Pumpjack

We just learned about the Oil Well.

One part of drilling oil out of the ground is a thing called a Pumpjack.

This is a machine that has a long metal beam hooked up to a machine that pushes and pulls the jack up and down almost like a see-saw.
The pumping motion helps pull the oil out of the ground so it can be collected and taken somewhere to clean up and be used for other things.


(from: wikipedia - pumpjack)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Starter

Spotted-Necked Otter

We just learned about the Eurasian Otter.

Another animal in the same family is the Spotted-Necked Otter, also called the speckle-throated otter or hydrictis maculicollis.

This otter is a lot like the ones from North America or Europe, but it lives on the continent of Africa.
It grows to be about 75 centimeters long, weighting about 6 kilograms, and has white spots on its neck.

Spotted-Necked Otters live in countries like Zambia where they can hunt for fish and other animals in the lakes and rivers of Africa.


(from: wikipedia - spotted neck otter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Zanzibar Red Colobus

Renal Capsule

We just started to learn about the Kidneys.

One part of the kidneys is the Renal Capsule.

This is the tough outside of the kidneys that keeps the inside safe.


(from: wikipedia - renal capsule)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Human Ear

Bermuda

We just learned about the country of Saint Martin

Let's learn a little about the country of Bermuda!

This country is in the Caribbean Sea, east of the United States.

It is made up of over 180 islands, it makes up about 53 square kilometers, and about 63,000 people live there.
The people in this country speak mostly English, and some Portuguese.


(from: wikipedia - bermuda

The flag of Bermuda is red with the British flag on the top left, and the coat of arms on the right.
Bermuda's coat of arms has a red lion for England, and a picture of a shipwreck, for the first ship called the Sea Venture that brought people to Bermuda.


(from: wikipedia - bermuda)

To eat in this country you might have bermuda fish chowder, which is made of fish, tomatoes, onions, black rum and pepper sauce.


(from: wikipedia - bermuda fish chowder)

Visiting this country you might go see some of the pink sand beaches, like Astwood Park

(from: wikipedia - )

Bermuda is an archipelago, which means it is a group of small islands.
Most of the big islands are connected by bridges, and then there are a bunch of very small islands that are not very busy.

(from: wikipedia - bermuda


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Brunei

Reuben

We just learned a little about the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

One of the twelve tribes was from Jacob's son Reuben.

In the Bible, the first wife of Jacob was named Leah, and the first son that Jacob had was Reuben.

Since Reuben was the oldest of the sons, he was sometimes more responsible.
When the other sons wanted to kill Joseph he told them not to, and was very upset when he found out they had sold Joseph out of the family.


(from: wikipedia - tribe of reuben)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

The Crucifixion of St. Peter - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's painting of The Conversion of Saul.

Another famous work of art from Michelangelo is The Crucifixion of St. Peter, made in 1550 in Italy.

In the Bible, St. Peter was one of the Apostles of Jesus, and after Jesus died he was one of the first leaders of the church for Christianity.
The Bible does not say when or how St. Peter died, but many stories from history say that he was crucified upside down, because he didn't feel like he was good enough to die in the same way that Jesus did.

Michelangelo's painting shows Peter upside down on the cross in the middle, surrounded by a bunch of other people.
One interesting thing that people noticed in this painting is that in most paintings from those days where they showed someone who was dying in a sad way they would show the person crying or with their head down looking sad.
In this painting, Peter is lifting himself up to look angrily at the people who are putting him on the cross, to show them that even though he is going to die he is not happy and that they should feel bad for what they are doing.

This painting was a fresco, which means it was painted on wet plaster, and it was the last fresco that Michelangelo ever did.


(from: wikipedia - the crucifixion of st. peter (michelangelo))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: 43 Roaring Forty - Carl Andre

Hindi - March, April

Let's keep learning about the months of the year in Russian!

We already learned that January, February is जनवरी (janavaree), फरवरी (pharavaree)

Let's keep going!

March - मार्च (maarch) - sounds like mah-r-ch - 文A

April - अप्रैल (aprail) - sounds like ah-pray-l - 文A



(from: wikipedia - devanagari)

Swahili: Januari, Februari

Russian: Март (Mart), Апрель (Aprel')
Norwegian: Mars, April

Greek: Μάρτιος (Mártios), Απρίλιος (Aprílios)

ASL: March, April

Italian: Marzo, Aprile

German: März, April

Spanish: Marzo, Abril

French: Mars, Avril