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.

Valentine Cards for Your Same Half; Violent Christianity; Pope's Hebrew; ID Chips; The AI Bowl; Red Light in the Morning; Rattling China; Romania Backs Down; Mini-Brain Bleeds; and 12th Cave

Society

Same-sex Valentine's Day cards are on the shelves at Sainsbury's for the first time home.bt w!

The 'cute' cards have a simple design featuring illustrations of a man and a man, and a woman and a woman, along with the words ‘You + Me’.

Russia Visits Philippines; Duterte's ISIS Cousins; Open Seas; 20th, Heresy-Celebration Day; Menorah and Cross Spelunking; New Organ; 'Master' Player; Confusing Computers; Solar Road; Release the Drones; Tractor Beam for Small Things; and Robot Arms and Lemonade

Philippines

Russian warships visit Philippines; admiral suggests wider exercises cnn v

There were differing reports from Russian media as to the exact nature of the visit by the Russian destroyer Admiral Tributs and the sea tanker Boris Butomato, which arrived in Manila on Tuesday.

According to a report from Russia's state-run Sputnik News, Russian Navy Rear Adm. Eduard Mikhailov said the Russian ships would be conducting joint exercises with Philippine forces to fight maritime piracy and terrorism.

A report from the Russian website RT.com however said the "Russian marines are expected to discuss and share tactics to help combat terrorism and piracy in the region" with an eye toward future joint exercises.

Also see Russian warships on five-day visit to Philippines navaltoday

Custom Chaos; Mein Kampf Sellout; Tube of PETA; Planned Parenthood Goes Prime Time; Free Money in Finland; Archaeological Plot; Temple Mount Boot; Pencil Castle; and Kuri

Airlines

Customs outage causes chaos, backups at airports usatoday

People returning home from the New Year's holiday weekend were being processed at international terminals by hand at some airports, resulting in long lines and short tempers. Travelers reported issues in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Baltimore, Miami and Atlanta, among others.The outage lasted for four hours, the Customs agency cbp.gov said in a statement late Monday, before the system was up and running again.

"I've never seen anything like it," [Michelle Sencibaugh, a K-12 teacher in St. Louis] told USA TODAY. "No one was giving us direction. They didn't tell us what was going on. It was just a herd of people."

Marriage-less State; Minimum Bandwagon; Rupee Lost; Money Thumb; Lingering Israeli Support; and Underwater Archaeology

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.

Trump's False Gospel; Sporting Pronoun Pins; The White People Problem; Life Programmer Wanted; Under the Sea; Lasering Plankton from Space; China's EmDrive; Robot Shopper; Amazon's Force; Kim Jung Un's 300+ Political Fears; and Fragments in a Cave

False Religion

Televangelist Paula White Joins Trump Inauguration Day Plans hollywoodreporter

Prosperity gospel preachers Paula White, a friend of Trump's, and Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, whose Detroit church hosted the Republican in September, will be among six faith leaders selected to participate in the Jan. 20 inauguration. It will be the first time preachers who spread the prosperity gospel will be included in the ceremony.

While the faith movement is widely popular, many Christians consider it heretical. Ministers in the tradition often hold up their own wealth as evidence their teachings work. Trump had campaigned in part on his record as a wealthy real estate developer and businessman.

For more on the heretical teachings of people like Paula White, see: The Devilish Puppet Master of the Word-Faith Movement (Justin Peters) gty.org

Anti-Semitism Indoctrination; Judea Down Below; Mighty Israel; The Gorbachev Interview; Syria's Act II; Philippine's Made in China Weapons; EU's Cuban Cuddle; Town Gives up the Cross; and Predicting Burden Kids

Anti-Semitism

Activists Manipulate Third-Graders into Hating Israel truthrevolt.org v

"Far under the radar, the attempt to demonize Israel is moving down the educational chain even into elementary schools, pushed by activists who accept no boundaries even for young children," begins Professor William A. Jacobson, who runs LI. "Yet because such activities take place in schools to which access is limited, and the young students are not developmentally able to report on what happens, it’s rare to obtain hard visual proof. We have such proof."

Oldest Alphabet; Metal Attack; The Law of Heatbeats; Unborn Test Extension; Robotic Galago; Light Energy; Predicting Materials; Robot Glove; Shortening Giraffe; Saturn Dive Images; Robo Cop; Hype Over Mind; Unstaffed Bank; Sappy AI Music; and Forcing the Peace Issue

Archeaology

Expert claims inscriptions from Egyptian exodus proves Hebrew is world’s oldest alphabet jpost

While critics argue that the original alphabet likely derived from a grouping of Afro-Asiatic languages – including Akkadian, Aramaic, Phoenician, Ethiopic and Hebrew – [professor] Petrovich claims that an inscription discovered on an ancient Egyptian stone slab in 2012 proves his case.

Petrovich said he subsequently translated 16 more Hebrew inscriptions from four other ancient slabs discovered in Egypt and Sinai, including one from 1446 BCE, which describes Moses as a figure heralded by the ancient Jews shortly before he led the exodus from Egypt.

Hard Brain; Trotting out the History; Fly By Accident; Pirate Party; Cursing on High; Christmas in December; Data are Forever; Why'd You Beep Like That?; The Secrets Computers Tell; Self Parking; Crushed on Mars; and Invisibility Bacteria

Archeaology

World's first dinosaur brain fossil discovered bbc.co.uk w!

The piece of stone was discovered more than 10 years ago by a fossil hunter at Bexhill-on-Sea. But it has taken scientists years to find out what was inside.

Third Wall, Second Temple; Auctioning Slab of Commandments; Restricting Conservative Videos; Google DoubleClicks with You; The IOT Revolt; Doing Carter Wheels Around Biology; Fat Flyer; Traffic Smarts; Air Powered Drone; Colombia Skips Venezuela; Policing Loyalty; Birthright Bonanza; and Russia's Nuclear Tip

Archeaology

Evidence unearthed of Jerusalem’s protective ‘Third Wall’ from Second Temple period jpost

Compelling evidence from the breaching of Jerusalem’s so-called “third wall” – which was said to surround the capital during the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 CE – may finally help to conclusively prove its existence.

The historian Josephus, a witness to the war, recorded numerous details about the third wall. In his telling, the wall was designed to protect the new quarter of the capital, then known as Beit Zeita, which extended beyond its boundaries, north of the two existing city walls.

Sloth Attack; Dead End; Mapping an Ancient Battle; Amazon's Minute of Human Interaction; The Spy Base Theory; Threats to Shoot; Afghan's Going AWOL; and Jailed Disturbing Inner Peace

Society

[OPINION] America’s ‘quiet catastrophe’: Millions of idle men washingtonpost

After 88 consecutive months of the economic expansion that began in June 2009, a smaller percentage of American males in the prime working years (ages 25 to 54) are working than were working near the end of the Great Depression illinois.edu in 1940, when the unemployment rate was above 14 percent. If the labor-force participation rate were as high today as it was as recently as 2000, nearly 10 million more Americans would have jobs.

Broken Gods; Total Abortion Ban Possible (Hint: Not Here); 3 Parent Baby Born; Origin Myth; Swiss Unveiling Muslims; Predictive Policing Blues; Approved Satan Club; Bye Bye Internet; Veto Vetoed; Hurry Up and Deploy; UN's Dream Chaser; Translation Almost Human Good; Sitting in Line; and Sam Schmidt the Driver

Archaeology

Gate shrine from First Temple period unearthed at Tel Lachish National Park jpost

A rare gate shrine dating to the First Temple period (8th century BCE), unearthed in Tel Lachish National Park, near Mount Hebron, may prove King Hezekiah’s Biblically-recorded efforts to abolish worship in the region, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.

Also see II Kings 18:1-8

Forced Murder; Christi Cross; Colombian Peace; (Toy) Air Show; On Being Judge, Jury, and God; Born High; Roman Coins in Japan; Shrinking Mercury; SpaceX's Lucid Dream; Augmented Lowe's; Googling Everyone; Risk of Driving; Uber Awaaaay; Printing the Future; and Dr. Computer

Abortion

Forced abortion and euthanasia? creation

A group of ‘bioethicists’ have recently released a 10-point “consensus statement” that outlines how they think doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers who conscientiously object to ‘medical’ procedures like abortion and euthanasia should be forced to believe in and practice them

LAPD Etector; NLP, huh?; Doing the Robot; Need Brains; Bouncing Mars Rover; Old Bones; Whales Go Pro; Quartet Sings Same Tune; Syria Across the Border; and Biggest Eye Going Live

Crime

Experts to create predictive tool to tackle hate crime in Los Angeles phys.org

Over the next three years, the team will be closely scrutinising data taken from Twitter and cross-referencing this with reported hate crimes in Los Angeles to develop markers, or signatures, which could indicate if, and where, a hate crime is likely to take place at a certain point in time, and then enable police officers to intervene.

Motherless Babies; Gifting Death; Ball Goes Fore Pride; Abortion-Murder Plan Falls Short; Rest in Bits; A Real Blood Red River; Petra's Aphrodite; Alexander or Someone Else; Nero Coin; Israel's Finalized Military Deal; 9/11 Veto Threat; Chevy Reads Your Mood; Virtual Typer; Milky Chart; and Noisy Words

Research

Motherless babies possible as scientists create live offspring without need for female egg telegraph.co.uk

The landmark experiment by the University of Bath bath.ac.uk rewrites 200 years of biology teaching and could pave the way for a baby to be born from the DNA of two men.

A little sensationalized as it's more "maybe" than "possible", but a step in a scary direction.

Army of Their Own; EU's 'Splodin; America on the Side; Rated Negatively; Changing Winds; Olive Pit; Crisper Corn; NASA's Asteroid Mission; Simple Security; MacDonald's Impending Retirement; and Large, Plane Tool

EU

Europe forges ahead with plans for 'EU army' telegraph.co.uk

Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, is preparing to forward a timetable setting out steps to create EU military structures “to act autonomously" from NATO.

Facebook Knows; Only Kinda Criminalizing Free Speech; Gezer Palace; Blast Off Again; Egypt's Turkey Refugees; No Rule Robots; DNA Data Dreams; 'Junk' DNA Makes People Sick; Applying Eye-Contacts; and Making Of a Plague

Big Data

Liberal, Moderate or Conservative? See How Facebook Labels You nytimes

You may think you are discreet about your political views. But Facebook, the world’s largest social media network, has come up with its own determination of your political leanings, based on your activity on the site.

Society

Compromise Reached in Bill to Criminalize Undercover Filming at Abortion Facilities christiannews.net

Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D-Echo Park) proposed the measure earlier this year in light of the undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress exposing Planned Parenthood’s provision of baby bodily organs to procurement companies.

Archeology

King Solomon-era Palace Found in Biblical Gezer haaretz

The monumental building dates to the 10th century BCE, the era associated with King Solomon, who is famed for bringing wealth and stability to the newly-united kingdom of Israel and Judah. The American archaeological team also found a layer featuring Philistine pottery, lending credence to the biblical account of them living in the city until being vanquished by King David.

Space

SpaceX Signs First Customer for Launch of Refurbished Rocket wsj

Scheduled to occur before the end of the year, the mission announced on Tuesday will be the first one to use the lower stage and nine main engines of a Falcon 9 rocket that experienced the rigors of a blastoff and acceleration through the atmosphere on a previous launch. No other commercial space company or military contractor has achieved such a landmark by recovering and reusing the entire lower stage intact, after an initial orbital flight.

Egypt

Egypt blames EU-Turkey deal for refugee spike euobserver

"You see what has happened as a result of the deal with Turkey. The closing of the Balkan route and the deal in north Africa, the pressure has increased on Egypt," [foreign minister ambassador Hisham Badr] told MEPs in the European parliament's foreign affairs committee.

Robots

Researchers discover machines can learn by simply observing, without being told what to look for sheffield.ac.uk

The discovery, published in the journal Swarm Intelligence springer, takes inspiration from the work of pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing, who proposed a test, which a machine could pass if it behaved indistinguishably from a human. In this test, an interrogator exchanges messages with two players in a different room: one human, the other a machine.

AI

Kawasaki Developing Artificial Intelligence For Motorcycles motorcycle

The AI wouldn’t just allow a motorcycle to talk to a rider; Kawasaki kawasaki says the AI will use a technology called an “Emotion Engine” to interpret a rider’s emotions and perhaps even develop its own personality. Cue the “Knight Rider” theme now.

DNA

How DNA could store all the world’s data nature

“We sat down in the bar with napkins and biros,” says Goldman, and started scribbling ideas: “What would you have to do to make that work?” The researchers' biggest worry was that DNA synthesis and sequencing made mistakes as often as 1 in every 100 nucleotides. This would render large-scale data storage hopelessly unreliable — unless they could find a workable error-correction scheme. Could they encode bits into base pairs in a way that would allow them to detect and undo the mistakes? “Within the course of an evening,” says Goldman, “we knew that you could.”

Variation in 'junk' DNA leads to trouble medicalxpress

Although variants are scattered throughout the genome, scientists have largely ignored the stretches of repetitive genetic code once dismissively known as "junk" DNA in their search for differences that influence human health and disease.

A new study shows that variation in these overlooked repetitive regions may also affect human health. These regions can affect the stability of the genome and the proper function of the chromosomes that package genetic material, leading to an increased risk of cancer, birth defects and infertility. The results appear online in the journal Genome Research. genome.cshlp.org

Medical

Contacts May One Day Be Used to Deliver Glaucoma Medication drugs

The new study showed that the drug-dispensing lenses were able to effectively lower the eye pressure in monkeys with glaucoma at least as much as the standard eye drops used to treat the disease.

Reconstructing the 6th century plague from a victim scienmag

Before the infamous Black Death, the first great plague epidemic was the Justinian plague, which, over the course of two centuries, wiped out up to an estimated 50 million (15 percent) of the world's population throughout the Byzantine Empire—-and may have helped speed the decline of the eastern Roman Empire.

No one knows why it disappeared.

Other...

View smart nanotechnology glass is in 250 commercial buildings nextbigfuture v

Interesting, though this is mostly a commercial for the product...

Eyes Wide Closed; JW No More; Pope and Zuckerberg; Nuclear Air Defense; Illegal but Palestine; Ancient and Sophisticated; Deep Space Diver; 365 Days on the Edge of a Volcano; Car Brains; 4D Printing; Feeling Virtual Reality; and The Drone Water Hunt

Society

Kerry terror solution: Media should cover less wnd v

“It’s easy to terrorize. Government and law enforcement have to be correct 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. But if you decide one day you’re going to be a terrorist and you’re willing to kill yourself, you can go out and kill some people. You can make some noise. Perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much. People wouldn’t know what’s going on.”

Syria Loses; NK's Missile Ready; Planned Parenthood Capitalizes on Zika; NC Hands Tied by Feds; Mail Bot; and Old, Old, Old Granade

Syria

REBELS, CIVILIANS LEAVE TOWN AFTER FOUR-YEAR SIEGE hosted.ap.org

Following the deal struck late Thursday, Daraya's rebels began evacuating in government buses on Friday, a process expected to take several days. Around 700 gunmen are to be allowed safe passage to the opposition-held northern province of Idlib, while some 4,000 civilians will be taken to temporary shelter in government-controlled Kisweh, south of Daraya.

Also see Daraya Evacuation Deal Hands Syria's Assad a Strategic Win nbcnews

Turkey Mail; Russia's Nuclear Prep; Jordan's Israeli Anger; Lutherans Latest to Divest; Galilee Synagogue; Regulating Online Calls; and Temp Tat Remote Control

Turkey-EU

Give us EU visa freedom in October or abandon migrant deal, Turkey says whbl

[Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu] comments in Bild's Monday edition coincide with rising tensions between Ankara and the West that have been exacerbated by the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15. Turkey is incensed by what it sees as an insensitive response from Western allies to the failed putsch, in which 240 people were killed.

Also see Greek Migration Minister: Refugee Flows from Turkey Manageable greece.greekreporter