Comments for Kevin Correia

Comment on Introduction to the El Nino and La Nina Climate Phenomena by » La Nina and its Effects on Snow Conditions at Whistler-Blackcomb

» La Nina and its Effects on Snow Conditions at Whistler-Blackcomb — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:24:35 +0000

[...] If you are not familiar with El Nino/La Nina, I have written an introduction article. [...]

Comment on La Nina and its Effects on Snow Conditions at Whistler-Blackcomb by » Introduction to the El Nino and La Nina Climate Phenomena

» Introduction to the El Nino and La Nina Climate Phenomena — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:13:09 +0000

[...] Now that we appreciate an understanding of the ENSO, we can begin looking at its impact on snowfall … FB.init("81006e7d861746df61b6f3be4a275c16", "http://kcorreia.com/xd_receiver.htm&quot ; [...]

Comment on Where do rivers come from? by How is the water balance within a draiange basin determined?

How is the water balance within a draiange basin determined? — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:24:59 +0000

[...] Where do rivers come from? – how i see the world in numbers [...]

Comment on Petroleum Industry Overview by kcorreia

kcorreia — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:45:02 +0000

Do you mean to say gasoline prices are fungible? Or money in general?
For the most part gasoline prices are transparent since they are based on market values. Only problem is that in Vancouver gasoline stations don’t sell at the same price (which they do in the GTA). So you could pay up to 3 cents more per litre in some cases.

Comment on Choosing the right gas station for you by kcorreia

kcorreia — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 04:41:55 +0000

Yes, very obnoxious! The funny thing is you are probably the only person I could have a debate about gasoline reward programs.

The reason why I say it isn’t worth the extra point is because gasoline is so volatile that you could probably “pump” a lot of gasoline into the atmosphere instead of your car tank. So you get the 1 extra point, but you don’t get the gasoline in your tank (despite a better points/dollar spent ratio)!

And if you look at the Aeroplan data for the fuel card you’ll see that the graph approaches a final value (asymptote?). Basically getting the extra point matters when you are only filling less than $10. Once you get to $40 in gas the extra point isn’t as significant.

Comment on Choosing the right gas station for you by Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:33:52 +0000

I have a bit of an issue with your “•Never over pump your gas tank to get the extra point” advice.

In your own example, you reason that 0.56 cents is not worth 10 cents of your own money. But with the goal being the most points for the least amount of money, it actually is more beneficial to get the extra point on several levels.

1- You reduce your dollars per point cost as in your example you WOULD be paying $1.03/point without that extra bit of gas, but adding in more results in an even $1.00/point cost.

2- Factor in the cost of going to a gas station in the first place and it stands to reason that the most amount of fuel in your tank possible results in less trips to a gas station (though this is arguably negligible when we’re talking about a dime of gas) which saves fuel (AND wear and tear from stopping and starting the engine, possible fuel dripping onto the paint which would accelerate rusting, general increased risk of death by explosion, etc.)

3- Even though modern cars have a gas vapour collection system which makes this another negligible claim, the more gas you have in your tank, the less headspace you have, resulting in lower rates of evaporation and lower rates of fuel loss.

Great post. Sorry I’m so obnoxious

Comment on Petroleum Industry Overview by Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:02:55 +0000

Very informative. Halfway through I was going to comment about the Petro Pie Chart and then there it was.

Very disappointed that I went through your entire post without seeing the word “fungible” though. It’s got fun right in there!

Comment on Connected by Andrei

Andrei — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:45:33 +0000

Nice blog Kevin. I added it to my google reader

Comment on Which rewards credit card offers the best value? by kcorreia

kcorreia — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:06:45 +0000

I put together another couple of graphs... Tiered Graph Basically all credit cards are "tiered", based on how much you spend in a year. In many ways it is like tax brackets. You get a 1% cash rebate, but only when you spend over $3000 for TD. For the first $3000 you get a 0.5% rebate. Whereas for PC Mastercard you get 1% (at least on groceries) from the first dollar you spend. Essentially the 1% or 2% claim is the nominal / max cash rebate you can get. No Annual Fee Graph Even if you don't have an annual fee for CIBC Platinum Dividend you don't earn the 2% benefits until you've spent $15,000 in one year ($1250 a month). So realistically these conditions don't apply to most people... I think. Or at least people who are "out of college money spent, see no future pay no rent".

Comment on Which rewards credit card offers the best value? by Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 10:28:40 +0000

I’ve had the PC Mastercard for about 4 years now because I always thought it was the highest rewards card. I’m a little confused about your graph though…for example, why is the 1% TD card shown lower than the 1% PC card?
And if you got the CIBC platinum for 80 bucks a year, you would then only have to get that 80 dollars back in that extra 1% for it to be equal to all 1% cards and then begin to overtake. so 1%=80, 100% then equals 8000. So, does this not mean that the platinum should begin overtaking at 8000 annual spending?
And now I have to go because you made me late for work.