Some important uses of the number ten

 

Some important uses of the number ten

One of a series, starting with uses of two. The next post, on twelve, will be the last.

I believe that phone numbers in some countries don't have 10 digits.

It's interesting to speculate as to how life would be different if we had 8 fingers and 8 toes, or 12 fingers and 8 toes, or whatever. But most people have 10 of each, and there are Ten Commandments, and our number system is mostly a decimal system.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 697

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

Christianity: Christianity Today reports on the shockingly low numbers of refugees, and refugees who have been persecuted for being Christians, that entered the US last year.

A Christianity Today author on the stress of caring for kids at home and for aging parents, at the same time.

Relevant responds to a question about whether giving to Christian charities makes it unnecessary to tithe to one's church.

Relevant also offers an essay on "Five Myths of Christian Political Engagement."


Computing: Gizmo's Freeware on an application that lets you listen to radio stations from all over the world, free.


Health: National Public Radio reports that patients with colds want doctors to prescribe antibiotics, even though such medications aren't effective against viruses, and may contribute to antibiotic resistance.

National Public Radio also reports on using apps to help you go to sleep. Some of them work!
The Scientist reports that abdominal fat can play a role in protecting us. (Too much of it is still bad for us!)

Philosophy: A Scientific American writer argues that science can never solve the mind-body problem. (Here's the Wikipedia article on that problem.)


Science: Listverse tells us about Europa, the most interesting moon of Jupiter.

Earther reports on high-flying (like about 8+ kilometers up) bacteria, and their effect on weather, and maybe on disease transmission.

The graphic used in these posts is from NASA, hence, I believe, it is public domain.
Thanks for looking!

Sunspots 239

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

Note: I almost always post "Sunspots" on Wednesdays, but have other plans for tomorrow's post, this time.

Humor:
(or something) Someone alerted the Strange Maps blogger (that's what his blog is about) to a field in Nebraska that's exactly the shape of, well, Nebraska.

Music:
(or something) Wired reports that an inventor is connecting earth tremors to musical instruments, to create earth-born (!) music.

Computing: 
Wired reports that a (so far) anonymous Wikipedia editor is being sued for claiming that an actor is homosexual, when the actor denies this. This case raises the issue of web anonymity, of course, and also the issue of whether calling someone homosexual when they aren't is a prosecutable offense. (Would the reverse claim also be?)

Literature:
(Art, actually) Wired reports on an artist that creates art objects out of old hard drives.

Christianity:
The Beautiful Feet blogger believes he may have found a Christmas prediction in the book of Job, of all places.

More on Jan, who, as I reported previously, finally got around to paying her tithe.



Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 237

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

Science:
(sort of) Wired shows us photos of some really big mechanical devices (using device loosely -- the first one is a cargo plane).

NPR reports on experiments showing that ants are able to keep track of the number of steps they have taken away from their anthill.


Christianity:
Jan paid her tithe, and tells us what happened.

Philip Yancey has written his last column, for a while, anyway, for Christianity Today . He takes a thoughtful look at the way evangelical Christians do things, and is not altogether pleased.

Image source (public domain)