MY WRITING JOURNAL

Wednesday, November 26

The Big Think

How Pragmatists and Purists work together to change the world

Sorry, Nvidia: Meta reportedly wants Google’s chips. Meta is considering spending billions of dollars to use Google’s AI semiconductors in its data centers in 2027, The Information reported this week, sending shares of Alphabet up 1.5% and Nvidia down 2.6%. Under the deal, Google would provide Meta with tensor processing units (TPUs), which can be customized for specific AI functions. That differs from Nvidia’s industry-standard GPUs, which were originally designed to render visual graphics. The reported deal comes at a good time for Google and a bad time for Nvidia: The search giant recently inked a multibillion-dollar chip agreement with Anthropic, while AI-bubble fears already dragged Nvidia’s stock down more than 10% from a late-October peak. In response to the report, Nvidia said it was “delighted by Google’s success,” but also added that “Nvidia is a generation ahead of the industry.”

Ukraine–Russia peace deal gains momentum. Ukraine is “ready to move forward” on the “framework” of a US-backed deal to end the war with Russia, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday, though some disagreements over key issues remain, including territory. This comes after American and Russian delegates reportedly met in secret and drafted a 28-point plan that was widely seen as favorable to Moscow. Following Ukrainian and American officials’ amending of the proposal, President Trump will now send US special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who experts believe is likely to nix the deal. Hours after Trump signaled optimism about the deal, Russian attacks killed at least seven people and caused many others to shelter in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

Traveling for Thanksgiving? You’ve got a big storm coming. A record 82 million people in the US are set to travel at least 50 miles to their Turkey Day destinations this year, according to the American Automobile Association. If you’re one of them…good luck! Extreme weather is expected to cause traffic delays and flight disruptions today, with strong winds and blizzard conditions in parts of the Midwest and rain and fog along the East Coast and in the Northwest. Luckily for the Labubu Float, weather is supposed to clear up for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City tomorrow, but strong gusts might make balloon handlers’ arms feel especially sore on Friday.—ML

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Robert Reich

Senator Mark E. Kelly, Patriot of Patriots
The contrast between him and Pete Hegseth or Trump couldn’t be larger

Friends,

On Monday, the social media account of Pete Hegseth’s so-called “Department of War” posted that the department is investigating Senator Mark Kelly, a retired Navy officer.

Kelly’s supposed offense? He participated in a video reminding members of the armed forces that they have no duty to follow illegal orders — a concept enshrined in the Code of Military Justice, the shameful case of Lt. William Calley during the Vietnam War, the Geneva Conventions, and the Nuremberg Trials.

I’ve known Mark for several decades. I saw him pilot rockets into space. I gave a blessing at his marriage to Gabby Giffords.

I visited with Mark soon after Gabby was shot. He was brave, steadfast. If she survived (which wasn’t at all clear at the time), he was determined to go on with their lives together, doing whatever needed to be done. He has done that. Today, although not entirely recovered, she lives a reasonably full life, and they continue to support each other in every way.

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(11/6/25) The most popular baby names this year.

(11/21/25) The joy of doing nothing in retirement.

(11/6/25) Why don't we ride zebras?

(11/20/25) "The Simpsons" says goodbye to character introduced in 1991.

(11/20/25) See National Geographic's pictures of the year.

(11/10/25) See the recently discovered world's biggest spiderweb.

(11/4/25) What microwaves do to your food.

(11/11/25) Italian pasta may disappear from American supermarkets.

(11/4/25) How to die young at a very old age.

(11/12/25) China's newly built 2,500-foot-long bridge partially collapses. (w/video)

(11/14/25) The latest typeface is skinny font.

Clickbait: Explore how differently men and women spend their days.

Historybook: Abolitionist Sojourner Truth dies (1883); National Hockey League founded (1917); "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz born (1922); Archaeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon enter King Tut's tomb (1922); Singer and actress Tina Turner born (1939).

1440 Trivia: Which bankrupt flour merchant helped inspire the Erie Canal? Check back next week (or dig for it here) to see if you were correct.

HIGH PROTEIN TURKEY CHILI (No Beans, Big Volume) | Easy Recipe

Quick Clips

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Bollywood star Dharmendra, whose career spanned over six decades and more than 250 films, dies at age 89 (More)

> Chance the Rapper and Julianne Hough to cohost ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” alongside returning hosts Ryan Seacrest, Rita Ora, and Rob Gronkowski (More)

> Caitlin Clark to make USA Basketball senior national team camp debut next month after missing second half of WNBA season due to groin injury (More)

Science & Technology
> Anthropic unveils Claude Opus 4.5 for software developers and knowledge workers, marking the startup's third major AI model launch in two months (More)

> NASA trims Boeing Starliner contract and indefinitely delays crewed Starliner flights, eight months after technical issues left astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (More)

> Novo Nordisk's semaglutide pill fails to slow Alzheimer's disease in clinical trials (More) | Neuroscientists identify rare gene mutation that may protect brain immune cells from Alzheimer's, pointing to potential preventative treatments (More)

Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +1.6%, Dow +0.4%, Nasdaq +2.7%) as Alphabet (+6.3%), Tesla (+6.8%) lead tech rally (More)

> Amazon to spend up to $50B on AI infrastructure to support US government agencies; project to break ground in 2026 (More)

> Kohl's names Michael Bender as permanent CEO; Bender is fourth executive to lead the department store in four years after former CEO Ashley Buchanan was fired for misconduct (More)

Politics & World Affairs
> Pentagon opens investigation into Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) over participation in a video calling on military members not to follow any illegal orders (More)

> State Department designates Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Cartel de los Soles as foreign terrorists over alleged drug trafficking to the US (More)

> Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi volcano erupts for the first time in at least 10,000 years; no casualties were reported as of this writing (More)

SOURCE: 1440 NEWS

Democratic Socialism

The name itself is an OXYMORON of sorts in that democracy and socialism are on opposite sides of the governmental fence.

Yes, within out Democratic Party are Democratic Socialists.

What do they want?

Tax the wealthy
Make as much free as possible
End private ownership of property
End private ownership of enterprise
Create Equity/Equality regardless of skills/Talent
End majority control

Will they win?

Yes... eventually they will.

Why?

First - Because capitalism creates a very wealthy class, a very poor class, and a very large middle class that has the burden of growing the economy.

Second - Because capitalism creates a group of GREEDY people who pass that GREED onto their children who pass that GREED onto their children.

Third - Because democracy creates capitalism which creates the ability for a majority of the people to decide what's best for everyone, which ultimate could decide to end democracy, the ultimate IRONY.

Yes, it is true. Our Bill of Rights, Our Freedoms could result is a population deciding they no longer want to be a democracy because they would prefer to have more than they currently have...

Which is the simple definition of GREED.

Somewhat Political

How most of the universe's visible mass is generated

This illustration shows how the strong interaction evolves with distance, generating more than 98% of the ground and excited state of the nucleon masses. This evolution of strong-interaction dynamics is described within the CSM approach. At distances comparable to the size of a hadron, ~10–13 cm, its relevant constituents are no longer the bare quarks and gluons of QCD. Instead, dressed quarks and dressed gluons emerge when bare quarks and gluons are surrounded by clouds of strongly coupled quarks and gluons undergoing continual creation and annihilation. Credit: Jefferson Lab/Shannon West

Deep in the heart of the matter, some numbers don't add up. For example, while protons and neutrons are made of quarks, nature's fundamental building blocks bound together by gluons, their masses are much larger than the individual quarks from which they are formed.

This leads to a central puzzle … why? In the theory of the strong interaction, known as quantum chromodynamics or QCD, quarks acquire their bare mass through the Higgs mechanism. The long-hypothesized process was confirmed by experiments at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland and led to the Nobel Prize for Peter Higgs in 2013.

Yet the inescapable issue remains that "this mechanism contributes to the measured proton and neutron masses at the level of less than 2%," said Victor Mokeev, a staff scientist and phenomenologist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility.

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JAILHOUSE ROCK (1957) - Elvis Presley - Classic Movie Musical Numbers

Tuesday, November 25

Red and Black

Shannon Joy Show

Amber May Show

Iceland

Bongino Report

Russell Brand

Nature

Dinesh D'Souza

The Big MIG

TimcastIRL

Morning Laundry

Brookings Brief

AI, data centers, and water
A growing need for regional coordination amid economic development potential

Headlines

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Charges against Comey and James dismissed over prosecutor’s appointment. A federal judge tossed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, determining that the prosecutor who brought both cases was unlawfully appointed. The ruling is a setback for President Trump, who has publicly called for the prosecution of his critics and appointed Lindsey Halligan—a former insurance lawyer and personal attorney for Trump with no experience as a prosecutor—as interim US Attorney after another lawyer refused to file the case against Comey. However, both cases were dismissed without prejudice, which means they could be refiled.

After speaking to Xi, Trump says he’ll go to China. The two world leaders had what President Trump described as “a very good telephone call” yesterday, after which Trump said he had accepted Chinese President Xi Jinping’s invitation to visit China in April and reciprocated with an invitation for a state visit later. Xi is said to have initiated the call in an unusual diplomatic overture that comes after the US and China reached an understanding on tariffs last month. The two discussed Taiwan and Ukraine, both sensitive topics, as well as trade, including the purchase of US soybeans.

White House says Trump “remains hopeful and optimistic” on Ukraine peace deal. After Ukrainian negotiators returned home from Geneva having agreed to modify a US plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would discuss “sensitive issues” with President Trump. The president’s original proposal struck Ukraine and its European allies as fulfilling a Russian wish list, according to Reuters. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Trump was optimistic and said there are “just a couple points of disagreement.” But it was not clear whether Russia would accept an updated version.—AR