Gizmodo ran an article with a picture of every Minifig ever released by Lego. Crazy!

When it comes to my friends, it seems more shoot Canon than Nikon, I seem to be in the minority. Anyways, Gosha’s been using his 30D for a while and here is his photoblog.

Remember the last federal budget? I barely do, but I do remember that we are getting a tax-free savings account starting next year - and that’s just two-and-a-half months away. Tax-free growth is a pretty wonderful way to invest as millions of Canadians take advantage of this in our RRSP’s every year.

All the major institutions are creating these types of accounts - they will be available to us January 2, 2009. However, it’s best to start saving now so you have the $5000 available to put into the account next January. You won’t get the tax-deduction like your RRSP’s, but the money is not locked away and you can withdraw without being taxed.

Yes, it sounds crazy to consider investing in a new investment account now, but consider this - investors that put money in in 1929 and 1987 all made quite a bit of gains in the following years - why would this be any different? It’s a great benefit to even the risk-adverse investor.

Here is information for TD’s new tax-free savings account.

We certainly live in uncertain times. With jobless rates creeping up and companies definitely nearing the bottom of a business cycle, more and more professionals find themselves out of work. After being let go from a company, you should find out more about the benefits that are available to you after paying into the employment insurance system in Canada for so long.

Service Canada has a good summary of EI benefits and how to get them. In general, if you have paid fully into the system you are eligible to get up to $435 a week after your vacation/severance finishes.

Ever since Facebook 2.0 came out, a lot of people have been saying that it’s harder to control your privacy and many options that were easy to use are now hidden. One of the biggest ones I’ve heard about is having friends that have limited access to your profile.

When you get a friend request, you are given the option to “Add to a friend list”. In that drop down box should be a friend list called “Limited” and if you add them to that list, you should get the same experience as Facebook 1.0 - your friend will only be able to see limited details on your profile.

Now you have to go into your Privacy Settings. If that link doesn’t work, here are the manual instructions:

• Press “Settings” on the top right hand side
• Choose “Privacy Settings”
• Select “Profile” from this page to customize the access of your “Limited” group.

For each section in this page, select “Customize” and there is a red area called “Except These People“. Choose the “Limited” list in this box in order to prevent them from seeing certain things on your profile.

Don’t forget to save your settings. Now you have blocked “Limited” friends from seeing your drunken party pictures

In 2005, Time Magazine picked the 100 best English language novels from 1923-2005. Sadly, I’ve only read six of them (highlighted).

Further proof that the world reached it’s peak some time ago and is now on a decline, one of the “Talk Back” comments says ” Why isn’t the Harry Potter series on there!!?? It definitely should be on there!!”.

Read the rest of this entry »

I saw this poll on Facebook today. Clearly aimed at Canadian users, it asks which bank offers an Aeroplan promotion. While it’s great that 38% recognize that this promotion is being done by CIBC, it is quite surprising that 62% think another bank is offering the promotion. I wonder percentage would be considered an advertising success?

The Toronto Star ran a nice article about how locals usually skip the tourist traps in the city. I was curious how many I have been to so I went through the list of venues

Getting a caricature: No
Wayne Gretzky’s restaurant: Yes
Toronto Hippo Tours: No
Town & Country Buffet: No
The Bata Shoe Museum: No
Captain John’s restaurant: No
Medieval Times: No
Honest Ed’s: No
CN Tower: Yes (last year was my first time)
Swimming in Lake Ontario: No (at least, not in Toronto)
Nicholby’s Sports & Souvenirs: No
Allan Gardens: No
A rickshaw ride: No
A `Haunted’ tour of Toronto: No
Casa Loma: No

I saw this quote scribbled on the board at Cumbrae’s. It’s so perfectly true:

All the things I really like are either immoral, illegal or fattening.

- Alexander Woollcott

iOptOut is a Canadian-based website run by Michael Giest. It allows Canadians to tell companies not to solicit them for information by signing up. Moreover, the CRTC has ruled that iOptOut.ca Requests “Valid and Should be Honoured”.

The Canadian Marketing Association also has a Do Not Contact Service.

All these are set up because of delays over the official government Do Not Call List

I signed up a while ago and just got my email confirmation:

This message confirms that iOptOut.ca sent a message at Wed Aug 27 05:16:55 2008 requesting that the following organizations may/may not contact you by telephone or e-mail:

Allowed to call:
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- Bank of Montreal
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- BC SPCA
- Bell Canada
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- Calgary Herald
- Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation
- Canadian Cancer Society (British Columbia)
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- Canadian Diabetes Association
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- Ekos
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- Forum Research
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- GoalLine Solutions
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- R.A. Malatest & Associates
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Please retain a copy of this message for your records.

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