Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Maya Lin

We just learned about the Marine Corps War Memorial - Felix de Weldon.

Another famous American monument is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial made by Maya Lin in Washington D.C. in 1981.

In 1981 there was a contest to see who could come up with the best sculpture for a new memorial for the people who died in the Vietnam War.

Maya Lin won the contest, and her idea was to have a big black wall made of granite, with the names of all of the people who died engraved on it.

The memorial is v-shaped when you look at it from above, and her idea was that it would look kind of like a wound that needed to heal for America.


(from: wikipedia - vietnam veterans memorial)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Akan Goldweights

Russian - Counting to Twenty

We counted to 15 in Russian, let's keep going!

16 шестнадцать (shestnadtsat') - sounds like sheh-st-nah-t-sit 文A

17 семнадцать (semnadtsat') - sounds like see-im-nah-t-sit 文A

18 восемнадцать (vosemnadtsat') - sounds like voy-see-im-st-nah-t-sit 文A

19 девятнадцать (devyatnadtsat') - sounds like dee-ay-vit-nah-t-sit 文A

20 двадцать (dvadtsat') - sounds like d-vah-t-sit 文A



(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: seksten, sytten, atten, nitten, tjue

Greek: δεκαέξι (dekaéxi), δεκαεπτά (dekaeptá), δεκαοχτώ (dekaochtó), δεκαεννέα (dekaennéa), είκοσι (eíkosi)

ASL: sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty

Italian: sedici, diciassette, diciotto, diciannove, venti

German: sechzehn, siebzehn, achtzehn, neunzehn, zwanzig

Spanish: dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve, veinte

French: seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt

Fire-Tube Boiler

We just learned about the Locomotion No. 1.

Another part of how steam locomotives work is the Fire-Tube Boiler.

A boiler is a big tank of water that is heated up to where the water boils and turns to steam.
There are a lot of different kinds of boilers, and the one called a fire-tube boiler was the one most used by steam locomotives to run the engine.

It's called a fire-tube boiler because there are a bunch of metal tubes that take in heat from a fire and then the heated up tubes make the water hot.

The hot water then turns to steam that is used with a steam pump to drive the gears that turn the wheels of the train.



(from: wikipedia - fire-tube boiler)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Motor

Pallas's Cat

We just learned about the Caracal.

Another type of wild cat is the Pallas's Cat, also called the manul, or otocolubs manul.

This is a cat about the size of a house cat, 2 feet long and weighing about 10 pounds.
It has thick grey fur that makes it look short and fat, with a flat face.

It lives in the grasslands of Asia, mostly living in caves and hunting small animals.




(from: wikipedia - pallas's cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blue Button

Astigmatism

We just learned about the Far Sightedness.

Another type of refractive error that makes the eye not see as well is Astigmatism.

This happens when the cornea at the front of the eye is not shaped right, causing light to get focused in the wrong place and not where it is supposed to go on the back of the retina.


(from: wikipedia - astigmatism)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Labial Commissure of Mouth

Onyx River

We just learned about the Subglacial Lakes.

Another part of Antarctica is the Onyx River.

This is the longest river in Antarctica, at 32 kilometers long and ends up at Lake Vanda.
The water for this river is from meltwater, and goes toward the middle of Antarctica away from the ocean, during the summer months.

Water levels change depending on the season, and the river can flow as fast as 20 cubic meters per second. There were even some researchers from New Zealand that rafted down the river one time!

There are no fish in the river, but there are some tiny animals like bacteria and algea living there, along with some gulls that fly around.

Most of the time the water is just barely higher than the 32 degrees F it needs to melt, so it is really ice cold water!



(from: wikipedia - onyx river)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Roundel

Battle on the Ice

We just learned about the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

Another part of early Christianity was the Battle on the Ice.

We learned before about some of the first groups of people fighting wars in the name of Christianity, called Crusades.
From the years 1200 through 1300 there were a lot more wars like this.

There were around a dozen different crusades through these years, and they fought all over Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Western Asia, and even Northern Africa.

There was even a crusade that went into Russia and was fought on a frozen lake.
The Western church from places like Germany and France was fighting against the Eastern church in places like Russia.
In the battle the Russians won by a lot and Lake Peipus became a famous place in Russia where the Eastern church won an important battle.


(from: wikipedia - battle on the ice)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Golden Legend