Apr 06 2010
Here’s some interesting facts, comparing e-readers (Apple’s iPAD, really) to regular books: One e-reader requires 33 pounds of minerals and 79 gallons of water. A regular book requires about 0.6 pounds of minerals and 2 gallons of water. Making an e-reader requires around 100 kw/h of energy (around 66 pounds of co2). A normal book [...]
Apr 05 2010
I’ve just finished yet another environmental book: The Ecology of Commerce (by Paul Hawken). The book is from ’93, which makes it rather old (can you believe it’s almost 20 years since ’93?) – but it’s still excellent and highly recommended. The main thesis of this book is that the markets today are not efficient, [...]
Feb 28 2010
This isn’t surprising, but still sad. When you buy your next cheap gadget, think about this. It turns out that Apple’s ‘overseas’ suppliers are cutting corners ab it. 54% of these factories have failed to meet Apple’s maximum-hour work week. And this is a 60-hours (!) work week we’re talking about – over half of [...]
Jan 21 2010
Lately Michal is praising creativity all the time. It turns out that being creative is good – not just because you invent startups and become rich – it’s also a great way to channel your energy, to overcome emotional and physical problems. In short – it’s really important to be creative. You don’t have to [...]
Jan 11 2010
Everybody who traveled in Asia (and other places, of course) have seen those funny mistakes these guys make in English. It appears everywhere: official places (we saw a “polace” sign in a police station), parks, places of business and on products (Michal bought a small notebook, which proudly stated “We only do well”). Here’s some [...]
Dec 27 2009
Avid readers of my blog (hey mom!) know that I usually blog on books I read. The good ones, anyway. Here’s the ones I read in Chengdu. I read all of them in Hebrew, by the way. Long Lost, Harlan Coben. OK, it’s a Harlan Coben book, which is pretty lame. But it was a [...]
Dec 23 2009
VPN for youtube and facebook Clouds and mists Chang-Fu Xin Xan Starbucks Xian-Nan-Lu Sichaun pepper (yuck!) Our ‘home’ restaurant, the yellow/sterile one, the green one, the one across the street Dodo’s cafe The Metro The secrets of Free Mori Tandoor Endless amount of high rise buildings The Bookworm Kabalth-Shabbath at Meirav’s Abigail starting to walk [...]
Dec 21 2009
As you may know, China has a ‘one-child-policy’. It basically means that you can only have one child (and if you have more, it costs a lot of money). I never realized what this law really means. It’s not just that you don’t have brothers. Your parents do not have brothers, too. So you don’t [...]
Dec 17 2009
Today we went to an Indian restaurant here in Chengdu, called Tandoor. It was really great – they were very friendly (the managers come from Delhi), and impressed with our fluent Hindi. And the food? the best we had so far in Chengdu – great Indian food! Dal Makhani, Palak Paneer, Samosas… It got me [...]
Dec 11 2009
I can’t believe it’s almost 2 months since we left Israel already. It seems like we’re in China for a longer period, although it’s very difficult to get used to this place. Everything is different. Today I had 3 tasks to do after lunch – Pay our gas bill, get a hair-cut, and recharge the [...]