Denial in Graffiti; Boy Dolls; Garfield's Male???; Eno the Binary Chatbot; Religious Liberty in South Dakota; Calls for Even More Abortion; Muddied god; and 3D Printed Grenade Launcher

I know it has been a couple weeks since my last post! I had the opportunity to attend Shepherds Conference a couple weeks ago, which took all my time (and energy!). Last week I played catch up to make up for being off the previous week, and decided to give myself an extra week off from this blog for some breathing room.

But don't worry: In my absence it appears the world has continued to spin...along with the media, politicians, and even tech gurus :) I'm glad to be back, and look forward to getting back in the swings of things.

BTW: There were several great speakers at Shepherds! I hope to post links to a few of them here once they make the media available.

Antisemitism

Seattle synagogue vandalized with Holocaust denial graffiti cnn

Temple De Hirsch Sinai was spray-painted with graffiti calling the Holocaust "fake history," Rabbi Daniel Weiner said.

Society

UN Women's HeForShe Initiative teams up with Boy Story to launch HeForShe Action Dolls prnewswire

HeForShe, UN Women's global solidarity movement for gender equality has teamed up with start-up company, Boy Story to launch two special edition action dolls named Billy and Mason. The action dolls challenges current prejudice surrounding boys playing with dolls, and promotes the notion that both boys and girls should have the same opportunity to bond with a special playmate, and that all children, regardless of their gender, need to learn nurturing, emotional intelligence, and empathy.

Also see their website: heforshe !w

Garfield creator Jim Davis forced to clarify cartoon cat’s gender nydailynews

A Wikipedia editing war raged last week over whether lethargic, lasagna-loving Garfield was male or genderless — a controversy that ultimately forced creator Jim Davis garfield to put the gender identity of his marmalade-colored cat to rest.

Here's a hint: he's a he.

Capital One Deliberately Made Its Chatbot Gender-Neutral fortune

Ken Dodelin, Capital One's vice president of digital product development, said the bank deliberately chose a gender-neutral name. The predominance of female names among popular digital assistants has provoked criticism recently. Asked if it is a boy or a girl, Eno will reply that it is "binary."

South Dakota law allows child service agencies to reject LGBT clients nydailynews

Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed SB 149 on Friday, making South Dakota the first state to pass a so-called “religious freedom” law since the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015.

Abortion

MP Diana Johnson calls for 'Victorian' criminal laws around abortion to be scrapped standard.co.uk

Former shadow health minister Diana Johnson wants to get rid of "Victorian" abortion laws which contain criminal sanctions for both women and doctors if they do not meet certain requirements.

Archeology

Massive Statue of Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Found in City Slum news.nationalgeographic

The 26-foot statue is made of quartzite and could be up to 3,000 years old. The Antiquities Ministry in Egypt sca-egypt.org is hailing the discovery as significant. The remains lack an inscription bearing the pharaoh's name, but the discovery's proximity to a temple devoted to Ramses suggest the statue is of his likeness, the ministry says.

Summary: An image made in the likeness of a 'god' from the past found buried in a slum's mud.

Research

US Army fires 3D-printed grenade launcher newatlas

Part of a demonstration of how such technology can be used to greatly speed up prototyping and modification of weapons while lowering costs, the grenade launcher, called RAMBO (Rapid Additively Manufactured Ballistics Ordnance), was based on an M203A1 grenade launcher and every component, with the exception of the springs and fasteners, was manufactured using additive manufacturing.

Others...

Robotic cat ears that twitch and vibrate whenever you start slouching mashable v

Forget Flying Cars, the Bell FCX-001 Helicopter Has Transforming Blades and Can Fly Itself, Complete with Augmented Reality techeblog