False Unity
'Unity' call on Reformation anniversary bbc
A statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York has said the split caused "lasting damage" to the unity of the Church - something that contradicted the teaching of Jesus and left a "legacy of mistrust and competition".
Society
Facebook to stop ads that target, exclude races usatoday
Facebook will also require advertisers to affirm that they will not place discriminatory ads on Facebook and will offer educational materials to help advertisers understand their obligations, Egan said.
Privacy
Half of US adults are recorded in police facial recognition databases, study says theguardian
A report from Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology georgetown.edu found that more than 117 million adults are captured in a “virtual, perpetual lineup”, which means law enforcement offices across the US can scan their photos and use unregulated software to track law-abiding citizens in government datasets.
Also see the report: The Perpetual Line-up perpetuallineup.org
Refugees
Calais migrants: Work to start on UK-funded wall bbc
Ms Rudd told the Home Affairs Committee the wall was "not a new initiative", but what mattered was making sure the French had the right amount of security to prevent "illegals" trying to get to the UK.
Also see Austria Threatens Hungary With Court Action Over Migrants abcnews.go
Society
Princeton begins to remove 'man' from official school material foxnews
As first reported Thursday by the conservative campus news outfit The College Fix, Princeton’s Human Resources and Office of Communications issued a four-page memo princeton.edu filled with examples of gender-neutral terminology that must now be used in official school documents...
Society
Barack Obama's transgender bathroom guidelines challenged by more than a dozen states independent.co.uk
The states will appear before a federal judge in Fort Worth on Friday to argue that the Obama administration’s directive presents “unlawful changes” in US law.
Also see 13 states to ask court to stop White House transgender bathroom policy washingtonexaminer
That lawsuit, filed in federal court in Nebraska, includes Arkansas, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Society
California Lawmaker Drops Controversial Proposal to Regulate Religious Colleges christianitytoday
Earlier versions of Senate Bill 1146 would have prevented colleges that received state funds from enforcing codes of student conduct reflecting a college’s religious beliefs about sexual identity, including teaching that marriage is between a man and woman and limiting bathrooms to biological gender. Traditionally, California’s religious schools have received a religious exemption from non-discrimination laws. This bill would have limited it to students who were preparing for a religious career, such as ministry.
also see State senator drops proposal that angered religious universities in California
Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) is removing a provision of his bill that sought to take away the exemption of religious schools to anti-discrimination laws. Instead, he will press forward with the amended bill that would still require such schools to disclose if they have an exemption and report to the state when students are expelled for violating morality codes.
False Unity
Pope to young on Poland trip: Believe ‘in a new humanity’ washingtonpost
Pope Francis told young people who flocked by the hundreds of thousands to his words Sunday that they need to “believe in a new humanity” stronger than evil, and cautioned against concluding that one religion is more violent than others.
If you remember, Imagine was played quite a bit last year by various so-called 'globalists'. Sounds like P.J., himself, took a page from Lennon this week:
“People may judge you to be dreamers, because you believe in a new humanity, one that rejects hatred between peoples, one that refuses to see borders as barriers and can cherish its own traditions without being self-centered or small-minded,” Francis told his flock.
Censorship
Google, Facebook quietly move toward automatic blocking of extremist videos reuters
The move is a major step forward for internet companies that are eager to eradicate violent propaganda from their sites and are under pressure to do so from governments around the world as attacks by extremists proliferate, from Syria to Belgium and the United States.
The technology was originally developed to identify and remove copyright-protected content on video sites. It looks for "hashes," a type of unique digital fingerprint that internet companies automatically assign to specific videos, allowing all content with matching fingerprints to be removed rapidly.
Society
Oregon court allows person to change sex from 'female' to 'non-binary' oregonlive
...in what legal experts believe is a first in the United States....Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Amy Holmes Hehn legally changed 52-year-old Jamie Shupe's sex from "female" to non-binary.
Society
Eleven states sue Obama administration over bathroom guidance for transgender students washingtonpost v
The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, states that the guidance “has no basis in law” and could cause “seismic changes in the operations of the nation’s school districts.”
Future Tech
THIS FLEXIBLE CAMERA TAKES CRAZY IMAGES digitaltrends v
The camera lens looks vaguely like a flexible solar tile. When bent, it captures an image that may appear altered but is still a high quality full picture. The team used silicone for the prototype sheet camera that lets the focal length of each lens vary with the curvature of the sheet, meaning there is no missing information as the lens deforms.
Cyborg
Remote-control cyborg beetle developed by scientists independent.co.uk
Researchers have created a 'living drone' by controlling a beetle's movements using electronics.
If there was such a thing as insect-abuse, this would be it: Scientists Turn Beetle Into 'Cyborg' | Video
Life
Embryo cell abnormalities not necessarily a sign that a baby will be born with a birth defect independent.co.uk
An academic who became pregnant with her second child, aged 44, has shown that abnormal cells in the early embryo are not necessarily a sign that a baby will be born with a birth defect such as Down’s syndrome.
Also read Embryos with defective cells 'can still develop healthily'
Pestilence
Questions remain over deadly mystery bacteria in Midwest cbsnews
The bacteria, called Elizabethkingia, does not usually cause illness in humans, but in recent months it has sickened dozens and killed 17 people in Wisconsin and one in Michigan.
North Korea
North Korea tells its people a new famine may come, they again may need to 'eat the roots of grass' latimes
When Kim Jong Un made his first public speech as North Korea's leader in 2012, he stood in front of a massive military rally in the capital’s main square and told the crowd that they would “never have to tighten their belts again.” Kim was referring to his country’s history of poverty and food shortages, particularly a famine in the 1990s in which hundreds of thousands of people — if not more — starved to death.
We Are Ready for ‘Pre-Emptive Nuclear Strike’ on U.S. breitbart
North Korea has once again asserted that it will use its nuclear weapons arsenal against the United States. Unlike previous statements, however, a note from the rogue state’s foreign minister on Monday insisted that North Korea is fully equipped and ready to use a nuclear weapon on the United States, not just willing to do so.
Iran
U.S., France, Britain and Germany Urge UN Action Against Iran Over Missile Tests haaretz
The United States and three allies called for a UN Security Council meeting to respond to Iran's recent ballistic missile tests which they say were carried out in defiance of a UN resolution.
Also Russia says Iran missile tests 'don’t violate' UN resolution
US
US to increase military presence in eastern Europe bbc
The plan demonstrates "our strong and balanced approach to reassuring our Nato allies and partners in the wake of an aggressive Russia in eastern Europe and elsewhere", said Gen Philip Breedlove, the senior US commander in Europe.
Also see US to station armored brigade in Eastern Europe: Pentagon
Russia
Russian Jets Carry Out 23 Sorties Hitting 54 Terrorist Targets in 24 Hours sputniknews
Russian combat jets deployed in Syria have carried out 23 night sorties in the last 24 hours, hitting a total of 54 terrorist targets, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
Abortion
FDA approves abortion drug label that could undo several state laws bbc
Under the new label, a smaller dose of mifepristone can be used up to 70 days after the beginning of the last menstrual period instead of the 49-day limit in effect under the old label. Also, the second drug can be taken by a woman at home and not be required to be administered at a clinic.
"It looks like this benefits the abortion industry and increases their potential customer base and revenues, but it's not clear that anything here makes it safer for women in the long run, and certainly nothing about a chemical abortion makes it any safer for the unborn child," O'Bannon said.
AI
What Happens When You Combine Artificial Intelligence and Satellite Imagery fortune
Using technology similar to what allows Facebook to recognize faces in photos uploaded to its service, the company sifted through more than 14 billion geospatial images captured by satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe. The resulting maps reveal the locations of more than 2 billion disconnected people spread across 20 countries, many of them developing nations where even basic mapping data is scarce.
What could possibly go wrong with being able to mine “petabytes of satellite imagery”...?
Tech
Open-source microprocessor phys.org
The new processor is called PULPino and it is designed for battery-powered devices with extremely low energy consumption (PULP stands for 'parallel ultra low power'). These could be for chips for small devices, such as smartwatches, sensors for monitoring physiological functions (which can communicate with a heart rate monitor, for instance) or sensors for the Internet of Things.
Space
Japanese Space Probe Was Smashed Into Five Pieces forbes
JAXA lost contact with Hitomi, or ASTRO-H, on Saturday, when the satellite was due to start operations. Since then, the agency has managed to get two signals from the space probe, one at around 8am EST on Monday and the other at 10.30am EST on Tuesday.
NASA will let you walk on Mars using HoloLens theverge
NASA is teaming up with Microsoft to give you a glimpse of the Red Planet. A new exhibition called "Destination: Mars" will let visitors use Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality headsets to take a virtual stroll on Mars, alongside a "holographic" tour guide, astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
Food
Dr Lee Hickey and PhD candidate Adnan Riaz, from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, have completed the world's first genome-wide analysis of a collection of wheat seeds stored in Russia for more than a century.
Israel
Sanhedrin Performs Rare Biblical Commandment Not Seen For 2,000 Years breakingisraelnews
Last Thursday, a Biblical commandment that hasn’t been seen in 2,000 years was fulfilled. In the Cardo neighborhood of the Old City of Jerusalem, two witnesses stood before the Sanhedrin and gave testimony that established the beginning of the new month.
Obama to Enlist Anti-Israel UN in Last-Ditch Effort for Middle East Peace breakingisraelnews
As his term runs down, US President Barack Obama plans to make one more desperate bid for peace between Israel and the Palestinians by way of an international body known to be hostile to Israel – the United Nations (UN).
Israel blasts TIME’s insistent depiction of terrorist as victim timesofisrael
Israel’s Government Press Office publicly attacked TIME magazine on Thursday for depicting a Palestinian terrorist who killed three people in October as a victim of Israeli security forces, and failing to issue any correction or clarification on the matter despite repeated requests by Israeli officials in the months since.
SodaStream. An Island of Peace youtube
SodaStream Palestinian Employees Farewell youtube
These videos are emotionally charged, and one should not watch unsympathetically for the workers. However, they appear to contain a bit of both anti-Israel propaganda (particularly video 2) and an emotional appeal to unity.
Power
13-Year-Old Creates Energy Harvesting Device ktvn
He wants to make the world a better place, and to do that, Max believes you need one single thing: "If you got energy, you have power, you have everything."
(Video) If this was a 50 yr old, instead of a kid, I’d be thinking this mindset and ability would fit right in with what is expected for a global government system...so I wasn’t sure how to categorize...“Crazy” or “KaaaarAzy” :D
Religion
Most German Lutherans don't believe Jesus is their Saviour christiantoday
Only 38 per cent of German Lutherans believe 'Jesus is their saviour', according to a study undertaken for the German evangelical news agency Idea.
Giants
The tallest cowboy mashable
...Mr. Ralph Earl Madsen was born in Nebraska in 1897. By the age of 21, he stood 7'6" tall.
AI
Teaching computers to be more creative than humans phys.org
Could games provide a better AI test bed than robots, which—despite the way they excite public imagination—can be slow, unwieldy and expensive? According to [Associate Professor Julian Togelius], the answer is resoundingly yes.
Spirituality
Charity regulator investigates organisation preparing young people for an apocalypse telegraph
Concerns about a potential conflict of interest have prompted the Charity Commission to look at group running survival courses at 18th century mansion
At first it seems just unusual - not spiritual - until you visit their website: WELCOME TO GAUNTS HOUSE
Medical
Mysterious Wisconsin Infection Is Linked to Death in Michigan time
A Michigan resident who died recently was infected with the same bacteria at the center of an outbreak in Wisconsin, state health officials confirmed Thursday
Others…
Get sausages and steaks 24/7 from a vending machine foxnews
