US design 1

"Chief Design Officer of the United States of America" is brand new in the US government. Joe Gebbia is the first to hold that office. He has a lot of experience in business and technology, and you've seen his name before.

When you last interacted with the federal government for a license, or to visit a national monument, or to manage your Social Security, was it a good experience? Or was it slow, hard to use, and dated? That's probably more like it. The US president wants that to change.

He wants these ordinary things to be similar to an Apple Store experience: beautifully designed, run on modern software, excellent. Americans' interface with the government needs a modern overhaul.

"Beautiful and efficient," that's how it should be. Joe calls it "the perfect overlap with what I'm good at and what the country needs right now."

What's he done so far? He and his team digitized the retirement process for federal employees, which until last year was on paper forms in 26,000 file cabinets stored in a mine:

from The Free Press

(cont'd Monday)

Proud of us 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Real people--people educating the children of Britain--really tried to put shame into the hearts of those children: shame for their ancestors, for their nation, for their race. Shaming kids for what others did before they were born is not fair. It's not justice. 

Someone could wonder if all these positive videos about Britain are historically accurate. A doubter could wonder, "are these videos just spin, an attempt to whitewash the wrong things of the past?" It's a valid question because, yes, the videos must be true if they're to have value.

So Proud of Us answers that question about their aims and methods: 

"Truth Over Comfort - History isn't always pretty. We tell it like it happened . . . No sugarcoating. 

"Sources Matter - Every claim is backed by primary sources from the National Archives. No hearsay, no myths, no exaggeration.

"Free for Everyone - This history belongs to all of us. Every video is free, forever. No paywalls, no subscriptions to learn your own history.

"Independent - No sponsors means that no one can influence what stories we tell."

Here's another one:

Proud of us 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Is it a good thing to shame school children for things they never did? If you grew up in London, apparently that's what you learned. In the words of the founder of Proud of Us:

"I grew up ashamed of my heritage. Growing up in London, I knew only the dark parts. . . I was painted as the oppressor before I'd done anything at all. My friends would joke about their cultures, their histories, their traditions. I never understood mine as they understood theirs. I was told we didn't really have one."

But as a grown-up, s/he discovered there was much more to their culture than just darkness:

"We didn't stop having a culture. We [simply] stopped telling our stories. I'm here to fix that, to put our stories where everyone can find them."

Here's one of those stories:

(cont'd tomorrow)

Proud of us 1

Woke anti-whiteness (yesterday's post) gained traction in the US, in spite of the fact that the Civil Rights Movement has been inspiring change for decades at the level of federal law. 

I used to think that the hatred of races and cultures was over in the West, was done with. Looks like we still have to fight it because the hatred just switched to a different race and different cultures.

The wave of wokeness sweeping the West in recent years claimed that the British people ought to be ashamed of their historically, predominantly white culture. But there's a new voice fighting back on their behalf.

"Proud of us" is an online platform for creative content to make the case--both to Brits themselves and to the world--that Britain has an admirable culture and history. 

(cont'd tomorrow)

"Woke" shock

American politics have shifted toward traditional American values and away from "wokeness." But our institutions haven't all changed. This is the story of a woman (photo) who went back to school in middle age after her divorce and was shocked to find a perverse ideology solidly embedded.

Somehow, she didn't notice it years ago when academia lurched far to the left. She was busy living her life and raising her kids.  You probably noticed, though, having read stories like this, this, this, this, this. 

The Counseling Master's program at the University of Tennessee confused and frustrated her until she recognized that it was founded on an "identity-based, oppressor/oppressed worldview. . . " The twisted values they taught were not her values.

"I learned it meant that if I weren't constantly aware of and apologizing for my whiteness and general lack of LGBTQ proclivities, as far as the faculty was concerned, I would be a danger to my clients." She quit the program.

from Substack

Current nuclear

Nuclear power generation has had its ups and downs over the last few decades. At this time, there's somewhat of a global movement to approve it as a reliable source of non-fossil fuel energy. It comes after a dip in production and public approval due to safety and climate scares. The world total (image) has stabilized and seems likely to increase.

France, Sweden, Finland are all pressing forward. New variations of nuclear power plants are being researched and tried. 

Germany, however, is an exception to all this. Their goal for many years was to eliminate their nuclear power plants. That ill-advised goal was achieved in 2023 when they phased out the last three. Now they depend on oil imported from Russia, solar and wind arrays, and liquid natural gas . . and they pay a high price for power.

from Our World in Data

Why Iran?

America's current action against Iran filled many people with joy and relief while it filled others with anger. Attacking a sovereign foreign nation must be rare, and it must line up with our values. Here is the president's address to the nation:

Maybe you, like me, hear the partisan opinions of your friends and your favorite media but you still have questions. I've found a few answers, so I offer them to you:

1. How many attacks injuring or killing Americans has Iran carried out or sponsored since the hostages were seized in 1979? This organization lists 44 aggressions (up to last June and not counting the Iraq war). Hundreds died, and many more were injured.
2. Is this US president uniquely belligerent or unlawful in this attack? No. The War Powers Act of 1973 gives a president the authority for a military action without congressional approval, and every president since that time has used it.
3. Is Iran's nuclear weapon development still a threat? Their program and facilities were diminished last June by US strikes but not totally destroyed.

(cont'd tomorrow)

AI & military 2

Follow up to this post

Anthropic made their choice in negotiations last week. They will not yield their AI product, "Claude," to every decision of the U.S. Dept. of War even if it's lawful (the terms of their contract). They want the authority to limit the military's use of Claude to situations they approve of.

No nation would likely submit to that. The U.S. will not, so they immediately stopped using Anthropic's technology and it can't be used by any government agency or Pentagon contractor.

OpenAI was waiting in the wings. They now will supply the U.S. military with artificial intelligence (photo). But the Pentagon added one interesting exception (which Anthropic wanted too) in this new contract: “the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals.”

I asked Grok whether America has a law against domestic surveillance, and the answer was "No." That could be why the U.S. was willing to specify this condition in the new AI contract with OpenAI.

 from CNBC

AI & kids

Follow up to this post

An AI "companion" can be tempting for parents who need a break from the stress of constantly overseeing their children--but it's not a good solution. Yes, this is another warning against letting artificial intelligence gain too much influence over your kids.

A mental health organization finds unique risks of harm to children from AI companion platforms:

• "Blur the line between real and fake"
• "Encourage poor life choices"
• "Harmful information"
• "Inappropriate sexual content"
• and others

Remember, AI is trained to sound appealing to its users. It really does sound personable, entertaining, trustworthy, but it's not a person. It's not a genuine friend. Use your own good judgment. "Ultimately, your instinct that your child needs you, not just entertainment, is correct."

from "Ginny Weasley Teaches Us About the Danger of AI Chatbots for Children"

AI & military

Modern military, whether in the US or other nations, uses artificial intelligence. Of course they do. Anthropic has a $200 million contract to supply their AI system, called Claude, to be used by the Pentagon "for all lawful purposes."

Anthropic has conditions on how the US military will use it. They will not allow it, they say, to be used for mass surveillance of American citizens, nor for weapon targeting without direct human supervision. These restrictions sound reasonable. 

But the Dept. of Defense threatens to reject Claude from military use. 

They say that "the current dispute is not specifically about autonomous weapons or mass surveillance . . ." 

It seems that Anthropic (photo) wants the final call in whether their AI system can be used in certain situations. But the US military refuses to delegate their decisions to another authority, such as a private company. That also sounds reasonable. The responsibility to operate lawfully, they say, is theirs--not Anthropic's. 

Interesting.

from International Business Times

Delayed again

Follow up to this post

It was going to launch next month, in just a few weeks. But Artemis 2 mission has been delayed again: it's unlikely to go in March, and they have no target date for it at this time according to NASA's chief. Maybe April.

SLS (Space Launch System) rocket was on the launch pad until this week, when it was pulled back for repairs. There was a "liquid hydrogen leak in an interface used to route the cryogenic propellant into the rocket's core stage."

How many problems and how many delays have there been with SLS? I've lost track. They've gone on for years and years, as you can see here.

from Space

Less aging 3

 from 2021

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

A conference called COSM hosted a discussion about anti-aging technologies. Hopeful CEOs of companies researching these technologies, as well as a neuroscientist, defined their goals.

They think it will be possible to mitigate age-related decline. Here's what drives their work forward:

• They make "genetic medicines for health and longevity" which disassemble damaged cells when they don't self-destruct as they're supposed to (senescence).
• "Instead of making a drug and injecting it, we program [the patient's] own cells to produce remedies inside them, trying to build an app store for the human body."

But it looks like there is something you can do about aging for your own health and longevity without waiting for new medicines: you can fast 17-19+ hours (video made by a Radiation Oncology Therapist). After fasting that long, your body accelerates cleaning up those dysfunctional and senescent cells that can lead to disease, a process known as autophagy.

from Mind Matters

Less aging 2

From 2021 

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Irreversibly damaged cells that somehow escape normal self-destruct mechanisms continue to build up and cause health problems over the years. Oisin Biotechnologies explains it:

"When cells detect that they have been irreversibly damaged, they enter a non-dividing condition [called] senescence . . . Ideally, they should die by the process known as apoptosis, but as we age, more and more frequently they don’t. They become zombie cells – unable to kill themselves or resume normal function.

"Senescent cells secrete molecules that cause inflammation in an effort to attract immune cells that would usually clear them. But for reasons that are not fully known, as we age, persistently senescent cells accumulate, leading to a vast number of age-related diseases."

So their goal is to improve health and lifespan by targeting senescent cells and destroying them. "Significant" success was achieved, so far, in the testing of their therapy on aged mice. 

photo

Less aging

 Re-post from 2021

It's hard to watch people we care about lose some of their abilities, decline as they grow older, and eventually succumb to a disease of old age. But we're all resigned to it because it's inevitable.

Well, actually, not all of us are resigned to it. Some are resolved to fight it. An anti-aging movement has been going on among biomedical researchers for many years. ("Fight Aging!" can be an educational resource for you; start with their FAQ.)

image

Damage to our cells that accumulates over the years is the dominant theory to explain why our bodies decline with age. Damaged cells are programmed to self-destruct, a process that produces billions of destroyed cells in our bodies daily. But a small number of damaged cells continue to live on in their damaged state and that causes problems. 

Hope to solve the problem of damaged cells is driving some new start-up businesses. 

from Mind Matters

(cont'd tomorrow)

Poetic win

It's been 46 years since the US took gold in Olympic men's hockey. They called it the "Miracle on Ice," a glorious win that filled American hearts with pride. Names of the players and coach became famous, and a movie was made about it.

It happened again this year, exactly 46 years later--to the day, Feb. 22-- in a triumph over a tough Canadian team. 

Hockey is not for the faint of heart. Rough play is part of the game. Jack Hughes, 24 years old and from Florida, took a bloody hit in the mouth (photo) that damaged his teeth. But he got back in the game and made the game-winning score in the last period.

Asked to share how he felt, he said:

"This is all about our country. I love the USA. I love my teammates . . . The USA hockey brotherhood is so strong, and we're so proud to win for our country."

from Outkick

Help coming 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It seems the U.S. president's message of last November (yesterday's post) had an impact. Nigeria formally requested the help of the U.S. military to curtail the deadly attacks of militant Islamist groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province.

An airstrike was carried out in December by US forces against two camps of Islamic militant groups in northern Nigeria--with the approval of President Tinubu.

About 100 US troops as well as military equipment arrived last Monday (photo) to help train Nigerian forces to "enhance the protection of vulnerable communities."

"Nigeria's government has expressed its thanks for US aid in tackling security issues . . ."

It's a start. 

from BBC

Help coming 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Brutal, barbarous machete attacks are reported repeatedly. People are killed and abducted from schools or churches by Muslim attackers who shout "Allahu Akbar!" Christians have asked the government for protection, but it doesn't seem to come.

Moderate Muslims who reject extremism are targeted as well. But Christians "are disproportionately targeted, being more than 5 times as likely to be killed [as] Muslims," according to a legal group.

Nigeria's president strongly denies that there's any religious persecution in his country, and his wife came to America on a mission to do the same--"despite all the evidence of widespread atrocities." Many Western journalists simply accept the Nigerian state's narrative.

But the reports got the attention of the U.S. president. Last November he sent this message: "If the Nigerian government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance," and may even take steps to "wipe out" Islamist terrorists. 

Some Americans have been sent and may now be working with the Nigerian government to give these targeted communities some help.

from The Free Press

Help coming

Christians have suffered loss and death for years in Nigeria. Officially, the government denies that they are targeted for genocide. But reports of people on the ground are graphic and specific. 

Christian media in the U.S. has reported it, as in this video. See the clip of Bill Maher who called out the slaughter on his show:

He makes the point that secular students and media name Gaza as a site of genocide but ignore the greater numbers in the Nigerian genocide. The point of showing Maher's clip is to demonstrate that the narrative is not just a Christian claim.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Applaud Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, managed to do something surprising. Speaking to a large group of European elites last week in Germany, he told them that they need to change course. The surprising thing is that his audience chose to applaud what he said rather than to take offense.

America hopes to preserve Western Civilization, he says. We would be willing to fight for it alone, if necessary, but would rather do it with our friends and allies in Europe with whom we share a history of culture and Christianity and cooperation.

His appeal to them was framed as a partnership, not a pressure campaign (appropriate for America's top diplomat). To watch it is a good use of 21 minutes.

Dump wind parts

Follow up to "Wind blade" posts

Wind turbine parts (photo) are made of stuff that's hard to recycle, fiberglass especially. Turbines fail after 10-20 years and have to be discarded. What to do with them is the big question.

Global Fiberglass Solutions claims to have the solution. Wind energy firms contract with them to do the big job of recycling these massive parts. But are they doing it?

Texas says, No. Their lawsuit claims that GFS has dumped about 3,000 blades at two sites, for a total of about 487,000 square yards of solid waste. 

Recycling facilities have to process at least 75% of the material they take in according to Texas law. The state says GFS has never met that requirement since 2017, so

Looks like the big problem of what to do with huge old wind turbine parts is still unsolved. Meanwhile, they pile up in big fields and disposal sites, sheltering rattlesnakes and mosquitos. Local people don't like that. These things are huge.

from "Green Energy Firm Sued for Allegedly Turning State into Wind Turbine Waste Dumping Ground"

Gen Z rebel 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It's easy to understand the frustration of many Gen Z people with their governments. Corruption abounds, even in our own country, because human beings are flawed in our very nature and every government is made of human beings. Flawless people will never run countries.

The American founders were well aware of this--it is a Christian truth--and tried to devise a government that would make corruption harder to do. Our resulting constitution and principles of governance have been the envy of the world for 250 years. 

But even many American young people today would be clueless if they had to put a governing system in place, as those in Nepal were. How many have learned from their American education just what principles made America successful? 

The answer is: few of them. 

Hillsdale College does teach the principles that created America. Their professors are available to you through their free online courses. I recommend them to you, and I just signed up for Constitution 101.

Gen Z rebel 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post) 

Chaos reigned in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, last September when 51 people lost their lives. This is the most violence this country of 30 million people has seen since civil war ended their monarchy in 2008. 

New loss of the both the Prime Minister and the Parliament (disbanded) means starting over . . again.

"We did it," they said. But now what?? They didn't really know. "The Zoomers have nothing real to put in their place." An interim president was appointed to lead for six months, and a new election is coming in March.

Madagascar, an island country, suffered something similar. Social media communication revelations disgraced the government, Zoomers mobilized, violence followed, and 21 died. The president fled for his life, and the rebels tracked his flight online.

A youthful movement in Mexico organized protests last November demanding change and accusing the government of corruption (though the government remains in power).

What solutions do any of these rebellions install in their countries? They don't have any solutions. They criticize the moral failures of their governments--understandably--and correct and object, but is there any moral authority they do trust to bring in a just government?

from The Free Press

(cont'd tomorrow)

Gen Z rebel

The government of Nepal (map) banned Facebook, Instagram and X -- and then last September it was brought down when Generation Z went nuclear with fury. 

Seeing social media get censored and banned was just the last straw for youth of this country. They led a massive revolt against the corruption and nepotism they saw in their political leaders. It was violent and there was a lot of burning. People died. Eventually, the Prime Minister resigned.

Here's a report from a news channel in India (which shares a border with Nepal):

(cont'd tomorrow)

Daddy victory

Daddies who are "present" to their families can benefit from being in a community of others who are doing the same thing. Moms have support systems but how many dads are trying to do it alone?

Here's a dad who created something like that for dads in Chicago. They go for "Daddy Strolls" and the idea has spread to other cities.

Real girls rock

Does anybody still claim that biological males should be allowed to compete in women's sports? Riley Gaines appears in this commercial from the Super Bowl last night:

She hears comments like, "Who cares if biological males play in women's sports? Just be inclusive!" And, "This is just a bunch of fear-mongering from right wing bigots." 

Girls and women pursue "their athletic goals and dreams despite the criticism, hate, personal attacks and gaslighting of “trans” activists and their allies."

I have to wonder how it's possible that any rational human being could deny that males generally have different, stronger bodies. Athletic males should compete against other athletic males and athletic females should compete against other athletic females . . or the competition is not fair. 

AI & SpaceX 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Data centers will be in space in a few years. Ultimately, the "lowest cost way to generate AI compute" will be where solar energy is un-impeded by atmosphere, and where the required cooling is easy and won't be an environmental disturbance.

Bringing XAI into SpaceX will put the pieces of this vision together. Starship will move massive amounts of cargo to the Moon, where a permanent human presence will perform science and manufacturing.

The Moon will be a jumping-off point for deeper space. 

"The capabilities we unlock by making space-based data centers a reality will fund and enable self-growing bases on the Moon, an entire civilization on Mars and ultimately expansion to the Universe." It's the SpaceX vision to understand the universe, and to preserve and protect the light of consciousness.

Estimates put the value of the newly larger SpaceX at about $1.25 trillion.

from SpaceX

AI & SpaceX

XAI, the company, was started up by Elon Musk in 2023 to manage both the development of artificial intelligence (including the chatbot Grok) and the social media platform X (former Twitter).

Now, that company has been acquired by another of Elon's companies, SpaceX.

He announced it on Monday of this week, saying that this move creates: "the most ambitious, vertically-integrated engine on (and off) earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world's foremost real-time information and free speech platform."

What is vertical integration? A business acquires other companies up and down its production process so that it is not wholly vulnerable to the vagaries of those other companies for the components or services it needs. 

(image)

So, SpaceX now has put together rockets, satellites (it already had Starlink), AI, and social media. What is its ultimate purpose? Hint: it's not just rockets.

from SpaceX

(cont'd tomorrow)

Still going 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Yesterday's re-post is more than five years old, so there may have been tweaks in the plan since we first looked at it. The latest description of the Artemis Program (image) on NASA's website reflects a up-to-date overview.

The plan consists of four missions. Artemis 1 was completed in December of 2022, confirming that NASA has a "foundational deep-space transportation system" that really works, that can be relied on to carry out the rest of the missions.

People won't actually walk on the Moon until the third mission, Artemis 3. Two members of the crew of four will explore the lunar South Pole region for a week. So far, it's scheduled for some time in 2028. The mission is expected to last about 30 days.

Then there's the far more complicated fourth mission, Artemis 4. A new lunar space station will be assembled from modules brought by a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Astronauts will live and work there in orbit, performing multiple ground launches and experiments.

But before #3 and #4, there will be the second mission, Artemis 2 . . and that's going to launch next month.

from NASA

Still going

Remember the Artemis Program? It is still NASA's goal to take people to the moon--and to stay there with a continuing human presence. It's taking a long time, but there is news: the next mission in the program is coming up next month.

To refresh yourself about the goal, here's an inspiring re-post from 2021. As the video voiceover says, "None of this is simple, or easy!" 

Artemis

Next year, 2022, will be the 50th anniversary since men were last on the moon. That's fifty years, achieved by people with 50-year-old technology. We can do it again, and that's the goal. Under the previous administration, NASA made plans to return with international and private partners and establish the first long-term presence. 

Why do that? For the scientific discovery, the economic benefits, and the inspiration. "While maintaining American leadership in exploration, we will build a global alliance and explore deep space for the benefit of all."

Yes to Texas

Texas is where billionaires go when they leave California (at least some of them). 

Population is increasing, and more people make the state's economy bigger. But more importantly, measuring the state's economy per person reveals that "Texas is generating thousands of dollars more per resident than it did just three years ago."

"Economic output" rose from $64,000/year in 2021 to $71,000 in 2024. That means individuals produce more value and more income overall. Think GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for the whole state, divided by the number of people.

To generalize, families see their standard of living go up. Something is going right (photo of the governor).

from MSN