Search found 1075 matches

by tidal
28 Dec 2013 12:28
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Global Warming Theme and Investing?
Replies: 189
Views: 34919

Re: Global Warming Theme and Investing?

Apparently they missed Mike Schmiek's memo... Toronto Hydro report warned of increased risk of power outages due to climate change A Toronto Hydro vulnerability study published last year warned that climate change could result in more severe freezing rain storms, increasing the risk of major power outages. The study, published in September, 2012, says warmer winter temperatures can increase the intensity and quantity of freezing rain and wet snow, which can damage tree branches and overhead wires... ... Jim Burpee, president of the Canadian Electricity Association, said the biggest problems utilities face during major ice storms are trees falling onto overhead wires and ice accumulating on wires and poles. “The issue with more frequent ice ...
by tidal
26 Dec 2013 13:03
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: New Normal
Replies: 79
Views: 5630

Re: New Normal

Wealth (and income) distribution in America. What the average American thinks it is, what 92% of them - Democrats and Republicans - thinks it should be, and what it actually is...

by tidal
20 Dec 2013 18:10
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Science is amazing
Replies: 818
Views: 55673

Re: Science is amazing

Angels don’t have wings, Catholic Church expert says
A 2008 Ipsos Reid poll found that 67 per cent of Canadians believed in angels. Sixteen per cent of those surveyed believed that angels looked a lot like human beings and had wings.
by tidal
19 Dec 2013 22:13
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Mike: The Ins and Outs
Replies: 674
Views: 46166

Re: Mike: The Ins and Outs

We needn't worry about Mike, because he won't be holding for more than a few months, but COS is locked in for a course to zero, so they really should be returning the capital to their shareholders. Dividend increases will startle the fewest horses near-term, but this will be case study in future "Corporate Finance 201" classes...
by tidal
09 Dec 2013 14:38
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Microsoft Surface RT
Replies: 14
Views: 429

Re: Microsoft Surface RT

Personally, I would prefer to stick with a Chrome/Google system that would integrate with Android. What drew me to this tablet was the detachable soft keyboard/cover and the USB and microSD reader which makes it far more versatile that an iPad. I'm sick and tired of lugging around a full sized laptop when travelling and have become of the mind that a tablet with laptop capability was the way to go. It could even supplant a smart phone which I find more or less useless due to the small screen size. Have you considered a Chromebook? I have one, and never use my Samsung Galaxy 10 tablet anymore. The form factors I have evolved to - based on usage - are smartphone (Nexus 4 (LG), because I lost my Galaxy 3), Nexus 7 (ASUS), and Chromebook (Sams...
by tidal
05 Dec 2013 17:16
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: Oil
Replies: 1564
Views: 224728

Re: Oil

Buh-bye little oil sands, buh-bye. Who knew? 8) Worst-Case Scenario for Oil Sands Industry Has Come to Life, Wiki-Leaked Document Shows Industry consultants said anti-tar sands push could become 'the most significant environmental campaign of the decade' if activists were left unopposed. By Katherine Bagley, InsideClimate News Dec 5, 2013 According to a 2010 Power Point presentation prepared by Strafor for industry, "activists lack influence in politics." But letting the movement grow unopposed may bring about "the most significant environmental campaign of the decade." As environmentalists began ratcheting up pressure against Canada's tar sands three years ago, one of the world's biggest strategic consulting firms was t...
by tidal
26 Nov 2013 15:02
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Global Warming Theme and Investing?
Replies: 189
Views: 34919

Re: Global Warming Theme and Investing?

... er, adrian2, you do know that mildly reduced "frequency" of hurricanes due to global warming is a prediction of mainstream climate science, don't you bud? Maybe it's "increased intensity" you are confusing... as Nemo2 used to mangle all the time.. I'm SURE some excellent, definitive links to the actual science and predictions about this have been made on FWF... sure of it, just search...
by tidal
27 Oct 2013 01:12
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: the ongoing "active" vs "passive" debate
Replies: 343
Views: 48902

Re: the ongoing "active" vs "passive" debate

newguy wrote:
ghariton wrote:
ockham wrote:We already knew from Sharpe's simple market arithmetic that for any time period, some active managers will outperform.
Indeed. We know that, before fees and on a market-cap-weighted basis, half will over-perform and half will under-perform.
No, it means I'll outperform and the rest of you suckers will give me all your money.

Nothing from Sharpe contradicts me. Just think what it means when they say ~90% of traders lose money. It means the other 10% are getting all of it.
no, that's not what it means...
by tidal
18 Oct 2013 22:29
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Profiting from Transcanada West-East Pipeline
Replies: 2
Views: 484

Re: Profiting from Transcanada West-East Pipeline

... like speculating on how to profit on the elevator to Jupiter... fun to think about. Not. Gonna. Happen.

Yer welcome.
by tidal
18 Oct 2013 19:47
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: The Black Swan - Thinking the Impossible?
Replies: 62
Views: 13696

Re: The Black Swan - Thinking the Impossible?

Might be an intriguing paper. fwiw...

... apparently "black swans" are soooooooo 2000's...now it's "dragon kings"!!!
by tidal
14 Oct 2013 12:06
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: Time to kill the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences?
Replies: 6
Views: 1636

Re: Time to kill the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Scienc

ig17 wrote:Fama, Shiller, Hansen Win 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics

I have no opinion on whether Eugene Fama deserves a Nobel.

But:

How could they give it to him and not his cojoined twin Kenneth French? :roll: That makes little sense to me. What am I missing?
They are pretty clearly giving it to Fama for work he did on efficient markets that pre-dates his work with French. If anything, the Fama-French collaborative work hints at potential asset-pricing inefficiencies. What is more surprising is that they are sharing the award in the same year with Shiller who argues pretty strongly for inefficiences in asset pricing (at least at the macro level, and at least temporarily.)
by tidal
09 Oct 2013 19:08
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: Impending US Default?
Replies: 19
Views: 1710

Re: Impending US Default?

‘Yes, we think Congress is doing a good job!’” Psychiatrists Deeply Concerned For 5% Of Americans Who Approve Of Congress ... the nation’s psychiatrists announced Wednesday that they are deeply concerned for the estimated 5 percent of Americans who were found in nationwide polls this week to approve of the U.S. Congress. “With numerous members of Congress refusing to negotiate an end to the shutdown in the face of widespread federal furloughs and a looming deadline to avoid defaulting on government debt, we are extremely concerned for the mental health of those Americans who responded, ‘Yes, we think Congress is doing a good job,’” psychiatrist Dr. Donald Levin said in a press conference this morning, telling reporters that the estimated 1...
by tidal
01 Oct 2013 18:51
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Technical analysis anyone?
Replies: 443
Views: 49110

Re: Technical analysis anyone?

Technical Stock Analysis (MACD) 1. Physics 0.

Over at frequently-linked-to-FWF "Grampa's Favourite Climate Blog", they are busy discussing the application of Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) technical stock analysis filters to physical reality.

Conclusion? Physics r teh loser. MACD for the win!!! Climate science R A SELL!!!

Glowing approval in the comments section over at Grampa's*. (* Multi-time winner of "Bloggie" award for "Best Science Blog", as voted by its readers.)

ycmtsu

Edit add: Bwahahaha. Just noticed the banner ad that popped up over at Grampa's.
Come trade stocks on the world’s leading Social Trading Network. Don’t know how to trade? Don’t worry.
seriously, ycmtsu
by tidal
10 Sep 2013 20:20
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Music Lovers - Trust me this is good
Replies: 492
Views: 12729

Re: Music Lovers - Trust me this is good

What the fox say ye?

by tidal
10 Sep 2013 17:21
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Science is amazing
Replies: 818
Views: 55673

Re: Science is amazing

Large Hadron Collider (LHC) celebrates five years of not destroying the world
... Some “mercifully deluded people” – as Jeremy Paxman put it – feared the LHC would do no end of mischief. There was talk of planet-swallowing black holes, the transformation of the Earth into a new state of “strange” matter, and even the prospect of the obliteration of the entire universe. But for those of more sensible dispositions, the LHC’s first beam was an occasion for great excitement...
by tidal
10 Sep 2013 13:02
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Science is amazing
Replies: 818
Views: 55673

Re: Science is amazing

‘Disdain’ Not Working to Attract Others to Science Researchers have completed a study which concludes that expressions of disdain targeted at those who doubt scientific knowledge are not effective in persuasion. The study was conducted over a period of twelve minutes, in which several respondents were asked their opinion of science and then informed that they were stupid and their views “a load of crap.” This experiment was based on the stated communications strategy of a number of professional scientists and educators. The study produced especially bad news for so-called Rational Thinkers, a movement led by prominent scientists and atheists including Richard Dawkins. When using Dawkins’ stated communications strategy on respondents, respo...
by tidal
09 Sep 2013 22:04
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Where to get bushels of San Marzano Tomatoes in Toronto?
Replies: 7
Views: 298

Re: Where to get bushels of San Marzano Tomatoes in Toronto?

fundy48 wrote:
Mouly wrote: just go straight from pot to jar and seal it.
As long as they always heat it for an appropriate time, and to boiling, the toxin will be killed. It is quite heat labile. Perhaps less by plan and more by luck, many of the recipies using home canned foods also require that after opening the jar or can, that they be heated, or furthur cooked before serving....

The toxin is denatured at 80 degrees C.

Even Toronto food safety still says "To kill the toxin, boil all home-canned, low acid foods for 10 minutes before eating them." Which has a large safety factor built in.
... although this damages the Vitamin C content, etc., as well... still important, but another reason to eat fresh when you can...
by tidal
04 Sep 2013 13:57
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: Where to get bushels of San Marzano Tomatoes in Toronto?
Replies: 7
Views: 298

Re: Where to get bushels of San Marzano Tomatoes in Toronto?

I got myself a super discount tomato crusher on Kijiji so now I'm going to can a whole lot of tomato sauce. The question is: Where is a good place in downtown Toronto to get cheap bushels of San Marzano tomatoes? I'm going to check Fiesta Farms tonight (Christie and Dupont). Will also likely check Kensington and Little Italy. I'd tend to stay away from "Italian" advice - if used simply as a pedigree for marketing that advice. Italy was VERY late to the whole 'tomato' game - so simply on the johnny-come-lately principle... It's only in the last 150 years or so Italy started (reluctantly) experimenting with using tomato for sauces - or growing as a food staple. Prior, they considered the tomato (and potato, if I recall correctly......
by tidal
09 Aug 2013 19:30
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: Going "private"
Replies: 17
Views: 1548

Re: Going "private"

There's no "ipso facto" "best" way for an asset or enterprise to be owned.

Should your home, medical practice be owned publicly? What would be the effect on local employment? Should my new company be public pre-revenue?

Not following this.

Different strokes, different folks. Goes for assets and enterprises and communities too.
by tidal
09 Aug 2013 17:01
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: the ongoing "active" vs "passive" debate
Replies: 343
Views: 48902

Re: the ongoing "active" vs "passive" debate

I was never a big fan of Ken Fischer (Fisher?) who was (is?) a Forbes columnist / money manager.

But he used to make a similar point. That being forced to go through the extra mental calculus of "Do I really want to sell BCE? BNS? Loblaw?" , etc. - versus, say, "Do I really want to sell XDV?" may be a psychologically handy side-effect / artefact against panic selling.

Don't know.

Robert Shiller also argued in "Irrational Exuberance" and elsewhere that 'story stocks' also contributes to holding-on at overvaluations / bubbles.

Don't know.
by tidal
08 Aug 2013 14:50
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: BlackBerry (Symbol-BB) formerly Research in Motion (RIM)
Replies: 745
Views: 87788

Re: BlackBerry (Symbol-BB) formerly Research in Motion (RIM)

The encryption methods presently being used to secure Internet connections are under threat from increasingly powerful attacks, as well as advances in crypto math. The likely next generation of stronger encryption is based on ECC (elliptic curve cryptography). One of RIM BlackBerry's subsidiaries, Certicom, holds key patents for their implementation of ECC. Should trust in current security schemes collapse in the near future, the patents could hold significant value for BlackBerry. But it could also become a case of " Dude, where's my patent? " Math Advances Raise the Prospect of an Internet Security Crisis Does anyone offhand know exactly what the patents Certicom holds pertain to? The basics of ECC are fairly straightforward an...
by tidal
07 Aug 2013 16:28
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: It's a Googly Google world.
Replies: 210
Views: 6712

Re: It's a Googly Google world.

I was using Cerberus for that, it worked great, and I will likely stick with it - at least through the timeframe that I am paid up. Tough being a Google apps developer sometimes, I guess!

But the googly google world marchs on...
by tidal
15 Jul 2013 09:54
Forum: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Funds, REITS and More
Topic: Shoppers Drug Mart (Symbol-SC) -- why so beaten down lately?
Replies: 264
Views: 29744

Re: Shoppers Drug Mart (Symbol-SC) -- why so beaten down lat

Taggart wrote:I own shares in Shoppers Drug Mart but I'm not happy that this company is being taken over. Before there was a choice of seven Canadian companies with dividend growth to choose from. If this deal is finalized, the count will be down to six on my watch list. Aside from Loblaws giving their shareholders small dividend increases this year and the previous one, the last increase from them was way back in 2005. Not impressed at all.
Well, Loblaws just advanced you about 11 years of SC dividends today, so that may help to get you through it?
by tidal
12 Jul 2013 12:07
Forum: Community Centre
Topic: How can I have a 30MB file e-mailed to me?
Replies: 18
Views: 582

Re: How can I have a 30MB file e-mailed to me?

By the way, just regarding cloud storage, the new Google Chromebooks from Acer and Samsung cost about $240. But with the purchase, you get 2 free years of Google Drive storage at the 100 GB level. Which is normally about $5.00/month.

I have a Samsung Chromebook and really like it.