Readable, teachable news.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Want to know what Canada’s prime minister did yesterday?
Just read his Twitter feed.
Harper tweeted a picture of his cat, Stanley, sitting on a chair beside him while the prime minister ate his breakfast.
He tweeted a time-lapsed video of his drive to work; viewers could see the Canadian flag flying on the hood of his car and watch the PM leave his limo with a briefcase full of work.
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.
Who knows why something “catches on” through the Internet?
Somehow it sparks the collective imagination and before you know it, it’s gone “viral.”
That’s what happened last week with the “Ikea monkey.”
Bronwyn Page was in an Ikea (furniture store) parking lot in North York, Ont. on Dec. 9 when she saw something unusual.
A little brown monkey wearing a diaper and a tiny, expensive-looking coat.
Who knows what’s going on with Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez? Well, they do, for sure—but does anyone else?
Bieber is, of course, a famous teen pop idol and Gomez is a television actress; the couple has been dating on and off for the past couple of years.
But what do we really know about the couple?
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That they had been dating. They have probably broken up.
It may have been her decision or it may have been his decision.
In other words, what do we know? Not much. Almost nothing, in fact.
Some media report one thing, some media report something completely different. Here’s why. It’s because the couple themselves aren’t talking about it.
Gomez? Isn’t talking.
Bieber? Isn’t talking.
Everyone else? Talking!
During elections, people often get a recorded message on their telephone that reminds them to vote and tells them where to go, to vote.
These messages, which use pre-recorded voices, are known as robo-calls.
Canada’s federal Conservative party is being accused of using robo-calls to mislead the public, during last year’s election.
The RCMP and Elections Canada (the group that makes the rules for elections), are looking into accusations that some robo-calls steered voters to the wrong polling station, or to polling stations that didn’t even exist, which would be illegal.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he doesn’t know anything about the illegal robo-calls.
Facebook is the most popular “social networking” website in the world and it may be for sale soon. Or at least part of it.
A “social networking” website is one that lets people meet and chat with each other—not face-to-face, but over the Internet. Facebook and Twitter are two popular social networking websites.
Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook with some university friends in 2004. Recently, he decided to “go public” with Facebook. In this case, that means people he doesn’t even know will be allowed to buy a share (part) of the company.
Right now, Facebook is privately owned by some individuals and companies. Zuckerberg himself owns 24 per cent or almost one-quarter of Facebook–the largest portion.
When a company “goes public,” it is given a value (for instance, Facebook is said to be worth $100-billion) and that value is divided into “shares.” Those shares, which each represent a tiny piece of the value of the company, are then offered for sale.
When Xenia Benivolski heard about the problems in Attawapiskat, she wanted to do something to help.
The people in the northern Ontario community of Attawapiskat are living in terrible housing conditions, often without heat or running water.
Temperatures there drop to -20C at night.
The community has declared a “state of emergency.”
Benivolski set up a Facebook page, asking people to donate items to help the community.
“Then people started Tweeting it… and it just kind of snowballed,” says Stephanie Guthrie, a friend who is helping with the drive. “You see something (like this) happening and you just can’t not do anything.”
