'Beware of Jews' Retraction; Growing China; Stretching Philippines; AI Audit; Finding Recalled Cars; Brain 10x Faster Than Before; Google Filtering Hate; Sunscope; Third Arm Support; Defending Against the Hurtful; and Texan Bathrooms

Antisemitism

Artist behind 'beware of Jews' sign apologises for causing offence theguardian

Franck Allais, a freelance photographer, said the contentious sign was part of an artistic project, which includes depictions of a woman pulling a shopping trolley, a man pushing his wheelchair and a cat.

Allais said he intended the project to be a comment on identity and that the sign in Stamford Hill, one of the largest Hasidic communities in Europe, was not an antisemitic statement. He said he was left shaken by the offence he had caused.

I posted the original story of this 'antisemetic' act yesterday on the previous blog, but appears that I (as well as several others) jumped to conclusions about the intent. I appologize for my part in passing the original story around.

Boy Guides; Polygamy Unheard; TPP Down; The Gospel Preserved; Missile Accident; F25 AI; Hard Mining; Bendable Screens; and Memory Block

Society

Boys who think they are girls allowed to join [UK] Guides for first time telegraph.co.uk

Adult men who also identify their gender as female could become leaders too under radical new proposals to the traditional single-sex policy of girlguiding girlguiding.org.uk.

U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear ‘Sister Wives’ polygamy case fox13now

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes' office had no comment Monday. Polygamists that FOX 13 spoke with were disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision, but vowed to push the Utah State Legislature for decriminalization.

Kentucky Pushes Back; The Very Bad, no Good, Terrible Church; Maximum Wage; Medical Toy; Think it, Shake It, Move it; Carefully Flooding California; and Northern Ireland Earthquake

Abortion

Kentucky abortion bills signed, effective immediately cnn

The first, House Bill 2, now requires a physician or technician to perform an ultrasound, describe and display the ultrasound images to the mother, and provide audio of the fetal heartbeat to the mother before she may have an abortion.

The second measure, Senate Bill 5, prohibits abortions in the state at or after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The bill would not apply in cases where an abortion is required to save the life of the mother or prevent serious risk of bodily harm to the mother, but it does not contain exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

Decapitation Speed Up; Greeced Out; UK's Laser Gun; Super Batteries; Light Rack; Handheld Car Lot; More Sight to the Seeing; Nano-Chimney; Magnetic Drug Delivery; The 103 Satellite Launch; Comet in Sight; and Planned Parenthood vs. the Activist

North Korea

South Korea speeds up creation of Kim Jong Un 'decapitation unit' cnn v

The country is speeding up plans to set up what some call a "decapitation unit," a brigade specifically tasked with targeting North Korea's "wartime command," including leader Kim Jong Un, according to a South Korea Defense Ministry official.

The brigade was initially supposed to be ready in 2019, but the Defense Ministry now says it'll be established "by this year."

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.

Text OUUUUT; ISIS Humans; 3D Bullets Hurt Too; Chicken Mine; Falling Sky; and Measuring in No Time

Syria

Aleppo residents get warning by text message: You have 24 hours to leave cnn

Rebels were also given an ultimatum to lay down their arms and renounce their leadership, or be killed. The message was likely sent by the Syrian government as the regime is likely the only party capable of sending a mass text to the entire population.

Also see Battle for Aleppo: Deaths reported as Assad begins 'final onslaught' to recapture city from rebels independent.co.uk

Ad Sensibilities; Single Stuff; Unclean Squirrels; Ticklish Rats; Wild AI; and Identity Border

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.

Ancient Jerusalem in the Papers; Israel Hit Again; Letting Leaders Mount; NATO's Hard Force; Giving up on NK; Spain Denies Russia Because Russia Denies Spain; Gambia Follows the South; Robot Shadow; and 3D Squid

Isreal

Rare First Temple-era scroll exposes earliest Hebrew mention of Jerusalem jpost

Written in ancient Hebrew script, and dating back to the Kingdom of Judah during the 7th century BCE, the rare relic made of papyrus is the earliest extra-Biblical source to mention Jerusalem in Hebrew writing.

Isle of Civil Rebellion; Waves of Disruption; Breathtaking Theft; The British are Going; Separation Backpedal; South Africa Breaks Out; Colorado's Higher than Most; Brain Boost; Tiny, Slow Computer; Cute Robot Slaves; Juno Fail; Cubes in the Sky; Accident Fare; Connected Cars; and Weed Killing AI

Society

London couple go to Isle of Man for UK's first civil partnership bbc

The couple, who have two children, added: "We want a less encumbered, light-touch civil union that recognises our relationship on our terms, free from the trappings and social pre-conditions of marriage, while protecting our family financially and in law.

The War-Crazy Gambit; Monitoring Russian Warships; Executive Ordering of the Universe; Determining Baby Gender Illegally; Slow Race; Laundry Folder; Learning With Fellow Robots; and Insert Picture, Find Face

Russia

Putin, Syria, and Why Moscow Has Gone War-Crazy newyorker

A viewer of Russian television this week could be forgiven for thinking that the end of the world was imminent, and that it would arrive in the form of grand superpower war with the United States, culminating in a suicidal exchange of nuclear weapons. On one day alone, three separate test firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles were broadcast on state media: two by submarine, one from a launch pad in the Far East. Last weekend, NTV, a channel under effective state control, aired a segment on emergency preparedness that included a tour of a Cold War-era bomb shelter, fortified in case of atomic war, and a mention of the municipal loudspeakers that will sound upon the arrival of “Hour X.” On Sunday, Dmitry Kiselev, the most bombastic and colorful of Kremlin propagandists, warned on his weekly newsmagazine show that “impudent behavior” toward Russia may have “nuclear” consequences.

This is a good read...

Entering Eternity; Unprepared UK; Right-To-Kill Kids; Activated Dome; Uber Fords Ahead; Self-Pushing; Methodist Border Exhibit; Show Us, Iran; and Plastic of Paris

Death

What It Feels Like to Die theatlantic

“Roughly from the last two weeks until the last breath, somewhere in that interval, people become too sick, or too drowsy, or too unconscious, to tell us what they’re experiencing,” says Margaret Campbell, a professor of nursing at Wayne State University wayne.edu who has worked in palliative care for decades. The way death is talked about tends to be based on what family, friends, and medical professionals see, rather than accounts of what dying actually feels like.

Israel the Enemy's Ally; Syria, Israel, and the Golan Heights; Iranian Threats; Enough in Wukan; Philippines Boot; Fly By Reply; Dry and Stressed; 5 Pounds of Plastic; Keeping Out Bible Believers; Pixelated, Uncensored Photos; Japan and the Droids; Shakespeare Monkey; and Ripping Apart Superbugs

Israel

[OPIONION] A historic moment may be looming on the horizon for Israel. jpost

Now...we hear a different tone in the Arab world. Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah Sisi has revealed that he talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a lot.” Israel is evidently cooperating with Egypt in the battle against Islamic fundamentalists in the Sinai. In July Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Israel and declared that Israelis are not guilty of terrorism in the region. In August Sisi said that relations with Israel were “important” to Egypt and declared Egypt wanted close security ties with Israel.

UK's Wall; The Global Economy Pope; Stomping on Old, Hittite Ground; The $1.7B Pile of Cash; UN Demands NK Pretty Please Stop; Zika Tears; US Zika Funding Aborted; PP's Cushy Government Contract; Amateur Biological Weapons; What Cocaine?; and The Genesis Project

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

China's Censorship; South Sea War Games; Give Up and Go Home NATO; Missiles from the Mediterranean; and Turkey and Israel Friends(ish) Again

Censorship

The slow creep and chilling effect of China's censorship dailydot

In the era of smartphones, instantaneous communication, and social media, you would’ve expected this news [Sonam Tso's act of self-immolation] to quickly spread around the world. It didn't. In fact, it was not until early May that civil society groups outside of Tibet were able to verify what had happened to Sonam Tso and alert the world. That was more than six weeks after the event has taken place—an eternity in the digital age.

Gas in the Grass; Floods of Deaths; The Aircraft Carrier Blues; Disillusioned in Turkey; NK's Submarine Missile Base; Brexit as Slow as Possible; Hate Crime Policing; Your Next Car's Black Box; Fiber Camera; The 97 Other Brain Regions; Chinese Magic; and Green, Bubbling Goo

Environmental

Trembling tundra - the latest weird phenomenon in Siberia's land of craters siberiantimes v

This extraordinary sight - in a video filmed of the tundra on remote Belyy Island in the Kara Sea off the Yamal Peninsula coastline - was witnessed by a scientific research expedition. Researchers Alexander Sokolov and Dorothee Ehrich spotted 15 patches of trembling or bubbling grass-covered ground.

UNESCO Denies Israel in Old City; China Plays the Victim; China to NK, Visa-Free; NK's "Powerful Measures" Threat; South Sudan Civil War; UK's New Prime Minister; Obama's Final Nuclear Push; Egyptian Peace; Tiny Scalpel; Dead Philistines; Squinting Astronauts; and Robot Nurse

Israel

Israel to UNESCO: ‘We’re not ISIS, don’t sever our ties to the Temple Mount’ jpost

UNESCO unesco.org called on Israel to halt all its archeological and restoration work in and around the Old City, as it submits its latest draft resolution on Jerusalem that ignores Jewish ties to the Temple Mount.

Frozen Girlfriend; Fraternity Persons; Mars Shot; Asteroid Claim; 3D 2Eyes; Aido; The Fishbowl Blues; The Great Kim Jong Un Speaks; UK Left Invokes Hitler

Society

Frozen fans urge Disney to give Elsa a girlfriend in sequel theguardian v

The record-breaking and critically acclaimed 2013 animated film tells of Princess Elsa’s struggle to master her magical powers to reconnect with her sister Anna. It was widely construed as the studio’s first foray into feminism because it eschewed a traditional happy-ever-after with a prince in favour of sisterly devotion. Now Twitter users have called upon Disney to give Elsa a girlfriend in Frozen 2, which is currently in production.

See also Why #GiveElsaAGirlfriend Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone

Some people, including many Christians, were surprised at the news. I, for one, found their surprise a little surprising. In fact, anyone shocked by this news hasn’t been paying attention to what’s going on in the culture.