Today’s blog will be a review, first my new Pedometer, or as
they like to call them these days, a “Personal Activity Monitor”, the one I got
is the “fitbit one”. The thing is tiny, and has only one button. Most stuff (including
tracking info into spreadsheets automatically) is done through a wireless
dongle, and is PC and Mac compatible, as well as various i-thingy’s. I have had
it for almost a week, and am impressed, mostly because it is suitable to tuck
on the waistband of our uniforms, so I can measure the most active time of my
day-class. (Women are typically shown wearing it tucked into a bra). Downsides:
it still measures frost heaves in our roads as steps, and one I’m not sure is
good or bad, the rapid up and down of pushups and other exercises is counted as
stair climbing. This is not technically accurate, but it does capture the
higher energy level involved. So far I recommend it, $99 from Amazon.ca
The other
review is the new book by John Michael Greer, the ArchDruid that writes the
weekly ArchDruid report blog. The book is called “Not the future we ordered”
Peak Oil, Psychology, and the Myth of Progress. Now, as someone who has been
following the peak oil scene for years, I enjoyed this book as it attempts to
explain the psychology behind the different reactions to news of peak oil and its
ramifications. The interesting thing for me is that part of my motivation to
study Kung Fu is peak oil. Kung Fu was developed long before conventional oil
arrived on the scene, and will most likely be around once oil is once again a
precious rare commodity, not to be squandered on Sunday drives and disposable anything’s. Many things that your average couch potato slash
cubical dweller will consider unthinkable are already a normal part of a Kung
Fu artist’s life, things like “Hard Physical Work”, and human powered weapons. So
if you are starting to suspect that the latest plastic gizmo isn’t the be
all/end all in the quest for eternal progress, maybe you might be ready to
learn about peak oil as well.
The final
thought, the irony of a review of latest gizmo and a book about the incipient
demise of the world of latest gizmos is not lost on me. Remember, Peak Oil is
not the Apocalypse, it is recognizing that any resource on a finite planet has
got to be finite as well, and it is more about appropriate use of those
resources as they slowly decline in affordability and availability than
preparing for the doomsday of modern civilization. I choose to prepare for what
I see is as obvious as the changing of
the seasons, but do indulge myself in small ways as I go along.
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