Kodkod

We just learned about the Margay.

Another small wild cat is the Kodkod, also called the güiña or leopardus guigna.

This is the smallest cat in the Americas, and lives mostly in Chile or Argentina.
It is less than 2 feet long, and weighs about 5 pounds.

Their fur can be brownish yellow or grey-brown.
They have spots on their body, and a ringed tail.
Some kodkods have almost totally black fur like a panther.

These cats live in the rainforests, climb trees and hunt birds, lizards and mice.
There are less than 10,000 of these cats left because the forests they live in are being cut down.


(from: wikipedia - kodkod)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Barrel Jellyfish

Lacrimal Lake

We just learned about the Canthus.

Another part of the eyes is the Lacrimal Lake.

This is in the inside corner of the eyes, where the tears pool up before they spill over onto the cheeks.


(from: wikipedia - lacrimal lake)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Incisive Papilla

Brown Station

We just learned about the Vernadsky Research Base.

Another research station in Antarctica is Brown Sation.

This station is owned by Argentina, and was built in 1951.
In 1984 when winter time was coming, one of the scientists did not want to stay during the cold winter but he was told that he had to.
So because he was mad and didn't want to stay, he burned down the station!
Luckily everyone escaped the fire and survived, and they all had to go home.

The station was rebuilt later on, and has about 18 people staying there.
They have a great lookout point that is 276 feet above the station, where people go to take great pictures.
After taking pictures, they go sledding down the hill back to the station.

It is also a great place for gentoo penguins who love to come visit, and the scientists try to study what they are doing.





(from: wikipedia - brown station)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Battlements

Second Crusade

We just learned about the The Prince's Crusade.

Another part of early Christianity is the Second Crusade.

After the European countries' wars to take over lands in the name of Christianity, there were some wars where some non-Christian rulers of other countries took them back.

Because the European countries were victorious in the Prince's Crusade, they decided to have another war and try to take that land back.
During the hundreds of years in Europe and Asia, many countries battled each other for land and power.
The difference with the Crusades is that people were using Christianity or other religions as the reason to go have wars to take over other lands.

Some lands in places that are now Syria and Turkey took lands back, and so armies from Germany and France came to take the country back in the name of Christianity.

Tens of thousands of people were killed on both sides of the war, and the crusaders from Germany and France lost the battle.


(from: wikipedia - second crusade)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Saint Helena

John Dill - Herbert Haseltine

We just learned about the Meat for Wild Men by Charles Marion Russell.

Another famous American statue is John Dill by Herbert Haseltine, made in 1950 in Virginia.

Haseltine was born in Italy, then studied art in America, Germany and Paris.

He was very good at sculpting many animals, but he was best at making horse, or "equestrian" sculptures.

John Dill was a famous war hero from Britain, who was very important in helping the United States and Britain work together in World War II.


(from: wikipedia - herbert haseltine)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Borobudur

Russian - Thursday, Friday

We just learned that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Russian is Понедельник (Ponedel'nik), Вторник (Vtornik), Среда (Sreda).

Let's keep learning the days of the week!

Thursday - Четверг (Chetverg) - sounds like cheh-t-v-yeh-rg 文A

Friday - пятница - (Pyatnitsa) sounds like P-yah-t-nih-t-sah 文A



(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Torsdag, Fredag

Greek: Πέμπτη (Pémpti), Παρασκευή (Paraskeví)

ASL: Thursday, Friday

Italian: Giovedì, Venerdì

German: Donnerstag, Freitag

Spanish: Viernes, Jueves

French: Jeudi, Vendredi

Steam Pump

We just learned about the Steam Cylinder.

Another invention that led up to the steam locomotive was the Steam Pump.

A man named Thomas Savery came up with an invention that could help pump water up out of a flooded mine, or help pump water to be sprayed or brought to a town that needed it.

His invention called the Savery Engine had a furnace that would heat up water to make steam in one place.
This steam had high pressure and helped pump out.
Then a valve would be opened to let some hot steam out, and the tank would get splashed with water.
This would cool down the steam and make it get smaller, which created a vacuum that sucked back in.

It wasn't an engine with moving parts like a car engine, but the pushing out and sucking in helped people understand how steam could be used to make an engine.


(from: wikipedia - thomas savery)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forensic Anthropology

Margay

We just learned about the Andean Mountain Cat.

Another type of small wild cat is the Margay.

The Margay lives in Central and South America, mostly in the forests.
They like to be alone, and they stay awake at night to hunt.

These cats look a lot like an ocelot, except they have bigger eyes and longer tails and legs.
They weigh about 9 pounds and are about 3 feet long.
Their fur is brown with spots and stripes on it, and a banded tail with a black tip.

The Margay is one of the best climbers out there, and some people even call them the tree ocelot since they can climb so well.
They can jump up to 12 feet from tree to tree, and are so good in trees that they can spend their whole life in the trees chasing monkeys and birds.
Most cats can't climb down a tree with their head facing down, but the margay has special ankles that let it grab the tree and climb up or down.





(from: wikipedia - margay)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Darth Vader Jellyfish

Canthus

We just learned about the Meibomian Gland that helps keep your eyes wet.

Another part of the eye is the Canthus, or canthi for both of them.

This is the inner and outer corners of your eyes, where your upper and lower eyelids meet.

Remember the eyelids are called the palpebra, and another name for the canthus is the palpebral commissure.
The inner canthus is the "medial" palpebral commisure, and the outer canthus is the "lateral".


(from: wikipedia - canthus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Palatal Rugae

Vernadsky Research Base

We just learned about the Antarctic Palmer Station.

Another research station in Antarctica is Vernadsky Research Base.

This base is owned by the country of Ukrainian, and is on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Because it is on the Peninsula where a lot of changes are happening with icebergs melting and floating away, this base does a lot of studies for global warming.

It is one of the bases that people can visit for fun if they want to say they came to Antarctica.
There is a post office where they sell postcards, and a post office where tourists can send them out.

The station even has a bar where people can play pool and darts.
Faraday Bar calls itself the Southernmost Bar on the Earth, and they have a tourist shop where people can buy patches, stickers and other souvenirs to prove they have been to Antarctica.




(from: wikipedia - vernadsky research base)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Merlon

The Prince's Crusade

We just learned about the The People's Crusade that was mostly just poor people and not soldiers.

Another part of the First Crusade was The Prince's Crusade.

This was not like the People's Crusade which was just a bunch of poor people.

This was actual armies, with thousands of people.
There were soldiers, horses and even nobles like counts and dukes.
No one is for sure how many, but some people think it was around 10,000 knights, 50,000 soldiers, and a total of 100,000 people in the army.

The armies came out of Europe into what is now Turkey, and fought their way down to Jerusalem.
They fought for 3 years, from the year 1096 to the year 1099 and killed about 100,000 people in the battle.

At the end of it all they took over Jerusalem, left some soldiers there but most people went home.

Through the years many wars have been fought between different countries, and a lot of times the people in power would use religion as the reason why people should go fight and kill others.

Because the army in the First Crusade won their battles, the countries in Europe used that as a reason to have even more wars using Christianity as the reason to go to war.



(from: wikipedia - first crusade)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Constantine the Great

Meat for Wild Men - Charles Marion Russell

We just learned about the sculpture Patience and Fortitude - Edward Clark Potter.

Another famous American sculpture is Meat for Wild Men made by Charles Marion Russell in 1920.

Russell was born in Missouri in 1864 Missouri.
Growing up he would see explorers coming through town and really liked everything about the wild west.
He would draw pictures and make sculptures of what he saw.

When he grew up he moved to Montana where he worked on a sheep ranch, then as a hunter and trapper, lived with Native Americans, and even worked as a cowboy.

Because he spent time in the west watching animals, cowboys, and Native Americans he knew them very well and started making very good paintings and sculptures of them.

He made over 2,000 of these types of paintings, and was nicknamed "The Cowboy Artist".

The sculpture he made called Meat for Wild Men is supposed to be a bunch of cowboys hunting a buffalo.


(from: wikipedia - charles marion russell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Banteay Srei Sculptures

Russian - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

We just learned in Russian that to say his face is rough is Его лицо грубо (Yego litso grubo)

Let's learn the days of the week in Russian!

Monday - Понедельник (Ponedel'nik) - Sounds like poh-n-yeh-deh-l-neek 文A

Tuesday - Вторник (Vtornik) - Sounds like f-toh-r-neek 文A

Wednesday - Среда (Sreda) - Sounds like s-ray-dah 文A



(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Mandag, Tirsdag, Onsdag

Greek: Δευτέρα (Deftéra), Τρίτη (Tríti), Τετάρτη (Tetárti)

ASL: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Italian: Lunedi, Martedì, Mercoledì

German: Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch

Spanish: Lunes, Martes, Miercoles

French: Lundi, Mardi, Mercredi

Steam Cylinder

We just learned about the Vacuum Pump.

Another part of the history of steam engines is the Steam Cylinder.

One inventor named Denis Papin had the idea to have a tube or a cylinder with hot water in it.
He found out that when you heated up the hot water, the pressure got really high with the steam and air pushing very hard on the walls of the cylinder.

This was the opposite of the vacuum pump, where it was sucking in, this was air pushing out.
He got the idea to have a pole or a piston that could be pushed out when the steam was heated up.
This piston could be used to push something up like a big machine.

So if the steam cooled down, the piston would go down.
If the steam heated up, the piston would go up.


(from: wikipedia - denis papin)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forensic Anthropology

Andean Mountain Cat

We just learned about the Pampas Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Andean Mountain Cat.

This is a small cat that lives in the Andes mountains, and is endangered with less than 2,500 left in the world.

It lives up in the mountains, up above 5,900 feet!
They are about 3 feet long, one foot tall and weigh about 12 pounds.
Their fur is grey with some spots, and they have dark rings on their tails.

These cats look a lot like the Pampas Cat, and a lot of people mistake them.
There are a lot of very small differences that people can use to tell them apart, but they really have to know the differences!



(from: wikipedia - andean mountain cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Atolla Jellyfish

Meibomian Gland

We just learned about the Epicanthic Fold.

Another part of the eye is the Meibomian Gland.

Just inside the top and bottom eyelids are some small glands that help keep your eyes wet.
They let out a little bit of oily liquid called meibum that helps spread around the water tears that come out, help keep the tears from spilling over onto your face, and help keep the water from just evaporating.

If someone is having problems with their meibomian glands they can get really dry eyes.
The word "meibomian" was named after the person who discovered the glands, Heinrich Meibom.

(from: wikipedia - meibomian gland)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Soft Palate

Palmer Station

We just learned about the ANSMET Station.

Another research station in Antarctica is Palmer Station.

This station is right along the Antarctic Peninsula, and is actually on a small island named Amsler Island.
Because it is right on the water, this station spends most of its time studying the sea and the animals living in it near Antarctica.

There is a boat called the Laurence M. Gould that helps people travel from the station to South America.





(from: wikipedia - palmer station)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Crenel

The People's Crusade

We just learned a little about the The Crusades.

At the beginning of the Crusades, some of the church leaders were very upset because some people in other lands called Turks had come along and taken over other lands.
The Turks were not Christians, and many people said that the Turks were not nice to Christians in the lands they took over.
They also took over the holy places like Jerusalem.

Some of the church leaders called for people all over to attack anyone that wasn't a Christian, and even to kill them.
They called it a holy war, and told people that Jesus wanted this to happen and that if they died for this war Jesus would be happy, even though Jesus tried to teach people not to kill or hurt people.

One of the church leaders in Germany named Peter the Hermit gathered thousands of people and got them very angry at anyone that wasn't Christian.
These people were very poor and scared, and they followed him carrying shovels and pitchforks and not much else.
They were not well trained soldiers, but they were all told to go kill anyone that wasn't Christian, so they went through some parts of Germany and killed thousands of people.

Later they went up against some actual Turk soldiers, and almost all of the poor people were killed.

Because it was just normal people and not soldiers, this was called the People's Crusade.
It was a very sad time because these people didn't really know much of what was going on, they just needed someone to follow and they were poor and starving.
So they started the crusade, killed a lot of people, and then were killed themselves.


(from: wikipedia - people's crusade)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Battle of Milvan Bridge

Patience and Fortitude - Edward Clark Potter

We just learned about the On the Prowl - Edward Kemeys.

Another famous American sculpture is Patience and Fortitude made by Edward Clark Potter in 1910.

Potter was born in Connecticut in 1857, and grew up in Massachusetts.
He started off going to college to be a minister, but then later studied to be an artist.

He worked with famous artist Daniel Chester French where he learned about animal studies, and when he was 53 he made the sculpture of two lions out of pink Tennessee marble that are outside the front of the New York public library.

He named the lions Leo Astor and Leo Lenox for the private libraries that are inside the library.
During the Great Depression, the mayor of New York said that the people there were showing great Patience and Fortitude, so they renamed the lions to Patience and Fortitude to honor the people that lived through the Depression.



(from: wikipedia - edward clark potter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Taj Mahal

Russian - His face is rough

We just learned in Russian hands are soft is Ее руки мягкие (Yeye ruki myagkiye).

To say his face is rough you would say Его лицо грубо (Yego litso grubo).
His - Его (Yego) - sounds like yay-go 文A

face - лицо (litso) - sounds like lee-t-soh 文A

rough - грубо (grubo) - sounds like g-roo-boh 文A


So all together Его лицо грубо (Yego litso grubo) sounds like yay-go lee-t-soh g-roo-boh.



(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Ansiktet hans er grovt

Greek: Το πρόσωπό του είναι τραχύ (To prósopó tou eínai trachý)

ASL: His face is rough

Italian: il suo volto è ruvida

German: Sein Gesicht ist rau.

Spanish: Su cara es áspera

French: Son visage est rude

Vacuum Pump

We just learned about the Steam Turbine.

Let's learn a little about how steam engines work.
First we need to learn a few other things that people discovered before they could make a steam vacuum.

One thing people discovered was the Vacuum Pump.

A long time ago people didn't understand a long time ago was how a vacuum worked.
Not like the vacuum cleaner that sucks dirt up from the floor, but a vacuum like a ball or a tube that is so empty that it has suction holding itself closed.

You can think about this like a plastic pop bottle that you suck air out of.
As soon as you let go, it will suck the air in and fill itself up again.

Back in 1654 people didn't understand this, so a man named Otto von Guericke came up with an experiment to show them.
He took two half circles made of metal, called the magdeburg hemispheres, and put them together like a closed ball.
Then he used a pump to suck out all of the air from inside, creating what is called a vacuum.

A vacuum is a space that has no air, or very little air.
Because he used a pump to do this, it was called a vacuum pump.

After that he challenged people to try and pull the half circles apart, but not even teams of horses could do it.
This understanding of how a vacuum works was one of the things that helped people invent steam engines.


(from: wikipedia - magdeburg hemispheres)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forensic Firearm Examination

Pampas Cat

We just learned about the Ocelot.

Another type of wild cat is the Pampas Cat also called the pantanal cat, colocolo, and Leopardus Colocolo.

This cat is only a little bigger than a house cat, and has a big bushy tail.

It is only a little over 2 feet long.
The Pampas Cats has a lot of different looks, and can be red, grey or brown, with stripes or spots on it.
They only live in parts of South America,

(from: wikipedia - pampas cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Irukandji Jellyfish

Epicanthic Fold

We just learned about the Eyelids.

Another part of the eye is the Epicanthic Fold.

The skin above the eyelid for some people is folded over and lays over the top of the eyelid.

This happens more for some people depending on where they come from.
Asian people from countries like China or Japan usually have a bigger epicanthic fold than people form North America or Europe.


(from: wikipedia - epicanthic fold)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hard Palate

ANSMET Station

We just learned about the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station.

Another Antarctic station is ANSMET Station, which stands for Antarctic Search for Meteorites.

This is a station in the Transantarctic Mountains where 4 to 10 people live and collect meteorites.
They go out on snowmobiles and search in the snow for meteorites that are buried in the mountains.

ANSMET was built in the year 1976, and since then they have collected over 20,000 meteorites!
A few meteorites were from the moon, and a few were even from Mars!



(from: wikipedia - ansmet)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Parapet

The Crusades

We just learned about the East-West Schism.

Another part of early Christianity The Crusades.

During the time of the church's growth into Europe, the Christians sometimes would have battles against other groups of people that were not Christians.

Sometimes these people were in places like Jerusalem, and other times they were in countries like Germany.

The crusades went on for hundreds of years, and were like wars that people fought in the name of Christianity.
They fought them either to try and take back a land, or to try and force someone to be Christianity.


(from: wikipedia - crusades)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Edict of Milan

On the Prowl - Edward Kemeys

We just learned about the Great Spirit - Cyrus Edwin Dallin.

Another famous American sculpture is On the Prowl made by Edward Kemeys in 1893.

Kemeys was born in Georgia, and then later moved to New York.
He served in the civil war when he was 19 years old.

When he was in New York and Paris he learned to be a very good sculptor of animals.

He made two large bronze lions called "On the Prowl", and these sculptures are now in the front of the Art Institute of Chicago.


(from: wikipedia - lions (kemeys))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jama Masjid

Russian - Her hands are soft

We just learned in Russian our table is short is наш стол короткий (nash stol korotkiy).

To say her hands are soft you would say Ее руки мягкие (Yeye ruki myagkiye).

Her - Ее (Yeye) - sounds like yeh-yeh 文A
hands - руки (ruki) - sounds like roh-kee 文A
soft - мягкие (myagkiye) - sounds like m-yah-g-kee-yeh 文A



So all together To say her hands are soft you would say yeh-yeh roh-kee m-yah-g-kee-yeh.


(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Hennes hender er myke

Greek: Τα χέρια της είναι μαλακά (Ta chéria tis eínai malaká)

ASL: ASL: Her hands are soft

Italian: Le sue mani sono morbide

German: Ihre Hände sind weich

Spanish: Sus manos estan suaves

French: Ses mains sont douces

Steam Turbine

We just learned about the Turbine.

Another part of machine science is a Steam Turbine.

Remember a turbine is like a water wheel where it has blades that are pushed along.
When liquid is heated up and creates steam, the movement of the steam goes over the blades and makes them move.
These moving blades spin around a rod in the middle that helps create electricity or move a part of a machine.


(from: wikipedia - steam turbine)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ballistic Fingerprints

Ocelot

We just learned about the Lynx.

Another type of wild cat is the Ocelot.

This is a smaller type of cat, only about 30 pounds and 2 feet tall.
It has spots and stripes on it's body, and rounded ears.

These cats are usually awake at night, and stay by themselves.
They are very good at climbing, jumping and swimming.

Ocelots live mostly in South America and Mexico, in forests and near lots of water.
Because they are so small, these cats have sometimes been kept as pets.





(from: wikipedia - ocelot)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Immortal Jellyfish

Eyelids

We just learned about the Nasolacrimal Duct.

Another part of the eye is the Eyelid, also called the palpebra, or palpabrea for both eyelids.

The upper eyelid is called the palpebra superior, and the lower is the inferior.

The job of the eyelids is to help protect the eye from wind, dirt or liquids, to help spread tears around the eye, and to close so that we can sleep at night.

Some people put makeup on their eyelids to color them, and some people even have plastic surgery on their eyelids to make them look higher or lower.


(from: wikipedia - eyelid)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sublingual Caruncle

Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station

We just learned about the McMurdo Station.

Another research station in Antarctica is Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Station.

This station is owned by Belgium, and was made in 2009 in Queen Maud Land, one of the areas of Antarctica.

It is the only station on the continent that has zero emissions, which means it doesn't cause pollution when it makes energy for the station.

It uses solar panels and wind turbines to capture the sun and wind to use for energy.

The station usually has about 16 scientists at a time, and has a garage to use for snow vehicles that they can drive around.


(from: wikipedia - princess elisabeth antarctica)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Wall Walk

East-West Schism

We just learned about the Peace and Truce of God.

Another part of early Christianity is the East-West Schism.

Long ago when the first leaders of Christianity started building churches after Jesus died, the most powerful of all the churches was in Rome.

Saint Peter was seen as the first leader of the church in Rome, and so even though many other cities in Europe had leaders, Rome was the one in charge.

We learned about the emperor Constantine that ruled around the year 300, and he wanted to change things so he made a new city called Constantinople, in the country that is now called Turkey.

After that, people argued over whether Rome was better or Constantinople.

Through the centuries Christianity spread to the east into countries like Turkey, Romania, Ukraine and Russia.
It also spread west to countries like Spain, France, Germany and England.

After hundreds of years of Christianity spreading through the world, some people started to disagree with each other about who was really in charge, how the churches should be run, about how people should act in church, about what people should believe, and a lot of other things.

The people started to break up into two groups:
- The Roman Catholic Church - They supported Rome as the head of the church, and people from the western countries followed Rome.
- The Eastern Orthodox Church - They supported Constantinople as the head of the church, and people from the eastern countries followed them.

The word "schism" means splitting up.

When these two churches started splitting up, they called it the "East-West Schism" and it started the two groups of churches splitting up into east and west, for hundreds of years.


(from: wikipedia - east-west schism)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Edict of Serdica