Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Every year, Rogers Cable offers a TV channel called the “Fireplace Channel.” It looks like a fire. It makes your TV look like a fireplace.
Now, Rogers has the “Rotisserie Channel.” It is some chickens cooking over a flame. It also has the sounds of chickens cooking.
Thousands of people in Vietnam are worried about a giant turtle they consider sacred. A sacred object is something that you worship because you believe it is very important.
The turtle is endangered. There are thought to be only four of them left. It is a giant turtle, weighing about 200 kilograms. Its Latin (scientific) name is Rafetus swinhoei.
Last Friday there was a massive earthquake in Japan. It measured 9 on the Richter Scale, which is the scale that is used to measure how bad an earthquake is. This is the worst earthquake Japan had in 140 years, and they’ve had a lot of them. It was the fifth most powerful earthquake ever in in the world.
The earthquake caused buildings to “shake like palm trees,” according to one witness. Fortunately, because Japan does have a lot of earthquakes most of their buildings are built to be able to withstand them.
There have been a lot of articles in the newspapers about concussions recently. A concussion happens when you hit your head, hard. For instance, if you run into a tree on the playground, or if someone hits you in the head when you’re playing a sport, or if you fall down and hit your head hard on the ground you can get a concussion.
That’s why in many sports, you must wear a helmet. Helmets can often help prevent a concussion.
Sometimes people go unconscious (black out) when they get a concussion but sometimes they don’t. Research shows that people who have just been hit in the head usually don’t know when they have a concussion.
The people of Libya want rid of their leader, Moammar Gadhafi. He has been a brutal dictator for many years and they want him to step down.
They have been taking to the streets in protest.
However, Gadhafi (pronounced Ga-daf-fee)* refuses to leave. He said that he is “loved” by the Libyan people and he will never go.
Here’s a trick question: How many ingredients are there in oatmeal?
One, right? OK, even if you count the oats and the water, that’s two. So… two at most, right?
Not when you get oatmeal at McDonald’s.
The fast-food chain, noted for making food that is very bad for you, has recently added oatmeal to its menu as a healthy option for customers in the United States.
In Toronto, as in many large cities, there are lots of people who cannot afford to live in a house or an apartment.
To make it easier for people to afford housing, the city offers low-priced apartments.There are more than 100,000 people in Toronto who live in low-cost housing.
Those apartments are managed by a department of the city called the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). The people at TCHC are supposed to use our tax money to buy houses and apartments that are then rented at a low cost by people who haven’t got a lot of money. It’s big responsibility.
Toronto has many wonderful museums. Most people are familiar with the Royal Ontario Museum (the one with the dinosaurs!). But did you know there is a shoe museum with shoes from all through the ages? And a ceramic museum that displays beautiful pottery from many countries?
One of our most interesting museums is the Textile Museum of Canada. The word “textile” means “cloth,” or “fabric.”
There are many beautiful works of art that have been made out of, or painted on, or sewn into fabric. The Textile Museum displays the work of talented artists who happen to work in fabric.
Justin Bieber got a haircut.
Yes, there – we’ve said it. Justin Bieber has cut his hair.
The famous teen idol was shorn on celebrity gossip TV show TMZ, changing his famous hairdo from lanky locks to more of a tousled bed-hair look.
Whether you love him or you hate him, you’ve got to admit that the Stratford, Ont. native has a lot of power. After all, who else’s locks could sell for $7,000 (and counting) on eBay?
Recently, there have been many “mass protests,” particularly in countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
A mass protest is when many people (often hundreds of thousands) gather in a city to show their government that they don’t like it, or that they don’t agree with something it is doing.
In Tunisia protests began last December, to force the country’s president to leave. The people were upset because they had no jobs, food was too expensive and many people in the government could not be trusted. The protest worked and President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family were forced to leave Tunisia. They are accused of having stolen money and property.
