Monthly Archives: December 2010

I wrote yesterday about amazon.com’s newly patented gift conversion system, and about the consternation it is causing among those that have set themselves up as the guardians of good manners. In an ideal world, manners (and social norms of all kinds) evolve … Continue reading →

Amazon.com has patented a new gift return system that will allow gift recipients to “return” gifts before amazon even ships them.  Online Christmas shopping is becoming extremely popular, and with good reason.  Why struggle through traffic and crowds at the … Continue reading →

My friend Dave made a couple of excellent points in his comment on my last post, and I thinnk a couple of them deserve a more in depth examination than I was able to give in the comment section. First … Continue reading →

Yesterday, Kim passed on an article about the University of Manitoba’s new supercomputer.  The Grex, which is capable of 40 trillion calculations per second, has also been labelled the second most energy efficient supercomputer in Canada. (You can read the … Continue reading →

A less well-known but significant source of greenhouse gas emissions is the production of concrete, or more specifically, Portland cement.  This is the stuff that holds the concrete together.  Typically, about 1/5th of the total weight of concrete is cement. … Continue reading →

We have noticed a definate increase in the amount of fuel that Pola’ (our car) burns as the weather gets colder.  This is normal for all vehicles, but the effect may be larger for us because of the type of … Continue reading →

This evening, Kim and I went to the Winnipeg Art Gallery to see the Cannes Lions, a compilation of the best television and internet commercials from the past year.  This is the third year that we have attended.  It’s always … Continue reading →

Global carbon dioxide emissions dropped 1.3% from 2008 to 2009.  This is good news, but maybe not as good as it seems on the surface.  Emissions in the world’s richest countries dropped between 5% and 12%, but these cuts were … Continue reading →

  In Canada, we might be considered fortunate in that our cold climate means that the negative effects of global warming will take longer to reach us.  In the short term, we may even benefit, as a longer growing season … Continue reading →

When the membership list for the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir was published in October, I immediately went through it looking for people that lived nearby that I could carpool to rehearsals with.  I found that there were two other members that … Continue reading →