Sunspots 869

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

Christianity:  (sort of) Christianity Today on Jerry Falwell, Jr.'s, hypocrisy, and sin.

A church in Oregon has filed a lawsuit, complaining that feeding the hungry and homeless is a right under freedom of religion. (They have been doing that for years.)

Environment:  Gizmodo reports that QAnon followers have attacked a butterfly sanctuary.

ListVerse shows us videos of 10 areas that are, scenically, on a par with the National Parks.

Health: NPR reports that Malawi, and perhaps some other poor countries in Africa, have mostly beaten COVID, and how this has happened.

Politics: Christianity Today reports that Florida's governor DeSantis is taking action to present charitable groups from helping care for migrant children, which action is legal in the US (including Florida).

Science: The Scientist reports that mutation rates of especially important genes are lower than for genes in general.

Gizmodo reports that peat bogs in the UK, which are a source of archaeological material, are being lost to global climate change.

Gizmodo also reports on all-female termite colonies.

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

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

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 856

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

The Arts: (or something) Gizmodo reports on an esthetic advance in the design of screws.

Education: (and politics) NPR reports that the Texas governor, and some other officials, are trying to get some books removed from public school libraries.

Health: NPR reports on how our future interaction with COVID may develop.

History: Grammarphobia explains how first names became last names. (Example: Davidson) A lot of last names are based on first names, most not so obvious as the example I gave.

Politics: NPR reports that former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio has cost the taxpayers $100,000,000 in legal fees.

Science: Gizmodo reports that two California condor females had offspring by virgin birth -- no mating involved. Some birds can do this occasionally.

(or something) Gizmodo also reports on how a gun shooting blanks could kill someone.

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

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

Thanks for reading.

I'm glad I'm not an aphid

In some ways, aphids have it made. They just sit there and suck plant juices until they die. They don't move much, although some of them have wings, and fly, and they usually seem to live in a place that has abundant food available. They have endosymbiotic bacteria in their guts, which make the essential amino acids that are in scant supply in the juice flowing in the plant's vessels. (Which is mostly water and carbohydrates.)

But, on the other hand, they are exposed to predators, with their main defense seeming to be their ability to produce little aphids, so many that they can't all be eaten. They don't live a long time. They don't see much, except whatever plant stem they are on, and a little of their surroundings. Presumably, they don't have any education, any arts, any sports, any politics, any religion. Many of them don't even have any sex life -- they produce new aphids mostly by parthenogenesis, that is, having little ones without a sexual process. (Sexual processes generally reshuffle the genetic material. They may accomplish other things, too!) Some aphid species produce up to 40 generations, all female, and all genetically identical to a first ancestor, in a single summer. (There is usually a sexual phase just before anticipated cold weather, which, instead of giving "birth" to little aphids, mates, and the females lay eggs.)

These insects are amazingly successful, if being numerous, and having lots of offspring, is success. But I'd rather be a human, a fallen human, with more of the image of God in me than aphids, and with a path to redemption.

Thanks for reading. To see more photos of aphids, giving birth, being eaten, and in other activities, see here.

Sunspots 313

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

Science: Wired reports on the discovery, in the lab, of a new parthenogenetic species of lizard. Unfortunately, the photos at the end confused me.

 
Politics: I have been a Flickr member for several years. (Flickr is a photograph-based social network.) I recently discovered that President Obama has a Flickr account. I doubt if he took all of the over 50,000 photos that are in it by himself . . .  So I checked on some other political people. Tim Pawlenty has an account, with a lot less photos. Michele Bachman, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich don't seem to have accounts.

Computing: You've probably seen this all before, but here's an article on how passwords are hacked.

Christianity: An English translation of the Latin text of the Requiem Mass, by Mozart (and others).

Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 181

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

Science:
Wired has a report on virgin birth (really!) in sharks.

Also from Wired: an ecosystem consisting of a single species.

A man who has had a new hand transplanted onto his arm has some feeling in it!

This is really about science -- psychology, to be exact -- not politics: Slate on why Senator McCain got booed at his own rally, for saying that Senator Obama was a decent person who disagreed with him.

Politics:
Jan has written a few haiku, describing the nationally televised political debates, and invites readers to add their own.

Computing:
A Reasonable Imagination says that the use of hyperlinks can contribute to stupidity. The post is here. Sorry!

Christianity:
He Lives on the significance of the Tree of Life.

Image source (public domain)