April 21, 2023

It will be in the news, but the news is likely to leave out that we used to have El Niño all the time without really caring too much about them. It is only because climate change has pushed those average temperatures up so much that it now causes severe droughts in the Western USA.

So much for food prices coming back down.

Our Weather Office has more.

Private insurance companies have backed away from insuring organizations against "state backed" hacking.

Lloyd's of London is one of the first (of what will be a sea change) insurance companies to explicitly remove insurance protection against hacking. They claim that it is for state-sponsored or backed intrusions and theft. However, it is nearly impossible to tell whether an attack is state sponsored or not, it is safe to assume that this will greatly reduce insurance payouts for such any similar situations.

If you are from the 1990s, you will remember "cyberspace" was a thing. And, news firms around then declare these attacks cyber attacks. Sounds fancy.

In reality, ongoing intrusions into private networks to steal personal information, capture embarrassing personal secrets, or just cause an entire system to freeze are all criminal activities. They are all ransom style attacks and should be responded to similarly to that happening "in real life".

For left-wing organizations like unions, we barely have to worry since they are mostly stuck in the 1970s technologically. It is hard to steal all the union data when it is a photocopy of a membership list faxed to the union office by the employer.

However, for unions who have attempted to move to more digital (modern, productive, and efficient) systems, there is something here.

You will not be able to insure to ensure against loss. The only way to deal with this is to start hiring real people who do real work on your digital infrastructure.

Who knows, in the process our organizations might move into the 21st Century. OK, maybe the 20th, but it could mean good things if done correctly.

Canada should follow suit and declare investment into sustainable (as possible) mining.

Such an investment would support the shift away from oil and gas (and this ridiculous hydrogen kick) and into green energy storage.

The world is going to need a lot of lithium in the medium term. Even if another battery technology comes along, it will take decades for the world to make the shift.

Using the next ground-sourced product to support a just transition for workers only makes sense for a country like Chile. Ditto for Canada.

Of course, the next global wars will be over green energy imports. So, better to get in on the ground floor.