On an overcrowded NJ Transit train today, a gentlemen stood up and graciously offered his seat to someone standing in the aisle. This was when we pulled into his stop, after he had been sitting there, and his neighbor standing, for about an hour. “Here you go man, take a load off.”

NJ isn’t mentioned directly, but based on my own kids’ schooling and the students that are arriving at NJIT, I think we fall squarely in the category of “blue states that are failing to educate our kids effectively.” I hope Mikie Sherrill reads this. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/o...

It’s a concept of a plan. Or will be once they collect some more data. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Your government at work:

“High streets declining, stores going out of business — we blame the government” say people who mostly shop online and in many cases voted for Brexit. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

A simple proposal: no AI datacenter gets approval unless the plan also includes enough new renewable energy generation, within the grid it is drawing from, to power it, plus 50%. Make it a net pollution benefit to the planet.

Please watch this. The Senate killed a bill to ban state regulation of AI by a vote of 99-1 this spring. Now the industry - eager to stay unregulated - and Trump are scheming to shove the provision in the national defense bill. You need to know this, so you can help stop it.

Well well, who’s that?

Whatever you think of Mamdani’s policy ideas his victory was the will of the people, and the fact that a few billionaires spent (wasted) in excess of $10 million trying to subvert that will and buy the election tells you everything about US politics.

The comedians who played in Saudia Arabia and feel the need to justify it (e.g., Louis CK) are mainly saying that it is evidence of the Kingdom ‘opening up’ and that they are helping that along. Alternatively, the Kingdom is not opening up but is trying to buy acceptance anyway. Hmm, which is it?

Thomas Deininger uses plastic waste to create sculptures,or should I say,works of Genius!!!!!!

No. No no no. No. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

As a break from politics and technology: Duke Farms looking lovely this morning.

See, it can be done in America. www.bbc.com/travel/artic...

Waterstones opens 10 new stores a year as younger adults embrace reading

"Putin really surprised a lot of people," Trump explained. "He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening.” Correction: Putin surprised one person.

Grok debacle not really about Elon Musk or antisemitism. When a tiny change to a few high level prompts completely changes the output, we see the deep problem with current AI: despite billions of parameters trained on trillions of documents, it remains both subjective and unstable. Boycott AI!

We spend so much energy being anti–the other party (Dems + Repubs alike) treating the opposition as the biggest threat to society. But the truth is, the most transformative force shaping our future isn’t partisan at all it’s AI. We’re not paying nearly enough attention to it from a govt standpoint

Rutgers' Women's VIII easily winning the Henley Royal Regatta earlier today. An exceptional row and a new course record!! The commentator noted that this year marks the 50th year of the rowing program at Rutgers.

Brilliant ‘no Kings’ protest in Pennington NJ, in the torrential rain. It was a party! I counted a bit over 700 people at one time, so probably close to 1000 with people cycling in and out. At least 9 out of 10 vehicles driving by on Rt 31 in support.

Something my son noticed: In Hopewell Valley at least, most of the ’party-endorsed’ candidate signs are at intersections, which means that they are placed there by campaign operatives. Whereas most Fulop signs are in people’s front yards. Interpret that as you may. @stevenfulop.bsky.social

As someone who works in higher ed, this seems like the worst idea in the history of humankind. Personal devices have already taken away spatial awareness, memory, planning and in-person interaction. Now for some reason there is a race to take away thinking itself. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/t...

Read this and then understand that the Trump administration has gutted, from top to bottom, the kind of research that led to it. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/h...

I'm attending Fulop for Governor's event, “Hopewell Meet & Greet for Steven Fulop for Governor” - sign up now to join me! www.mobilize.us/fulopforgove...

@stevenfulop.bsky.social , how about instead of a warehouse moratorium, insist that they must have a) solar covering the roof, and b) natural landscaping instead of acres of chemically maintained lawn. A warehouse-heavy area could become effectively a conservation area.

The administration is trying to gut the Endangered Species Act by redefining actions that can cause harm to not include habitat destruction, the number one actual threat. Add a comment here: www.regulations.gov/search?filte...

I like @stevenfulop.bsky.social for Governor. But his plan proposes a 2% cap on higher ed tuition increases. Tuition increases are high because state support (relative to costs) has declined for decades. I don’t see any plan to reverse that decline. Is there one?

Catching up on Jon Stewart’s grilling of @chrismurphyct.bsky.social last week. Murphy one of the better Democrats but he still had to be forced to list actual items in a Democrat ‘future vision’ response to Project 2025. Is anyone actually putting that together? Seriously. I want to know.

If you are wondering if Trump is taking a side over Ukraine, he just told Zelensky “You shouldn’t have started it”. There’s your answer.

DNC candidates other the @faiz.bsky.social promising more intensity of same politicking. Faiz Shakir outlining new approach around community help, based on successful Sanders campaigns. It works.

DNC needs to shake itself up. #faizshakir the only one willing to do that.

3/3 Playbook for Democrats, 2025-2029 4. Use these conversations to develop a new platform. 5. When the time comes, run on this platform and the actual results that led to it. 6. No celebrities. Seriously.

2/3 Playbook for Democrats, 2025-2029 3. Use local members to ask questions about people’s actual concerns, and form non-partisan local organizations to address them. Get people from across the political spectrum in rooms together to address common, local problems. Support these efforts quietly.

1/3 Playbook for Democrats, 2025-2029 1. Don’t start campaigning right away. People want a break, and you need to construct a completely new identity. 2. For at least a couple of years, replace most ‘political’ activities with ‘helpful’ activities.

Most candidates for DNC Chair calling for adjusted political strategies (more outreach, better targeting, better messaging, etc.), somehow completely missing national mood of being fed up with politics. What is wrong with these people? @faiz.bsky.social best choice?

@faiz.bsky.social best of the crop for DNC Chair, in that he thinks the DNC should do actual things that help actual people. Mainstream stance seems to be’24/7/365 campaigning’ etc., as if the issue is that Democrats simply didn’t get their message across. They did. People didn’t want it.

So I decided to create a second ‘professional’ account: @structuralecology.bsky.social. If you are a scientist and followed me back on this account, you will likely see a new follow from that account. If you only want to do ‘science’, feel free to unfollow here! This will be random fun and politics.

My thanks to the writers of The Franchise for the entire scene that culminates in the request “So, will you do me a solid?”

3/3 (Plus, if the last election has taught us anything, it is that running against Republican bad behavior is a waste of time anyway.)

2/3 They can then go on to point out that is it Republicans who are all in on the President having monarch-like powers in the first place.

1/3 Not convinced by the argument that Joe Biden’s pardon of Hunter negates Democrats’ claim to be the party against corruption. Pardon power is wielded by a single person, and the party can simply say they disagree with what he did.