I am surprised by how normal France feels.  People want to say “The French this, the French that…” but to me they are fairly Americanized, often speak good English, and have few truly unique cultural habits these days.

They also seem reasonably well adjusted, normal mostly in the good sense, and thus of course somewhat boring too.

Walking and driving through the less salubrious parts of town is a useful corrective, but I do not feel the place is falling apart.

Bordeaux observations – Marginal REVOLUTION

L’expérience, ce petit détail qui change tout.

Pourquoi le fossé se creuse entre les conducteurs de voitures électriques et les autres ?

The first act of the final show…

“You would have been wrong. Everything points to an effort to effectively destroy U.S. science — not gradually as part of a long-term plan, but over the next year or two.”

Nobody Expected the MAGA Inquisition – Paul Krugman

Critical and Emerging Technologies Index | The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

I wonder how many people would put India that far ahead of Israel and Singapore.