also reports on a dwarf planet (of the sun) which isn't a sphere, has some satellites, and also rings.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 647

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

Christianity: Christianity Today has published another essay on reaction to the national anthem and the US flag. (The previous two Sunspots each referred to another such essay.)

A Relevant writer says that pursuing physical fitness can be a form of idolatry.

Another Relevant writer asks whether God really wants us to be happy.

Ed Stetzer, in Christianity Today, writes about hypocrisy, and a couple of prominent current hypocrites.


Computing: Wired reports on how to give robots a sense of touch.

Food: Listverse describes some bad things (including dying) that can happen to contestants in eating contest.

National Public Radio reports on trendy (and expensive) non-alcoholic beverages.

Health: Listverse discusses 10 good things that coffee does for you.

History: Listverse describes some amazing accomplishments of self-taught people.

(and Philosophy) The History Blog discusses the story of what happened to the body and head of philosopher Jeremy Bentham. (Here's the Wikipedia article on Bentham.)

Humor: (or something) Listverse describes 10 really strange government agencies, from more than one country.


Politics: FiveThirtyEight says that gun control is about as polarizing issue as there is in the present USA.

Science: (and politics) Scientific American says that Congress has an anti-scientific attitude, and suggests a fix.

NASA will let you send your name to Mars.

NPR reports that a new weed killer is helping some farmers, but harming others.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 646

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

The Arts: A splendid photo of Padar Island, Komodo National Park, Indonesia, from the air, on Flickr.

An amazingly colored bird, also from Southeast Asia, also on Flickr.

From ClassicFM, a photo of a bass drum that broke, when it was used to play the cannon part from Tchiakovsky's 1812 Overture.

Christianity: A commenter, in Christianity Today, on the matter of the NFL and the US flag. (Not the same commenter, or viewpoint, as was mentioned here last week.)

Sojourners reports that a number of high-profile Southern Baptists, and others, have called on President Donald Trump to denounce the alt-right movement.

Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength reminds us that it is important that God is personal, and explains why.

He Lives points out that God is omni-holy. He isn't omni-merciful, or omni-just, though.


Computing: (and Politics) National Public Radio reports that Republican Senator James Lankford is saying that Russian trolls have injected themselves into the current debate over racial treatment and the national anthem, on both sides, in an attempt to divide the US citizenry.

A Wired contributor suggests that we delete Facebook, etc., from our smartphones, and use them only from a computer, and gives reasons for suggesting this. (I did that myself, a couple of years ago, and have not gone back to Facebooking on our smartphone.)
  Finance: Wired analyzes the consumer protection now offered by Equifax.

Food: Scientific American on the science of brewing coffee.

History: Listverse reports on the ways that Christ's disciples died. They were all painful and humiliating.

Humor: (or something) Listverse also reports on 10 famous quotes, and how we don't attribute them correctly.
 

Politics: (and Sports) FiveThirtyEight has analyzed the political preferences of the fan base of all of the National Football League teams. All of them have substantial support from people leaning in both political directions, but some have more of one than the other. Fans of NASCAR are mostly Republican, fans of the NBA are mostly Democratic.

FiveThirtyEight also tries to explain President Donald Trump's behavior.

Science: Scientific American reports on a giant rat species, new to science, from the Solomon Islands. (It was known to the local inhabitants.)

Sports: Phil Mickelson, golfer, took a selfie of himself, with former presidents Clinton, Obama and George W. Bush, but mostly cut himself out of the photo. (In CBS Sports and many other sources.)


Image source (public domain)

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 590

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

Christianity: A Florida State football player ate lunch with an autistic boy who was eating alone in his school cafeteria, says Relevant.

A blogger has posted some stupid phrases, or good phrases used stupidly, for people in crisis.

Benjamin L. Corey says that Christian parents should be celebrating Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand during the National Anthem.


Computing: Bloomberg warns us that our new refrigerators may be watching us (and sending information to others.)

Education: National Public Radio reports on a study that indicates that when a child in school is exposed to violence in the home, it affects the entire class.

Health: Wired says that too many of us still aren't wearing seat belts.

Scientific American, and many other news outlets, on why the ingredients in many antibacterial soaps have been banned. (Regular soap is just as good!)

History: ListVerse on 10 people who rescued others, who were on the other side, during World War II.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight discusses facts about immigration, based on real data. (Example: Hispanic immigrants learn English as well as, or better than, German immigrants did in the past.)

Science: Wired has posted a graphic, showing how rapidly climate has changed over the past 160 years or so.

FiveThirtyEight discusses what starlight tells us about the universe. As the post says, pretty much everything we know.

Scientific American discusses the matter of calling family members by some other family member's name.

Scientific American also discusses the subject of communicating with aliens -- how could we learn their language (or the reverse)? (There's a movie about that coming out soon.)

NPR reports that some lizards are starving to death, because it is too hot for them to forage during most of the day.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 429

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

Computing: National Public Radio reports that the NSA, which supposedly can look at lots of our personal e-mail and telephone calls, says that it is not able to search its own e-mails. Hmmm . . .

Gizmo's Freeware has updated its article on "How to Harden Your Browser Against Malware and Privacy Concerns."

Science: The New York Times reports on a study indicating that smokers continue to smoke because their self-control is not as good as that of non-smokers.

Sports: ESPN on why the national anthem is sung at baseball games. (Babe Ruth, and a player who ended up living close to where I used to, Fred Thomas, are mentioned in the article.)



Image source (public domain)