Depravity's Religious Tipping Point; MS Firing Squad; Free School for Non-Taxpayers; Snowden Russidout; Missiled Christians; The Amazon in Iran; Hamas Watch; Netanyahu Nears Indictment; Erdogan Forever; Hardy Crop Hope; Pollinating Drones; Medicine Maker; World's Daily Cheese; and Maybe Possibly a Picture of a Secret

Society

Most American Religious Groups Support Same-sex Marriage, Oppose Religiously Based Service Refusals prri.org

Overall, a majority (58 percent) of Americans support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally. Among religious groups, Unitarian/Universalists (94 percent), Buddhists (85 percent), Jews (73 percent), Hindus (67 percent), white mainline Protestants (63 percent), white Catholics (63 percent), Hispanic Catholics (62 percent), and Orthodox Christians (59 percent) all have majorities supporting same-sex marriage. Black Protestants (45 percent), Muslims (44 percent), and Hispanic Protestants (41 percent) are somewhat divided. Only three religious groups–Mormons (37 percent favor, 55 percent oppose), white evangelical Protestants (31 percent favor, 61 percent oppose), and Jehovah’s Witnesses (25 percent favor, 53 percent oppose)–show majority opposition for same-sex marriage. Combined, these three religious groups comprise only 19 percent of the general population.

Blocked MS Law Remains; Preventing US $ to Israeli; The Social Third Temple; Chinese Satellite; Hypersonic Hybrid; Kashmir Can't Hear You Now; Mousy Images; Parasitic Hobby; Firefighter's Angel; and Sushi-Bot

Society

[Mississippi] ‘Religious freedom law’ will remain blocked during appeal, court rules sunherald

HB 1523 billstatus.ls.state.ms.us, passed by the Legislature and signed by Bryant, specifically protected three beliefs: Marriage is only between a man and a woman; sexual relations should take place only inside marriage; and a person’s “immutable biological sex” is determined at birth.

The Tale of Jesus' Wife; Canada's Death Sentence; Calling Religious Liberty Hate; Sin, a Minor Doctrine; Wedding Pagans; Fingerprinting Babies; Meet Olli; Common Sense, AI; Amelia; Human Edit Request; Final Warning to Hamas; Palestinians' Water Border; Calls to Strike Assad Now; and Shark Traffic

Fraud

The Unbelievable Tale of Jesus’s Wife theatlantic v

The American Association of Museums’ Guide to Provenance Research warns that an investigation of an object’s origins “is not unlike detective work”: “One may spend hours, days, or weeks following a trail that leads nowhere.” When I started to dig, however, I uncovered more than I’d ever expected—a warren of secrets and lies that spanned from the industrial districts of Berlin to the swingers scene of southwest Florida, and from the halls of Harvard and the Vatican to the headquarters of the East German Stasi.

This is a fascinating long-form article by a reporter who set out to find the origins of a (supposed) 1,300 yr-old papyrus about Jesus' wife, and the ensuing series of lies, historical invention, and deceit of the man behind it. It's a long read, but worth it - particularly for those who've heard the Biblically unsupported "Jesus had a wife" argument. Warning: some aspects of the primary figure's personal life uncovered during the investigation are sexually graphic in nature (the article doesn't dwell TOO MUCH on them).

Nuke You Second; Just Another Long-Range Missile Test; 43% of Jews; Advertising Allah; NC Sues First; Gender-Neutral, Single-Occupancy; ACLU Goes After Mississippi; Paint on Tighter Skin; Smart Robot Hand; Hyperloop; UPS' Blood Drone

North Korea

Kim Jong Un says North Korea won’t use nukes first usatoday

Kim warned the U.S. to stay out of Korean affairs but offered to enter talks with South Korea aimed at easing tensions on the peninsula. "As a responsible nuclear weapons state, our republic will not use a nuclear weapon unless its sovereignty is encroached upon by any aggressive hostile forces with nukes," Kim told the Workers' Party of Korea congress in Pyongyang. Kim added that the North "will faithfully fulfill its obligation for non-proliferation and strive for the global denuclearization."

Mind the Drone; Chip of Miracle; Robot Say; Mini-Brain; Printing Spider Bots; Japan Starts Human Gene Editing; UK Scolds Obama; Short Lived Syrian Peace's Death Throws; Genocide Sky-Denied; Atheist Frowns, Cross; US Signs UN Pact; Obama Hints Some States are Just Backwards; What do Jesus and Passover Have in Common, Anyway?; Not-OK Black Mass; BDS-Hate Voted In; Felons are Voters, Too; Hypersonic. Intercontinental. Russia; and US Buys Heavy Water

Today's articles include the signing of the UN sustainability goals, Russia testing a hyper-sonic ICBM designed to slip by even the best missile defenses, and Japan's approval to edit fertilized human embryos (for "studying").

Future Tech

Mind-controlled drones race to the future businessinsider

"Three, two, one ... GO!" the announcer hollers, and as the racers fix their thoughts on pushing the cubes, the drones suddenly whir, rise and buzz through the air. Some struggle to move even a few feet, while others zip confidently across the finish line.

Watch Mind-Controlled Drones Race to the Future v

Keeping AI in Balance; New Rembrandt; Executives Against Morality; Indiana Sued for Abortion Law; Nature of Men and Boys; DNA Data Storage; Artificial Seizures; Automated Submarine; Robotic Artist; Pope Holds Unity-Hand out to Methodists; and Is it a Bird or a Plane of FBI Spies?

AI

When Is the Singularity? Probably Not in Your Lifetime nytimes

In March when Alphago, the Go-playing software program designed by Google’s DeepMind subsidiary defeated Lee Se-dol, the human Go champion, some in Silicon Valley proclaimed the event as a precursor of the imminent arrival of genuine thinking machines.

What has not been shown, however, is scientific evidence for such an event. Indeed, the idea has been treated more skeptically by neuroscientists and a vast majority of artificial intelligence researchers.

The Next Rembrandt nextrembrandt

Short film of a computer painting a new "Rembrandt" based on his original works

Society

U.S. Executives Urge Repeal of Mississippi Law fortune

Executives of several major U.S. corporations urged Mississippi on Wednesday to repeal a new state law that allows businesses to deny wedding services to same-sex couples on religious grounds.

Still, nearly two-thirds of Mississippi voters supported the law, according to a poll highlighted on Tuesday by the Christian-based Family Research Council.

Lawsuit against state of Indiana calls abortion law 'unconstitutional' theguardian

The state of Indiana is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, over an abortion law recently signed by Governor Mike Pence.

One thing that bothers them about this law is that they would need to treat unborn babies as dead humans, and not discarded medical waste:

The law also requires fetuses to be buried or cremated, which the lawsuit called a costly requirement that does not exist for the disposal of medical waste for other types of operations.

Nature of Man

Can children be natural born killers? bbc

It seems to rip the notion of childhood - a supposed age of innocence - to shreds. We are accustomed to regarding children as in transformation - young people who will eventually shape into a good, bad or indifferent citizen. We do not generally consider them capable of adult crimes such as premeditated murder.

When proved wrong, shockwaves ripple through the fabric of society.

Paul reminds us that God has said all of us are sinners (Romans 3:23) and that by nature we are in rebellion of God and children of wrath (Eph 2:3). It is true that our sins tend to blossom and get more severe as we get older, but there is no such thing as the morally innocent child. From birth we are capable of murder (evil by nature), and it's only God's restraining grace that keeps most from fully realizing their potential even as adults. This article reminds us that what seems unexpected (children who murder) is only because we misunderstand just how wicked we are.

DNA Tech

UW team stores digital images in DNA — and retrieves them perfectly washington.edu

The team of computer scientists and electrical engineers has detailed one of the first complete systems to encode, store and retrieve digital data using DNA molecules, which can store information millions of times more compactly than current archival technologies.

Brain Tech

IBM Wants to Implant Fake Brains in Real Brains to Prevent Seizures wired

In Melbourne, Australia, Stefan Harrer is running an artificial software brain atop an artificial hardware brain in an effort to analyze a brain that isn’t artificial at all. Ultimately, he and his colleagues envision merging these three brains together so that the artificial can augment the real.

Military Tech

Submarine-hunting drone ship Sea Hunter unveiled by the US watoday.au

The 40-metre-long unarmed prototype, dubbed Sea Hunter, is the naval equivalent of Google's self-driving car, designed to cruise on the ocean's surface for two or three months at a time - without a crew or anyone controlling it remotely.

Industrial Tech

Scientists invent robotic 'artist' that spray paints giant murals phys.org

The researchers wanted to create a way to help non-artists create accurate reproductions of photographs as large-scale murals using spray painting. So, they developed a computer-aided system that uses an ordinary paint spray can, tracks the can's position relative to the wall or canvas and recognizes what image it "wants" to paint. As the person waves the pre-programmed spray can around the canvas, the system automatically operates the spray on/off button to reproduce the specific image as a spray painting.

Apostasy

Pope speaks to Methodists, calls for unity christiantoday

Dialogue between Methodists and the Catholics isn't the only ecumenical discussion happening at the moment. The Pope has held discussions with Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican and Pentecostal leaders. However, there is no immediate prospect of formal unity between them as theologians grapple with the doctrinal differences between the Churches.

Government

Spies in the Skies buzzfeed

Each weekday, dozens of U.S. government aircraft take to the skies and slowly circle over American cities. Piloted by agents of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the planes are fitted with high-resolution video cameras, often working with “augmented reality” software that can superimpose onto the video images everything from street and business names to the owners of individual homes....Most of the aircraft are small, flying a mile or so above ground, and many use exhaust mufflers to mute their engines — making them hard to detect by the people they’re spying on.

Other...

See what a tattoo will look like on your skin before you get inked techspot

InkHunter uses augmented reality to overlay a tattoo onto a body’s surface area. You can select from a series of designs by different artists that are included in the app, or you can upload your own sketches to see how they’ll look on your skin.

LGBT Spirituality; NASA Humanoid; NK Nuclearizes Missile...Maybe; NK Steam; CERN, Wahaha; Lady Rabbi; Israel Powers Down More; Stem Cell Heart; Pig Hearted Baboon; Utopia 2050; Habakkuk; 2k Year Old Synagogue; Another Woman for UN; Driverless Taxis; NJ Too Religious; MISSISSIPPI Love; and Expect Blackouts, LA

61 Free; NK Decisions; Israel + China = Free Trade?; Israel Dims the Lights; Persecution?; The Lesser Light; War Tools; The WiFi Knows; Breaking Babel's Barrier; DNA Photography; Autonomous Race; AI Talent in Demand; Rogue Bots to be Common; Seeing Eye AI; Bank Down; Replacing Words of Christ with Man's; M I S S I S S I P P I, and Global Education

Crime

Obama Commutes Sentences of 61 Prisoners   nbcnews

President Obama backed up his calls for reforming the way society punishes non-violent criminals on Wednesday by commuting the sentences of 61 prisoners — a third of them lifers.

Nuclear

Obama meets with Asian leaders about North Korea nuke threat   usatoday

On the eve of a global meeting devoted to nuclear security, President Obama huddled Thursday with the leaders of China, Japan, and South Korea to discuss ways to meet one particularly worrisome nuclear threat: North Korea.

Also see Four dangers the nuclear talks will overlook

Israel

Israel, China announce bilateral free trade talks   jpost

A free-trade agreement with the world’s second-largest economy could have major implications for Israeli industry with the government estimating it could double trade between the two nations from today’s roughly $9 billion, boost technological cooperation and open the path for more investments.

Palestinians charge Israel with decrease in electricity flow, say sets 'dangerous precedent'   jpost

The Israel Electric Corporation decreased the flow of electricity to Jericho and the Jordan Valley to one-third of its normal flow on Thursday, according to Hisham al-Omari, director-general of the Arab Electricity Company in east Jerusalem.

Sources in the energy sector told The Jerusalem Post that the supply of electricity to Jericho had only been halved, from 15 megawatts to 7.5 MW, as of Thursday morning due to an unpaid debt of around NIS 1.72 billion to the IEC.

Christanity

Growing number of Americans believe Christians complain too much about 'persecution'   christiantoday

LifeWay Research on Wednesday released its findings that six in 10 Americans say religious liberty is on the decline – up from just over half (54 per cent) in 2013.

However, a growing number also believe that American Christians complain too much about how they are treated; rising from 34 per cent in 2013 to 43 per cent in 2015.

There's much to suspect about this one (who is classified a "Christian"?, perceived complaining or real complaining?, etc). However, a couple thoughts - 1) if true born again believers are complaining, then that is, indeed, a problem because of damage done to our witness of Christ; 2) we need to be careful about how we talk about the loss of our freedoms, remembering our hope is not America (1 Peter 1:3), and people are looking for an excuse to disparage Christ; and 3) we should be willing to hand over our freedoms for the sake of Christ's name. In short, while we have been given avenues in our society (such as courts) to challenge religion freedom issues (and in many instances even right and OK to do so), in the end this is a good warning to make sure we're about making Christ known, and not about keeping our freedoms!

Space

The Moon: An Unexplained Phenomenon   redice

...collection of interesting quotes from scientists, authors, researchers, NASA insiders and star-gazers relating to the enigmatic and often inexplicable nature of the moon

I include this because it's a list of secular, Creator denying men who look at His creation and can only exclaim, "It's impossible!" :)

Military

9 New Tools That Will Change the Future of War   popularmechanics

These weapons, drones, and battlefield devices—some recently deployed, others in early R&D—will help the Pentagon fight more effectively with fewer troops.

Tech

New MIT research opens door for password-free Wi-Fi   mashable

The team led by Professor Dina Katabi devised a system called Chronos, which enables a Wi-Fi access point to precisely pinpoint all the adapters connected to it. This tech could be used to grant access to a Wi-Fi router based on the user's exact location, making it much harder to an intruder to access the network from a remote place.

I like how they casually say at the end:

The system is not without challenges, one of them being privacy: The system could be used as yet another way to track one's location. But any technology that has the potential to increase Wi-Fi security should be given a chance in our book.

Microsoft brings real-time translation to custom apps with Speech Translation API   winbeta

This speech translation service can also be used in a numerous amount of situations, both person to person, or human to machine. Examples include personal translation, subtitling, or remote or in person multilingual communications. It even can be used in groups, such as in online gaming chatrooms or real-time presentations such as keynotes.

First-of-their-kind images could aid in use of DNA to build nanoscale devices   phys.org

This unique imaging capability, pioneered by Berkeley Lab scientists, could aid in the use of DNA segments as building blocks for molecular devices that function as nanoscale drug-delivery systems, markers for biological research, and components for computer memory and electronic devices. It could also lead to images of important disease-relevant proteins that have proven elusive for other imaging techniques, and of the assembly process that forms DNA from separate, individual strands.

AI Tech

THIS IS ROBORACE’S INSANE AUTONOMOUS RACE CAR   digitaltrends

Roborace aims to be the first racing series for autonomous cars, but seeing as there aren’t many of those around that are built for racing, series organizers are creating their own. But what exactly does a driverless race car look like?

AI

Million-dollar babies   economist

Another high-stakes game, however, is taking place behind the scenes, as firms compete to hire the smartest AI experts. Technology giants, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Baidu, are racing to expand their AI activities. Last year they spent some $8.5 billion on research, deals and hiring, says Quid, a data firm. That was four times more than in 2010.

There will soon be so many more examples of bots going rogue like Microsoft's Tay that we will 'become immune to it'   businessinsider

"Obviously nobody at Google set out to do that, it was just an effect. We will see many more of these. So many more we will become immune to it. It'll be like when your PC goes dead. It's not the end of the world, you just restart your PC — you don't tweet about it," Mortensen said.

Microsoft has an app that lets blind people 'see' again   digitaljournal

The system is called Seeing AI and was built by Saqib Shaikh, a blind Microsoft engineer who wanted to become more involved in the world.

Includes video demonstration

Banking

Your Neighborhood Bank Is About to Have Its 'Uber Moment'   fortune

The new Global Perspectives & Solutions (GPS) report from Citigroup...says that U.S. bank staffing will dive 30% between 2015 and 2025, from 2.6 million to 1.8 million. (It’s already down from a pre-crisis peak of 2.9 million.) And things are even tougher in Europe, where bank branch employment is expected to drop from 2.9 million to 1.8 million.

False Religion

Reformation is nothing to celebrate, says Cardinal Müller   catholicherald.co.uk

Cardinal Müller says in the new book: “If we are convinced that divine revelation is preserved whole and unchanged through Scripture and Tradition, in the doctrine of the Faith, in the sacraments, in the hierarchical constitution of the Church by divine right, founded on the sacrament of holy orders, we cannot accept that there exist sufficient reasons to separate from the Church.”

A reminder why Catholism and Christanity are incompatible. In that one quote, he adds tradition, sacraments, reliance on an organization (their definition of 'church'), etc to the clear words of Scripture that all of those are false. The very reason he can't celebrate the Reformation is why those who hold to what God has said in Scripture as faith in Christ alone (Gal 3:26, et al) take great joy that God used men like Luther to break from men who valued their own way over the Way (John 14:6)!

Society

Mississippi passes bill allowing armed security in churches   christiantoday

The bill, which has been sent to the House for further work, has received heavy criticism both within the Senate and from state police officers. It has also elicited debate over interpretations of Christian scripture.

Whatever you think about this, it even being a 'thing' is an indication of the days we are in...

Mississippi's religious freedom bill: Not discriminatory or 'one of the worst'?   cnn

"This bill doesn't stop anyone from getting what they want from the state. I have a problem with the discrimination of Christian belief," said Republican state Rep. Randy Boyd, one of the bill's sponsors. "I don't uphold discrimination but I believe the Christian belief is more discriminated against than other things. ... I'm trying to get a happy medium here where people get their rights and other people aren't pressured into doing anything they don't believe in against their religious beliefs."

Global Governance

Tony Blair warns of 'flabby liberalism'   bbc

"The centre has become flabby and unwilling to take people on. We concede far too much. There's this idea that you're part of an elite if you think in terms of respectful tolerance towards other people. It's ridiculous," Mr Blair told the BBC.

See also EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE ON CITIZENSHIP VALUES IS FUNDAMENTAL TO BUILDING A TOLERANT WORLD