WW1 Centenery, More Hacked Passwords and #theBestFin4TheWeek

It is 100 years since the “War to end all Wars” started, and I continue to learn more about this period in history. I had not realized the number of men (and women) that died in the war, and didn’t really comprehend the horrendous conditions that the soldiers (on all sides) fought under. I seem to know a great deal more about the 2nd World War, however, I am embarrassed about how little I know about a war that devastated an entire generation (over 16 million soldiers and civilians died). The fact that 21 years after it, another “War to End All Wars” erupted only strengthens my view that humans are a dumb species (myself included).

Evidently, the Russian Mob (or Russian hackers) most likely now have one of your e-mail passwords, it might be time to think up a new one, and maybe a heuristic to change your password more than once every time someone hacks the entire web.

Ebola continues to be in the news. I am not sure if I am in full panic about it yet, but I do wonder if this is worse than we are being told, and things are starting to get a little out of control. The fact that a major US City (Toledo) had a toxic water supply, is another interesting environmental episode this week as well. Wonder if this is Mother Nature finally saying, “You know Homo Sapiens, you have been around long enough”?

My Writings for Week Ending August 8th

It was a shorter week this week, in Ontario we celebrated the Anonymous Long Weekend, next long weekend has a name at least (i.e. Labour Day).

• The Long Weekend with no Name, Defaults, and #BestFinancialForTheWeek some of the best stories from last week.
• How do you celebrate a holiday with no name? Who knows, but I did poke fun at it with Happy Civic Holiday.
• Mike Tyson seems like an odd foil for Financial Advice, but his statement is prophetic especially for finances, “Everybody got a plan … until they get hit“
• Living beyond your means seems to be the raison d’etre of an entire generation, so Lifestyle Creep really is aimed at the new lost (money) generation.

This Week’s Finest

The world keep creeping towards some nasty stuff with Russia, the Ukraine, the Middle East, Ebola and of course the new Batman movie (the horror), but hopefully these articles will help keep your mind off the movie at least:

• Our friends at Hanzismatter bring us more fun bad ink, and this week, let’s just how Julie can turn into a very interesting tattoo.
• Mark at the Blunt Bean Counter talks of the death of John Stiff in You Have Been Named An Executor- Part 2- Now What? Poor Mr. Stiff had an unfortunate surname that is for sure.
• Hope Ed Snowden likes Vodka, he is going to be living in Russia for another 3 years (or until Putin decides he needs a Polonium Milk Shake).
• Some folks may start thinking about RESPs this time of year, and we look into the Canadian Capitalist’s archives to get Investing in TD e-Series Funds for an RESP, well worth a read (again).
• Mark from My Own Advisor brings us another update on his growing fortune with his July 2014 Dividend Income Update, good on  you lad!
• You do realize that I have a Fun Felines board on Pinterest, right?
• Happy to see that LEGO is creating a Female Scientist set for all those little girls to have the proper LEGO role models.
• So you think you can’t control your spending? Sportsbreak gives us 10 Athletes Who Blew Through All Their Money, that is sure a lot of spending.
• You do realize I have a tumblr page as well, canajunfinances.tumblr.com 
• Do Caged Pigs get more space than Passengers on an Airplane? For anyone above 5 foot 8 inches, it doesn’t matter really.
• I need 9 more followers on Twitter to get to 2100 ? Wowzers! What is weirder is that my twitter feed has the same page rank as this site.
• Preet may be having some “me time” but you can still wander through his Podcasts, one of my favorites is his discussions with Michael James.
• Million Dollar Journey stirs the retirement pot a little with How Much Do You Need to Retire in Canada? Not as Much as You Think!
• One of the finest examples of work evasion is to be seen in this simple request for a lost cat poster.
• Michael James has a quiet week this week but does dig into his e-mail box so he can Reply to More E-mails, I don’t get that many unless you count the “cheap little blue pills” e-mails I get in that list.
• Mark from 2nd Career Search seems to have hit a rhythm and had a few articles this week with him asking Did You Rebalance?

Life of a Soldier

A short from the NFB about the life of a soldier:

I Hate Meetings

This is hilarious however:

My Twitter feed is where I re-tweet many great articles by some of my featured writers (and make the occasional odd or off colour commentary on life (in 140 characters or less)).

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.