Oblique Angles on Energy and Life

Chasing Efficiency is Fighting Darwin [1.2]

Herbert Spencer summarized Darwin as “survival of the fittest” and not “survival of the most efficient”. Setbacks are inevitable and it’s resilience – not efficiency – that mitigates their impact.

Efficiency, Resilience, and Maslow [1.1]

Efficiency has value, but in complex systems it's still subordinate to resilience.

Energy R&D: Resilience and Diversity

It is a cliché that digital cameras killed Kodak, but it deserves to be a cliché that Fujifilm survived. This example and many others suggest that while efficiency helps us in the short term, resilience carries us to the long term. We should consider this as we think about energy.

Attack on Titan: from Idealism to Internment Camps

The expanded finale of acclaimed Japanese anime Attack on Titan was in select North American theatres on Monday (February 10). I attended. I only wish I’d hooked my kids on it, so we could have gone together. While it superficially begins in the team of heroes-battling-monsters genre, the show

Beethoven's Notes, Medical Diagnoses and Motorcycle Maintenance

In my irrepressible nerdiness I finished this scholarly book on Christianity recently, which illuminated the importance of the context of written words. Especially hallowed words which influence culture. The gentlest way to ease into this is through Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance before

Azure Dynamics: Canada's Pre-Tesla EV Pioneer

The Vancouver Tech Journal recently published my piece about Azure Dynamics, a British Columbia-based hybrid and EV pioneer who sold and delivered more than 500 BEVs. (And 1000+ hybrids.) Azure delivered their first assembly line-manufactured, crash-tested light commercial BEVs to customers a few days before the first Nissan Leaf buyer