Learning, Technology & Change

Three years ago the US Secret Service in concert with Homeland Security busted a forgery ring. DVDs, Rolexes, designer handbags? No. University Degrees. It was called a diploma mill. A fake university based out of Liberia (yes it's a real country) that provided you with a degree in a subject of your choosing for a small fee. Many people feel rightly outraged at how people have cheated the system. One law school student has had her education and job offer disappear when her fake undergrad degree was exposed. Another consultant's (with a fake PhD) website listed the RCMP and many major police forces as repeat clients. Yes, what these people have done is dishonest. It is unfair to those who put in all the time to earn those credentials. Let's talk about those people that took their fake degrees and got jobs. They were hired for their qualifications. People are hired for their skills, experience and knowledge. A degree represents skills & knowledge. If people were hired a...

I'm a die-hard Toronto Raptors fan living in the GTA. I have the misfortune of being a Rogers subscriber. Due to what appears to be a fight over money Raptor games are not being broadcasted for a large percentage of the GTA. Despite the Raptors attempts at making themselves a national team it is still a very urban team. TSN is trying to force new subscribers to TSN2 by pushing content they agreed to put on TSN. David Purdy of Rogers : We're big fans. We're working on an agreement that makes sense for our shareholders and customers, and we're confident we will see the Raptors' games on Rogers. read: we think it costs too much and it takes away from our Sportsnet channels. I am strongly considering the hassle of changing providers. Either way i'm going to get nickel & dimed by whatever provider but if Rogers wants to play like this, then they pay the price. Despite all the raptor games on TSN2 I may not subscribe to it this season. I'll go to a bar, lis...

If you pick up a paper or watch the news you might think it's economic armageddon. Each day talk of losses in the market, bailouts and handouts all over. The word recession is thrown around like candy. 60-70% of GDP is consumer spending. There are some hurting sectors with people out of work. However, there are many, Many people with stable jobs who are hoarding cash waiting for the pending apocalypse. This is only going to fuel the recession Let's keep it in perspective. The Bank Rate is now at 50 year lows meaning anyone on a variable rate mortgage has a lot of extra money in their account, or is paying down extra principle. Gas prices have also had a massive decline, filling up that big SUV isn't so painful anymore. Yes everyone's investments are down but with great fear brings great opportunity. The market and to an extension the economy is built on consumer sentiment. Confidence in the market and the confidence to spend money is crucial. So give it some thought, i...

I'm proposing something different to deal with the major issues at hand. We should all turn to our children and find out if we're smarter than a 5th grader. Not the show, but the headlines highlight a huge learning opportunity. It might be good for us to revisit what we've learned and forgotten, and to address deficiencies in our education system. The economic crisis is the major story as the effects of predatory lending and sub-prime mortgages are being felt throughout the economy. So what's the lesson? As computer science grad I understand the necessity for sciences. It's critical to our individual and collective success. However, I think financial literacy is an even bigger prerequisite and hole in our public education. How many people leave highschool without knowing how to balance their own chequebooks (who uses chequebooks anyhow?) or make up a budget. There's a misconception that if the bank will give us the money then it's okay. Then people end up ho...

I prefer a more poetic title, but in this case the title is too accurate. Periodically I will take a look at my bills in detail to compare services to see what's available. As a Rogers Internet & TV customer I went online to see what packages Rogers has available to see if there is something better suited to our needs. I was shocked to see that Rogers Lite internet service is listed as 19.95 whereas I'm paying 32.95. I then went to check on the price of my Extended Basic package which costs me 53.98/mth. The comparable VIP package is listed at 42.99 !!! But wait of course there's a catch. It's a promo price for new customers. Of course, it was too good to be true. Bait and switch or "good marketing"? So I looked to find out what the Real prices were. And I looked some more. Couldn't find it. I could not find the prices. Even if the prices are there, being that buried is just ridiculous. I had to call in and talk to a rep which was equally painful as...

I normally frown on email forwards, but this one won't bring you bad luck if you don't follow it. Although it might explain some of our current misfortunes. From a learning perspective stories can do wonders in bringing meaning to abstract concepts and helping people learn. Once upon a time, in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at $20 for a monkey. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each, and the supply of monkeys became so small that it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it! The man...

There's been a tonne of talk about the idea of letting a big chunk of the investment institutions fail . These are the firms that were making money in almost a fictitious sense with the repackaging of bad debt. The main problem being that since they were selling it off they didn't care about the viability of the debts. It's all their fault anyhow they got fat and greedy. Wall Street is primarily to blame but the rest of us on Main Street do have some blood on our hands as well. Many people agreed to ridiculous mortgages. I'm sure there was some encouragement by banks and such, but in the end we're responsible for our own financial well-being. Did you sell your house in the last few years? Did you help inflate the market? Did you get excited on the idea of the extra long amortization? Did you get the biggest house you could possibly afford without regard to the idea of interest rates rising? A lack of financial literacy and common sense is a big part of the problem...