‘The president has turned a solemn occasion into a Day of Trump….’ (David Frum via The Atlantic)

‘In his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell argued that bad writers “are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones.” Today, artificial intelligence chatbots have fallen victim to the same blunder.

The idea that Latin-derived terms like “exhibit,” “triumph” and “consume” sound fancier than Germanic words like “show,” “win” and “eat” traces back to at least the Norman Conquest, when the previous Old English-speaking elites were suddenly replaced by a new French-speaking aristocracy. As Romance vocabulary became associated with the educated upper class, it increasingly took on a feeling of cultural prestige — a feeling that compounded as English borrowed additional waves of Latin loanwords during and after the Renaissance.

Even in the 21st century, this bias continues to permeate our social interactions. We’ll use more Latin terms when we want to speak formally or authoritatively; we’ll use Germanic words to sound crass or casual. I’m writing this article using Romance words like “permeate” and “authoritatively” because they make it sound like I know what I’m talking about. A new study from a group of researchers at Florida State University suggests that AI chatbots have also inherited this proclivity. After testing six AI models, the researchers found consistent favoritism for words coming from Latin and French over those with Germanic etymologies — even more than you would typically encounter in the English language….’ (Adam Aleksic via The Washington Post)

‘In Alan Watts’ book “The Wisdom of Insecurity” he points out that many people believe there are benefits to believing in God, but that is not nearly the same as actually believing in God. The mere fact we understand a belief would be beneficial to us doesn’t automatically make us sincerely believe it. Far from it! As Watts says:

It may be necessary for man to have a myth, but he cannot self-consciously prescribe one… man cannot for long knowingly and intentionally “kid” himself. Even the… most forceful arguments for some sort of return to orthodoxy are those which show the social and moral advantages of belief in God. But this does not prove that God is a reality. It proves, at most, that believing in God is useful… if the public has any suspicion that he does not exist, the invention is in vain.

That is: a belief isn’t a mere choice, something which can be adopted when it seems beneficial. Rather, it is something associated to a genuine, sincere, durable felt conviction. Indeed, that conviction may even be held despite it being inconvenient or even disadvantageous. If it is not possible to hold in the face of such challenges, then arguably it was not a belief. This lack of volition in either choice or rejection helps beliefs serve as durable glue binding communities.

So how do people come to believe? Tanya M. Luhrmann has written a beautiful book exploring this question, “How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others”. The book explores the idea that much of the purpose of religious practice is to help practitioners believe. This inverts conventional wisdom, with Luhrmann taking seriously the possibility that sometimes people aren’t worshipping because they believe, but rather believing because they worship. More generally: Luhrmann makes a compelling case that there is a much more complex relationship between belief and religious practice than you might naively suppose, and she explores some of that relationship….’ (Michael Nielsen via Michaelnotebook)

‘The bugs, broken apps, and nightmare customer-service bots we can’t escape, presented as a blessed and sacred addendum to Pope Leo XIV’s new encyclical on AI…’ (Brian Phillips via Theringer)

‘Illustrator  John Rooney has teamed up with the Middle East Children’s Alliance to produce and sell this Birds of Palestine print . Rooney on Instagram : “All profits will be going towards providing emergency assistance to children and families in what is still a dire situation in Palestine.”…’ (Jason Kottke via kottke.org )

‘As per Yahoo, as pockets of the crowd began to exit the venue in response to his comment, he added, “For those of you fucking booing us, some of us are not afraid. And we most assuredly are not fucking ignorant.” …

Recently, during a conversation with Mojo in March 2026, Robinson surprisingly commented: “I’m not interested in politics”. However, he followed it up, adding: “[But] I know what’s right and wrong – and this shit going on right now is wrong. Look man, I’m almost 60, all right. I don’t tell anyone what to do, because I don’t like to be told what to do. But I know right and wrong. The world’s teetering on the edge with all this bullshit, but if there’s a street fighting man out there, he’d got to be a young man, right? But these kids don’t seem to give a fuck.”…’ (Rachael Pimblett via Far Out Magazine)

‘Imagine Donald Trump receiving a Nobel Prize—not for championing peace, democracy, or global unity, but for inadvertently reminding the world just how vital those ideals truly are. This is the daring idea from veteran Italian journalist and media innovator Roberto Savio, founder of Inter Press Service (IPS) and publisher of Other News. In a widely shared personal appeal, Savio proposes an “Alternative Nobel Prize” for U.S. President Donald Trump—not as an honour, but as a sharp piece of political irony meant to spotlight the unintended consequences of Trump’s actions and words. The proposal walks a fine line between satire and seriousness. Beneath its humour pulses a deep worry about democracy’s health, the unravelling of international cooperation, and what Savio calls a rising tide of political subservience to a leader he sees as narcissistic, impulsive, and antagonistic to democratic values….’ (Ramesh Jaura via Eurasia Review)

‘A bear has injured four people near Fukushima city in Japan. Wildlife is surging in areas evacuated following the 2011 nuclear disaster.…’ (via Flipboard)

‘Don’t look now, but it appears that Congress is actually doing its constitutionally prescribed job: checking presidential power.

 

On Monday multiple outlets reported that President Donald Trump was backing off of his so-called anti-weaponization fund: the $1.776 billion discretionary account Trump functionally awarded himself as a result of his lawsuit against the IRS.

While it’s unclear whether this decision is permanent or final, the reporting all suggests that it is the direct result of an unusual revolt by Senate Republicans, who have openly defied Trump over the fund…’ (Zack Beauchamp via Vox)

Trump’s mortgage fraud czar is about to be overseeing America’s spy agencies. …’ (Cameron Peters via Vox)

‘Bill Pulte has no national-security experience, but he does have one qualification that might appeal to the president… Donald Trump’s pick to lead the intelligence community has no national-security experience, but he does have a history of clashing with colleagues and doggedly using his position to go after the president’s enemies.…’ (David A. Graham via The Atlantic)

‘Why Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund is on the rocks…’ (Cameron Peters via Vox)

‘Trump’s Freedom 250 fest crashout proves he’s the only true MAGA celebrity

Trump loves stars. Too bad they all hate him.…’ (Constance Grady via Vox)