Category Archive: Zeitgeist

Life is a bowl of raspberries

Posted by Michael Klassen on July 16, 2008

Picked from the garden last night. Evidence of the glorious July weather we're experiencing here in Vancouver.

Tagged: gardening, happiness, summer time, vancouver weather

How green is my shed?

Posted by Michael Klassen on July 14, 2008

An old friend James "Two Sheds" Glave has built Eco Shed™ and he is taking great pains to market it, even renting a rubber gorilla costume (I hope it's rented anyway) for this YouTube commercial below. If you want to a quiet getaway with a really small carbon footprint, then call James. Dancing gorilla optional.

Tagged: carbon footprint, environment, green building, green technology

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iPhoned

Posted by Michael Klassen on July 11, 2008

Maybe it was the Karma Police that came calling, but Rogers system was so overloaded that many stores across the country could not fill iPhone orders all day today. I was the very first iPhone that left my local Rogers Wireless store today, and I just got it at 4:30pm. I'm still chuckling about it.

I "pre-ordered" my cell phone the day Steve Jobs announced iPhone was coming to Canada last month. Apparently they cut off this system the day after, but were obliged to honour the pre-orders. I walked in today several hours after the store opened, noticing lines had died down considerably by mid-morning.

They explained that the computer system had crashed, and only when I walked in that it was coming back online, albeit very SLOOOOOW. Come back in a few hours, or when we call you.

I went back to work, and noticed my cell phone Sim card no longer worked. Guess they had completed my order (5 hours later). I walked in, bing bam boom, and had my iPhone.

Syncing it now.

Suh-weet.

Tagged: apple computer, iphone, rogers wireless

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Daniel Yergin on the reasons for oil price increases

Posted by Michael Klassen on July 5, 2008

The symptoms of the market and global politics, and what governments can do about it, are neatly summarized in this fascinating interview with Daniel Yergin, oil industry expert and Chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates with journalist Charlie Rose. I couldn't stop watching it when I stumbled upon it on PBS. For me it cuts through the hyperbole and stupidity relating to this topic we've heard all year.

Most of all, Yergin gives you a sense of hope and perspective that a lot of the dark predictions omit. His recipe for the future is that the major powers come to an accord on the price, supply and consumption of oil for their respective interests, and that we collaborate on the issue of climate change. Sounds like a tall order, but Yergin describes why it can happen.

I recommend that you visit Charlie Rose's website to watch the full interview with Daniel Yergin.

Tagged: global warming, international politics, oil prices

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Goog-411 finds way to Canada

Posted by Michael Klassen on June 23, 2008

Great news! Google's free directory look-up service "GOOG-411" has come to Canada. 1-800-GOOG-411 gets you access to this service on your cellular phone.

With this, and the July 11th release of the iPhone 3G in Canada (I have a down payment on mine) means some big changes are afoot for wireless communications here.

Tagged: cell phone data usage, google wireless, iphone

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How's this for compact living?

Posted by Michael Klassen on June 10, 2008

Here's a very amusing ad from France titled "La Colocation" for a washing machine of all things from a website called Daily Motion. With EcoDensity coming and all, maybe we better start thinking a bit more about living compact. Last line says, "7 kg of clothes in only 40 cm."

Tagged: france, tv advertising

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Quote of the Day goes to Kobe

Posted by Michael Klassen on June 8, 2008

Kobe laffing his arse off

When talking about the longstanding rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers (the teams have met in the NBA Championship 11 times) the Lakers' Kobe Bryant remarked:

I've heard stories in the past of (the Lakers) coming [to Boston] and not getting room service and stuff like that. I mean, my room service is cool. You know, I got the nice apple pie with the ice cream on top, à la mode. I didn't even ask for the ice cream but they hooked me up.

Go Celtics!

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You call him Zimmy

Posted by Michael Klassen on June 2, 2008

So Bob Dylan is shilling for Cadillac now, eh? My, how our cultural icons do like to keep us guessing. I'm unfazed by this stuff. For some reason I never saw Dylan driving a hybrid, but an Escalade?

Let's all buy another copy of Blonde on Blonde so he can afford the gas to drive it around the block.

Here's a sampling of my favourite outraged comments in the Globe and Mail's story about Bob selling out: