Society
A lawmaker's solution for marriage debate: Remove the state host.madison
His bill, filed ahead of the 2017 legislative session, would make Missouri the first state to recognize only domestic unions for both heterosexual and gay couples, treating legal partnerships equally and leaving marriages to be done by pastors and other religious leaders.
Other states including Alabama, Indiana and Michigan failed to pass similar bills to limit the government's role in marriage, and Oklahoma representatives passed a bill that didn't make it out of the Senate.
40 States and Municipalities Will Raise the Minimum Wage in 2017. Is Yours One of Them? inc
Massachusetts and Washington will have the highest state-wide minimum pay, at $11 an hour. But some municipalities are mandating more. For example, SeaTac, Washington (home of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport) is raising the minimum wage to $15.24 an hour. And some states are taking a varied approach, such as New York, which will mandate a range of $9.70 to $11 per hour, with the highest minimum for workers in New York City.
What does all of this mean to hourly workers and their employers? Predictably, it's either impending disaster or the greatest thing ever, depending on your viewpoint and political leanings. Minimum wage earners and activists hail the increases as a lifesaver in an increasingly unaffordable world. Restaurant owners (who are most affected by the change) claim that a higher minimum wage will force them to decrease portion size, start charging for side dishes, or as Inc.'s Norm Brodsky says he may have to do, increase automation and decrease employment.
Also see the Minimum Wage Tracker epi.org linked to in the article.
India
India cash crunch: Rupee deposit deadline looms bbc
Early last month the government scrapped the 500 and 1000 rupee notes to crack down on undeclared money and fake cash. The move divided opinion, especially over how the ban was implemented. Deadlines for spending the notes or swapping them for new currency have already passed.
Parliament is preparing laws that will make it a criminal offence to hold the old notes from 1 April 2017 onwards.
Now, your thumb is your bank: [Indian] PM Modi launches digital payments app BHIM timesofindia.indiatimes
"In two weeks, payment through use of biometric fingerprint will begin in India. With the BHIM app, you'll only require your thumb to pay. In the past, illiterate people were called 'angutha-chaap' but now your thumb is your bank. It has become your identity now," PM Modi said at the DigiDhan Mela mygov.in in Delhi.
Israel
UK sides with Trump, Australia hints at support over Israel cnbc
Though Britain voted for the resolution, a spokesman for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement Thursday afternoon that, "we do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically-elected government of an ally."
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop [who does not currently have a seat on the UN Security Council] said in a statement released Thursday that "in voting at the UN, the (Australian) Coalition Government has consistently not supported one-sided resolutions targeting Israel."
Archaeology
New technologies bring marine archaeology treasures to light theguardian
In January, work will start on a new project to transform the search for sunken cities, ancient shipwrecks and other subsea curiosities. Led by Italian researchers, Archeosub archeosub.it will build a new generation of robotic submarines, or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), for marine archaeologists. “You can find plenty of human settlements not far from the coast,” Allotta said. “In the Mediterranean there will be a lot more Atlit-Yams waiting to be explored and studied.”
While this is about the tech (and it's interesting - who thought underwater, wireless internet was so difficult), it starts with a fascinating paragraph about a world that seemed lost overnight by lots of water:
No one knows what happened at Atlit-Yam. The ancient village appeared to be thriving until 7000BC. The locals kept cattle, caught fish and stored grain. They had wells for fresh water, stone houses with paved courtyards. Community life played out around an impressive monument: seven half-tonne stones that stood in a semicircular embrace around a spring where people came to drink. Then one day, life ended.
But Atlit-Yam was destroyed before [so-called 'last ice age'], and swiftly, perhaps by a tsunami. Buried under sand at the bottom of the sea, it now ranks as the largest and best preserved prehistoric settlement ever found on the seafloor. Human skeletons still lie there in graves, undisturbed.
Others...
Michael Tusk responds to Quince iPad truffle kerfuffle insidescoopsf.sfgate
The most outlandish homes for sale in 2016 curbed
Note: There's one particularly tasteless house in here. Sin, thy name is man.
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