Kurt Johnson

Why amazon tho?

The US's weakness is misreading aggression as strength.

Spain’s forever memory wars Controversies over the legacies of dictatorship and civil war have polarized the Spanish debate for over two decades. Now, on the fiftieth anniversary of Franco’s death, the legitimacy of the transiti...

Meanwhile in Spain - this excellent piece explains how memory wars are getting louder and more fragmented.
www.eurozine.com/spains-forev...

Better headline would be "Not the change we need"

Sorry. No he ain't. He is impossibly compromised by business interests. He is mealy-mouthed and uninspiring. A saboteur of environmental laws. His prime virtue is that he's less shit than the other guy.

2025 Program

MWF 2025:
FWICS no mention of Israel, Ukraine, Climate change or Trump.
The closest is "Living Fully in an Age of Crisis"

Where "Wilson is a brave, nuanced and ultimately hopeful guide for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the state of the world."

I'm living in the Truman show.

Melbourne Writers Festival is steering well clear of anything that could be considered remotely controversial this year: mwf.com.au/program
Especially compared to SWF: www.swf.org.au/program

Playing it too safe.

Elon Musk questioned by Tesla shareholders as stock declines for sixth consecutive session: “share five things you did for Tesla shareholders this week…” | World News - The Times of India US News: Tesla investors are unhappy with the stock's continuous decline and blame CEO Elon Musk for his divided focus on other ventures like SpaceX and Neural

Sometimes the free market is a lot of fun. timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/sha...

a woman is standing in front of a fireplace surrounded by red laser beams ALT: a woman is standing in front of a fireplace surrounded by red laser beams

The lasers are "climate change".

Western Australia premier apologises after calling US vice-president JD Vance a ‘knob’ Cook says ‘you’ve got to have one unprofessional moment’ as description wins applause at pre-election event

He's not not a knob
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

This deserves more attention!

AI-designed chips are so weird that 'humans cannot really understand them' — but they perform better than anything we've created AI models have, within hours, created more efficient wireless chips through deep learning, but it is unclear how their 'randomly shaped' designs were produced.

This is a big deal not because it means that AI is samrter but because of US expertise in chip design could be waning.

www.livescience.com/technology/c...

Barcelona airport has a salami vending machine

For whom?

Profile: Judge Baltasar Garzon A profile of Baltasar Garzon, the Spanish judge whose inquiries have targeted al-Qaeda, Pinochet and Argentine generals.

Baltasar Garzon: what a CV:
- Instigated the arrest of Pinochet
- Arrested Argentine Navy officer from crimes against humanity
- Ordered the arrest of Bin Laden
- Cracked down in socialist death squads
- Launched an inquiry into crimes against humanity in Francoist Spain
www.bbc.com/news/world-e...

It's all fixed now - cheers for that Michael. Keen to hear about what you're working on too.

Tech's total capitulation to Trump should have been obvious for the past 15 years. Any alignment to principles of liberty were about convenience. The media were so quick to fawn over social media during the Arab Spring without paying enough attention to how protesters were sold out.

Inside the company that sparked the US-China battle for tech supremacy From humble beginnings in a greenhouse on top of a block of flats, Chinese company Huawei grew to become one of the world’s most powerful technological empires.

The "Sputnik moment" came up last week with DeepSeek. Truth is that China has been starved of US innovation for since Trump's first term. My review for Eva Dou's House of Huawei is about a Sputnik "moment" which took place over the last 8 years - with the growth and plateauing of the tech giant.

He's such a dud root of a leader. Promised big and has had years to get it up but couldn't.

Here is a recording of responses provided by DeepSeek that are then revoked/censored.

I've had the same thing happen when asking "what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989?" and "Who are the Uyghurs?"

Just another example of why we can't go all in on AI LLMs.

Jewish Italian Primo Levi wrote about his experiences of being sent to Auschwitz in the famous If this is a Man. It contains the immortal response from a guard "There is no why here"
Just finished The Truce "the sequel" a surreal and strangely funny journey home through the immediate post-War chaos.

Reviewed Bruce Wolpe's book back in 2023: www.smh.com.au/culture/book...

Back then it seemed mad that Trump might win again.

Prepare for the worst...

Good catch. The back of the photo said Jack Walker but will correct it once everyone is back on deck.

That's a 100 articles I have published.

Check out the latest:
- How Spain still grapples with the history of its Civil War: www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/19919/...
- The geopolitics of Wine in Georgia: www.cntraveler.com/story/in-geo...