Olive Baboon

We just learned about the Uganda Mangabey.

Another type of old world monkey is the Olive Baboon, also called the Anubis Baboon, or Papio Anubis.

These monkeys live all over Africa, in forests, deserts, and grasslands.
They get the name Olive Baboon because their fur looks olive colored.
Their other name Anubis Baboon comes from the way their face looks kind of like the dog faced statue of the Egyptian Anubis.

Olive Baboons are a little over 2 feet tall and weigh about 50 pounds.
Usually they talk to each other using grunts, but if they get scared by another animal they might shout "Wahoo!" to warn everyone.

These baboons will eat just about anything, from plants and bugs to mice, birds, and other larger animals.
They will sometimes even go after sheep, goats and chickens from farms!

Some elephants and the baboons have learned to work together to survive.
Elephants will dig holes to get water, and baboons will be lookouts up in the trees to warn if there is danger coming.


(from: wikipedia - olive baboon)



Olive baboon troupe - Cameron Wares


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Andean Mountain Cat

Anti-Growth Signals

We just learned about the Cell Growth and Division where cells get bigger, multiply and don't go away.

Another one of the six signs of cancer is called Anti-Growth Signals.

When the cells in the body grow or multiply, and don't die off or go away, the body uses things called "tumor supressor genes" to send messages to the cells saying that it is time to stop growing and dividing, and to go away.

It's kind of like being in a car, going too fast, and you hit the brakes to slow down or stop.

Cells that have been mutated into cancer don't listen to those messages and they keep growing.
This would be like the brakes in the car not working, so it keeps going too fast.

If the cancer cells in the body do not listen, the cells can grow and divide and spread over the body.


(from: wikipedia - tumor suppressor gene)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Meibomian Gland

Slovakia

We just learned about the country of Serbia

Let's learn a little about the country of Slovakia, also called the Slovak Republic!

This is a country in eastern Europe that borders Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic.
It is about 19,000 square miles, and over 5 million people live there.
People in Slovakia speak either Slavic, Hungarian or Rusyn.


(from: wikipedia - slovakia)

The flag of Slovakia is white, blue and red, with the coat of arms on the front.
A few countries in eastern Europe use these same colors, and they are called the "Pan-Slavic" colors.

The coat of arms is a double cross for Christianity, and three mountains for the three main mountain ranges in the country.


(from: wikipedia - flag of slovakia)

To eat in Slovakia you might have Bryndzové Halušky, which is dumplings served with cheese and bacon.
You would also have a glass of Žinčica with it, which is like a creamy milk drink.


(from: wikipedia - )

Visiting Slovakia you might go see Bojnice Castle, which was built before 1200 AD.


(from: wikipedia - bojnice castle)

In Slovakia there is a large group of over 700 caves called Domica Cave.
These are caves made out of limestone that go on for over 3 miles.

(from: wikipedia - domica cave)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Palmer Station

Amazing Grace - John Newton

We just learned about the sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

We've learned a lot about what happened in Christianity after Jesus over thousands of years.

Let's learn about some of the famous songs people sing in church called hymns.

One of the most famous hymns is Amazing Grace by John Newton written in England in 1779.

John Newton was born in 1725, and when he was 18 he was made to work on a sailing ship.
When he was young he was not very nice, and said a lot of very mean things to people.

One day when he was on the ship a terrible storm came along and almost tipped the boat over.
He was so scared that he shouted out "Lord have mercy on us!"

Later on when he was back on land, he was happy to be alive, and remembered that he had shouted out to God for help.
So he decided to work to write hymns to help people worship God, and one of those hymns was Amazing Grace.


(from: wikipedia - amazing grace)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The People's Crusade

Spiral Jetty - Robert Smithson

We just learned about the Untitled - Dan Flavin.

Another famous American sculpture is Spiral Jetty, made by Robert Smithson in 1970 in Utah.

This is a type of art called Land Art, which uses the land and earth to make a sculpture.
Spiral Jetty is 1,500 feet long spiral, made of mud, salt crystals and rocks.

The artist Smithson was born in 1938 in New Jersey, and went to art school in New York City.


(from: wikipedia - spiral jetty)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Patience and Fortitude

Swahili - His face is rough

We just learned in Swahili hands are soft is Mikono yake ni laini.

To say his face is rough you would say Uso wake ni mkali.
His - Uso - sounds like oo-soh 文A

face - wake - sounds like wah-kay 文A

is - ni - sounds like nee 文A

rough - mkali - sounds like m-kah-lee 文A



So all together Uso wake ni mkali sounds like oo-soh wah-kay nee m-kah-lee.



(from: wikipedia - swahili language)

Russian: Его лицо грубо (Yego litso grubo)

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

Motor Oil

We just learned about the Timing Belt.

Another part of how a car works is Motor Oil.

When all the parts of a metal car engine are moving around, things can get very hot.
If you've ever heard metal scraping on metal, you know that two pieces of metal don't slide against each other smoothly.

To make the engine parts move smooth and not scrape against each other, cars use a slippery oil that lets helps things move around quickly without problems.

We learned before about the holes in the main engine called oil galleries.
That is where the motor oil goes, and it goes through all those holes to get to parts like the camshaft and crankshaft that need oil as they move around.

After a while the oil gets dirty from being used, so the oil has to be emptied out of a car and replaced with fresh oil.



(from: wikipedia - motor oil)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Vacuum Pump