THE WORLD
From Issue #19
Oh Canada!...and Beyond
Compiled by Mary Grace Consul and Jono Boysen
BLAME ONE, BLAME ALL
An appeals court in New York revived part of a class-action
lawsuit blaming McDonald's for making people fat, reinstating
claims of deceptive advertising. Brought on behalf of two New
York children, the lawsuit alleges that tens of thousands of
children have suffered obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high
blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and other health problems
after being misled about McDonald's products. U.S. District Judge
Robert Sweet dismissed the lawsuit in 2003 because he said it
failed to link the children's alleged health problems directly to
McDonald's products. “If a person knows or should know that
eating copious orders of supersized McDonald's products is
unhealthy and may result in weight gain,” Sweet had written,
“it is not the place of the law to protect them from their own
excesses.”
Source: Associated Press
GOT ENERGY?
A group of students at Cochrane High School in Alberta are using
solar panels and a wind turbine to create alternative energy for
their classrooms. "We're trying to do something no high school
has done to this extent," says Denyse Skipper, a Grade 12 student.
The project will generate 3.3 kilowatts of electricity, enough to
power a small home but accounting for only 1% of the high
school’s energy needs. Although other schools in Canada are
trying to make use of alternate energy, this is the first project
pushed forward by both students and teachers. More than
$47,000 was raised in a matter of months to cover the cost of 30
solar panels and a small turbine. The project began with science
teachers Stephanie Bennett and Earl Binder, who created a
curriculumbased on concepts of energy conservation. They
credit the 15 students who took over and turnedit into a viable
project. Their trailblazing achievements are being applauded 
by
Canada’s best-known environmentalist, David Suzuki.
Source: Canadian Press
THUMBS DOWN
The days of passing notes in class
are over. Teens have gone high tech
using text messaging instead. Some
students text message as much as
100 times a day and they end up with
sore and swollen thumbs. An Italian
study has given the symptom a
name, acute tendonitis. Doctors say
the only way to relieve the pain is to
give the thumbs a break. Rest will
help the tendonitis go away. Doctors
say thumbs are not meant to do
repetitive movement but to grasp
things.
Source: WTSP Tampa Bay News
SHAVED HEADS UNITE
Students from the Bethlehem-Center High School football team
in Pittsburg have volunteered to shave their heads in support of
a fellow team member, 15-year-old Brandon Statzula, who was
diagnosed with cancer a week before Christmas 2004. Exactly
how many students will go under the clippers depends on how
much money is raised to help Brandon, who is receiving
chemotherapy treatments at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
For every $50 collected, a name will be picked of a volunteer who
will have their head shaved. “Because Brandon’s treatments have
caused his hair to fall out, this activity will let his buddies stand in
solidarity,” says Dr. Richard Martin, principal of the high school.
Source: Herald-Standard
APPLE CAUSES TROUBLE
A lawyer specializing in freedom of speech and the Internet says
he will defend, free of charge, a 19-year-old publisher of a Web
site facing a lawsuit over an article that revealed trade secrets
about an Apple computer. Nicholas Ciarelli, publisher of the site
www.ThinkSecret.com and a Harvard University student, will be
defended by Terry Gross. Terry believes Nicholas and his Web site
used proper newsgathering techniques. Apple sued because of a
story that released information about a $499 Mac mini computer.
Another Think Secret story predicted Apple's rollout last week of
a $149, 1-gigabyte flash-memory version of the company's
popular iPod music player.
Source: Associated Press
