Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team has finally made the playoffs.
Tomorrow, the Leafs will play their first post-season game since 2004.
Toronto hockey fans are well known for their enthusiasm for their team—and their patience.
They’re excited their team has finally made the playoffs again.
For each Maple Leafs playoff game Toronto’s CN Tower will light up blue, the colour of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Bitcoin sounds like what it is–a type of money.
But it’s a special kind of money that could not exist without the Internet. It is digital and virtual; people can’t carry it around in their pockets or keep it in a bank.
Despite these differences from traditional money, there are places around the world that are starting to accept bitcoins to pay for things.
Some restaurants and shops in New York and San Francisco accept bitcoins, and so does WordPress, a blogging website.
A man in Alberta is offering to sell his house for bitcoins instead of Canadian dollars.
Bitcoins have been around for a few years but are becoming more popular.
Chris Hadfield is the Canadian astronaut living and working on – and commanding – the International Space Station.
He’s the first astronaut to bring the “space experience” to Earthlings in the form of regular tweets, photos, Facebook posts, videos and even songs.
Hadfield lets us know what experiments he’s working on, what the Earth looks like from his vantage point and what it’s like to live in space.
Hadfield has three children, Kyle (30), Evan (27) and Kristin (26).
Evan lives in Darmstadt, Germany.
He has been helping his father communicate with Earth, via Twitter and other social media websites such as Facebook, tumblr and Soundcloud.
There’s a new dance that has become popular through the Internet called the Harlem Shake.
Millions have people have watched the original Harlem Shake video on YouTube and there have been thousands of tribute videos made.
It’s hard to describe the crazy-looking dance, which is done to a happy, goofy sounding song of the same name, written by an American DJ and electronic musician named Baauer. Wikipedia describes the song this way:
“The uptempo song incorporates a mechanical bassline, Dutch house synth riffs, a dance music drop and samples of growling-lion sounds. Baauer added a variety of peculiar sounds to the song so that it would stand out.”
The videos—the original and the thousands of tribute videos that have been made since—start with one person or several people dancing. Then there’s a jump-cut to a roomful of people in costumes, helmets and masks all awkwardly jerking their bodies and happily flailing their arms.
The Harlem Shake has become a “meme” (pronounced meem). An Internet meme is a video, photo or idea that spreads from person to person and is altered or combined with other videos and photos.
Have you ever wondered exactly what’s in a McDonald’s hamburger?
Or why the food at McDonald’s doesn’t look the same in the advertising as it does in the store?
Or whether McDonald’s food is good for you?
If so, you’re not alone.
McDonald’s has a website that posts questions answered by Canadians—and answers from McDonald’s staff.
Over the years the restaurant chain has taken a lot of heat for its food which tends to be fast, cheap and not necessarily always good for you.
However, it is everywhere. There’s hardly a city in North America—or the world—in which you can’t find a McDonald’s restaurant.
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.
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.
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!
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.
