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Satya Nadella - "we have to get society's permission" for what is done with AI. Nadella has an approach to AI to keep each company's human knowledge capital separate from AI, as its most valuable component of its operations. In the world he visualizes AI frontier models OpenAI, Gemini(Google) and Anthropic's Claude won't just keep saying they will use up all the resources they can use leaving little for education, healthcare and public services or infrastructure, and keep saying it will destroy all entry level and other white collar jobs, and the world will put up with that. His approach is to bring AI at a cost level that is much lower,including incorporating Chinese models for cost effectiveness. And at the same time making AI supplement each company's human capital working side by side so that jobs can be enhanced not destroyed willy nilly, in a careless random, disorganized way whether people like it or not because a few frontier AI models and their companies (Google, Anthropic and Open AI) have decided to do that. Nadella's thinking is worth listening to and reading about as it offers the first intelligent approach to making AI do what we want it to do for healthy societies. After all the destruction in world trade by shipping out supply chains by the US and Europe, after uncontrolled migration, after the loss of manufacturing and the good jobs that went with it, and the decision to reverse this and regain manufacturing and supply chains under both US presidents Biden and DJT, Nadella is right to conclude that society will not tolerate any more losses, and society is determined to retrieve losses from past mistakes. By preserving each company's human capital independent of AI Nadella is calling on individual leaders at all startup, midisized and large companies to have a clear idea of their precious human capital and set up AI independent of it at the company level to work alongside human capital. We at Lyrarc think this will give better results than no conscious approach that allows willy nilly the AI frontier models to shrivel the company's human capital and do what they are clearly incapable of doing in our view, which is to run companies or the principal functional areas of societies such as healthcare, transportation and public services. That even though Nadella does not say this is going to look good at first, then lead the company to catastrophic consequences of losing control of its own individual company's future and lead it to make huge mistakes that will be costly to correct and cause much damage to the Nation and its people. This is anew proposition that Nadella makes and should be grasped for a new approach, and constructive confrontations on this issue of how to incorporate AI at each company's level for hundreds of thousands of companies, alongside separate and supplementing the core strength of human capital, not displacing it to cause huge problems in future years. A company bereft of its human capital is a company bereft of what gives it life and vitality. ...

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For better sleep set regular routine,  3 hours before sleep for dinner, and eat healthy food.

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Repair cafe in North Carolina to reduce stuff that goes to landfills- old sewing machines, tea kettles, old sweaters, old shoes,  Schwinn bike, a lawnmover, toaster oven, generators,chainsaws, on and on. By getting together volunteer mechanics, electricians, sewers, fixers, this adds resilience in a North Carolina community. It goes further to roads and bridges. And there is a sense of exhilaration when people come together and talk.

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An increasingly volatile and impatient electorate says The Guardian. Yet it is also true that Labour's win was much more fragile than the number of MP's elected to parliament, as there was no increase in support between the last two general elections. Labour's win was because of the conservative vote being divided by Reform UK splitting the conservative vote. After years of austerity Labour needed to get the message right that it was going to act in earnest and fight for working people which Starmer not only failed to do this but sent a mixed message that he was more concerned about budgetary restrictions. Starmer had a chancellor who clearly sent the wrong message to the public and Britain after 14 years of austerity. The Mandelson appointment showed a degree of callousness to the opinion of working people of both Starmer's chief of staff McSweeney and Starmer, as Mandelson was from a previous era of Labour which had clearly failed the British people. People in Britain were right to ask who is this guy who can't come out clearly and say what he is for after 14 years of brutal austerity under different conservative prime ministers, and a divisive vote for leaving the European Union, the least of Britain's priorities. Labour pretended to talk tough about migration during the election but once elected failed to grasp the concerns and unease of working people about asylum hotels and migrations, hanging on to now inappropriately applied  European Commission of Human Rights concerns when whole communities were first deindustrialized by British policy on manufacturing that hurt the social and economic fabric, and then asked to have migrants from remote countries whom they knew nothing about in their neighborhoods. ...

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Nuclear arms control SALT treaties expire Feb 2026 - need for new negotiations as the treaties were obsolete, did not include China, smaller nuclear weapons, and weapons from space. The SALT arms limitation treaty was first signed in 1972 by Brezhnev with Nixon. These treaties went through a second version and were renewed. The US no longer thinks this is relevant as China is not included, and smaller nuclear weapons, ones from space are not included and new negotiations are the best way to conduct true arms limitation. An accompanying video in NYT by David Sanger goes into these aspects of talks. Rafael Gross, head of IEA International Atomic Agency, says- You wouldn’t negotiate the same treaty again. There are new technologies that are not covered by the treaty — hypersonic missiles, undersea nuclear weapons, space weapons. And there are many other countries that, for one reason or another, feel now as if they may need a nuclear arsenal of their own.” This is the reason. It also happens that in 2026 US and Russia could coordinate their efforts, so that new US weapons may be needed as other risks could emerge from other places. There are smaller nuclear powers and new nations that might develop nuclear weapons as the US nuclear umbrella may be seen as not fully dependable. This new thinking would be that US and Russia may not see themselves as adversaries but work together to prevent nuclear risks from other sources. This is also why the US (and Russia) may want to wind down smaller regional conflicts, reduce their reliance on their own alliances, so that nuclear cooperation between nuclear powers US, Russia, China, and India may lead to control of nuclear weapons in a larger sense from space and from smaller countries that might develop nuclear weapons as has happened in Iran, which might create new risks that cannot be managed. A belligerent North Korea could lead to South Korea and Japan developing a nuclear weapon. This is also why the Ukraine conflict has run its course and it is in no one's interest to let the Nordics or Britain continue the conflict. The US, Russia, China, India, Brazil should not let middle or smaller powers continue regional or historical conflicts, and promote settlement through peace talks of such conflicts, as it inevitably leads to damaging the interests of billions of people around the world in peaceful cooperation and tackling challenges that affect the quality of life. ...

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TVK party's Vijay and shift in state government in Tamilnadu state of India (Madras Chennai) 2026 for clean governance and rapid modernization of the economy.

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This essay from the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center which puts focus on preventive medicine looks at the food we eat in a different way. In order to have a real conversation on food it says ignore the latest fads on nutrition on keto, paleo or other diets, and think about how our ancestors ate in a healthy way that both prevented disease and provided the right nutrition. It was mostly plants as meat was not freely and easily available. So much so that the consumption of meat and animal protein may have gone up by as much as 90% today. Processed foods did not exist, and unprocessed plant foods were there in abundance. They were not called low fat low carb or vegan then. It is during the beginning of the 19th and in the 20th century that the production and marketing of shelf stable, nutrient poor, high calorie, high sugar and salt processed foods replaced the normal way our ancestors had their food leading to the public health crisis of today, both in health quality, outcomes and cost.  It says replace meat and where appropriate dairy healthier plant based beans, lentils, whole grains, and vegetables, fruits so that animal protein gets back to the levels of the centuries before the 20th century shift to processed foods. It says use common sense beans including soyabeans and lentil beans replace meat wherever possible and oats with berries and nuts replace eggs. Vegetable and garbanzo beans salad replaces cheese and yogurt reducing the cheese or yogurt to very moderate levels. Focus on wholesome food and eat like our ancestors did and exercize then everything else will fall into place. ...

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Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco say that manufacturers of PFAS forever chemicals are using a strategy to discredit good research that detail risks from carcinogens. They says that these manufacturers suppress unfavorable research and distort public discourse. Former EPA researcher Dourson is shown here with a company that gets half its funding from chemical companies. He pushes for allowing many times the permissible level of carcinogens set by the EPA, and supports use of forever chemicals, in this report in the WSJ. President Trump appointed him head of the chemcial safety unit at EPA, but Doursen withdrew when there was bipartisan criticism of ties to industry. Critics say he uses biased science that looks at cherry picked data. His company is called Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, which he founded after taking a buyout of $25,000 from EPA, according to WSJ.

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Peter Magyar says-  "You performed a miracle today, Hungary made history today." Magyar's party needed 133 seats in the 199 seat Hungarian parliament to reverse some of Orban's more controversial policies on the judiciary and on government. Magyar's party Tisza won 138 seats and 57% of the vote compared to about 38% for Viktor Orban's Fidesz that has ruled Hungary from 1998-2002 and 2010 to 2026. Magyar likens the win to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a spontaneous uprising against Soviet rule, and an earlier revolution in 1848. Voter tunout was the highest it has ever been at 78%. The city on the Danube river Budapest was lit up, parliament was lit up as Hungary celebrated a win for reintegration into Europe. For 400 years since 1600 the Hapsburg dynasty helped push back the Ottoman Turks invasion of Hungary and Vienna, and was one of the major Empires of Europe, with Britain, France, Russia, Prussia competing for influence. The Hapsburg  base was in both Vienna and Budapest and reflects the history of Central Europe from the Renaissance to the Scientific and Industrial Revolution. Magyar's first visit is to Poland. He will join European leaders from France, Britain and Germany, Italy, as they formulate policy on Ukraine and the future of the European Union. Under Orban Hungary was the lone dissent or combined this with Poland's Law and Justice Party government in the European Union. In 1923 the Law and Justice Party was defeated, in 2026 Fidesz is defeated, and the European Union is now able to speak with one voice in its opposition to Russia. As the US moves away from NATO the new European Union is in a better position to take on responsibilities for its defense. ...

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India European Union Trade Deal - huge potential for EU and India for 2 billion people size markets, new manufacturing hubs, and advanced scientific + technological cooperation. Timing is critical. From the first term of DJT 2016-2020 it became clear that the supply chain concentration in China was a serious error for America and Europe. Modi came into manage the federal government in India in 2014- that first phase was to tackle the basic problems in health care sanitation and road infrastructure, agriculture. By the second term of DJT Europe had realized something had to be done to reduce concentration of trade  supply chains in China. Two things had to happen to bring India and EU together. The Ukraine War and China's indirect participation on the side of Russia, the change in administration from Merkel to SPD's Schulz,  and in 2026 to Merz and the CDU created a new awareness of the need for EU and India to come together. Yet Scholz SPD hung onto the special trade relationship even in the face of the Ukraine war and China's shift when it allowed the port of Hamburg stake taken by China to be retained. Something had to happen to jerk Germany and with it the EU out of its inability to shift towards India. Merz took this step in 2026 as the relationship with China soured over Ukraine war and the grasp of the dangers of overconcentration of the China relationship with Germany that Merkel had created. On the other side Modi had to get India's logistics, road and rail networks, ports ready for such a trade relationship where goods could be quickly shipped into and out of India. Modi worked on these investments on a rapid basis in his second and third terms. India had to offer stability in the relationship. This meant winning elections to set up state governments in key states such as Maharashtra for Bombay (Mumbai) region, Delhi capital region, and Bihar/ Orissa (Patna region northeast), Rajasthan (Jaipur northwest region), local city governments in Bombay (Mumbai) region and in the south in Andhra (Vizag region) + Trivandrum (Kerala). The combination of federal and state and city governments working in unison plus logistics and transportation, put India in contention for the role of a size and magnitude that would make a difference for Europe in its relations with China and Russia. That necessity was now fulfilled and in place. Merz and Modi, seized the chance at the kite festival in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, with a vist to the Sabarmati Ashram of modern India's founder Mohandas Gandhiji. Von Der Leyen also from CDU now joins the former premier of Portugal Antonio de Costa as heads of EU to attend the Republic Day parade celebrations in New Delhi on January 26. Nothing happened by chance. It took the hard work that in Robert Frost's words in Mowing ( "the fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows my long scythe whispered, for the earnest love that laid the swale in rows"). Japan plunged headlong into imperial ambitions after its modernization, China has ambitions under its Communist/ Markets system, India as the homeland of the Buddha and the Buddhist civilization of China, Japan and Indochina, and with its special place for Mohandas Gandhiji brings the European civilization in connection with a civilization that is just as old and advanced as the European in its philosophical and religious foundations with practice in real life, and not likely to flounder on the rocks as the Japanese and Chinese expansionist ambition based ideas. And once again with Robert Frost in- Putting in the Seed in Springtime, for Merz, Leyen, Da Costa, and for Gandhi and Modi - "On through the watching for that early birth when just as the soil tarnishes with weed, The sturdy seedling with arched body comes shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs."     ...

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Enzo Signorelli goes back to an olive farm that has been in the family for 100 years. The farm is on the slopes of Mt. Etna in Sicily. Enzo finds new life in the rhythm of the mountains and the olive farm where some trees are 500 years old. Shown in NYT are beautiful pictures of the farm and the work in the olive picking season.

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Forever chemicals such as PFAS that breakdown over long periods cause serious harm with contamination of drinking water. The Biden administration has $10 billion allocated under the $1 trillion Families and Workers Plan that was approved by the US Congress to prevention of PFAS contamination. Of this the EPA is using $1 billion for water testing, water treatment plants and to train contractors for corrective action.

Har Ghar Jal, or every home clean drinking water, is a slogan used in India to ensure clean drinking water from taps for everyone of 1.3 billion people. The US faces a similar challenge to get clean drinking water to its nearly 400 million people. The two largest democracies in the world are tackling the basic necessities of life together, with the Biden administration sharing the understanding of the Modi administration of what this means for the people of India and America.

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By calling for fresh elections and losing seats in parliament Mr. Netanyahu and the Likud party may be on the way out. This could be the end of the Netanyahu era, and the beginning of something different.

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Obama picks many Californians for his energy and EPA team. Carol Browner Clinton era EPA head takes over as climate change czar at the White House, and Lisa Jackson of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection takes on the EPA head position. Steven Chu who heads the Larence Berkeley National Lab will be Energy Secretary. Add Nacy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Henry Waxman in Congress all Californians to the team. Colorado Senator Ken Salazar becomes Interior secretary. It will take on a host of challenges in this area to give the US a new energy and environmental protection agenda and policies after years of neglect.

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Increasing popularity of tea sales and for Starbucks type marketing of tea products.

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This editorial in the WSJ after the release of the EPA report on the safety of fracking to produce oil and gas, is critical of Governor Andrew Cuomo's ban on fracking in the state of New York. It says Rochester and Buffalo are two of the four poorest cities in the U.S. after Detroit and Cleveland, and points to the economic benefits generated by fracking for oil and gas in other states. Fracking is the practice of injecting water and chemicals deep into dense rock underground to push up oil and gas.

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President Macron abolishes the elite school ENA, Ecole Nationale d'Administration, which with the Sciences Po university functions as the training ground for people serving in the government. Macron graduated from the school in 2004. Many French leaders graduated from the ENA. Macron wants to replace it with Public Service Institute that draws people from different backgrounds after complaints about elitism in France's public and private sectors. Charles De Gaulle established ENA in 1945 to train French leaders after the failures of the Vichy regime in World War II. 

The French people now see no need for an elite institution today, as most of the country's leading universities are quite capable of training the engineers, scientists, and administrative leaders needed to run French companies and the French government, and could do better in bringing diverse backgrounds and abilities.

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The ruling in a 5-4 decision requires the EPA to consider cost when the agency makes environmental rules. It does not remove the regulations on mercury emissions and does not prohibit the EPA from setting rules. A lower court will have to rule on how the case should be handled. Its likely effect is for the EPA to consider the price for industry compliance in setting environmental rules. The majority decision wirtten by Justice Scalia says the EPA "must consider cost- including, most importantly, cost of compliance- before deciding whether regulation is appropriate and necessary." The current EPA environmental rules were set in 2012, and were put into effect in early 2015. During the early part of the process of setting the rules the EPA did not consider cost. But in the later stages the agency estimated costs of compliance for utility sector at $9.6 billion and public health benefits of at least $37 billion. Justice Elena Kagan alluded to this in her dissenting opinion. Some utilities have received an extension on installing scrubbers to remove mercury pollutants, and these plants would now receive more time. Of the 600 power plants the EPA regulates as part of the rule, 450 are coal fired plants. Of these 35% were given a 1 year extension for compliance. About 21 states heavily dependent on coal and power companies brought this case before the court. ...

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The end of an era as PSG beat Barcelona in their home stadium 4-1. Mbappe scores a hat-trick and the picture of Spanish player Pique hanging onto Mbappe's shirt during the game becomes one of the defining moments. Barcelona is no longer the team it once was with Messi almost out of the Spanish side.

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Coca-Cola is introducing to the US an blended unsweetened tea called Sokenbicha. This tea was originally developed for health conscious young Japanese women. Sales of tea drinks are up 15.6%, while soft drinks are down 5.6%, for the first 10 months of 2010. Soft drinks still make up 47% of ready to drink beverages in the US, according to Beverage Digest, even with the increasing emphasis on the dangers of obesity in the US.

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Surcharges from Covid era coming back in 2026.