We just learned about the Video Cable and the way a computer monitor works.
Another part of the computer is the Keyboard.
Before there were computers, people used to use typewriters to put letters on paper with ink.
When computers were made for people to put letters on the computer monitor, people made electronic keyboards that looked like the typewriters.
On a computer keyboard, when you press down on a key there it pushes down on a button that sends an electrical message to the computer telling you which key was pressed.
It's almost like your keyboard is made up of hundreds of little light switches and when you press one it turns a light on.
Most computers these days have letters in the "QWERTY" order, meaning that the letters are set up in the order where the letters are like:
1234567890
QWERTYUIOP
ASDFGHJKL
ZXCVBNM
The QWERTY keyboard style was invented back in 1874 when someone came up with the idea to put the letters in that order.
There are a lot of stories saying that it was to make sure typewriter machines didn't jam up, or to make people type faster, but nobody is really sure exactly why the computer keyboard doesn't go in alphabeitcal ABC order.
Other people have come up with keyboards that help people type faster, but because people had already learned how to type on QWERTY keyboards they have never changed.
Another type of new world monkey is the Colombian Red Howler, also called the Venezuelan red howler or alouatta seniculus.
This type of monkey lives in South America, spending most of its life up in the trees.
They grow to be about 2 feet long, weigh about 20 pounds and have a long tail they use to climb around.
Just like their name says, they have red colored fur and they make really loud howling sounds that can be heard for miles.
This is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, and borders the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
It is about 42,000 square miles, and about 11 million people live there.
In Cuba the people speak Spanish.
The flag of Cuba has a red triangle on the red, with a white star in it, and five sideways stripes of blue and white.
The red triangle is for liberty, equality and fraternity, courage and independence.
The blue stripes are for the three different parts of Cuba, and the white is for purity.
To eat in Cuba you might have ropa vieja, which is a type of shredded steak stewed in a tomato sauce.
The name means "old clothes" and there is an old story of a poor man who was so hungrey that he tore up his clothes and put them in a pot to cook, and then prayed over them for food and it turned into this delicious meat stew.
Visiting Cuba you might go to the Havana Cathedral, a church built in 1796.
(from: wikipedia - havana cathedral)
In the city of Camagüey, clay pots called tinajon are used a lot to help get rain water to be used later.
There is an old legend that if you drink water from one of these clay pots, you will fall in love with a girl from Camagüey and never leave the city.
Another famous Christmas song is O Come, O Come, Emmanuael.
This is a very old song, going back all the way to before the year 600 AD.
The words for the song were first written in Latin, in an old song called O Antiphons, that was sung by Monks around Christmas time.
The music for the song was written into a book around 1851 in England, but people think that song was first written hundreds of years before some time in France.
In 1861 an English priest named John Mason Neale translated the words from Latin into English and put it into hymnals for people to sing.
So it is a very very old song, and has become famous all over the world as a Christmas song!
One famous thing about the song is that each verse starts with a different name for Jesus, like Emmanuel, Rod of Jesse, Dayspring from on high, Key of David, and Adonai.
O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan's tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save, And give them victory o'er the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Dayspring, from on high, And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Key of David, come And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Adonai, Lord of might, Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times didst give the law In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.
After Michelangelo had finished his statue of David he was very famous, and was asked to make over 40 statues for the tomb of Pope Julius II.
He finished statues for people from the Bible of Moses, Leah and Rachel.
After that it had been about 10 years, and the people who were paying for the sculptures decided they didn't want any more, so he didn't get to finish the rest of the statues.
Michelangelo's statue of Moses is interesting because there are horns on Moses' head.
This is because when people were reading the Bible in Hebrew they thought it said that when he came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments that his face was so changed after talking to God that he had horns on his head.
People now believe the words really say that his face was full of brightness, and so those would be like rays of light.
Michelangelo felt that this Moses was his greatest sculpture ever, and when he was done he stood up and shouted to the statue "now speak!" because it looked so good like it was almost alive.
The statue of Leah shows her face down as if she is working, and the statue of Rachel shows her face up like she is praying.
In the Bible Leah was working very hard raising seven children, and Rachel prayed for many years and then finally had two children of her own.
