Deplane, Deplane

You’ve probably heard that the AI race is expensive. Like, really expensive. To give you some idea of how expensive, consider this. “Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has said it plans to raise up to $80bn in equity to fund its vast artificial intelligence infrastructure investments.” To put that number in perspective, if the funding is successful, “it would raise more than the world’s three largest initial public offerings put together.”

+ Google’s plan to release up to 32 million mosquitoes in California is not nearly as expensive. Wait, what? “The Debug Project is all about adding so-called ‘good bugs’ to the ‘bad bug’ population.”

+ Meanwhile, “President Donald Trump signed a landmark executive order Tuesday that asks AI companies to give the government early access to their most powerful models for review.” The key word is asks. “The testing would rely on voluntary collaboration from America’s leading AI companies, like Anthropic, OpenAI and Google. The order explicitly bars the government from creating a mandatory licensing or pre-clearance requirement for new AI models, making the government a request, not a rule.” (In other words, it’s not a landmark executive order; it’s the watered-down request pushed by AI companies.)

For a glimpse into the future of our warming world, take a virtual visit to the dusty district of Banda in India, where “temperatures hovered at 116-118F for more than a week.” ‘Mornings and nights no longer exist’: A day in the hottest place in India. One worker who walks 6km to work and 6km home with a packed lunch designed not to spoil by noon, “offered a sentence that could serve as the motto of Banda’s heatwave. ‘Poor people don’t have the luxury of worrying about the heat.'”

“Every generation, we see young people shoot and experiment with short films, but the big advantage today’s generation has is technology right at their fingertips with platforms like YouTube where they can upload their work and get instant feedback from viewers. This allows them to react instantly to what works and what doesn’t work and therefore hone their skills.” And boy, are they honing. A couple of indie horror films created by YouTube vets just beat Star Wars (and everyone else) at the box office. Variety: Why YouTubers Are Turning Hollywood Upside Down.

The House(builder) Always Wins: He has zero experience when it comes to intel or defense, but he has a lot of experience when it comes to housing and targeting Trump’s enemies with falsities. So, sure, why not? “As acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte will be the highest-ranking intelligence official, overseeing a vast network of 18 agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. He will also be the president’s principal adviser on intelligence issues and will manage the daily intelligence briefing for the president.”

+ Stirring Crazy: “You’re f-cking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.” Trump seems mad at Bibi. Meanwhile, some Israelis are angry with Bibi for ceding too much ground to Trump. And Marco Rubio goes to Congress. Here’s the latest from the NYT.

+ Immunity Impunity: The Trump administration appears to be backing off on efforts to create a slush fund for accomplices. But the other part of the deal might still be alive. Trump to get audit immunity as $1.8 billion fund in doubt.

+ Patriot Games: Russia is not winning its war. But Putin is still trying to inflict as much civilian death as possible. Ukraine rescuers pull dead from rubble after Russian strikes kill 22 people. One of the reasons Russia can do this is because of a ‘window of vulnerability‘ created by the Patriot missile shortage.

+ California Teeming: A really silly primary system and the current state of politics have combined to leave California voters with a lot of reading to do on election day. “The state’s ballot is nineteen inches long, and lists sixty-one gubernatorial candidates.” Nathan Heller in The New Yorker: The Strange Emptiness of the Crowded Governor’s Race in California.

+ Our American Moment: Here are a couple of headlines that sum up our times. Pentagon Bars Reporters From Its Press Office. And, Minnesota Republicans Hold Moment of Silence for Ex-Officer Convicted of Murder.

+ No Whey: Bloomberg (Gift Article): Whey Protein Is Running Out as Food Companies Put It in Everything.

The place that calls itself ‘Baseball Heaven’ is now filled with a bunch of shirtless dudes. And women, in bare chest novelty tees. And kiddos, who needed permission from their moms to strip from the waist up. And those proudly showing off their hairy chests, and pimply backs, scars from surgeries and stretch marks from a life well lived. They all congregate here in the right-field bleachers of Busch Stadium. Every night, it starts with just a handful of the bravest, and youngest fans, but inning by inning, it spreads like a virus, infecting a crowd of all ages and body types.” MLB Tarps Off craze has awakened ‘Baseball Heaven’ with the bare truth. (The Giants’ season has already stripped me of my hope, pride, and dignity. I’m holding onto my shirt.)