Wednesday 8 July, 2026

A rose by any name… … is still ravishing. Just noticed these as I was sitting at the table, with my favourite picture (HCB’s Rue Mouffetard) in the background. Quote of the Day ” We don’t love qualities, we love persons; sometimes by reason of their defects as well as of their qualities. Thomas Mann Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news Keith Jarrett | Over the Rainbow (Tokyo 1984) Link Long Read of the Day America’s AI Policy Is Truly Chaotic A nice commentary by Francis Fukuyama on what the chaos monkeys in the White House are up to with AI. This year has been a crazy time with regard to Washington’s treatment of artificial intelligence, and the pace has picked up in the last couple of weeks. This train of events began in February when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared the leading AI firm Anthropic, a “supply chain risk,” meaning that neither the Pentagon nor its contractors could use Anthropic models without risking legal liability. Then, in April, Anthropic…