My Corner of the Universe

Good deed not being punished after all

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:30:00 +0000

I wrote a short while ago about David Chen and his family members. They had been charged with assault and forcible confinement.

Today, they have had the charges dismissed.

A Toronto Chinatown grocer and his two co-accused have been found not guilty on charges of assault and forcible confinement.

...

On Friday, in delivering his verdict, Justice Ramez Khawly told the court that the case had become a cause celebre, garnering attention from coast to coast.

He was critical of both the prosecution and the defence, but in the end he dismissed all charges against the three defendants, finding them not guilty on all counts.

Khawly said the accused were justified under the law in making the arrest.

Looks like justice wasn't blind in this case.

Barf. Not interested at all. II

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:00:00 +0000

A short while ago I wrote about the KFC Double Down. It's a disgusting looking sandwich, and obviously none too healthy, either.

Turns out Canadians and Americans don't really care.

It's been on sale for less than two weeks in Canada, but KFC Canada has already proclaimed the controversial Double Down its most successful new menu item ever with sales expected to top 350,000 bunless sandwiches by the end of October.

...

The Double Down was first introduced in the United States in April and sold more than 10 million sandwiches in a month.

So already about 1% of the population has eaten the Double Down in Canada and initially about 3% of the U.S. population.

Percentage-wise that's not a whole lot. But if you carry that forward, within a year KFC will have sold 4.2 million Double Downs, enough to feed 12% of the population. The U.S. will have sold 120 million, enough to feed 39% of the population.

Blech. I'm not drooling to go have one.

I'm sure though that Priszm Income Fund and Yum! Restaurants Canada are just drooling over the money they'll be making as Canadians and Americans give themselves heart attacks while eating their Double Downs.

Ottawa voters, your apathy is astounding

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:21:00 +0000

I thought that the 59% voter turnout in the last federal election was bad.

Turns out Ottawa’s voter turnout in yesterday’s municipal elections was well below that.

It was 44%.

It appears less than half of us exercised our democratic right to vote in the Ottawa municipal election.

A total of 269,547 votes were cast for Mayor in last night's election, down from the 300,000 votes cast for Mayor in the 2006 municipal election.

The City had said there were 606,650 eligible voters, meaning voter turnout was 44%.

Voter turnout was 54% in the 2006 election.

If I hear one person complain, I’m going to ask that person if (s)he voted. If the answer is “Yes” I’ll listen. If the answer is “No” then I’ll shut them down and tell them to be quiet.

Simply put, folks: Voting is a civic duty in a democracy. You have a duty to yourself and the people that live around you: your children, your family, your neighbours, your friends, your coworkers. If you did not exercise your right to vote, you deserve the government that you didn’t vote for.

And you lose your right to complain.

Housing prices too high? I don't think so.

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 22:00:00 +0000

According to The Economist, housing prices in Canada are overvalued by almost 24%.

The Economist magazine's latest survey of home prices around the world claims that the Canadian real estate is overvalued by 23.9 per cent.

I will agree that there are some markets that are overvalued - Vancouver is one that comes to mind - but overvalued by 24%? Seems a bit high, actually.

Part of the magazine's conclusion appears to be based on the fact that prices have risen 70% from 1997 to 2010. That seems like a big number, right? And in a way it is, but it doesn't take into affect the actual math behind that growth. To grow an investment - or home value - by 70% over 13 years, you need to grow it by 4.17% per year. That's it.

According to the Bank of Canada, the average 5 year personal term rate was just over 3% from January 2000 to October 2010:

V122515: 5-year personal fixed term

Low 02/2010 1.63
Average 01/2000 - 09/2010 3.07
High 05/2000 5.60

I know it's not quite the same period, but it indicates that 4% wasn't that far out of reach. Inflation itself was just under 2% from 1997 to 2010.

A "basket" of goods and
services that cost: $100.00 in 1997
...would cost: $129.03 in 2010
Per cent change: % 29.03
Number of Years: 13
Average Annual Rate of Inflation/ % 1.98
Decline in the Value of Money:

So, with those two pieces of information, one can conclude that housing prices have increased at a relatively average pace. Concluding that "Canadian real estate is overvalued by 23.9%" is a bit ridiculous. If their conclusion is correct, then it means that the growth of 4.17% should have been closer to 2.45%**.

What the magazine is suggesting, as far as I can tell, is that housing prices should have only grown by approximately the rate of inflation. While on paper that seems reasonable, in reality it's not. No one buys an investment - housing or stocks or mutual funds or whatever - just to match inflation. You buy that investment because you think you're going to do better than inflation.
My conclusion? Every market is different. Applying an average over millions of homes isn't realistic. The average is good as a reference tool, but not for much else.

I think the best way to determine a proper value of your home is to take a look at the property tax value. Add 10-20% to that. If you can reasonably sell your home for that amount, then your home is most likely appropriately valued. If you can't sell your home for that amount, then you might have a concern.

**Here's how I got my numbers:

On a financial calculator, input n=13, PV=1, FV=1.70, PMT=0. Compute for i, and you should get 4.17%

And for the overvaluation:
First, change the 1.7 to 1.37 (because 1.37 x 1.239 = 1.7). On a financial calculator, input n=13, PV=1, FV=1.37, PMT=0. Compute for i, and you should get 2.45%.

Ottawa’s election results

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:07:00 +0000

Wow.

Ten new councillors (six of them upsets – for example, Alex Cullen lost in Bay Ward), and a new mayor. Almost half of Ottawa’s council got a good shakeup tonight.

Quick snapshot of results

Mayor: Jim Watson

Ward 1 - Orleans: Bob Monette

Ward 2 - Innes: Rainer Bloess

Ward 3 - Barrhaven: Jan Harder

Ward 4 - Kanata North: Marianne Wilkinson

Ward 5 - West Carleton-March: Eli-El-Chantiry

Ward 6 - Stittsville: Shad Qadri

Ward 7 - Bay: Mark Taylor (new)

Ward 8 - College: Rich Chiarelli

Ward 9 - Knoxdale-Merivale: Keith Egli (new)

Ward 10 - Gloucester-Southgate: Diane Deans

Ward 11 - Beacon Hill-Cyrville: Tim Tierney (new)

Ward 12 - Rideau-Vanier: Mathieu Fleury (new)

Ward 13 - Rideau-Rockliffe: Peter Clarke (new)

Ward 14 - Somerset: Diane Holmes

Ward 15 - Kitchissippi: Katherine Hobbs (new)

Ward 16 - River: Maria McRae

Ward 17 - Capital: David Chernushenko (new)

Ward 18 - Alta Vista: Peter Hume

Ward 19 - Cumberland: Stephen Blais (new)

Ward 20 - Osgoode: Doug Thompson

Ward 21 - Rideau-Goulbourn: Scott Moffatt (new)

Ward 22 - Rideau River South: Steve Desroches

Ward 23 - Kanata South: Allan Hubley (new)

I’ll take it. I wanted all new councillors, but I suppose that’s asking a bit much…

Like to put a special shout-out to John Marshall who garnered 34% of his ward’s votes for his bid to become an CDSB trustee. I’ve gotten to know John through a friend and the Ottawa blogging scene. If he did this well first time out in Ottawa, I’d like to see how well he does next time .

Thanks to everyone who voted, and for those didn’t: it’s your own damn fault if you see something above you don’t like.

In the "life imitating art" department...

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:00:00 +0000

My horoscope from today's 24hrs newspaper.

I put no faith in horoscopes, but I found this one to be quite amusing.

(h/t to a family member who told me about this)

Did you know there's a municipal election in Ottawa today?

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:46:00 +0000

If you live here, probably. But if you don't, probably not. Or maybe you do and don't care.

It would seem that the mainstream media doesn't much care about the Ottawa elections. If you look at the top news-related RSS feeds, as shown below (Google, CTV & CBC), you get the impression that the only municipal elections that are occurring are in Toronto.

Ottawa isn't shown there at all, and from what I remember, hasn't been on their main headlines at all.

Unfortunate, I think, that only Toronto shows up in their main headlines. You'd think Ottawa would be there as well... Ottawa is the capital of the country, after all. But as The Squid points out, people don't care much about municipal elections anyway.

If you do care about elections, go and vote. It's important, no matter your voting method. At least you've exercised your civic duty.

Don’t be worrying about the snow…

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 03:57:00 +0000

Issued : 9:08 PM EDT Friday 22 October 2010

Tonight
Cloudy with 60 percent chance of flurries. Low plus 1.
Saturday
Cloudy. 60 percent chance of flurries early in the morning. Clearing in the afternoon. High 9.
Saturday night
Clear. Increasing cloudiness after midnight with 30 percent chance of rain before morning. Low plus 1.
Sunday
Rain. High plus 5.
Monday
Showers. Low plus 5. High 13.
Tuesday
Showers. Low 8. High 13.
Wednesday
Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Low 11. High 15.
Thursday
Cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Low 8. High 12.

Looks like the snow turns to rain. Either way – rain or snow – the weather the next few days is not going to be enjoyable.

As it is – or was, I suppose – a year ago, we had no snow at the end of October. End of November, yes – we had 2cm.

So enjoy your snow-related moment of terror I wouldn’t worry about it staying around too long.

Randy, go home

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 03:25:00 +0000

Randy Quaid, star of cinematic masterpieces such as Independence Day and National Lampoon’s Vacation movies, and his wife have applied for refugee status.

Yes, refugee status from the United States.

the pair — arrested a day earlier on outstanding U.S. warrants — told an adjudicator that the actor has had eight close friends murdered in recent years and fear they could be next.

In a handwritten note, given by their lawyer to media, the couple said: “Yes we are requesting asylum from Hollywood ‘STAR WHACKERS.’”

Cue the theme from the X-Files…

I really hope the CBSA just sends them packing. But I know what will happen. Some bureaucrat will investigate, wasting time and taxpayer dollars. A court date will be set, and a hearing will be held. Months will go by, with nothing resolved. But finally a resolution will occur and they’ll go back to the US.

In the end, Canada will look bad because of a whack-job actor and his wife. They’ll go back to California and he’ll make some more bad movies and won’t we all be the better for it.

Sweet looking couple, ain’t they?

Go home, Randy. You don’t need or deserve refugee status here.

The funniest, and yet saddest story I’ve seen today

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:41:00 +0000

Would you pay $12 million for a space rock?

A guy in the Yukon is suing the Geological Survey of Canada because he thinks his “priceless piece of meteorite” is worth that much. Because it has alien life on it.

A Yukon mining prospector claims federal geologists stole a priceless piece of meteorite he found in the 1980s that contained alien organisms, but RCMP say they haven't found any evidence to support that allegation.

The Yukon Supreme Court is hearing the case of Mayo-based prospector Dan Sabo this week.

Sabo accuses the Geological Survey of Canada of swindling him out of what he believes is a priceless rock with crystal-like alien lifeforms on it.

He is demanding $12 million in compensation.

What kind of world do we live in where a person can sue a government body for a huge amount of money (by the way, you’ll notice the amount being sought is conveniently divisible by 4… the man and his 3 “friends”) over a rock?

I can’t believe they’re flying a bunch of people up to Whitehorse to even consider this case. Unbelievable.

There is one thing going for the GSC, however. The man is representing himself: “a man representing himself has a fool for a client” as the saying goes…

Ah, software updates

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 19:34:00 +0000

I find it amusing when BlackBerry App World sends you an email saying there is a full version update (v 1.1.035 to 2.0.1.12) for the App World application and you get a DNS error when you go to download it.

The App World list even shows the update from within the application and it doesn't work from there either.

I love my BlackBerry, but there are days when the idea of an iPhone and its simple integration into iTunes is appealing.

Jet Blue guy is a sucker

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:32:00 +0000

The guy quits, makes a big production of it, and now owes $10,000.

The flight attendant who became an instant folk hero when he quit his job by hurling himself down an aircraft’s emergency slide, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, but will avoid jail time.

Steven Slater pleaded guilty in a New York court to two counts of criminal mischief, the Queens district prosecutor’s office said.

Instead of going to prison, he has agreed to pay US$10,000 to his former employers and undergo 12 months of mental health counseling, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said.

Ha! Sucker.

Seriously, the BoC can call me anytime for advice

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:08:00 +0000

Looks like rates are on hold for now.

Interest rate hikes are on hold until at least the spring and maybe as long as late 2011, analysts say, as the Bank of Canada decided Tuesday to keep its policy rate unchanged amid weaker-than-anticipated growth, especially in the United States.

No further rate changes until spring or late 2011, huh?

I said two years ago that normal growth won’t occur until 2011, and that rate increases wouldn’t be necessary until then.

Damn I’m good .

It’s not a joke if you’re the only one that gets it - II

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:00:00 +0000

Back in August I wrote about Mary Bale.

Two months later she has received her punishment.

Mary Bale, a 45-year-old bank worker, was fined 250 pounds (US$400) after pleading guilty at Coventry Magistrates’ Court in central England.

Bale, who appeared close to tears during the hearing, was also ordered to pay costs of 1,171 pounds and banned from keeping or owning animals for the next five years.

Not so funny now, is it Ms. Bale?

Compromise; the ability to find middle ground

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 02:30:00 +0000

I had a great conversation the other day with a friend, and we discussed at long length the idea of freedom of choice and freedom of expression. The conversation eventually centred around religion for a while, and then switched to politics.

As we talked, I raised a concern of mine. In my view, it seems more and more these days people are becoming polarized around any issue. Political issues, religious, economic, education; you name it, people have very strong opinions and they are rarely swayed. The concept of compromise seems to be in the past. People view their opinion as the only one, the only point of view that should be considered. They are not willing to compromise in anyway, to find a middle ground so that both sides can learn about the other.

Take, for example, the long-form census. People were very polarized about that issue. When I suggested to another friend of mine that a perhaps a compromise could be found, the response I received was “Nope, there is no compromise.” When I’ve discussed religious issues in the past with others, it’s the same thing: you’re a wacko if you believe; you’re a wacko if you don’t.

Now comes, yet again, another issue about Hallowe’en.

It was not long after sending out the fall issue of its newsletter announcing a Halloween fundraiser that the Western Development Museum in Moose Jaw started receiving complaints; pastors came to the museum in person, emails and phone calls rolled in and concerns from church groups and community members were expressed to politicians saying the planned séance and ghost walk was “inviting evil” into the community.

The museum board quickly issued a mea culpa and the event was scuttled, but far from quelling controversy the decision brought a backlash that is making the ambitious Saskatchewan museum, best known for its old transportation equipment, the unexpected focus of debate between mainstream religion and alternate beliefs.

This is unfortunate, and is the perfect example of what I’ve come to believe about this country.

No one in the religious community was willing to live and let live. It was a fundraising event for the museum, for crying out loud. This was not some cult event aimed at dredging up demons and devils and whatnot from another plane of existence. It was supposed to save the Short Line 101. But because of a handful of narrow-minded individuals, and their inability to look beyond their own four walls, the Short Line 101 is finished, kaput.

The bid for the UN Security Council seat is another example. The government took the point of view that we deserved the seat; we had earned it. The Opposition took the opposite point of view. When the seat was lost, the finger pointing started. As far as the government was concerned, it was everyone else’s fault but theirs. The Opposition took the stance that it was the government (and by default, the Prime Minister’s) fault. No one suggested that we had lost the seat because the government, once again, was at odds with itself. Canada did not present a unified front in its bid.

It’s stuff like this that’s causing me to be concerned about the future of this country; where we’re going, how we’re getting there, and what happens when we arrive.

The friend and I both agreed that a generation ago – when I was a teenager – this polarization of issues didn’t exist. Well, in reality it may well have, but the people who had the extreme, strong views were usually on the fringes, and didn’t have a lot of influence. Today, things are different. It made us wonder why they are. Twenty plus years of immigration? The massive influence that celebrities have? The current generation of 20-somethings that care for nothing other than the newest smart phone? The apathy that’s grown in my generation when it comes to political issues?

I don’t know the cause, but it needs to be found. We – not only Canada, but perhaps western society in general (after all, look at the US if you want to see a polarized country these days) – need to start respecting the middle ground. We need to find out how to accommodate both sides of an issue.

If we don’t, then I think we’re headed for trouble.

Roger Waters’ “The Wall” Live

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 04:20:00 +0000

Oh.

My.

God.

Excellent concert. Well worth the wait. My friend and I had an awesome time. I took some pictures, which I’ve linked to below. If I had known picture taking was going to be allowed, I may have brought my real camera instead of using my BlackBerry.

My apologies for the quality of the pictures. My BlackBerry takes reasonable pictures, but not from a distance. You get the idea, though.

Bought a t-shirt and a poster. I plan to have the poster laminated and either hung my bedroom or in the family room.

Twenty-four hours from now…

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 03:58:00 +0000

… my friend and I will be heading home from the Roger Waters “The Wall Live” concert at Scotiabank Place.

Roger Waters, co-founder and principal songwriter of the archetypal progressive band Pink Floyd, is commemorating the 30th anniversary of the original release of The Wall with a monumental tour featuring a full band and a newly-mounted state-of-the-art production of his epochal masterpiece of alienation and transformation performed in its entirety.

It’s going to be an excellent concert.

I can’t wait!!

Rates have increased enough this year, thank you

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:00:00 +0000

The economists over at the CD Howe Institute feel differently, however:

five of the nine economists on the C.D. Howe panel called for another quarter-point increase to 1.25 per cent next week. A sixth was against a further tightening of monetary right away, but thought Carney should make the quarter-point increase at the bank's meeting in December. The other five want him to further increase to 1.5 per cent by then.

Another increase next week?

If rates hadn't already been increased three times this year, I would probably agree with increasing rates next week and into next year. After all, I have said that rates shouldn't have been increased until 2011 anyway, so part of their recommendation works for me.

But to increase again this year? That's not a good idea, I think. Here's why:

Some expressed reservations about the impact on the dollar, especially with the U.S. Federal Reserve likely to be heading in the opposite direction on Nov. 3

- -

The Canadian dollar has hovered within a whisker of parity with the U.S. currency the past two days, and many analysts fear a hike by the Bank of Canada, followed by the Fed moving to inject more liquidity into the U.S. system, could send the loonie shooting through parity by as much as five or 10 cents.

- -

The strong loonie has the effect of depressing exports of manufactured goods to the U.S. and other countries, thereby undercutting a fundamental pillar of the economy.

That is the last thing Canada needs, said [Derek] Holt, [vice-president of economics with Scotiabank], given that the economy is already braking. After an initial burst from recession, growth has slowed from 5.8 per cent in the first quarter of this year to two per cent in the second and is expected to have further slowed to 1.5 per cent in the just completed third.

There has to be a "wait and see" approach, I think, before additional rate increases are considered. The CIBC economist said it best: "there are too many unknowns... When you don't know what to do, you don't take chances".

As the economy continues to grow, and, except for data from July, it is growing (albeit a slower growth than earlier this year), then a further increase can be considered. I would say January/February 2011 an increase could be considered.

Until then, I think it's a mistake to increase rates again this year.

This guy got what he deserved

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 23:00:00 +0000

A letter carrier was fired from Canada Post today for not doing his job.

Canada Post has fired a 61-year-old employee after investigators found thousands of pieces of missing mail stacked in piles in the man's home.

Canada Post investigators first uncovered some of the missing mail in the man's locker in the men's change room at a Canada Post facility on River Road in Richmond, B.C.

On Oct. 1, they called in the RCMP, who searched the man's home and found a total of 12,000 missing pieces of mail, some dating back seven years, along with five unregistered firearms.

Many of the comments on the site are suggesting the man did people a favour by not delivering the mail because "about 80 per cent of the missing mail was ad-mail".

Shouldn't matter what the content of the mail was, really.

This man is guilty of gross negligence in completing the responsibilities of his job. 12000 pieces of mail over a 7 year period works out to 1714 pieces per year. Adjusting for vacation time (say, 5 weeks) and stat holidays (another 2 weeks), he's working 45 weeks per year. That's 38 pieces of mail gone missing each and every week. That's essentially one item per hour of work.

If I had done 38 things wrong each and every week in my job for 7 years, I would have been fired as well.

He got what he deserved.

The only problem with owning a smartphone is…

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 02:56:00 +0000

… the software updates.

I bought a BlackBerry Bold 9700 earlier this year. It’s a great phone – better than a lot of phones I’ve had in the past, and a lot more useful. I’ve got a bunch of apps on it, ranging from the full Google suite of apps to a few games.

But, like your home computer, the operating system needs to be updated. This morning there was an update. I normally update the 9700 through the desktop manager on my laptop, but since my laptop wasn’t on at the time, so I did the update wirelessly.

Holy cr&p, it took a long time. The download didn’t take long; what took long was the backup & restore. I figure from start to finish, about an hour for the full update.

And then all the apps had to be restarted, logged in… But all’s good now.

(Too bad I own a laptop though… the BlackBerry Playbook looks cool…)

Will Feedburner to Twitter > Twitterfeed to Twitter?

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 03:21:00 +0000

I’ve been using – or more accurately, trying to use – Twitterfeed to publish this blog’s posts to Twitter. Unfortunately, Twitterfeed these days is less than reliable.

I discovered this evening that Feedburner – a service I use already via Google – has a Twitter plug-in. So I’ve activated that service and deleted the Twitterfeed one.

Let’s see if it works.

The hashtags should come out matching the categories of this post, and it’ll use the Google URL shortener.

Hopefully it works the way I’m expecting.

Barf. Not interested at all.

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 02:00:00 +0000

I’m all for eating what you want and enjoying what you eat (after all, I play D&D, and the 8 of us together eat quite a bit while we’re gaming), but even I will draw the line somewhere.

The line is drawn at KFC. I haven’t had KFC in years. And now that the Double Down “sandwich” is coming to Canada, I’ll continue to not have KFC.

it is probably not a good idea to make a habit of eating a 540-calorie sandwich that contains 1,740 milligrams of sodium.

Honestly, the sandwich has no appeal.

Blech.

No good deed goes unpunished

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Especially if you're a business owner facing theft and making a citizen's arrest.

The trial begins today for a Toronto shopkeeper accused of capturing and tying up a man who stole from his Chinatown store.

David Chen is charged with forcible confinement and assault for performing what he has called a citizen's arrest.

How forcible could it have been? Chen seems to have done this all by himself, so to be able to tie the thief up and then put him in van... the only thing I can think of is the thief was turning himself in. Chen took advantage of the situation and tied the guy up, just in case he changed his mind again.

I'd like to know who has actually charged Chen with this "crime". Was it the powers-that-be, or the thief?

Regardless of who has charged Chen, it proves why people don't get involved when there is a crime in progress: they may get sued, charged or hurt. They'd rather let things happen than get involved.

I'm all for enforcing laws and charging the true criminals of the world... but to charge a small business owner for protecting his own property?

That's a crime.

**edit**

I've got more details now, from the CBC site.

charges stem from a May 23, 2009, incident in which David Chen, owner of the Lucky Moose Food Mart on Dundas Street West, apprehended a man he believed was stealing plants from his store.

Anthony Bennett pleaded guilty in August 2009 to stealing from the store and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

After Bennett was initially caught on security footage stealing from the store, he returned an hour later. At that time, proprietor Chen and two employees tied up the man and locked him in the back of a delivery van.

When police arrived, they charged Chen with kidnapping, carrying a dangerous weapon — a boxcutter — assault and forcible confinement.

Prosecutors later dropped the kidnapping and weapon counts, but proceeded with the charges of forcible confinement and assault.

Okay, so Chen didn't do it on his own, and if he did use a boxcutter, I could see why the charges were laid.

That being said, however, it's ridiculous that Chen and his two family members are being punished for protecting their property, their livelihood.

Liberals need to come up with something

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 01:31:00 +0000

If they want to win, they have to come up with some good ideas, not just saying “Hey, we’re better because we’re not the Conservatives.”

But that seems to be the way he’s running things:

He can’t understand why voters don’t see what he sees in Stephen Harper’s government, according to the source. “I don’t know why Canadians don’t realize those people are not competent,” the Liberal leader told his caucus.

He needs to make decisions and stick to them. It seems he can’t, though:

The caucus source said it doesn’t help matters when Mr. Ignatieff changes his mind on policy, as he did Wednesday on Employment Insurance. He reversed his support on a number of enhancements to EI benefits

He, and the Liberals, will continue to lag in the polls until he can show some true leadership.

I seem to remember writing about that before; perhaps I was right.

Diversification ≠ dealing with multiple institutions

noreply@blogger.com (Kenneth RJ Mellon) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:46:00 +0000

Just in case there is some ambiguity surrounding diversification, when it comes to financial planning, investing, retirement planning, etc, diversification ≠ dealing with multiple institutions.

It means: "reducing risk by investing in a variety of assets." If you have RRSPs at two or three different banks, and you're buying the same investment at each place, you're not diversified, no matter what anyone tells you.

The "don't put your eggs all in one basket" doesn't mean open accounts at 12 different financial institutions. It means buy GICs, mutual funds, stocks, and various other types of investments.