Not a crock: Obadiah was stopped in his tracks, reading a New York Times headline. “Scientists Discover a Virgin Birth in a Crocodile”.
An incubated egg from a female Croc living alone produced a stillborn baby. But the story by Veronique Greenwood adds: “In a paper out Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters, a team of researchers report that the baby crocodile was a parthenogen — the product of a virgin birth, containing only genetic material from its mother. While parthenogenesis has been identified in creatures as diverse as king cobras, sawfish and California condors, this is the first time it has been found in crocodiles. And because of where crocodiles fall on the tree of life, it implies that pterosaurs and dinosaurs might also have been capable of such reproductive feats.”
Greenwood interviews Warren Booth, an associate professor at Virginia Tech who has studied the eggs “In 2020, scientists discovered that lizards can mate and then lay clutches of eggs where some are normal offspring and some are parthenogens. This is Dr. Booth’s hunch: It’s an ability that can be switched on or off, and it is perhaps controlled by a single gene.”
One for the apologetics buffs maybe.
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What sort of site: When Obadiah pushed back against an article published on the Roys Report site of a list of evasions that televangelists used and allegedly adopted by Hillsong. Editor Julie Roys complained that Obadiah labelled it a Roys list.
No, she says it’s just the author’s list. Which raises an interesting journalistic question. If The New York Times or The Australian published a list provided by a contributor, it could be fairly described as a NYTimes or Australian list. They take editorial responsibility for their content.
But if the goverment issued a list say of internet scams and it is referenced on a news site it wil be seen asthe government’s list. Or one might write something about say the World Watch list and it is tajken as the responsibility of Open Doors because it’s a recognised source. But when publisinging something from a less known source Obadiah is not sure a news site can distance themselves from being responsible.
But if you are simply an aggregator – then it’s like retweeting – it is not nesessarily an endorsement.
Obadiah sees Roys as maybe being a news site some of the time, and an aggregator the rest of the time which he finds confusing.
Someone who simply aggregates content can disown it. Maybe. Is the Roy’s Report a news site or an aggregator? Obadiah is not sure. Unkind folks have been known to call it a gossip site in Obadiah’s hearing.
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Wake up call: Obadiah got an alarming email from the Sydney prayer breakfast team, asking for the names of all the people he was inviting to sit at the table he paid for. No, Obadiah can’t afford a whole table at the brekky – apparently, the email went by mistake to all who signed up for the breakfast. As Obadiah can be a butterfingers, he understands what happened. But for a fleeting moment, he had a vision of the Sydney cricket ground being hired, full of tables of praying people. It was nice while it lasted.
The prayer breakfast was a great success, with many filled-up tables. They did not need Obadiah after all. There was a great testimony at the brekky which you can read about here.
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Words of the prophet? Walking home from the station, Obadiah passes this graffito, painted outside a demolition site. Was this painted by the group that loudly proclaims the gospel outside local railway stations recently? Obadiah is not sure. It does not look like the work of a tagger or street artist. From memory “Burn in the fire” appeared first, joined by “Jesus is Lord” weeks later.
Obadiah is concerned that this “art”work positions Chritians as more weird than we need to be. But he trusts that it is meant sincerely.
Happy Birthday: The Ashfield blessing Box turned two on Friday. It’s a place where you leave food for those who might need it. Obadiah has found that tuna cans seem to go fast. Others leave bread. And a few weeks ago, Obadiah found that the good folk of Ashfield Baptist, the home of the blessing box, had added a fridge so veggies and other items can now be left.
Obadiah loves street libraries but the blessing box even more. Is there one close to you? It’s a great way to help.