Society
ChristianMingle now allows gay dating, after a lawsuit washingtonpost
The lawsuit, according to Christianity Today, argued that ChristianMingle violated California’s non-discrimination law that prohibits for-profit companies, such as Spark Networks, which owns ChristianMingle, from discriminating against customers on the basis of sexual orientation, among other categories.
Based on their ads, I've never thought of ChristianMingle as anything more than a cultural Christianity thing - and the fact that only 1 board member stepped down as a result of the ruling is probably a good indication that that's about as deep as their theology goes. However, still an illustration of the overarching enforcing of state religion.
Women to serve in close combat roles in the British military bbc
Women, who have previously served on the front line in support roles, will now be allowed to enter the cavalry, infantry and armoured corps. Mr Cameron said it was a "major step" and meant the armed forces could "make the most of all its talent". But the Army's research suggests fewer than 5% of its 7,000 women would pass the current infantry fitness test.
See also Female Soldiers To Be Given Frontline Combat Roles forces.tv v
10 more states sue Obama administration over transgender bathroom directive politico
The latest suit means that about half of all states are now battling the administration over the culturally divisive issue of transgender students and whether they should be permitted to use the restrooms of their choice. The growing number of lawsuits makes it all but inevitable the transgender rights issue will make its way to the Supreme Court.
Religious Liberty
Americans United for Separation of Church and State au.org released two blog posts this week about the Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley case, warning that it "could dramatically increase the amount of state money given to religious organizations" — something that the group believes would be improper.
See also Playground spat looms as key church-state separation case washingtontimes. I must admit this one is a little confusing to me. Seems to be an argument that religious groups should get state money, which sounds like a dangerous precedent...though I get the point the ADF is trying to make that they aren't getting the funds because it's discrimination based on it being a religious organization. Win or lose, it seems like it'll end up muddy.
North Korea
China Blasts U.S., South Korea Missile Defense Deployment bloomberg
The deployment “doesn’t help achieve the objective of denuclearization in the peninsula, doesn’t benefit maintaining peace and stability in the peninsula,” China’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “It’s going toward the opposite direction of solving the problem via dialogue and negotiation.”
See also Seoul and Washington Ready to Deploy U.S. Missile-Defense System time
NATO
Obama urges NATO to stand firm against Russia despite Brexit reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama urged NATO leaders on Friday to stand firm against a resurgent Russia over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and said Britain's vote to leave the European Union should not weaken the Western defense alliance.
Also see NATO takes over US-built missile shield, amid Russian suspicion news.trust.org ando Hollande: Russia Is A Partner, Not A Threat rferl.org
Israel
NYU Palestinian activists blame police shootings on Israel washingtonexaminer
"In the past 48 hours another two black men have been lynched by the police," the advocacy group wrote on their Facebook page on Thursday afternoon, prior to the sniper shooting in Dallas that left 5 police officers dead and seven officers and civilians injured. "The total number of black people lynched by cops in 2016 now totals 136. We must remember that many US police departments train with the #IsraeliDefenceForces. The same forces behind the genocide of black people in America are behind the genocide of Palestinians."
An Italian doctor explains “Syndrome K,” the fake disease he invented to save Jews from the Nazis quartz
The fake illness was vividly imagined: Rooms holding “Syndrome K” sufferers were designated as dangerously infectious—dissuading Nazi inspectors from entering—and Jewish children were instructed to cough, in imitation of tuberculosis, when soldiers passed through the hospital.
Iran
Iran seeking illegal nuke, missile technology: German intelligence timesofisrael
The report stated that Iran made at least nine attempts to acquire technology that could be used for nuclear arms development, according to an i24 News report in Israel that cited Germany’s Tagesspiegel daily. The majority of the attempts were thwarted by the intelligence agency in cooperation with the German companies.
House passes legislation blocking Boeing sale to Iran Air thehill
The House passed the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act congress.gov 239-185, which contained two amendments by Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) to block sales by Boeing and Airbus aircraft to Iran.
DNA
Researchers break record for DNA data storage phys.org v
The team of computer scientists and electrical engineers encoded and decoded a video of the band OK Go (featuring the craziest Rube Goldberg machine ever), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in more than 100 languages, the top 100 books of Project Gutenberg and the Crop Trust's seed database—among other things— all on strands of DNA.
There's a video of the music video with that crazy Rube Goldberg rubegoldberg which is...crazy. Also see UW, Microsoft claim big breakthrough with data storage using DNA seatletimes
Robotics
The Dallas Shooting and the Advent of Killer Police Robots theatlantic
In the mourning over the murders of five police officers in Dallas, and relief that the standoff had ended, one unusual detail stuck out: the manner in which police killed one suspect after negotiations failed.
3D Printing
Food Ink. is the World's First 3D Printing Restaurant archdaily
The restaurant utilizes 3D printers produced by Dutch company byFlow 3dbyflow to create dishes out of hummus, chocolate mousse, smashed peas, goat cheese or pizza dough – essentially anything that can take the form of a paste. The paste can then be fed through the extruder to create culinary sculptures.
Other...
2016 Will Be One Second Longer Than Expected news.nationalgeographic
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