Here are some things I found interesting:

The invention of new techniques to fracture rock (fracking) to extract oil led to a boom where tens of thousands of workers moved from all around the country to pursue new jobs in this industry. This sudden influx of mostly men tripled the size of the town in just a few years. When oil prices dropped, some of this industry left and so did many people. This has led to some unique community dynamics.

First, the ratio of men to women in the city is now 10:1. That's actually lower than 30:1 at its peak.

Men come into town to work on the rigs for two weeks on and then often go home to another state for two weeks off before they work again. In Williston, they live in "man camps", which are basically cabins with 6 people in bunk beds. They come here because these are good jobs where people with a high school diploma can make $100,000 a year.

The women I met said they feel safe, but they had unique stories. Some told me about finding out their boyfriends had families back home. (They thanked me that Facebook has made it harder for these men to live double lives.) Another woman told me she has never paid for a drink her whole life.

This gender imbalance has led to crime though. It is well-documented across the world that societies with many more men than women have more crime.

Second, the fact that the population fluctuates with oil price makes it hard to invest in long term social infrastructure.

The school superintendent told me about how the school system went from shrinking and closing schools to surging from 500 to 1,500 students in less than a decade. The local pastor told me about his challenge building community by encouraging people to set down actual roots in the area. A local realtor told me that no one had the capacity to build the amount of housing required in the boom, so two-bedroom apartments that used to rent for $400 / month were suddenly renting for $2,500 / month. And now after the boom, some infrastructure is overbuilt while some is still underdeveloped.

Third, the energy industry is at the center of politics here. When the Dakota Access Pipeline was approved, that removed $6-7 per barrel of cost from producing oil in the region, which brought more investment and jobs here. A number of people told me they had felt their livelihood was blocked by the government, but when Trump approved the pipeline they felt a sense of hope again. That word "hope" came up many times around this. One person told me the night the pipeline was approved, people lit fireworks and rode trucks with American flags down Main Street to celebrate.

It's interesting to see this perspective when science overwhelmingly suggests fossil fuels contribute to climate change, which is one of the great challenges our generation will have to deal with.

Many people I talked to here acknowledged this, but also feel a sense of pride that their work contributes to serving real needs we all have every day -- keeping our homes warm, getting to work, feeding us, and more. They believe competition from new sources of energy is good, but from their perspective, until renewables can provide most of our energy at scale, they are providing an important service we all rely on, and they wish they'd stop being demonized for it.

I believe we're closer to powering our society by renewables if we work at it, and doing so is extremely important for our future. For our part, Facebook has committed that every new data center we build will be powered by 100% renewable energy.

There's a lot more to say here, but overall I'm grateful for the opportunity to see a community with such unique social dynamics. It puts the stability most of our communities enjoy in perspective.

Alaska has a form of basic income called the Permanent Fund Dividend. Every year, a portion of the oil revenue the state makes is put into a fund. Rather than having the government spend that money, it is returned to Alaskan residents through a yearly dividend that is normally $1000 or more per person. That can be especially meaningful if your family has five or six people.

This is a novel approach to basic income in a few ways. First, it's funded by natural resources rather than raising taxes. Second, it comes from conservative principles of smaller government, rather than progressive principles of a larger safety net. This shows basic income is a bipartisan idea.

Seeing how Alaska put this dividend in place reminded me of a lesson I learned early at Facebook: organizations think profoundly differently when they're profitable than when they're in debt. When you're losing money, your mentality is largely about survival. But when you're profitable, you're confident about your future and you look for opportunities to invest and grow further. Alaska's economy has historically created this winning mentality, which has led to this basic income. That may be a lesson for the rest of the country as well.

Another example of basic income in Alaska are the Native Corporations. We had dinner with some Alaska Natives in Anchorage and they explained to us how their system is different from Native American reservations in the lower 48 states. In Alaska, native land is owned and developed by private corporations, which are run and owned by Alaska Natives. These corporations also pay out annual dividends to their shareholders, who are largely natives, based on the resources they develop. So if you're an Alaska Native, you would get two dividends: one from your Native Corporation and one from the state Permanent Fund.

Alaska has other novel social programs, like the way they support subsistence fishing. Every year, the state dumps baby salmon into rivers and bays. The salmon swim to the ocean, grow up, and then return, which ensures that locals have plenty of salmon to catch and support their families. We went with a group of locals to watch them catch salmon with a dip net, and they each caught six salmon within an hour. That'll be enough to feed their families for a couple of weeks.

When you think about the way they support subsistence fishing as a safety net program, it has some interesting properties. First, a common issue with safety net programs is stigma for participating, but here everyone we met was proud of this -- both for its cultural heritage and for the individual accomplishment of catching and preparing their salmon. Second, most effective safety net programs create an incentive or need to work rather than just giving a handout. Supporting subsistence fishing does this implicitly because you have to work to get the fish and clean them afterwards, but it also ensures you'll have the food you need if you put in the effort.

These are just a few examples that stood out to us about how Alaska's social programs could inspire improvements across the country. There's a lot more to this place that maybe I'll post about later. I definitely recommend coming here in the summer if you get a chance. It's absolutely beautiful and having the sun stay up until 11pm is a great experience.

A few things stuck with me after spending time with some truckers:

Trucking is a unique lifestyle -- that often involves your family.

One trucker I met put eight kids through college with the money he's made on the road. He also had some strong views on the second amendment.

I met another trucker who drives from Chicago to Reno with his wife and three dogs every week. They take 12 hour shifts driving and sleeping in the bed in the cabin.

Another man I met spent 17 years in the military before becoming a trucker. His wife rides with him sometimes. She's not a trucker, but she just wants to spend time together.

I asked the truckers what's changed over the last few decades. When the truckers I met started driving, you logged your driving hours on pieces of paper. Now it's electronic and automatic, which makes it harder to drive more hours than you're supposed to. Some people said they want to work longer, but they feel like regulations are getting in the way of their freedom and doing what they want to do. It's tough because those regulations try to keep people on the road safe.

I asked a number of truckers what they think about self-driving cars and trucks and what they think about the future. Everyone I met was skeptical self-driving trucks would replace jobs for different reasons. Some thought it would be impossible to pack all the sensors you need to deal with things like weather into trucks. Others thought computers could handle the interstate but not the last mile to the store. And some truckers think we'll end up with something like autopilot on planes -- with trucks driving themselves with people in the cab. From all the research I've seen, I'm confident we'll solve these problems. But it's interesting that people in the industry don't believe this will happen soon.

Finally, I asked truckers what their biggest challenge was. Their answer: cars. So next time you're annoyed by a truck on the road, just know that they probably feel the same way about you.

Growing up, I used to strap goalie pads on my sister so I could shoot pucks in our backyard. No wonder she encouraged me to code computer games instead. Thanks to the players for showing me how it's really done.

"Home is where you are free to do what you want. Yes, this feels like home."

There are few places in the world he felt comfortable to be who he is: the country he was born, and our country that values freedom.

What a beautiful tribute to America.

Thanks to my hosts for being so gracious at the very end of Ramadan. I left impressed by your strength and resilience to build a new life in an unfamiliar place, and you are a powerful reminder of why this country is so great.

Urban Prep is a good school in a tough neighborhood. Every student who graduates has been accepted to a four-year college or university. The students graduate with a strong sense of discipline and respect.

But in just the first six months of this year, more than 1,500 people have been shot in Chicago. Two Urban Prep students were shot and killed this school year alone -- one while trying to break up a fight. The students told me they don't go a single day without hearing a gunshot in their neighborhood.

Every student I talked to knew someone in a gang. When I asked why this was, they told me they don't have normal community pillars -- places to go like a YMCA and role models like community leaders. Without these, gangs provide some of these social structures. One student told me: "if you can't find love in the house, you can find it on the streets."

I asked the students how easy it is to get access to guns and how much you'd have to pay. They said all you have to do is go up the hill to the railroad tracks where people steal them off passing trains. Drugs are easily accessible as well, and someone told me cartels are selling as much as $1 billion of heroin in Chicago alone.

Some students expressed they felt the police were more of a threat to them than a help, even if they stay out of trouble. One student told me he'll tape his driver's license to his steering wheel so he never has to reach into his pocket if he's pulled over. He's scared of getting shot.

At a basic level, a lot of what we talked about came back to community and themes I've seen around the country -- how important it is, and what happens when it breaks down.

A few students told me that when everyone you know is struggling, it's harder to care about each other. You start to wonder why someone else has something that your child needs, and it's tempting to just take it.

Communities like Urban Prep give people a sense that they're part of something bigger than themselves, that they are not alone, that they have something better ahead to work for. The students I met told me their friends in gangs would love to trade places with them -- because they have an opportunity to get out.

To bring the world closer together, we have to build communities that keep people safe. Some neighborhoods in Chicago have a long way to go, but the students I met today give me hope. We're going to do everything we can to help more people build communities like their school.

An important part of their training is war games, which are complex turn-based strategy simulations they described to me as "like Civilization", my favorite game. They invited me to participate next time I'm in town.

I'm always impressed by our military every time I interact with them. There is so much to learn from them as a high performing organization operating under difficult conditions. Thank you to these officers for their time and thoughts today, and thank you to everyone who serves in our armed forces and the families and communities that support them.