Readable, teachable news.
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Lots of people go skydiving. They jump out of an airplane, with a parachute, and sail down to Earth.
But on October 14, Felix Baumgartner took it to new heights.
Space.
Well, near-space, anyway.
Baumgartner rode in a helium balloon 39 kilometers above New Mexico.
And then he jumped out.
It sounds simple, but it was far from it.
Beth Feeback, who lives in North Carolina, knows how to find a good bargain. In fact, she recently turned $10 into $34,375.
Feeback shops at Goodwill, a thrift store, where people can buy used clothing and items cheaply.
In her spare time, Feeback paints folksy pictures of large-eyed kitties.
Last April, Feeback was combing Goodwill for a nice warm blanket. Instead, she stumbled on two large paintings that she felt she’d be able to paint her kitties on–after painting over them, of course.
She paid $9.99 for the paintings and took them home. It wasn’t until five months later that she fetched them to recycle them into cat paintings.
But something caught her eye on one of the paintings.
There was a sticker on the back of the canvas that said that the painting–a red diamond with blue and white stripes–had come from the Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina.
When you’re sick, you go to the doctor.
She may give you a prescription for some medicine—for example, eye drops.
If you live in Ontario, you’d then go to a drug store and give that prescription to the pharmacist, who would “fill your prescription” – in other words, make up the eye drops and sell them to you.
As it is now, if you run out of your prescription eye drops and need more you would likely have to go back to your doctor to get another prescription.
This week the Ontario government announced a new plan that gives the pharmacist an expanded role in healthcare.
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.
People around the world will soon be able to see what life in a small northern community looks like, thanks to Google Street View.
The hamlet of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, was photographed for Google Street View in August.
Street View is a feature of Google Maps which allows users to see panoramic street-level photographs of the places on a map.
In Street View, the user can click on arrows and “travel” along the streets, seeing the buildings, houses and sidewalks.
Many places around the world have been mapped by Street View but Cambridge Bay, which is located on the southeast coast of Victoria Island in Canada’s Arctic, is the farthest north so far.
The Pan American Games are coming to Toronto, Ontario in 2015.
The Games are like the Olympics, but only athletes from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean compete.
It is different from the Olympics because it celebrates culture as well as sports. And that’s where the pianos come in.
The Games don’t start for another three years, but last July a Pan Am project called Play Me, I’m Yours, put 41 painted pianos around Toronto.
The pianos stood for the 41 countries and protectorates belonging to the Pan American Sports Organization. (Protectorates are countries that have their own government but also get protection from stronger countries.)
Each piano was decorated by an artist who lives in Canada but was born in one of the 41 countries.
The pianos were placed in public parks, streets and squares.
Play Me, I’m Yours invited everybody to play. It didn’t matter if you were piano teacher or could only play Chopsticks.
The Pope’s butler is on trial.
The Pope is the leader of the Catholic Church around the world. The current Pope is Pope Benedict XVI.
The Pope’s butler is named Paolo Gabriele.
His job is to look after the personal needs of the Pope—for instance, serve the Pope his meals and help him dress.
Naturally, he has access to some very private areas of the Vatican, like the Pope’s bedroom and other rooms.
For months, Italian media have been publishing private information about the Catholic Church. No one knew where the media got the information.
It looks like the butler may have done it.
Do you think you live in an average family?
According to the latest Census of Population, published by Statistics Canada, “average” has changed.
Every five years, Canadians are asked questions about their families and their life.
For instance, “How many people live here?” and “What are their ages?”
Some new information from the 2011 was recently published.
That census counted 9.4 million families in Canada, up 5.5 per cent from 2006.
The other thing a census tells us is what Canadian families look like.
For instance, in 1961 (according to that census) the average family comprised 3.9 people.
In 2011 (according to the most recent census) the average family comprises 2.9 people.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford went to Chicago, Illinois in the U.S. this week.
He went to promote goodwill between the two cities and also to make some business deals. But he couldn’t shake the scandal that he’d left behind in Toronto.
The mayor has been accused of using city staff to help with his personal hobby of coaching football.
He has also been accused of charging the cost of his car and other expenses to the city, even when they are used for football.
The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival ended last Sunday.
For 10 days, movies from more than 60 countries were shown around the city.
Thirty-eight of them were premieres, or films that were shown in Toronto for the first time. And all the big players–famous actors, directors and producers–came out to see them, and to be seen.
A film festival is an event about movies: watching movies, making movies and acting in movies. And of course, it’s about the business of movies. Many big movie deals are made during TIFF. Storytellers meet writers. Writers meet producers. Producers meet directors. Directors meet actors. And later–often years later–a movie is made
