Category Archives: News
Boy Beats Asthma By Playing Euphonium
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Ryan Harrison, was diagnosed with the condition as a baby, and would get breathless when just standing and talking.
But six months after beginning lessons on the brass instrument, which looks like a small version of a tuba, his symptoms have diminished.
His mother, Marie Johnson, 32, said: “He began playing at the beginning of the year, and within a couple of weeks his breathlessness completely disappeared. Since then he has had no wheezing at all.
“I’ve heard of wind instruments helping children with asthma and I think it has helped Ryan manage his breathing and strengthened the muscles in his diaphragm.
Nintendo DS Is Banned Everywhere But…
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Nintendo is banned everywhere but the classroom at Tokyo Joshi Gakuen school in Japan as the ubiquitous DS consoles become the latest tool in English instruction.
Junior high school teacher Motoko Okubo has used the handheld DS and textbook software since May in weekly sessions focusing on vocabulary, penmanship and audio comprehension.
With years of games such as Super Mario on the prohibited list, she says students weren’t expecting the Nintendo welcome.
“They’ve been using it at home playing games, so at first they were surprised they can use it at school,” Okubo said.
Gadgets For Grown-Ups Next Big Thing In Greying Japan
Toys are no longer just child’s play in Japan, where an ageing population and expanding waistlines have spawned a wave of gadgets to help adults beat stress, battle the bulge or relieve loneliness.
From exercise assistants to dancing robots and nodding potted plants, Japanese toymakers are increasingly turning their attention to grown-ups as a growing market to make up for flagging sales to kids.
The shift comes amid increased efforts to get people into shape in a country where more than one fifth of the population is aged 65 or older, a percentage expected to rise to 40.5 percent in 2055, according to the government.
Ampbot – Automated Music Personality From Sega-Hasbro
Meet Hasbro’s Ampbot, the mother of all Rollys
Cross a Segway with a Rolly and Miuro and out pops this A.M.P. soaked in a grey-goo afterbirth of Robotic procreation. The two-wheeled, dancing A.M.P. (Automated Music Personality or Ampbot) from Sega-Hasbro stands 2.4-feet tall and features a MP3 or iPod cradle on its back, stereo speakers, and the ability to follow and interact with its owner. There’s a 5-inch mid-range speaker in the chest and a pair of smaller tweeters in the shoulders for a total output of 12 watts. Osamu Takeuchi of Sega Toys says, “The owner can also enjoy being chased around the house by the robot.” Uh, yippee? The Ampbot and controller require 6x D and 3x AAA batteries for about 10-hours of continuous music. The stalking begins November for $745 $500 in the US and Japan.
Young Mumbai Swimmer Eyes English Channel
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After making a mark in long distance swimming in India, a teenage swimmer from Mumbai has her eyes set on conquering the Strait of Gibraltar and English Channel.
Aakanksha Mishra, who turned 16 recently and became old enough to brave the waters of the English Channel, plans to swim the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Africa and back, a feat few Asian swimmers have achieved.
“The Strait of Gibraltar is considered tougher for swimmers despite being only 21-km long, since it is shark-infested and also happens to have very strong currents which makes it difficult to swim through,” says Aakanksha.
Usain Bolt: I Just Went Out There And Ran My Best Race
Lightning Bolt Becomes Fastest Man On Earth
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt ran a world record 9.72 seconds for the 100 metres in the Reebok grand prix meet at the Icahn Stadium in New York last night. The 21-year-old Bolt lowered the previous best held by compatriot Asafa Powell, who had ran 9.74secs on three separate occasions.
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Incredibly, Bolt was running only his fifth 100m race and was competing in the lane next to America’s 100m world champion Tyson Gay on a still night following thunderstorms earlier in the evening. Gay was second in a personal best of 9.85sec with Darvis ‘Doc’ Patton of the USA third in 10.07sec. The historic run sent a huge Jamaican contingent of fans wild with celebrations.
Battled Fish Honeymoon
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Fish and Chips Fuel Honeymoon
An Australian engineer and his English bride have embarked on an environmentally friendly honeymoon trek around Australia, using waste vegetable oil from fish and chip shops to fuel their travel.
Civil engineer Gerard Mimmo, 36, and his wife Rachel, 28, hope to drive 30,000km in a specially converted four-wheel-drive, which they named the Battered Fish due to the pungent smell of its exhaust fumes.
The pair have so far made it more than 1000km from Sydney to Brisbane in the vehicle, which can use both diesel and vegetable oil.
The World’s Smallest One Person Helicopter
A Japanese man who developed the world’s smallest helicopter will take flight in the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci in tribute to the Renaissance genius’ original idea.
Gennai Yanagisawa, 75, said Thursday that a demonstration flight of his one-man helicopter is planned in the city of Vinci, near Florence, Italy, on May 25.
Yanagisawa developed the GEN H-4 helicopter — with rotors, a chair, footrest and handle bar — in the late 1990s.
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