Bits and Pieces 

A Surprise Gift from Nicaragua to America 

Nicaragua released 222 political prisoners to the US yesterday, as part of a negotiated deal between the administrations of Daniel Ortega and Joe Biden.

According to the NYT, the move was “an effort to restart relations with the United States.” I don’t know about that. But I do know, personally, at least one person that was released: the father of a woman that works for us there. And he was very rare in terms of border crossers. He was a true political prisoner. (He was imprisoned for speaking out publicly against the Ortega regime.)

As for the other 221 Nicaraguan immigrants we welcomed in yesterday, I can’t vouch for them. I’d like to think they were vetted. It would be unfortunate if this turns out to be another Mariel boatlift situation.

Here’s what I’m wondering: Do they become citizens automatically? And if so, I presume they would be automatically entitled to the rights and privileges of all American citizens. Including public assistance. And if that is true, is there a limit?

You can read the NYT piece here.

Your Age Is Written on Your Face 

We all know that there is often a difference between one’s chronological age (the age on your license) and one’s biological age (the relative age of your body). And naturally, we would all like to be biologically younger than our chronological age.

There are various ways to measure your biological age, some more accurate than others. There are physical response tests, mental agility tests, and bio-markers that can be found through blood tests.

And now there is a new way. Thanks to Jing-Dong (Jackie) Han and her colleagues at Peking University, biological age can be measured by taking a 3D image of a person’s face.

Check it out here.