Life and technology in a Shoe Box

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Life and technology in a Shoe Box

• We are all compelled to take a look back at our
  lives once in awhile. For me it usually occurs
  spontaneously as I am looking for something
  amongst the boxes of dishes and garage sale
  inventory filling the crawl spaces of my life.I
  will come across a shoe box full of randomly
  sorted snap shots and sit down in the crawl space
  and reminiscing for hours.
• Well now, thanks to Dr Steve Patrina, I have a
  reason to pull one of those shoe boxes out of the
  crawl space and put some order to my reminiscing.
• Lets have a look at Life and Technology from a
  Shoe Box

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Life and Technology in a Shoe Boxby Michael Riml
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My Maker

• My Dad was a ski boot maker from Austria
• He came to Canada and made his small fortune with
  early textile technology
• At the height of his ski boot business in
  North Vancouver he sold some of the finest
  boots internationally
• Racers from around the world bought the Riml
  Ski Boot

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The Riml Ski Boot

• The technology employed was little more than the
  use of a sewing machine - but the skill was
  impressive.

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Grouse Mountain 1960s

• My Dad and his friends skiing in the 60s
• Equipment wood, steel, leather, wool and natural
  colours - high tech at the time
• Hubert Riml is 2nd from the
• right

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Technology Gets Ugly on the Slopes

• My friend, Geoff and I, on Whistler Mountain in
  1989
• The equipment got better
• Plastics, Alloys, and Gore-Tex
• The colours are out of hand

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Construction Technology

• Throughout my twenties much of my income has come
  from working on various construction projects.
• Quite naturally, I noticed the different methods
  of construction used to erect structures - here
  are a few.

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Man Power 1994

• I was hired to manage the building of a 2500
  square foot house on Eagle Island, West
  Vancouver.
• With no bridge - it was cheapest to do things by
  hand
• I hired some of my friends to help with the
  concrete
• We hand bombed and poured 1200 55lb bags of
  concrete and mixed them with a simple electric
  mixer
• Yes these guys are still my friends - we took our
  time.

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2x4 Construction

• After the 1996 earthquake in Kobe Japan I signed
  a one year contract to build houses in Kobe
• The Japanese preferred the Canadian-style framing
  over their traditional post and beam technique as
  it had been proven to have much more sheer
  strength in order to withstand an earthquake

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Golden Temple, Kyoto 1996

• A traditional post and beam Japanese temple.
• Gold plated for extra value.

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Slapping them together

• In Kobe we worked 10 hour days and 6 days a week.
  
• We framed a house every 8 to 9 days
• I learned to frame a house in my sleep
• All tools were pneumatic and electric
• The Japanese framers took 4 weeks to build the
  same house.

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• The Taj Mahal 1992
• Built by Shah Jahan in1638 as
• his wife's final resting place.
• It took 22 years, by 20,000
• workers, to complete
• The Taj is covered completely by pure Makaran
  Marble
• If ya dont recognise me, its because I lost
  20lbs in India

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Tikkal, Guatemala 1999

• The largest Aztec city known
• These amazing stone
• temples rise out of the
• rainforest canopy

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Haifa Israel 1997Check out the Old Masonry Work
- This stuff has withstood many a war

• Claimed by some, as the oldest port in the
  Medetrainian
• Haifa was first mentioned in the Talmud and has
  since been claimed by many people. In 1100 the
  Crusaders conquered the city, slaughtering Arabs
  and Jews. The city was destroyed by the Mamluks
  in 1291, captured by the Turks in 1517, and
  fortified by the Bedouin Sheikh Dahir el Amr in
  1750. Jewish settlers from North Africa and
  Germany came to Haifa in the 19th century.

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Christmas day inside the Church of the Holy
Sepulture 1996

• The Church of the holy sepulture was built on the
  spot that Jesus was believed to be crucified
• Christians didnt make it easy to get inside here
  on this night.

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Tragedy at the hands of technology - the old city
hall in Hiroshima Japan 1996
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Commercial Salmon Fishing

• Commercial fishing on the Canadian Pacific in
  1991
• Fishing technology - nets, boats, sonar, radar,
  hydraulics, etc, helped to deplete the salmon
  stocks to endangered levels
• Closing of fisheries
• Unemployment for commercial fisherman
• The salmon are trying to make a come back

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• Summer 1991
• I was the engineer
• Drumming the net onboard
• Going through the net
• to look for holes
• and tears with my
• fellow mate
• I loved that job - too bad we couldnt manage the
  technology

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The Hydraulic Drop Stern

• With a hydraulic lever I could drop the stern of
  the boat to help pull onboard a big catch.
• There is at least 1000
• salmon in this catch
• The hydraulic stern allows us to get back to
  fishing quickly
• I remember one day we caught 100,000 lbs. of
  sockeye in 3 hrs. the only reason we quit was
  because the boat was full.

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More Fishing in Thailand 1992

• I spent most of my money in those days travelling
• This is a Thai Gill Net in the Gulf of Siam
• They too are misusing
• technology - too
• many boats, too
• big of nets, and
• not enough fish

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Transportation

• We all have to get around somehow and inevitably
  some type of technology is employed in
  transporting us humans around
• Lets have a look at some of the modes that I have
  moved in or on

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Yes thats a Bus

• In Calcutta the technology used for public
  transit is more or less the same Its just
  packaged a little differently

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Me Local Bus

• The 6 Downtown gets me out of the Vancouver's
  West End and back again.
• A more environmentally and ecologically friendly
  electric system than the diesel powered machine

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Kick the Tires and check the Trunk

• 1991 Northern Thailand - Enroute to the Golden
  Triangle.

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The Dragon Boat Race

• A traditional Chinese war boat is now a sport -
  old technology past use - old technology new use.
• This is an international meet in Osaka, Japan
• Our construction company entered -were on the
  right

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German engineering?

• 72 VW Camper - Home, Mexican coast lines,
  Gratefull Dead shows, and 1000 kilometers with
  out a clutch or a throttle pedal

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Going Back in Time

• When I arrived in Calcutta India in 1991 I was 21
  years old and on my own. There where few
  westerners there as a result of the escalating
  gulf war. Electric power was pretty much
  nonexistent after 800pm. The traffic on the
  streets made me feel like I had taken a huge step
  back in time. This was more than the culture
  shock that I was looking for.

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Pedal Power

• A bicycle rickshaw in India
• Economical and environmentally friendly

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More high tech traffic in India, 1991.
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TUKTUK

• Inside a three wheel taxi ( TUKTUK) in Bangkok -
  Hey, they are economical on gas and take up
  little room on the roads.

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Fueling Up

• The attendant fills the glass container
• You pay him to drain it
• Cash only

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FoodWe all love eating, but often we forget
where the food we are eating comes from.
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A Chicken Feast

• Food is delivered to us with varying degrees of
  technology
• My friends and I at the dinner table in Japan

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The Indian Butcher

• No beef here.
• As I was taking a picture of this outdoor chicken
  shop, the owner went to get his son and a live
  chicken for me to take a picture of - he was very
  excited about the camera.
• I had no idea what was coming.
• I ended up buying this chicken and giving it away
  a couple of blocks down the road - to this day I
  feel terribly responsible for that chickens
  death.

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Chicken in Canada

• We are too far removed from the process that puts
  a bird on the supper table - farming technologies
  in the west are largely inhumane.
• Free range chicken and eggs should be law
• ( A typical meat department in North America)

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Veggies

• No pesticides, no sprays, no shopping carts
• Organic veggies on the streets of NewDelhi

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Fresh Fruit in Thailand

• Mmm, Pineapple
• No cans
• No check out stand
• No tax for a snack
• This is truly one of the best things in Thailand
• Fresh pineapple on ice.

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Vending Food

• Only in Japan
• Hot dogs
• Hamburgers
• French fries
• Noodles
• Mmm, YUK
• I tried the burger - sick

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KoSamui 1991

• Getting a coconut the old fashion way
• Thats me up the tree.

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Convenience comes from Technology

• We often take the conveniences of home for
  granted
• Like
• taking a bath,
• doing our laundry, and
• listening to a CD

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Varanasi - India 1991

• A very holy place where Hindus come to cremate
  the dead on ghats on the banks of the Ganges
  River
• They bathe here and some, drink this water

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Laundry in Varanasi

• I am not sure how they cleaned my laundry in such
  dirty water - but they would make Maytag proud.

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Making Music

• The old Hindu playing the Sitar hand makes
  instruments for clients around the world
• I spent a few nights in this gentleman's shop
  listening to him play and watching him build
  sitars.

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Sports

• The sports we play are often equipped by the
  processes of technology

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Football requires the technology of plastics
manufacturing to equip players with protective
equipment.
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Bows and Arrows

• Some call it archery
• It has been noted in the media lately that
  increasingly more children are over weight.
• I say, get away from the high tech toys -
  computer games, and get something active going
  for the youth
• Thats me in the red and
• blue up front.

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Paragliding

• This is me paragliding in Northern Israel
• The Sea of Galilee is behind those hills

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Enough Monkeying Around
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Good Night