Juggling Dynamite

We bought ourselves an amazing Christmas present this year.  It is a Life Cycle Elliptical Cross-Trainer powered completely by human movement.

You can place these energy-efficient cross-trainers anywhere, with no electrical cords or outlets to consider. Life Cycle has had this technology for a few years, but amazingly it is the only company we could find that makes a self-generating model. Why individuals and gym owners would want to unnecessarily spend money and electricity to run fitness equipment is quite a mystery. Here we are like human rats logging hours a week running on treadmills, pedaling bikes, and all manner of machines, and yet no one seems interested in harnessing all this free, green energy. The mind boggles.

I have used machines at gyms for years now, but to have a commercial grade heart pumper right there in our my family room is a huge treat. New, these units retail for more than 6k, but one of the great gifts of deflation and huge over-capacity in the world is that we can find almost everything these days used, for cash. It turns out there are warehouses full of refurbished, used equipment all over the world for dimes on the dollar.  Cheap, green, healthy and silent…my idea of perfection.

Waves of civil unrest and protest are growing in China today, as in so many other parts of the world. Apparently Chinese people too are fed up with corruption and theft by some elites at the expense of the masses. The BBC has been doing some good reporting on recent uprisings.

In the below CNBC interview, Gordon Chang, Author of “The Coming Collapse of China” talks about why he is skeptical about China’s growth and says its rising export numbers do not make sense.  Here is the direct link. The Chinese downturn story is likely to be another negative catalyst for still over-priced stock markets moving into 2012.

Danielle spoke to Phil Mackesy of Talk Digital Network today discussing recent developments in the global economy and world markets. You can listen to the audio clip here.