Rhopalium

We just learned about the Lappet.

Another part of a jellyfish is the Rhopalium.

Remember we learned about the lappet that goes the bell and dents in on some spots.
The part where the bell dents in toward the middle is called the Rhopalium.

In these rhopalium are things that jellyfish can use to sense light and movement.


(from: wikipedia - rhopalium)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod Suckers

Rod Cells

We just learned about the Zonule of Zinn.

Another part of the eye is the Rod Cells.

In the back of the eye at the retina there are things called Rods that help take in light and turn it into a message for your brain to understand what you are seeing.

An adult human has about 92 million rods in one eye!
These rods mostly help see brightness and darkness, and help people see better at night.


(from: wikipedia - rod cell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: amelogenesis

East Antarctica

We just started learning about Antarctica.

Antarctica is split up into two parts, Wast and East Antarctica.

The East part is the bigger part, and is sometimes just called Greater Antarctica.
It is closer to Africa and Australia, and the Indian Ocean.
The East and West parts of Antarctica are separated by a 2,000 mile long mountain range.


(from: wikipedia - west antarctica)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forbidden City

Anno Domini

We just learned about the Hagia Sophia ancient church.

Another part of early Christianity is Anno Domini.

When we talk about what year it is, we sometimes put the letters AD at the end, like 2019 AD.

The AD stands for "Anno Domini" which means "Year Of"
"Anno Domini" is just a short way to say "anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi" which means "year of our Jesus Christ".

A long time ago a man named Dionysius Exiguus was working on a new calendar to be different than the one that the old emperor Diocletian had used.
Diocletian was very bad for Christians and had many of them killed.

So Dionysius made a new calendar and said that the year was 525 AD.
By putting AD at the end, he was taking away the naming of the years from the bad Diocletian and giving it to Jesus.

In the new AD calendar, people believe that Jesus was born around 1 AD.
The time before that we call "BC" for "Before Christ".

In the old days before people used English they used "aCn" which was for "Ante Christum Natum" meaning "before Christ's birth".


(from: wikipedia - anno domini)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Split of Christianity and Judaism

Water Nymph and Bitterna - William Rush

We just learned about the Chacmool statue of the person laying down.

Let's learn about some sculpture from America long ago.

In the early 1800s there were not a lot of famous sculptures until William Rush came along.

His first famous sculpture was the Water Nymph and Bittern.

In the city of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, there was a river called the Schuylkill River that brought water into the city.
William Rush was asked to make a fountain for the city, so he made one of a woman and called her the water nymph, to be like a spirit that was living in the river that brought water to the city.
A bittern is a type of bird that lived around the river.


(from: wikipedia - william rush and his model)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Amitabha Triad of Jōdo-ji - Kaikei

Russian - Do you speak Russian?

Remember that to say please or you're welcome in Russian, you say пожалуйста (pozhaluysta).

To ask if someone speaks Russian, you say:
Ты говоришь по-русски? (Ty govorish' po russki)
which sounds like tee goh-voh-dree-sh poh roo-skee - 文A
This is if you know the person pretty well.

If it is a grownup or teacher that you don't really know, you would say:
Вы говорите по русски (Vy govorishtay po russki)
which sounds like vee goh-voh-dree-tay poh roo-skee - 文A

To say yes you would say да (da) which sounds like dah - 文A

or to say no you would say нет (net) which sounds like nee-yet - 文A



(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Kan du norsk?

Greek: Μιλατε ελληνικα? (Milate ellinika?)

ASL: Do you speak ASL?

Italian: Parli italiano?

German: Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Spanish: ¿Hablas español?

French: parlez-vous français?

Valve Port

We just learned about the valve Bonnet.

Another part of a valve is the Valve Port.

This is the part of the valve that lets water or gas in or out.
They can have as little as just two ports, but many valves have more.
Some valves even have up to 20 ports!

Simple two port valves are just open or closed.
Other valves with a lot of ports might have a few open and others closed depending on how it is set up.


(from: wikipedia - valve)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: HMS Erebus Rockets