Disqus - Latest Comments for cjottawa

Re: Best Pouch Organizers for EDC

cjottawa — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 09:54:50 -0000

Here's a series showing the Side Kick with the tear away EMT pouch, and the EMT pouch open and unpacked:

Re: Best Pouch Organizers for EDC

cjottawa — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 09:46:07 -0000

Two I particularly love:

Condor Side Kick (pic attached)
Condor T&T pouch

Perfect amount of internal webbing for adding small tools and supplies. Most of the others I've seen have too few organization options and just end up as a tangled mess of contents.

For med gear, the tear-away EMT and EMT Lite from Condor are great - larger loops for bandages and such.

Re: Why I’m Losing Faith in B&H Photo

cjottawa — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 14:37:52 -0000

Thanks for posting this. I'm looking at a very specific item that seems too new to be carried by anyone. B+H lists it as a "special order" with 7-14 business day shipping time. After your post, I am VERY skeptical of B+H's "special order" terms and will hold off on giving them money until this item is "in stock."

Re: Google shuts down SMS search (and barely anyone notices)

cjottawa — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 18:50:40 -0000

The problem in places like Canada is data plans are exorbitantly priced, making this particular service very relevant. I used it daily. I'm now left looking for alternatives that don't involve paying $30+/mo extra for mobile data.

Re: Wrong question. | The Reformed Broker

cjottawa — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 08:25:23 -0000

If you believe the table on this page: https://www.franklintemplet... ... missing the market's 10 best days in the 20 year period ending 31 Dec 2011, you lost about half your return. "Time in the market," not "timing the market."

Re: QOTD: Advice is Not a Transaction

cjottawa — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 07:23:07 -0000

Tangentially related: the "Microsoft Money" software has featured a "Lifetime Planner" module for years that does a better than halfway decent job of creating a financial plan. It, and the whole MS Money app, was abandoned by Microsoft. I'd argue it's still the best piece of personal financial management software available. (now a free download from Microsoft)

Perhaps most people really don't give enough of a damn about financial planning to want to invest any effort to DIY. They'd rather pay someone else to think for them.

Some things can't be monetized.

Re: Two-Word Investment Outlooks | The Reformed Broker

cjottawa — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 17:14:02 -0000

"Nothing changes." -student of investment history

Re: 2013 Super Bowl Commercial MegaMix

cjottawa — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 07:50:49 -0000

The Audi commercial is fantastic. Not so much the VW and Toyota ads.

Re: #RFDChat - Goodbye Debt! Tackling Holiday Debt & Much More - RedFlagDeals.com

cjottawa — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:27:03 -0000

#CJOttawa

Re: Chasing the Cat | The Reformed Broker

cjottawa — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 11:30:22 -0000

Are you a closet Bogle-head, Josh? (full disclosure: I am one)

Re: Bad real estate investments leave couple with $1.5-million in debt | Family Finance | Personal Finance | Financial Post

cjottawa — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 13:53:22 -0000

deleted

Re: Muder Holes, Revisited | The Reformed Broker

cjottawa — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:57:30 -0000

Thanks for this Joshua.

I've heard so many people make comments about this or that "great investment" they've been offered. Most of them are talking about something sounding suspiciously like an item on your list of Murder Holes.

Fools and their money...

Re: ENTER THE FINANCIAL BLOGOSPHERE | The Reformed Broker

cjottawa — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 15:12:23 -0000

The first stop on anyone's path: http://www.bogleheads.org/w...
See also: http://www.rickferri.com/blog/

Re: Starbucks Logos of the Future: Words Are For Startups

cjottawa — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 09:07:21 -0000

That doesn't narrow it down. lol

Re: Kill the Password: Why a String of Characters Can’t Protect Us Anymore

cjottawa — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:27:24 -0000

The change will happen when those who underwrite the financial loss of accounts being hacked determine it would be cheaper for them to adopt a new system of authentication than reimburse losses. (read: banks)

Re: 33 Times, You Poor Dumb Bastards | The Reformed Broker

cjottawa — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 21:04:38 -0000

Mr. Brown: would you comment on how this might affect the Canadian Bond market? (DEX Universe Bond index would be a good baseline). I'm curious if Canadian investors with heavy bond exposure should have the same concerns.

Re: The Baghdad Bob of Redmond, Washington - The Reformed Broker | The Reformed Broker

cjottawa — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 07:46:16 -0000

I think Mr.Balmer is more prescient than you give him credit for. I was thinking to myself the other day, as I stared at my Asus netbook (my only home computer - unless you count my iPhone & Kindle Keyboard), I'd buy a newer, faster computer - if it were a convertible tablet/notebook. I'd like both devices but I'm holding out for a single device that does both well. (it's possible - nobody's tackled it yet - unless Microsoft's new device fits the bill)

Re: Sandy as Stimulus? - The Reformed Broker | The Reformed Broker

cjottawa — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:19:24 -0000

Bingo. As I mention in my own comment, Henry Hazlitt convincingly argued this side in his book "Economics in One Lesson."

Re: Sandy as Stimulus? - The Reformed Broker | The Reformed Broker

cjottawa — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:18:19 -0000

Read Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson" for a strong argument that destructive forces like war or natural disaster are NOT positive economic drivers.

Re: Clay Shirky, Connected and Yellow Pages

cjottawa — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 07:49:02 -0000

Read Henry Hazlitt's "Economics in One Lesson". Those employees will find more meaningful work elsewhere, work that adds value instead of taking it away.

Re: Question of the Day

cjottawa — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:30:34 -0000

I'm not a hat person. I am a cuff-link person.
Of several thousand employees in the business park I work at, I'm easy to find: white cuffs and collars, cuff-links. There is only one. ;)

Re: The Betterness Manifesto

cjottawa — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:54:18 -0000

Umair,
I've followed your blog for some time and frequently share links to it but you made some statements in this post I simply can't agree with, specifically:

"Want a thriving democracy? Buy a newspaper."

Are you serious? Newspapers and inherently un-democratic and un-transparent organizations caving to pressures placed on their publishers by government and lobbying groups. Even worse: they're under so much pressure to deliver content they publish what amount to press-releases as news.

How about this remix:
"Want a thriving democracy? Participate in an online forum and elevate the level of discourse, free from commercial interests." Such communities quickly expell industry shills or at least expose and rebuke them into line.

"Want green energy? Invest in going off-grid. Every choice you make with your money, time, and effort reflects your true support for betterness."

You need to read the book "The Rebel Sell" to see how this is a pipe dream.
People are not going to make choices based on supporting betterness, at least not your definition of it.

People make decisions they feel affect THEIR "betterness," usually financial. They will not put themselves at an economic disadvantage unless they have large sums of disposable assets to spend on "lifestyle" choices.

Buying a Prius or Smart For-Two may seem "green." However, when you look at the total embodied energy to build, operate and dispose of those vehicles, their savings in fuel costs are NEVER recouped by the owner who could have saved thousands buying a Toyota Yaris or Hyundai Accent, the latter of which have lower total embodied energy costs. Perhaps if you make a six figure salary, buying "green" is a lifestyle choice you can make. The chattering classes, by and large, won't.

Focus your efforts on creating an economic model that accounts for environmental or other "betterness" costs and you'll change the world. The direction you're suggesting to people will change little.

Re: Parliament: invite me to audit your books (I’m not really asking)

cjottawa — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:09:51 -0000

To find your MP, see this link:
http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/M...

For Ontario MPP's, see this link:
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/...

Outside of Ontario, this link may be useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

Re: Parliament: invite me to audit your books (I’m not really asking)

cjottawa — Wed, 19 May 2010 09:52:55 -0000

I emailed a link to this article to my MP and MPP, citing your specific and clear request as well as making the same request myself.

I would encourage others to do the same.

EDIT - per the thread below, here are links to find your MP and MPP:

To find your MP, see this link:
http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca/MembersOfParliament/M...

For Ontario MPP's, see this link:
http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/member_addre...

Outside of Ontario, this link may be useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_Assemb...

Re: Banned Blogs

cjottawa — Wed, 12 May 2010 15:25:34 -0000

Dave,

There was a fantastic armchair discussion a couple of days ago which featured (among others) Nick Charney of the CSPSRenewal blog and Kathleen Edmond, Chief Ethics Officer for BestBuy Corporation. (!)

I am in the process of getting a copy of the video and will post it as it was 2+ hours of enlightened, passionate discussion about issues directly related to your own post which I comment here on.

One of the points made by the Kathleen was that, as a large organization, burying your head in the sand doesn't make problems go away, it magnifies them.

BestBuy was confronted with sites highly critical of the corporation and driven by posts by their own employees, posts detailing issues such as harassment.

BestBuy had previously buried their collective head in the sand, driving employees to contribute to critical sites.

BestBuy turned it around, providing employees with redress mechanisms. Instead of venting externally, employees were empowered to put their energy into tools to help solve the internal problems. An interesting side-effect for BestBuy was at least one of the major critique sites evaporated as the employee-driven content disappeared.

Government would do well to learn from this example and either adopt or become irrelevant.

You're spot on Dave.