The picture that you see on a computer monitor is made up of thousands or millions of little dots that can change color to show different pictures.
Each one of these tiny dots is called a pixel, which is short for "picture element".
On some old computers monitors, the pixels were big and looked like little squares or blocks used to make pictures.
Now the pixels are so tiny they can show pictures on computer monitors showing people and places that look just like the real thing.
Another type of new world monkey is the Bald Uakari.
This type of monkey has a bright red face and a bald head.
It lives in South America, spending most of its life in the trees.
Bald Uakari monkeys grow to be about 7 pounds and 18 inches long, and eat mostly fruits, nuts and bugs.
Even though their red face and bald head look weird, a healthy red face means that this type of monkey is healthy!
Inside the Cochlea are tiny microscopic hairs that move when sound hits them.
When these hairs move, the part of the body they are attached to lets out some chemicals.
Those chemicals then touch some other cells in the body which let out electricity.
That electricity sends the message to the brain that the body heard a sound.
Depending on how loud, soft, high or low the sound is, the hairs will wiggle differently,
and that will send different chemicals and different electricity to the brain to tell you what sounds you are hearing.
Let's learn a little about the country of Vietnam, also called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Vietnam is a small country in Asia, about 128,000 square miles, with about 96 million people liveing there.
It borders China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Phillippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and the South China Sea.
To eat in Vietnam you might have bún chả, which is pork with noodles served over rice noodles and dipping sauce.
The word bún means noodles and chả means pork.
Visiting Vietnam you might go see Ban Gioc-Detian Falls, some big waterfalls in the country.
(from: wikipedia - ban gioc–detian falls)
Rice farming is a very important business in Vietnam, and rice is grown there in what are called terraces, that look like stairs.
(from: wikipedia - sa pa)
Another famous Christmas song is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
This was first written by Charles Wesley in 1739 in England.
When Wesley first wrote it, he called it "Hark! how all the welkin rings", where the word welkin means sky.
In 1840 another person changed it to the words Hark! The Herald Angels Sing that we know of today.
The tune for the song is from the famous composer Felix Mendelssohn's music called Festgesang.
Hark! The herald-angels sing "Glory to the newborn king;
Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim "Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald-angels sing "Glory to the new-born king"
Christ, by highest heaven adored Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold Him come Offspring of a Virgin's womb:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald-angels sing "Glory to the newborn King"
Hail the Heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings;
Mild He lays His glory by Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing "Glory to the new-born king"
Another famous thing Leonard did was make Anatomical Drawings.
This means he studied things like arms and legs, and tried to draw sketches of how they work.
He made drawaings of how the human body moves, and even some pictures of what he thought babies looked like before being born.
Da Vinci studied humans and other animals too, and made many drawings about how a bird is able to fly.
This is the part of the computer that you look at, that shows all of the pictures and videos that your computer puts on it.
Through the years computer monitors have changed a lot.
Long ago they only had a black background with white or green text.
Then later monitors could display every color, and also draw pictures on the screen for things like video games or office work.
For a long time, computer monitors were very big, using what were called Cathode Ray Tubes or CRTs to show things on the monitor.
They were later replaced by flat screen monitors, usually called Liquid Crystal Displays or LCD.
LCDs are much thinner, lighter, and usually taller and wider than the old CRT displays.
Some old CRTs could weigh 50 pounds, compared to an LCD with the same screen size weighing only 10 pounds.
Because flat screen monitors could be made so thin and light, people could make computers so small they could fit on your lap, called laptops!
Another part of the bony labryinth in the inner ear is the Cochlea.
This is a spiral that sounds go into, and there are little hairs inside the spiral that send signals to the brain telling it what sounds are being heard.
The different parts of the spiral help the ear listen to different types of sounds.
At the opening the spiral collects sounds that are high pitched like a whistle.
As the spiral goes in further the sounds get lower, more like a big drum beating.
All of these different sounds get sent to the brain to hear all the different highs and lows.
The name cochlea comes from the greek word for spiral snail shell.
Let's learn a little about the country of Turkmenistan!
This is a country in the middle east, bordring Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and the Caspian Sea.
It is about 190,000 square miles, and about 6 million people live there.
People in this country speak the Turkmen language.
The flag of Turkemnistan is green with a red stripe on the left with carpet designs on the red above olive branches.
On the right is a white crescent moon and five stars.
The moon is for hope, the stars are for the provinces in the country, the carpet is for the tribes of people who founded the country.
To eat in Turkmenistan, you might have melons!
This country was once famous for growing all kinds of melons, and they grow over 400 different kinds of melon.
(from: wikipedia - )
Visiting Turkmenistan you might go see the Darvasa gas crater.
This is a hole in the ground that is abotu 200 feet across and about 60 feet deep.
A long time ago people were drilling for oil in the area, and found a place where gas was leaking out from the ground.
They lit the ground on fire to help get rid of the gas leak, but it never stopped burning and the crater has now been burning for over 50 years.
There is a national holiday in Turkmenistan called Melon Day, because there are so many melon farms in the country.
Every year the second Sunday in August the people get together in the city of Ashgabat and have music, dancing and lots of melons.
We just learned about the Christmas song We Three Kings.
Another famous Christmas song is Away in a Manger.
For a very long time, people thought that the words for this song were written in 1883 by Martin Luther, and it was even sometimes called Luther's Cradle Song.
But after going back and looking at the writing, people now think that the words were first written in English somewhere earlier in America, and then later translated to German.
There are two popular tunes that people sing this song to.
The one that is most popular in America was wrriten by James R. Murray in 1887.
The other one that is more popular in Britan was written by William J. Kirkpatrick.
Another one of his famous inventions was called Leonardo's Robot.
Some time around 1495, Leonardo da Vinci came up with the idea to make a mechanical knight, that could move around.
He made some sketches on how to make it using pulleys and cables that were inside metal armor.
He showed it off to some people in Milan, and by pulling on cables he could make it stand, sit, and move its arms and head.
His robot has been lost, but some people have followed his designs and made copies of what they think his looked like long ago.
When we think of computers, some people think of the laptop they use at home, or the bigger computer they use at work.
Other people might think of the really big computers sitting alone in rooms at buildings doing gigantic amounts of work for hundreds, thousands or even millions of people.
There are other things that are computers that people don't really call computers, like tablets or iPads, cell phones, or video game systems.
All of these things have computers inside them that make them work.
These days even things like cars, airplanes, TVs, and even things like Washers and Dryers have tiny computers in them!
The first computers made were made over 50 years ago and filled up entire rooms with all of their parts.
Things have gotten so small now that a computer the size of your fingernail could do more than that whole room of computers did.
Another type of new world monkey is the Grey-Bellied Night Monkey.
Just like you would guess from their name, these monkeys stay up at night like an owl.
And just like an owl, they have really big eyes so they can try to see as much as they can in the dark.
These monkeys live only in some small parts of South America.
They only grow to be about 3 pounds, and they live in the trees eating fruit, vegetables, and small bugs.
Another part of the ear is the Semicircular Canals.
On the outside of the inner ear are three tubes that go out like circles and then come back to the ear.
These are part of the bony labryinth, and they are what help the body tell which direction the head is moving.
Inside these tubes is some liquid, and at the opening of the tubes are some very tiny hairs.
When you move your head around, the liquid bumps into the hairs, which send signals to the brain telling it that you are moving.
The three semicircular canal tubes go in three different directions so that they can tell whether you are tilting your head, moving up or down, or side to side.
Let's learn a little about the country of United Arab Emirates, also called Emirates or UAE!
This is a small country in the middle east, bordering Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf.
It is about 32,000 square miles, and has about 10 million people living there.
People in UAE speak Arabic.
The flag for the United Arab Emirates is has a red stripe on the left, and then sideways stripes of green, white and red.
The red is for courage, bravery, hardiness, strength, and unity.
The white is for cleanliness, honesty, peace, and purity.
The green is for prosperity, hope, joy, love, and optimism.
The black is for winning battles and strength of mind.
To eat in UAE you might have maqluba, which is cooked meat, rice and vegetables, cooked in a pot and then flipped upside down when served.
The name maquluba means "upside down".
Visiting UAE you might go to Dubai to see the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world at about half a mile high.
(from: wikipedia - burj khalifa)
In Abu Dhabi there is some man made land in the shape of a palm tree, called the Palm Jumeirah.
Also in Abu Dhabi is the fastest roller coaster in the world at 149 miles per hour, at the Formula Rossa at the Ferrari World park.
(from: wikipedia - palm jumeirah)
(from: wikipedia - formula rossa)
Another famous Christmas song is We Three Kings, also called Three Kings of Orient, or The Quest of the Magi.
It was written in 1857 in New York by John Henry Hopkins Jr.
Hopkins was working as a church leader in Pennsylvania, and wrote the song for a Christmas pageant, based on the story in the book of Matthew chapter 2.
In the pageant he had each wise man sing one verse, and then all three would sing the final verse.
The Bible doesn't actually say there were three kings, it just says there were three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
It also doesn't say who the kings were, but later on in church history people think the wise men were named Gaspard, Melchior and Balthazar.
After the pageant it was just a song that his family and friends would sing together at Christmas time, but they all liked it so much he later decided to have it printed in a book of carols in 1916.
It then became famous all over the world, and was one of the first famous Christmas songs that was created in America.
Lyrics:
[Sung by All] We Three Kings of Orient are, Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, Moor and mountain, Following yonder Star.
CHORUS: O Star of Wonder, Star of Night, Star with Royal Beauty bright, Westward leading, Still proceeding, Guide us to Thy perfect Light.
[Sung by Gaspard] Born a King on Bethlehem plain, Gold I bring to crown Him again, King for ever, Ceasing never Over us all to reign.
[CHORUS]
[Sung by Melchior] Frankincense to offer have I, Incense owns a Deity nigh: Prayer and praising All men raising, Worship Him God on High.
[CHORUS]
[Sung by Balthazar] Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom; Sorrowing, sighing, Bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone-cold tomb.
[CHORUS]
[Sung by All] Glorious now behold Him arise, King, and God, and Sacrifice; Heav’n sings Hallelujah: Hallelujah the earth replies.
[CHORUS]
We just learned about Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Arundel.
Another famous book of inventions that Leonardo wrote was called the Paris Manuscripts.
These were writings of his thoughts on science and inventions he dreamed up between the years of 1488 and 1505.
They are called the Paris Manuscripts because after Leonardo died these writings were all collected and stored in a museum in Paris.
The Paris Manuscripts have over 2,500 pages of Leonardo's writings.
He wrote about helicopters, submarines, geometry, botany, engineering, physics, painting, water, flight, and astronomy.
One of the most famous of his drawings was of a design for a helicopter he called the Aerial Screw.
If you look on the side of a car tire, you will see some letters and numbers printed on it.
These are there to help tell you what kind of tire you have, and also helpful things like how much air you should put into it.
Most tires use something called the "ISO Metric tire code" which has rules for what letters and numbers go in what order.
This code has these rules:
Use: One letter to tell how the tire will be used, like "P" for Passenger car, or T for a Temporary spare tire. Width: Numbers for the width of the tire in millimiters. / in between the numbers Height: Numbers for how tall the rubber part of the tire is. This is also called aspect ratio or profile. Type of tire: One letter tells the type of tire, like R for a radial tire. Rim width: The diameter of the metal rim that the tire is wrapped around. Load: A code that tells how much weight the tire can take. Speed ratimg: A code that tells how fast a tire can go.
So if a tire code says: P215/65R15 95H
That means it is a Passenger car, 215 milimeters wide, 65 millimeters profile height, Radial tire, 15 inch rims.
If you look up the 95H code, that means it can handle 1,520 pounds and go 130 miles per hour.
Another type of new world monkey is the Black-Capped Squirrel Monkey.
They can grow to be about 2 pounds, and about one foot long.
Their fur is mostly grey on the outside, their bellies are white, and their head is black with white around their eyes.
For food these monkeys eat mostly fruit, nuts and some bugs.
They live up in the trees, and can leap from one tree to another tree over 6 feet away.
Another part of the ear is the Eardrum also called the tympanic membrane or myringa.
This is a thin piece of skin and tissue that works almost like a drum.
When sound comes into the ear, the eardrum vibrates.
There are nerves connected to the eardrum, so when it moves it sends signals to the brain telling it that the ear is hearing sounds.
Let's learn a little about the country of East Timor, also called the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste!
This is a small country in Asia, that is just on the eastern half of the island of Timor.
The other half of the island is part of the country of Indonesia.
It is about 6,000 square miles, and has a little over 1 million people living there.
People in this country speak either Portuguese, Tetuma or English.
The flag of East Timor has a red background, with a yellow triangle covered by a black triangle, and a white star.
The yellow is for the country's history, the black is for truth, the red is for freedom, and the star is for peace.
Visiting East Timor you might go see the statue Cristo Rei of Dili, which means Christ the King of Dili.
It is an 88 foot tall sculpture of Jesus standing on a globe, on top of a hill.
Below the statue is a small church, and behind the statue is a beach called Jesus' Backside Beach.
We just learned about the Lift High the Cross, by Joseph Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber in 1818 in Austria.
One of the most famous Christmas songs is Silent Night.
The German name for this song is "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht".
Mohr had written the song as a poem, and wanted Gruber to write the music to go with it for a Christmas church service.
A river had flooded the church and the organ didn't work anymore, so Gruber wrote music for the guitar.
It was later written in English in 1859 in New York City.
One time on a Christmas Eve in 1914 when British and German soldiers were at war, both sides stop fighting for one night and sang Silent Night in English or Stille Nacht in German, and went out to meet each other on the battlefield in peace.
It was called the Christmas Truce of 1914.
Another one of Leonardo da Vinci's famous books of inventions is the Codex Arundel, written around 1500 AD.
While da Vinci was working on his art, he also took a lot of notes about how the world works.
He was learning about how weights and pulleys worked, how mirrors worked, and even had ideas about the sun and moon.
One of his ideas was to use a curved mirror to take sunlight and use the solar power it to heat up cauldrons.
His book Codex Atlanticus is 283 pages of his writings about how things work.
