The New Coffee Room

Hey @andrea-b , is there any shame in ?

Senator Hawley (R - MO) has a bill to pause the federal gas tax for up to six months.

Hey @andrea-b , is there any shame in ?

https://www.ssbm.ch/when-expertise-becomes-a-requirement-lessons-from-chinas-new-influencer-regulation/

This happened in 2025, but still I think it's worth discussing.

In late October 2025, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) rolled out a striking new regulation: influencers on major Chinese social-media platforms who wish to comment publicly on “serious” topics — such as finance, law, education or health/medicine — will now be required to hold relevant credentials (degrees, licences or certifications) and to submit those credentials for verification by the platform.
...
According to regulators, the goal is to curb the spread of misinformation, amateur “expertise”, unverified claims, and to protect audiences that may be highly vulnerable to poor advice.

I haven't think through how a version of this may be made to work in the USA's tradition with its Constitution's First Amendment, but on the whole I sympathize that popular non-experts spouting misleading "advice" on social media can be a public nuisance and may be seriously deleterious to public health and public trust.

Thoughts?

Shortage of Merchant Marines means big money for new grads

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/09/nx-s1-5789051/merchant-marine-sealift-jobs

I first become aware of the merchant mariners at a high school military academy recruitment event. After the major branches of the military and Coast Guard, the Merchant Marine academy got a bit of air time.

I figure it will take AI a long time to replace or displace merchant mariners. Not because it's impossible to build or retrofit fully automated ships, but because doing so will take too much money and too much time so at least another generation of merchant mariners' jobs won't embe threatened by AI.

@Andrea-B said:

Fair points, but the whole "Muh Democraceeee!" fails in any apportionment which doesn't reflect the proportion of Dem vs GOP voters. When the GOP has 40% of the electorate in Massachusetts and 0% of the representation, ...

Independents make up 45% of US voters (Gallup, 2026 January). Yet you don't see anywhere near that proportion of independent legislators in Congress.

Go ahead and make the argument for gerrymandering to get more independents into Congress.

Still, https://investor.atmeta.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2026/Meta-Reports-First-Quarter-2026-Results/default.aspx

1Q 2026 Facebook reported: "Revenue was $56.31 billion, an increase of 33% year-over-year."

That's a heck of a "death spiral."

@jon-nyc said:

All the complaints I have about FB are as bad or worse with TikTok, instagram, etc.

TNCR beats them all, amirite?!

@jon-nyc said:

... maybe Facebook thinks I shake my phone a little too much.

You also yell "get off my lawn" while shaking the phone?

Piano virtuoso with a great sense of humor:

Just finished "watching" this AI-generated video:

If nothing else, it shows how advanced China's video generation AI is. Quite likely this is not their most advanced offering because the producer of this video appears to be a small business unlikely to have the deep pocket necessary to use the latest and greatest generative AI technology.

If the concern is impact on local banks and smaller businesses, you'd figure they should be talking to those local banks and smaller businesses.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/05/05/bison-montana-trump-proposal/89943627007/

Trump administration moves to push bison off Montana land
...
The Bureau of Land Management wants to stop hundreds of animals from feeding on federal land in Phillips County, the second-largest county in the state.
...
If it goes through, the plan could give Republicans a boost in Western states during the midterm elections, as some farmers and ranchers have publicly opposed tariffs and higher prices for fertilizers and diesel, ...

He can gift it to the Trump Presidential Library, like what the Qataris did with that Boeing 747.

@jon-nyc said:

@Andrea-B said:

Planter should write a book called "My Struggle."

That should cinch it for him.

“Maine Kampf.”

You might as well translate it to "Jihadi" (جهادي).

I suppose, like most of us, it's only natural for Bezos to want to downsize as he ages.

It looks to me the majority of Trump's supporter is more into performative pwning of the libs than fixing the immigration system.

First, you need a functioning Legislative Branch ...

It's good to be the top 10%!

Don't lose hope yet. Trump may still come through with some genius assist for Amy.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/business/energy-environment/gas-prices-map-iran-war-oil.html

May 6, 2026