In Memory of Ted Rogers (1933-2008)

All of Canada has been shaken by the death of Ted Rogers, the former President and CEO of Rogers Communications. He was the one who brought this empire to the place where it is today.
He was described by friends as somebody who persevered and who never gave up and was always thinking of ways to improve himself and his company. His passing yesterday has been mourned by people all across this nation from the MLB stars from the Toronto Blue Jays to his employees at Rogers Communications.

Ted Rogers was somebody who I looked up to growing up because of his good-natured spirit, diligence and wisdom. I aspired to make myself as much like him as possible simply because of all the positive traits that he possessed.
And I express my condolences to the Rogers family and am sorry for their great loss.

A Good But Dying Breed of MP3 Player: The Microsoft Zune

When it was launched, the Microsoft Zune was often touted as an iPod killer and the real next-gen MP3 player but really, it has not lived up to these standards. As its sales numbers and popularity plummet, people's perspectives of Microsoft in the music market have made a turn for the worse. Don't be expecting Microsoft to be making anything close to an iPod killer any time soon.
However, I'm always making an effort to be as impartial as possible so I will explore whether these opinions are actually correct.
Of course, the first aspect that I notice in anything is the quality of the design. And I cannot rightfully say anything negative regarding this facet in the Microsoft Zune. It is definitely very sleek and comes in a number of appealing colors in addition to the unique art shown in the background of the main screen in the MP3 player.
Moreover, the features of the Microsoft Zune- the real content- are not as poor as they are said to be. In fact, every one of these devices supports music, videos, photos, FM radio and even games. And in comparison to other competitors including the iPod, the Zune without doubt is equal to or edges out all of them in each area. The sound quality and organization of music is really no different from that of any other MP3 player while the videos and photos are displayed on a considerably large screen with excellent resolution. Lastly, there should be absolutely no question in anybody's mind that this gadget's games are much better than those offered by Apple; texas hold 'em, space battle and sudoku are more entertaining than connect four and checkers. One thing that the Zune absolutely lacks in though is the aptness of the controlling scrollwheel. Of course, many MP3s don't even have this innovative feature but iPod's version is much easier to use than the Zune's. Another aspect is the Microsoft marketplace, which does not have nearly as much variety as Apple's iTunes and is a bit more complex than iTunes.
One really cool tool that Zune has is something called "Buy from FM" where the device will identify any song you hear while listening to the radio and will, when told to, download that song the next time you sync it with your computer. This supplements to Zune's ability to connect wirelessly to the marketplace so you can download that song that's been stuck in your head the whole day, on the go.
Lastly, let's look at the prices. There are five different Zunes with 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 80 GB and 120 GB. They are $99.99, $139.99, $179.99, $229.99 and $249.99 respectively. Most of these cost $10-$20 less than the corresponding iPod.
But is this merited; that's for you to decide. I believe quite firmly that the iPod is better than the Zune but the latter should be the instinctive alternative to the former.

The One Place Where People Will Listen To Your Opinion: ForandAgainst Debate

You go to work; your boss won't listen to you. You go back home; your spouse won't listen to you. You go to the mall; the employees won't listen to you. But there is one place where perhaps, your perspective actually counts and that place as to be ForandAgainst. ForandAgainst is a debate site that isn't just some blog where you'll get only a few select readers or a social network where only your friends will actually consider what you have to say. And it isn't a rough, inferior debate community either; it's the one place you sould turn to really get your view on things out.
With this website, you can vote for user-created debates, then declare your side in words, which you can keep short or add facts and evidence to. But you don't have to just stick with that, you can create your own debates, that will put your thoughts to the test in the web. Others can tell you what they think about that and basically, you'll be able to initiate an interactive discussion, with comments going back and forth, on pretty much any matter, whether it's fashion, sports, politics or anything else you can think of.
But ForandAgainst can act as a sort of social community as well with tons of features such as individual profiles and even shoutboxes. You can customize your profile picture and even subscribe to your personal RSS feed.
And arguing is incredibly fun, especially with the points system that gives you debater ranks.
You can start debating within about 5 minutes as long as you sign up and of course, it's all free.

In case you're interested, here's my ForandAgainst profile:
www.forandagainst.com/who.php?username=ZJerry

Financial Crisis Special: The Premier Blog in Investment Advice

With this financial debacle that we are in right now, I began checking out some money-related sites, not to do a post about them but to obtain some investment advice. However, I thought this page was just too good for you not to take a look at. So I was just thinking as I was surfing, along with all those sports blogs, technology blogs and personal blogs, there should be quite a few investing blogs. Thus, naturally I googled "investment blogs".
The first result was Lloyd's Investment Blog and I was intrigued by the fact that it was hosted by Blogger so I clicked.
Sure, I wasn't particularly impressed by the ads filling the page and the incredibly average design of the page. Plus, this blog gave a new definition to "wall of text" but because of its immense popularity, I decided to look at more in depth anyway.
First of all, I just scrolled down to observe the things he had on the sidebar. Well, I saw mostly ads but what really caught my eye were two badges indicating that the author was a "Best Way to Invest Expert" and a "Seeking Alpha Certified Writer".
After that, I obviously read a few posts. What I noticed was a very professional style, loaded with statistics, graphs, facts and analysis. He gives you advice and makes interpretations in such a precise manner that you know that he can't be wrong. In addition, with all his tellings, he'll back it up with cold, hard information. In fact, Lloyd Sakazaki will often refer to renowned financial experts in his blog.
All in all, with his Ph.D., the author, "an experienced investment banker and global
finance specialist", provides valuable insight and projections that will assist investors of any proficiency with their decisions.