Silver Bells

We just learned about the Christmas song Little Drummer Boy.

Another famous Christmas song is Silver Bells.

This song was written in 1950 by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.
At first it was going to be called tinkle bells, but the wife of one of the song writers thought it sounded funny since tinkle can be another way to say you are going to the bathroom!
So they changed it to Silver Bells.

One of the writers says the idea for the song came from a bell they had on their desk, but others think it came from the people during Christmas time that ring the bells to help collect money for poor people.


(from: wikipedia - silver bells)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Believer's Baptism

Jeremiah - Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting of the prophets Isaiah, Daniel, and Jonah.

Another prophet that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling was Jeremiah.

In the Bible, Jeremiah is sometimes called the weeping prophet because he was very sad that he had to tell God's people a lot of bad news about things that were coming in the future.
Michelangelo's painting of him shows him bent over with his head on his hand looking sad.


(from: wikipedia - prophet jeremiah (michelangelo))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: S, Metal - John Chamberlain

Hindi - Horse, Sheep, Duck

We already know that in Hindi, dog is कुत्ता (kutta) and cat is बिल्ली (billee),
cow is गाय (gaay), chicken is मुर्गी (murgee), and pig is सुअर (suar).

Let's learn more animals!

horse - घोड़ा (ghoda) - sounds like gh-oh-dah - 文A


sheep - भेड़ (bhed) - b-heh - 文A


duck - बत्तख (battakh) - bah-tah-k - 文A




(from: wikipedia - devanagari)

Swahili: farasi, kondoo, bata

Russian: лошадь (loshad'), овца (ovtsa), утка (utka)

Norwegian: hest, sau, and

Greek: άλογο, πρόβατα, πάπια

ASL: horse, sheep, duck

German: Pferd, Schaf, Ente

Spanish:caballo, oveja, pato

French:French - cheval, mouton, canard

Disk Drive

We just learned about the Network Card.

Another part of a computer is the Disk Drive.

Some computers have a place where you can put in a CD or DVD to play music or movies, called a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.
Other computers might have a place where you can put in something called a disk that you can save pictures or other things on.

Long ago computers used something called a floppy disk.
The first floppy disks were big and floppy, which is how they got the name.
Floppy disks were square thin plastic things that you put into your computer that you could save information to.

On a lot of computer programs, the "Save" button still looks like a picture of an old floppy disk even though nobody uses them anymore.



(from: wikipedia - floppy disk)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cylinder

Sportive Lemur

We just learned about the Verreaux's Sifaka.

Another type of primate is the Sportive Lemur.

This is a small type of lemur that grows to about 35 centimers, and around 2 pounds.
They have big eyes, because they are all nocturnal, meaning the stay up all night and sleep all day.

Because of their big eyes, they are able to see in the dark and can still hop from tree to tree.
When they are on the ground, they hop like a kangaroo.


(from: wikipedia - sportive lemur)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Gorilla

Nostril

We just learned about the Wing of the Nose.

Another part of the nose is the Nostril also called the naris.

The nostrils are the holes in the front of the nose, right above the mouth.
We use our nostrils for breathing in, breathing out, for blowing our nose when it gets stuffed up, and for smelling food.

The nostrils on the outside of the face are called the external nostrils, or anterior nares.
There are actually other nostrils further inside your nose that help bring the air and smells into your body.

Some people can actually flare out their nostrils, and make the holes get bigger and smaller!
Inside the nostril are around 1,000 hairs, and maybe if you have a stuffed up nose there might be nasal mucus (sometimes called snot) or dried nasal mucus (sometimes called boogers).


(from: wikipedia - )


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Epitope

Saint Lucia

We just learned about the country of Dominica

Let's learn a little about the country of Saint Lucia!

This country is in the Caribbean, just north of South America.
It is about 617 square kilometers, and about 184,000 people live there.
The people in this country speak either English or Creole.


(from: wikipedia - saint lucia)

The flag of Saint Lucia is blue, with white, black and yellow triangles in the middle.
Blue is for the sky and the sea, white and black are for the people of Saint Lucia, and yellow is for the sunshine.
The triangles are for the two volcanoes called the Pitons on the island.


(from: wikipedia - flag of saint lucia)

To eat in this country you might have bouyon, which is soup made of thick red beans, meat, tubers and vegetables.


(from: wikipedia - saint lucian cuisine)

Visiting this country you might go see the two volcanoes called the Gros Piton and Petit Piton.
In French, Gros means big and Petit means little, so these are the big and little Pitons.


(from: wikipedia - pitons)

There is a place called the Sulphur Springs where you can drive into the base of one of the volcanoes, and it lets out hot sulfur.
The smell of sulfur is like rotten eggs, so it doesn't smell very good but some people think the sulphur air is good for you.
Nearby there are some hot springs where you can take a mud bath and people think it helps them be healthier!

(from: wikipedia - sulpur springs, saint lucia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hungary