A Lap Of The Blogs

Sick as a dog the last few days, but hopefully I’ll be back in tip top shape for the weekend. My father is in town for a meeting this weekend so Fiona and I will be taking him for a nice Indian buffet, then I start my coast-to-coast adventure spending two weeks in BC (where my parents live and where I also have a few clients), back for a few days then off to Newfoundland for a weekend for a pub crawl with Jeremy Siegel, author of Stocks for the Long Run and other great investing books (…if I can convince him to join me and FrugalTrader, that is – I’m just supposed to be seeing him speak at a work conference, I don’t actually know him!).

A Lap Of The Blogs

Michael James On Money did an informal survey about what people are paying for interest rates on lines of credit and then followed that up with some questions about why someone would go to one of the big banks for a mortgage when their posted rates seem so much higher than the competition. Read the comments section and you will see a few attempts at explaining this.

The Boy Genius Report gives the absolute first look at RIM’s new BlackBerry Flip Phone. BGR breaks news about this kind of stuff months before they come to market. I’m still holding out for a touchscreen berry with slide-out keyboard, but this news may be behind RIM’s big intra-day stock price gains today (Thursday as I write this).

Remember George Bush’s economic stimulus plan? If not, here it is: give people checks – they will spend it – we will prevail. Mike from The Quest For Four Pillars provides much more detail however… :)

The Canadian Capitalist gives some supporting evidence as to why stock market predictions are useless. My personal take on it is that if anyone really knew, they A) wouldn’t be working B) wouldn’t be telling. That’s like Future Biff going back in time to give Past Biff the sports almanac and then Past Biff giving up the goods to everyone else thereby nullifying any advantage in Back To The Future Part II.

The Million Dollar Journey explains that Financial Infidelity may be the real reason behind high divorce rates.

This Week’s Racing Video

Have you ever seen a racecar hit a wall? I’m sure you have. There is a saying in racing that there are two types of drivers: those who have hit the wall, and those who will hit the wall. In any case, one of the first things they teach you is that when you realize that a catastrophic impact is imminent, you need to take your hands right off the wheel, otherwise you will break your wrists. The reason for this is if the front wheels hit the wall (or other car, or whatever) they will transmit a great amount of force through the steering rack and violently spin the steering wheel. If your hands are on the wheel, you can kiss them goodbye. This video shows Juan Pablo Montoya driving an F1 car, losing control and hitting the wall. The first part is a side, on-board shot that shows him taking his hands right off the wheel before impact.