At-home earning & online booking

If it works as advertised, Skype Prime could enable regular (anglophone) Joes to profitably connect with eager Asians or Eastern Europeans or others as paid 'conversation partners' in their spare time. Apparently it even includes a handy online booking and scheduling function.

Now if only I could book medical, dental, optometric and audiology appointments online... that should be coming in the near future. I know my optometrist already uses and 'end to end' practice management software package for windows - his eye charts are a flat panel LCD reflected in a mirror, and he emailed me a copy of a recent Optomap laser retinal scan. Presumably an online booking module is in the works, or perhaps even already available.

Whenever I finally shift from my old 905 health care providers to new ones in the 416, the ability to book online would be a massive selling point. I suspect, however, that such perks are the preserve of high-end, pay-as-you-go clinics for the rich where your OHIP card is worthless.

English conversation partner

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Now that's a tidy raise

Minimum wage to rise, Liberals to fight child poverty - "Sorbara commissioned University of Toronto professor Morley Gunderson to study the impact of a $2 hike. Gunderson, paid $24,000 for a sobering 50-page report that took him six weeks to complete, found such a dramatic rise in the wage could cost even more jobs than the 66,000 the finance ministry had estimated." [Toronto Star]

Before I go nuts with math here, a disclaimer: none of what I'm about to spew out is is by way of impugning the quality or accuracy of Prof. Gunderson's study, or his deserving to be properly compensated for key economic policy advice.

But $24,000 divided by 6 weeks = $4,000 per week, which begs the question:


In other words:

• 40 hrs @ $100/hr;
  
• 20 hrs @ $200/hr;
  
• 10 hrs @ $400/hr;

I think it's safe to assume that the professor didn't manage to squeeze in an extra full time job moonlighting for Queen's Park. I suppose $200/hr is probably a decent ballpark guess at the effective wage paid for his study.

Anyhow, putting it a (few) other way(s):



To earn $24,000 today, you'd have to clock:

• 3,504 hours (88 weeks full-time) @ 2003's $6.85 pre-Liberal minimum wage;
  
• 3,000 hours (75 weeks full-time) @ today's $8;
  
• 2,341 hours (59 weeks) at 2010's proposed $10.25;
  

Finally, Prof. Gunderson's 2005 U of T salary (excluding benefits): $140,970.32, for an effective wage of $67.77/hr assuming 52 weeks at 40 hrs/wk.

Crisis Looms in Market for Mortgages - "Hanging in the balance is the nation’s housing market, which has been a big driver of the economy. Fewer lenders means many potential homebuyers will find it more difficult to get credit, while hundreds of thousands of homes will go up for sale as borrowers default, further swamping a stalled market." [New York Times]

Toronto home prices up 290% - "While Barrie topped the survey [at 372%], other locations in the Golden Horseshoe area also did well. St. Catharines was in second place, showing a 329 per cent increase, the equivalent of a 6 per cent annual increase compounded... close behind was the Hamilton-Burlington area with a 325 per cent increase." [Toronto Star]