John Ivison

Let's check in on Gerald the Planet Killer. Gerald is a four-year-old Hereford cross in a field near Ledbury. He weighs about 600 kilograms. He has been busy this morning. 6:14am - Woke up. Began destroying the planet by eating grass. 7:02am - Continued environmental catastrophe by walking slowly toward the water trough. 8:45am - Committed a war crime against the atmosphere by exhaling. 9:30am - Did a pat. In a field. Where it will become part of a complex nutrient cycle that has been running successfully since before humans existed. 11:00am - Grazed a section of meadow, inadvertently aerating the soil with his hooves, spreading seeds in his dung, creating habitat for dung beetles, and sequestering carbon through the root systems his grazing stimulates. Noon - Had a lie down. The scientists monitoring Gerald's methane output have calculated that this methane, derived from grass pulled from British soil, is part of a carbon cycle that has been net neutral for ten thousand years of continuous cattle domestication. They have not been asked to present this finding anywhere. Gerald is unavailable for comment. He is destroying a particularly threatening patch of ryegrass on the south side of the field. Someone stop him.

LASIK eye surgery cost $2,200 per eye in 2000. Today it's around $1,000 per eye despite 24 years of inflation. Meanwhile, an MRI that cost $1,200 in 2000 now costs $3,000+. The difference? LASIK operates in a free market with no insurance interference and minimal regulation. When patients pay directly, providers must compete on price and quality. LASIK clinics advertise prices, offer financing, and constantly improve technology to attract customers. Compare this to hospital procedures where prices are hidden, patients never see bills, and insurance companies negotiate opaque rates that somehow always increase faster than inflation. Cosmetic surgery follows the same pattern. Breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, and other elective procedures have become more affordable and safer over decades. Surgeons invest in better techniques and equipment because they must satisfy paying customers, not insurance bureaucrats or hospital administrators focused on maximizing reimbursements. The lesson is clear: remove third-party payment systems and excessive regulation, and you get Austrian economics in action. Prices fall, quality rises, and innovation accelerates. Healthcare costs aren't rising because of aging populations or new technology—they're rising because we've destroyed the price mechanism that makes markets work.

Forcing @EliseStefanik out of the New York gubernatorial race makes no sense whatsoever. To replace her with a half-assed weekends-only vanity campaign which has shown no signs of life is a disservice to fools like me who thought the Republican Party was the only hope New York had of escaping the incompetent tyranny of a succession of Democrat idiots.

I grew up one town over from Leroy not “Lah Roy” as the news stations pronounce it. Now I wonder if I’m wrong?

Had the @BuffaloBills lived up to expectations we’d be playing at home today. Winter storm #fern

Per sources, “Frank from Cheektowaga” is next to be interviewed for head coach of the @BuffaloBills . #BuffaloBills

Now interviewing for the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Per sources… #BuffaloBills #nfl #ketchupguy

@ScottKacsmar Someone should invent one service where u can watch them all… we could call it CABLE?!

@SalSports ⬆️ D line, running game ⬇️ drops, #72

It’s that time….. your ⬆️/⬇️ #Billsmafia

@simonmaechling Now do a neonic insecticide like imidacloprid.

🚨 A new pesticide was tested on rats, mice, rabbits, and dogs. They gave it every day for 2 years. Even at 1000mg per kg there was no toxicity in long-term animal studies. That's not a typo. Let’s talk about fluoxapiprolin and what real long term safety data looks like. 🧵1/

We recently announced that Progressive was rebating $1 billion to its FL auto insurance policyholders and reducing rates. Now, State Farm has filed for another 10% reduction for its auto policies. This is due to FL’s 2023 litigation reforms, and more companies will be following with both rebates and rate reductions.

Bittner-Singer Orchards, a 400-acre farm in Niagara County along the shores of Lake Ontario, has been growing fruit for over a century. The orchard is owned by Jim Bittner ’80, a first-generation farmer who works closely with Cornell researchers who visit the farm weekly and collaborate with him on testing new varieties, integrated pest management, weather modeling, water potential and more. Bittner said he and other fruit and vegetable farmers depend on university-led research for everything from combatting pests and disease to designing their farms for optimal yields and crop health. “If we didn’t have university research,” Bitter said, “it wouldn’t get done.” Learn how Cornell research is making an impact. Cornell.edu/Research Learn more about Bittner-Singer Orchard at news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/0….

Congratulations to this year's winners at the Orleans Chamber of Commerce Awards including Business of the Year Winner- Velocitii, Agricultural Business of the Year- RLW Cattle, New Business of the Year- Homestead Pest Control, and all of the other winners honored at this year's prestigious event.

Chamber celebrates businesses, citizens at annual awards dinner orleanshub.com/chamber-celebr…

Homestead Pest Control named New Business of the Year orleanshub.com/homestead-pest…

Local agriculture and various community organizations lost a great one with the passing of Gasport's Nate Herendeen. The @Cornell alumnus was an agronomist and agriculturalist with Cornell Cooperative Extension in for nearly 40 years. RIP mitchellfamilyfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/nat…

1pm start! Weather looks great. Who needs to be here Sunday? #BillsMafia

Over 60 Christians were massacred by Islamist militants in eastern Congo while at a funeral wake. Few headlines. Few protests. Lord, have mercy on the dead, comfort the grieving, and strengthen Your Church. Please share this—silence must be broken.

They call Europe hypocritical for exporting banned pesticides. But let’s flip the lens. 👉 What if the real hypocrisy comes from the NGOs? Here’s their playbook: 1️⃣ Lobby to ban pesticides in the EU. 2️⃣ Condemn Europe for exporting those same substances abroad. 3️⃣ Block the safer alternatives that could replace them. Sound consistent to you? Take neonics. Yes, they were banned in Europe after NGO pressure. But the same groups also oppose insect-resistant crops that cut insecticide spraying by half. You can’t have it both ways. Or chlorpyrifos. They called it neurotoxic. But when safer replacements came, they opposed those too - because they were also “synthetic.” 🙃 Ban the old. Block the new. That’s not safety. That’s sabotage. The same story repeats with CRISPR, GMOs, even biopesticides (if they come from “industry”). Science isn’t the problem. Ideology is. And the cost is real: 🌍 Farmers in low-income countries stuck with older, harsher chemistry. 🌱 Yield losses that make food less secure. 🐝 Lost opportunities for more precise, less toxic solutions. This is the real hypocrisy: Ban pesticides. Block innovation. Then blame Europe when poorer countries rely on outdated tools. If we care about farmers, biodiversity, and health, we must support better tools, not just bans. Because science can reduce pesticide use - …but only if we’re allowed to use it. 🔬 Less toxicity 🌱 More precision 🌍 Greater sustainability That’s what progress looks like.