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June 20, 2021

Obesity on the menu for children

Fast food giants are wowing kids with their enticing marketing tactics including  talking dogs, kooky clowns, and colourful cartoon and crowned characters.

And don't forget, each kids' meal comes with the latest and greatest toy.

The list goes on. And so does the obesity.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), childhood obesity is not improving.

The organization points the finger at advertising as the main culprit specifically targeting children via television, social media and smart phones.

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April 08, 2021

Celebrity names increasingly powerful lures for scammers: report

Just like the music charts, celebrity names pop in and out of favour. Scammers know this, which is why they use the top names as lures for malware scams and identity theft.

Famous names are used for a whole host of tricks, from people actually posing as celebrities to bogus endorsements of products and events, says Scambusters.  

One of the most prevasive stunts is to use the name of a well-known figure in emails or messages on social media like Facebook and Twitter to lure victims into clicking an attachment or a link that downloads malware onto their PCs.

However, it turns out that not all celebs are equal when it comes to the popularity of their names as bait for click tricking. And, like celebrity status itself, the names change over time.

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February 22, 2022

What Seinfeld can tell you about managing your money

Everything old is new again, it seems. Although it's been off the air for years now, the much-loved Seinfeld has been rewired to import important money lessons to a new generation of viewers. 

Fot instance, the antics of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer faithfully follow the rules of classical economics.

At least that's the contention of the economics professors behind Yadayadayadaecon.com, a site that hopes to be the definitive source of Seinfeldian wisdom, with descriptions of nearly 200 scenes and the economic principles each demonstrates.

You'll learn about dynamic pricing, incentives, cost benefit analysis, game theory and competition. And much,much more!

Consider the episode in which Elaine proposes an idea for a store that sells just muffin tops, only to have her boss open up such a store a few days later. A perfect example of the value of intellectual property rights. Then there's the cost benefit analysis on the merits of illegal cable.

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...