Is online love ruining our notion of what love actually is? But then what is love, actually? There’s a movie in there somewhere.
The trend has been continuing and chances are, either you, your best friend, or someone you know has met their partner (past or current) on the internet. In the last millennium,”72% of us met our partners at school or university, at work or in networks of family or friends,” according to a new survey by psychologists at the University of Rochester in the US, but this is changing. Right now, online dating is “the second most common way of starting a relationship after meeting through friends. But is love that started online better than love that started face-to-face? Is there a difference? Are those who use the internet just taking advantage of what’s available to them in the chaos that is dating in the 21st Century? Or are they fundamentally altering what it means to meet significant others? Yikes – glad I’m getting married in September.
From online love to waydown Nazi hunting.
Question: if I told you Russian scientists had finally managed to drill into an Antarctic lake that has been buried under ice for the past 20 million years and are hopeful that they will find not only new life forms but the remains of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, you would think I’m delusional or its a 1950 sci-fi spectacular, right? Wrong! Those same Russian scientists have managed to drill through 4 km of ice to reach the forbidden Lake Vostok, and are claiming that in 1943 the Nazis sent U-Boats to the Antarctic to store top secret files and, the Russians are hoping, the former German leaders remains in 1945. Crazy stuff, amiright?
How to deal with a trash problem like Hong Kong.
Despite having an impressive recycling rate at 40%, Hong Kong is still drowning in trash. The city has known that their three largest landfills are going to be full within the next five to eight years, but they still seem unable to stem the tide of trash: it currently sends over 13,800 metric tonnes of material to landfill every day. That’s right, every 24 hours, a single city (of 7 million people, mind you) sends 30,423,792 lbs to landfill, which is truly astounding when you think about it. And to combat this problem, Hong Kong is turning to a “Pay-As-You-Throw” system which will charge people for every piece of material they send to landfill as opposed to recycling it. Suddenly, if every item you buy comes with a price-tag attached for its disposal, you suddenly become smarter about what you buy. Or so city officials hope!
My big confession: I don’t really care if Sidney Crosby comes back to the NHL.
There. I said it. Seems to be you can’t be a Canadian sports fan and think such heresy, let alone speak it publicly. But I’m willing to say it in print, albeit online print. I am getting so tired of seeing stories like this on on TSN that outline how great it is that Crosby took a full practice today with the Penguins, complete with stunning quotes from “The Next One” himself, such as: “It was good to be out there. This week’s been pretty good.” This is not news. And I understand that I nabbed that quote from The Sports Network after all, but you don’t have to look hard to find comparable examples in all major news outlets in this country. Listen, it’s sad to be sure, but he has won a Stanley Cup, captained a team, and scored the OT game-winning goal in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver against the U.S. By a young age he has done more than most NHL players and pro-hockey player wannabe’s can ever hope to accomplish. EVER. And now he will have a long advertising and broadcasting career, if he never comes back.
So, I’m sorry Canada. I cannot be the only one, but there it is. I just don’t care if Sid the Kid comes back. And you can’t make me.
Andrew Reeves writes the Morning Cable (and other stuff) for Toronto Standard. Check him out on Twitter @reevesreport.
For more, follow us on Twitter at @torontostandard, and subscribe to our newsletter.
