Blessed by the Potato

Time, I suppose, for another round-up links post. Writing went much better this week, but I have completely fucked up my sleep schedule, and the diet was out the window.

Some webcomics I haven’t seen before:

Buttersafe: I will never understand bees. Pajamaforest: Zing fail, It’s a date.

A quick post at the Globe and Mail about finance pay scales compared to other professions. As a scientist, I do have to lament the misallocation of resources in our society towards the allocators of capital. Don’t get me wrong: someone has to do that job (capital is but one of the world’s limited resources), but I don’t think it’s a profession that should be sucking away our best and brightest (especially if they insist on blowing up the economy every other decade).

Xceed mortgage, a subprime lender in Canada (they do exist!) is having trouble getting financing, and is not renewing mortgages of its clients. It’s no longer accepting mortgage applications from new customers. Though I expect most people with schedule 1 banks will have no problem renewing their mortgage even if they’re underwater in the future (though I expect some loss of negotiating power on rate), this should serve as a reminder that a renewal is not guaranteed, even if you’ve made all your payments!

A neat youtube video on side-scrollers and moving your own body with a 3rd-person perception.

Whiterock (WRK.UN) is once again doing a share split, 3-for-2. I don’t know why they keep splitting the shares: $20 is not exactly dear, especially for a REIT. I suppose it might help a few investors with synthetic DRIPs get more whole shares, but these arrangements do have a cost. A trivial one, perhaps, but not zero. I don’t get why management doesn’t just wait until it’s high enough for a 2-for-1 split. Last time this happened I sold a chunk just because I didn’t like the taste of the shenanigans, even though I still thought Whiterock was undervalued (and boy was it: WRK.UN returned approx 85% from that sale). I think in an absolute sense it’s fully valued now, but since the rest of the REITs are also up huge over the last year, I still think it’s just a touch undervalued on a relative basis, so this time I won’t sell my last little chunk of it, even though I don’t like the whiff of share price manipulation that the frequent splits suggest.

Netbug shares this video of a ketchup-dispensing robot and I have to say, if this robot neatly dispensed an appropriate amount of ketchup, the video probably wouldn’t be worth watching. I don’t know what that says about the human condition, but I’m sure it’s worth reflecting on.

How stupid are US kids that these need to be banned so they won’t choke on them? What else might they choke on? Pebbles? Bits of food? Food wrappers? Screws? Cat toys? Their socks? Where does the madness end? Does the US border guard, tasked with keeping terrorists and science fiction writers in line really need to worry about a single Kinder Surprise egg? (It’s not even like she was trying to smuggle in a case of them as contrabrand).

For fans of Community: “Fact: In 100% of fake gun related shootings, the victim is always the one with the fake gun.”