The end of growth

I just finished reading a wonderful book that explains very clearly and comprehensively the bind humanity finds itself into today. I found the reading fascinating and could only agree with its main premise: Quantitative growth is now over, time to do something about it!

I have in fact held that view for quite a long time and was only disappointed in the lack of urgency Richard Heinberg, the author, seems to place on overpopulation and wasn't impressed on its “prescription” for addressing the unavoidable shift.

I found his solutions to be less than convincing and on the “light” side. We'll all need to work on them! This said, this is a book everyone should read to seize the shape of things to come into their future lives...

Is Saudi Arabia paying Muslim women to veil?

While I was in France I heard that European Muslim families are paid 200 euros a month by Saudi Arabia just to have their daughters wear the hijab. I've tried, to no avail, to find a credible confirmation of that widely circulated “rumor,” yet it seems to make a lot of sense to me after seeing the increasing number of veiled Muslim women all over France - a very secular country.

This said, and without falling for the far-right propaganda, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some truth to that abuse of influence by the Saudis that are trading oil for religious domination. Something to think about next time you're patiently filling up the large tank of your SUV...

Ten step forward, one backward

This is what typically happens with technology: This morning, I open up my (Firefox) browser and it starts acting on me with a number of sites. To make a long story short, about half the sites show up in old HTML format and Facebook, my blog and calendar wouldn't open as I expected them to. I looked everywhere, searching for similar problems uncovered by other users, found nothing that could help, rebooted the machine and finally, switched the entire mission over to "Chrome," the Google browser.

One hour wasted, a few things learned in the process and life went on. Technology often comes packed with unforeseen frustrations, yet at the end of the day, it's well worth it as it helps us live a little bit closer to that elusive 100% level we all aspire to. So we need to accept that there's somehow, somewhere, a price to pay. I simply need to think more about this counterpart when trouble comes my way!

Middle East reality...

Based on the recent prisoner swaps between Israel and its neighbors, an Israeli soldier is worth 1,000 Palestinian and only 25 Egyptians. The ratio has varied over the past years, so one might wonder if it's now a fixed rate or if it might vary based on market conditions? I hope there is some kind of rule...

I wonder what the ratio should be for other nationalities, like American, Canadian, French, Russian or Nigerian. If you have any guess make sure to share them with us all!

Broken chain (continued...)

We learn most through adversity. My broken chain (yesterday's blog) will certainly teach me how to fix a broken chain or shorten one that's a bit too long. Right, I got the tool to do it, but I will learn the step-by-step process by going through a series of Youtube videos. Some average, some really bad and others that are just excellent. My point of course isn't about fixing a bicycle chain but about learning.

All kinds of stuff; from changing a flat tire to unlocking a cell phone, ironing a shirt or hanging a living room door. This wealth of knowledge didn't exist 15 years ago. Today, it's at our fingertips. Should that mean greater personal productivity? You bet! Do most people know this and take advantage of that free resource? Probably not as many yet as they should...

Broken chain...

A bike chain is like a car transmission. If it breaks, there's no more power available and that brings any motion to a screeching halt. That's precisely what happened to me two days ago when I was, with my wife, in the middle of nowhere and had to resort to some creative shortcuts in order to organize my rescue.

As the moving link broke, I didn't get mad but thought to myself “how in hell will I resolve that incident?” As my wife sped back home to get the car and pick me up by the nearest roadway, I alternatively cut through the sagebrush to rejoin a trail where I walked my bike as fast as I could.

I straddle my bike once or twice when the grade allowed it and eventually, was picked up, got to the bike shop, received a new chain and while I was there bought a chain repair kit that was sorely missing in my emergency supplies!

Scenic morning run

More than 220 days a year, we run on our same morning course, overlooking the Park Meadows neighborhood of Park City and get a full view of our surrounding mountains, hills, homes, ski runs, trees, meadows and McLeod Creek, whether these landmarks turn green, red, gold or white. We are so lucky. There's never a day that is the same.

Most of the time our skies are blue, at time they receive big, fluffy cumuli or all shapes of clouds, quite often we seen one, two, three or even more balloons gracing the horizon. Sometime it rains, hails, snow or it's a moment for the wind to blow. Most of the the time we see all kinds of birds, on occasions a rabbit, a moose, some deer or more rarely a stealthy fox or even a herd of elks.

There are also plenty of folks. The regulars, the strangers, those who socialize and those who ignore us. We also get the cars, the trucks, the school buses, the garbage truck and the snowplow. The sights are never the same, yet they always remain scenic in their own ways.

We don't always fully appreciate the beauty, but I suspect it somehow gets to us, without our being even aware of it. It's part of our daily lives, it's our daily dose of wonderful views and frankly, we don't think we could live well without them...