Afternoon Tea 2.28.24 - Frosty Surge Pricing

Wendy's Is Introducing Uber-Style 'Surge Pricing’ (Food & Wine) & Uber Boss Makes Shocking Admission Over ‘Algorithmic Wage Discrimination’ (Novara Media) And no, this isn’t the same as “early bird” specials or “happy hour” prices, as the algorithmic price discrimination will maximize cost when foot traffic is highest, not just cut prices when demand is expected to be lower. Wendy’s is about to realize they are a lot less critical of a purchase than an Uber home from Tao, Gansevoort or House of Yes at 2:30am.

Scenes from the Bat Cave (Prospect) & A collapsing health-care system is Ontario’s real ‘new normal’ (TVO) A hospital with upwards of 5000 bats isn’t the setting of the latest Saw movie, it’s the reality at Rockledge Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Florida owned by a private equity firm. Paychecks bouncing, supplies entirely unavailable, even exterminators not being paid. In Ontario, there were 200+ emergency room closures across the province last year. This is going to be the reality of North American healthcare unless we do something fast.

Kellogg’s CEO: Let them eat Corn Flakes for dinner (CNN) “Let them eat cake” but with bran and oats, instead of red velvet & frosting. A sign of how bad food pricing/inflation is getting, when cheerios for dinner is a good idea and not a struggle bus night.

Fires and a toppled statue: Farmers clash with police by EU Parliament (Politico EU) & Protests and pressure: Why are French farmers so powerful? (DW) Farming regulations have powerful effect on the food supply. And pollution production. We need to make hard choices and we need to make them with the people who they affect in mind, before they are made. Not after the fact. Or things like this will keep happening as the world gets worse.

UK’s “DragonFire” laser weapon downs its first drones (Freethink) The USA’s drone laser tech isn’t exactly ready for prime time, but the UK is far enough behind that they might want to rename their laser program. You know, because lasers shoot fast.

How US Pressure Helped Save Brazil’s Democracy (Foreign Policy) We might have prevented a coup in Brazil? This is a weird feather in Biden’s cap that I don’t think any of us saw coming. Let’s hope Stephen Miller & Steve Bannon aren’t spending the weekend watching tape of the game.

Why Walmart pays its truck drivers 6 figures (FreightWaves) The reasoning outlined here is the same reason UPS drivers make bank while Amazon drivers are left out in the cold. When your supply chain is at stake, you can’t mess with poorly trained staff. Save them for greeting or running self check out.

The US pepper that was nearly lost (BBC Travel) The fish pepper is a pepper grown by slaves and cooked with in secret, unique to the Chesapeake Bay. Revived when a jar of seeds was found in 1995, tucked away in a freezer. Little things that help us understand the world that was, will make the meals of the future taste even better.

A lot of Redditors hate the Reddit IPO (The Verge) Reddit, the digital homeroom for 31 flavors of geek, is big mad about their home being milked for an IPO. To the point where the Wall Street Bets troglodytes are planning to short the dogshit out of the stock. Make some popcorn, because this might be GameStop 2.0.

Anti-piracy warnings have the opposite effect on men, new study says (TechSpot) Remember those “you wouldn’t download a car” ads re: internet piracy? They have the exact effect you’d expect on your friend who can’t wait to tell you about the latest thing he didn’t pay for. And the researchers confirmed it is always, always a “he.”

Quote of the week

What they think of me doesn't matter, if they didn't think of me, when it mattered.~Isaiah Frizzelle

Poem of the week

Vibe of the week

An “Intermezzo” was a transition piece between the main “Acts” in an Opera, like an intermission during a stage play. One of the most famous and one of my most favorites is the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, by Pietro Mascagni.

Keep your head up,tn