Kevin Correia

Over the 2016 Christmas break I visited Japan for the first time with my girlfriend. There are many places to visit in Japan, since it is an old civilization with rich history, but there was one place I wanted to visit above all to learn more about an important event in world history. Hiroshima. Growing up in Canada I vaguely recall making paper cranes for Hiroshima in elementary school and discussing atomic weapon’s in Mr. Venier’s Grade 10 history class. Other than these two moments in my life, …

Within the course of my PhD I have seen the dollar go from just above parity at 1.0297 on September 14, 2012 to a low of 0.6865 USD per CAD on January 19th, 2016 – a 33% decline in value. I’m not sure if it says more about the state of the Canadian economy or just how long I’ve been doing this PhD gig.
The faltering loonie rate has a lot of implications for different Canadians:

The grocery shopper sees higher prices for imported fruits and vegetables – most notably expensive cauliflower.
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It’s a typical November rainy day in Vancouver. But it doesn’t feel like it. Something feels out of place. Actually, everything feels out of place. I approach my apartment building near Metrotown and notice there is a (1) grizzly bear passed out next to the apartment entrance. His thick fur is soaked from the rain. I can see that he tried to claw his way into my building to seek shelter from the rain. He probably gave up as he grew tired. I sneak my way into …

In 2008 I began to receive low interest balance transfer cheques from my credit card companies. At the time I had student debt at a high interest rate, so using them was a no-brainer. The offer was simple too: I would transfer a balance onto my credit card, and for 6 months I would have a low interest loan. No balance transfer fees, no limits, no gimmicks. In hindsight, the timing of these balance transfers were strategic. From 2007-2008 capital markets were experiencing the credit crunch, and …

A couple of weeks ago a friend posted an interesting video on Facebook:

It’s narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, speaking about how the US feared the rise of the USSR and created NASA to engage in the Space Race. NASA was able to land on the Moon within 10 years, but as the Soviets fell behind, NASA began to lose its glory. Tyson believes that the US is losing its status on the world stage, and without NASA pushing the boundaries of space we could lose a generation of inspired scientists …