Sunspots 807

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

Christianity: Christianity Today reports on religious persecution. That (and not just of Christians) is on the rise, world-wide.

Computing: (or something) National Public Radio reports on the movement of workers from home from expensive metropolitan areas to small cities like Burlington, VT, Knoxville, TN and Greenville, SC.

Education: Grammarphobia considers the question of how a final -ed syllable was pronounced, in previous times. (Example: was "learned" pronounced to rhyme with "burned," or with "turn head?")

Science: The Scientist reports on studies of the ability of zebra finches to identify vocalization from other individual birds of the same species. Their abilities are remarkable.

Sports: ESPN and other outlets report that Kim Ng has become the first general manager of a major North American pro sports team.

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

Thanks for looking!

 

Sunspots 621

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

The Arts: (And Christianity) A Relevant writer argues that marketers effectively isolated Contemporary Christian Music artists from the world at large, when they might have appealed to that world. The writer says that "Christian" film-makers are being steered in the same direction, when they shouldn't be.

Christianity: Christianity Today on the awful consequences of corruption, mostly (but not entirely) in other countries, where, in some, it's "normal."


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware tells us about an on-line audible pronunciation tool, which works in several languages.

Gizmo's also points to a source of music that can be used as background, etc., without violating copyright.


Education: The New York Times considers the question of whether pre-school teachers need college degrees.

History: Listverse reports on 10 ancient businesses. (Mostly from a thousand or more years ago.)

Listverse also reports on 10 islands in the Atlantic Ocean that you've probably never heard of. (I had heard of one of them.)
 
Science: Scientific American has posted a video, under 90 seconds, of a badger burying a dead cow. Really. (It took the badger longer than that.

Wired explains why it is so hard (or impossible) to prevent the production of sarin gas (the kind recently used in Syria).

Scientific American reports on a study about how couples can continue to be attracted to each other.

Scientific American also tells us that an asteroid is going to come pretty close to the earth on April 19.

Listverse describes 10 kinds of rocks that smell bad (or stink).


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 425

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

Christianity: My church, The Wesleyan Church, has a position paper on homosexuality. A good one. (Note -- it was published in 2010, so is not just a reaction to the recent Supreme Court decision.)

Health: The Guardian says that the source of pain in fibromyalgia has finally been identified. It's nerve fibers in the hand.

The LA Times reports on a "reverse vaccine" for diabetes. It helps prevent the immune system from attacking the cells that make insulin.

Science: Linguistic science, that is. Business Insider has published over 20 maps of the continental US, showing differences in pronunciation (or vocabulary) by region. Interesting.

Sports: (Sort of) The Telegraph reports on an unusual group of football matches, being played between robot teams, with the, er, goal, of being good enough to beat humans in a couple of dozen years or so. (that's the football that everyone besides some North Americans call football -- we mostly call it soccer)



Image source (public domain)