Online dating has now reached new dimensions. Match.com is launching a new application for cell phones called MatchMobile. Subscribers will receive a text message notifying them when they have an e-mail from another subscriber. For a fee of approximately $5.00 US/month they will have the ability to receive and answer e-mails from other MatchMobile subscribers in addition to using their cell phones to search for dates.

MatchMobile is being launched first in Canada, the United States, and the UK. There are plans to expand the service to 9 additional countries by the end of the year. If statistics hold true, this service should be a cash cow. M:Metrics reports that in the United States during the month of May 3.6 million cell phone subscribers used a mobile dating service. It gives being connected a whole new meaning, doesn’t it? Is the ability to access your online dating service on you cell phone of interest to you? Would you register and pay a premium for the service?

With gang violence on the rise, I’m delighted to see that the Toronto Police Amateur Athletic Association (TPAAA) and KidSport Ontario, an organization that targets disadvantaged youth, have gotten together to do something about it.

This summer 300 kids from the ages of 6 – 14 from the Cabbagetown/St. Jamestown area in Toronto will be able to come to 2 Lancaster Avenue (near Wellesley and Parliament) and get help with a wide variety of sports including hockey, soccer, basketball, tennis, volleyball, boxing, rugby, and cricket. The objective is to keep the kids focused on having fun with sports so that they don’t hang out on the streets with nothing to do and get themselves into trouble. They can just show up and get involved in a game instead. One of our wonderful local athletes donating his time this summer is the Toronto Marlies Nathan Perrott who will be teaching hockey and boxing. Hopefully this program will be such a success that others will spring up throughout the city.

To find out more about KidSport Ontario follow the link below.

http://www.kidsport.on.ca/

We tend to live very wasteful lives, not realizing that things that no longer have value to us or serve a purpose in our lives can provide the basic necessities of life to those who are less fortunate than ourselves. How many times have you just left your discarded items at the curb for garbage collection or someone to pick it up? Unfortunately those who are truly in need don’t have a car or a van required to transport large, heavy items of furniture or appliances.

The common excuse is that charities just don’t pick up any more. We’ll I’m here to tell you that is absolutely not true. Here are some charities that do and would be delighted to take your donations:

• Recycling Matters – a part of Community Living Ontario http://www.recyclingmatters.ca/

416-446-1620 or 416-446-0063 or Toll Free 1-866-424-4484

• The Canadian Diabetes Association http://www.diabetes.ca/Section_services/collection.asp

1-800-505-5525

• Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy http://www.usedclothes.ca/

416-244-0899

If any of you know of other worthy organizations that will pick up donations, please let us know. In the meantime, let’s all do everything that we can to help those in need. The next time that you are going to leave something at the curb or put it out with the trash, think of what this item may mean to someone else.

University of Toronto has made the decision to shut down its sport shooting range. Although in operation for 88 years, the change in society’s attitude towards guns and the increase in violence have been cited as the deciding factors. In general the sentiments that guns have no place on a university campus are very strong, especially in light of the horrific gun violence in several campuses across North America.

There are currently 400 members of University of Toronto’s Hart House rifle and revolver clubs. They are obviously opposed to the closing down of the sport shooting range. Their position is that there is no correlation between sport shooting and acts of violence. They don’t believe that a position of not wanting firearms on campus makes any sense because there are other dangerous elements found in various laboratories throughout the university that have the potential to do lethal damage if misused and they are not being declared banned substances. What do you think? If you could vote for shutting down the sport shooting range would you vote yeah or nay, and why?