Smarties not so smart according to Grade Sixers

Laika

Electoral Member
Apr 22, 2005
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Where The Wild Things Are
Math class proves Smarties fun fact isn't true
Last Updated Fri, 16 Dec 2005 16:18:40 EST
CBC News

Canadians eat enough Smarties each year to circle the Earth 350 times, or so claims one of the fun facts on the package.

This bit of trivia got a teacher in Thunder Bay, Ont., thinking. And she had her Grade 6 math class crunch the numbers.
(Photographer: Jefras)

The result: Nestlé Canada, maker of Smarties, gets failing grades in arithmetic and responsiveness.

The students started with the number of the candy-coated chocolate spheroids Nestlé said Canadians eat annually: Four billion.

Then they took the size of a single Smartie and worked out how many it would take to form a 40,000-kilometre necklace around the planet.

That's when they figured out that something was wrong.

Four billion Smarties would go around the world just once.

"We broke it down from centimetres to metres and then kilometres," student Caitlin Henderson says, "and it was 114 kilometres that Nestlé suggested the circumference of the Earth might be."

To make the company's claim true, each Smartie would have to be bigger.

"Three and a half metres," says student Kaylie Rankin. "It's about the size of our chalkboard. I don't know if I'd be able to eat it."

Teacher Tanja Coghill says it took three letters to get Nestlé officials to admit their mistake, but it was important for the students to get that acknowledgement.

"We can make a difference," she says. "We're a little class of 10 students in Grade 6 in Thunder Bay, Ont., and you can make a difference with a huge multinational company."

A Nestlé spokesman says the packaging will be changed next year.

http://tinyurl.com/d84aa
 

missile

House Member
Dec 1, 2004
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Saint John N.B.
That's easy for me,they didn't exist when I was a kid. We had something called penny candy[actual candy for one cent! Most of the time,it was several candies for this price] :)
 

missile

House Member
Dec 1, 2004
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I remember seeing a largish kid buying ten dollars worth of unbagged candy at the neighbourhood store the other day....I would have had more for a quarter way back when. Darned inflation!!
 

Jay

Executive Branch Member
Jan 7, 2005
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Re: RE: Smarties not so smart according to Grade Sixers

bhoour said:
mmmmmm.
did you know across the border they have no Smarties, explains alot

:)
 

bevvyd

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Jul 29, 2004
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Mission, BC
missile said:
That's easy for me,they didn't exist when I was a kid. We had something called penny candy[actual candy for one cent! Most of the time,it was several candies for this price] :)

Ahh those were the days.

I remember being able to get jaw breakers, double bubble bubble gum, marshmallow bananas and strawberries, all were about 2 or 3 per penny. A quarter for an allowance sure went a long way back then.
 

missile

House Member
Dec 1, 2004
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Saint John N.B.
One of my errands as a kid was to buy my Mom's candy for her.Something hard and chocolate called honeymoons were her preference and a candy bar known as Molly-O. Even then,i had a taste for potato chips[Hatfield's..5 cents a bag] ah,the good old days :)
 

bhoour

Electoral Member
May 10, 2005
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earth
We used to get a quarter and go to Beckers, and buy tons of stuff. Or at least to my little mind it seemed like a big bag of loot. I loved Black cat gum, mojo's and pixie sticks. How could you go wrong for a penny??? :D life sure was simple back then.....sigh......





Do you eat the red ones last? Suck them very slowly or crunch them very fast?

Purple is my favorite, and I cruch.

:lol:
 

MMMike

Council Member
Mar 21, 2005
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Toronto
My personal favorite was the Popeye cigarettes! Seems a little funny these days. They're actually still around, but with no red ends, and they're called candy sticks instead.
 

the caracal kid

the clan of the claw
Nov 28, 2005
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www.kdm.ca
how old are you guys/gals?

anyway, it just sounds funny "back in the day".

i have no memory of candy because i never had any as a child. SUGAR BAD!
 

Summer

Electoral Member
Nov 13, 2005
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Cleveland, Ohio, USA (for now...)
RE: Smarties not so smart

I remember candy cigarettes (my mom hated my buying those) and candy lipstick.... I loved pixie sticks and Necco wafers, and there are some candy bars I loved as a kid (Aero, for example) that aren't sold in the U.S. any longer, or at least as far as I've found - I stock up when we're in Canada, though. ;)

Age? I'm 41.
 

bhoour

Electoral Member
May 10, 2005
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earth
Re: RE: Smarties not so smart according to Grade Sixers

the caracal kid said:
how old are you guys/gals?

anyway, it just sounds funny "back in the day".

i have no memory of candy because i never had any as a child. SUGAR BAD!


Age, my young friend, is a state of mind..................... :wink:
 

Colpy

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Nov 5, 2005
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Re: RE: Smarties not so smart according to Grade Sixers

the caracal kid said:
how old are you guys/gals?

anyway, it just sounds funny "back in the day".

i have no memory of candy because i never had any as a child. SUGAR BAD!

You must be young...."sugar bad".

I'm 51.

edited to say: a very young, sexy 51, mind you :D