New citizen 1

Hector and his wife sat in the US consulate in Montreal recently, observing all the other soon-to-be citizens with their laps full of folders and documents, all quietly waiting for their chosen identity to become fully legal. Many were dressed up. It's a grave, important moment in time.

He began life in Mexico, then lived for a while in Canada, and will soon make his home in the US. He's lived with different assumptions about responsibility, speech, the role of the state. He sorted out what he thinks is right . . and made a reasoned decision to become an American citizen.

(photo)

People are allowed here to try, to fail, to try and fail again, and eventually learn how to succeed. "It builds grit. It builds antifragility. It builds citizens who are not waiting to be rescued."

"Over the past decade," he says, "I have slowly transformed into an Americanist."

What does he mean by that? How did America earn his respect, admiration, and now commitment? 

from Substack

(cont'd tomorrow)

Nepal update

Follow up to this post

Last fall's political protest rioting in Nepal was violent and chaotic, and led by young people. The government fell - and what was their new solution? They weren't sure where to go from there. 

But someone is always ready to step in when old power fails and there's a vacuum. 

Early this month there was an election that turned into a landslide. Did they vote for an expert in governance? For someone old and experienced? Nope. A 35-year-old hero of Gen Z who used to rap for a living is set to be the new prime minister. Well, ok, he's also a politician because he used to be the mayor of the capital, Kathmandu.

(Was it only the young who wanted change? No, an 84-year-old voter had the same hope: "This time we need new faces, not the same old people who do nothing.")

Sounds like the point of all this is that the next generation of young Nepalese who care about their country were determined to kick out the old, corrupt elites. I hope they can make their way toward sound and responsible government.

from NYT

Untangler

You've seen images (image) of the DNA within each of our cells. It twists and coils tightly and then gets tangled in itself. It has to be opened up so it can be copied to build every new cell and every new living thing. 

A special protein (an enzyme) in each of our cells does this specific untangling job. The protein is structured like a machine to snip and re-connect strands at the point of the super-coils, so that they can straighten out.

Some have to believe this incredible protein just developed by pure chance (because they must hold to their belief system). Does that seem likely? 

Our bodies were designed on purpose by their vastly intelligent Creator in my opinion. Is that just faith, as materialists would claim? Yes, it is faith because it can't be proved--but there's awesome evidence to draw me to this conclusion, and I love to put some of that on this blog for you.

(If you want more: an award-winning engineer's analysis of the human knee)

Eat real food 2

 (cont'd from yesterday's post)

Johns Hopkins University says that most of the foods we eat--75% of the US food supply and over half the average adult's calories--are ultra-processed. That includes common foods like lunch meats, chips, boxed meals, instant oatmeal, energy drinks. “Many of these ultra-processed foods are intentionally designed by the food industry to be irresistible to consumers . . ." And they succeed. (How hard is it to eat just one chip?)

For the sake of our health, federal nutrition standards have been updated under the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The message they want us to hear is simple: "Eat real food." There's a new food pyramid in town:

It looks different from the old one. In short, we are encouraged to make protein, dairy, health fats, vegetables, fruits the biggest part of our diet, with grains a lesser part: "Prioritize fiber-rich whole grains and significantly reduce the consumption of highly processed, refined carbohydrates that displace real nutrition."

The colorful, bold new website? Built by National Design Studio, of course.

from Eat Real Food

Eat real food 1

Yummy fast food is so appealing that it's a "go-to" when we need a quick meal which everyone in the family will like. Americans eat more fast food on average than people of any other country. We also buy highly or ultra processed food at other places, including grocery stores, when we need that quick meal.

But do we make that choice for excellent nutrition? Nope. Ultra/highly processed foods (photo) or fast foods are convenient, but no one thinks they're the healthiest choice. We need something easy because we have hectic schedules, or because no one at home can cook.

Some say Americans are also the sickest. According to a 2020 report from the CDC, over half of us have chronic conditions or diseases. 

So, what should we eat instead? Our current federal government has taken a stand in favor of "Real Food," saying "highly processed food has hollowed out our health, driving obesity, diabetes, heart disease and early death."

In that case, what should we eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner?

from Eat Real Food

(cont'd tomorrow)

US design 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

What else has our new Chief Design Officer accomplished since starting the National Design Studio?

• New website for a tax-advantaged investment that belongs entirely to your child. It's easy to read, it's colorful, and it's easy to understand how to sign your kids up. Millions of kids will have a financial head start.
• A "usability refresh" for the portal for Obamacare (which crashed a lot), for FEMA (glitchy), and for Veterans Affairs.
• New website for the new food pyramid
• New website for cheaper prescriptions

About "30 years of digital dust" has built up on 27,000 government websites. They need work. Accessibility is key. What do they mean by that? 

"We start with a question: can someone who has never seen this before figure out what to do?" That includes someone who is afraid to try again because he may do something wrong, or who drove two hours to a government office because the website failed them. All of them - all of us - need government websites that we can understand and navigate.

from The Free Press

US design 2

(cont'd from last Friday's post)

"Imagine retiring after a lifetime of public service--as a veteran, air traffic controller, or first responder--only to wait months in financial limbo" . . because the process involved paperwork stored underground in file cabinets. In this day and age, it sounds crazy.

A string of 3 failed efforts to modernize in the 1980's, 90's and 00's had all failed to move the process off of paper. They cost taxpayers $130 million. Then the new National Design Studio was assigned the job last year.

"Two engineers (photo, that's Joe on the right) walked into the government six months ago to drag federal retirements from an underground mine onto the internet." They were Dennis and Yat, both experienced in start-up business technology. They thought the job would be easy (photo).

"Speed was of the essence in order to stop the bleeding." They cut off new paper coming into the mine. Then they had only a month to get the digital replacement online. Their blog tells you about their methods and strategy, if you'd like to know.

from National Design Studio

WaPo chaos

Washington Post used to be very influential and profitable. Jeff Bezos, who bought the newspaper in 2013, became aware of the fact that legacy media (including his newspaper) was losing ground. He said, "Americans Don't Trust the News Media."

He started taking bold steps to turn the paper around, probably hoping to hold off a loss in profit that would accompany the loss of trust. In 2024 he decided they would not endorse a presidential candidate (and lost 200,000 subscribers). In 2025 he told them to write about liberty and free markets (and an angry editor quit his job).

Bezos (photo) could not avoid or hold off staggering losses. The paper lost $77 million in 2023, $100 million in 2024, and another $100 million in 2025.

What business could swallow loss on that scale? Only a business owned by a billionaire who could absorb those losses, perhaps. Changes had to be made. 

Earlier this year he fired over 300 reporters, a massive 44% reduction . . and then another 60,000 online subscribers quit.

We're watching legacy media in free fall.

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, with dated technology? 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 at National Design Studio 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 next week)

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