Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Lacrimal Sac


We just learned about the Lacrimal Ducts which take the tears from the lacrimal punctum that drain from the eye.

The tears next go into the Lacrimal Sac.

This is a small place like a balloon that fills up with tears from the eye, before they are drained out.


(from: wikipedia - lacrimal sac)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Frenulum

Monday, March 30, 2020

Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station


We just learned about the Orcadas Base.

Another research station in Antarctica is the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

This is a station actually at the North Pole, and was built by the United States in 1956.
A few buildings have been made there, and the one that is there now was built in 2003.
It is 80,000 square feet, two floors and sometimes has up to 200 people living there.

At the south pole it is 6 months of sunshine in the summer and then 6 months of darkness in the winter.
More people live there in the summer to do studies on the life there, and then in the winter the dark skies all day are great for looking at the stars.
In the summer it is usually about -15 degrees F, and in the winter it is usually about -75 degrees F.
The warmest it has ever gotten there was 9.9 degrees F, and the coldest it got was -118 degrees F.

Because so much snow falls at the South Pole, the building can actually be raised or lowered a whole floor to stay above the snow.




(from: wikipedia - amundsen-scott south pole station)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Enceinte

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Leif Erikson - Christianity in Greenland


We just learned about the Christianity in Russia.

Another part of early Christianity is Leif Erikson - Christianity in Greenland.

Leif was a viking and an explorer from Iceland.
He lived in Norway for a while, and then he was sent from Norway to Greenland to tell the people there about Christianity.

On his trip there he accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up in Canada, but then turned around and went back to Greenland.


(from: wikipedia - leif erikson)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Antipope

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider - Alexander Phimister Proctor


We just learned about the sculpture of Bronco Buster by Frederic Remington.

Another famous American sculpture is Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Rider made by Alexander Phimister Proctor in Portland Oregon in 1922.

Theodore Roosevelt was President of the US and a member of a group of people called the Rough Riders who were soldiers on horses.
The statue is 12 feet tall and 9 feet long and made of bronze.

The sculptor Proctor grew up in the West traveling around in the wild and learning to paint and study animals.
Because he knew animals so well he was one of the most famous sculptors of animals in America, and sometimes he would get asked to sculpt a horse while someone else sculpted the rider.


(from: wikipedia - theodore roosevelt, rough rider)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sanchi Stupa

Friday, March 27, 2020

Russian - Your food is hot


We just learned that in Russian:
This house is big: Этот дом большой (Etot dom bol'shoy)
This chair is small: Стул маленький (Stul malen'kiy)
My drink is cold: Мой напиток холодный (Moy napitok kholodnyy)
Let's learn about more things we see every day.

To say your food is hot you would say Ваша еда горячая (Vasha yeda goryachaya).

Your - Ваша (vasha) - sounds like vah-sha 文A

food - еда (yeda) - sounds like yeh-dah 文A

hot - горячая (goryachaya) - sounds like gah-yeh-chee-yah 文A


So all together Ваша еда горячая (Vasha yeda goryachaya) sounds like vah-sha yeh-dah gah-yeh-chee-yah.

russian language
(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)


Norwegian: Maten er varm

Greek: Το φαγητό είναι ζεστό (To fagitó eínai zestó)

ASL: Your food is hot

Italian: Il vostro cibo è caldo

German: Ihr Essen ist heiß

Spanish: Tu comida está caliente

French: Votre nourriture est chaud

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Pneumatics


We just learned about the Pulse Coder.

Another type of machine movement is Pneumatics, pronounced like new-mat-ix.

The word pneuma in Greek means "breath", and pneumatics means using air that is under pressure.
Some machines use pneumatics in big metal tanks with pressurized air, and some use pneumatics in tubes to push things along.

Pneumatics would even be if you had a balloon full of air, and you let the air out to have the balloon fly around the room.
That is using the air trapped in the balloon to push the balloon along.


(from: wikipedia - pneumatics)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forensics

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Jaguarundi


We just learned about the Cougar.

Another type of wild cat is the Jaguarundi, also called the eyra.

This is a wild cat, but it is just a little bigger than most normal house cat pets!
It is usually about 2 1/2 feet long, and weighs about 20 pounds.

These jaguarundi have fur that can be black or brown or even red.

They live in South America and parts of Mexico, and are usually very shy.
For food they will eat birds, mice or snakes, and they live in the grasslands.




(from: wikipedia - jaguarundi)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Black Sea Nettle

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Lacrimal Ducts


We just learned about the Lacrimal Punctum.

Another part of the eye is the Lacrimal Ducts, also called the lacrimal canals or lacrimal canaliculi.

When the water in your eyes from tears goes into the lacrimal punctum hole in your eyelid, it goes into the lacrimal ducts.
These are like little tubes that bring the water away from your eyeball.


(from: wikipedia - lacrimal canaliculi)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Foramen Cecum

Monday, March 23, 2020

Orcadas Base


We just learned about the explorer Ernest Shackleton.

Another part of Antarctica is the Orcada Base research station.

In the year 1903, there were British explorers to Antarctica who came to set up a building where they could stay and study the life and nature of Antarctica.

After they left to go back home to Scotland, they worked with the people of Argentina to agree to keep the building around for other people to come and do experiments.

The Orcada Base has been around now for over 100 years as a scientific research station in Antarctica where people have come through the years to study the life of Antarctica.



(from: wikipedia - orcadas base)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bailey

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Christianity in Russia


We just learned about the Christianization of Poland.

Another part of early Christianity is Christianity in Russia.

The places that are now known as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus used to be called Kievan Rus.
In that country, people didn't really believe in God.
There were two rulers through the years that chose to become Christian and help the country become Christian.

Olga was the ruler of this country, and she went to visit the Christian emperor Constantine.
He baptised her and she became Christian and came back to try and make her whole country Christian.

Many years later her grandson Vladimir who was not a Christian wanted to know what other religions were out there, so he sent people out to go study in the nearby countries.
He decided that Christianity was the best, so he became a Christian and then sent his sons to all of the lands to build churches and teach people about Jesus.


(from: wikipedia - olga of kiev)

(from: wikipedia - vladimir the great)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pope

Saturday, March 21, 2020

The Bronco Buster - Frederic Remington


We just learned about the statue of Abraham Lincoln by Daniel Chester French.

Another famous American sculpture is The Bronco Buster by Frederic Remington, made in 1895.

Remington was born in New York in 1861.
He grew up learning to hunt and ride horses, and his father wanted him to be in the military like his family.
Frederic wanted to be an artist instead, so he learned to paint and sculpt at Yale University.

He really liked the cowboys and Native Americans from the south and west, so he traveled out to see a lot of them and then started to make paintings and sculptures of them.
One of his most famous sculptures is called the Bronco Buster.

This was a bronze sculpture of a cowboy fighting to control a wild bronco who is standing up and trying to get him to fly off.

It was so popular that it was given as a gift to president Theodore Roosevelt.


(from: wikipedia - the bronco buster)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mshatta Facade

Friday, March 20, 2020

Russian - My drink is cold


We just learned that in Russian:
This house is big: Этот дом большой (Etot dom bol'shoy)
This chair is small: Стул маленький (Stul malen'kiy)

Let's learn about more things we see every day.

To say My drink is cold, we say Мой напиток холодный (Moy napitok kholodnyy).

Here's how to say it:

My - Мой (Moy) - sounds like moh-ee 文A

drink - напиток (napitok) - sounds like nah-pee-toh-k 文A

cold - холодный (kholodnyy) - sounds like kho-loh-d-nee. The "kho" part here sounds kind of like the sound a cat makes when hissing.
文A


So all together Мой напиток холодный (Moy napitok kholodnyy) sounds like moh-ee nah-pee-toh-k kho-loh-d-nee.

russian language
(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Min drikke er kald

Greek: Το ποτό μου είναι κρύο (To potó mou eínai krýo)

ASL: My drink is cold

Italian: La mia bevanda è freddo

German: Mein Getränk ist kalt

Spanish: Mi bebida es fría

French: Ma boisson est froid

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Pulse Coder


We just learned about the Hydraulic Brake.

Another part of a machine is a Pulse Coder.

We learned before about a rotary encoder, a type of map that a spinning machine can use to tell how far it spins left or right.

A pulse coder is a type of encoder that can also tell a spinning machine how fast it is spinning.


(from: wikipedia - rotary encoder)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Falcon Heavy

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Cougar


We just learned about the Cheetah.

Another type of wild cat is the Cougar, also called the puma, mountain lion, red tiger, catamount or Puma concolor.
There are a lot of other names that this cat has been called through the years.
So many, that it holds the world record for the animal with the most names, with over 40 names just in English!

Cougars are the fourth largest type of cat in the world, after the lion, tiger and jaguar.
They are about 3 feet tall, 8 feet long and weigh over 200 pounds.

These cats can not roar, but they have a type of screeching scream that can be heard very far away.
Their fur is usually just a light brown like a lion, but can sometimes be a little reddish or greyish.
They were named mountain lions, because their fur looks a lot like a lion's fur but they live in the mountains.

Cougars are very fast and can run up to 50 miles per hour.
They have big strong legs which helps them climb up into trees and mountains.

Even though they are called mountain lions, these cats can live anywhere from mountains to forests to deserts.
They usually live alone, except for baby mountain lions who live with their mothers for a few years.





(from: wikipedia - cougar)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fried Egg Jellyfish

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Lacrimal Punctum


We just learned about the Lacrimal Gland.

Another part of the eye is the Lacrimal Punctum.

When tears come out of the lacrimal gland, they help keep the eye nice and wet.
If the tears do not run down your face, they will actually drain out through a hole in your lower eyelid called the lacrimal punctum.


(from: wikipedia - lacrimal punctum)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sulcus Terminus

Monday, March 16, 2020

Ernest Shackleton


We just learned about the explorer Robert Falcon Scott.

Another famous Antarctic explorer is Ernest Shackleton.

Shackleton had been on an expedition before with Robert Falcon Scott, but got sick and was sent home.

In 1908 he took a ship called the Nimrod to Antarctica, and were the first team to climb to the top of Mount Erebus, the tallest mountain in Antarctica.

In 1914 Roald Amundsen had already made it to the South Pole, so Shackleton went back to Antarctica to try and be the first person to cross all the way from one side of Antarctica to the other.

Shackleton took 2 ships, the Endurance and the Aurora.
The Endurance would land at the north side by the Weddell sea where they would start their journey, and the Aurora would land at the other side by the Ross sea as the ending point of their journey.

In 1915 the Endurance landed, but got stuck in the ice and sank into the sea.
The crew was stranded there with no way to get home and not enough supplies to get across Antarctica.
Shackleton led some of his men north across some of the ice, and on lifeboats to get hundreds of miles away to an island where they could be rescued.

In 1921 Shackleton was going to lead another expedition to try and sail all the way around Antarctica, but got sick and died before he could go on the journey.




(from: wikipedia - ernest shackleton)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Motte

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Christianization of Poland


We just learned about the Neume.

Another part of early Christianity is the Christianization of Poland.

In 966 AD the ruler of Poland named Mieszko I was baptized.

When he got married to Dobrawa of Bohemia, she helped him become a Christian, and then after he was baptized many people across all of Poland learned about Jesus and decided to become Christians.


(from: wikipedia - christianization of poland)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ignatius of Antioch

Saturday, March 14, 2020

Abraham Lincoln - Daniel Chester French


We just learned about the statue of Nathan Hale by Frederick William MacMonnies.

Another famous American sculpture is the statue of Abraham Lincoln made by Daniel Chester French in 1920.

French was born in New Hampshire, but later moved to Massachussets where he met some famous artists and was training how to sculpt.
He later went to Florence Italy to help learn from other famous sculptors.

Through his life he made a few other sculptures of Abraham Lincoln that people really liked, so he was chosen to make the most famous statue of Lincoln in Washington D.C.

He started the sculpture in 1914, and it took him 6 years to finish.
The statue is 30 feet tall, is made of 28 blocks of marble, and weighs 170 tons.

Lincoln is sitting in a chair, staring straight ahead looking serious.
There is an American flag over the sides and back of the chair.


(from: wikipedia - abraham lincoln (lincoln memorial))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Khajuraho Group of Monuments

Friday, March 13, 2020

Russian - The chair is small


We just learned that in Russian this house is big is Этот дом большой (Etot dom bol'shoy).

Let's learn about more things we see every day.

To say The chair is small, we say Стул маленький (Stul malen'kiy).

The chair - Стул (stul) - sounds like stoh-l
文A

small - маленький (malen'kiy) - Sounds like mah-len-kee
文A

So all together Стул маленький (Stul malen'kiy) sounds like stoh-l mah-len-kee.

russian language
(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Stolen er liten

Greek: Η καρέκλα είναι μικρή

ASL: This chair is small

Italian: La sedia è piccolo

German: Der Stuhl ist klein

Spanish: La silla es pequeña

French: La chaise est petit

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Hydraulic Brake


We just learned about the Hydraulic Cylinder.

Another type of a machine is a Hydraulic Brake.

In a machine like a car, the brakes that stop the car work by closing tightly and squeezing the wheel to try and slow it down.
The pieces that close are called pistons, and in a hydraulic brake system they are pushed closed by liquids.

There is a tube that is hooked up to the brake, and when a liquid called brake fluid is pushed in, it pushes on the pistons which push on the wheel and close it.
The brake fluid is pushed into the tube from another place, where a metal pole is pushed into the the liquid to push it down into the tube.

So in a hydraulic brake system in a car, when you push your foot down on the brake, it pushes the liquid into the tube which pushes the brakes closed and stops the car.


(from: wikipedia - hydraulic brake)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Falcon

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Cheetah


We just learned about the Clouded Leopard.

We learned a long time ago about how the Cheetah can run 75 miles per hour and has marks on its face to help block the sun.

The Cheetah is also called the acinonyx jubatus, and there are four different types of cheetahs in the world.

- The Southeast African cheetah lives in the countries in the southeast part of Africa like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, and is the one most people think of when talking about cheetahs. There are only about 5,000 of these cheetahs left in the world.
Some of these Cheetahs have long black stripes going down their back, and these are called "King Cheetahs". They are still Southeast African cheetahs, but they are different colored, kind of like the black panther.

- The Asiatic cheetah lives in the country of Iran, and there are only about 50 of them left in the world. Its fur is shorter than the African cheetahs.

- The Northeast African cheetah lives in countries in the Northeast part of Africa like Ethiopia, and there are about 950 left of them in the world. It looks a lot like the southeast African cheetah, but has darker fur and no spots on its back feet.

- The Northwest African cheetah lives in the Sahara desert, and looks very different from the other cheetahs. It has lighter fur almost white, and very few spots on its back and legs. There are only about 250 of them left in the world.

The cheetahs are amazing fast animals, but there are so few left of them in the world because of people hunting them.
Cheetahs only have a few babies per year, and sometimes they don't have babies at all so bringing back this wild cat takes a long time.
Lots of zoos and parks are trying to bring back cheetahs but it is a lot of work and takes years to try and save this cat from going extinct!

Southeast African Cheetah:




Southeast African King Cheetah:

Asiatic Cheetah:

Northeast African Cheetah:

Northwest African Cheetah:

(from: wikipedia - cheetah)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blue Blubber Jellyfish

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Lacrimal Gland


We just learned about the Depth Perception.

Another part of the eye is the Lacrimal Gland, also called the caruncula lacrimalis.

The word lacrimal comes from the latin word for tears like when you cry.
This gland is up above your eye, right behind the bone where your eyebrow is.

When you cry, this gland makes the tears that flow into your eyeball and make it all wet.


(from: wikipedia - lacrimal gland)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Median Sulcus

Monday, March 9, 2020

Robert Falcon Scott


We just learned about the Roald Amundsen.

Another famous Antarctic explorer was Robert Falcon Scott.

He was a British sailor who joined up with a man named Ernest Shackleton for the "Discovery" mission to get to the south pole in 1901.

They landed in Antarctica and did some exploring, but did not make it to the south pole.

Scott went again in 1909 on the "Terra Nova Expedition" and was famous for using motor sleighs for a lot of the work, and also horses as well as dogs.

He was going to the south pole at the same time as Roald Amundsen, but Amundsen got there first.

At the very last part of the trip, he chose 4 men to go to the pole, and sent everyone else back.
On the way the motor sleighs stopped working, so the men had to pull the sleds themselves, but they kept going.

After his team of 4 men made it to the south pole, they took pictures as proof, but on the way back they had many troubles.
The temperature dropped a lot lower, the winds that were supposed to push them along stopped, everyone was getting frostbite, and they ran into some terrible storms.

They finally made it to the place where there was supposed to be some food, and also some sled dogs to help them make the trip back.
Because of the bad weather, the people who were supposed to bring the sled dogs did not make it there in time, and so the four men froze and died.

Later on in November of that year they made a trip out into the cold and found Scott and his men.
They made a grave site there, put up a big cross and named the place Observation Hill.

Before those men died, some of them had dug into the ice and found some fossils, and kept them.
There were over 2,100 things found that they collected and sent back to England to study.

With these discoveries, they proved that at one time Antarctica was warm and had trees before it was all frozen over.







(from: wikipedia - robert falcon scott)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Castles and Palaces

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Neume


We just learned about the Cyrillic Script.

Another part of early Christianity is the Neume.

In the 900s, there were a lot of monks that were living in France, and they were writing music for things like Gregorian Chant.

They started using marks on their papers to show what kinds of notes to sing, like high or low or how long or short a note should be.

These writings turned into the music notes that we know today like half notes, quarter notes and the musical staff.

The word neume either comes from the Greek word πνεῦμα meaning "breath" or the word νεῦμα meaning "sign".


(from: wikipedia - neume)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Peshitta

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Nathan Hale - Frederick William MacMonnies


We just learned about the sculpture of Standing Lincoln by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Another famous American statue is the sculpture of Nathan Hale by Frederick William MacMonnies in 1893.

MacMonnies was born in New York in 1863, and when he was 17 he started working with the famous artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens and became friends with him.

After a few years he went to Paris to study sculpture, and even opened his own art studio there.
He was one of the few American artists who was famous both in America and Paris.

When he was 30 years old he got a job in New York to make a big statue of Nathan Hale, who was a famous hero from the American Revolution.

It is about eight feet tall and made of Bronze, made in France and then brought over to America.


(from: wikipedia - nathan hale (statue))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mukteshvara Temple

Friday, March 6, 2020

Russian - This house is big


We just learned that in Russian we are surprised is Мы удивлены (My udivleny).

Let's learn about some of the things we see every day.

To say this house is big in Russian you say Этот дом большой (Etot dom bol'shoy).

This - Этот (Etot) - sounds like eh-tuh-t 文A
house - дом (dom) - sounds like doh-m 文A
big - большой (bol'shoy) - sounds like boh-l-show-ee 文A

russian language
(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Dette huset er stort

Greek: Αυτό το σπίτι είναι μεγάλο

ASL: This house is big

Italian: Questa casa è grande

German: Das Haus ist groß

Spanish: Esta casa es grande

French: Cette maison est grande