Celebrating 20 years of Google Translate and… the launch of a top-requested feature! 🎂 One of the toughest things about speaking a new language is getting the nuances of pronunciation just right. Now, you can get instant feedback with "pronunciation practice,” which uses AI to analyze your speech and help you improve. Launching in the US & India in English, Spanish & Hindi, with more to come!

Released this morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ labor share of income for Q3 2025 is the lowest on record.

The ultra-rich escape taxation. Effective income tax rates climb steadily for most of the population but fall sharply for billionaires and centi-millionaires.

If Fox News is sounding the alarm….

I wish this didn't seem so real:

Here's a great paper by Nobel winner Philippe Aghion (and Benjamin F. Jones and Charles I. Jones) on AI and economic growth. The key takeaway is that because of Baumol's cost disease, even if 99% of the economy is fully automated and infinitely productive, the overall growth rate will be dragged down and determined by the progress we can make in that final 1% of essential, difficult tasks. And this logic still applies *even* in a world with AGIs that can automate *every* task a human can do. In this world, the "hard to improve" tasks would no longer be human-centric ones, but physics-centric ones. The economy's growth rate stops being a function of how fast/well the AGI can "think" and starts being a function of how fast it can manipulate the physical world. Essentially, post-AGI does not necessarily mean post-scarcity: the entire cost and value of the economy becomes concentrated in the physically constrained tasks: generating energy, mining resources, manufacturing goods, transportation and so on. nber.org/system/files/workin…

Retweets are not endorsements.

BREAKING NEWS: Leaked pic of Treasury Secretary’s phone shows a panicked text from the Ag Secretary. She's worried that China has outsmarted Trump, buy buying up Argentine soybeans at the expense of US farmers. Trump plans to bail out Argentina with billions of dollars, btw.

So always make LLMs think they're being watched

Hahaha I looked up Horseshoe Theory memes on KnowYourMeme, and...damn. No lies detected.

It may be a good time to introduce or reintroduce the concept of the “horseshoe theory”. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hors….

Truth bomb‼️ This man should be the one speaking on college campuses. “They’re planning for us to turn on each other and make this culture war a civil war. I am begging you, please, for the love of God, for the love of our neighbors… do not take the bait.” Watch…

My resignation letter from CDC. Dear Dr. Houry, I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business.   I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested. This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough. While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people.  This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles. I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.  The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.   The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership.  This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors.  Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people. It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC.  The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense.  Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function.  Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC. The recent term of reference for the COVID vaccine work group created by this ACIP puts people of dubious intent and more dubious scientific rigor in charge of recommending vaccine policy to a director hamstrung and sidelined by an authoritarian leader.   Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.  Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc. I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again.  I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season.  Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.”  We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary.  I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us.  Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources.  At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him.  To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information. The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer.  I believe in nutrition and exercise.  I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability.  Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun. The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning.  My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so.  I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud.   I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur.  I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed. For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics.  I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision. Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest. I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically. Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution.  If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States. Sincerely, Demetre C. Daskalakis MD MPH (he/his/him)

Surely there’s never been a history of Republican presidents using political levers to keep interest rates artificially low, only for it to backfire into a major recession

Here's Trump 10 years ago dodging a question about Epstein. Two interesting things: 1) It's clear he knew exactly what Epstein & Maxwell were doing—years before he wished her well and moved her to a cushy prison 2) It's shocking just how much cognitive decline he's had since

Founders when their startup gets cloned by OpenAI

New overview of @IEA outlooks vs reality from my friend @ChristianOnRE e.o. Nuclear consistently overestimated and solar underestimated. The supplement gives you an excel with the data to make your own graphs.

Oh, shit, I just realised something really important about the "rapidly unraveling social fabric of humanity". I've heard TONS of reports Portugal's Monday blackout whereupon social fabric just... regenerated? People sharing food that was defrosting. Making fires on the street and cooking together. Kids playing outside. Young people checking on old people. People in buildings receiving everyone in their home. Spontaneous dance parties and singing in the streets. I feel like this is a very important data point pointing to the fact that a big chunk of the "rapidly unraveling social fabric" is electronics.

Since MAGA doesn’t believe that the ports are completely empty this shows how Seattle which was once bustling with ships isn’t now. In a week or two you will see that stores will end up being out of most of your necessities! 😡