Typhoon Faxai Hits Japan
On Sunday and Monday of last week, a cyclone (hurricane) called Typhoon Faxai hit Japan just east of Tokyo. The storm, with winds as fast as 125 miles per hour (200 kilometers per hour), killed at least two people. The storm flooded streets, stopped trains, canceled flights, and forced over 100,000 people to leave their homes.
Faxai did a lot of damage in Japan’s Chiba area. Importantly, it took down two large electrical towers, leaving around 850,000 people without power. Though power was slowly restored to many areas, on Friday around 200,000 homes were still without electricity.
(Source: Stck w [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Dog Illness Strikes Norway
An mystery illness has been making hundreds of dogs in Norway sick. The illness causes healthy dogs to begin vomiting and having diarrhea. As of Tuesday, at least 26 dogs had died from the sickness.
Veterinarians (doctors who work with animals) haven’t been able to find a pattern to the illness. The dogs are from different parts of Norway and have been eating different kinds of food. Experts have ruled out some common problems, like well-known diseases and rat poison. One possible explanation is that the illness is somehow connected to the unusually high number of wild mushrooms this year.
Experts still aren’t sure if dogs can give each other the illness. Until more is learned, they’re encouraging dog owners to keep their pets away from other dogs.
Forest Planted Inside Soccer Stadium
A 30,000 seat stadium in Austria has something unusual on display in the center – a full-sized forest. “For Forest” is an artwork created by Klaus Littmann. It’s meant to point out how threatened the world’s forests are today. Mr. Littmann got the idea from a drawing he saw in 1970, called “The Unending Attraction of Nature” by Max Peintner. The drawing imagines a world where nature is only found on display, like animals in a zoo.
(Source: Gerhard Maurer Klaus Littmann, For Forest.)
For Forest is made of 300 trees common in European forests, like birch, aspen, willow, maple, and oak. Some of the trees weigh over 13,200 pounds (6,000 kilograms). This is Austria’s largest public art work ever. At the end of October, the forest will be moved to a nearby public area.
Boy Teased for Homemade T-Shirt, Then His Design Is a Hit
When an elementary school in Florida had a “College Colors” day, students got to wear t-shirts supporting their favorite colleges. One student who loves the University of Tennessee (UT) was excited about the day even though he didn’t have a UT shirt. He drew his own UT design and proudly pinned it to an orange t-shirt. Sadly, other students didn’t appreciate the boy’s efforts and made fun of his shirt, ruining his special day.
The boy’s teacher shared the story on social media , saying she planned to get him a real UT t-shirt.
(Source: University of Tennessee VolShop.)
When people at the University of Tennessee heard the story, they created a special t-shirt using the boy’s design and started selling it on their website. By Monday, over 16,000 people had ordered the t-shirt. The money from the t-shirt sales will go to a group called Stomp Out Bullying.