Immigration Minister Jason Kenney:

"I don’t know what conspiracy," Mr. Kenney said yesterday on CTV’s Question Period.

"Would this be between the Conservative party, the NDP, three Filipino nannies and the Toronto Star [the newspaper that first reported the story]," I mean I can hear the black helicopters hovering overhead. I think it’s unfortunate and undermines credibility when people start talking about conspiracy theories."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/article1140133.ece

Gov. General Michelle Jean:

Jean said the seal hunt is a vital part of the Inuit economy that is done in a sustainable and respectful way.

She said people are probably too conditioned by modern life and forget where food comes from.

"When I eat beef, I am totally aware that eating beef is also … a once-living thing.

"Vegetarians make a choice in their life. I haven’t made this choice. When I eat lamb, I know that I am eating a lamb. When I eat veal, I know that I am eating a veal. Those, too, are very cute animals."
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/27/jean-hunt.html

Some of you will appreciate the cartoons at: xkcd.com

However there is one blog that I subscribe to purely for entertainment purposes:  http://thisisindexed.com/

A sample of the humour can be found below (and yes there’s a new index card drawing posted everyday.)

More details at:  http://goreadgreen.com/category/subscriptions/featured/

(It’s not quite the same as “real paper” but you do get to view every page of the magazine..)

It’s now time to add two more to that list:

TVO’s Big Ideas

Broadcast on TVO this program is also available as both an audio and a video podcast it bills itself as "TELEVISION FOR PASSIONATE THINKERS"…

The Economist Audio Edition

The entire content of each week’s edition of The Economist is converted to audio format and available for download/listening to.  Unfortunately the entire contents are only available to subscribers—but a few audio/video podcasts are posted each day here.

However right now there’s a great deal for a short-term subscription for those of you that want to give it a try…12 issues of The Economist for only $15!  (approx. what two issues would cost at the new-stand.)

https://www.economistsubscriptions.com/mail/ca/

Promotion Code:  68C2 

(Warning:  it’s an expensive habit once you become addicted.)

Karen Connelly’s “The Lizard Cage” is lot of reading (hardcover, 500 pages) but is definitely worth the effort.  For those of you who have not heard of her, Karen Connelly is a Canadian author whose first book ”Touch the Dragon” was a journal of her experience as a Rotary Exchange Student in Thailand in the 1980s (and won a few literary prizes.) 

I’ve included a summary of the story below–although I should point out that it doesn’t really do justice to the book as it’s her writing style that really makes this book a great read.

In her long-awaited first novel, Karen Connelly recreates the world of a Burmese prison, and of the country’s tumultuous years in the late 1980’s, when millions of people rose up to protest against the brutality of their military government. This is a story of human resilience, love and humour — a potent act of empathy and witness.

Inside his solitary confinement cell, Teza, who once electrified the people of Burma with his protest songs against the dictatorship, now applies his acute intelligence and Buddhist patience to finding meaning in the interminable days. Arrested by the Burmese secret police, cut off from his family for the first seven years of a twenty-year sentence, he searches for news and human connection in every object and being that is grudgingly allowed into his cell.

Despite his isolation, Teza has a profound influence on the people around him. His integrity and humour inspire the conscience-ridden senior jailer to radical change. His very existence challenges the brutal authority of the junior jailer, perversely nicknamed Handsome. Even though his server, the criminal Sein Yun, sees compromising Teza as his ticket out of jail, the singer befriends him, and falls into a trap of forbidden food, conversation, and the most dangerous contraband of all, pen and paper.

Lastly there’s Little Brother, an orphan who’s grown up inside the jail, imprisoned by his own deprivation. Teza and the boy are prisoners of different orders, but their extraordinary friendship frees both of them in utterly surprising ways. Overturning our expectations, Karen Connelly presents us with a world that celebrates human spirit, and spirit itself, in the midst of injustice and violence.

Source:  http://www.karenconnelly.ca/book_details_the_lizard_cage.aspx

CommunityLend.com has a website now–but it looks like it will be fall before they will be operational.  Not much info at the website–but the National Post has a story on the company.

http://www.rotarylondon.org/rotaryrummage.html

Right now we are looking for donations, but don’t forgot the sale itself (May 12-13 at the Western Fairgrounds.)

I’ve listed some of my preferred programming below–as for downloading podcasts, you can do this manually or use software to automate the task (either Doppler or iTunes should do the trick and some RSS Readers can handle podcasts as well.)

CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)

- lots of programs here, I listen to “Quirks and Quarks”, “Best of Ideas”, “Dispatches” and “Best of The Current” the most often

NPR (National Public Radio)

- lots of programs here, I really like “Here on Earth”, “Think”, and “Foreign Dispatch”

RNW (Radio Netherlands)

- all the programs are good (and are in English)

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)

- despite being the “BBC WorldService” they’re not strong on the podcast front yet but “Documentary” is pretty good

TEDTalks (Technology, Entertainment, Design)

- some really good podcasts here (videocasts as well), Bjorn Lomborg on Jan 2, 2007 should be mandatory listening

Pop!Tech

- similar to TEDTalks, more really good podcasts

IT Conversations

- more “nerd” oriented than the others–but “TechNation” is suitable for non-nerd listeners

EconTalk

- only recommended if you have a strong interest in economics

http://dna.imagini.net/friends/

However, the Helsinki city government has caught on to this and is looking at implementing a solution:

 

Two-seater benches for Helsinki’s parks for those who cannot sit next to a stranger

Faced with the situation that Finns are pathologically reluctant to sit next to strangers, the City of Helsinki has come up with a curious solution – it has decided to place narrower benches in its parks. The idea of two-seater benches was proposed by City Councellor Sture Gadd (Swedish People’s Party). The Public Works Committee will handle the proposal today, Thursday.
According to the proposal there is a shortage of benches, as the present three-seater benches are often occupied by just one person. As on the buses and trains, Finns are not naturally predisposed to sit next to anyone they do not know, if there is a free seat available anywhere else. Many seem to prefer standing.
      “If the number of twin benches were higher than that of the present three-seaters, more people could be seated in parks”, notes Gadd.
The need for more benches will increase when the number of senior citizens and tourists grows, the proposal states.
      A few fixed single seats can be found in Helsinki, for example at the eastern end of Katajanokka and in the environs of the Parliament annex building.
      This spring, similar single seats will be placed in Kulosaari, reports Arja Saaristo-Wahlberg from the Street and Park Division of the City’s Public Works Department.
      In addition to single seats, a total of 27 two-seated benches will also be brought to Kulosaari. The Public Works Department is looking forward to receiving feedback about people’s reactions to the new benches, to be used as a basis for acquisitions for other parts of the city.
Part of the City’s park benches are movable, while more and more benches are fixed to the ground, staying in place all the year round. The movable benches are kept in the storage of the Public Works Department over the winter, while they are being repaired and repainted.
      Around this time of the year, the Public Works Department will have the benches placed in the parks and along the streets of the city.

---

Helsingin Sanomat

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Two-seater+benches+for+Helsinki%E2%80%99s+parks+for+those+who+cannot+sit+next+to+a+stranger+/1135225842808

Beaumont’s Beer Blog

The Bar Towel

A Good Beer Blog

Enjoy!

These are wine recommendations that are limited to:

- what is available in Ontario 

- relatively inexpensive wines (~$12/bottle)

Enjoy.

However, I really enjoyed one short dialog:

American Kid:  “Our mom told us that Mexico is really dangerous.”

Mexican Guy:  “Sí, es llenado de Mexicanos.”

Below I have outlined my current investments and briefly explained my investment style (which is probably best described as “value oriented” and “global” with a long term perspective.)

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)

Four years of economics in university (and many years of learning and investing since then) has convinced me that selecting individual stocks is a tough way to make money unless (1) you have a lot of time to get to know a company really, really well or (2) are in a unique position to know more about a company’s prospects than the stock analysts.  (I used to be in that unique position for many IT stocks–but then the dot com boom/bubble got everyone interested in them and now most price changes are driven by hype and speculation rather than any fundamentals.) 

As a result, much of my portfolio is invested in Exchange Traded Funds spread across the big ETF companies (both in Canada and the US.)  From my perspective their are two big benefits to investing in ETFs:

- Broad exposure to markets/economies.  I believe in both “efficient markets” and “globalization”–this means I prefer investments based on macroeconomic fundamentals and I am comfortable with 50% of my portfolio invested outside of Canada (Canada’s economy is <5% of the global economy–and there’s a lot of risk involved in limiting your investment options to what is available in Canada.)

- Lower costs/better long-term returns.   Management Expense Ratios on many mutual funds are high with little or no value added.  When compounded over 20 years, a difference in MERs of .5% versus 2.5% has a very big impact on your net worth when you go to retire.

Claymore (Canada) (CRQ/CIE)

iShares (Canada) (XIC/XIU/XMD)

iShares (US/International) (EEM/ILF,EWT, EWJ)

PowerShares (US/International) (PIV/PID)

State Street (US/International) (DGT)

Vanguard (US/International) (VWO)

Wisdom Tree (US/International) (DOO)

Mutual Funds

The mutual funds that I own are to provide me with more value/small-cap exposure.  I would really like to be using ABC Funds for this (but unfortunately they have a $150,000 minimum investment which is more than I want to invest in value/small-cap stocks at this point in time.)  I had looked at iShares CDN Value Index Fund (XCV) but a quick review of their holdings convinced me that this wasn’t the value/small-cap exposure that I was looking for.

Saxon Small Cap

Mackenzie Cundill Value

Trimark Canadian Small Companies (closed to new investments)

Mackenzie Cundill Recovery Fund (closed to new investments)

Speciality Investments

The options available to the individual investor have increased significantly in the past few years.  Using these speciality products, it is possible to better manage your investment risk–or if you would rather, you can use them to stake a position further out on risk/return curve.

DB Commodity Funds (for commodities exposure)

Rydex CurrencyShares (for decreasing or increasing your currency risk)

Horizons BetaPro Funds (for leveraged and inverse exposure)

Rydex Investments (for leveraged and inverse exposure and other alternate investments)

*Warning*

I am not a financial planning or investment professional and the above should not be construed as financial or investment advice. 
These are investments that I have made and/or am planning to make–and are probably not suitable for anyone else other than myself. 

Most people hate this time of year, however I’ve come to enjoy look forward to it–as I know that the government will finally give me some of my money back (between charitable and RRSP contributions I usually get enough back to justify all the paperwork and headaches.)

However, if you are one of those people that hate RRSP and tax season then you might want to check out some of the websites and blogs below that will answer some of your questions and help you make sense of the barrage of RRSP related advertising that takes place at this time of year.

taxtips.ca – Canadian Income Tax and Financial Information (the best that I’m aware of)

Canadian Capitalist

Canadian Financial DIY

Canadian Financial Stuff

Canadian Money Blogs Reviewer

Investing Intelligently

Canada Revenue Agency (the authoritative answer to any questions–but not great for advice)

…and if you don’t have enough time to review the above information in the next week, then I’ll summarize it for you:

Make an RRSP contribution this year–and start planing for next year’s contribution (for most Canadians this is one of the best financial moves possible.)

However don’t rush your investment decisions–the important part is make the RRSP contribution.  You can put it into a short-term deposit or money market account–and then take your time to decide where to invest it in the long term.  (In my next post, I’ll share some ideas on possible investments and approaches to take to your investments.)

Some of his postings are insightful–and others are just plain funny.  Some samples are below:

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Note to self

Mole poblano doesn’t always work with foreigners.
At least not the first time…

Posted by Chiva Congelado at 10:58 PM

Labels: Food, in English, Mexico

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

They’re afraid of me…

One of the funniest things that has happened to me in Brussels is that when I find Finns in the street and talk to them in Finnish, they get scared as hell. Why? Because I sure as hell don’t look Finnish, so they don’t know what’s going on.
At least with the younger generation that’s not such a big problem anymore, but I sure hope it’d change.

Posted by Chiva Congelado at 9:41 PM

Labels: Belgium, culture, Finland, in English, languages

..and another: Tex-Mex is not Mexican food!

My Big To Do List:

- climb Mount Kilimanjaro / visit the Serengeti
- raft the Zambezi / visit Victoria Falls
- travel in India
- travel in Thailand / visit Angkor Wat
- get my pyrotechnics license

A quick search of the internet will come up with lots of material on life lists.  I really liked the lists at Outpost Magazine and the Travel Channel, but the 43 Things and SuperViva websites are probably more interesting to the general population (and have piles of neat things listed–as well as a few that I don’t understand…)

It’s easy to understand why it’s necessary to plan for the big things in life (like buying a house, taking a year off, retiring, etc.) but these life lists are far more fun and interesting (although a lot still have “buy a house”, etc. on them.) 

Check them out….

Links:

Outpost Magazine’s Adventure Life List

Travel Channel’s 99 Things to Do Before You Die

Life Goals Lists on SuperViva

43 Things

Sylvan Breadsmith – Located at the outdoor Covent Garden Market.  This is the best bread I’ve ever tasted.  This is organic artisan bread at it’s best (it’s almost a meal on its own.)  While you’re there, try to convince Penelope that she needs to make the cardamom snail pastries again….

London Ice Cream – Located at 43 Base Line Rd W.  This is the best ice cream in Southern Ontario.  Made onsite, it’s rich and tasty (and unfortunately very addictive.)  “Moosetracks” is their most famous flavour–but be sure to try the other ones.  Available as an ice-cream cone–or to take home.

Mike’s Meat Market – Located at 1866 Dundas St. E (just west of Clarke Rd.)  This is where to go for your fix of Dutch food (zout drops, cheese, chocolate, etc.)  plus a few Indonesian items. 

Latino Food Market – Located at 470 Dundas St.  This is the place to pick up Latin American food (chiles, horchata, candy, etc.)  If you can’t find it here, try Tienda Hernandez Variety at 267 Thompson Rd.

Sikorski’s  - Located at 1290 Trafalgar St (near Highbury.)  This is Central European food central.  If it’s Polish or German, you should be able to find it here.  Great baked goods and selection of imported products–but the real reason to come here is the sausages (try the weiss wurst or anything smoked.)

????? Middle Eastern Food - I can’t remember the name.  This store is located in a small plaza at the corner of Wilkins and Sandringham (just off of Wellington Rd.)  Best selection of feta cheese and olives around.

Indo-Asian Grocery- This store is located at in a small plaza at 689 Oxford St W. (at the corner of Capulet just west of Wonderland Rd.)  All the ingredients that you will ever need and then some.  Even better are the dessert treats that are just waiting to be eaten.

Other places to check out are the Covent Garden Market (downtown at Talbot and King St.) and Trail’s End Market (east of London on Dundas St.)  Both of these markets have an good selection of vendors and lots of interesting food.

Our restaurant tastes are fairly simple: we enjoy good food and we enjoy ethnic food. 

Below are the restaurants that we frequented regularly–or really enjoyed (but not as frequently.)

Billy’s Deli – Easily the best breakfast in the city (we’ve had breakfast there over a hundred times.)  The original owners moved to the Telegraph House/Pineapple Room (see below) but the menu is still good–and the posted specials are even better (especially when they incorporate seasonal ingredients.)  Recommended dishes:  Skillet Breakfast and any special.

Marienbad/Chaucer’s - Great food with an emphasis on central Europe.  Beer selection is great and constantly changing.  The beer dinners (held monthly) are very much recommended if you enjoy great food and trying different beer.  I normally recommend the Chaucer’s side (a more comfortable atmosphere–especially if the fireplace is on during the winter.) 

El Ranchito - Just good Latin American food (from Mexico and points further south.)   Recommended dishes:  Combo #1, Combo #2 and Fritanga Managua.

Telegraph House/Pineapple Room -  Easily the best breakfast anywhere (it’s actually located in Port Stanley and not London.)  If you love food then you need to visit.  Recommended dishes:  Anything–if it’s on the menu it’s good! 

Ben-Than – Vietnamese and Thai.  Recommended dishes:  Fruit smoothies, bbq beef fresh rolls, green curry chicken with green beans, black pepper pork pot (warning–it smells) and pho (in the winter.) 

Volker’s - Best high-end restaurant in the city (out in Hyde Park.)

 

and Honourable Mentions….

Shiki – Best sushi in London (in the south-end)

Jewel of India – The best in London (ignore the buffet and order from the menu.) 

Katana Cafe - Breakfast beside the runway at the London airport (make sure the weather is OK for flying otherwise it’s just another breakfast.) 

Manna Grill – Korean–it’s not fancy–but the bul-go-gee and kim-chee are good. 

Chancey Smith’s – Great patio and beer, and good food to go with it. 

Braywick Bistro – Great food–better than many of London’s better-known high-end restaurants.

Byron Pizza – It’s not wood-fired oven–but order it with a thin crust and extra oregano and it’s almost as good. 

 

For addresses/phone numbers for the above, use: http://canada411.sympatico.ca/

The one’s I’ve been to are shown on the map below (in red.)  I’ve only included countries where I’ve spent more than a day (so stop-overs at Heathrow and Frankfurt don’t count–unless I add up all the different times.)

Based on the big white areas, it looks like I’m going to have to start traveling to Asia and Africa sometime soon….

I am not aware of any p2p financing web sites in Canada yet, however Prosper.com (US) and Zopa.com (UK) are already in the business and it’s probably only a matter of time before one of them expands to Canada (or a home-grown alternative springs up.)

The premise of p2p financing is to reduce the transaction costs associated with financing by allowing lenders and borrowers to interact directly with each other (with the p2p financing web site providing a minimal amount of services in the role that has traditionally been performed by bankers.)  The prospective borrower provides information about themselves (creditworthiness, what the money will go towards, how much is required, etc.) and the lenders then can decide how many they would be willing to lend to that specific borrower and at what rate of interest. 

Essentially this is loan syndication for the masses–borrowers can access capital at better than bank terms, and lenders can earn better returns by diversifying their investments across a variety of borrowers. 

However, there is one p2p financing web site that really interests me, and that is Kiva.org.  Their web site probably best describes what they do (no need for me to re-phrase it) so here it is:

We let you loan to the working poor

Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.

At present, you won’t get rich by investing at Kiva.org.  However, it will probably be only a matter of time before these approaches merge and “Joe Investor” will be able to lend/invest money to a micro-enterprise just about anywhere in the world (wow…better than GIC rates of return plus the opportunity to do some good with your money.)