The Law of Unintended Consequences

[mullokintyre]

I doubt Apple though of this one when they brought out their apple Watch.
From Zero Hedge

Apple's Crash Detection feature is causing severe headaches for emergency dispatchers around ski resort areas.

Skiers and snowboarders, with supported iPhone and Watch models, have been hitting the slopes this season and occasionally take a tumble. Their devices, packed with high-tech sensors, like the accelerometer and gyroscope, as well as advanced motion algorithms, mistakenly believe the user has been in an automobile crash.

Suppose skiers and snowboarders don't respond to the cash notification within 20 seconds. In that case, the devices will automatically call 911 with an automated message that indicates, "The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash."
A report from NYT said emergency dispatchers in Colorado had been inundated with false distress calls due to the crash detection feature.

Lately, emergency call centers in some ski regions have been inundated with inadvertent, automated calls, dozens or more a week. Phone operators often must put other calls, including real emergencies, on hold to clarify whether the latest siren has been prompted by a human at risk or an overzealous device.
"My whole day is managing crash notifications," said Trina Dummer, interim director of Summit County's emergency services, which received 185 such calls in the week from Jan. 13 to Jan. 22. (In winters past, the typical call volume on a busy day was roughly half that.) Ms. Dummer said that the onslaught was threatening to desensitize dispatchers and divert limited resources from true emergencies. -NYT
Last year, Apple introduced Crash Detection for iPhone 14 models and Watch Series 8. False alerts started popping up at theme parks last summer when the devices thought people on rollercoasters experienced a car crash. And the same thing happened: The devices flooded 911 operators with false alerts.

Apple needs to get a handle on this mishap or have its own call center if they want to continue with this feature. Bogging down emergency dispatchers with false alerts is a significant problem that needs to be fixed immediately. How did Apple technicians miss this?

Obviously Apple Techs are not skiers.

 

[Knobby22]

I doubt Apple though of this one when they brought out their apple Watch.
From Zero Hedge


Obviously Apple Techs are not skiers.

Apple Techs are computer nerds who don't get out in the real world much. ? What about water skiing, down hill mountain bike, even 10 pin bowling? To be fair it could be a good feature, user error.

 

[Sean K]

I'm sure there's a way of turning off this feature when warranted. Maybe they should prevent sales to skiers, or sky divers.

 

[mullokintyre]

When virtue signalling comes and bites you on the ar$e.
From Zero hedge
Ben and jerry's ice cream makers posted this on their twitter feed.

Unfortunately, it seems that now people are suggesting that they give back all the land on which their factories lie to the native Americans.

The best quote comes from a reporter at the The Washington Examiner.

The Examiner said, “It may be fun to imagine, but, of course, Ben & Jerry’s will never actually give back the land its corporate office sits on. It will simply exert pressure on others to give up their land.”

Unilever, the ultimate owner of Ben and jerry';s, may suffer the unfortunate financial hit that Annheiser Busch suffered after their ill advised flirtation with self promoter gender bender Dylan Mulvaney.
Shares in Unilever are down around 2billion since the first boycott calls were made.
Mick

 

[mullokintyre]

It has often ben said that the OZ labour laws with its myriad of sections subsections and addendums can be a tad difficult to negotiate.
Many a company has fallen foul of the workplace laws because they failed to pay enough attention to the detail.
Now it seems that the very department that oversees these instances of wages theft has been caught up in its own laws.
From AFR

The finer detail of enterprise bargaining agreements is often tricky to implement. And don’t take it from us, but from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, which last week emailed staff a three-page missive admitting to underpaying some of them.

So, the department charged with making sure employers don’t short-change their employees has discovered it’s been doing the very same from July last year. That’s all under the watch of Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke, whose displeasure at this we can only imagine.

As staff were told, the issue affects 68 employees who worked after July last year and were directed to work unusual hours, which should have entitled them to overtime.

The Department had at the same time introduced a flexible work policy allowing employees to choose to start early or late, but had in the process assumed everyone was doing this, even though the service workers manning the phones and assistance desks had no choice.

Luckily for Bourke and his government’s rabble-rousing “wage theft” agenda, this particular industrial dispute seems unlikely to metastasise.

The Commonwealth Public Sector Union for one is happy, deputy secretary Beth Vincent-Pietsch saying management had communicated “openly” about the error, which she expects to be swiftly rectified.

From the employment department, that’s the least we’d expect.

Mick

 

[mullokintyre]

California passed a law this year that effectively stops the sale of diesel trucks from January 2024.
It wants all trucks to be zero emission , so banned the sale of diesels.
Unfortunately, it has done the opposite in that it has spurred many to update their diesel fllets with new trucks before the deadline.
From Wall Street journal

Manny Carrillo has spent $1.5 million on two electric big rigs and a charging station at his truck yard in Chino, Calif., ahead of a new state emissions rule that kicks in Jan. 1.

The chief executive of Talon Logistics is also beefing up his fleet with 20 diesel trucks, the kind that the new regulation is seeking to eliminate.
Carrillo’s is one of many logistics companies loading up on diesel big rigs as California prepares to roll out a rule requiring that trucks purchased after Jan. 1, 2024, that serve the state’s ports be zero-emission vehicles.

---

The truckers are trying to bolster their fleets now rather than face the higher costs and other problems, including scarce availability of new-technology rigs and limited charging infrastructure, once the new mandate kicks in.
“We are trying to take the hit now at a lot more reasonable cost per month versus buying electric trucks next year,” said Carrillo.
Diesel trucks will have a limited future in California under the new rule, one of a series of regulations that target carbon emissions across the state’s supply chains. The California rule will phase out the use of diesel trucks until the more than 30,000 diesel big rigs that now serve the state’s ports are banned by 2035.
The regulation is already proving a challenge for truckers across California, from the agricultural export hub at the Port of Oakland to the nation’s busiest gateway for containerized imports at the Southern California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Trucking executives say the state’s regulators are getting far out in front of the industry’s ability to deliver zero-emission rigs.

The technology underpinning electric vehicles is still developing, they say, and the zero-emission trucks are triple the cost of diesel trucks, while the vehicles and charging stations are in limited supply.

The struggles show the difficulty local and federal authorities face as they try to push a heavily-polluting industry toward cleaner fuels.

In California, state officials and regulators are trying to jump-start a market for zero-emission vehicles by mandating their use in state-regulated spaces. They also hope the mandate draws in more suppliers of charging infrastructure.

For now, however, the rules are boosting sales of diesel trucks.


Trucking companies typically buy vehicles ahead of new environmental mandates because older trucks purchased before mandates generally are allowed to keep operating once new rules take effect. Buying the trucks beforehand allows companies to push back the expense of buying cleaner, more expensive rigs.

“I have to think every trucker in California is doing all they can to get as many pre-mandate trucks in place as they possibly can,” said Kenny Vieth, president of ACT Research.

Mick

 

[mullokintyre]

My wife is a locum pharmacist, and has been working with a variety of senior, junior and overseas trained pharmacists.
Last year, the government decided that customers would be allowed to get two prescriptions filled at once, thus saving the general public money,
This is fine, except that like most businesses, if the owner has a big reduction in income, input costs will need to be cut to maintain their margins.
My wife has noticed that the availability of internships have been drastically cut.
An internship in Pharmacy, is a pre registration year where the newly graduated pharmcist has to work under a trained pharmacist for a year to gain their registration as pharmacist.
Owners have decided that having to pay someone who needs to be supervised and can not legally be allowed to run a shop by themselves, is a cost they are no longer willing to pay.
The long term effect is that graduates coming out of the various pharmacy courses at university, are not getting into an internship to complete their pre reg year, and thus do not get accreditation to practice.
In the meantime, the government is bringing in overseas trained pharmacists who have not been through the Australian system.
My wife has worked with an increasing number over the past year, and says the standards of many of these overseas trained pharmacists is extremely poor, and she would employ less than twenty percent of them.
The long term affects will be profound.
By the time someone in the public health arena has worked out what has occurred, it will likely be too late to resurrect anything.
My wife says she is telling any prospective pharmacy student who asks her for career advice, that under the current regimes pharmacy is not a great career choice.
Mick

 

[Smurf1976]

The long term affects will be profound.
By the time someone in the public health arena has worked out what has occurred, it will likely be too late to resurrect anything.

So Pharmacy's the next profession to be stuffed up then?

I'd have thought governments would've learned by now given what's happened with the trades. Seems not.

 

[IFocus]

So Pharmacy's the next profession to be stuffed up then?

I'd have thought governments would've learned by now given what's happened with the trades. Seems not.

I know an insider its worse for doctors...

 

[Smurf1976]

I know an insider its worse for doctors...

If you've never understood the appeal of people like Donald Trump then this is good example of the reason.

The masses are so totally fed up with the situation facing most Western countries that they're willing to give any plausible alternative a go so long as they're not part of "the establishment".

That's not to say Trump will fix it, but simply that the masses are fed up and anyone seen as an "outsider" to the political process has considerable appeal for that reason.

 

[sptrawler]

If you've never understood the appeal of people like Donald Trump then this is good example of the reason.

The masses are so totally fed up with the situation facing most Western countries that they're willing to give any plausible alternative a go so long as they're not part of "the establishment".

That's not to say Trump will fix it, but simply that the masses are fed up and anyone seen as an "outsider" to the political process has considerable appeal for that reason.

Absolutely spot on and the more the establishment try to block these 'outsiders', the more popular they become with the masses, as was shown most recently in Argentina.
As is happening in Australia, we have the 'church' of the right being the coalition and we have the 'church' of the left being the Labor Green side.
What is sadly lacking is any representation for the moderate centre IMO and they are getting angry.
Last weekends by election highlighted your sentiment @Smurf1976 , where the Govt is a lesser of two evils, it just showcased how disenfranchised the middle class are and how little either side inspires them with confidence.
Let's be honest, how the coalition could have got any swing is beyond belief, they haven't done anything and the leadership isn't anything to write home about.

 

[SirRumpole]

If you've never understood the appeal of people like Donald Trump then this is good example of the reason.

The masses are so totally fed up with the situation facing most Western countries that they're willing to give any plausible alternative a go so long as they're not part of "the establishment".

That's not to say Trump will fix it, but simply that the masses are fed up and anyone seen as an "outsider" to the political process has considerable appeal for that reason.

Trump did little to "fix it" in his last term and now he wants another chance.

The gall of the man is amazing, but he may just get in again.

 

[sptrawler]

Trump did little to "fix it" in his last term and now he wants another chance.

The gall of the man is amazing, but he may just get in again.

Unfortunately it isn't about Trump anymore, it is about flicking the 'bird' to establishment, by the constant attacks they have basically made a martyr of him.
As @Smurf1976 said the masses are fed up with the established system and because those that represent the 'system' are attacking Trump, they see Trump as an opportunity to show the establishment their anger.
It has all become a self fulfilling prophecy for the establishment.

 

[SirRumpole]

Unfortunately it isn't about Trump anymore, it is about flicking the 'bird' to establishment, by the constant attacks they have basically made a martyr of him.
As @Smurf1976 said the masses are fed up with the established system and because those that represent the 'system' are attacking Trump, they see Trump as an opportunity to show the establishment their anger.
It has all become a self fulfilling prophecy for the establishment.

Well, they sacked the establishment once, then went back to it, so its all pretty volatile over there it seems.

 

[sptrawler]

Well, they sacked the establishment once, then went back to it, so its all pretty volatile over there it seems.

It sounds very volatile over there, I think the gap between haves and have nots has reached breaking point, a lot of the Western countries are now feeling the effect of outsourcing their manufacturing to Asia.

Now Asia is becoming more affluent and Western democracies are finding it difficult to justify their living standards, other than money printing and false valuation of their currencies IMO.

Again only IMO I think the real problem is, the people want the manufacturing back, but the manufacturers don't and the manufacturers have the money and fund the media, all a very awkward situation.
Multi nationals, may have started as U.S companies, but now they don't really have any real affiliation with the U.S, head office is there but the money is made at the cheapest source of labour.

Interesting times a rebalancing of relativities between countries, we are fortunate having a reasonable size pie and a small population to share it.
But that is fast changing.

 

[sptrawler]

Well October 7 massacre has certainly put gun ownership back on the agenda in Israel.

Israeli mum Yamit just bought her first handgun. Then she attempted to demonstrate it

Regular Israelis are taking up arms in record numbers in the wake of the October 7 attack. It's left some Palestinian citizens of Israel fearful.

www.abc.net.au

From the article:

According to the latest Israeli government figures, 288,345 gun licence applications have been registered since October 7, a jump of more than 700 per cent from the months before the attack.

The figures also show about 1,000 new gun licence applications are being made every day, compared with 850 applications each week before the war.

But the proliferation of firearms among the state's Jewish citizens is frightening for some, especially Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up about 20 per cent of the country's population.

They live, for the most part, in their own cities, towns and villages in Israel, but many work and study alongside their Jewish compatriots.

 

[sptrawler]

The Government has just spent a year telling everyone they are colonisers and tenants in someone else's country with the "Voice", they are also reinforcing it at every ceremony, by having the owners welcome everyone to their country and also teaching it to the children at school.

Now we have a problem that the tenants wont sign up for the military, to fight for the country they are tenants in, who would have thought that would happen, a lack of patriotism, a lack of belonging, a lack of giving a $hit, another case of unintended consequences?

Maybe the media is correct and the Government should continue down their chosen path, they should treat the armed forces as a mercenary force and bribe them.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/want-gen-z-to-sign-up-to-the-army-give-them-50-000-for-a-house-deposit-20240612-
p5jl3w.html
From the article: ( I would love to know what the percentage of people who want to join up in 2024 is)

As academics Robert Hoffmann and Maria Teresa Beamond wrote in The Conversation this week, data shows that in 1981, 69 per cent of Australians aged in their 20s said they were willing to fight for their country. By 2018, that figure had dropped to 44 per cent. Similarly, 42 per cent of twentysomethings said they were “very proud” to be Australian in 2018 – the lowest proportion of any age group in any year since the survey began.

As well as allowing foreigners to enlist, the government has taken other steps to address the personnel crisis. The ADF’s one-size-fits-all fitness test – which required recruits to be able to complete dozens of sit-ups, push-ups and sprints in a set time – has been dropped, and it is now easier for people with medical conditions to serve in the military. Having orthodontic braces, bad acne or minor mental health issues will no longer necessarily rule you out of a military career.

The government also announced a $50,000 bonus will become available to personnel should they serve four years.

Ultimately, this focus on financial incentives jars with the view that a military career should represent a higher ideal of national service. But it’s clear that patriotism alone will not convince enough members of Gen Z to enlist.

 

[SirRumpole]

The Government has just spent a year telling everyone they are colonisers and tenants in someone else's country with the "Voice", they are also reinforcing it at every ceremony, by having the owners welcome everyone to their country and also teaching it to the children at school.

Now we have a problem that the tenants wont sign up for the military, to fight for the country they are tenants in, who would have thought that would happen, a lack of patriotism, a lack of belonging, a lack of giving a $hit, another case of unintended consequences?

Maybe the media is correct and the Government should continue down their chosen path, they should treat the armed forces as a mercenary force and bribe them.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/want-gen-z-to-sign-up-to-the-army-give-them-50-000-for-a-house-deposit-20240612-
p5jl3w.html
From the article: ( I would love to know what the percentage of people who want to join up in 2024 is)

As academics Robert Hoffmann and Maria Teresa Beamond wrote in The Conversation this week, data shows that in 1981, 69 per cent of Australians aged in their 20s said they were willing to fight for their country. By 2018, that figure had dropped to 44 per cent. Similarly, 42 per cent of twentysomethings said they were “very proud” to be Australian in 2018 – the lowest proportion of any age group in any year since the survey began.

As well as allowing foreigners to enlist, the government has taken other steps to address the personnel crisis. The ADF’s one-size-fits-all fitness test – which required recruits to be able to complete dozens of sit-ups, push-ups and sprints in a set time – has been dropped, and it is now easier for people with medical conditions to serve in the military. Having orthodontic braces, bad acne or minor mental health issues will no longer necessarily rule you out of a military career.

The government also announced a $50,000 bonus will become available to personnel should they serve four years.

Ultimately, this focus on financial incentives jars with the view that a military career should represent a higher ideal of national service. But it’s clear that patriotism alone will not convince enough members of Gen Z to enlist.

I guess the problem with recruitment these days is when the word Army is mentioned, people think of the "grunts" lying on their bellies in the mud and think that's not the sort of thing they want to do. Most of it these days though is technological , weapons systems experts, cyber warfare, remote guidance etc.

I heard of a bloke that flew drones from his home remotely, just surveillance type stuff, that's where it's all heading.

 

[moXJO]

No one wants to go to some stupid war, in another country, for a bunch of corporate interests.
Purely defensive core with no risk of fighting overseas and you might get numbers.

No one trusts the government enough to put their life on the line. Especially after they went the SAS.

 

[sptrawler]

I guess the problem with recruitment these days is when the word Army is mentioned, people think of the "grunts" lying on their bellies in the mud and think that's not the sort of thing they want to do. Most of it these days though is technological , weapons systems experts, cyber warfare, remote guidance etc.

I heard of a bloke that flew drones from his home remotely, just surveillance type stuff, that's where it's all heading.

Yes I'm trying to encourage a couple of the grandkids to look into it, one wants to be an engineer and the other is unbelievably good on computers and wants to work in cyber security.