Deck the Halls

We just learned about the Christmas carol Silver Bells.

Another famous Christmas carol is Deck the Halls.

The music for this song is very old, going back to a Welsh song from some time around the 1700s.
That song was mostly someone singing about a beautiful woman that they were in love with, and then singing the same "fah la la la la" part after each verse.

In 1862 a famous Scottish musician named Thomas Oliphant picked new words for the song and made it about Christmas.

Some of the old words for the song talk about drinking mead, so some people have changed those words to talk about singing and Christmas.


(from: wikipedia - deck the halls)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Heliocentrism

Ezekiel - Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo

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

Another prophet that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling was Ezekiel.

Ezekiel is holding a scroll, and wearing red robes with grey scarves and a hat.
He looks very strong even though he has a white beard showing he is old.

In the Bible Ezekiel was another prophet that had to tell people about bad things that were going to happen to God's people, but he also told about good things that would happen again some day much later.


(from: wikipedia - sistine chapel ceiling)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Throwback - Tony Smith

Hindi - I am happy

Last time we learned that the Hindi words for horse, sheep and duck are घोड़ा (ghoda), भेड़ (bhed), and बत्तख (battakh).

Let's learn how to say I am happy in Hindi!

म्हानै खुशी होई (mhaanai khushee hoee) - sounds like mah-hah-nee kuh-shee hoo-ee
- 文A




(from: wikipedia - devanagari)

Swahili: Nina furaha

Russian: Я (ya), счастлив (schastliv)

Norwegian: jeg er glad

Greek: Είμαι (Eímai) χαρούμενος (charoúmenos)

ASL: I am happy

Italian: Sono felice

German: Ich bin glücklich

Spanish: Estoy feliz

French: Je suis heureux

Power Supply

We just learned about the Disk Drive.

Another part of a computer is the Power Supply.

Everything in the computer uses electricity, like the motherboard, the disk drives, and even some high powered graphics cards.

The power supply takes the electricity coming in from the plug, turns it into the just the right amount and type of power that the computer needs, and it has a bunch of other wires with plugs that go into the motherboard, drives and other places.

The power supply also has a fan on it, that helps keep the computer cool so it doesn't overheat.


(from: wikipedia - power supply unit (computer))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cylinder Head

Blue-Eyed Black Lemur

We just learned about the Sportive Lemur.

Another type of lemur is the Blue-Eyed Black Lemur.

Just like all other lemurs these primates all live in Madagascar, but because of people cutting down the trees where they live there are only about 1,000 left in the wild.
These primates are very special because they are one of only a few primates (including humans!) that has blue eyes.
They also have different colored fur for male and female lemurs, with the males having black fur and the females having either grey or red fur.

Blue-Eyed Black Lemurs grow to be about 45 centimeters long, and weigh about 2 kilograms.



(from: wikipedia - blue-eyed black lemur)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Orangutan

Nasal Septum

We just learned about the Nostril.

Another part of the nose is the Nasal Septum.

This is what splits the nose into a left and right nostril.
It is made up of different parts, with some of it cartilage and some of it bone.

Sometimes if there is a nose injury a person can have what is called a deviated septum.
In that case the septum in the middle gets removed and they would only really have one big nostril.


(from: wikipedia - nasal septum)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blood Cancer

Antigua and Barbuda

We just learned about the country of Saint Lucia

Let's learn a little about the country of Antigua and Barbuda!

This country is in the Caribbean Sea, east of Puerto Rico.
It is about 440 square kilometers, and about 97,000 people live there.
There are two main islands, Antigua which is about 281 square kilometers and has about 95,000 people there, and the smaller island of Barbuda that is about 160 square kilometers and only has a little over 1,000 people living Other than those 2 islands there are over 40 tiny islands that are part of the country.

The people in this country speak either English or Creole.


(from: wikipedia - antigua and barbuda)

The flag of Antigua and Barbuda is a red background with an upside down triangle on it with black, blue, and white parts, and a yellow sun.
The red is for the life of the people, black is for the people's history, blue is for hope and the sea, white is for the sand, and yellow is for the sun.


(from: wikipedia - flag of antigua and barbuda)

To eat in this country you might have fungie (pronounced like foo-n-jee) which is cornmeal, usually served with fried flying fish.



(from: wikipedia - funge)

Visiting this country you might take a boat and go to English Harbour

(from: wikipedia - english harbour)

The highest point on the island of Antigua is called Boggy Peak, and was renamed to Mount Obama to honor President Barack Obama.

(from: wikipedia - boggy peak)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Kazakhstan