Readable, teachable news.
Friday, April 19, 2024
U.S. President Barack Obama has a reputation for being an eloquent speaker.
When he was first elected in 2009, he won the hearts of American voters with his smart, straight talk.
His opponent in the American presidential race this time around is Mitt Romney.
On Wednesday night, the two men who want to be president squared off in a debate.
Each debater spoke for two minutes on topics such as healthcare, the American economy and how they would create new jobs for Americans if they are elected.
A typical, active kid should probably eat about 1,800 to 2,000 calories a day to stay healthy. (The exact number depends on a person’s gender, age and daily exercise level.)
But let’s say, 1,900.
Now let’s say that kid decides to buy her lunch at McDonald’s; maybe have a Big Mac and large fries.
Starting this week in the U.S., McDonald’s restaurants will show the calorie counts of each of their menu items—right up on the big menu board at the front of the restaurant.
An “ambassador” is a person who represents one country—in another one.
For instance, Canada has ambassadors in many countries around the world. They are high ranking diplomats who represent their country. They typically work from offices called embassies.
The U.S. has many ambassadors stationed around the world, representing the United States.
The U.S. has an embassy in Libya, in Northern Africa.
Libya has been in the news this year because it was part of the Arab Spring, in which some countries’ people protested against corrupt governments.
On Wednesday, the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three embassy staff were killed.
Facts are still emerging about the incident—about why it happened and what the U.S. reaction to it will be.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the spectacular 2012 Summer Olympics.
• U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps now holds the most Olympic medals of any athlete in history. He has 22 Olympic medals, four more than the next highest Olympic medal holder (gymnast Larisa Latynina, from the Soviet Union, who has 18).
Not only that, but he has 18 gold medals—twice as many as any other Olympian.
Phelps won six medals in the 2012 Olympics.
• Four of the world’s top badminton women’s doubles teams were kicked out of the Olympics for throwing their matches.
The women deliberately tried to lose by serving wildly and hitting shots into the net or out of the court. Why?
If they had won their first matches, they would have had to play more difficult opponents. By losing their first matches, they would have been able to play easier, more beatable teams.
However, you’re not allowed to “throw” a match by losing on purpose so they were eliminated from the Olympics.
On Friday night Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
More than 100,000 people gathered to watch the feat, which has taken more than two years and help from many people, including NASA engineers, to accomplish.
Nik Wallenda is a descendant of the famous “Flying Wallendas” family of acrobats.
The stunt was incredible, not just because no one has ever done it before but because it took a lifetime of training and a lot of physical and mental strength to perform.
Niagara Falls creates a lot of mist, which drenched Wallenda most of the time he was on the tightrope. Swirling winds threatened to knock him from his perch, 200 feet in the air above the thundering falls.
The LA Kings are the kings of hockey, for the first time in their history.
On Monday night, the Kings won hockey’s ultimate prize — the Stanley Cup.
Their quest for the Stanley Cup has been 45 years in the making.
Their dream became a reality after they beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1 in the sixth game of a seven-game series.
The win can be attributed in large part to a five-minute major penalty against one of the Devils’ players early in the game. During that penalty the Kings scored three goals.
The game then really opened up in favour of the Kings. Jonathan Quick, the Kings’ goalie, was solid in net. In fact, he was fantastic for the entire playoffs, setting NHL records. He was named playoff MVP (Most Valuable Player), and was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy.
Canadian-owned I’ll Have Another was a favourite to win the Belmont Stakes horse race this year.
The race was held last Saturday.
If he’d won, he would also have won all three of the major horse races and become the U.S. Triple Crown winner, every horse-owner’s dream.
However, it wasn’t to be.
Just before the big race, his trainer announced that the horse had tendonitis in his left front leg and would not be able to race. The owner decided to retire the colt from racing.
The good news is that I’ll Have Another will recover from his injury and will be fine. It’s likely that the horse will become a stud, which means that he will father other colts which may go on to become excellent race horses themselves. In that way, I’ll Have Another’s legacy will live on.
You may not have heard of Adam Yauch, but you have probably heard of the Beastie Boys.
Yauch – better known as MCA – was one of three members of the legendary hip-hop group from New York City. He died from cancer early this month.
Yauch and the rest of the Beastie Boys were famous for wild, silly songs and wild, silly behaviour.
A perfect example is their most famous song: “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party).”
Yauch taught himself to play the bass guitar in highschool and formed the Beastie Boys for his 17th birthday party along with the group’s two other members: Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Adrock” Horovitz.
“I’ll Have Another” did indeed have another, just last Saturday.
Canadian-owned horse, “I’ll Have Another” (yes, that’s its name) won the 137th Preakness Stakes.
Blazing down the stretch, “I’ll Have Another” pushed hard with each powerful stride to cross the finish line first — winning by only the length of its neck.
It was a very close and exciting finish. The horse was jockeyed by Mario Gutierrez.
The jockey is the person who rides and directs the horse in the race.
Some people at a software company wanted to find out what happens when people find a cell phone.
Do they keep it, or return it? What do they do with it?
They found out that half of the people people who find a cell phone returned it. However, in nearly every case, the “finder” first looked through the information on the phone, checking out the owner’s photos, emails and apps.
In his experiment, Scott Wright, who works for Security Perspectives Inc., left 50 cell phones in various places in five cities in Canada and the United States. He left them out so they would look like they had been accidentally lost.
