I was recently wondering if using candle light as a main household lighting source could be a viable and environmentally friendly alternative. After doing a little research on the web, I found an interesting article with a hilarious - and completely non-scientific - conclusion that I reproduce here:

 « ... But if enjoyment of a candlelit dinner leads a couple to go to bed earlier than usual, they will have saved lighting and heating costs for the later part of that evening - which would surely outweigh the difference in environmental cost between candle and electric lighting over dinner. And if that should happen to lead, in turn, to two one-person households becoming one two-person household, with consequent long-term reductions in heating and lighting needs, I think we can say candles can indeed prove to be environmentally friendly as well as, er, friendly. »

The full article can be found here. It seems that in essence, the candle solution isn’t that good. Most candles are made of paraffin wax derived from crude oil, thus becoming tiny global warming factors of their own. If, in addition, we take into account the production and transportation impact on our environment, it appears electricity might remain a lesser weevil.

Next, I’ll look at using coffee machines as a household heating system.

Everything in life seems to be a matter of perspective. Things are different seen from above, from below or from the inside. From before and from after. Bird’s eye, fisheye, eye level, eyes closed. Are there as many universes as there are points of view? Will the things here ever match the stuff over there that’s like, you know, a bunch of different things? Could I be more precise?

 « To be is to do » - Socrates

 « To do is to be » - J.P. Sartre

 « Do be do be do » - F. Sinatra

 [From the French movie Subway, among other sources]

« On vous demande de répondre par oui ou par non, alors ça dépend, ça dépasse! »

« C’est parce qu’allumette, ça prend deux L, comme les avions. »

Le Père Noël est une ordure]

Note: Apres mûre réflexion et pour rassurer tous les grands enfants parmi nous, je me dois de préciser que la ligne entre crochets ci-dessus ne représente que l’origine de ma citation et non une opinion personelle.

« You can stand all night
At a red light anywhere in town
Hailing maries left and right
But none of them slow down »

[Something Fast - The Sisters of Mercy]

Throughout the lengthy cherry blossoms season, I’ve roamed around the Greater Vancouver seeking the best blooming areas and the most flower covered trees. I explored Kitsilano all the way to UBC, visited the Queen Elizabeth Park, surveyed the Northern end of Commercial Drive. These were all very nice (see the previous post for proof.)

But I should have known better. As often in Vancouver, the best was to be found right in the heart of downtown. There, in the middle of an urban sea ursin of high rises, nested against the Burrard SkyTrain station, is the most magnificent cherry blossom display of them all. The air smells of flowers and pedestrians can’t help but to stare and smile as they catch a glimpse of the snowcapped mountains framed between high towers of tinted glass and a foreground of blooming trees.

There’s Vancouver in a nutshell. Flowers and concrete, sunshine and rain, fire and ice.

« Like the most vivid of dreams, the city is reinventing itself: something curious, perhaps miraculous is happening here. »

[Lance Berelowitz - Dream City]

A new star is born

« If there are drawbacks to blogging, I’ll discover them as I go. My grand-mother published poetry. My mother wrote a book. My brother wrote a book. For all I know, my cat is recording his memoires. I feel the pressure. I’ll write a blog. »

[From On Blogging, Away from the Ocean - My dear sister’s new blog!]

Very cool to have you online, Gitte. Now we can talk from geek to geek

« While private gunrunners continue to thrive, the world’s biggest arms suppliers are the U.S., U.K., Russia, France and China.

They also are the five permanent members of the U.N. security council. »

These two sentences appearing before the end credits of Andrew Niccol’s Lord of War are probably the strongest message of the whole movie. The intention was right but the result is weak. Important theme chosen, good questions asked, correct answers offered (or the lack thereof), but without sufficient power and through a moderate drama intensity diluted by the somewhat comical narration of Yuri (Cage).

However the acting is good, the photography excellent and the soundtrack, superb. Worth watching, even if only to have seen it.

« It’s so easy, even a child can use it; and they do. »

[Yuri about the Russian AK-47 assault rifle.]

Bajo la penumbra de un farol
Se dormirán
Todas las cosas que quedaron por decir,
Se dormirán.
Junto a las manillas de un reloj
Esperarán
Todas las horas que quedaron por vivir,
Esperarán.

[José Luis Perales - Porque te vas]

And the devil in black dress watches over
My guardian angel walks away
Life is short and love is always over in the morning
Black wind come carry me far away

[Andrew Eldritch]

« A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not. It is the discipline to discard what does not fit - to cut out what might have already cost days or even years of effort - that distinguishes the truly exceptional artist and marks the ideal piece of work, be it a symphony, a novel, a painting, a company or, most important of all, a life. »

[From a Jim Collins article]