Run someone's life through Control TV

A new Internet TV show lets viewers run someone’s life.

Cameras are pointed at 25-year-old Tristan Couvares, following his every move. Viewers can watch what he does, for 18 hours a day, on the Internet.

The twist is, they can also be able to vote on what he should do next.

The Web show is called “Control TV” and it’s a lot like a movie called The Truman Show, which starred actor Jim Carrey. There are also some “reality TV” shows, like Big Brother, that follow real people through their days. However, this show will be different because it lets viewers make decisions for the person.

The producers say the show is designed to help Couvares make some decisions in his life. The producers make sure the suggestions from viewers are helpful, and not hurtful, to Couvares.

The decisions could be as simple as getting Couvares to eat oatmeal rather than an English muffin for breakfast, or to wear funny clothes when he goes for a job interview.

Viewers can follow the show at Control TV and sign up for cellphone alerts, which lets them decide things for Couvares about 10 to 15 times a day. Voting is for multiple options: A, B or C.

Writing/Discussion Prompt

Reality TV has always been very popular. Game shows, which date back to 1938, were the first examples of reality TV. Today, televisions have lots of reality shows, including like Survivor and Big Brother. Why do you think people like watching reality TV so much? Would you ever go on a reality TV show? Why or why not?

Curriculum Prompt
As you read this article, did you have “flow” in your reading? Were you able to raise and lower your voice as you read in order to highlight and emphasize interesting portions?

Primary
Read appropriate texts at a sufficient rate and with sufficient expression to convey the sense of the text readily to the reader and an audience (OME, Reading: 3.3).

Junior
Read appropriate texts with expression and confidence, adjusting reading strategies and reading rate to match the form and purpose (OME, Reading: 3.3).

Grammar Feature: One sentence paragraph.
Today’s article includes 2 one-sentence paragraphs. When is it okay to use one sentence paragraphs and what is their purpose? The following excerpt from Article Base explains:

“Unlike paragraphs with multiple sentences, a one-sentence paragraph places heavy emphasis on the idea. It is a high-impact tool for telling the reader, "This is very important." Very few ideas require this level of emphasis. Used sparingly, one-sentence paragraphs can be very effective for pointing out critical ideas or keeping the reader mentally focused on the content.”

Customers prefer "old" Gap logo

The Gap won't be changing
its logo any time soon.

Image: Dorsetdude, Wikimedia Commons

The Gap is a popular clothing store. It sells clothes for babies, kids and adults.

Have you ever seen The Gap’s logo? Millions of people have and they obviously like it, because when the retailer decided to change its logo, its customers revolted.

The Gap posted its proposed new logo on its website. It said the new logo was more modern than its old logo.

But before it could replace the old logo with its new one, customers started complaining. They complained on Facebook and Twitter and they sent e-mails to the company.

Within a few days, they knew they had made a huge mistake. Customers liked the old logo and didn’t want it to change. So they changed their mind, and withdrew the new logo.

On their website they posted a note to customers: “OK. We’ve heard loud and clear that you don’t like the new logo. We’re bringing back the Blue Box tonight.” The “blue box” refers to the fact that the old logo is the word GAP inside a blue box.

Some people are wondering if the “new logo introduction” was just a way to sell more clothing. Even though it looks like The Gap made a huge error, in fact they received a lot of attention from millions of people—and it didn’t cost them a cent.

And it turns out, they needed the publicity. Sales at Gap stores in North America have been falling this year.

Whatever the reason, there is no doubt that The Gap won’t be changing its logo any time soon. Its customers have spoken.

Related Links
The Gap's statement about the logo change.

Curriculum Connection

“What questions do you ask yourself to make sure you are understanding what you are reading?” “How do you know if you are on the right track?” “When you come to a word or phrase you don’t understand, how do you solve it?” “How do you figure out what information is important to remember?” “What do you do when you get confused during reading?”

Primary
Identify, initially with some support and direction, what strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).

Junior
Identify the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and explain, in conversation with the teacher and/or peers, or in a reader’s notebook, how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).

Grammar Feature
Today’s article uses quotation marks in an “interesting” way. Twice, words are in quotation marks but no one is speaking. This is because quotation marks can also be used to show sarcasm or irony.
“blue box” - The Gap logo is not actually a blue box.
“new logo introduction” - The new logo introduction may have been a trick to get people talking about the Gap.
Extensions
Why is a logo such a powerful image? Why do you think customers were upset about the logo of the Gap changing? Is there a logo or a business that you feel strongly attached to?

Does Ronald McDonald really smell bad?

FUN WAYS TO GET KIDS TO EAT BETTER

Everyone knows that it’s healthier to eat fruits and veggies than it is to eat fast foods and junk food.

But how do you get kids to eat the healthy stuff and avoid the foods that are bad for them?

It’s especially difficult today when fast food firms like McDonald’s offer toys with their hamburgers, when fast food is packaged to attract kids, and when ads make junk food seem healthy and fun.

Parents, chefs and farmers are fighting back in some pretty unusual ways.

For instance, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain tells his three-year-old daughter that Ronald McDonald kidnaps children, has cooties and that he smells like pooh.

He says he young children don’t care about calories and nutrition. But cooties, they understand, he says.
Bolthouse Farms, which sells carrots and other healthy foods, has created new packaging that makes their baby carrots look like bags of chips. And their website has a commercial that’s a lot like a Cheetos ad.

Are these chips? Nope - they're baby carrots, dressed up like
junk food to make them more appealing to kids.

Parents also need to help in the battle to get kids eating healthy food, say nutritionists. Simple things like making breakfasts more nutritious or cutting back on juice can really go a long way towards helping kids eat more healthy.

It’s also good to get kids in the kitchen, cooking their own meals. They’re more likely to eat healthy food if they cook it themselves. Toronto’s The Stop Community Food Centre offers a cooking program for kids aged 8 to 12. Kids are 20 times more likely to eat vegetables they’ve prepared themselves than ones that are just served to them, says The Stop’s co-ordinator.

This article was adapted from an article in the Globe and Mail by Wency Leung.

Curriculum Connection

This article contains many high frequency words and words that are relevent to kids’ lives. Ensure that these words are read fluently and that they do not interfere with comprehension.

Primary
Automatically read and understand most high-frequency words, many regularly used words, and words of personal interest or significance, in a variety of reading contexts (OME, Reading: 3.1).

Junior
Automatically read and understand most words in a range of reading contexts (OME, Reading: 3.1).

Grammar Feature
Never say never! Children often start sentences with the words, “but” or “and.” This is generally a problem. However, in today’s article, the author starts three different sentences with these words. Explore and investigate why it works and why it shouldn’t be done all the time.

“But how do you get kids to eat the healthy stuff and avoid the foods that are bad for them?”

“But cooties, they understand, he says.”

“And their website has a commercial that’s a lot like a Cheetos ad.”

Extensions
Eating healthy foods is a huge problem in our city and country. What would you do to help people make healthy choices? What problems do you think you would have?

Celebrities swarm Toronto



Image: TIFF website.

 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL NOW ON

There are lots of international celebrities in Toronto right now, because the city is hosting a huge film festival, called TIFF or the “Toronto International Film Festival.”

Big stars like Natalie Portman (Queen Amidala from Star Wars), Matt Damon, Colin Firth, Hayden Christensen and Zach Galifianakis are in town for their movies’ premieres.

During the festival, three- to four-hundred new films are shown in 37 different theatres venues all over the city. The festival is a way for directors, who have new films, to “debut” them to thousands of people. More than a quarter of a million people (250,000) attend TIFF each year.

Other film festivals are held around the world - perhaps the most famous is the Cannes Film Festival, held each year in France. However, the Toronto Film Festival has taken its place as one of the most prestigious in the world.

The 2010 Toronto International Film Festival runs for 11 days, ending on September 19.

Related links
Want to keep tabs on which celebrities are in town for the festival? One of the best ways is through Toronto blogs like torontoist.

Oil spill - hope



Recovering birds are kept
warm and isolated in a
special trailer in the
"Ft. Jackson Oiled Wildlife
Facility in Louisiana. A gull
taken through the cleaning
process. Photo: BP.

 THE OIL SPILL MAY SOON BE CAPPED

For more than three months, more than 80 million litres of oil have gushed from a broken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The company responsible, BP (British Petroleum), has tried many different things to stop the flow of oil, which is spewing into the gulf and threatening wildlife.

They tried capping the well, but the flow was too strong and the rig was too deep under the water. They even tried stuffing the well with golf balls, mud, fabric and human hair! That didn’t work.

Recently they tried using underwater “robot submarines” to cut into the broken pipe and cap it with a funnel. That may actually be working.

It’s a positive development, but it’s almost too late. First, 11 people died in the explosion on April 20 that originally damaged the oil well. And the massive amount of oil that leaked into the Gulf has already done immense damage to our ecosystem. The chemicals that BP used to help clean up the oil are themselves toxic – not only to the workers who have to do the cleaning up, but to the environment as the mixture of chemicals and oil washes up onto the shore.

U.S. President Barack Obama is furious. After all, even though the company that owns the oil well, BP, is British, the oil is washing up onto American soil. Now, beaches in Florida are starting to become covered in the oily, chemically gunk. Recently, President Obama sent a bill for $69-million to BP to cover the initial costs of responding to the spill.

Last week there were reports that BP may have known that the oil well had the potential to break. And BP’s reputation is forever tarnished; it’s likely that no one will ever forget that BP was the company that caused such a massive world-wide disaster.

Canada is sending aid to help in the clean-up efforts.

And at least two well-known celebrities have come forward to help fix the oil well. Celebrities can sometimes be helpful because not only do they tend to have a lot of money to donate, but they know a lot of people and can influence people to help out. Actor Kevin Costner has offered aid to help get the oil spill under control. And James Cameron, the Canadian director (who recently directed the movie Avatar), has volunteered to bring the scientists who helped him on the movie The Titanic to work on the oil spill. They have a lot of expertise in working underwater in very creative ways, and that’s the kind of thinking that’s needed on this project.

Related links
It’s good to get many different points of view on a news story.
Here’s what some of the online newspapers are reporting about the oil spill:
The Globe and Mail on Canada's response.
The Toronto Star.
The New York Times.
BP's corporate website.
Educators: Here you'll find an illustration of the underwater robots used by BP.

McDonald's recalls Shrek glasses

DON'T DRINK FROM THOSE GLASSES, DON-KEH!


McDonald's is recalling all of the "Shrek" glasses it sold recently, because the paint on them could make people sick.

The paint contains cadmium, which could cause long-term health effects for people who drink from the glasses. It would take a lot of cadmium to hurt someone - far more than just a few drinks - but the company wants to take no chances.

The company has sold 12 million of the glasses in the United States. People who bought the glasses can take them back to McDonald's for a full refund.

McDonald's has been promoting the new movie, "Shrek Forever After" and was selling the glasses in the US and Canada for about $2 each. The glasses feature pictures of Shrek, Princess Fiona, Donkey and Puss n' Boots.

It seems that not every McDonald's restaurant in Canada has gotten the message about the recall. Last Friday, a reporter from the Toronto Star went into a McDonald's restaurant at the Eaton Centre and was able to buy two Shrek glasses. An employee at the restaurant told the reporter that he was aware of the recall in the US but hadn't heard about one in Canada.

Links:
McDonald's corporate website, featuring the recall notice (see below).
An article in The Toronto Star, featuring pictures of the glasses.

Recall notice:
Below is the recall notice posted on McDonald's corporate website.


Shrek Glassware Recall – Customer Refund Information
Updated June 5, 2010

In collaboration with Health Canada and as a precautionary measure, McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited today issued a voluntary recall of its four Shrek Forever After™ glasses.

Customers are asked to stop using the glasses and are invited to contact our dedicated, bilingual customer service centre at 1-877-495-5502 with any questions.

Hours are:
Monday to Friday: 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. EST
Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST
Sunday, June 6 only: 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST

Customers can return their glasses to a McDonald’s Canada restaurant for a cash refund.

McDonald’s safety standards are among the highest in the industry and the company has a strong track record. There have been no reports of illnesses related to the use of these glasses.

The well-being of our customers is our top priority. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but product safety and quality at McDonald’s will not be compromised.