Month: January 2013

Arts News

Cirque Du Soleil Lays Off 400 Employees

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Some of Cirque du Soleil’s performers will soon have their feet on the ground.

That’s because the fantastical circus company is laying off 400 employees.

Cirque employs about 5,000 people around the world, doing more than 100 types of jobs including performing.

Most of the lay-offs will be at the organization’s Montreal headquarters, according to an article in the Globe and Mail.

Cirque du Soleil is a famous Canadian performing troupe. According to Wikipedia, they describe themselves as “a dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment.”

They were founded by two former street performers, Guy Laliberte and Gilles Ste-Croix, about 30 years ago.

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Environment News Science Technology

Hadfield Brings Space Life Down To Earth

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When Chris Hadfield was nine years old, he watched Apollo 11 land on the moon and decided he wanted to become an astronaut.

That was in 1969, and about half a billion people around the world watched the same grainy images of the moon landing on TV.

It seems incredible, but with today’s technology and social media websites, people can see and hear what the astronauts are doing on the International Space Station every day.

We can watch videos of them, check out the view of Earth from the space station, and even have casual “conversations” with the astronauts.

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Environment News Science

Scientists Criticize Iron-Dumping Experiment

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Scientists around the world have criticized a group of Canadians for dumping more than 100 tonnes of iron dust into the Pacific Ocean last summer.

The group, called the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation, is supported by the village of Old Massett, British Columbia.

About 700 people live in the village, which is located on the Haida Gwaii islands.

They used to make their living by fishing for salmon, but now there are not enough salmon and 70 per cent of the villagers don’t have jobs.

Last July, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation paid $2.5 million to an American businessman named Russ George to dump a mixture of iron sulphate and iron oxide dust into the ocean about 370 kilometres west of the islands.

They hoped the iron would cause more plankton to grow in that part of the Pacific.

They believed that more plankton would help increase the number of salmon in the area.

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News Sports

NHL Season (Finally!) Begins This Saturday

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The National Hockey League season is finally beginning.

After 113 days, the dispute between the owners and the players is over.

Fans have been without hockey since Sept. 15; that’s when the NHL season was supposed to have started.

After months of negotiations, players voted in favour of a new “collective agreement” to end the lockout.

Then to officially end the lockout, representatives for both the owners and players signed a document saying they agree to the proposal.

The 30 hockey teams that make up the NHL started training camps on Jan. 13.

There are seven Canadian teams in the NHL: the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Montreal Canadiens, the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers, the Winnipeg Jets, the Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Canucks.

Training camp is a time for teams to put together their roster.

It also gives teams a chance to prepare for the upcoming season in hopes of winning the Stanley Cup.

This camp will be shorter than usual as there is a rush to get the season started. As a result there will be no pre-season games.

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News

Head Of Canada’s Largest School Board Resigns Over Plagiarism

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Last week, thousands of children in Toronto learned an important lesson about the seriousness of plagiarism, from the head of the largest school board in Canada.

Plagiarism is when you copy someone else’s work and claim the ideas or writing as your own.

When you use someone else’s writing in a school report, for instance, you must let the reader know where the passage came from.

That’s known as “citing the source” or “giving attribution.”

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Lighter Technology

It’s Fun To Work (And Play) At Google

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Everyone wants to work somewhere that’s interesting and fun.

The people at Google have taken that concept to an extreme.

Their new Canadian headquarters in Toronto, Ont. have some features that make everyone want to come to work.

Google is the Internet’s most popular search engine (the software program that helps you find websites you’re looking for).

The company also makes many other software products such as Google Maps and Google Chrome.

Google also owns many Internet companies including YouTube and Blogger.

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News Science

Canadian Astronaut To Take Charge Of Space Station

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Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will soon become the first Canadian to command the International Space Station.

Hadfield and two other astronauts – Tom Mashburn from the United States and Roman Romanenko from Russia – docked at the ISS on Dec. 21, 2012.

Their Soyuz spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 19.

It took them two days to reach the space station.

The space station is a satellite which orbits the Earth. The size of the crew varies from three to six astronauts at a time.

The crews stay on the space station for up to six months and then are replaced by other astronauts.

Hadfield and his crew will stay for five months.

This mission is Hadfield’s third trip into space and his second visit to the space station.

When he takes over command of the ISS in March, he will become the first Canadian ever to command a spacecraft.

Hadfield can already claim several “firsts” in space.

In 1995, Hadfield was the first Canadian to serve as “mission specialist” on a space shuttle.

He was also the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm while in orbit, and the first Canadian to board the Russian space station, Mir.

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News

“Idle No More” A Growing Movement

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For nearly a month Theresa Spence, Chief of the community of Attawapiskat, has been protesting the way First Nations people are treated in northern Ontario.

Spence has not eaten any solid food for about 30 days. This type of protest is called a “hunger strike.”

During a hunger strike, people stop eating in order to make a peaceful protest about something they believe in. Spence is consuming only liquids, like water and broth.

Spence said she will not end her hunger strike until Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with her to discuss First Nations rights.

Last week, Harper said he will meet with First Nations leaders on Jan. 11.

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News

Part II Of TKN’s 2012 News Quiz. How Many Of These Stories Do You Remember?

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Yesterday we posted a quiz featuring questions from events in the news in the first half of 2012. Let’s see how much you remember from the past six months as you tackle these 2012 news questions.

17) What huge sporting event took place in Summer 2012? Bonus point if you know what city it took place in.

18) The man who famously said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” passed away in August 2012. What was his name, and why was he famous?

19) Name the mayor of Toronto. Name one thing he did that was newsworthy in 2012.

20) “Replacement refs” filled in during an NFL labour dispute. What did they do that irritated many fans?

21) What did the Pope’s butler do in 2012 that made headlines?

22) Who won the World Series in 2012?

23) Why is nine-year-old Caine Monroy famous?

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News

Top Stories From 2012 – Take Our Fun Quiz!

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Now that it’s 2013, it’s a good time to look back on some of the biggest news stories of the year.

Take our quiz and see how much you remember about these stories from the past year. The link beside each question will take you to the TKN article that will give you the answer.

1) A famous scientist turned 70 on Jan. 8, 2012. Name him. (Article.)

2) Something happened to the Costa Concordia in January. What? (Article.)

3) Where did two teens send a “Legonaut”? (Article.)

4) Why did some Canadian Little Leaguers travel to Africa for a baseball game? Who did they play? (Article.)

5) Who won the 2012 Super Bowl? (Article.)

6) Name the northern Ontario city that declared a “state of emergency” in February. Bonus points if you can spell it correctly. (Article.)

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