Iran sends defiant signal to the West with missile test; Google’s new quantum computer...more

Iran sends defiant signal to the West with missile test
Iran has broken a United Nations resolution and delivered a pointed signal of defiance to the West by testing a new ballistic missile with a range of at least 1,000 miles.

The Ghadr-110, which could be adapted to carry a nuclear warhead, is believed to have been launched on November 21, according to Western officials...

F.B.I. Chief Says Texas Gunman Used Encryption to Text Overseas Terrorist   The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said Wednesday that investigators could not read more than 100 text messages exchanged by one of the attackers in a shooting this year in Garland, Tex., because they were encrypted, adding fuel to law enforcement agencies’ contention that they need a way to circumvent commercially available encryption technology...

The flow towards Europe
This interactive map shows the flow of asylum seekers to European countries over time...

A Crash Course on the Muslim Worldview and Islamic Theology

De-mystifying ISIS and radical Islam
...We need to stop, breathe and think. We need to be prudent. We have no Biblical mandate to put our citizenry at risk. And real risk there is. Think Chattanooga and San Bernardino. In fact we are duty bound to protect the innocent. At the same time, we have the Great Commandment and the Great Commission to obey. We need to start thinking like Christ followers. We need to stop shouting and start repenting, praying and fasting. God moves His hand in repentance. God is looking for obedience...

Toronto school officials say sex-ed partly to blame for dropping enrollment    Two Ontario public school boards have reported markedly lower elementary school enrollments this fall than expected and admit that opposition to the Liberal government's controversial sex ed is likely behind the drop.

A rash of new private schools opening in the Greater Toronto Area, as reported in the Globe, is also backlash against the sex ed curriculum's rollout in the province's publicly funded schools this September...

Universities' universal irrelevance
...And universities, to their undying discredit, have been rightly singled out as the principal incubators of political correctness. Contempt for the muzzling of unpopular opinions has reached portions of the public that have had little contact with institutions of higher education. Too many campuses have become the domain of euphemism and inoffensiveness rather than vigorous debate. Most horrifying of all is when they become places of inquisition and persecution based on the contagion of hysteria, such as occurred at Duke and the University of Virginia, when fabricated allegations of sexual abuse produced a purge mentality worthy of the Red Guards in Maoist China. It should be no surprise, then, that it is more profitable for politicians to revile universities than to identify with them other than, perhaps, with their football teams...

Google’s new quantum computer is '100 million times faster than your PC'  ...Google and Nasa announced they were collaborating on the D-Wave X2 quantum computer, which they say is 100 million times faster than a conventional computer chip, in 2013. It can answer certain algorithms in seconds rather than years.

Google director of engineering, Hartmut Neven, said: “For a specific, carefully crafted proof-of-concept problem we achieve a 100-million-fold speed-up.”...

Bishop Michael Curry in Recovery, But Numbers Show Episcopal Church Is Not ...The medical setback for the church’s leader comes as the 1.9 million-member faith group released new statistics indicating its continuing slide in membership and participation.

There has been an almost 20 percent drop in active members in the last 10 years and a 25 percent drop in the average Sunday attendance in that same period. More than half of Episcopal parishes — 53 percent — have seen a decline in average Sunday attendance of at least 10 percent in the last five years...

The World’s Most Popular Bible Verses
Every second, 112 people open the Bible app. Here’s what they’re looking at...