(originally written Mar 4, 2012. Part of Great Upload of 2013.) Readers (regular and irregular both) may know that about six years ago, I was quoted in MacLean’s saying Canadian housing was in a bubble. So after six long years of looking very wrong, I was delighted to see the
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Eclectic Lip: Alberta oil selling at 50% discount to world price…
…which explains why the Canadian government is Hell-and-High-Water-bent on building a pipeline, any pipeline, anywhere. First, the stats Over the past few months, new stories have noted that Canada’s oil sector isn’t getting full price for its heavy oil — in large part because American pipelines are well-supplied with newly-flowing
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Whatever foresight is, it’s not 20/20…
(originally written Jan 3, 2012. Part of my Great Upload of 2013.) Come December’s end, the nervy among us like to review what they got right in the past year. The nervier like to predict what’ll happen in the New Year. Ever the blithe contrarian, I figured I’d visit the
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The millionaire tax, American- and French style
(originally written Apr 19, 2012. Part of my Great Upload of 2013.) The American “millionaire tax” plan At the moment, Obama is facing stiff resistance from his proposal to tax all income above $1,000,000 per year at a rate of 30%. This, despite the support of one-time world’s-richest-man Warren Buffett,
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Goodness, the biggest bull market in history is about to begin — eventually! :)
(originally written May 8, 2012. Part of my “Great Upload of 2013″) There was a great article in the Globe & Mail investment section about one John Maudlin’s predictions that after the stock market moves down for awhile, it will move up. Which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is brilliant stuff
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Homer (not Simpson) and the Kaopectate Kid
The doctor diagnosed young son Leo recently with the stomach flu — which is colloquial shorthand for a condition which isn’t the flu, per se. (The most recent editor of the relevant article on the almighty Wiki agrees!) The Kaopectate Kid Our medical professional then suggested we give Leo some
Continue readingEclectic Lip: EV stats for British Columbia (2012)
The kind people at CEV for BC sent over some statistics on Clean Energy Vehicle rebates issued by the provincial government. While the CEV rebates were available for electric, natural gas, and fuel cell vehicles, my understanding is that the rebates break down as follows: – 308x EV’s – 0
Continue readingEclectic Lip: VEVA: end-of-2012 stats updates, and Vancouver area charging station updates
(Cross-posted from the VEVA mailing list and LinkedIn group) A few final updates, before the end of the year. 🙂 a) Metrotown’s charging stations — all 10 of them — should be up and running in January. I’ve been in touch with one of their project managers, who said he’d
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Prius: a Crystal Anniversary (15 years)
A few Prius-inclined websites noted last week that Dec 10, 2012 marked the 15th anniversary of the Prius’ introduction in Japan. With the Prius (temporarily?) becoming the world’s 3rd-best-selling car brand in 2012, the anniversary probably deserves some reflection. 🙂 > As near as I can figure, Malcolm Gladwell-type book
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Cumulative Canadian (PH)EV sales (through Nov 2012)
It doesn’t look as if this data has been centralized on the web yet, so I’ll start. Cumulative Canadian (PH)EV sales through Nov 2012 can be found at this link, here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ah8gcGMaITi4dHdoZzJYdHFvZldnZkRCRWxGbjhicEE > The list is incomplete (for example, no Tesla data yet) but I’ll be trying to add that
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The US once was, but will never again be, the Saudi Arabia of oil
The idea that the US might one day produce more oil than Saudi Arabia, popularized by an International Energy Agency (IEA) report, has gone viral in recent weeks. It’s like the “Call Me Maybe” phenomenon, but for Very Serious People! 🙂 Alas, the idea that the US will out-produce Saudi Arabia
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Green byelection blues
Alas, the Green Party didn’t pick any seats up in the Nov 26 Canadian federal by-elections. While their strong showings probably count as a real moral victory, I imagine at this stage they’d prefer amoral, real victories. 😉 As it turns out, Parliament’s composition is unchanged, “while my green heart gently weeps”. Despite donating to […]
Eclectic Lip: Norquist knee-capped by Koch-backed “Shift Disturbers”
Well, it looks like Grover Norquist’s support for a carbon tax shift last Monday (Nov 12) lasted as long as a mayfly. By the time Tuesday (Nov 13) rolled around, he was back to opposing it, and likening government to a tapeworm. I suppose it’s a brave thing to say, considering that the highly-trained, armed […]
Eclectic Lip: Newsflash: Canadian PM’s American Idol supports Stephane Dion-esque carbon tax shift
Note: for non-Canadian readers (or, indeed for Canadian readers who don’t follow politics) Stephane Dion was the milquetoast who led the Liberal Party of Canada to its then-worst-ever federal election result in 2008. He ran on a campaign of a carbon tax shift (“The Green Shift“), for which the Conservative Party mocked and savaged him. We’ll […]
Eclectic Lip: Mitt’s bad day (wasn’t nearly as bad as the dinosaurs’)
As expected by everyone outside the American right-wing echo chamber, Obama handily defeated Romney in the US election. In the weeks leading up to the election, pollster Nate Silver (who posts at the New York Times) came under such ferocious criticism from Fox News & friends, for purportedly “skewing” his results to inflate predictions in […]
Eclectic Lip: When billionaires brawl… (some US election thoughts)
So, the US elects its next President (or re-elects its current one) today. One hopes that our southern cousins avoid the fiascos of 2000 and 2004. As all but the young recall, the 2000 Gore vs. Bush US election hinged on Florida, where George Bush’s brother Jeb was governor. Before the election, Republican operatives had […]
Eclectic Lip: Lana Wachowski, Joe Simpson and our evolving social mores
The recent release of Cloud Atlas, piqued my interest in writing some thoughts about sexual identity. As has been fairly well publicized leading to the movie’s opening, Lana Wachowski (born Larry) underwent a gender transition (“sex change”) a few years ago; and from all accounts, seems the happier for it. The
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Plug-in Prius payback period…
I’ll start with a preamble, expressing hope that the tragedies and suffering from Hurricane Sandy can be limited to a minimum. And, recognizing that there are undoubtedly other tragedies I’m unaware of, whose victims are just as deserving of such hopes — I wish them the best as well. I’ll also
Continue readingEclectic Lip: “Call Me Maybe” follow-up is a Major Second song…
I heard Carly Rae Jepsen’s new song Curiosity on the radio yesterday, and was fascinated that it’s a Major Second song. By which I mean the song undergoes a key change upwards partway through — and to use the musical term, the key change is a “major second”. If you purchase
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Obama regains “Eye of the Tiger” in 2nd Presidential Debate
I missed the first Presidential Debate last week, but gathered from the chatter that Mitt Romney stole a round from a woefully-underprepared President Obama. The commentary gave the sense that Obama prepared for the event in the way Apollo Creed prepared for the fight in the first Rocky movie. As
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