Prague Castle

We just learned about Kronborg Castle.

Another ancient castle is Prague Castle, built around 870 AD in Prague.

This is the largest ancient castle in the world, taking up about 750,000 square feet.
It was the home for the kings of the land of Bohemia, the Roman emperors, and presidents of the country of Czechoslovakia.
The Bohemian crown jewels are in this castle inside a hidden room.

In 1618, a war started because of something called "defenestration" which means throwing someone out the window.
Some angry mobs came around and tried to throw some rulers out of a window 70 feet high, but the people lived, and other people fought back and started a war.

The castle complex is made up of many buildings, like 4 churches, 4 palaces, 9 gardens, several schools and houses, fountains, statues and even a vineyard for growing grapes to be made into wine.





(from: wikipedia - prague castle)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Northwest Territories

Agabus the prophet

We just learned about the Aristobulus - bishop of Britain, one of the seventy disciples.

Some more people on the list of seventy that we don't know much about are:.

Narcissus, bishop of Athens
Phygellus, bishop of Tarsus.

Another of the seventy we know a little more about is Agabus the prophet.

Agabus was talked about in the Bible as one of the apostles who was around when the Holy Spirit came down to the apostles.
He went to Jerusalem, and helped tell people about a really bad famine that was coming, where there would be no food.


(from: wikipedia - agabus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Proverbs 21

Qin Bronze Chariot

We just learned about the ancient Chinese sculpture Gouji Zibai Pan.

Another ancient Chinese sculpture is the Qin Bronze Chariot, made some time around 200 BC.

This sculpture is of a driver with two seats in a chariot, with a large bronze umbrella.
The chariot is being pulled by four bronze horses, about half the size of a real horse.

It was found broken into many pieces, and it took five years to put the whole sculpture back together.


(from: wikipedia - qin bronze chariot)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Saint Bibiana - Bernini

Greek - Counting to Forty Nine

We counted to 39 in Greek, let's keep going!

40 τσαράντα (saránta) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah
41 τσαράντα ένα (saránta éna) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah AY-nah
42 τσαράντα δύο (saránta dýo) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah DEE-y-oh
43 τσαράντα τρεις (saránta treis) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah t-day-ss
44 τσαράντα τέσσερις (saránta tésseris) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah TAY-say-dee-ss
45 τσαράντα πέντε (saránta pénte) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah PAY-n-tay
46 τσαράντα έξι (saránta éxi) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah AY-k-see
47 τσαράντα επτά (saránta eptá) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah ay-p-TAH
48 τσαράντα οκτώ (saránta októ) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah oh-k-TOH
49 τσαράντα εννέα (saránta ennéa) - sounds like sah-RAH-n-tah eh-NEE-y-ah


(from: wikipedia - center for the greek language)

ASL: forty, forty one, forty two, forty three, forty four, forty five, forty six, forty seven, forty eight, forty nine

Italian: quaranta, quarantuno, quarantadue, quarantatre, quarantaquattro, quarantacinque, quarantasei, quarantasette, quarantotto, quarantanove

German: vierzig, einundvierzig, zweiundvierzig, dreiundvierzig, vierundvierzig, fünfundvierzig, sechsundvierzig, siebenundvierzig, achtundvierzig, neunundvierzig

Spanish: quarenta, quarenta y uno, quarenta y dos, quarenta y tres, quarenta y cuatro, quarenta y cinco, quarenta y seis, quarenta y siete, quarenta y ocho, quarenta y nueve

French: quarante, quarante et un, quarante-deux, quarante-trois, quarante-quatre, quarante-cinq, quarante-six, quarante-sept, quarante-huit, quarante-neuf

Spacecraft Magnetometer

We just learned about the Gyroscope.

Another tool used for navigation and guidance is a Spacecraft Magnetometer.

This uses a magnet that is wrapped in metal coils, with electricity running through the metal coils.
If there are other magnetic forces around, these electric coils will give off fields that can tell the rocket which way to go.


(from: wikipedia - spacecraft magnetometer)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cross Peen Hammer

Stumpy spined cuttlefish

We just learned about the Ammonoidea.

Another type of cephalopod is the Stumpy spined cuttlefish, also called the dwarf cuttlefish, or sepia bandensis.

This is a cuttlefish that is very small. It's about 3 inches long, and doesn't even weigh one pound!
They are light brown or yellow, with white spots on their heads, white stripes on their body, and blue spots on their fins.

These cuttlefish live in shallow waters near the country of Indonesia, usually by coral reefs.
One interesting thing about these cuttlefish is that they don't swim!
They use their arms and flaps on their body to walk along the floor of the sea.


(from: wikipedia - sepia bandensis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fox Snake

Hypodontia

We just learned about the Supernumerary Teeth.

Another thing that can happen in the mouth is Hypodontia, which means teeth that are missing, that never grew in the mouth.

This means when a person grows up and for some reason some of their teeth never came in.
They could be missing molars or incisors or canines.

If a lot of teeth are missing, it is called oligodontia.
If someone is missing all of their teeth, it is called anodontia.


(from: wikipedia - hypodontia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Connective Tissue

Kronborg Castle

We just learned about the ancient castle of Mehrangarh.

Another famous castle is Kronborg Castle, built in the 1420s in Denmark.

This castle is right by a straight of water called the Øresund, that is one of the only ways to get to the Baltic Sea from the ocean.
Long ago people took ships through there to go trade with countries like Sweden, Finland or Poland.
The king of Denmark put a castle there so that he could charge people money to go through the Øresund, or else he would use his army in the castle to attack them.

There are many famous things in the castle, like a room full of tapestries, which are big carpets that are like story books with words and pictures.
Long ago there was a legend of a great warrior in Denmark called Holger Danske, who sleeps in the castle until he is needed again. There is a big statue of him in the castle, showing him sleeping.





(from: wikipedia - kronborg)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Prince Edward Island

Aristobulus - Bishop of Britain

We just learned about Stachys - bishop of Byzantium, one of the seventy disciples.

There are some people on the list of seventy that we don't know much about, other than them being listed, or a name being mentioned once in the Bible.

Barnabas, bishop of Heraclea
Phygellus, bishop of Ephesus. He was of the party also of Simon.
Hermogenes. He, too, was of the same mind with the former.
Demas, who also became a priest of idols.

Another of the seventy we know a little more of is Aristobulus - bishop of Britain.

He is believed to be the brother of the apostle Barnabas, and traveled around with the apostles Paul and Andrew.
In his travels he went on to the British islands to tell people about God.

Many people think of him as the first one who helped bring Christianity to Britain.


(from: wikipedia - aristobulus of britannia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Proverbs 19

Gouji Zibai Pan

We just learned about the Li Gui.

Another famous Chinese sculpture is the Gouji Zibai Pan, made in 816 BC in China.

Just like the other bronzes we've learned about, this is a famous sculpture because it helps tell the history of China from long ago.

The Guoji Zibai pan is the largest ancient bronze pan sculpture in the world.
It is shaped like a bathtub, 15 inches high, 54 inches long, 34 inches wide, and weighs 475 pounds.
There are rings on the sides held by sculptures of beasts with the rings in their mouth.

The pan was made by the nobleman Gouji Zibai who was a soldier for King Xuan.
After he won some very important battles, the King threw a big party to celebrate.
To help remember the victory, the pan was made.

The pan could have had many uses, like holding water for washing hands and faces, or for a bathtub for people to wash in.
It could also have been used to hold ice cubes, but no one is really sure what it was used for.


(from: wikipedia - gouji zibai pan)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Medal of John VIII Palaeologus - Pisanello

Greek - Counting to Thirty Nine

We counted to 29 in Greek, let's keep going!

30 τριάντα (triánta) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah
31 τριάντα ένα (triánta éna) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah AY-nah
32 τριάντα δύο (triánta dýo) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah DEE-y-oh
33 τριάντα τρεις (triánta treis) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah t-day-ss
34 τριάντα τέσσερις (triánta tésseris) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah TAY-say-dee-ss
35 τριάντα πέντε (triánta pénte) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah PAY-n-tay
36 τριάντα έξι (triánta éxi) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah AY-k-see
37 τριάντα επτά (triánta eptá) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah ay-p-TAH
38 τριάντα οκτώ (triánta októ) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah oh-k-TOH
39 τριάντα εννέα (triánta ennéa) - sounds like t-dee-AH-n-tah eh-NEE-y-ah


(from: wikipedia - center for the greek language)

ASL: thirty, thirty one, thirty two, thirty three, thirty four, thirty five, thirty six, thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine

Italian: Trenta, trentuno, trentadue, trentatré, trentaquattro, trentacinque, trentasei, trentasette, trentotto, trentanove

German: einunddreißig, zweiunddreißig, dreiunddreißig, vierunddreißig, fünfunddreißig, sechsunddreißig, siebenunddreißig, achtunddreißig, neununddreißig

Spanish: treinta y uno, treinta y dos, treinta y tres, treinta y cuatro, treinta y cinco, treinta y seis, treinta y siete, treinta y ocho, treinta y nueve

French: trente et un, trente-deux, trente-trois, trente-quatre, trente-cinq, trente-six, trente-sept, trente-huit, trente-neuf

Gyroscope

We just learned about the Star Tracker.

Another part of rocket navigation systems is the Gyroscope.

Gyroscopes are sort of like a spinning top, with a few other circles on them.
The top is a circle shaped disc spinning around sideways, with a post in the middle, like an anchor for it.

There are usually three circle shaped frames, called "gimbals" around the spinning top.
On the very inside there is a circle holding on to the post for the top. This is the "inner gimbal".
Another circle is hooked onto that inner gimbal, and that is called the "outer gimbal".
The one on the outside of the outer gimbal is called the "outer ring".

If the disc in the middle is spinning, and you move the outer ring around, the inner gimbal and outer gimbal will move up, down or sideways, and the disc will stay straight up and spinning.
This might seem like magic, but really it's the same kind of science that keeps a toy top spinning on the ground, or helps you ride a bike.
The fancy name for it is "angular momentum", but it really just means a spinning wheel doesn't like to fall over, so for a gyroscope it makes the inner and outer gimbal move instead of falling over when you move the outer ring.

Rocket scientists figured out that if you hook the outer ring up to sensors in the rocket, you can tell when the rocket is tilting, and they can hook up the nozzle to a gyroscope to use the gimbaled thrust we learned about and steer the rocket back on course!

The science behind gyroscopes was discovered hundreds of years ago, and used to help steer ships on the water.
These days gyroscopes are even used in video games and cell phones, to tell the phone when it is being tilted!
The ones inside phones aren't spinning wheels though, they are microscopic sensors that move around when you move your phone.





(from: wikipedia - gyroscope)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Earthquakes

Ammonoidea

We just learned about the Flapjack Octopus.

Another type of cephalopod is the Ammonoidea, also called ammonite.

These cephalopods look a lot like a nautilus in their spiraled shell, but because of the way their body parts are inside of the shell, they are actually a lot like a squid, octopus or cuttlefish.

The spiral shaped ammonoidea get their name from a scientist a long time ago that thought the shells looked like ram's horns.
In Egyptian mythology, Ammon was shown in artwork wearing ram's horns, so the scientist Pliny the Elder named these cephalopods "ammonis cornua" which means "horns of Ammon".

Ammonites can come in many different shapes, like having sharp points on the outside of it's shell, or even shaped more like a corkscrew.

The ammonites are not around anymore, they all went extinct many years ago.






(from: wikipedia - ammonoidea)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bumblebee Toad

Supernumerary Teeth

We just learned about the Wisdom Tooth.

Another set of teeth in the mouth are the Supernumerary Teeth or hyperdontia.

Usually grown up humans get up to 32 teeth.
Sometimes people don't get their last set of 4 molars, so they only have 28 teeth.
But sometimes people get even more teeth in places where they are not supposed to!

These are the supernumerary teeth, and they can show up as extra teeth anywhere in the mouth.
The most common place for them to show up is right by the maxillary central incisors, but sometimes they come up by the molars or somewhere else.


(from: wikipedia - hyperdontia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Eponychium and Cuticle

Mehrangarh

We just learned about the Blarney Castle.

Another famous castle is Mehrangarh, also called Mehran Fort, built around 1460 AD in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.

This castle is built up over 400 feet above the city of Jodhpur, and there are large walls around it.
It was a military fort that survived many battles, and there are marks on the walls from many cannonballs that were fired at the fort.

Inside the walls are several palaces with very fancy carvings and courtyards, and there is a winding road that leads to the fort from the city.
Some of the palaces are the Moti Mahal Pearl Palace, Phool Mahal Flower Palace, Sheesha Mahal Mirror Palace, and the Sileh Khana and Daulat Khana.
There are also museums with old palanquins which were seats for kings to sit on and be carried on by people, and howdahs, which were seats for kings to sit on and be carried by elephants.

The castle has seven gates that were built for seven battles that the ruler at the time called Maharaja Man Singh had won.





(from: wikipedia - mehrangarh)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Newfoundland and Labrador