Tower of Babel

We just learned about Noah's Ark.

In chapter 11 of Genesis, it tells the story of the Tower of Babel.

This story talks about a tall building called the Tower of Babel that people built.
God was not super happy because he had told people to go all over the world and believe in him.

So because they were just believing in themselves and not trusting in God, he made it so people couldn't talk to each other, and changed all their languages.


(from: wikipedia - tower of babel)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: O Holy Night

Van Gogh - Garden of the Hospital in Arles

We just learned about Van Gogh's painting of Sunflowers.

Another of Van Gogh's famous paintings is the Garden of the Hospital in Arles.

In 1888, Van Gogh had a breakdown and cut off his ear.

He went to the hospital, and while he was there he made this famous painting.


(from: wikipedia - hospital in arles)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Michelangelo

Arabic - Hello and Goodbye

We've now learned a whole year of Hindi!
Wow!

Let's try another language now, how about Arabic?

This is the language spoken by hundreds of millions of people acros the world, mostly in Africa and Asia.

Arabic uses a different alphabet than English, called abjad.
It has 28 letters, and the vowels are just the consonants with small marks called diacritics above them.
Probably the biggest difference between Arabic and English is that it is written from right to left instead of left to right!

Let's learn how to say hello and goodbye in Arabic!

To say hello in Arabic you would say mrhaban, sounds like mah-dr-hah-ben 文A

In the Arabic letters it looks like this: مرحبًا

To say goodbye you say mae alsalamati, sounds like mah-ah-l-sah-lah-mah-ti 文A

In the Arabic letters it looks like this: مع السلامة!



(from: wikipedia - lebanese academy of sciences)

Hindi: नमस्ते (Namaste), अलविदा (Alavida)

Swahili: Jambo, Hujambo, Habari, Mambo, Shikamoo

Russian: Привет (privet), Здравствуй (Zdravstvuy), Пока (poka), до свидания (do svidaniya)

Norwegian: Hei, Hallo, Ha det, Ha det brah

Greek: Γειά σου (Geiá sou), Χαίρετε (Chairete), Αντίο (Antío)

ASL: Hello and Goodbye

Italian: Ciao, arrivederci

German: Hallo, Auf Wiedersehen

Spanish: Hola! Adiós!

French: Bonjour! Au Revoir!

Alpha Flag

We just learned about the International Maritime Signal Flags.

There are flags for every letter of the alphabet, like the Alpha Flag, used for the letter A.

People can just use these flags to spell things, and each letter flag has special meanings too.
All by itself this flag eans "I have a diver down; keep well clear at slow speed."

The shape of this flag is called a swallowtail, and the colors are "argent and azure" which means white and blue.


(from: wikipedia - international maritime signal flags)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pixel

Antarctic Sun Starfish

We just learned about the Astropecten Aranciacus.

Another type of starfish is the Antarctic Sun Starfish, also called the wolftrap starfish or labidiaster annulatus.

This type of starfish comes from the very cold waters around Antarctica.

Most starfish usually have five arms, but this type of starfish can have over 40 arms!
They grow to be about 24 inches wide.


(from: wikipedia - labidiaster annulatus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bald Uakari

Circadian Clock

We just learned about Rapid Eye Movement.

Another part of sleep is the Circadian Clock.

The word circadian comes from the latin words Circa meaning about, and Dia meaning day. So circadian means about a day.
The circadian clock is like an clock inside the body that helps your body sleep at night and be awake during the day.

It is in the part of the body called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, or SCN.
This is a big bunch of nerves in the brain, that are hooked up to the eyeballs to sense daylight to know when it is night and day.

If your circadian clock gets out of order from too much TV at night, it can mess up your body's inside clock that helps you sleep.


(from: wikipedia - suprachiasmatic nucleus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ear Hair Cells

Chongqing China

We just learned about the Country of Uruguay and many other countries in South America

Let's learn a little about the city of Chongching!

This city is in China.
It is about 82,000 square kilometers, and about 32 million people live there.
The people in this city speak Mandarin Chinese.


(from: wikipedia - chongqing)

There was a soccer team in Chongqing, but after 2021 the team closed up.

(from: wikipedia - chongqing liangjiang athletic f.c.)

To eat in this city you might have a Chongqing hot pot. This is a cooked pot of different meats with sesame oil to dip into.

(from: wikipedia - chongqing hot pot)

Visiting this city you might go see the Chongqing art musuem.

(from: wikipedia - chongqing art museum)

Along the Yangtze River, there are some areas with very high mountain sides. In Chongqing this gorge is called the Qutang Gorge.

(from: wikipedia - qutang gorge)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Vietnam