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The amazing thing about Katherine was that with only a pencil and a slide rule she could calculate the precise trajectories for Apollo 11 to land on the moon in 1969. She could do so much of the math in her head that determined the success of missions to the moon and other planets.  Another amazing thing is that even though the white women worked separate from the white men and the black women worked separately, there was mutual respect. As Katherine puts it NASA was a very professional organization and there was not the time to think what color I was. She said she never had a feeling of inferiority, never, she thought of herself as good as anybody else, and not any better. NASA has its computational facility named after her. She also had a famous line- calling her group of women mathematicians at NASA "computers in skirts." A movie "Hidden Figures" recalls this time and the women at NASA, America's space program agency. ...

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Considering that weak consumer protection laws exacerbated the economic crisis by worsening the subprime crisis and weakening asset prices on the books of the banks, banks do not appear to have an understanding of where there deeper interests lie. Banking makes its best profits when it engages in prmoting the industrial activity, investment and growth of a country, and worst when it engages in the kind of mortgage activites that were common during the bubble in real estate.

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48% of British voters see immigration as the most important issue says Ipsos. And 31% say their local area is housing more than its fair share of asylum seekers growing to 61% of Reform UK voters. Reform UK is now leading party with 34% of the vote to Labour's 25% and Liberals 11%. The report in the WSJ on Augu 28 shows how the Labour government did not live up to it's talk on immigration. It also shows how the Conservatives and Boris Johnson failed by opening up non EU immigration from Asia on the grounds that it would bring in the brightest and yet dropped the basic colege degree requirement paradoxically. Lobbying from health care home care increased migration for this field under Conservatives and is only now being reversed by Labour. Labour has been too slow and the culture of Britain and Labour has not changed enough to grasp the problem. Their are vested interests in Britain such as universities and home care health care that have influenced the conduct of policy so that migration on non-eu has replaced eu migration after Brexit but not attracted the most qualified immigrants. The 4% of the British population that entered Britain after Brexit as immigrants, millions arrived and now when Labour is trying to bring this down faces a large number of dependent applications.University students are now bringing in their dependents at rates that have skyrocketed. ...

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Something profound is taking place in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Colonial attitudes of the British for centuries are making way for a new generationof Protestants and Catholics who are taking interest in the Irish language and the feeling of being both Irish and British, seeing all that was Irish from the early period of Christianity many centuries ago. Irish cosigns with English and classes/schools in Irish in Belfast ,Northern Ireland, as Unionist areas take up Irish along with the British identity. The Washington Post provides this wonderful look at this ancient language. In Irish Belfast is "Beal Fierste" meaning mouth of the Sandy Ford. Maidin mhaith is "good morning" and one can hear short audio practice of Irish in this report. The government is actively promoting Irish and buses show Irish as they make their way from East Belfast to West Belfast. A sense of equality is in the air and Irish is now spoken on the streets of Belfast. Protestant parents are signing up their children jn Irish language preschools and 35 primary schools are in Irish in Belfast. Such is the change happening to Ireland these days. ...

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The border crossing at Kirkenes, Norway, remains one of the few border points in the EU with Russia that are open, where visitors go back and forth between Russia and Norway. This part of Norway near the Arctic Circle was taken back by the Soviets in the war, after Nazi Germany occupied Norway. Russia let Norway run this region from that time leading to friendly relations. Norway is the only neighboring country that was never at war with Russia. Because of its location far up in the Arctic Circle it remains a unique location with Russian ships coming here. 
And 62 miles from the Norwegian coast is Russia's ballistic missile submarine fleet. Norway as part of NATO provides support to Ukraine with $7.2 billion in aid. It also is a major supplier to EU for oil and gas helping the EU after the cutoff of Russian oil and gas supplies.

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Inflation is up in May 2026, with consumer prices up 4.2% over year earlier, up from 3.8% in April. Inflation pushed up by higher energy prices.

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The most accurate study so far of what age groups get affected by coronavirus comes from the Office of National Statistics in Britain, showing that children are as likely to get infected as adults. Estimates in modeling created jointly by Public Health England and the Cambridge University show 18% of children in the data from 5  to 14 years age are infected by the virus in England, compared to 18% in the adults over 45 years age.  Across all age groups the modeling data found that there is no difference between age categories for infection by the coronavirus.

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Prime minister Abe of Japan and President Jinping of China meet for 25 minutes on the sidelines of the Asia Africa Summit in Indonesia, on April 21, 2015. In a sign of thawing in relations both sides take an active interest in improving relations. This is the 60th anniversary of the Bandung conference in Indonesia, and Japan restated its pledge during the 1955 meeting of Asian and African leaders to not use force in territorial disputes. Abe said he had "deep remorse" for Japan's role in World War II. Xi Jinping's speech covered China's effort to build the "Silk Road" infrastructure projects in Asia and Africa, and said the AIIB bank was seen positively by the international community. Jinping emphasized the joint responsibility of both countries for peaceful development and regional stability. Abe suggested that a communications system for emergencies be established between the two countries and a defense dialogue be setup.

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Google's $20 billion transfer to Apple so that it can have the monopoly on search, paying a competitor to take its business in this way to reduce competition does not look right in the courts of law and principles established since Teddyt Roosevelt's struggle to end oil monopolies in the 1900's. The US was built on competition, monopolies existed for short times till they were brought under the law and dismantled, and new competition evolved in a environment that is good for competition. The Apple -Google arrangement looks cosy and not in line with America's pillar of strength in its economy- competition, and not in line with the laws of the US economy. The rest of Google's monopoly only retards competition that is the heart of the US economy, and retard the new ideas that can bring new inventions and new industries to propel America and it's vision forward free of the burden of unfair and illegal monopolies.

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A look at a bit of humor on diversity in India from India's Northeast.

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Women do twice as much of the caregiving for elderly parents and small children as men. About 41% of mothers say this makes it harder for them as working parents. About 20% of the female workforce in U.S. is giving elderly care. This adds up to more stress, decreased working hours, decreased income, needing leave of absence, and missing promotions or training. Only 14% of working people in the U.S. have even one day of paid leave to care for a new baby or seriously sick family member- a startling statistic for America, showing lack of family friendly policies at most companies.

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This report in the WSJ shows how Amy Barrett, the new Supreme Court nominee, has managed to combine parenting with her career as a Notre Dame professor and judge on the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A lot of help from her husband, a flexible workplace, living in a smaller town South Bend, Indiana, and a willingness to go with nonconformity, make it possible. She is up at 4 or 5 am to exercize. Blending different worlds is part of this. She can go from work to run an activity for the children. She also views raising children as the activity that has the "greatest impact on the world," so that her career is seen in a bigger context of life.

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US president DJT sees CNN television network as "basically an arm of the Democratic party." He says "it is imperative that it be sold." Paramount run by Ellison has turned the CBS News station television network over to new management under Weiss. Paramount is now bidding for ownership of CNN. 

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Apoorva Mandavilli of the NYT looks at the huge task of renovating the aging infrastructure of America's schools, like this one East High in Denver. The average school building in America is over 50 years old. Having clean air in the schools would have reduced the incidence of Covid by 50%, say studies. The General Accountability Office GAO says 41% of school districts in the US have at least half of their buildings, a total of 36,000 buildings, that need to completely replace their heating cooling and air ventilation systems. The money is there, secured by president Biden with $200 billion from programs like the American Rescue Plan, but much of it remains unspent because of a lack of clear administration guidance on clean air and an official to oversee this effort, and expert guidance, securing equipment in the supply chain.

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In contrast to early in 2022 chip inventories are swelling at the beginning of 2023, as consumers are shifting their purchases away from electronics products and automobiles. Banks interest rates on auto loans reached a high of 8.5% by Jan 2023.

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In this month's Mann Ki Baat, Indian PM Modi's radio show, the young Indians participating in the 65th Math Olympiad are invited to take part in the Radio Show. India wins 4 gold one silver medals and is in the top 5 countries in the Math Olympiad. The contestants talk about their experience, the support of parents, the creativity that enables thinking outside the box, some problems take hours to solve even days at a time. Contestants are from Pune, Delhi, UP, and other parts of the country. "Love what you, and do what you love," says one contestant, who describes math as not a difficult subject when one understands why one does what they do. For example carry forward in addition, why do you carry forward, math is a problem solving skill, and when does it in this way then the fear of math will go away.

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PM Modi closes the 100th episode with the words- "Charaiveti, charaiveti, charaiveti, chalte raho, chalte raho"- from the Vedanta and Buddhist period in India is about life's endless journey and to keep moving, to keep moving, a whole country and about a billion and a half people on the move. Ideas become popular movements and the radio talk show every month by prime minister Modi takes on new meaning for hundreds of millions of young people in India. Ideas about "Swachh Bharat" or Clean India Mission, about the environment, health, about technology and education to transform the country, about women becoming a part of the economy, about the dignity of workers, about starting small business that creates jobs, about renewable energy. 

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The dotcom boom all over again. AI risks and transfer of these risks to vehicles created and private credit- risk not going away just lodged somewhere else in the system.

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This report in the WSJ makes the America centric thinking mistake of forgetting where China started from in assessing progress and China's new priorities. In 1960 the World Bank shows China per capita at $90 which does not change much till 1990 when it was $300, the Deng opening to western technology and capital pushed it up to $3000 the year 2000 (US $36,000) and $4500 in 2010 (US $50,000) when the global financial crisis hit. Since 2010 the Chinese economy was burdened by high local government debt and struggled to get to $10,000 in 2020 under Xi Jinping's first two terms as president. Yet it paid a huge price for this -the chance of Bo Xilai (2014) upsetting the twin banners of Science and Modernization of the May 4th 1919 movement that set the course of China for 100 years uninterrupted through the Nationalists, the Japanese occupation, the Maoist CCP, the Deng CCP opening and Jinping CCP pullback. The huge inequality was seen as an opportunity for Bo Xi Lai or some other leader to capitalize on moving China in an unknown direction that posed risks for the future of China. Even then the first preference of Xi would be to carry on with what had worked after Deng. Yet it was clear that working class votes were shifting the dynamics of elections after the Trump election and closing the doors to open access to western capital, technology, and investment. With Trump in erratic and uncertain ways, with Biden after the elections of 2020 consistent and with single minded determination to limit flows. Not just Xi, any other Chinese leader would have had to have the internal discussions about the need to shift back to a model China was familiar with and one that worked before- that of state intervention in the economy, that of reducing the inequalities that posed risks for the CCP's survival as forging a path for stability to carry out the twin banners of the May 4, 1919 Movement - Science and Modernization as China's salvation. Unlike the hysteria about China posing a challenge to the US these internal debates of Xi and the party may have concluded that the US with about half the population of China's as it grows with immigration in the future and multiple times the per capita GDP was a country that no other country was going to come close to. In this sense the supply chains are deceptive as these are likely to be completely redone under the Biden administration to bring most important manufacturing back to China. It is in this context that Xi had limited room to manoeuvre and decided to focus on stability for the long term to fulfill China's dream of the May 4, 1919 Movement of the last 100 years for Science and Modernization casting aside the risks associated for instability of the inequality that comes with more of the western type of growth, and with the climate change risks also associated with it. Lower growth gives China a chance to correct some of the flaws of the hyper growth that was partly of its own making and partly thrust upon it by investors from the outside, so that the new climate would best serve the goals of the May 4, 1919 Movement of keeping high the banners of Science and Modernization. This kind of rethinking is also going on in the US in the same manner about inequalities and hardships for workers and families, with some of the anger directed at China as internal political sentiment- hence the trillions of dollars moved by the Biden administration to address the flaws of growth under free markets and intervene in the economy where needed as in climate change to give firm sense of direction. In a sense the direction taken in different contexts the American and the Chinese are the same - address the problems of workers and families, of the people, as Lincoln had pointed out and striven so hard for, so that Labor is the more important than Capital, and workers and families vital to the nation.   ...

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Developing monopolies in AI on Apple similar to Apple Google deal on Search on Apple devices for which Apple gets $20 billion from Google. Google pays more than $20 billion a year to be the default search provider on Safari browser. This kind of deal violates the spirit of the anti-monoply laws and the US Justice Department has taken action.

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The Awakening members who went on the American payroll were former insurgents who fought the American military forces and worked with Al Quaeda organization. They did this at a time when tribal leaders were under great pressure to work out some kind of settlement with the Americans, and Sunni civilian casualties from bombings had alienated the Sunni general public from their activities. Now that Americans are announcing a phased withdrawal first from the urban areas and then from the rest of the country, the Shiite government is trying to keep a check on the Awakening fearing they might reorganize to fight the Shiite government once the Americans left. Only about 5200 of the Awakening members have been allowed to join the 100,000 security forces according to General Perkins. Now the Shiite led security forces want to arrest the most effective of the Awakening members about 650 are on the arrest list according to insurgent members. Only 5 have been arrested and most have fled the areas which they first terrorized then helped keep safe on the American payroll....