Sunday, October 31, 2021

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear


We just learned about the Christmas song O Come O Come Emmanuel.

Another famous Christmas song is It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.

This song came from a poem written by a church leader named Edmund Sears in Massachusetts in 1850.
Sears asked his friend Richard Storrs to write the music for it, since he worked for the church writing hymns.

When Sears wrote this, there was a war going on between America and Mexico, and Sears was sad that people were fighting.
So he wrote this song hoping to get people to think about the message that the angels gave to the shepherds, about peace on the earth and goodwill to men.

Some of the verses are not very happy and talk about war or the pain or hard work, so some people skip those verses when they print out the songs, but the message of Sears was really for those people to hopefully stop fighting and being sad and think about good things like heaven and angels.

Lyrics:

It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth, To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men, From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay, To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come, With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains, They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its babel sounds The blessed angels sing.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load, Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road, And hear the angels sing!

For lo!, the days are hastening on, By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years Comes round the age of gold
When peace shall over all the earth Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song Which now the angels sing.


(from: wikipedia - it came upon the midnight clear)


It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (Remastered 1999) - Frank Sinatra


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Gutenberg Bible

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Michelangelo - Sistine Chapel - Separation of Light from Darkness


We just learned about the Michelangelo's Moses.

Another famous painting that Michelangelo did was the Sistine Chapel - Separation of Light from Darkness.

AFter Michelangelo had finished Moses, the next big project he did was the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
This project was huge, and he painted over 300 figures on an area over 5,000 square feet.

The paintings were all made in different groups.
One group was nine paintings telling stories from Genesis.

In the beginning of the book of Genesis in the Bible it says:
And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
>God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Michelangelo made a painting of God with his arms up in the sky separating the light from the darkness.


(from: wikipedia - separation of light from darkness)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Dream Lady - Edward McCartan

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Computer Keyboard


We just learned about the Video Cable and the way a computer monitor works.

Another part of the computer is the Keyboard.

Before there were computers, people used to use typewriters to put letters on paper with ink.
When computers were made for people to put letters on the computer monitor, people made electronic keyboards that looked like the typewriters.
On a computer keyboard, when you press down on a key there it pushes down on a button that sends an electrical message to the computer telling you which key was pressed.
It's almost like your keyboard is made up of hundreds of little light switches and when you press one it turns a light on.

Most computers these days have letters in the "QWERTY" order, meaning that the letters are set up in the order where the letters are like:
1234567890
QWERTYUIOP
ASDFGHJKL
ZXCVBNM

The QWERTY keyboard style was invented back in 1874 when someone came up with the idea to put the letters in that order.
There are a lot of stories saying that it was to make sure typewriter machines didn't jam up, or to make people type faster, but nobody is really sure exactly why the computer keyboard doesn't go in alphabeitcal ABC order.

Other people have come up with keyboards that help people type faster, but because people had already learned how to type on QWERTY keyboards they have never changed.


(from: wikipedia - computer keyboard)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Firebox

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Colombian Red Howler


We just learned about the Mantled Howler.

Another type of new world monkey is the Colombian Red Howler, also called the Venezuelan red howler or alouatta seniculus.

This type of monkey lives in South America, spending most of its life up in the trees.
They grow to be about 2 feet long, weigh about 20 pounds and have a long tail they use to climb around.
Just like their name says, they have red colored fur and they make really loud howling sounds that can be heard for miles.



(from: wikipedia - colombian red howler)



Red Howler Monkeys | Expedition Guyana | BBC Earth - BBC Earth


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Scottish Fold

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Ear Ossicles


We just learned about the Middle Ear.

Part of the middle ear is called the Ossicles.

These are three bones in the ear that help take the sound coming from the outer ear and vibrate to help send the right sounds to the inner ear.


(from: wikipedia - ossicles)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: B Cells

Monday, October 25, 2021

Cuba


We just learned about the country of Honduras

Let's learn a little about the country of Cuba!

This is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, and borders the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It is about 42,000 square miles, and about 11 million people live there. In Cuba the people speak Spanish.


(from: wikipedia - cuba)

The flag of Cuba has a red triangle on the red, with a white star in it, and five sideways stripes of blue and white.
The red triangle is for liberty, equality and fraternity, courage and independence.
The blue stripes are for the three different parts of Cuba, and the white is for purity.


(from: wikipedia - flag of cuba)

To eat in Cuba you might have ropa vieja, which is a type of shredded steak stewed in a tomato sauce.
The name means "old clothes" and there is an old story of a poor man who was so hungrey that he tore up his clothes and put them in a pot to cook, and then prayed over them for food and it turned into this delicious meat stew.


(from: wikipedia - ropa vieja)

Visiting Cuba you might go to the Havana Cathedral, a church built in 1796.

(from: wikipedia - havana cathedral)

In the city of Camagüey, clay pots called tinajon are used a lot to help get rain water to be used later.
There is an old legend that if you drink water from one of these clay pots, you will fall in love with a girl from Camagüey and never leave the city.


(from: wikipedia - camagüey)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Albania

Sunday, October 24, 2021

O Come, O Come, Emmanuael


We just learned about the O Little Town of Bethlehem.

Another famous Christmas song is O Come, O Come, Emmanuael.

This is a very old song, going back all the way to before the year 600 AD.
The words for the song were first written in Latin, in an old song called O Antiphons, that was sung by Monks around Christmas time.

The music for the song was written into a book around 1851 in England, but people think that song was first written hundreds of years before some time in France.

In 1861 an English priest named John Mason Neale translated the words from Latin into English and put it into hymnals for people to sing.
So it is a very very old song, and has become famous all over the world as a Christmas song!

One famous thing about the song is that each verse starts with a different name for Jesus, like Emmanuel, Rod of Jesse, Dayspring from on high, Key of David, and Adonai.

O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save, And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high, And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Adonai, Lord of might, Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times didst give the law In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.


(from: wikipedia - o come, o come, emmanuael)



O Come O Come Emmanuel (feat. Naomi Raine & Nate Moore) - Maverick City | TRIBL - TRIBL


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Devshirme

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Michelangelo - Moses


We just learned about the Michelangelo - Piccolomini Altarpiece.

Another famous sculpture is Michelangelo's Moses.

After Michelangelo had finished his statue of David he was very famous, and was asked to make over 40 statues for the tomb of Pope Julius II.

He finished statues for people from the Bible of Moses, Leah and Rachel.
After that it had been about 10 years, and the people who were paying for the sculptures decided they didn't want any more, so he didn't get to finish the rest of the statues.

Michelangelo's statue of Moses is interesting because there are horns on Moses' head.
This is because when people were reading the Bible in Hebrew they thought it said that when he came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments that his face was so changed after talking to God that he had horns on his head.
People now believe the words really say that his face was full of brightness, and so those would be like rays of light.
Michelangelo felt that this Moses was his greatest sculpture ever, and when he was done he stood up and shouted to the statue "now speak!" because it looked so good like it was almost alive.

The statue of Leah shows her face down as if she is working, and the statue of Rachel shows her face up like she is praying.
In the Bible Leah was working very hard raising seven children, and Rachel prayed for many years and then finally had two children of her own.




(from: wikipedia - moses (michelangelo))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Prometheus - Manship

Friday, October 22, 2021

Hindi - Good Morning


We just learned a few ways to say hello and goodbye in Hindi, like नमस्ते (namaste) and अलविदा (alavida).

Sometimes you might want to say good morning, good afternoon, or good night.

Habari is a way to say hello that means "How is the news", Za means "for", and Asubuhi means "morning".
So sometimes to say good morning people will say Habari za asubuhi, which really means "How is the news for morning".

Good Morning - शुभ प्रभात (shubh prabhaat) - sounds like shoo-b p-drah-b-hah-t 文A

Good Day - नमस्कार (namaskaar) - sounds like nah-m-skah-r 文A

Good Evening - सुसंध्या (susandhya) - sounds like soo-sen-d-yah 文A

Good Night - शुभ रात्रि (shubh raatri) - sounds like shoo-b-rah-t-ree 文A


hindi devanagari
(from: wikipedia - devanagari)

Swahili: Habari za asubuhi, Habari za mchana, Habari za jioni, Habari za usiku

Russian: Доброе утро (Dobroye utro), Добрый день (Dobryy den), Добрый вечер (Dobryy vecher), Доброй ночи (Dobroy nochi)

Norwegian: God morgen, God dag, God ettermiddag, God kveld, God natt

Greek: Καλημέρα (Kaliméra), Καλησπέρα (Kalispéra), Καληνυχτα (Kalinychta)

ASL: Good Morning, Good Day, Good Evening, Good Night

Italian: buongiorno, buon pomeriggio, buonasera, buona notte

German: Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, Guten Abend, Gute Nacht

Spanish: Buenos días, buenos tardes, buenas noches

French: bonjour, bonsoir, bonne nuit

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Video Cable


We just learned about the Display - Refresh Rate.

Another part of the monitor is the Video Cable, or display cable.

This is one of the wires that comes out of the back of the monitor and goes to the computer.
The cable will send messages from the computer to the monitor to tell it what pictures to show on the screen.
If the computer is a laptop, then the monitor is connected right to the computer and it won't have a video cable outside the laptop.

Through the years since the monitors have gotten better at showing picturs, the cables have had to changes so they could keep up with the better pictures.

One of the first cables that was very popular was called the VGA cable, where VGA means Video Graphics Array.
This cable had 15 wires in it that the computer used to send the pictures that would go on the monitor.

Later on people wanted to make better pictures with the monitors so they came up with better cabels that could send more information faster to the monitor.
There are a few different types right now that people can get, but one of the most popular is called HDMI, which means High-Definition Multimedia Interface.
HDMI cables can come in different sizes like standard, mini and micro.


(from: wikipedia - vga connector)

(from: wikipedia - hdmi)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Locomotive Piston

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Mantled Howler


We just learned about the Black Bearded Saki.

Another type of new world monkey is the Mantled Howler or golden-mantled howling monkey.

These monkeys live in Central and South America.
They have mostly black fur and the grow to be about 22 pounds and about 2 feet long.

Just like you would think from the name, they make a loud sound, that is usually like a low grunting sound almost like a dog barking or a pig grunting.
It can be heard in the jungle from miles away.


(from: wikipedia - mantled howler)



Mantled Howler Monkeys (Alouatta palliata) - Colombia - Tim Forrester


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Siamese Cat

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Middle Ear


We just learned about the Perilymph.

Another part of the ear is the Middle Ear.

We've learned about the outer ear that you can see on the outside of the body, and the inner ear that turns the sound into messages for the brain to understand.

The Middle Ear is in between the outer and inner ear, and helps take the sound brought in by the outer ear and turn it into sound waves for the inner ear to send to the brain.

(from: wikipedia - middle ear)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: T Cells

Monday, October 18, 2021

Honduras


We just learned about the country of Nicaragua

Let's learn a little about the country of Honduras!

This is a small country in Central America, bordering Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
It is about 43,000 square miles, and it has about 9.5 million people living there.
People in Honduras speak Spanish.


(from: wikipedia - honduras)

The flag of Honduras are three sideways stripes of blue, white and blue, with 5 stars in the middle of the white.
The blue stripes are for the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and the stars are for the 5 other countries in Central America that once were part of a bigger country, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala.


(from: wikipedia - flag of honduras)

To eat in Honduras you might have casamiento which is rice with red beans, usually served with a banana.

(from: wikipedia - honduran cuisine)

Visiting Honduras you might go to the Bay Islands and go scuba diving to see the fish and coral reefs.

(from: wikipedia - bay islands)

Long ago the Mayan people lived in Honduras, and there are still some old Mayan ruins and statues in a place called Copán.


(from: wikipedia - )


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Thurston Island

Sunday, October 17, 2021

O Little Town of Bethlehem


We just learned about the song O Come All Ye Faithful.

Another famous Christmas song is O Little Town of Bethlehem.

The words for this song were written by a priest named Phillip Brooks in Philadelphia, after he traveled to Israel and saw the town of Bethlehem.

When he came back home he told the church organist Lewis Redner to write the music for it to be played a week later.
Redner didn't work on it all week and went to sleep Saturday night after not even writing a single note.

He said later that he woke up late in the night like he had an angel whispering in his ear, and he quickly grabbed some paper and wrote down the melody for the music.
The next morning he wrote the harmony part for the music on the way to church, and after that it was printed in a book called The Church Porch and became famous.


(from: wikipedia - o little town of bethlehem)



O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Cedarmont Kids

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fall of Constantinople

Saturday, October 16, 2021

Michelangelo - Piccolomini Altarpiece


We just learned about Michelangelo's sculpture of Bacchus.

Another famous sculpture by Michelangelo was the Piccolomini Altarpiece.

In 1481 AD a famous church leader named Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini wanted to make a really big sculpture with lots of statues to honor the Poccolomini family name.
It was supposed to have 14 sculptures on it, and he asked sculptor Andrea Bregno to do it.
He worked on it for 4 years, but then had to quit because the work was too hard for him at the age of 70.

Next the artist Pietro Torrigiano was hired to work on the altarpiece, but he only made one sculpture and then quit.

Tdeschini tried for another artist, and hired Michelangelo to make the rest of the sculptures.
At the same time, many other people saw the Pietà sculpture he had just finished and were so amazed and also wanted him to sculpt other things.

He started working on sculptures for this Piccolomini Alterpiece, but when he was offered the chance to make the statue of David he didn't spend much time on this altarpiece because he liked that other sculpture better.

After he had worked for a few years on the David sculpture, the person who hired him died.
When Todeschini died, his family asked Michelangelo to just do 4 sculptures so they could be finished.
He did sculptures of Saint Peter, Saint Augustine, Saint Paul, Saint Gregory.



(from: wikipedia - piccolomini altarpiece)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Vision of Peace - Carl Milles

Friday, October 15, 2021

Hindi - Hello and Goodbye


We've now learned a whole year of Swahili!
Wow!

Let's try another language now, how about Hindi?

This is the language spoken by hundreds of millions of people acros the world, mostly in the country of India.

Hindi uses a different alphabet than English, called Devanagari.
It has 14 vowels and 33 consonants, and doesn't look at all like the English alphabet.

Let's learn how to say hello and goodbye in Hindi!

To say hello in Hindi you would say Namaste 文A

In the Devanagari letters it looks like this: नमस्ते
It's made up of letters like न na म ma स् sa ते ta, and when they are all together it sounds like nuh-mah-stay.

To say goodbye you can also say namaste, or you can say Alavida 文A

In the Devanagari letters it looks like this: अलविदा
It's made up of letters like अ a ल la वि vi दा da, and when they are all together it sounds like ah-l-vee-dah.


hindi devanagari
(from: wikipedia - devanagari)

Swahili: Jambo, Hujambo, Habari, Mambo, Shikamoo

Russian: Привет (privet), Здравствуй (Zdravstvuy), Пока (poka), до свидания (do svidaniya)

Norwegian: Hei, Hallo, Ha det, Ha det brah

Greek: Γειά σου (Geiá sou), Χαίρετε (Chairete), Αντίο (Antío)

ASL: Hello and Goodbye

Italian: Ciao, arrivederci

German: Hallo, Auf Wiedersehen

Spanish: Hola! Adiós!

French: Bonjour! Au Revoir!

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Display Refresh Rate


We just learned about the Display Resolution.

Another part of a computer monitor is the Display Refresh Rate.

When the computer screen is playing a video, or opening up a web page or showing something on the screen, it has to re-draw the screen for that picture very fast so that your eyes don't notice that it is changing, and so that it just looks like a real picture.

In old computers, the screen was drawn fresh every time starting from the top left, and going row by row from the top to the bottom.
Newer computers with LCD and LED monitors have smarter ways to redraw just some parts of the screen, but they still can only "refresh" the image on the page at a certain speed.

The speed that the screen can change and show a new image is called the Refresh Rate.
Our human eyes can only really tell if something is flickering if it is changing less than about 60 times per second.
If you think of that like a paper flip book showing an animation, you can usually see the flicker for those.
But if they were flipping so fast you couldn't tell, it would just look like an animated cartoon.

60 times per second is called the frequency, and is also the same as saying 60 Hertz or 60 Hz because Hertz means "per second".
Most monitors these days have a refresh rate of at least 60 Hz.


(from: wikipedia - refresh rate)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Piston Rod

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Black Bearded Saki


We just learned about the White-Faced Saki.

Another type of new world monkey is the Black Bearded Saki, also called chiropotes satanas.

This type of monkey lives only in some parts of Brazil by the Amazon river.
They have black fur, and a big bushy beard and a long black fluffy tail.

Their science name chiropotes means "hand drinker" because these monkeys have been seen using their hands to scoop water into their mouths.
This helps these monkeys keep their beards clean.


(from: wikipedia - black bearded saki)



A critically endangered black-bearded saki monkey (Chiropotes satanas) at Zoo Brasilia - Video Ark
Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Tabby Cat

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Perilymph


We just learned about the Organ of Conti.

Another part of the ears is the Perilymph.

This is a gooey liquid that is inside the bony labryinth we learned about.
The perilymph helps control the electrical messages that are sent to the brain when the ear hears a sound and turns it into a message.


(from: wikipedia - perilymph)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: NK Cells

Monday, October 11, 2021

Nicaragua


We just learned about the country of Yemen


Let's learn about some more countries in North America.

One country is called Nicaragua!

This country borders Honduras, Costa Rica, and both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
It is about 50,000 square miles and about 6 million people live there.
People in Nicaragua speak Spanish.


(from: wikipedia - nicaragua)

The flag of Nicaragua is sideways stripes of blue, white and blue, with the a triangle in the middle of the white.
The two blue stripes are for the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
The white is for peace, and the triangle is the coat of arms for Nicaragua.


(from: wikipedia - flag of nicaragua)

To eat in Nicaragua you might have vigorón, which is a cabbage salad with pork all wrapped in a banana leaf.

(from: wikipedia - vigorón)

Visiting Nicaragua you might go see the Somoto Canyon National Monument, which is a canyon that covers about 420 acres.


(from: wikipedia - somoto canyon national monument)

In the town of Managua, there are fossilized footprints that were left in volcanic ash and mud, and scientists think they are from over 2,000 years ago.


(from: wikipedia - ancient footprints of acahualinca)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Berkner Island

Sunday, October 10, 2021

O Come All Ye Faithful


We just learned about the Christmas song O Holy Night.

Another famous Christmas song is O Come All Ye Faithful.

This song was first wrirten in Latin, and was called "Adeste Fidelis" which means "All Ye Faithful".
No one is really sure who wrote the words or music for this song.
A bunch of different copies of it have been found in countries like England and Portugal, and no one is really sure who wrote it first.

In 1841 the priest Frederick Oakeley wrote it in English, and those are pretty close to the words and music we use today.

The song in Latin:
Adeste fideles læti triumphantes, Venite, venite in Bethlehem.
Natum videte Regem angelorum: Venite adoremus (3×) Dominum.

Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine Gestant puellæ viscera
Deum verum, genitum non factum. Venite adoremus (3×) Dominum.

Cantet nunc io, chorus angelorum; Cantet nunc aula cælestium,
Gloria, gloria in excelsis Deo, Venite adoremus (3×) Dominum.

Ergo qui natus die hodierna. Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Patris æterni Verbum caro factum. Venite adoremus (3×) Dominum.

The song in English:
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant! O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him Born the King of Angels: O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord.

God of God, light of light, Lo, he abhors not the Virgin's womb;
Very God, begotten, not created O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord.

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation, Sing, all ye citizens of Heaven above!
Glory to God, glory in the highest: O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord.

Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning; Jesus, to thee be glory given!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing! O come, let us adore Him, (3×) Christ the Lord.


(from: wikipedia - o come, all ye faithful)



Pentatonix - O Come, All Ye Faithful (Official Video) - Pentatonix

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Avignon Papacy

Saturday, October 9, 2021

Michelangelo - Bacchus


We just learned a little about Michelangelo.

Another famous sculpture from Michelangelo was Bacchus.

While he was working in Florence, and before he made his famous Pieta sculpture, Michelangelo was hired to make a statue for the garden of a famous rich person.
He decided to make a sculpture of Bacchus, the mythical Roman god of wine.
The rich person did not like the statue and so he gave the statue to one of his friends.

Because it is one of his first sculptures it is very famous, and also a funny story because Michelangelo became one of the greatest artists of all time, and someone once refused one of his statues because they didn't think it was good enough.


(from: wikipedia - bacchus (michelangelo))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Georgia O'Keefe - Gaston Lachaise

Friday, October 8, 2021

Swahili - Vegetables


We just learned how to say some fruits to eat in Swahili.

Let's learn how to say some vegetables.

carrot karoti - sounds like kah-roh-tee 文A

corn mahindi - sounds like mah-hee-n-dee 文A

pea njegere - sounds like n-jay-gay-ray 文A


swahili
(from: wikipedia - swahili language)

Russian: морковь (morkov'), кукуруза (kukuruza), горох (gorokh)

Norwegian: gulrot, mais, erter

Greek: καρότο (karóto), καλαμπόκι (kalampóki), μπιζέλι (bizéli)

ASL: carrot, corn, pea

Italian: carote, mais, piselli

German: Karotte, Mais, Erbse

Spanish: zanahoria, maíz, guisante

French: carotte, maïs, pois

Thursday, October 7, 2021

Display Resolution


We just learned about the Pixel.

Another part of how a monitor works is the Display Resolution.

We learned that a pixel is a picture element that helps draw a picture on the computer screen.
When you are looking at the computer, the picture will look more like a real life image depending on the pixel size, monitor size, and colors you can use.

If you have a normal sized computer monitor but you can only fit 100 pixels across and 100 pixels down, that makes for 10,000 pixels.
That seems like a lot, but computers these days usually show anything from 480,000 pixels on one screen to over 2 million pixels on one screen!
You can have the same size monitor but switch between low resolution (bigger pixels) and high resolution (small pixels) to fit in as many as you can on the screen.

In the first computers, colors were really only white or black, or sometimes green or black.
Some of the first computers made just for video games like the Atari could use 256 colors.
That might seem like a lot, but the computers today can use about 16 million different colors!


(from: wikipedia - display resolution)


(from: wikipedia - list of video game console palettes)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Coupling Rod