Eye on Faith: July 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Listen up: 'It's not me!'

(Photo by Newsum)

Certainly, many a bad guy insists “It’s not me!” when arrested. But many a good guy insists that too, and in their case, it’s the honest truth.

So the real Marvin Seales was at work one day when he was hauled off by a team of Detroit police officers. Their pretext for doing so was that a crime had been committed in the name

of Marvin Seals.

Roderick Siner, the actual criminal who had gone by the “Seals” name, looked nothing like this Marvin Seales. Even the name did not exactly match. Seales was therefore quick to insist: It’s not me!

No one listened to Seales. Not the arresting officers, not the fingerprinting personnel, not the sheriff’s agents, and not the jail staff. He was locked up with serious criminals and held for more than two weeks.

It took years for Seales’ wrongful-arrest-and-imprisonment case to go to trial. In the meantime, Seales could have lost his reputation, his relationships, his job and his new home.

Fortunately, some folks finally listened. They were the eight jurors who unanimously ruled in Seales’ favor. He was then awarded the largest such settlement in court history: $3.5 million. Justice was ultimately served with a big juicy cherry on top.

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/wrongfully-jailed-man-wins-2435-million-i-kept-saying-its-not-me/ar-BBLigkF

Monday, July 30, 2018

Mental decline: High blood pressure poses higher risk

(2014 Image by Mikael Haggstrom)

We all know that highly-stressed feeling when blood pressure feels like it’s going through the roof. What if that “roof” is actually the brain? What happens then?

According to some recent findings, possibly Alzheimer’s. High blood pressure not only leads to heart problems, but maybe to cognitive ones.

These findings were based on a "major study" in which “more than 9,300 people with high blood pressure” were monitored. Those with treatments that brought pressure down to 120 fared cognitively better than those whose treatments merely aimed for 140. In fact, there was a “19 percent lower risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the intensive-treatment group.”

So it might be time to put down those crossword puzzles and pick up those carrot sticks. The latter can be delightfully seasoned with salt-free dressings.

Resources

https://apnews.com/44f44c9429014c0e8e3bfd1c45281c01

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Soupy Tales

Mars Southern Ice Cap (PD)

Deep within the recesses of Mars, something seems rather slushy.

This “something” was detected via “low frequency radio pulses” from MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding). It might be a lake that lies 4,921 feet below the southern ice cap. Or not. It could instead be a huge mud puddle.

In any event, it might contain enough water for life to exist. Microbial life on Earth has been known to survive under seemingly similar conditions.

Scientists suspect that Mars might be harboring many such potential “pockets” of life. Just think: If one’s been discovered, how many others haven’t?

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/mars-has-tons-of-newly-discovered-water-in-a-12-mile-wide-reservoir/ar-BBL2uDF?OCID=ansmsnnews11