Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Rhinos are being poached in South Africa.
“Poaching” is when people (“poachers”) illegally kill a wild animal.
This year so far 341 rhinos have been poached in South Africa.
That’s the most, ever, for one year.
Rhino horns are believed by some people, particularly in Asia, to be able to cure ailments like nosebleeds and fevers.
No one knows if this is actually true.
Canadians — whether they were hockey fans or not — were glued to their TV sets on Monday night.
One of the sport’s greatest players was making his comeback.
Sidney Crosby had been off the ice since early January after suffering two blows that left him with a concussion.
On Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins’s captain came back into the game. And boy, did he put on a show!
Crosby scored a goal in the first five-and-a-half minutes of the game against the New York Islanders, flipping a backhander over the glove of goaltender Anders Nilsson.
The Penguins ultimately won 5-0 against the lacklustre Islanders.
Crosby took home four points, with two assists and then another backhand goal in the third period.
Not bad for a guy who hadn’t played in 10 months.
Students at Earl Beatty Public School in Toronto aren’t allowed to play with balls in their school playground any more.
The school has banned balls – including soccer balls, footballs, baseballs and tennis balls – from its playground.
Kids can only play with soft, foam balls such as Nerf balls.
The ban was put in place after a parent was hit in the head with a soccer ball and suffered a concussion.
The school’s principal, Alicia Fernandez, said kids were often getting hurt by balls in the playground.
She said they were sometimes scared.
She also pointed out that the school has a very small outdoor play area.
Some parents say the ban is an overreaction.
Hickstead, the stallion, was not Eric Lamaze’s pet.
In fact, Lamaze wasn’t even Hickstead’s owner. But he was Lamaze’s work partner and best friend.
So after a race last week in Italy, when Hickstead began to fall over with Lamaze on his back, the horse turned to make sure his rider was clear before he fell all the way down. He didn’t want to hurt his best friend.
The gold medal-winning Hickstead died instantly of heart failure, without pain.
Hickstead and Lamaze were a good match. Both came from troubled backgrounds. Horse experts said Hickstead was too small for international competition and had a temper that no one could tame. Many said he would never be a winner.
Toronto is getting 204 new streetcars.
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) says riders wanted better streetcars.
They wanted more seats and better accessibility for people who are physically challenged.
The new streetcars have a floor that is lower, so they are easier to get on and get off, especially for people with physical challenges.
They have more seats, larger windows and wider doors, including a third door for bicycles.
They are about twice the length of the current streetcars, and can handle 251 passengers.
You may have seen pictures of Hawaii on postcards, with its beautiful beaches, lush gardens and fascinating volcanoes.
But the Hawaiian islands are also rich in history and culture.
On the north shore of Hawaii’s island of Oahu you’ll find the Polynesian Culture Centre. There, each group of Hawaiian islands is represented in the form of a mini-village from that particular island chain.
Many people enjoy the Fall because of the beautiful colours of the leaves, but to baseball fans, the Fall is especially wonderful because it also means the beginning of the World Series.
This year, the two teams competing in the World Series are the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers.
And while both teams are capable of winning the championship–the series is tied at 2-2–the Cardinals have shown they can score a ton of runs, thanks in large part to the play of their first baseman, Albert Pujols.
On Saturday, Pujols played one of the finest games of baseball ever played in the World Series.
Not only did he hit three home runs, he also collected six RBI (Runs Batted In), and hit two singles.
Pujols’ terrific day at the plate put him among baseball’s elite.
This month, every child in Grade one in Canada will receive a free book.
That will be every grade-one child, including those who are home-schooled, or in any school in the country, private or public, French-speaking or English-speaking.
The book giveaway is the product of a partnership between TD (the bank) and the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC).
The bank pays more than $1-million to have 500,000 books printed and sent out to grade-one students across the country. This is the program’s eleventh year.
This year the books the kids will get is Gifts (Cadeaux, translated into French), by author Jo Ellen Bogart and plasticine artist Barbara Reid.
In 1980, Terry Fox started a Marathon of Hope.
His hope was to raise money for cancer research and eventually help to find a cure for the disease.
After losing a leg to bone cancer, Terry Fox wanted to help other people. To raise money, he began a fundraising run across Canada. His famous run-hop stride is well known to Canadians and people around the world.
Terry Fox ran more than 5,300 kilometres – half-way across Canada – when the cancer spread to his lungs. He died at the age of 22, in 1981.
The Ancient Egyptians probably used hair gel to style their hair, new research on mummies shows.
Scientists at the University of Manchester, UK published an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science that said, “…in cases where the (mummies’) hair was styled, the embalming process was adapted to preserve the hairstyle.”
In other words, when the bodies were turned into mummies, the embalmers made sure their hair didn’t get mussed.
The researchers studied hair from 18 mummies who lived around 300 B.C. in Egypt.
Under a microscope, the scientists noticed that the hair on nine of the mummies had a coating on it. When they analysed it, it turned out to be made of plant and animal fats.
