Kosher?
Of course, the question was bound to come up. Are self-driving cars kosher?
Self-driving cars—aka robotaxis, autonomous vehicles or driverless cars—with their whirring sensors have by now become a familiar sight on the streets of San Francisco.
Familiar they might be, but not without controversy. With local incidents of self-driving cars trying to drive into active fire zones, stalling en masse and even crashing into a fire truck this month, reports of autonomous misconduct
Overweight?
Obesity costs this country about $200 billion a year wreaking havoc by means of diabetes and heart disease. But there seems to be hope. In the form of drugs that help folks lose weight—lots of weight.
These medications, originally developed to treat Type 2 diabetes, mimic a gut hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1, that helps suppress appetite and makes people feel full sooner when eating. So they eat less. And—voila!—many of the deleterious effects
Sound!
Sound can take years off your life, apparently. Or so The New York Times reports.
Jet planes, jackhammers, sirens, loud dogs, truck engines, and stuff like that rattles the neighborhood over 280 times a day, more than 105,000 times each year. Chronic loud noise is a health threat that is increasing the risk of hypertension, stroke and heart attacks worldwide, including for more than 100 million Americans. One might think one has adapted to the noise, but even if that is
Walking!
Last year had the highest number of pedestrian fatalities in the last 40 years: 7,508 walkers slain by vehicles. So saith the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). Up 77% since 2010. And in 2022, 20 people were killed each day, walking in the street. (Oklahoma had a technical issue and failed to send in a report, but NBC reports that the state averages 92 pedestrian deaths each year; that means last year’s total is probably even higher.)
Pam Shadel Fischer, senior
Judges 20:1–21:25
Ungodly acts of revenge and godless attempts to remedy past misdeeds onmly lead to more evildoing, wreaking havoc in the community.
The first part of Judges 19–21 described the rape and murder of one Israelite woman—viewed by the nation as a crime. The last part, 20:1–21:25, describes two separate kidnappings/rapes, of four hundred and two hundred Israelite women, respectively—viewed by the nation as acceptable. Chaos reigns and, in the end, the nation spirals into
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.