Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
The enormous cruise ship, The Costa Concordia, no longer lies on its side, rusting in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tuscany, Italy.
Salvagers spent 19 hours—and more than $824-million—setting it upright.
It was the largest salvage operation of its kind.
The 13-deck Costa Concordia was carrying 4,200 people on Jan. 13, 2012 when its captain steered it too close to the shore.
J. K. Rowling is writing a new movie set in the wizarding world.
It won’t feature the character Harry Potter, but it is inspired by one of the boy wizard’s textbooks: Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, “written” by fictional author Newton Scamander.
Warner Brothers film studios told Rowling they wanted to make a movie based on the fictional textbook, used by Potter and his friend, Ron Weasley.
The new movie will feature the adventures of a 21-year-old Newton Scamander.
Scamander is an expert in Magizoology, the study of magical creatures.
A Chinese space capsule, carrying three astronauts, blasted off on Tuesday. It is on a 15-day mission.
The Shenzhou 10 capsule will dock with a space lab called Tiangong 1.
While on the Tiangong 1, the Chinese crew plans to deliver a series of educational talks to children.
China’s education initiative is designed to spark kids’ interest in space exploration.
The astronauts will also conduct dozens of experiments while they are in space.
It’s a bit worse for wear, but it’s back and it can still hold a tune.
It’s a Boston Steinway baby grand piano and it was stolen in a brazen robbery from Toronto General Hospital last July.
A “baby grand” is a huge piano that weighs more than 225 kilograms. That’s one reason why the robbery was so bizarre.
Another reason is that the thief hired some movers and they simply walked out with it, right in broad daylight.
The movers didn’t know they were stealing the piano. They just thought they were being hired for a moving job.
Several people from the hospital stopped the movers and asked them what they were doing. They said they were taking the piano away to be repaired.
A man named Artem Stanislav Timofeyev, who is 27 years old and works as a model, has been arrested by Toronto police and charged with the theft.
What is the largest volcano on Earth? You may be surprised at the answer.
That’s because the world’s largest volcano has just been discovered–and it’s underwater.
The volcano Mauna Loa, in Hawaii, used to be thought of as the largest volcano in the world.
But scientists have discovered one that’s bigger. Much, much bigger.
Tamu Massif is a massive volcano about the size of the British Isles–or more than three times the size of New Brunswick.
A group of scientists associated with the United Nations has just issued a report on “climate change.”
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has confirmed that human habits and activity is responsible for global warming and for higher sea levels.
If this continues, according to the report, there will be more dramatic changes in plant and animal life.
Some critics believe that the current situation is more likely due to short-term factors or weather cycles. They believe that the climate situation will change on its own eventually.
But the UN report says the reality is clear and the facts are there.
Luckily, because humans cause the problem, humans can help solve the problem.
More than 500 people—including American actor Ashton Kutcher—will become “astronauts” next year.
They have each paid $200,000 for a two-hour flight on SpaceShipTwo.
The aircraft will take them very high and very fast—in fact, they will break the sound barrier.
A British company called Virgin Galactic, which is owned by a well-known and famously daring billionaire named Sir Richard Branson, tested its new aircraft last week.
During the test, the spacecraft flew 69,000 feet high over the Mojave Desert, in the U.S.
Last month, many Tłı̨chǫ people travelled hundreds of kilometres in the Northwest Territories to participate in their aboriginal government.
They travelled by airplane or by canoe.
The annual journey by canoe to this “gathering” is called “Trails of Our Ancestors.”
The annual gathering is an important part of the Tłı̨chǫ government because it provides an opportunity for Tłı̨chǫ citizens to ask questions, provide recommendations and offer direction to the elected chiefs and Assembly members.
Everyone knows it’s dangerous to use a cell phone or text while driving.
In the future, it could be illegal to text someone who is driving.
That’s because it may cause the driver to pick up the phone and text back—which could cause a crash.
Three judges in the U.S. state of New Jersey have “agreed in principal” that if someone knows that the person they’re texting is driving, and the driver crashes into someone, both people (the driver and the texter) might be considered responsible for the accident.
Diana Nyad stumbled out of the surf at Smathers Beach in Key West, Florida, on Monday, having completed an incredible 177-kilometre swim.
She had begun the swim 53 hours earlier, in Cuba.
Nyad is the only person ever to have made the treacherous swim without using a shark net, swim fins or a wetsuit. It was her fifth try in 35 years.
She told the waiting and excited crowd that she had three things to say.
“One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you never are too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport but it takes a team.”
