The New Coffee Room

Another feature length AI production that came out of China, this time in the visual style of Harry Potter:

Can still recognize that it’s AI generated, but in more subtle ways. In scenes with heightened emotions, the AI frequently errs on generating facial expressions that are overly dramatic (if human actors do it, we’d call it “over the top”). But gone are the scene-to-scene or camera angle-to-camera angle inconsistencies that used to be fairly frequently noticeable in previous (like, two months ago) AI productions.

1. The opening post isn’t complaining about the lack of a non-binary size series, but the existence of men’s and women’s size series.

2. There is not yet evidence to support your assertion that there is not a non-binary size series on offer (the screenshot provided in the opening post may not be exhaustive).

3. Even if “the people trying to celebrate this little nugget of gender ideology are conceding that biology doesn’t agree” is literally true, is that really a problem? Much like computer scientists can celebrate the Turing Machine and still acknowledge that one can never exist in reality, why can’t those who celebrate a gender ideology that include non-binary also acknowledge that biology statistically split the human species into two sexes? (“Statistically” because we already know that there are indeed naturally occurring samples that fall outside the two sexes, e.g., those naturally born with XXY chromosomes instead of XX or XY chromosomes, those born with missing or insufficiently developed sexual organs that make traditional sexual classification challenging.)

There’s nothing wrong with having men’s and women’s cuts & sizes for a piece of garment featuring the non-binary pride flag. A person self-identifies with a specific gender can accept and support those who self-identify as non-binary just fine.

It will similarly be OK for a piece of clothing featuring body-positivity messages to come in different sizes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/14/world/asia/japan-royal-family-adoption-male.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qFA.k1d3.lArBYTZRaUL2

The Japanese royalty has a crisis: not enough male heirs.

The current Japanese emperor is 66. The only heirs to the throne recognized under current succession rules are his 90 year old uncle, his 60 year old brother, and his 19 year old son. He also has a 24 year old daughter, but females are not eligible for the throne under current rules.

Japan’s legislature, hoping to avoid a succession crisis, moved forward with a proposal this past week to allow the imperial family to adopt scores of distant male relatives.

There are noises being made about allowing females to ascent to the throne, but even the current Prime Minister, who is herself a female, is not supportive of altering the male-only succession rules.

Received a new Constitution booklet from Turning Point USA.
It contains the U.S. Constitution (including the 27 Amendments).
The front cover shows the image of the head of a bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, the Freedom Tower, and Mount Rushmore.
The front inside cover shows an image of Charlie Kirk.
The back cover shows an image of Ronald Reagan.
No image of Trump.

Bad AI slop -- Obama is left handed.

https://abovethelaw.com/2026/06/court-sanctions-lawyers-from-both-sides-in-the-same-lawsuit-for-filing-briefs-with-ai-hallucinated-cases/

Court Sanctions Lawyers From Both Sides In The Same Lawsuit For Filing Briefs With AI-Hallucinated Cases

You know it's good just from the headline. Imagine you being the clients realizing your megabuck legal fees ultimately went to feed an AI model to argue against itself.

This is not Bernie's brand. This is also not Liz Warren's brand.
Seems to me this bears the mark of an ill-informed and/or vengeful chicken-hawk.

https://gizmodo.com/heres-how-much-more-money-elon-musk-has-than-larry-page-jeff-bezos-and-you-2000771172

Musings on how much richer Musk is than others. E.g., one Elon Musk is now worth 10 Warren Buffetts.

Found an old receipt (pictured above). For the life of me I cannot remember what I bought.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/world/europe/us-nato-cuts-drawdown-jets.html?unlocked_article_code=1.plA.LFbw.70yRFMhlJLYP

The United States plans to significantly reduce the aircraft and warships that it makes available for NATO operations in Europe, according to two senior European officials, accelerating America’s effort to scale down the protection it has offered to European allies for eight decades.

The decision would limit NATO’s ability to launch long-range strikes and conduct surveillance. It was communicated to allies in early June in a written document, parts of which were reviewed by The New York Times. The European officials, who were briefed on the decision, spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak more freely about sensitive military plans.

Iran: "no final decision"
"In a holding pattern."

Melania talks AI:

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-iran-strikes-peace-talks-38996e77

... Trump said he has canceled planned strikes on Iran after Tehran’s leadership and other parties negotiating a deal to end the conflict approved “discussions and final points.”

Well, maybe Putin will be happy.

asking who elected them as the arbiters of AI safety

They’re not “arbiters of public safety,” they’re owner of a tool deciding who, and for what purposes, they allow to use said tool.

O ye of little faith, it’s just another 5-D chess move that nobody understands yet.

So, @mik, you still like Kasich?

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-warns-of-ramping-up-attacks-on-iran-after-exchange-of-strikes-ae2f7a67

... Trump said the U.S. would resume attacks on Iran later Wednesday after a drone fired by Tehran hit a U.S. Apache helicopter, prompting several waves of American strikes in retaliation for the downing of the aircraft.

@Tom-K said:

In Florida we have something called Scout. It's like Uber only run by the county. Here's the pricing: ...

See, there is a government-run program you can love.