Just get the band back on tour, all good
Send over a few cases of granola bars and pop tarts
I wonder if they miss Valero yet?
Was what, like 400 jobs went away as well?
California average gas prices
Regular Mid-Grade Premium Diesel
Current Avg. $6.1139 $6.3409 $6.5335 $8.3945
Yesterday Avg. $6.0851 $6.3086 $6.5047 $8.3496
Week Ago Avg. $5.9272 $6.1490 $6.3454 $7.9827
Month Ago Avg. $5.5704 $5.8035 $5.9992 $6.9679
Year Ago Avg. $4.6568 $4.8966 $5.0717 $5.1672
So much effort expended to a larp on a Mongolian yak hair underwater basket weaving forum
Bustin' on anon
Too incompetent to work at the Community Center?
Too afraid of manual labor to do Community Garden?
Too fat to march in protest of some stupid shit?
AI Error Nearly Triggered U.S. Intercept of Chinese Ship, CNN Reports
Mike Schuler September 18, 2026
A false intelligence report produced with the help of artificial intelligence nearly led the U.S. military to intercept and board a Chinese ship in the Middle East during the war with Iran, according to an exclusive report from CNN.
The report claimed the vessel was carrying components connected to a nuclear weapons program, prompting the U.S. military to begin preparing an interception, CNN reported Friday, citing four people familiar with the episode.
Armed U.S. military personnel were preparing to board the ship, according to two of CNN’s sources, while military aircraft had already been sent into the air.
The operation was halted only after officials took a closer look at the underlying intelligence and discovered that an AI chatbot used by a Special Operations Command analyst had incorrectly identified the ship’s cargo. CNN said it could not determine what the vessel was actually carrying.
One source described the intelligence report as “entirely false” and said the episode “almost started a war.”
CNN said the analyst had queried an AI chatbot using intelligence related to the vessel’s manifest. The system reportedly combined open-source information with classified signals intelligence before reaching its conclusion about the cargo.
The analyst then used AI again to turn the findings into a standard intelligence report that was circulated within the military, according to CNN. The report’s familiar format apparently gave the flawed analysis the appearance of a conventional intelligence product. U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific and the Pentagon did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.
The incident comes as the Pentagon is moving rapidly to integrate artificial intelligence across military operations.
In January, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled an AI Acceleration Strategy intended to make the U.S. military an “AI-first” force. The strategy includes AI-enabled battle management and decision support stretching from campaign planning to “kill chain execution,” as well as an intelligence initiative designed to accelerate the process of converting intelligence into military capabilities.
The Pentagon has also maintained responsible AI principles requiring military AI systems to be traceable, reliable and governable, with personnel responsible for exercising appropriate judgment over their use. But CNN reported that AI adoption across the military and intelligence community remains decentralized, with different organizations using different systems and safety procedures and no single standard for verifying AI-generated information.
The near-intercept also highlights how quickly AI is becoming intertwined with maritime intelligence.
Just last week, gCaptain reported that Anthropic had disrupted an Iran-linked actor using its Claude AI models to collect information on U.S. naval forces and build targeting material.
Anthropic said the actor used Claude to help build a Python-based intelligence pipeline capable of identifying and tracking naval positions from publicly available information. The resulting material included ship and aircraft transponder identifiers, commercial satellite imagery queries, U.S. military personnel information and an inventory of websites exposing naval movements.
The same actor also directed Claude to research vulnerabilities in shipboard VSAT terminals, communications equipment and industrial control systems.
Taken together, the cases show both sides of the military AI race. Artificial intelligence can dramatically accelerate the collection and processing of maritime intelligence, whether used by the U.S. military or its adversaries.
But CNN’s reporting shows how an AI-generated error can move rapidly through an intelligence system and emerge as a polished, apparently authoritative report, raising serious questions about AI adoption and the safeguards needed for human verification.
https://gcaptain.com/ai-error-nearly-triggered-u-s-intercept-of-chinese-ship-cnn-reports/
Shipping’s New Normal: Slower Trade, Higher Costs, Bigger Profits
Lori Ann LaRocco September 18, 2026
By Lori-Ann LaRocco – It’s a good time to be an ocean carrier or tanker owner. The slower trade caused by bottlenecks stemming from the U.S. war with Iran, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the Panama Canal’s El Niño water-mitigation measures has fueled soaring tanker profits and the never-ending surcharges imposed by ocean carriers.
“Disruption is no longer the exception,” said Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List. “It is becoming the business model over the past week. Shipping’s strongest markets are increasingly being shaped not by economics alone, but by geopolitics, security, and strategic uncertainty.”
Cashing in on uncertainty is nothing new in maritime. We have seen soaring profits during previous disruptions. They get larger with each disruption.
The $1.10 million per day for a VLCC on the Saudi Arabia/Arabian Gulf-to-China route on September 15 is just one example.
“VLCC earnings approaching a million dollars today were almost unthinkable not so long ago,” said Meade. “Yet a combination of business disruption, long-term crew trades, and tightened vessel availability has quickly shown how geopolitics can overwhelm traditional market fundamentals concepts as outdated as supply and demand.”
Lloyd’s List senior reporter Greg Miller explained during the company’s weekly webinar that this tanker cycle far exceeds the shipping supercycle of the 2000s.
“What’s happening now has gone way, way beyond that,” Miller said. “It’s far beyond anything in the history of tankers. The only thing that’s even comparable now to what’s happening in tankers in the modern history of shipping is the profits for container lines during COVID.”
The new normal for trade is slower and more expensive. You can thank Mother Nature and man for creating this pricey cycle.
The U.S. war with Iran and the global refinery-capacity shortage resulting from the war, along with Russia’s war in Ukraine, are taking a toll on refined products, let alone overall crude supplies.
The refinery issue is coming to a head, and it will only get worse. Wait until heating bills arrive for Americans who heat with fuel oil and propane. With $10 diesel, the price of fresh vegetables and fruit will go up again for sure.
Some 70,000 products are made with petro-based chemicals. These raw materials are in everything from paint and clothing to the coolant used in data centers.
Customers across all industries — industrial, food, paints, energy, and personal care — are ordering smaller quantities with shorter lead times because they don’t want to get stuck buying high-cost inventory before a price drop. They are also factoring in sky-high delivery costs because of diesel prices.
“This is difficult for chemical distributors because we all have the same concerns: how much inventory should we buy? Will prices drop? Will we get stuck when that happens? But if we don’t have stock, we can’t sell it,” said the chemical manufacturer.
These concerns aren’t on the radar for tankers moving black gold or carriers moving containers. It’s about moving the trade at any cost, as long as shippers keep paying. And boy, do they pay.
Xeneta’s analysis of ocean carrier surcharges this year shows how quickly carriers slapped surcharges on shippers. Emergency fuel surcharges came first, followed by inland and intermodal leg charges. Then came the “peak season” surcharges. When the war with Iran intensified in late July, another emergency fuel surcharge was deployed.
“Three surcharge waves in six months: volatility is now being invoiced,” wrote Emily Stausboll, senior analyst at Xeneta.
So, with no end in sight, shippers can expect to buckle up for more charges and fees. Investors in ocean carriers and tankers hope the companies use these record profits wisely.
https://gcaptain.com/shippings-new-normal-slower-trade-higher-costs-bigger-profits/
Why would you miss that shit?
Zoom out and see a larger picture
Don't go 40K, more like 20K
I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic but must admit I'm borderline giddy