A new(ish) Canadian site some may find useful.
Econ 101
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.
Honesty Box
It’s fundraising week over at my place. If you’d like to help keep a blog afloat. by all means do.
The Birth Of The Blogosphere
We live today in a post-blogospheric media age. The blogosphere hasn’t disappeared by any means, but it no longer plays the central role that it played from roughly 2002 to 2008. This is partly the result of natural media evolution but also the result of very deliberate action on the part of some big players in government and tech. The blogosphere’s successors, such as Facebook and Twitter, lack its independence, its decentralization, and its free-flowing nature. On the other hand—very much against the wishes of their creators—those entities have nonetheless empowered ordinary citizens to push back against government- and media-initiated disinformation (to the extent that there’s a difference anymore) in a way that remains within the finest tradition of the classical blogosphere.
I had been a regular and prominent commentator on Slate’s then-excellent discussion board, The Fray, for quite some time, and the Slate editors were quick to include InstaPundit in their “Me-Zine Central” directory, at which time I thought I had really made it. I remember by late August I was talking with a colleague about my traffic, at the time around two- to three-hundred visits per day, and we both thought that was a lot. Links from Slate, Virginia Postrel, and James Taranto’s Best of the Web feature at The Wall Street Journal boosted traffic, and by September 10, 2001, I had reached the heady heights of more than 1,500 visits per day. The next day was September 11, 2001, and everything changed.
Breaking News: The Tenet Media Investigation
Matt Christiansen is engaged in a live feed, explaining his role in the Tenet Media investigation. You probably want to rewind it to the beginning.
The influencers at Tenet Media such as Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Lauren Southern are VICTIMS according to the DOJ indictments
Even when talent asked about funding, they were provided completely fabricated profiles from investors that DIDN’T EXIST
It appears the…
— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) September 4, 2024
Blog Notes: Website Security Fundraiser
We don’t hold many fundraisers here at SDA, thanks to the financial support of regular readers. However, that reader support ebbs and flows and over the summer months, it ebbs especially low. None of this was ever noteworthy in the past, which is why I’ve never noted it.
However, after a major security breach last year due a previously unknown vulnerability in WordPress (that took two weeks and a team of technicians to diagnose and close) it became necessary to upgrade the blog’s security plan. It’s not outrageously expensive, but it’s still a hit on the pocketbook.
So – if it’s been a while, and you’re in the mood to hit the tip jar, we’d appreciate it. (If you’ve donated to the blog over the past couple of months, please consider yourself as already have done so.) Any funds raised over and above what’s required will be shared with our guest bloggers. Etransfer is the best method, but there’s a paypal link on the sidebar as well.
Thanks again to everyone who has contributed to SDA over the years, with your tips, donations and word of mouth support!
Blog Notes
We woke up to this today. Those are the internet and landline cables, and while still live there’s plenty of zapping up at the main line.
So… my blogging activities may be interrupted somewhat by both the mess there is to clean up and the likelihood that I lose connection.
It’s always something.
Their Teats Were Swollen With Human Kindness
It’s fundraising week over at my place.
If you’d like to help keep a blog afloat, and keep it ad-free, by all means do.
Good Question
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?
The Self Proclaimed “Saviours” of Health Care
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.
The Small Matter Of The Bar Tab
It’s fundraising week over at my place.
If you’d like to help keep a blog afloat, and ad-free, by all means do.
Friday Afternoon With Martin Armstrong
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.
Blog Notes
This shouldn’t need to be repeated, but here we are again.
The comments section of this blog is not your open sewer. I try to keep a light touch on moderation, but those who persist on spamming each other with insults will be banned, and I don’t care how many new personas you try to get back in. Guest authors also have the green light to nuke your comments, so consider that before you comment.
As you were.
Blog Notes
We had server issues this morning, they look to be resolved. Sorry for the service interruption!
The Year Reheated
Or, “Twelve months of our betters being pretentious, neurotic, and perverse.”
A small taste:
Among the mighty titans encountered in November was a radical young lady named Margot, a “nutrition counsellor” who is “root-cause and system focussed,” and whose profound thoughts included “What do we eat during the revolution?” It turns out that you can’t agitate the proletariat without a solid meal plan. While her comrades “break capitalism” and “abolish” prison, Margot envisions herself “coaching people in how to eat from a revolutionary and resistance standpoint.” A task that involves instructing the little people on how to dry pepper seeds and how to wash foraged bin scraps in vinegar in order to remove any trace of those capitalist pesticides. The revolution, since you ask, will be fuelled by cashew milk and vegan pseudo-cheese. Because as capitalism is toppled, and amid the riots and burning cars, there will, it seems, be space for neurotic niche cuisine. Assuming, that is, that the proletariat are tempted by the prospect of economic ruin, roaming gangs of liberated rapists, and evenings spent washing other people’s bin contents.
Blog Notes
I’m having connectivity problems today and no promise from Sasktel that they’ll be here before Thursday. Therefore, blogging from my vantage point may be intermittent over the coming days. (There’s still admin coverage though, so don’t go getting cute in the comments).
Bending Over Backwards
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.
Recklessly, He Appealed To Their Better Nature
If you’d like to help keep a blog afloat, and keep it ad-free, I have some buttons you can push.
Contributions towards its upkeep are much appreciated.
Blog Notes
As you have noticed, changes are afoot in the layout and appearance of the site. It’s not a change of my choosing, and I’m editing where possible. Thanks for your patience, there’s been a lot of work going on in the background to secure this site, this is part of it.
Update: for now, I’ve returned to the old format. The layout of the blog may still change in the coming days or weeks if site security requires it. (It’s complicated).
Blog Notes: In The Shop For Repairs
Update! The security audit and cleanup are complete, and we’re back in business. Many thanks to Graham at Wordfence for his tenacity and good humor, when he discovered he’d been tasked with a 20 year old site with 57,500 posts and 1.7M comments. There’s still work to do at our end, which should be complete by Monday. In the meanwhile, we have the green light to resume normal operations.
Thanks for your patience, everyone.
Kate
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Original post below
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The security audit interim report is in, and a number of problems have been uncovered. A big number.
To avoid interfering with the work, posting is suspended until I get the go ahead to resume – a break that will probably extend into the weekend. To that end, I’m also closing comments.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to cover the costs. Your generosity is being put to good use.