Month: January 2011

Technology

Let This “Server” Take Your Order

Restaurants are using iPads to let customers get information about their food and place their order.

An iPad is a flat, square computer – like a large iPhone but instead of making phone calls it displays information and can access the Internet. It has a touch screen, so people can use their fingers to work it.

Chicago Cut is a steakhouse in the U.S. They have 40 iPads in their restaurant so people can see their wine list and order a bottle of wine. They can also get information on the wine to find out what it tastes like before they order it.

News

Self-Control Key To Healthy Adulthood

A new study shows that kids who have excellent self-control are more likely to grow into healthy, successful adults.

Having self-control means (among other things) having the ability to wait your turn, be neat and tidy and plan ahead.

Not having a lot of self-control doesn’t mean you won’t be successful as an adult. But the study showed that the kids who had greater self-control were less likely to become dependent on drugs, have health problems or commit a crime.

News

Thousands Honour Sgt. Ryan Russell

On Jan. 18, more than 12,000 people from across Canada and the United States attended the funeral of Sgt. Ryan Russell in Toronto. Police, emergency workers and thousands of Toronto residents came to honour Sgt. Russell’s memory and support his wife, Christine and their son, Nolan.

Sgt. Russell died in the line of duty, trying to stop a runaway snowplow. His death affected so many people, even those who had never met him. When a police officer dies, everyone cares.

Martin Edmonds "acting" ill
Arts Health

Acting Like A Real Pain

When someone is studying to become a doctor, he can learn a lot from professors and textbooks. But there are some things he will have to actually experience, in order to learn them.

Like diagnosing a patient, for instance. Figuring out what’s wrong with someone when he comes into the emergency room complaining of a “sore stomach” or a “severe headache.” Those two symptoms could have many different causes—anything from a gas bubble to appendicitis.

Sports

Young Canadian A Big Surprise At Australian Open

Milos Raonic is from Thornhill, Ont., but he’s causing a huge stir half-way around the world… in Australia.

The 20-year-old tennis pro has become an overnight sensation, beating players well above his ranking. Currently, Raonic is ranked 152nd in the world. Last week he beat Mikhail Youzhny of Russia–ranked #10 in the world.

Sports

Blue Jays Trade Vernon Wells (#10)

Last week, The Blue Jays traded away one of the team’s key players – centre fielder Vernon Wells. The trade took many fans by surprise because #10 was a fan favourite. In return for Wells, the Jays get catcher Mike Napoli and outfielder Juan Rivera.

Wells will now be playing for the Los Angeles Angels. The main reason for the trade was money. Wells had one of the highest salaries of any baseball player.

Science

Write Your Worries Away

Students who are anxious about a test can improve their scores just by writing about their fears, according to a new study.

Researchers took 47 university students who were nervous about an upcoming exam and divided them into three groups. The first group was told to write about their fears 10 minutes before they took a math test. The second group was told to write about what they did the day before. And the third group relaxed for 10 minutes before the test.

News

Co-Workers Argue Over Lottery Prize

A group of co-workers at Bell Canada won $50-million in the lottery on New Year’s. However, they’re fighting about who chipped in for the Lotto Max ticket—and therefore who is entitled to a share of the winnings.
One woman in the office organized the lottery pool. Each month about 19 people put in $20 for lottery tickets. She says she has a list of who paid and who didn’t.
But some people who regularly go in on the pool are upset that they won’t get any of the money.

Arts Entertainment

Young African Pianist Achieves His Dreams

As a boy, Mehdi Ghazi had a dream. He wanted to be a classical pianist.

But he lived in Algeria, a northern African nation torn apart by a long-standing civil war between government forces and Islamic rebels. The war had shut down the music conservatory. And western classical music was nearly unheard of there—in fact, some called it “the devil’s music.”

Ghazi had no piano. He practiced on a keyboard drawn on a sheet of paper. And he had no teacher, so he taught himself to play.