Konstantin Kisin- The Cobra Effect: Why Good Intentions Don’t Solve Problems
The Cobra Effect is based on a story which may or may not have taken place during British colonial rule in India. Despite its unconfirmed authenticity, it remains a powerful illustration of how bad incentives can undermine good intentions. In my view, it should be taught as early as possible to anyone who intends to run, manage or operate any system of almost any complexity.
oftwominds.com- If AI Is So Great, Prove It: Eliminate All Surveillance, Spam, And Robocalling
If AI is so great, why doesn’t it do all this stupidly burdensome “shadow work” for us? When yet another corporate monopoly’s products and/or services fails miserably, then why can’t AI get on the phone with a tech-support person halfway around the world and get it sorted?
In Manitoba the NDP are now firmly in control of the agenda.
The Blackrod- New stats show the NDP’s hard left-wing health decree increased suffering
The data shows that in the first six months of the NDP in power, there were 263 fewer hip-and-knee surgeries in Manitoba compared to the last six months of the Conservative Party. And that’s in addition to hundreds of hip-and-knee surgeries that could have been done if the NDP hadn’t banned sending patients to private clinics in the U.S. or other provinces.
To make matters worse, the median wait time for surgery in Manitoba jumped from six-and-a-half months to eight months.
The Blackrod- I Quit, said one of Mb’s top doctors; A brutal assessment of the NDP’s 6 months in office
“I have been a physician for over 40 years. I started out as a clinician and researcher and gradually moved into academic and health system leadership positions. I was privileged to work first in my home country (Switzerland) interrupted by a couple of years in the U.S. (University of California, San Francisco), and since 2004 I have worked in Canada, including in Toronto, where I was the director of the liver transplant program at the University Health Network, one of the largest health systems in Canada.”
“I saw a lot of health system dysfunction (in his career). However, none of it reached the extent of dysfunction that is present currently in healthcare in Manitoba.” he wrote.
Armstrong Economics- Mainstream News is Committing Suicide
This chart shows the results of Gallup Polls, and the trust in American media is down well below 40%. Our models warn that when confidence in government falls below 40%, governments begin to collapse. That magic number applies to the media as well.
Armstrong Economics- TikTok Ban – WAR on Free Speech
Congress cannot agree on anything other than dismantling the First Amendment. There is no greater threat to the establishment than the uncensored sharing of ideas. This week, 353 members of Congress voted to ban TikTok to “protect our data.” Unlike any major issue facing the country, it took Congress a mere eight days to implement this ban, with an astounding 81% in favor of removing the platform.
Armstrong Economics- Would You Feed Bugs to Your Pet?
Armstrong Economics- Canada to Incorporate Social Scores in Banking
“It’s about having that fairer, more inclusive, more open society,” said Helen Child, founder of Open Banking Excellence. Open Society, well, that does sound familiar. Why is there a need for inclusivity and fairness in banking when it should come down to numbers? “It drives financial inclusion,” she added, “It’s democratizing data.”
Canada is one of many nations hoping to use unofficial social scores to control the masses. All of these actions are setting the stage for how CBDC will operate, a collective network containing everyone’s personal data and accounts. Governments have already begun debanking individuals and these steps will make it increasingly easier to force the masses to bow down and relinquish all control to the almighty government.
A Midwestern Doctor- The Many Dangers of Spinal Surgery
In the case of neck and back pain, I feel the primary issue is that limited knowledge exists regarding what causes pain there. This is important because many of the existing “treatments” for back pain actually worsen the underlying causes of that pain. For example, ligamentous laxity underlies many chronic spinal pain conditions, but one of the primary treatments for spinal pain (injected steroids) directly weakens the affected ligaments, creating a situation where therapies which are good for business but bad for patients frequently end up being chosen.
Gold, Goats and Guns- Indicting Trump is the End of US Politics
And that’s what’s at the heart of this Trump indictment. Trump is the distillation of everything they need to tear down to validate their envy. He’s white, male, politically connected, a little corrupt, very cheesy and the antithesis of what middle-class bicoastal midwits believe they should be.
Successful.
They hate Trump not because he’s successful but because our society allowed for him to become successful.
Ken Opalo- Three Billion Africans, How demographics will shape African states’ economic and political futures
For much of history the continent of Africa has been largely underpopulated. For example, it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the entire region’s population surpassed Europe’s (see below). Now the region is in the middle of a demographic boom that will see its population double over the next 50 years to more than 3 billion. By 2100 half all humans being born will be African. It is not an overstatement to claim that the world’s demographic future is in Africa.
Climate Etc.- Glacier saga
The loss of glaciers from Glacier National Park is one of the most visible manifestations of climate change in the U.S. Signs were posted all around the park, proclaiming that the glaciers would be gone by 2020. In 2017, the Park started taking these signs down. What happened, beyond the obvious fact that the glaciers hadn’t disappeared by 2020?
Canada’s “magic dirt” working about as well as expected.
blogTO- Police respond to 500 people Diwali celebration in Mississauga as ‘street brawl’
Around 10:30 p.m., Peel Police said they had responded to reports a fight involving 400 to 500 people in a parking lot at Malton’s Goreway and Etude Drives, Westwood Mall.
h/t Scott
Grab a beverage.
Moon of Alabama- Whodunnit? – Facts Related to The Sabotage Attack On The Nord Stream Pipelines
Moon of Alabama- Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan
The U.S. is trying to push Taiwan to declare independence and to sucker China into some military reaction. It should take note of the fact that its other attempts to poke China have not ended well for its side.
Reuters- U.S. carrier strike group returns to South China Sea amid Taiwan tensions
Diversity on display in the Toronto area.
What’s everyone seeing out there?
Sensing Online- Get ready for the catastrophic DEF shortage
Unless the nation’s truckers can refill with Diesel Exhaust Fluid, the trucks will stop. Literally. DEF production and imports are about to crater and the country’s largest truck-fueling company, Flying J, has been directed by Union Pacific railroad to decrease its DEF-receiving shipments by 50 percent or be 100 percent embargoed. Unless resolved, this demand may cause countless thousands of 18-wheelers to be force-parked very soon, perhaps starting this month. That would be a very, very terrible event, because according to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the trucking industry transports almost three-quarter of all goods shipped in the country.
There is no wand to be waved to make the DEF shortage simply disappear. But doing nothing is both reprehensible and indefensible.
Instapundit- UPDATE: A Knoxville friend writes:
“Ha, Rural King literally had pallets of 2.5 gallon DEF containers in their stores. $6.99, then $9.99. Now none. Same at Walmart. Tractor Supply etc. All of the newer ag equipment, tractor’s, combines etc require DEF. Talk about food shortages!”
We just need a hack so it’ll run without it. But EPA will probably block this. I liked it better when Atlas Shrugged was just a novel.
It’s too bad nobody warned us about this potential problem.
Alex Tabarrok- More Guns, Less Burglaries
From a new NBER working paper by Alessandro Acquisti & Catherine Tucker. I’ve also been struck by the fact that compared to other industrialized countries the US has low robbery rates and especially so relative to burglaries.
One of the organizers of the hate free zone, hates Jews.
Old school left vs new school left.
Tara Henley- Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Some of these Jews are not like the others. From Bari-Weiss’s substack.
Gabriel Katz-On the real lessons of the Hanukkah story.
I’m A Twenty Year Truck Driver, I Will Tell You Why America’s “Shipping Crisis” Will Not End
Think of going to the port as going to WalMart on Black Friday, but imagine only ONE cashier for thousands of customers. Think about the lines. Except at a port, there are at least THREE lines to get a container in or out. The first line is the ‘in’ gate, where hundreds of trucks daily have to pass through 5–10 available gates. The second line is waiting to pick up your container. The third line is for waiting to get out. For each of these lines the wait time is a minimum of an hour, and I’ve waited up to 8 hours in the first line just to get into the port.