Aug 27th, 2010
by admin.
31 views
I have created a profile on SlideShare in order to more easily share my future presentations with interested parties. Below is the first presentation I have uploaded to the site – my Master of Science thesis defense presentation. I know that many of my friends and colleagues were unable to attend my defense of my thesis (entitled “John Charles Fields: A Sketch of His Life and Mathematical Work“). If you were one of these people, now you can at least see the slides – enjoy! 
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Posted in: Uncategorized, mathematics, presentation.
Tagged: Canadian · history of mathematics · John Charles Fields · Marcus Emmanuel Barnes · Master of Science · mathematician · mathematics · presentation · profile · slideshare · social media · talk · thesis
May 16th, 2010
by admin.
481 views
Here’s a quick money saving tip for those who regularly use public transit in Canada. Starting around 2006, a non-refundable tax credit was introduced on public transit passes. The rate varies year to year, but has typically been around 15% of the transit pass purchase price. The program doesn’t apply to single fare passes, but rather weekly or monthly passes.3
As an example of the potential savings, I’ll use a 2-zone Translink monthly pass. The current cost for a monthly 2-Zone Translink pass is $110.00.1. If you use public transit all year round, you’ll have shelled out 12 x $110.00 = $1320.00 on public transit. Assuming a non-refundable tax credit of 15%, you’d pay $1320.00 x 15% = $198.00 less in income tax come tax-time the next year. This is not bad, especially when you consider the convenience of having a transit pass in your wallet or purse & not having to fumble for fare. If you are a disciplined credit card user (that is, you pay off your credit card balance in full each month), you can extend the benefit by collecting loyalty rewards associated with various credit cards, such as cash-back or Air Miles.
To find out more about this non-refundable tax credit, please visit http://transitpass.ca. As always, the latest Canadian tax credits, policies, regulations, etc., are posted on the Canada Revenue Agency website.2
References
- Monthly Pass http://www.translink.ca/en/Fares-and-Passes/Monthly-Pass.aspx Accessed, May 16, 2010.
- Canada Revenue Agency main website http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca
- As always, it’s best to check the latest literature from Canada Revenue Agency or work with high-quality accountants with a deep knowledge of the latest Canadian tax laws and policies.
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Posted in: Uncategorized, resources, tips, wealth, websites.
Tagged: Canada · Canada Revenue Agency · money · public transit · saving · tax · tax credit · tax saving strategy · tip · transit passes
Mar 21st, 2010
by admin.
739 views
I just encountered the very first hardware issue with my 17 inch MacBook Pro running Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard). I had inserted a blank DVD+R and it never mounted. When I pressed the eject button, the DVD+R did not eject even after several attempts. Here’s how I resolved the issue.
I simply opened the Terminal application1 and entered drutil tray eject, and pressed the enter/return button. The DVD ejected successfully
If you have a CD or DVD stuck in the SuperDrive of your MacBook Pro, give the above a try to see if it resolves your issue. Depending on why the CD or DVD is stuck, this quick tip may or may not work. If that’s the case, you might consider checking out the hints provided on the Mac OS X Hints forums (search for “stuck DVD” or some other similar search term). I’m not sure if this terminal command will work in earlier versions of Mac OS X. In any case, I hope this helps!
Notes
- If you are unfamiliar with the Terminal Application that comes installed on all Mac OS X systems, please check out the Apple Terminal page on Wikipedia for more information.
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Posted in: Mac, Uncategorized, tips.
Tagged: computer · DVD · haredware · hint · Mac · Mac OS X · MacBook Pro · Snow Leopard · stuck · technincal support · tip
Mar 17th, 2010
by admin.
614 views
An important life skill for looking your best is learning how to tie your own tie. It’s important that you practice before you need to look sharp and impress Below is a video showing how to tie a Windsor tie knot:
For diagrams and additional information, please visit the Windsor tie knot page on Tie-a-tie.net. On that site, you can also find instructions and videos on how to tie other styles of tie knots.
For those like myself who are mathematically inclined, you might enjoy the book The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie by Thomas Fink and Yong Mao. The book is based on the authors research where they enumerated all possible tie knots (having made certain basic assumptions about what constitutes a tie knot). Find out more on The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie Wikipedia page or Thomas Fink’s homepage.
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Posted in: Uncategorized, mathematics, resources, tips, video, websites.
Tagged: book · clothes · knots · skill · style · success · Thomas Fink · tie · video · Yong Mao · YouTube
Mar 15th, 2010
by admin.
548 views
I recently learned an amazing word for a very common experience – since a word already exists for this experience, I was unable to create a word for it and add it to my Dictionary of Liff.1 According to Wikipedia:
“A mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase, typically a standardized phrase such as a line in a poem or a lyric in a song, due to near homophony, in a way that gives it a new meaning.”2
I first learned the word from The Language Perfectionist column by Don Hauptman published in the Early To Rise Newsletter.3 Here are a couple examples shared by Hauptman:
- “There’s a bathroom on the right” for “There’s a bad moon on the rise.” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- ‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy” for “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky.” (Jimi Hendrix)
You can find other examples on the Wikipedia mondegreen page.
QUESTION: What neat new word have you learned lately? Please share in the comments section of this post.
Notes
- Please note that I plan to do a major overhaul of the Dictionary of Liff website over the next year or so. (The aim of the site is to help eliminate the liffs of the world by defining words to describe these common objects or experiences for which previously no words yet existed).
- Mondegreen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen Accessed March 15, 2010.
- “The Language Perfectionist: “Say What?!” Funny Misunderstandings” by Don Hauptman http://www.earlytorise.com/2010/03/05/the-language-perfectionist-say-what-funny-misunderstandings.html Accessed March 15, 2010.
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Posted in: Uncategorized, word.
Tagged: definition · Don Hauptman · Early To Rise · language · mondegreen · quote · Wikipedia · word
