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

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

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

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.


(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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


(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

Hydraulic Cylinder

We just learned about Hydraulics, using water to move things.

Another part of hydraulics is a Hydraulic Cylinder.

This is a tube that is filled with liquid like oil, and a special motor pushes more oil into the cylinder which pushes something like a big metal rod out of the tube.


(from: wikipedia - hydraulic cylinder)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Space Shuttle

Clouded Leopard

We just learned about the Snow Leopard.

Another type of cat is the Clouded Leopard.

This cat lives in the himalayan mountains in Asia near China.
There are not many of these cats left, with only about 10,000 of them around.
The clouded leopard and sunda clouded leopard are actually two different types of cats, but are very difficult to tell apart other than where they live, as the sunda lives in Borneo and Sumatra.

These cats have dark grey fur, with black and dark blotched spots on them.
They have black ears and some stripes on their face and shoulders.

The clouded leopards are much smaller than other leopards, weighing only about 50 pounds, and being less than 4 feet long.

Because these cats live in the mountains, they are great climbers.
They can even climb down a tree head first, hanging on with their back paws wrapped around the tree.
These cats are also great jumpers, and can easily jump over 4 feet high.






(from: wikipedia - clouded leopard)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Nomura's Jellyfish

Depth Perception

We just learned about Rapid Eye Movement.

Another part of how eyes work is Depth Perception.

Because humans have two eyes that are set apart from each other, they can look at the world and tell if something is close and if something is far away.

With just one eye it is very hard to tell that, but because two eyes are looking at something from different angles, the human brain can use those two different pictures and figure out if something is close or far.


(from: wikipedia - depth perception)


(from: wikipedia - binocular vision)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Foliate Papillae

Roald Amundsen

We just learned about Adriene de Gerlache, the first person to explore Antarctica.

Another famous explorer of Antarctica was Roald Amundsen, from Norway.

Amundsen was one of the people who went with Gerlache on the first trip to Antarctica, so he had some idea what to expect down there.
He worked with a famous explorer named Nansen to get a special boat called Fram which was made special so that it would not get stuck in the ice.

Amundsen at first was planning to go to the North pole, but right at the same time the news came in that someone else had just made it to the North pole so he changed his plans.

He started his trip to the South pole starting in the year 1910 AD.
Unlike some other explorers, Amundsen knew that sled dogs were great for traveling in the cold, so he got 100 sled dogs from Greenland.
He knew how cold it got in Antarctica, so he had boots and clothes specially made from seal, reindeer and wolf skins as they were natural protection against the cold.
They made special long skis and long sleds to be used on the glaciers, and big strong tents that could hold up to the wind and cold.

Amundsen knew that people could get sick if they did not eat right, so he made sure they planned to eat lots of seal meat and fruits.
He knew they could go crazy from the cold and darkness, so he brought some wine, some music instruments and records, and thousands of books to give people something to do.

When he landed in the south part of Antarctica by the Ross Ice shelf, they set up a special camp called "Framheim" which meant the home for Fram, their boat.
They built a big shed there to be safe from the cold, and then started making trips out toward the south pole.
Taking the sled dogs, they would travel for about 15 miles and then put up a tent with some supplies called a depot, and then go back.
Every time they would go along, stop at a depot for supplies and then go a little further.
Eventually it was getting too close to winter and they had to stop and wait for months for it to stop.

At the same time that Amundsen was there, some other explorers from Britain were there too, so it was a big race to get there.
The British were using motorized sleds instead of dogs.

In 1911 after being at the pole for eight months, they set out on their trip to the South pole with five people, four sleds and 52 dogs.
They had a very tough time, and lost 40 of their dogs, but finally made it to the South pole and put up their tent.
The name they gave to their tent was Polheim, meaning "Home at the Pole", and they left supplies for any other travelers that might make it there.

They went back to their ship and went home to Norway where they were made heroes and given the Norwegian South Pole medal Sydpolsmedaljen.






(from: wikipedia - amundsen's south pole expedition)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Frankenstein Castle

Cyrillic Script

We just learned about the Christianity in Bulgaria.

Another part of early Christianity is the Cyrillic Script.

We learned before about the Glagolitic Alphabet made by the monks Cyril and Methodius.

The schools in the country of Bulgaria worked together to make a new writing language that would be easy for people in the area to read.
They wanted people to be able to read and have church services in their local language instead of Greek.

The Cyrillic Script is used today by over 250 million people in several languages like Russian or Ukranian.


(from: wikipedia - early cyrillic alphabet)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Gospel Harmony

Standing Lincoln - Augustus Saint-Gaudens

We just learned about the statue of Charles Sumner by Anne Whitney.

Another famous American statue is Standing Lincoln made by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887 in Chicago.

Saint-Gaudens was born in Ireland in 1848, but moved to New York when he was a baby.
Growing up he learned about sculpture, and when he was 19 he moved to Paris and Rome to learn more about art.

He came back to American and in his adult life became very famous for making sculptors of Civil War heroes like Abraham Lincoln or Robert Gould Shaw.

His Standing Lincoln statue of Abraham Lincoln in Chicago is one of his most famous.
It is sometimes called "Abraham Lincoln: The Man" and is 12 feet tall made of bronze.

Many people say it is the most important sculpture of Lincoln from this time, and shows him rising from a chair about to give a speech.
Saint-Gaudens was at Lincoln's inauguration when he became president, and also at his funeral.
He really liked Lincoln a lot, and tried his best to make a statue that would stand for a long time honoring Lincoln.

It was such a famous statue in Chicago that famous people like Jane Addams would walk to the statue sometimes to look at it and be inspired by Lincoln's life.


(from: wikipedia - abraham lincoln: the man)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Konark Sun Temple

Russian - We are surprised

We just learned that in Russian I am happy is Я счастлив (ya shastliv),
you are sad is Ты грустный (Ty grustnyy),
he is angry is Он сердится (On serditsya),
and they are excited is Они взволнованы (Oni vzvolnovany).

Let's learn how to say We are surprised.

Мы удивлены (My udivleny)

We can break it up into two words:

We - Мы (My) - Sounds like Moo 文A
are surprised - удивлены (udivleny) - Sounds like oo-dee-v-lay-n-ee 文A

So all together Мы удивлены sounds like Moo oo-dee-v-lay-n-ee.


(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Vi er overrasket

Greek: Είναι έκπληκτοι

ASL: We are surprised

German: Wir sind begeistert

Spanish: Estamos sorprendido

French: Nous sommes surpris

Hydraulics

We just learned about the Negative Feedback.

Another part of machine science is Hydraulics.

This means using the power of water to move machines.
The science of hydraulics goes back thousands of years, and can be as simple as just a water wheel that is using the power of a river to turn the wheel.

Any system that uses water to move something is using hydraulics.


(from: wikipedia - hydraulics)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ariane

Snow Leopard

We just learned about the Black Panther.

Another type of big cat is the Snow Leopard, also called Panthera Uncia.

This is a big cat living in the mountains in Asia, mostly in China.
There are not a lot of these cats left, less than 10,000 in the world.
They live up in the mountains at elevations around 10,000 feet above sea level.

A snow leopard's fur is white and grey with black spots on its head and neck, with rosettes on its fur.
It has a bushy tail, a white belly, and eyes that are green or grey.

Because the snow leopard lives in cold places, it has longer fur than other leopards, and short ears that don't get too cold.
When it sleeps it can use its bushy tail as a coat, and it has big nostrils to help bring in a lot of fresh air to keep it warm.
These cats have very big paws to help it walk on snow like snow shoes, with fur on the bottom to help them keep their grip on rocks.

They are about 2 feet tall, 5 feet long, with a 3 foot tail and they weigh about 120 pounds.
Snow leopards can grunt and meow, but they can not roar like other big cats because of a difference in their throat.





(from: wikipedia - snow leopard)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moon Jellyfish

Rapid Eye Movement

We just learned about eye movement of Smooth Pursuit.

Another part of eye movement is Rapid Eye Movement also called REM.

Sometimes when a person is sleeping, their eyes will move around quickly in a bunch of different directions over and over again for a while.
The quick or rapid eye movement also happens at the same time as a lot of activity in the brain even while you are asleep.
Some scientists think that REM is what happens when you are having very active dreams.


(from: wikipedia - rapid eye movement sleep)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Foliate Papillae

Adrien de Gerlache

We just learned about the Antarctic Territories.

The first human to ever try to make it to the South Pole in Antarctica was Adrien de Gerlache.

In 1897 AD, a sailor from the country of Belgium named Adrien de Gerlache got 18 people together to try and make it to the south pole.
One of the sailors on the ship was Roald Amundsen from Norway, and another was Frederick Cook from America.

Their ship called the Belgica got down to the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, and then the water turned to ice and their ship got stuck.

They were stuck there for a whole year, trying to survive in the cold by hunting penguins and seals.

From May through July, they had to live in total darkness because of the long winter!

A few people died and some others went insane, but people got really sad when their cat Nansen died, and they buried him in Antarctica.

In March of 1899 they finally got loose from the ice and sailed back home.
They didn't make it to the south pole, but they could tell everyone what it was like to live for a year in Antarctica.



(from: wikipedia - adrien de gerlache)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cairo Citadel

Christianity in Bulgaria

We just learned about the Glagolitic Script.

Another part of early Christianity is Christianity in Bulgaria.

In a lot of parts of Eastern Europe, people still either did not know about Christianity or they did not believe in God.

Christianity was very well known in the Western parts of Europe, like Italy and England.
Bulgaria is a country in the Eastern part of Europe, just east of Greece, and just north of Turkey.
Because it was in a very special place at the edge of eastern and western Europe, people really tried hard to help spread Christianity there, so that maybe it would help it become more popular in the East.

King Boris I got baptized in 864 AD, and since then for over a thousand years there have been a lot of Christians in Bulgaria.


(from: wikipedia - christianization of bulgaria)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: First Apology

Charles Sumner - Anne Whitney

We just learned about the Abraham Lincoln by Vinnie Ream.

Another famous American sculpture is the statue of Charles Sumner made in 1875 by Anne Whitney.

Anne was born in 1821, and through her life worked hard to be a sculptor.
Through her life she worked hard to fight for women's equal rights, to help save the environment, and to help people see that slavery was bad.

Because she was a woman, people would not let her go to some schools because they thought it was inappropriate for women to make sculptures of men's bodies.

She moved to Rome for a while and learned from some of the master sculptors there, and when she came back she made a statue of Charles Sumner who was famous for being against slavery.

There was a contest in Boston for who could make the best statue, so she sent in her statue of Charles Sumner.

She won the competition, but then when they found out the statue had been made by a woman they turned her away and picked someone else.

Anne Whitney went on to make a lot more sculptures of men and women, using her sculptures to help try and show people that women should be equals, and that slavery is bad.


(from: wikipedia - anne whitney)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rajagopuram