Sunspots 604

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

Christianity: Benjamin L. Corey tells us that Christmas is not a pagan holiday, nor was it based on one.


Health: (or something) Listverse reports on how hair color influences various aspects of our health.

National Public Radio reports on volunteer (almost always family members) caregivers. They need training, and at least some of them are getting it.

History: Listverse describes 10 mysterious libraries of the past.

Politics: Scientific American has published an open letter to President-elect Trump, urging him to take six actions relative to climate change (none of which are to deny its existence! -- which he may, or may not, have done) from over 800 scientists in climatology and related fields.

Science: (or something) National Public Radio muses on the topic of whether the Neanderthals had a religion.

Todd Wood, a young-earth creationist with impeccable scientific credentials. discusses a fossil of a dinosaur with feathers. (The fossil was preserved in amber, meaning that it's better preserved than most fossils. The feather structure is clearly visible.)

Scientific American discusses the intelligence of octopi.

FiveThirtyEight on the Waffle House index for natural disasters.


Image source (public domain)

Sunspots 432

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

Christianity: Leaving aside who is right and who is wrong, Charles Haynes, columnist, says, I believe correctly, that public school teachers and curricula are not adequately equipped to "teach the controversy" over origins.

Health: (And life and death) Wired reports on how we don't monitor carbon monoxide very well, with, sometimes, deadly consequences.

Politics: (and science) Four public servants, who served as heads of the Environmental Protection Agency under Republican presidents, for a total of 43 years of service, have combined to chastise all too many Republican legislators for dismissing climate change, and failing to act on it.

The lyrics to "When Did Jesus Become a Republican?"

Science: Wired reports on maps of past data, showing how likely you may be to suffer from floods, tornadoes, etc.



Image source (public domain)

How insignificant humans are!

Leonard Pitts, columnist for the Miami Herald, has written a splendid column about, of all things, the Titanic. Yes, the ship that sunk. There is a re-make of a movie about it, showing in theaters now.

His point? We thought the Titanic was unsinkable. Even God could not sink it, they said. We thought we had it made. But we were wrong, 100 years ago, and we'd better not get to feeling too proud now. Even the Titanic was just a dot in an enormous ocean, an ocean so much older than the Titanic that we can scarcely imagine it.

Pitts doesn't mention it, but the building of the tower of Babel comes to mind. According to the story in Genesis, the builders had far too much appreciation for their own ability. Disaster struck. Pitts doesn't mention climate change, either, but that's just one place that the next disaster we aren't prepared for may come from. Or it may come from our dependence on the all-too-vulnerable North American power grid, from the European (and US) debt crisis, from Iran or North Korea starting a nuclear war, from disease germs becoming resistant to antibiotics, or from any one of a number of things I haven't thought of, or, of course, from the Second Coming. But a disaster will come. And we won't be ready, no matter how smart and well off we think we are.

We are recently evolved (or created, or both) inhabitants of a small planet around an ordinary sun in an ordinary galaxy, a very small spot, in time and space, in the grand scheme of things, and we forget that at our peril.

Thanks for reading!

Sunspots 343

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

Science:  (or Disasters) Video of an amazing disaster, in 1980, probably caused by a 14-inch oil drilling apparatus. More in Wikipedia, here.

Fox News reports that NASA may have found an earth-like planet, a long way from here.

Sports: (Sort of) An astronaut plays baseball against himself, hitting his own pitch, from Wired. (Short video included).

Computing: Fox News reports on how Facebook has been warned, and punished, for its use of information about users, without their consent.

Image source (public domain)

What about the earthquake? What happened? Did God cause it?

I have just now read three fine posts on the recent earthquake in Japan. (Thank you, Google Reader.) One is by a geologist, writing at The Panda's Thumb, who explains what happened, and puts to rest some ridiculous rumors, such as the one about a supermoon (whatever that is). He also says that the number or severity of earthquakes is NOT increasing. There's also a Wikipedia article on this earthquake.

Two other posts are from a Christian perspective. One, from Heart, Mind and Soul, deals with the question, "Did God cause this earthquake?" Short answer: "No," but it's not quite that simple. Read the post, and the second comment. As the blogger points out, Jesus answered a question like that.

The second post, by He Lives, is on the statement, "There must not be a god, because if there was, he wouldn't allow such things to happen." (Paraphrased from scientist Jerry Coyne, who is not nearly as good a philosopher as a scientist.) The blogger puts that statement to rest, again.

Read these for more on the earthquake. I normally put out a Sunspots on Wednesday, but this seems more pertinent, so I'll hold off on that for a day or so.

P. S. A study, using US Geological Survey data, by the Institute for Creation Research (which I don't always agree with) indicates that the frequency of earthquakes is not increasing.

Thanks for reading this.

Pray for Southern California, USA

This is Mt. San Miguel, in San Diego County, California, taken today.

This photo was taken by a relative who lives in San Diego County. It isn't the best quality ever, but it makes a point. You can get some idea of the height of those flames from the distance -- he was perhaps 4 miles/6 km away when he took the photo. (May have used the zoom function.) Radio stations, and public safety, have towers on this mountain. At least some of these have stopped functioning. Our relative may be evacuating soon.

People in Southern California need prayer. The Santa Ana winds are supposed to gust up to over 30 mph/40 kph today. The humidity is less than 5%. Over 250,000 people have been evacuated in San Diego County alone. Many roads are closed, because of the fires.

There are other fires in Southern California, too.

Thanks to another relative, for suggesting that I post this, and ask for prayer.