Life in Canada Is Better Than Most Other Industrialized Countries

Canada Ranks High on OECD Better Life Index

First Published Date : May 24, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) is a France-based organization to promote economic cooperation, progress, and world trade among its 34 developed member countries. The OECD launched its Better Life Index on Tuesday, an interactive tool that measures well-being based on 11 dimensions (as the OECD has identified) to have a better life.  

Canada ranks high in all measures of well being based on data from 2008 or later. An interesting part is that these data provided by private citizens, not economists or agencies, unlike this type of other indexes.

I am going to give you some highlights showing some of the Canadian and rankings:

Canada Average OECD Average

Housing

2.5 rooms per person. Number 1 ranking in the OECD. 1.6 rooms per person.

Income

Disposable Income is US$ 27,015/00; Household Wealth is US$ 59479/00 US$ 22,284/00; US$ 36,808

Jobs

72% of the working-age population has a paid job 65%

Education

92% of 25-34 year old population has a high-school degree 80%

Environment

Air pollution is 15 micrograms per cubic meter 22 micrograms per cubic meter

Health

Life Expectancy is 80.7 Years 79 years

Life Satisfaction

78% people are satisfied and has been steadily rising 59%

Safety

Assault rate is 1% in the last 12 months 4%

Source: OECD Better Life Index

Is Public Mobile $15 Unlimited Plan Worth Switching Home Phone For?

Is Public Mobile $15 Unlimited Plan A Threat To Prepaid Wireless and Landlines?

First Published Date : May 30, 2011 ADawnJournal.com

Looking to capture a chunk of landline and prepaid wireless market share, Public Mobile has aggressively launched a $15 Unlimited Plan campaign throughout its coverage area. However, the question lurking in everyone’s mind is will it be the end of the prepaid and landline home phone? Or, will the traditional home phone and prepaid wire even survive with this $15 Unlimited Plan being available?

Let’s talk about prepaid wireless first. I think Public Mobile will be able to put a noticeable dent in the prepaid wireless market share with this plan. The only two groups of consumers I see still going with the prepaid plans are those who use prepaid occasionally and do not know about this offer or don’t want to go through the hassle of going to a new company because of the use of prepaid on a very limited scale (but not occasionally).

How about the landline home phone? Will it become extinct? I don’t think it will. There are groups of people who will always be reluctant to give up their home phone lines for cell phones. The reason people have a home phone service is because they want something reliable and a physical line, whether it’s a phone line connected through traditional copper wire or a line through cable wire, so they have that mental peace knowing it won’t stop working due to signal issues or other unseen issues like a cell phone. Also, it’s a matter of convenience and reliance having voice messages left in an answering machine physically located at home than somewhere else on cell phone companies’ servers. It’s a lot easier to maneuver the big buttons on an answering machine and home phone than a tiny, hard-to-find cell phone buttons.

One of the groups that would be reluctant to give up their home phones is the baby boomers. Another group would be people who are just into their 50s and not too obsessed with cell phones. People under 40 will be those who are likely to give Public Mobile $15 Unlimited Plan a try, and Public Mobile should be able to put a dent in this group’s home phone market share with their cleverly-designed strategic ads.

For my own part, I do not use a home phone, although I have to have a home phone because of my older parents. My dad can’t press or find the right buttons on a cell phone because they are too small and my mom always flips the cell phone (meaning she puts the earpiece near her mouth and the mouthpiece near her ear) if she tries to make a call. However, if I was buying only for myself I would definitely cancel my landline home phone and save $20 a month with Public Mobile’s $15 Unlimited Plan.

Singapore to Taipei - Eva Air Business Class Flight Review | Travel Blog

Eva Air Business Class BR 226 - Singapore to Taipei

Singapore to Toronto via Taipei Dec 20, 2018

After completing airport formalities, I headed towards the business class lounge at Singapore Airport.  Eva Air business calls their business class Royal Business Class. There was no 1st class on this Boeing 777-300ER.

SilverKris Lounge | Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3

I talked about the SilverKris lounge in my previous post. The lounge had an extensive selection of foods and drinks.

The best part was its shower facility. Each shower room was private and lots of amenities were provided.

Inside the Business Class Cabin

Eva Air business class configuration is 1-2-1 reverse-herringbone layout. All lie-flat seats offer direct aisle access. My seat was next to the window.

The Amenity Kit

There was no amenity kit provided because I guess the flight was short and only 4H 30 M long.

Food & Drinks

Like my other EVA Air business class flights, food and drink selections were great. My main course was Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Shiitake Mushroom Brown Sauce, Mixed Vegetables and Lyonnaise Potatoes. My dessert was fruit Chocolate Mousse with Ginger and Apricot Chiboust Cream.

The Washroom

The washrooms were extremely clean and well maintained. So far, all my EVA Flight experiences were the same.

Entertainment System

There were fairly recent movies and TV shows, but I didn’t watch anything as the flight was short. Eva Air does not provide free Wi-Fi in business class.

Final Thoughts

I have had a few other EVA Air business class flights and they were consistent in terms of excellent service and satisfaction. 

How to Fix Errors on Your U.S. Credit Report

Errors on your Credit Report

First Published Date : June 4, 2011

It is estimated that about 75 per cent of all credit reports have errors on them. It happens and when it does, it is a big annoyance for many people. Often, errors can be something that you never had or bought, or it could be an account you paid off but which is not shown as paid off.

Thankfully, when there is an error on your credit report, you can fix it easily and all you need to do is follow these steps.

First of all, get your credit report. Without your credit report, how will you know whether or not you have an error on your credit report? If you live in the United States, then you are entitled to one free credit report a year. You can get a free credit report, every 12 months, from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can also get your free credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com or by calling 1.877.322.8228.

If you find an error on the credit report, do the following:

1.    In writing, send a letter to the credit report agency detailing what information you believe is incorrect. When you do this, send copies of any documents that will support the position that you have paid off a bill, or that you never had that credit account in the first place. Explain why you dispute the error and that you want the error removed or corrected on your credit report. Make sure you send your letter through certified mail with “return receipt requested”. By law, the credit report agency must investigate the error within 30 days and then send you all date related to the error to the organization that provided the information or error to your credit report. Then, they have to report the information to you and tell you in writing whether or not the dispute has been approved or rejected.

2.    When you send the letter to the credit agency, send copies of the same documents and the same letter to the creditor that you believe is responsible for the error on your credit report.

If your error dispute is rejected, then you need to find more information to back up your claim, otherwise there is little you can do but pay whatever you are believed to owe by the creditor. Your other option is to contact the Federal Trade Commission at 1.877.382.4357 to state your dispute and that you want your credit report cleared. A last resort is legal action because often the legal action will cost you more than it will to just pay off the debt.

Credit errors are terrible things but often they can be removed very easily as long as you have the documentation proving that the item on your credit report is in fact an error. This is why it is so important to hold onto your receipts and any items relating to your credit so when an error does happen, you can clear it up very easily.

Samsung ST65/ST67 Camera Review

Digital Camera Technology Can Change So Much in Five Years

First Published Date : June 8, 2011

My last digital camera before my Samsung ST67 was a HP Photosmart R817. I bought it in 2006 for $270, which was not cheap. The features were not bad, but nothing extraordinary compared to other cameras back then. I have been using this camera for 5 years without any problem; however, digital camera technology has brought so many new features in the last few years that with its bulky charging and photo sharing doc with tangles of wires and incapability to produce an HD video, it made sense for me to buy a new digital camera which can do it all, keeping accessories to its minimum. And the Samsung ST67 is the one I picked after searching electronic stores for months. I don’t need to carry a separate digital camera and an HD video camera anymore, as this tiny Samsung ST67 can do both jobs (take pictures and shot HD video) amazingly. See the picture and video clip yourself, if you are still skeptical about Samsung.

Do you believe that Nikon, Sony, Canon can give you better products because they are more expensive and have been around longer? I don’t. All my household products are Samsung. They look a lot better than other so-called famous pricey brands, saved me thousands of dollars and running amazingly well without any problem so far. This is no joke – whenever I bought Sony in the past, I ran into problems. However, I never had any problems with any of my Samsung products so far. So, as you can possibly guess, the main reason behind picking this Samsung ST67 digital camera was its price – at $129 this is a bargain which would be hard to surpass for me.

Let’s look at some Samsung ST67 features:

Ultra slim – feels like carrying nothing at all. I still remember the pain of carrying 2 cameras tangled with wires, chargers, and docks on my Cuba trip. With my new Samsung ST67, I just need one USB cable, as it can charge from a laptop.

14.2 MP resolution and 5X optical zoom.

Records in HD 720p resolution at 30 fps (see the video clip, link provided at the bottom).

Smile Shot and Blink Detection technology can automatically take pictures when subjects are smiling and eyes open. Also, there’s another feature called Beauty Shot which can take away blemishes on the face.

Smart Filter lens can take normal pictures looking like miniaturized or model-scale, and the Fish-eye effect can give videos distorted, cool looks. The Sketch and Defog effect can add emotion or an ultra vivid vibe to pictures.

Is the Samsung ST67 worth $129? Absolutely yes. Technology is bringing innovative and exciting products so fast that what you buy today will be obsolete tomorrow, so you don’t want to spend a lot of money on products like cameras, laptops, and so on. Try to spend as less as possible and use it for as long as you can. However, if you can’t do that and end up buying a newer model again shortly, spending less the first time around will cause you less regret than spending a fortune initially.