Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Governments from just a handful of countries have flown into space.
But never has a private company successfully sent a spacecraft into space.
Not only is it extremely expensive, but it’s incredibly risky. There are a million things that can go wrong.
Last month an American company called Space Exploration Technologies – better known as SpaceX – made history by sending its unmanned Dragon spacecraft into space.
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been sent to prison for life.
Last year, as part of the Arab Spring protests* Mubarak was forced from government. He had been in power for nearly 30 years.
During the anti-Mubarak protests, Mubarak’s security forces fired on the protesters, killing more than 850 people.
Recently, a judge found Mubarak guilty of participating in those killings and sentenced him to life in prison.
What’s more than one kilometre long, covers 7.7 hectares, holds 250 million litres of water, is as deep as 35 metres and is a beautiful turquoise colour?
It’s the biggest swimming pool in the world.
In case it’s hard to imagine just how much water that is, imagine a huge lagoon the size of 6,000 regular-sized pools. It’s a whopping 12 football fields long.
Located beside the ocean at a resort named San Alfonso del Mar in Algarrobo, Chile, it holds the Guinness record as the world’s largest swimming pool.
The Canadian penny will soon be a thing of the past—like the Canadian one-dollar and two-dollar bills. The loonie and the toonie replaced those bills in 1987.
In its last budget, the government said the Royal Canadian Mint will stop making pennies starting this Fall, and that stores will stop using them.
Everyone is asked to return their pennies to a bank; they will be melted down and recycled.
Pennies will always be worth one cent. However, there will be fewer and fewer of them out there as the years go on.
Any prices that don’t end in a zero or a five (in other words, purchase we can use nickles, dimes or quarters for) will be rounded up or down to the nearest zero or five.
Although there are about as many women in the world as men, there is a much larger number of men who are heads-of-state.
The only female head-of-state Canada has had, out of 22 in Canadian history, was Kim Campbell. She was prime minister for less than a year, in 1993.
In Africa last month, Joyce Banda became just the third female head-of-state in modern African history.
Banda took over for President Bingu Wa Mutharika in Malawi, who died of a heart attack in early April.
Until then, Banda had been Malawi’s vice-president, elected in 2005.
The people who are rebuilding the High Park castle are getting some high-profile help.
Mike Holmes is a celebrity contractor. A contractor is someone who is skilled at the kinds of jobs needed to build or renovate homes. Contractors hire and oversee all of the work—for instance, electrical, plumbing, carpentry and design work.
Holmes became famous for his motto, “make it right.” On his TV show, he rescues homeowners from renovations that have gone wrong and he brings in workers who fix the house properly and “make it right.”
Holmes also does a lot of charity work. On one of his TV shows, he helps people in New Orleans whose houses were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Now he’s lending a hand to help rebuild the children’s play castle in the High Park neighbourhood of Toronto, Ont. Much of the wooden structure was destroyed by a fire last March.
If you were sitting outside on April 16 in Eastern North America, you may have seen a wondrous site. That day, millions of Red Admiral butterflies flew in – or perhaps “blew in” – from the southern United States.
Drew Monkman is a local natualist (“nature watcher”) and writer, living in Peterborough, Ont. He tracks the habits of animals including butterflies.
He told TKN that the April 16 migration was “completely unprecedented. (The Red Admiral has) never been seen in these kinds of numbers.”
He said on that day there were probably several million butterflies, most of them Red Admiral, but there were other species as well.
Drew Monkman is a naturalist and butterfly expert living in Peterborough, Ont.
Why did this happen? This year in the southern United States like Texas, where the butterflies began their journey, the winter was “amazingly mild,” said Monkman. This allowed more butterflies to survive the winter and reproduce.
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.
University students continue to protest in Montreal.
The students had started out protesting a tuition hike.
However, the protests have grown and broadened to be about more than tuition.
The Royal Visit — Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are touring Canada.
They are taking a four-day tour of the country to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
“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.
