Sunspots 924

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

Christianity: Philip Yancey, one of my favorite authors, has Parkinson's. He reflects on that situation for Christianity Today.

Computing: Gizmodo reports that an artificial intelligence managed to pass a qualifying medical exam.

Education: Grammarphobia explains why the letter W is called "double U," rather than "double V."

Environment: Gizmodo  reports on breakdown of plastic waste, in oceans, by sunlight and bacteria.

A Conversation writer says that truck crashes involving hazardous material are more common than train wrecks of that type. Train wrecks just get more headlines.

Finances: (or something) Gizmodo reports on a large study of changing from a 5-day to 4-day work week.:

Health: The Scientist tells us that syphilis cases are on the rise.

Politics: FiveThirtyEight discusses four factions of House Democrats.

NPR reports (and other outlets also report) that Fox News on-line personalities knew that there was no evidence that the 2020 election had been "stolen," but acted as if their was.

A The Conversation writer discusses the clothing worn by First Ladies.

Politico describes what happened when far right people took control of county government in a Michigan district.

Sports: A basketball that doesn't need (or can't) be blown up has been developed.

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

Thanks for reading.

 

Sunspots 888

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

Environment: Gizmodo reports that a power company knew about the effects of climate change for decades, but kept promoting (including building new plants) that used fossil fuels.

Gizmodo also reports that microplastics have been found in newly deposited Arctic snow.

NPR reports that the Biden administration plans to designate an area of the Atlantic, off of New York, as a marine sanctuary.

Gizmodo reports that car tires also contribute a lot of pollution.

Food: NPR reports on beefalo, bison-cattle hybrids, as a meat source.

Politics: NPR reports on a group that is working to cut off Fox News' advertising revenue. More, from Gizmodo.

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

Thanks for reading.

Sunspots 844

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

Health: (and politics) Gizmodo reports that people who rely on Facebook for news are more likely to resist vaccination for COVID than people who rely on Fox News for their news.

Science:  A Gizmodo panel asks if we will ever be able to delete or alter memories. Not for a long time, if ever.\

Gizmodo on ink that is really black. Really.

Sports: (and Politics) FiveThirtyEight reports that the Cold War in Olympic gymnastics is over.

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 537

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

The Arts: (or something) Lego-like blocks have been produced, only they are large enough to build real furniture and buildings.

Christianity: Relevant on "How Worry Warps Your View of God," and how to get the right view back.

Benjamin L. Corey gives 12 signs that you got your "Biblical" Worldview from Fox News (not the Bible).

Computing: Gizmo's Freeware reviews free Virtual Private Networks.

Finance: From the New York Times, an interactive web site that helps you decide whether to rent or purchase a home, based on your own data.

Health: Relevant wants to know "Why Don't Churches Ever Talk About Physical Health."

Politics: Benjamin L. Corey also thinks that some people go way too far in their defense of gun rights.

Science: In a report published this week in Nature, we learn that there are about three trillion trees on the earth.

Wired reports that royal jelly doesn't result in queen bees in the way we have thought it did.



Image source (public domain)

The Pope's encyclical on climate change

As you are probably aware, Pope Francis has released an encyclical on climate change. (Here is a link to that document.)

Here is extensive coverage from CNN, including some video reports on papal infallibility, and on climate change.

Wired and Christianity Today have commentary on the pope's action. So does the BioLogos forum, an organization of Christian scientists and others. These comments are largely favorable.

Some commentators associated with Fox News were not so positive, by a long shot. See here and here, for samples. Some prominent Republicans, including some Catholics, also did not support the Pope on this matter.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 474

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

Christianity: The Huffington Post has an article telling us that we may be using "I've been blessed" entirely too much.
Computing: (or something) One of my photos was used by a Fox News web page, without my permission. Hardly a shock, and it could have been some other web site (and has been, sometimes.) Here's the original photo. They didn't spell my name correctly, but that happens a lot. Oh, well.
Education: (Or history, or politics) Robert Krulwich posts on people who had a parent, or grandparent, who remembered things from over a century ago -- human wormholes. Interesting.

Politics: (Sort of) National Public Radio reports on the death of the last of the Navajo Code Talkers, who used their own language to communicate secrets for the US military, in World War II. Navajo is so complex, and was so obscure to the Japanese, that they were unable to decipher the communications of the Code Talkers.
Science: Fox News reports on evidence that the moon and the earth have always been separate, but collided a long time ago.
The New York Times on a new procedure -- testing for all the DNA in a diseased person's body, and checking that DNA against all known disease-causing organisms, including parasites.
National Public Radio reports that spiders tune their webs, much like violinists tune their violins, although not for the same reasons.
  Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 258

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

Humor:
I'm not a fan of The Simpsons, but a lot of other people are. Strange Maps shows that Marge Simpson's head is shaped like Europe.

Science:(or something) According to Wired (some of you know this very well, but I didn't) Fox News commentators routinely deny that there is any danger from global warming. But Fox News, the business, is working to become green, very green.

Computing: 
Wired tells us how to browse without leaving a footprint, almost.

Information on the National Broadband Plan is here.



Image source (public domain)