False Unity
Amazon Christmas advert 2016: Imam and priest push festive message of friendship independent.co.uk v
A spokesman for Amazon told The Independent: "Our casting reflects this: the gentleman playing the vicar is a practising vicar in London, the gentleman playing the imam is a devout Muslim and the principal of a Muslim school. We used an actual church and mosque for our scenes within the places of worship."
Oh, Amazon...
China
China to shut churches in G20 host city on safety grounds – reports theguardian
In an effort to reduce congestion, local officials have declared a week-long public holiday to coincide with the G20 summit g20.org and are reportedly trying to convince thousands of residents to leave town. Now reports have emerged that authorities are also banning religious worship during the annual summit.
Global
G7 vows growth efforts as Japan's Abe warns of global crisis in.reuters v
"Global growth remains moderate and below potential, while risks of weak growth persist," they said in a declaration. "Global growth is our urgent priority."
Two-State Solution
Gold: Israel opposes French plan even if it includes ‘Jewish state’ recognition jpost
“There are many problems with the French initiative, one of them is the lack of recognition of a Jewish state,” Gold said Thursday. “But even if that were changed, it wouldn’t alter many fundamental problems with the French initiative.”
Gold voiced anger at France’s vote last month at the UNESCO executive board meeting in favor of a resolution on Jerusalem that expunged any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.
Climate Change
Milestone events at UN to kick-start action on new sustainability goals, climate pact un.org
“From a historical perspective, this will be a great day for the United Nations,” Selwin Hart, the Director of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, recently said in reference to this coming Friday, when leaders from more than 160 countries are expected at UN Headquarters to sign the Paris Agreement, adopted last December at the UN climate change conference (COP21).
AI
MIT develops system that can detect 85% of cyberattacks using artificial intelligence ibtimes.co.uk
Rather than requiring cybersecurity analysts to spend all day analysing huge amounts of data that may or may not be a sign that cybercriminals are attacking a network, AI2 is instead trained to pick out the 200 most abnormal events it has detected during that day.
The human expert looks at the events and picks out which events relate to a cyberattack, and as days pass by, the computer learns how to identify more and more of the events as attacks, accurately, by itself – meaning that, eventually, the cybersecurity analyst might only need to look at 30-40 flagged events per day.
Amazing Tech
Reconfigured Tesla coil aligns, electrifies materials from a distance phys.org v
The system works by remotely oscillating positive and negative charges in each nanotube, causing them to chain together into long wires. Cherukuri's specially designed Tesla coil even generates a tractor beam-like effect as nanotube wires are pulled toward the coil over long distances.
Military
Arms Control Groups Urge Human Control of Robot Weaponry nytimes
The report, which came from Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic at the opening of a weeklong United Nations meeting on autonomous weapons in Geneva, potentially challenges an emerging United States military strategy that will count on technology advantages and increasingly depend on weapons systems that blend humans and machines.
The report from Human Rights Watch. Yes, that Human Rights Group. While I'm not keen on the idea of autonomous weapons roming the streets/skies, the argument in this report is a humanistic one with a loose appeal to the 'h'oly See for some moral guidance.
Society
Six Reasons North Carolina Got It Right townhall
On Monday Lt. Governor Dan Forest, who helped call the special session to pass HB2, called the executive in charge at one large protesting company and simply asked if him if he or anyone there had a actually read the bill.
He admitted they had not. They just labeled it “discriminatory” without even reading it.
An article linked to by today's Tim Challies update. Been tricky to find anyone not bashing North Carolina over this law.
3 Reasons Why Religious Liberty Laws Don’t Discriminate thegospelcoalition.org
One of the most ubiquitous phrases is that such bills are a “license to discriminate.” According to this line of thinking, it is invidiously discriminatory if a baker, florist, or photographer declines to use his or her creative talents in service of a same-sex wedding ceremony.
Two from Tim Challies in one day!
The New Morality of Pope Francis newyorker
I was ordained in early 1969, a few months after the promulgation of “Humanae Vitae,” the Vatican’s resounding condemnation of “artificial birth control,” which would define my future. I was a chaplain at a university where, true to the era, the norms of sexual morality had been upended. I certainly saw the need, in those wild days, for a humane and ethical analysis of the state of sexual intimacy, personal commitment, erotic longing, and gender rights. But, believe me, the triumphalist salvo from Rome made the moral condition worse, not better.
An opinion piece on how relative moralism was enshrined in Catholism long before Pope Francis. This article's author sees that as a good thing, and is praising the latest pope for pulling back further from absolutes. I found it worth reading, seeing the insights of one who is lost and deep within an idolatrous system where the issue at stake is not whether or not any decisions conform to God's word, but the words of the popes. Interesting read: sad because of the utter blindness of this man and enraging because of the utter joy taken in promoting a system wickedly at odds with God and calling it good. (Rom 1:32)
Depravity
The Troubled Minds of the Rich and Famous news.nationalgeographic
Talking from her home in Alexandria, Virginia, Kalb takes us inside the brain of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, explains how Howard Hughes had a grilled cheese sandwich problem, and why Charles Darwin is her hero.
Sin has affected how we think and relate and understand (known as the Noetic Effect of sin). This means that people really do end up a mess even by man's noeticly-effected-standard, but when we look for an answer in psychology, as the author of this book is doing, we are missing that we, ourselves, are corrupted and looking for the out for our own responsibility! This look at those in history shows us that being well-known doesn't change our nature. Not even one bit.
Singularitry
The funny things happening on the way to singularity techcrunch
About 10 years ago, inventor, futurist and now Director of Engineering at Google Ray Kurzweil famously embraced the concept of “the singularity” — that moment in time when machine intelligence surpasses our own. Kurzweil predicted the singularity would occur by 2045, and man and machine would become inseparable.
Given the relationship most people have with their smartphones, you could argue it’s already happening.
Though deeply entrenched in a humanistic worldview, an engaging read.
Turkey
One day after Israel issues travel warning to Turkey, US follows suit jpost
"The US Mission in Turkey would like to inform US citizens that there are credible threats to tourist areas, in particular to public squares and docks in Istanbul and Antalya," the statements reads.
Military
Louisiana woman makes U.S. Army history ksla
A Robeline native is making armed forces history as the first woman to enlist in the infantry in the United States Army.
Banking
4 top banks used blockchain tech to trade credit swaps qz
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) successfully traded credit default swaps on the blockchain, according to an announcement today.
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.
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
