Canadian Business magazine has recently published a detailed investigation of what all went wrong with Target’s attempt to enter Canada. Anyone who has been involved with logistics, software projects, and/or large retailing likely has similar stories of how incredibly difficult it is to do things right, especially when introducing new technologies that don’t have the kinks removed.
Justin’s “struggling middle class” vs Record Auto Sales (note SUVs, pick-ups)
Our new PM on November 4:
…
Our country faces many real and immediate challenges – from a struggling middle class…
One aspect of reality:
…
Canadians registered more new vehicles in the first nine months of 2015 than during the same period of any prior year.
Record auto sales volume in 2015 is powered by a boom in the SUV/crossover market and very healthy pickup truck sales…
Even Mother Corpse ran a–business–story:
Canadian auto sales up 5.1% in October
Light trucks dominate, but Toyota says it’s still selling hybrids
Canadian consumers bought 163,053 new vehicles in October, with sales up 5.1 per cent from last year, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants.
Canadian auto sales are on track to top 1.9 million units in 2015, setting a new record and proving consumers are still willing to spend despite somewhat slower economy. That would follow on record sales for 2014.
Once again, light trucks are the hot sellers, with more than 104,300 rolling off the lot in October…
Just wondering why these facts are treated by the MSM as strictly business news not relevant to things generally or middlingly; are all those trucks and SUVs being bought by mainly the rich and poor? Struggle on, eh?
That moment when
That false sense of Canadian superiority is crushed on an international stage.
Beepocalypse Now
What’s Going on With Canadian Honeybees? (h/t Kevin B)
HarfSplaining
Marie Harf lifts off with another doozy.
We Need Another Stinking Icebreaker
Who’d a thunk it? It’s the ice that’s rising!
Second icebreaker sought for Great Lakes shipping
GREEN BAY – A brutal winter that slowed the start of the 2014 shipping season on the Great Lakes has one organization asking Congress for another heavy icebreaker.
The Lake Carriers’ Association said it would like to see a second vessel built to keep shipping lanes open on the lakes during harsh winter conditions. The group is requesting another ship similar to the Marinette Marine Corp.-built U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw.
“I want to stress that Lake Carriers’ Association and our members’ customers deeply appreciate the efforts of the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards this past ice season,” James H.I. Weakley, president of the association, said in a news release. “It is clear that the ice conditions that prevailed last winter call for a reassessment of both nations’ icebreaking fleets.”..
The theme continued:
Great Lakes Freeze Cost Economy $705m, 3,800 Jobs [2013-14]
Great Lakes ice makes a leap after January cold snap [note map]
…
As of Thursday [Jan. 15], ice covered 34.1 percent of the Great Lakes, up from just 5.6 percent on Jan. 1, and 10.8 percent on Jan. 5 — the first day of a polar plunge that gripped most of the eastern U.S. for days to come.
“Last year, the Great Lakes were 21.2 percent ice-covered on Jan. 14, making this year’s ice cover 13 percent higher to date,”..
Why Michael Zehaf-Bibeau Could Not Have Killed Many People
Not to be cynical but he had a Winchester 30-30, seven-round capacity, and slow re-load. See this twitter exchange. How many people could he have killed in any event before being killed himself?
As only to be expected none of our ace journos have noticed (nor would even know about) this simple fact. One wonders why the RCMP does not mention it.
10 Surprising Six-Figure Jobs
No It’s Not
Imagine that: the BBC is more secretive than anybody
CBC secrecy hurts its own cause
I Amuse Myself
No worries! Clinton's sacrificing a virgin to Mount Kelud volcano. Afterwards, he'll buy her lunch. #climatechange @tan123 @mlhagood @Revkin
— Katewerk (@katewerk) February 18, 2014
70
And still the sexiest man in Rock n Roll.
Unbelievable things about America
Fruits and vegetables are way more expensive than meat and poultry.
That, generally speaking, the poor is more obese than the rich.
A lot of couples adopt children, sometimes in spite of having their own, and treat them exactly like their own. (To me, this alone is a marker of a great people)
President doesn’t automatically become the richest person in the country.
Ontario’s Unravelling Economy–And Western Gas Pains
1) Ontario.
A symptom:
Canada’s eroding auto industry
Ontario drives manufacturers away with overpriced electricity [almost all the real news in the paper is in the business section]
2) The West:
Shale Storm Hits Canadian Gas
U.S. Gas Production Threatens Its Neighbor to the North
More from the WSJ this April.
Everyone wants to play with the Canadian Space Agency
China wants the space arm technology and the Swiss want a launch and recovery site.
Both to do exactly the same thing.
As the Democrats hold America hostage
They have a bit of trouble over their own debts.
Just one more reason to grant the Senate and WH a debt limit increase.
Via, Drudge
Remember The Bhopal Disaster?
Well, forget most of what you were told…
…the standard accounts also omit to mention that the decision to use the hazardous chemical MIC was the Indian government’s, not Union Carbide’s; that government directives also required the building of larger rather smaller facilities; that the Indian government was also pursuing an affirmative action programme, replacing Union Carbide’s foreign experts in engineering and agricultural chemistry with locals; and, finally, that the decision to situate the chemical plant in the middle of a residential community was the Indian government’s, not Union Carbide’s, exacerbated by a re-zoning policy that included giving thousands of construction loans to encourage Indians to build their homes near the chemical plant…
h/t Adrian
Bob Hope’s 110th Birthday (R.I.P.)
On this day in 1903, Leslie Townes Hope was born in Eltham, a suburb of London, England. Later in life he became known as Bob Hope and entertained the Western World for many decades. Here’s a delightful slideshow documenting his career. And here’s his 1967 Christmas Special.
Well, I got 1.
Can you spot the #IDF soldiers in this photo? (Hint: there are 9!) twitter.com/IDFSpokesperso…
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 9, 2013
“What do we want from the President? No pipeline for the 1%.”
Sick Joke?
The world according to Sir Alfred:
Hitchcock’s iconic horror film Psycho was supposed to be a comedy
I rather suspect it was the master being tongue-in-double-cheek. Just consider the course of the flick until one gets to the motel. Any tee hees?
Now “North by Northwest” does have that cheek fully puffed out.