Blarney Castle

We just learned about Bran Castle.

Another famous castle is Blarney Castle in Blarney Ireland, built in 1210 AD, and then rebuilt in 1446 by the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty after it had been destroyed.

This castle is probably most famous for being the home of the "Blarney Stone", which is a rock made out of limestone built into the castle by a machicolation

A machicolation is a hole in the floor by the top of the castle where people could drop things like big rocks down on people trying to invade the castle.

The Blarney stone is at one of these machicolations, so there is a gap between where the top walkway of the castle is, and where the Blarney Stone is.

There are many legends about where the Blarney Stone came from, with some saying it was a gift from an old goddess, and some saying it was a part of a very important stone used in ceremonies to crown the king of Sctoland.

Nobody really knows for sure where it came from, but there is a legend that if you kiss the Blarney Stone you will get the gift of speaking Blarney, which means to be funny and smart and get people to believe whatever you say.

To kiss the Blarney Stone, you have to have someone hold on to you, and you lay on your back leaning way out over the hole and then kiss the stone!
It used to be very dangerous to try this, but now they have some safety rails up to help people not fall.
Kissing the Blarney Stone is so famous that Sherlock Holmes wrote a mystery story about a man who fell off the castle while trying to kiss it!




(from: wikipedia - blarney castle)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: New Brunswick

Urban - bishop of Macedonia

We just learned about Amplias - Bishop of Odyssus, one of the seventy disciples.

Another of the seventy was Urban - bishop of Macedonia.

Urban went out and spread the word of God in the land of Macedonia, which is in southern Europe.


(from: wikipedia - urban of macedonia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Proverbs 17 - A Joyful Heart

Flying Horse of Gansu

We just learned about the Mao Gong Ding.

Another ancient Chinese sculpture is the Flying Horse of Gansu, also called the Bronze Running Horse or the Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow.

This sculpture was found underneath a monastery in an old tomb with over 200 different bronze sculptures.

The horse in this sculpture is a type of horse called Tianma, which means heavenly horse.
These horses came from a place called Ferghana, and they were such great horses that the Emperor of China gave them the nickname of heavenly horse.

The statue is perfectly balanced on just one foot, which is stepping on top of a bird.
This is supposed to mean that the horse runs so fast it is almost like it is flying through the air with the birds.



(from: wikipedia - flying horse of gansu)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: David - Donatello

Greek - Counting to Twenty

We counted to 15 in Greek, let's keep going!

16 δεκαέξι (dekaéxi) - sounds like day-kah-AY-k-see
17 δεκαεπτά (dekaeptá) - sounds like day-kah-ay-p-TAH
18 δεκαοχτώ (dekaochtó) - sounds like day-kah-oh-k-TOH
19 δεκαεννέα (dekaennéa) - sounds like day-kah-ay-n-EE-ah
20 είκοσι (eíkosi) - sounds like ay-EE-koh-see


(from: wikipedia - center for the greek language)

ASL: sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty

Italian: sedici, diciassette, diciotto, diciannove, venti

German: sechzehn, siebzehn, achtzehn, neunzehn, zwanzig

Spanish: dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve, veinte

French: seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt

Accelerometer

We just learned about the Altimeter.

Another part of rocket science is the Accelerometer.

This is something in the rocket that tells the rocket how fast it is accelerating.
This isn't the same as it's speed, which is just how fast it is going.
Acceleration is the difference in speed over time.

So think about it like if you are walking, and then you are jogging, and then you are running as fast as you can.
When you switch from walking to jogging, there is a difference in speed, and it however long it takes you to get from walking speed to jogging speed is the acceleration.

Gravity is another way to think about acceleration.
If a rock is dropped off of a tall building, it starts falling slowly, but then gets faster and faster, and by the time it hits the ground could be going fast enough to really hurt if it crashed into something.

The difference in how fast it is falling every second is the acceleration.
That is what the accelerometer measures, so that the rocket knows how much faster it is getting every second.



(from: wikipedia - accelerometer)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Plasma Cutting

Armhook Squid

We just learned about the Broadclub Cuttlefish.

Another cephalopod is the Armhook Squid, also called the Gonatidae.

These are a type of squid that don't have just normal suction cups on their arms.
Most squids have rows of two cups all the way down their arm, but the armhook squid has four, and some of the suckers are actually more like hooks.

They are red, purple or brown, they live in the ocean, and they grow to about 10 inches.





(from: wikipedia - gonatidae)



The Hidden Ocean, Arctic 2005: Boreo Atlantic Armhook Squid - oceanexplorergov

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pacman Frog

Maxillary Second Molar

We just learned about the Maxillary First Molar.

Another tooth is the Maxillary Second Molar.

These ones are just like the Maxillary First Molars, just further back on the jaw.
They have 4 cusps, and they work to help grind up the food.

Some people get another row of teeth behind these, but for other people these are the last teeth in the mouth.


(from: wikipedia - maxillary second molar)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Nail Plate