Aye-aye

We just learned about the Gerp's Mouse Lemur.

Another type of primate is the Aye-aye, also called the long fingered lemur or daubentonia madagascariensis.

This kind of lemur lives at night, grows to about 3 feet long and weighs about 4 pounds.
They have silver colored fur a stripe down their back, and big eyes so it can see at night.

Aye-ayes also have very different fingers that they use to get their food.
When they are hunting for grubs to eat, they will tap one of their fingers on a tree to feel where a grub might be living.
If they hear or feel one, then they chew into the tree bark, then use one of their long fingers to pull out the grub and eat it!

No one is really sure where they got their name. Some people think it might have come from the Malagasy word for "I don't know" and other people think maybe it was someone yelling aye aye because they were scared of it.


(from: wikipedia - aye-aye)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Aisan Semi-longhair

Eustachian Tube

We just learned about the Tensor Tympani.

Another part of the ears is the Eustachian Tube.

This is a part of the ear that goes toward the nose.
The middle ear is kind of like a balloon that is filled with air.
When you go on an airplane, the air pressure makes the balloon swell up bigger, and makes it hard to hear.
The eustachian tube is a way for your body to let out a little bit of air so the balloon of your middle ear goes back to normal.
Usually chewing gum or swallowing helps your ears open the eustachain tube, and because it sometimes makes a popping sound, some people call it making your ears pop.

The middle ear can also get some bad liquids in it that need to be drained out, so the eustachian tube helps drain those, and they would come out the nose.


(from: wikipedia - eustachian tube)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Thymus

El Salvador

We just learned about the country of Belize

Let's learn a little about the country of El Salvador!

This country is in Central America, and borders Honduras,Guatemala, and the Pacific Ocean.
It is about 8,000 square miles, and about 6.8 million people live there.
The people in this country speak Spanish.


(from: wikipedia - el salvador)

The flag of El Salvador is sideways stripes of blue, white and blue with the coat of arms in the middle.
Blue is for the skies and oceans, and white is for peace and solidarity.


(from: wikipedia - flag of el salvador)

To eat in this country you might have a pupusa, which is a kind of flat bread usually stuffed with things like cheese or beans, and topped with salsa.


(from: wikipedia - pupusa)

Visiting this country you might go to Tazumal to see the Mayan ruins from over 1,000 years ago.

(from: wikipedia - tazumal)

There is a statue of Jesus standing on a globe in El Salvador called the "Monumento al Divino Salvador del Mundo" which means monument to the divine savior of the world.

(from: wikipedia - monumento al divino salvador del mundo)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Croatia

Carol of the Bells

We just learned about the carol Good King Wenceslas.

Another famous Christmas carol is Carol of the Bells.

This music for this song comes from the Ukraine, and used to be a song about spring time and happy birds.
Long ago in the Ukraine, the new year was in April, so the new year's celebration was in the spring.
When the people of the Ukraine became Christians, they moved the new year's celebration to the winter.
The song about birds in the cold didn't make much sense, so someone wrote this song about Christmas and used the same music.

The words were written by Peter Wilhousky, an American whose family had come to America from the Ukraine long ago.


(from: wikipedia - carol of the bells)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Swiss Guard

Michelangelo - Sistine Chapel - The Sacrifice of Noah

We just learned about Michelangelo's painting of The Sistine Chapel - The Fall and Expulsion from Paradise.

Another painting from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel was The Sacrifice of Noah.

This is a painting from the Bible story of Noah, after the flood was over and he got off the ark he offered up animals to God to show he was thankful.

The painting shows Noah at an altar, while some other people bring in animals to give as offerings to God.


(from: wikipedia - sistine chapel ceiling)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Dogon Mother and Child - Jerry Harrys

Hindi - Six, seven, eight, nine, ten

We learned in Hindi that 1-5 is एक (ek), दो (do), तीन (teen), चार (chaar), पांच (paanch).

Now let's count up to ten!

6 छह (chhah) - sounds like ch-ay - 文A

7 सात (saat) - sounds sah-t - 文A

8 आठ (aath) - sounds like ah-t - 文A

9 नौ (nau) - sounds like no-ah - 文A

10 दस (das) - sounds like dah-s - 文A



(from: wikipedia - devanagari)

Do you remember how to say it in other languages?

Swahili: sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumi

Russian: шесть (shest'), семь (sem'), восемь (vosem'), девять (devyat'), десять (desyat')

Norwegian: seks, syv, åtte, ni, ti

Greek: έξι, εφτά, οχτώ, εννέα, δέκα

ASL: Six, seven, eight, nine, ten

Italian: sei, setto, otto, nove, dieci

German: seis, sieben, acht, neun, zehn

Spanish: seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez

French: six, sept, huit, neuf, dix

Processor

We just learned about the Motherboard.

Another part of a computer is the Processor, also called a Central Processing Unit or CPU for short.

This is the brain of the computer, that is hooked up to the motherboard.
When you type on the computer or move your mouse, those messages get sent to the motherboard and then the processor.
The processor takes in all of that input and then controls the other parts of the computer like the monitor, speakers, or anything else hooked up to the computer.

When you are doing things on the computer like watching videos or opening websites, the processor is working hard to make all of those programs work on the computer as fast as it can.



(from: wikipedia - central processing unit)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blastpipe