To those who have noticed my lack of blogging, I’m knee deep in a week of dog shows. Having fun, getting pelted by wind and rain and winning ribbons.
Thank you to our guest bloggers for making it possible! I’ll do my best to pick up my game after the long weekend, though (full disclosure) I have another weekend out after that one.
As you were.
I’m back from my internet-free long weekend showing dogs in hazy, blazing hot Calgary, and still have a very busy day ahead cleaning up odds and ends, including my dusty, heat baked vehicles and equipment.
Many thanks to our guest bloggers for keeping the place hopping. I’ll be back to semi-normal posting by this evening.
One man’s journey from the US to Canada.
How is it relevant to people other than me? I estimate that it took the Canadian government and its contractors at least 25 minutes to deal with 2 people entering Canada. Even if they sped it up substantially, they would get at most 8 people through in an hour.
That doesn’t scale. The border policy for Americans will change later this month. If even 100 North Dakotans wanted to drive up I-29 to Winnipeg in the morning, not close to 100 of them would get through the Emerson border.
And why?
Because of government overkill. I had evidence of both vaccinations and evidence of a negative Covid test in the previous 72 hours. Could I have picked up Covid on one of the 3 airplanes or in the airport? Sure. But the probability was extremely low.
What’s missing from so much of government policy in Canada and the United States is numeracy. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control, shows no understanding of simple probability theory, as Jacob Sullum has shown. Whoever put the Canadian policy together shows a lack of numeracy also.
That dog don’t hunt.
I’m heading out on a dog show road trip in the morning, and have no idea if I’ll get online over the weekend. If there’s wifi at the field, then I’m golden. If not, well – I’ll be back early Tuesday.
Have a great weekend, all. There’s nothing wrong with pushing away from the screen for a few days.
Two nuclear reactors at the Diablo Canyon plant in California are being forced to shut down in 2024 and 2025. When nuclear reactors are taken off the grid, fossil fuel use and the emissions that go along with them consistently increase. Independent groups have estimated that California will emit an extra 15.5 million metric tons (MMT) of global warming emissions due to the retirement of Diablo Canyon. In an attempt to prevent that from happening this time, bill SB 1090 was passed in 2018 requiring Diablo Canyon electricity generation to be replaced with clean energy.
A federal censorship bill will be useful in prosecuting bloggers and Facebook subscribers, an RCMP specialist said last night. Bill C-36 will “see more things through to charges,” a webinar was told: “There is no such thing as free speech in Canada, only freedom of expression.”
We can lay lotsa charges with #C36 censorship bill, say @RCMPGRC police; bloggers & tweeters face $70K fines or house arrest for offensive words.
Interesting article in The Guardian regarding seasonality and epidemic equilibrium. Berenson is of the opinion that the vaccines work for 3-4 months . And…
Something really odd is going on: In Europe we are seeing surges at many places where most of the population has already been vaccinated. At the same time, the 15 least vaccinated countries don‘t seem to face any problem. (long twitter thread, follow it down)
Side note: From time to time there are complaints about using things here from twitter, youtube, facebook, etc. like I just did. Believe me I understand the argument, they are bad actors causing problems and as such should not be rewarded. Having said that if there’s good or useful information being shared on these platforms that can’t be found elsewhere ignoring it just makes us dumber. That’s the trade off. I don’t particularly like it either but I’d rather have the information.
As always, suggestions or tips on how to get around any of this are welcome. I’ve picked up a few in the comment sections since I started here and they are appreciated. As are spelling and grammar corrections.
So what’s wrong with this narrative? In a nutshell, we’ve vastly oversimplified both the problem and its solutions. The complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity of the existing knowledge about climate change is being kept away from the policy and public debate. The solutions that have been proposed are technologically and politically infeasible on a global scale.
Take a look at people who think they are smart, where Jack Dorsey in the tradition of computer science entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg, also dropped out of college before receiving his degree. Apparently, these guys were all so involved in coding, they never bothered to listen in history class. I warned before, they may have thought they were the golden boys of the Democrats for taking down Trump. That kind of power in the hands of anyone outside of Washington is just NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Biden’s new executive order was signed on Friday before these fools could realize, that they are no longer needed. Biden signed a new executive order to crack down on Big Tech, under the name of capitalism to boost competition across the board. Biden signed this new executive order aimed at cracking down on anti-competitive practices in Big Tech, labor, and numerous other sectors. There are 72 actions and recommendations that involve a dozen federal agencies, that are intended to reshape the thinking around corporate consolidation and antitrust laws.
Our Family Got Vaccinated. Then We all Got COVID.
Two weeks ago, we took a family trip out of state, our first in eighteen months.
Three-quarters of us had been fully vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer shot, with the exception being our 11-year old daughter. We’d been extremely diligent for a year and half (often militant) in taking precautions: isolating and masking and distancing since March of 2020.
My wife, 16-year old son, and I all registered for vaccines the first day we were eligible in order to give our family the best chance at protection moving forward. I was ecstatic to get jabbed. We all were. It felt like we could exhale for the first time in a long time.
At some point in the coming days, SDA will record our 1.5 millionth comment.
Seriously, thanks so much. Reader engagement is the driving force behind the success of SDA. Thank you all for your contributions!
No guarantees, but I’ll try to identify who logged Comment 1.5M after we cross the threshold. So keep that in mind and try to make it a good one.
Update: Well, that was brain fog of a different order. All day I read the figure as 1,499,662… Jesus Murphy, I must get more sleep. But we’ll get there soon enough.
Secondly, since we don’t have good global energy imbalance measurements before this period, there is no justification for the claim, “the magnitude of the increase is unprecedented.” To expect the natural energy flows in the climate system to stay stable to 1 part in 300 over thousands of years has no scientific basis, and is merely a statement of faith. We have no idea whether such changes have occurred in centuries past.
Good and hard.
It’s not looking good for dog ones either.
Not Just Big Tech: Government Memo Shows Bill C-10 Targets News Sites, Podcast and Workout Apps, Adult Websites, Audiobooks, and Sports Streamers for CRTC Regulation
According to an internal government memo to Guilbeault signed by former Heritage Deputy Minister Hélène Laurendeau released under the Access to Information Act, the department has for months envisioned a far broader regulatory reach. The memo identifies a wide range of targets, including podcast apps such as Stitcher and Pocket Casts, audiobook services such as Audible, home workout apps, adult websites, sports streaming services such as MLB.TV and DAZN, niche video services such as Britbox, and even news sites such as the BBC and CPAC.
It’s a long list. Take a look
That’s the goal of the prosecution in the Chauvin trail and they’ve just about finished making their case. Then the defense gets their turn.
The Law of Self Defense Blog Day 11
First, the state has to prove that Chauvin’s conduct was a significant contributory cause of Floyd’s death—that would be sufficient for the third-degree murder charge. Even the other charges do not require that Chauvin intentionally killed Floyd. Apparently not even the prosecution believes this was an act of intentional RACISTPOLICEMURDER!!! Or we would see an intentional killing charge in this case, and we do not.
A second condition that must also be met in order for that conduct that may have made a significant contribution to Floyd’s death to be a crime—the conduct itself must in some manner be legally wrongful. If the conduct was lawful, it cannot be the basis for criminal liability.
It’s a good recap of what’s been going on. Have a look.
Should Chauvin be cleared based on the evidence who should be blamed for the resulting riots? Scott Adam’s has an opinion. If you’re looking to catch up with what’s been going on The Law of Self Defence blog has a good day by day breakdown.
Update (from Kate): “I ate too many drugs”
… and a new computer.
My twelve year old desktop died last night, and that leaves me with a twitchy old laptop as backup. Blogging will be slow at my end until Lance can perform transplant surgery on the old box, or failing that, I have to buy a new one. Ugh. Not so good.
Until then, you’re in the capable hands of the guest bloggers and our new constitutional subordination to the “national interest”. Rage on.
