Sunspots 796

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

Christianity: Relevant reports that some Christians were seriously put off  by Vice-President Pence, "whose Wednesday address raised eyebrows for paraphrasing Hebrews 12 (which is fine), but swapping out the biblical language for patriotic buzzwords (which is not)."

Christianity Today has two articles on what the Bible says about police and policing. The articles are here and here.

(and Sports) Christianity Today also has a discussion of the role of Christian athletes, mostly black, but some white, in the racial justice movement, over the past few decades. There's very little mention of women, unfortunately.

Environment: Gizmodo reports that wolverines, which have been absent from the area for a century, have returned to Mount Rainier.

Gizmodo also reports on a study that shows humans have about as large a footprint in the oceans as they do on land.

Health: Gizmodo expands on the six foot/two meter social distancing guideline.

Gizmodo also reports on the puzzling change in COVID testing guidelines, from the Centers for Disease Control.

The Huffington Post takes on the claim that only 6% of those said to have died from COVID actually died of it. It's complicated, but one quote: "Since March, when the pandemic started, the United States has suffered 200,000 more deaths than usual."

Politics: (And religion, unfortunately) Christianity Today points out the dangers of QAnon.

Science: The Scientist reports on an attempt to cut down on dengue fever, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, in Indonesia. Mosquitoes infected with bacteria were released, and the frequency of dengue fever dropped dramatically.

Listverse tells us about some amazing mushrooms.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 784

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

Christianity: Sojourners tells us what the basic responsibilities of white Christians are, in these times.

Computing: Listverse tells us about 10 persistent myths about high-tech devices.


Environment: Gizmodo reports that COVID-19 is being used as an excuse to roll back various environmental regulations.
 
Finance: FiveThirtyEight analyzes the May jobs report.

Politics: FivethirtyEight argues that President Trump's use of force to break up a peaceful demonstration, for the sake of a photo opportunity, violates deeply held American values, not just Presidential norms.

FiveThirtyEight discusses the effectiveness (and not) of fact checking.

FiveThirtyEight also gives us data on prosecutions of police for alleged misconduct. There aren't a lot of prosecutions, and many of them don't result in conviction.


(and Sports) FiveThirtyEight says that support for Colin Kaepernick, NFL quarterback who refused to stand during the national anthem, four years ago, has significantly increased.

FiveThirtyEight also discusses what protests accomplish. 

Science: (and Christianity) An article in Christianity Today on the importance of birds to us, and, apparently, to God.


One-celled algae evolved into multi-celled organisms in less than a year, under selection pressure from a predator.

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

Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 673

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

The Arts: Christianity: Gizmodo reports that some Catholic priests are performing exorcisms over a phone connection.

Computing: Gizmodo reports that the European Union is proposing to give robots/artificial intelligences legal status as persons, much like corporations may have such legal status, but not be able to vote, and with other limitations. A number of AI experts, and other experts, don't think this is a good idea.

Finance: (or something) National Public Radio reports that those stickers and labels, saying "warranty void if removed," are illegal.

Health: New Scientist reports that people who stay up late are more likely to die.

(or something) FiveThirtyEight reports that suicides may be a bigger threat to police than various kinds of non-police angry people, but that no one is keeping track of police suicides, nationwide.
  
Humor: (and several other categories) National Public Radio remembers Carl Kasell, long-time newcaster with a splendid voice, and also part of its humor and news show, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, here and here.

Politics: Sojourners asks why many evangelicals still support Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, in spite of several ethically questionable actions.

More on Pruitt's questionable behaviors, which have been questioned by the EPA, itself.

We may be concerned, and should be, about the fate of Syrian civilians, but the US has accepted only 11 Syrian refugees this year, so far, according to NPR.

Relevant reports that Franklin Graham has questioned the Christianity of political progressives.

Thanks for looking!


Image source (public domain)