George Washington has long been something of an American visual cliche. When the Russian diplomat and artist Pavel Svinin visited the United States in the early 19th century, he found it 'noteworthy that every American considers it his sacred duty to have a likeness of Washington in his house, just as we have images of God's Saints.' Today, the country is no less prone to canonizing versions of patriotism, though they go well beyond art. As the nation's 250th anniversary nears, the Trump administration has come up with observances that show a limited image of American history, as in its visually conventional The Story of America video series, full of yellowed parchment and tricorn hats. Other commemorations are essentially celebrations of the current president: The U.S. Mint is set to issue a commemorative gold Donald Trump coin, and one of the administration's first observances of the anniversary year was a military parade that coincided with the president's birthday. Such decisions, like the 'sacred duty to have a likeness of Washington' on the wall, obscure the line between the nation and its leader'which, in turn, seems connected to Trump's tendency to suggest that criticizing him is unpatriotic....

Last week, Gloria Caulfield, an executive at real estate firm Tavistock Development Company, gave a speech at the University of Central Florida acknowledging that we're living in a time of 'profound change,' which can be both 'exciting' and 'daunting.' 'The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution,' Caulfield declared ' prompting the students in the audience to begin booing, getting louder and louder until Caulfield chuckled, turned to the other speakers, and asked, 'What happened'' 'Okay, I struck a chord,' she said. Caulfield then tried to resume her speech, saying, 'Only a few years ago, AI was not a factor in our lives' ' only to be interrupted again by the audience, this time by their loud cheers and applause. In Schmidt's case, the criticism actually began before the speech itself, with some student groups calling for him to be removed as commencement speaker due to a lawsuit in which a former girlfriend and business partner accused Schmidt of sexual assault. (He has denied the allegations.) According to a local news report, the booing began even before Schmidt took the stage....

Tender shrub, green leaves of its foliage, the curl of a baby's fingernail, knocked over by storm, its brush crumbling to touch' how did I miss it'it's all that I can do'for those I could not save'but twist the stubborn bush from its tangled roots & turn it upright as if giving birth to a baby in breach. I don't mind mud underneath my nails, worms my fingers touch (they enrich the soil), mosquitos swarming crazily (it's one hundred degrees!), circling my head like a halo of distrust. It's nature's promise I curse. All those weeks when I prayed for a triumphant birth....

The Siri relaunch is widely seen as Apple's big chance to reestablish its relevance in artificial intelligence. As part of that effort, company executives will argue that they're taking a more privacy-friendly approach than most other AI companies, Gurman said. Apple will reportedly launch the first standalone Siri app, powered by Google Gemini and offering users a chatbot experience reminiscent of ChatGPT. But compared to those other chatbots, the app is supposed to have more limitations on how long user information can be used and stored. Gurman also suggested that Apple might be emphasizing privacy as a way to excuse Siri's shortcomings compared to competing products ' and that this emphasis might obscure the fact that Google is handling some the security....