A note about Too Real and our future

I’m sure all of our valued regular readers (the enlightened few, as we call you folks) have noticed a sharp drop off in the regularity of postings here at Too Real. I’m just here to clear a few things up about what’s going on around here, and what’s going to happen in the (near) future.

Joost shows more promise with CBS deal

Joost (pronounced ‘juiced’) has been the talk of the internet for months now, and is really starting to ramp up the publicity as of late. I was invited to beta test Juiced two or three weeks ago and have spent a little bit of time playing around with it. These are my impressions:

What can we do about the high cost of education?

For a lot of people a post-secondary education is something they consider vitally important to success later in life. Studies have consistently proven that that earning a college or university degree or a skilled trade will exponentially increase the amount of money you will earn. Chances are also likely that you will have a more fulfilling job and will have more career opportunities no matter what you want to do.

Easter should remain Easter

As long as I’ve been a student (coming up on twenty years now—two fucking decades, shiiit…) I’ve been blessed with holidays based around religious dates such as Easter and Christmas.

17 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Pollution Output

With all the talk lately about global warming and protecting the environment, I decided to compile a short list of easy, inexpensive ways to reduce your pollution output. Pick a few off the list and do your part to help out the environment. You’ll probably feel good about yourself.

Citizendium tries to outdo Wikipedia

A competitor to the venerable Wikipedia has launched today. Citizendium claims to be the first “progressive or gradual fork” of Wikipedia. The project, headed by former Wikipedia Editor-in-Chief and co-founder, Larry Sanger, began a “pilot phase” in November 2006.

10 Sites That Will Improve Your Blog

If you are a blogger, these are ten blogs that should be a mainstay in your RSS reader if they aren’t already. Following these blogs should help you grow your blog in no time at all:

Canada's Best and Worst Newspaper Websites

While old media is still the leading source of information for most people in the world. While a lot can be said for blogging (citizen journalism), photo-sharing (citizen photo-journalism), video-sharing (citizen broadcasting) and the lot, newspapers, radio and television news are still dominant. How are Canada's newspapers taking to the internet? Some better than others.

The Top 7 Canadian Beer

Beer has been brewed commercially in Canada since 1688, and has been brewing some of the best beer in the world ever since. Being a devout consumer of the golden goodness, I recently conducted a self-survey of the best beer that Canada has to offer. While some of these products are now owned by non-Canadian companies, they are still viewed as home-grown products by their Canadian consumers.

Should you switch to Gmail?

I have been using Gmail as my primary personal email service since June 2006 and I can not imagine using another service. I received an invite for a Gmail account shortly after it was launched on April 1, 2004 and tried it out for a few days before abandoning the idea of leaving my Hotmail account. Over the next couple of years I tried the service out a few times before finally making the big switch. Ever since, I’ve been spreading the word and trying to convert people.

Is $10 Too High for a Minimum Wage?

A debate is raging about Ontario's minimum wage. Certain people would like to see it raised to $10.00 per hour, while some believe that it's just too much and will cripple that provinces economy. Some of the arguments I've read for the wage increase seem to center around the gap between this country's rich and our poor.

It's Christmas Time in the City

We are four days away from Christmas and I'm sure life is hectic for anyone living in an even remotely major center. The malls are packed. The traffic is horrible. Even Tim Horton's is busier than normal, if that's at all possible. Cities around the (Christian) world are abuzz with excitement. People are about to—or already have—take off from work for a few days, and the lucky ones will have an extended holiday to spend time with their friends and family. All the University students that actually went off to school are no doubt at home visiting their families and old friends, and no doubt a bar or two.

Are Banks Really Gouging You?

To most the answer to this question is an obvious answer. However to some--those accustomed to just paying whatever comes at them because that's the way it is--the answer may be a little murky. One thing I do know is that no one likes to pay bank fees. So just how badly is our collective wallet being raped?

Is There a Cab Conspiracy in Calgary?

If you live in Calgary you know that we are having a huge issue with taxis as of late. You either know from experience, or have seen any number of newscasts about the "problem." If you have tried calling a cab any time in the past few months you have most likely got a busy signal, or, worse yet, simply did not have your call answered. On the news the cab company execs are saying that they are short drivers—about 200 of them—this number will be important soon. Well, I had an interesting chat with a taxi driver on my way to the airport last week.