I thought the UV index only went up to 10.  It seems it mostly did when the index was created. Looks like we will be hitting 12 today.

An index of 0 corresponds to zero UV radiation, as is essentially the case at night. An index of 10 corresponds roughly to midday summer sunlight in the tropics with a clear sky when the UV index was originally designed; now summertime index values in the tens are common for tropical latitudes, mountainous altitudes, areas with ice/water reflectivity and areas with above-average ozone layer depletion.

This AI data center says it is in Memphis but it appears to be in Mississippi south of Memphis.  It currently uses dozens of unpermitted gas turbines for power.  The US Department of Justice has blocked lawsuits because it is now a matter of national security.  NAACP is involved in the lawsuit so it would seem this is in a predominantly black neighborhood.

DOJ claims xAI’s unpermitted gas turbines are a matter of ‘national, economic, and energy security’

The interview is with the New York Times and behind a paywall.  Quotes from the article from Rolling Stone (UK)

Bob Dylan Shares Pros and Cons of Turning 80 in Rare Op-Ed

A popular AI model, accused by the Trump administration of being “woke“, is currently blocked for alleged security reasons.

Anthropic Is Still at Odds With the White House Over Claude Fable 5

Haiti had perhaps the only successful slave revolution in history, and the first country ever to ban slavery.  Not mentioned in the article is that in 1820 Haiti was forced to pay the French the equivalent of about a half a billion dollars adjusted for inflation.  This was for lost property, including slaves themselves.  The debt was finally repaid fully in 1947.  This Haitian independence debt was a major factor in the lack of development in Haiti over the last century.

FIFA’s Haiti jersey ban echoes the long campaign to discredit and downplay the Haitian Revolution

On this date in 1962 the Port Huron Statement was released.

Port Huron Statement

I grew up eating red beans and rice, lentils, black beans, and hummus (does that count?).  From Space Daily

People in the longest living populations on Earth tend to eat roughly four to five times as many beans as the average Westerner

A local story.  Very local. This vineyard is next door to Placitas, just to the north. We found some wine made by Gruet from this vineyard and it was very good.  An article from 2018 that explains the arrangement with the Santa Ana pueblo.

Why Gruet Partnered with an Indigenous American Tribe to Grow Grapes

Russia is paying off its debts by nationalizing the businesses owned by its oligarchs.  Not a bad idea I suppose.  But ironic because most of the great post-Soviet Russian fortunes were made by “privatizing” state-owned enterprises.  From The Moscow Times (published in Amsterdam).

Russia Confiscates $7.6Bln in Assets in Largest Nationalization Yet

A good essay on how communication changes humans, physically.  I think he misses the final point by not going far enough.  The changes caused by future communication technologies will make real and at least semi-permanent change your brain, if that hasn’t happened already.  By Terry Goodier.

Body Language