Tappet

We just learned about the Exhaust Valve.

Another part of a car is the Tappet.

The tappet is the part of the car that pushes on the intake or exhaust valves to open or close them.

Remember that the camshaft is above the valves, and is a rod with cams on it spinning around.
The bump on the cam pushes on the tappet, which pushes on the pushrod, which opens or closes the valves.


(from: wikipedia - tappet)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pulse Coder

Patas Monkey

We just learned about the Allen's Swamp Monkey.

Another kind of Old World Monkey is the Patas Monkey, also called the wadi monkey, hussar monkey or erythrocebus patas.

This monkey lives on the ground in the areas of Africa called the Savannah, which is grasslands with some trees.
They grow to be about 2 feet long, and weigh about 27 pounds.
These monkeys can very fast, at 34 miles per hour they are the fastest of all the primates!
On their faces, these monkeys have what looks like a mustache.

When these monkeys live together, they are usually in big groups of all female monkeys, up to 60 females together, and sometimes no male monkeys.
Male monkeys will sometimes live in groups together, but usually they just live by themselves.

Some people believe that these monkeys with mustaches were the animals that gave Dr. Seuss the idea for the Lorax.
They live mostly by special whistling thorn acacia trees, that might have given him the idea for the truffala trees.



(from: wikipedia - patas monkey)



Segera Retreat - rare Patas Monkeys - Wilderness Safaris


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cougar

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

We just learned about the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Another type of leukemia is Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.

We've learned about ALL, AML, and CLL.

The fourth type of leukemia is CML, meaning it is chronic and myelogenous.

Remember that the chronic means that it is slow moving, and the myelogenous means that the kind of white blood calls that are having problems are neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils.

When the body makes these myeloid cells, they don't go through the normal life cycle and go away, and the body ends up having too many of those cells.


(from: wikipedia - chronic myelogenous leukemia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lacrimal Punctum

Moldova

We just learned about the country of Malta

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

This is a small country in the south east part of Europe, bordering Romania and Ukraine.
It is about 13,000 square miles, and about 2.6 million people live there.
The people there speak Moldovan, which is the same as the Romanian language, they just call it Moldovan in this country.


(from: wikipedia - moldova)

The flag of Moldova is blue, red, yellow just like the flag of Romania, and the coat of arms of Moldova is in the middle yellow stripe.


(from: wikipedia - flag of moldova)

To eat in Moldova you might have sarmale, which is stuffed cabbage rolls, usually served with sauerkraut and a porridge called mămăligă.


(from: wikipedia - moldova cuisine)

Visiting Moldova you might go see Soroca Fort which is a castle made around the year 1530.

(from: wikipedia - soroca fort)

One of the things Moldova is famous for is making wine.
They have a famous wine cellar in mileștii mici, which is over 150 miles long and has over 2 million bottles of wine, and is the largest wine collection in the world.

(from: wikipedia - mileștii mici)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Antarctic Territories

Amish

We just learned about the Salem Witch Trials.

Another part of early Christianity is the Amish.

In the late 1600s in Switzerland, a man named Jakob Amman thought that people were not living the right way to do what God wanted.

He felt that people were doing bad things, and thought people should live simpler lives where they did not get drunk, lie or cheat.

Amman also thought that if someone was a good hearted person it did not mean that they would go to heaven.
They would have to be re-baptized and accept Jesus or they would not be saved.

When he died, there were other people that wanted to follow the way he lived, and so the other churches called them "Amish" meaning they were living like Jakob Amman.

Later on some of the Amish people moved to the America and lived in small towns where they would just be simple farmers and not want to have a lot of money or anything exciting.


(from: wikipedia - amish)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Christianization of Poland

Street Crossing - George Segal

We just learned about the sculpture of Contour by Richard Serra.

Another famous American sculpture is the Street Crossing by George Segal, made in 1992 in New Jersey.

Segal was born in New York in 1924, and went to college to be a teacher.

He was most famous for making life sized sculptures of people that were made out of plaster bandages.
These were like white cloth that was dipped in glue, then stuck to a person who was standing or sitting however Segal wanted them to.

After the glue dried it was hardened and the person could move away and there would be a hollow mold of them.

He made lots of these types of sculptures, and they looked like people made of white cloth standing around.
His sculpture called Street Crossing was of a bunch of people standing around like they were getting ready to cross the street.


(from: wikipedia - george segal (artist))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Abraham Lincoln - Vinnie Ream

Swahili - The chair is small

We just learned that in Swahili this house is big is Nyumba hii ni kubwa.

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

To say The chair is small, we say Mwenyekiti ni mdogo.

chair - Mwenyekiti - sounds like m-way-n-yay-kee-tee
- 文A


is - ni - sounds like nee
- 文A


small - mdogo - sounds like m-doh-goh
- 文A


So all together Mwenyekiti ni mdogo sounds like m-way-n-yay-kee-tee nee m-doh-goh.


(from: wikipedia - swahili language)

Russian: Стул маленький (Stul malen'kiy)

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

Exhaust Valve

We just learned about the Intake Valve.

Another part of a car's engine is the Exhaust Valve.

Just like we learned that the intake valves bring fuel into the piston, after the fuel is used up it needs to be pushed out of the piston.
The exit, or exhaust valve opens up and lets all the burned up fuel out so the piston can start over again.


(from: wikipedia - valvetrain)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hydraulic Brake

Allen's Swamp Monkey

We just learned about the Talapoin Monkey.

Another type of primate is the Allen's Swamp Monkey.

Just like the Talapoin monkey, this is one of the "Old World Monkeys".

This monkey got it's name because it was discovered by zoologist Joel Asaph Allen, and it lives in swampy watery areas.

These primates are about 2 feet long, and weigh up to 13 pounds.
They are strong monkeys, with greyish green fur, and a redish face.
Their fingers and toes have some webbing on them that help them swim in the water.



(from: wikipedia - allen's swamp monkey)



#NatZooZen: Allen's Swamp Monkey Zawadi Eats Bamboo Shoots - Smithsonian's National Zoo


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cheetah

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

We just learned about the type of leukemia called Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Another type of leukemia is Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Remember we learned that Chronic means the leukemia spreads slower, and the problem is with the lymphocytes.

We know lymphocyte white blood cells are made in the bone marrow.

They start as stem cells, then turn into something called lymphoblasts, then later turn into lymphocytes, and then later turn into B-Cells, T-Cells or NK Cells.

The human body is only supposed to have so many B, T or NK cells, and only so many lymphoblasts.

With CLL, the problem is with the body making too many B cells that are not healthy.

This can cause people to have large lymph nodes, or lower amounts of red blood cells, neutrophils, or platelets.
A person will sometimes get fevers, night sweats, lose weight or feel tired all the time.


(from: wikipedia - chronic lymphocytic leukemia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lacrimal Gland

Malta

We just learned about the country of North Macedonia

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

Malta is a small country made up of a group of islands, which is called an archipelago.
There are three main islands that people live on, Malta, Gozo and Comino.

There are about 500,000 people living in Malta, and the land area is about 122 square miles.
People in Malta speak either Maltese, Italian, English or Sicilian.


(from: wikipedia - malta)

The flag in Malta is red and white, with a cross on the white part known as the George Cross, from King George IV.


(from: wikipedia - flag of malta)

To eat in Malta you might have kwareżimal, which is a type of baked treat made with flour, sugar, orange rinds and almonds.
This was a type of bread made during Lent because it did not need any eggs or milk.


(from: wikipedia - kwareżimal)

Visiting Malta, you might go see Ġgantija, which is an ancient temple made of stone that was built over 5,500 years ago.
It is called a megalithic temple, which means it uses giant rocks.
This was before the wheel was even made in this area, so when they moved these giant rocks they put small round stones on the ground and rolled the stones over them to get them together.


(from: wikipedia - ggantija)

In the town of Comino, there is a bay with white sand and deep blue waters, called the Blue Lagoon.
There are a lot of ocean fish living there, so a lot of divers and swimmers go to visit and see the Lagoon and the nature living there.


(from: wikipedia - comino)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Robert Falcon Scott