The Stand, Football Biting, Naughty Banks and #BestofFinancial

I finally finished “the Stand” a novel by Stephen King, but I listened to the audiobook, and it was 48 hours long (I am not kidding, click here to see it on Audible), but I am glad I listened to it. I am in a Stephen King mood right now, and I have always wanted to finish this book (never got passed the first 1/3 before), but now I can check that book off the list. Yes, I am bragging that I listened to a book.

Numerous comical remarks have been made about the purported incident at the World Cup of Football, with Uruguayan striker Suarez allegedly biting an Italian opponent during their previous game this week. As someone who has witnessed a plethora of peculiar occurrences in sports, I must say this one is particularly noteworthy. Although we have seen players biting each other’s fingers in hockey, a shoulder bite is an even more intriguing and unusual event.

The Banks have their rules and their ways of doing things, but hitting an injured soldier with a $7K penalty while selling his home (that he could no longer afford due to his injuries), is a bit of a nightmare scenario. The unfortunate part is I am sure if someone in the head office, say in the media relations side of things, had heard of this earlier, they would have done something about it, but having it come out in the Media now paints the Bank as being heartless and uncaring. Funny how decisions at the local level can harm the reputation of an entire firm? (but not really).

My Writings for Week Ending June 27th

Canada Day this weekend, and most folks with sense (who are allowed to take vacation) are taking Monday off as well, thus creating an awesome 4 day weekend:

• Yes, I think the Red Flags are up, and I write about them with Who said Inflation ? CPI Up in Canada, with Gas prices now a little out of control, we may see less economic stimulation from the Bank of Canada (soon).
• The Electricity Quandary is a two-pronged discussion of the new “Smart Thermostats” that Ontario Hydro is pushing and a discussion of the future of the Electricity Grid in North America.
• I have a massive archive of posts, so I am going back through many of them, so Thursdays looks to be Throwback Thursdays for a while, and with that I brought you, A Financial Plan B (revisited), do you have a Plan B yet?
• I also appeared in this weeks Carnival of Risks #211 over at Workers’ Comp Insider, well worth a read if you are paranoid about lightning (like I am).
• You do realize I have an odd sense of humor with Joke of the Day: Chickmunks .

This Week’s Finest

An extremely long weekend ahead for those that can take Monday off, and luckily gas prices are at record highs (said he sarcastically):

• It has been a year since the tragic death of Rowan Stringer playing rugby, and there are new findings that have been published about second impact syndrome, if your child plays a contact sport, you need to read and understand this.
• A good rule in life is, “Just because you have $20, doesn’t mean you have to SPEND $20”, and Michael James expands on that with RRIF withdrawal rates do not have to rule your life.
• You know technology is main stream when the NY Times writes about it, and glad to see the piece of A Breakdown of the Raspberry Pi, shows some of the nifty things being done with it.
• I am simple soul, and I keep hearing about Market-Linked GICs, but I don’t understand them, however Moneysense (and Pat Bolland in specific) writes about Market-Linked GICs: Have your stock cake and eat it too, the title should really have added a question mark, I think I understand them better.
• You on Pope Francis’ twitter feed? You should be, he says some interesting stuff (and I am not Catholic), like this, “How I wish everyone had decent work! It is essential for human dignity.”, note no mention of eating fish on Friday or women wearing hats in Church.
• Time says that Sting (the singer, not the wrestler) will not let his kids walk in his fields of gold, nice Dad
• Mark from 2nd Career Search points out that there is lots of good stuff on the Interweb even a Free MIT or Harvard Education if you want it. The interweb is good for something other than Porn? Whodathunkit?
• If you read my Twitter feed this week you would have learned that my favorite Basic (programming language) game was HMRABI.
• Kerry at Squawkfox tries to figure out why an “Over the Air” TV Antenna has got to be so expensive with Is Dollarama’s $3 HDTV Antenna worth it. That works great in the GTA, but in the frozen outback of Ottawa, you need some amplification for your antenna to get the best response.
• Someone sent me two cans of Canadian Cider by mail, because I use their Social Media Tool (Klout), to paraphrase Yakov Smirnoff, “What a country!”. Who knew you could mail cider?
• How could a single hyphen destroy an $80M rocket? Read this Gizmodo piece on The Typo That Destroyed a NASA Rocket, hard to understand these days, but back then, it was all paper and pencil!
• It is the summer time, have you Given Blood lately? Someone you know or love might need it, it is in you to give.
• If you are on the hunt for a good Equity ETF with an international flavour Mark from My Own Advisor has for you Top International Equity ETFs for YOUR portfolio.
• Mark the Blunt Bean Counter wanted to know Inheritance: Are you a loving child – a Waiter or a Hoverer ? I am more of a Vulture, much like on that 70’s T-Shirt of the two Vultures on a branch, one saying, “Patience HELL! I’m gonna go KILL something!”

Seinfeld on Technology

If there is one thing that Jerry Seinfeld knows, it is technology, and here he is helping out Wired with some new rules about how to be stylish with technology.

The National Film Board, a National Treasure

You realize that every National Film Board short and such is online waiting for you to watch? Even Oscar-winning ones, like this:

The Cat Came Back by Cordell Barker, National Film Board of Canada

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Random Thoughts for 2014

Lots of these kinds of Best of articles in 2014. Here is a list of them.

• World Cup Side-Effects, Seinfeld Cars, and #BestofFinancial What happens around the World at half time of the World Cup Final? Is it like Flushed away? Is there a sudden tsunami? Who knows?
• Cuba, Rubles, Christmas and #BestThisWeek – getting close to Christmas but Ian McKellen can teach us about impulse control.
• Snow, Christmas, Enhanced and #BestThisWeek talk of more festive ideas, like how to save money at Christmas.
• A Gentleman, Day of Disability, Christmas, Rugby and #BestThisWeek noted the passing of Jean Beliveau and John Oliver’s views on Lotteries.
• Black Friday is Here, Advent, and #BestThisWeek speaks of the blessed Black Friday and associated sales but also includes a Fanfare for the Common Man.
• Lake Effect Snow, Web Cameras, Travel Insurance and #BestThisWeek November brings snow in Toronto, as we see, and other financial ideas.
• Asteroids, Tax Cuts, Lemurs and #BestThisWeek how many times has the Earth almost been hit by an asteroid? Too often to remember.
• Lame Ducks, Financial Literacy, Working for Free and #BestThisWeek lame duck leaders never really get that much done, no matter how they negotiate.
• Happy Halloween, Income Splitting and #BestThisWeek a wonderful financial time of the year is Halloween? Maybe income splitting is a better subject.
• Ottawa We Shall Remember, Bank of Canada and #BestThisWeek after a bad week in Ottawa, with senseless violence.
• Crashing Markets, Ebola, Low Loonie, Cheap Gas and #BestThisWeek even in 2014 the markets were a little volatile.
• Hockey, Turkey, Leaves, Carry On Bags and #theBestFin4TheWeek is it right that the hockey season starts before Thanksgiving?
• October, Hello Ebola, Give Blood and #theBestFin4TheWeek October arrived unexpectedly this week, almost unnoticed. As we have entered the final (calendar) quarter of the year 2014, it may be time to start considering a year-end review of your financial plans.
• Autumn , United Kingdom, Beer Money, and #theBestFin4TheWeek the colours in Ottawa during Autumn are truly spectacular.
• Pins, Alibaba , Apple Pay , Lecosse , and #theBestFin4TheWeek remember when Alibaba the IPO happened, those were heady days.
• Home Despot, iPhones, and #theBestFin4TheWeek
• Back to School, Tim Burger King, Knee Defenders and #theBestFin4TheWeek will the dutchie ever come back? I can only hope.
• Broken Humerus, Ebola, Anniversaries, Blood and #theBestFin4TheWeek remember when we thought Ebola was going to wipe us out?
• It is Done, Ice Bucket Challenge, Media Perceptions and #theBestFin4TheWeek
• WW1 Centenery, More Hacked Passwords and #theBestFin4TheWeek
• The Long Weekend with no Name, Defaults, and #BestFinancialForTheWeek
• Unmasking Super Heroes, Dogs of Summer and #BestOfFinancialForThisWeek
• All Stars, Al Stars and the #BestOfFinancialForWeek the world cup was a big thing in 2014 as was Bastille day too.
• Brazilian Defeats, Tour De Chunnel, and #BestOfFinancialForWeek you mean Brazil can lose at the world cup?
• Tennis, Racing, Inflation and #BestofFinancial Canada Day is the start of the summer for most Canadians, and financial stories too.
• The Stand, Football Biting, Naughty Banks and #BestofFinancial even in 2014 the banks were misbehaving with shenanigans.
• Elections, Dad’s Day, World Cup, Friday the 13th and #BestofFinancial somehow the Liberals won the 2014 Ontario Provincial Election
• No Rate Hike, Better Performance, Montreal Grand Prix and #Bestof-Financial back in 2014 we were worried about rates, but they were already pretty low.
• Elections, Farewell Knowlton, May Done, and #Bestof-Financial Knowlton Nash was the voice of news for Canada for a while.
• Internet Memory, Grand Prix of Monaco and #FreeFormFridays the Internet has memory?
• Time Off, Elections, Victoria Day and #FreeFormFridays Victoria Day is always a fun weekend.
• Frosts, Elections, Farley Mowat and #FreeFormFridays it does get cold in May!
• Rain, Budgets, Bloggers Meeting, May Day and #FreeFormFridays When financial bloggers meet what happens?
• Beware the Financial Jabberwock, Netflix Expansion, Model Trains, Backups and #FreeFormFridays a thematically odd article.
• Easter is Here and a Saturday #BestOf for the Weekend a time of renewal, new beginnings in life and financially as well.
• RIP Flaherty, Heartbleed, Tax Time, Quebec Elections and #FreeFormFridays the former finance minister did a lot of good for the economy.
• #Selfies, Quebec Election, Big Joe, Awareness, and #FreeFormFridays would Big Joe Mufferaw have been a good fit for the Redblacks? We’ll never know.
• Don Quixote, Tax Time, Cheap Mortgages and #FreeFormFridays gotta hate tax time.
• Spring Has Sprung, March Madness, Celebrity Blogger and #FreeFormFridays talking about Spring in March in Ottawa can be a bit early.
• Pi Day, March Break, Two Ferns, Snow and #FreeFormFridays given pi is infinite, how much pie can we expect?
• Quebec Elections, Eating Sugar, Suing Parents, Big Rocks and #FreeFormFridays those elections in Quebec are never dull.
• Saint David’s Day, Big Posts, RRSP Time, the Dating Game and #FreeFormFridays always a good time to put a Welsh Choir Clip in an article.
• Hockey Day, Tax & RRSP Time and #FreeFormFridays Hockey day in Canada? Well it does happen, right around RRSP time too.
• More Olympics, Budgets, Love Day and #FreeFormFridays Valentine’s Day: Celebrating Love and Dealing with Financial Whining.
• Olympics, Not Super Bowls, Creationism and #FreeFormFridays 2014 Olympics Opening Ceremonies and Soshi Stadium’s Doppleganger: The Super Bowl.
• Senators, Weak Loonie, Superb Owls and #FreeFormFridays Rugby is a Hooligan’s game played by a Gentleman.
• Polar Vorteces, Olympics, Mayors and #FreeFormFridays The Polar Vortex brings Winter in Canada. But don’t worry – -30C highs in Ottawa in January are normal.
• Giveaways, Oil tanks, Eagles and #FreeFormFriday Have you checked your oil tank if you heat with Oil? What will your insurance do if the tank ruptures?
• Truly Canadian Issues, Ultra HD TV, Car Loans and #FreeFormFriday Get your lock de-icer and unlock your Super Mailbox cubicle like I did – Canadian Tire to the rescue!
• Some #RandomThoughts from 2014 Some of the best of, best of posts on my random thoughts weekly post.
• CPP Reform, Snow, Christmas, Boxing day and #FreeFormFriday Did the CPP reform of 2013 fix much? Kind of, but Christmas was coming too.

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