Month: September 2013

News

Ray Charles To Be Honoured With US Postage Stamp

Ray Charles was a famous American music composer, singer and piano player.

Charles is known as a music genius, partly because of the way in which his songs crossed genres.

He blazed a trail in the early days of blues, gospel, country, jazz, soul and rock and roll.

His music was—and still is—inspirational to millions of people around the world.

Charles had many mega-hits. Some of best-known are “Georgia On My Mind,” “Hit the Road Jack,” and “What’d I Say.”

On Monday, the U.S. Postal Service honoured Ray Charles by putting his image on a postage stamp.

The stamp is part of the “Music Icons Forever” series.

News Science Sports

Some Sochi Gold Medals Will Contain Space Rock

Last Feb. 15, a meteorite landed in Russia.

A meteorite is a rock that comes to Earth from space.

Every year, thousands of asteroids and meteoroids streak past our planet.

Most of the ones headed for Earth simply burn up in our atmosphere.

In this case, the meteorite exploded into thousands of pieces in the air, making a tremendous noise known as a sonic boom.

Some of the rocks fell to Earth in the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia.

Russian scientists have been studying the rocks to know more about them—where they came from and how they were formed.

Chris Hadfield at Freedom Day
News

Chris Hadfield Inspires Thousands Of Students At Freedom Day Celebration

Thousands of middle-school students converged on Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto on Wednesday to celebrate Freedom Day.

The annual event was hosted by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.

Speakers ranged from holocaust survivor Max Eisen to dance troupe SolePower, and culminated in an inspirational speech from former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

Max Eisen talked about surviving a concentration camp.

“When I was in Auschwitz, trying to survive on 300 calories a day,” he said, “I thought of two things: food and freedom.”

The downtown square was packed with students, who sat cross-legged under a blazing sun, shoulder to shoulder, to listen to the speakers.

Animals News

Toronto Zoo Elephants Prepare For Trip To California

For two years, the Toronto Zoo and Toronto City Council have been trying to agree on the best way to move three senior elephants to California.

The elephants are quite old and must be treated very carefully.

Now, if all goes well, Toka, Thika and Iringa will begin their trip next month.

At first, they were to make the move by plane, but that idea was turned down in favour of driving.

Now they will go in containers on a 50-hour journey with several stops along the way for feeding and cleaning of the crates.

Veterinarians and handlers will go with them on the trip to make sure the animals are safe and not stressed.

Sports

The National Football League… Expect the Unexpected

The NFL (National Football League) is in full swing and many exciting stories have already begun to unfold.

Although the league opened just three weeks ago, teams have already surprised their fans, for better and for worse.

Seven of the 32 teams in the league are now 3-0 (3 wins – no losses).

But it may not be the teams you would expect.

Favourites such as The Seattle Seahawks, The Denver Broncos and The New England Patriots are 3-0, but so are The Kansas City Chiefs, The Miami Dolphins, The Chicago Bears, and The New Orleans Saints—four teams that didn’t even make the playoffs last year.

News

The Brydges Fail To Sell Their “Essay House”

In October, you’ll get another chance to win a house by writing a persuasive essay.

Calvin and Diana Brydges had been going to sell their $300,000 house for $100, but it hasn’t worked out.

They’re going to try again in October.

The Brydges had been unable to sell their house the “usual way” for two years.

Then they had a bright idea.

They decided they would give their house away in a lottery.

The Brydges would only sell the house if they managed to sell 3,000 lottery tickets.

They got 2,192 essays.

News

Family In Guelph Living Like It’s 1986

A family in Guelph, Ontario is spending a year living in 1986.

They’re doing it so their kids can see what life was like before complicated technology like iPads, sophisticated computers, tablets and even complicated coffee machines were part of everyday life.

They have banned all technology from their home and are relying on the things people would have used back in the 80s.

There is a box at the front door where people can temporarily deposit their mobile devices, like cell phones, while they’re visiting the family.

Blair McMillan and his girlfriend, Morgan want their kids—Trey, 5, and Denton, 2—to have a year free of technology.

News

Prince Harry Spends A Night In A Giant Freezer

Britain’s Prince Harry spent a night in a giant freezer, to prepare himself for a race to the South Pole in November.

He will be doing the 15-day trek with a team of wounded British soldiers.

His team will compete against teams from the United States and the Commonwealth.

This week, the 29-year-old prince spent a day and nearly a whole night in the cold chamber, with the occasional 10-minute break.

AP reported that when asked what the worst part of his chilling experience was, the prince said, “Going in.”

News

Costa Concordia Is Set Upright

The enormous cruise ship, The Costa Concordia, no longer lies on its side, rusting in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tuscany, Italy.

Salvagers spent 19 hours—and more than $824-million—setting it upright.

It was the largest salvage operation of its kind.

The 13-deck Costa Concordia was carrying 4,200 people on Jan. 13, 2012 when its captain steered it too close to the shore.

Entertainment

Viral Video Turns Out To Be A Hoax

You can’t believe everything you see on the Internet.

Last week, millions of people—including many news producers—learned that lesson in a very interesting way.

A very popular Internet video turned out to be a hoax.

The video was of a girl twerking (a current dance fad) in her room; she dances so hard that she falls onto a candle and her pants catch on fire.

More than nine-million people watched the video.

The video was shown on hundreds of newscasts, including major networks ABC and some local Fox Network affiliates.