I hope that if/when this patent application gets granted, they update the title… otherwise, someone at Samsung will have some ‘splaining to do!
Continue readingAuthor: EclecticLip
Eclectic Lip: Software updates are flu shots
A nice metaphor for software updates. Flu shots attempt to immunize people from the influenza virus, by exposing their immune systems to small doses of weakened or dead virus molecules. The idea is that this gives the immune system a “practise run” with a less-dangerous version of the influenza virus
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Electron democracy
A long-belated companion to Steven Chu’s “Time to fix the wiring” essay I posted earlier, this is the white paper I co-authored for the same McKinsey & Company series. Given the roughly five-month delay in uploading this, I suppose “Time to post the writing” might be an apt subtitle… 🙂
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Number one!
Clearly, people really enjoyed the Canadian Tesla sales stats I was able to pull up via vehicle registration records. The article is now number one for the week! An article on Canadian stats topping an American website’s “recently popular” list. How about that! 🙂 I noticed that the good folks
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Tesla sales in Canada, Jan-May 2013
My GreenCarReports article on Tesla Model S sales in Canada this year has been popular enough to reach second-place in GCR’s “Most Popular this week” sidebar. Very cool, and almost certainly indicative of the fact that Tesla fans are starved for sales data! After all, the company is about as
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The surveillance state is an autoimmune disorder
Autoimmune disorders (Wikipedia prefers autoimmune diseases) occur when the body’s defenses — antibodies — no longer distinguish between healthy tissue and harmful cells. Instead of focusing on the dangerous antigens, they attack the body itself. Type 1 diabetes is an example, where the patient’s immune system attacks the insulin-producing regions
Continue readingEclectic Lip: May 14 – British Columbia provincial election
Here’s to hoping that any and all British Columbians reading this, take their opportunity to vote. In the broad sweep of history, with precious few examples, democracy is a fairly new phenomenon — not unlike the concept of retirement — so it would be a pity to waste the opportunity for
Continue readingEclectic Lip: April 2013 Canadian plug-in electric vehicle sales
My April update on Canadian plug-in car sales stats in Canada is now up at GreenCarReports. The Volt’s title reign continues — while the Prius Plug-in Prius dropped to fourth place! As noted in the article, I think some of the Prius Plug-in’s challenges come from the fact that it’s
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Feb 2013 Canadian plug-in electric vehicle sales
Been a bit quiet on the blogging front recently, due to some gratifyingly awesome progress on separate writing projects — a trend likely to continue for another couple weeks at least. In the meanwhile, my post on Canadian plug-in electric vehicle sales in Feb 2013, went up last week at
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Book Club 08 – Cradle to Cradle
One line item in my 2013 “bucket list” was to upload the book summaries from my work business book club. Since we covered about 40 books, and I wanted to upload one book a week, March was about the latest date I could start this project, and still hope to
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Steven Chu’s “Time to Fix the Wiring” at four years
Former US Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s recent resignation — his farewell letter is here — is no doubt celebrated in the fuel cell quarters as passionately (or more so) than it is mourned in the rest of cleantech. Early in his term, Chu infamously argued (infamously, at least, to fuel
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, January 2013 (via GreenCarReports)
My column on plug-in car sales in Canada for January 2013, is now up at GreenCarReports. Since it’s hard to write ~600 words about sales statistics in the very small Canadian market, I discuss how Quebec — not B.C.! — is the leading province for plug-in vehicle adoption, and reasons
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Our Renewable Future part 1: clearing “myth”conceptions
With Obama talking the talk on climate action in his State of the Union address yesterday, now seems a good time to start compiling a planned set of blog entries about renewable energy. Many many others have done so online already (as evidenced by the fact I’m linking to them!)
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Wynne-win for Canada! And, is America ready for another white male President?
I welcomed Kathleen Wynne‘s victory in the leadership race for the ruling Ontario Liberal Party this past Saturday, even though I live in faraway British Columbia. And I do mean far away — seriously, the International Space Station is ten times closer to the surface of the earth, than Vancouver
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Douglas, Deng and Diocletian
(originally written May 21, 2012. Part of Great Upload of 2013.) Tommy Douglas I read a bio of Tommy Douglas recently, figuring as a guy with sinister leanings (sinister in the original Latin sense of “left”, that is 🙂 ) I might as well brush up on the father of
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Very amateur investing, yellow-tinted glasses edition
(originally written Oct 2, 2011. Part of Great Upload of 2013.) I find it amusing that, while many of my fellow Vancouverites are attending places of worship this Sunday morning, I’m taking a break from work to muse about money, that root of all kinds of evil. 🙂 Right now,
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The Black Swan’s Thanksgiving Turkey
(originally written Nov 24, 2011. Part of Great Upload of 2013.) It came to my attention that Naseem Nicholas Taleb, who authored The Black Swan (surprisingly, not about a ballet dancer, but about financial crises) discussed other avians in his book, among them the Thanksgiving turkey. Per the Wikipedia page,
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The world (of investing) according to Dante
(originally written Oct 21, 2011. Part of Great Upload of 2013.) It seems like the financial markets will have an “upwards bias” for the next few months, despite the circling-the-drain quality of the macroeconomic picture, which inspired this magazine cover from the Oct 1 issue of The Economist magazine. If
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Sniffs from a Schiff…
(Originally written March 7, 2012. Part of Great Upload of 2013.) A colleague once showed me a book by Peter Schiff, in which the author and investment-house CEO purported to explain how the US got into the muddle they’re in. Like so many textbooks I left it unread, but according
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Plug-in electric car sales in Canada, 2012 (via GreenCarReports)
My new adventures as a Canadian correspondent for GreenCarReports.com begin with this post. Readers are encouraged to show them some love. 🙂 My ongoing efforts to track Canadian EV sales figures (and those of a few other countries) remain visible here.
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