At Home: Time (capsule) slips away in Prince Rupert
It seems that the one thing everybody’s short of these days is time. And in Prince Rupert, BC, even a time capsule has gone missing.
Back on July 20, 1971, a metre-long capsule was ?buried and enclosed in cement.? The only problem is, no one bothered to permanently mark the spot. Now, less than three months before the scheduled reopening of the capsule, the hunt is on to find it.
The opening is scheduled for March 10, 2010, as part of Prince Rupert’s 100th birthday celebration. As the Globe and Mail reports, officials have put out an appeal to help locate the missing capsule in time for the festivities.
The best guess is that the capsule is buried ?somewhere on a hill across from the local hospital.? But two months of searching have failed to turn anything up. Officials are now hoping that local residents might be able to recall where the time capsule was buried.
However, they’d prefer that any digging is left to the authorities. ?It would be best if they could contact me directly,? Joan Cameron, the city’s executive assistant, told reporters. That hasn’t stopped some people from using probes and metal detectors to try to locate the missing capsule.
If the capsule is found, It’s expected to reveal items such as a centennial dollar, catalogues, newspapers, and cans of salmon, as well as predictions from politicians of the day.
In Foreign News: Scottish secondary pupils absent three weeks a year
Education authorities in Scotland are urging parents to get their children into the classroom after it was revealed the average secondary student is ?absent for more than three weeks a year.? As the Telegraph reports, as many as 6,000 students are absent on a typical day, adding up to over ?a million lost days per year.?
Since 2008, the number of students with a perfect attendance record has risen from 35,000 to 47,400. In spite of that improvement, there was no change in the average absentee rate of approximately three-and-a-half weeks. In poorer areas, the average student was absent for an additional 14 days.
The numbers have prompted Scottish ministers to produce new guidelines for parents. The guidelines acknowledge that learning problems and bullying can contribute to a child’s absence, but stress that allowing children to stay home will not benefit them in the long run. Keith Brown, the Schools Minister, noted that ?If young people are to reap the benefits of their education and get the skills they need for life and work, they need to be in school.?
Parents were also advised not to pull their children out of school to go on family holidays. During the 2008-09 school year, there were an average of 43,000 children off school each day, including absences for illness.
