Why the Church Needs NORA

The gifts of the Spirit are valued when we understand “non-obvious relationships.” 

If you’re up to no good, if you’re out to scam someone or if you’re a terrorist, you better watch out for NORA.

NORA is not the newest femme fatale in the spy business, not the latest incarnation of Emma Peel, or Nikita, or Sydney Bristow or Mata Hari. This NORA is an acronym for “Non-Obvious Relationship Awareness.” NORA is a sophisticated data-mining software program developed by a high-school dropout and self-taught hacker, Jeff Jonas.

Jonas initially created this program for the gaming industry where it’s used in casinos to catch cheats by scanning databases to connect the dots in patterns that might not be revealed any other way. For example, NORA might alert security at Las Vegas’ Mandalay casino if its database scans reveal that the guy winning big in blackjack once had the same phone number as the dealer at that table, even if there now seems to be no other link between them. Such information, at the very least, would warrant further...