Benjamin Franklin - Hiram Powers

We just learned about the Water Nymph and Bitterna.

Another work of American sculpture is the sculpture of Benjamin Franklin by Hiram Powers.

Hiram grew up in Vermont and Ohio, where he learned how to do some sculpture.
When he grew up he moved to Washington D.C. to get better jobs and get noticed for his sculpture, and made sculptures of some of the American heroes like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

Most of the very famous sculptors of that time were living in Italy, where there were a lot more places to make the art, and it was also a lot easier to get the marble and other things he needed to use.

So Powers moved to Florence, Italy and would make some sculptures there and send them back to America.


(from: wikipedia - hiram powers)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Seated Yuima - Jōkei

Russian - Dog, Cat

We just learned that to ask if someone speaks Russian you say Ты говоришь по-русски? or Вы говорите по русски?.

To say dog in Russian, you say собака (sobaka) and it sounds like soh-bah-kah 文A

To say cat in Russian, you say кошка (koshka) and it sounds like koh-sh-kah 文A

Also in Russian, cats say Мяу-мяу (myaoo myaoo) and dogs say Гав-гав (gahf-gahf)


(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: hund, katt

Greek: σκύλος (skýlos), γάτα (gáta)

ASL: dog, cat

Italian: cane, gatto

German: Hunt, Katze

Spanish: perro, gato

French: chien, chat

Valve Handle

We just learned about the Valve Port.

Another part of a valve is the Valve Handle.

To open or close a valve, you can turn the handle one way or another.
This is just like the faucet that you use on a sink or a water valve outside the house.

There are a lot of types of valve handles.
The one on the faucet outside the house is usually a wheel handle that spins around.
The handle on the sink faucet is usually some kind of lever handle.
The handle underneath the sink that connects to the water line is usually a T shaped handle.

Some valves don't have handles because they are automatically opened by some other type of machine.


(from: wikipedia - valve)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jules Verne - From the Earth to the Moon

Rhopalium

We just learned about the Lappet.

Another part of a jellyfish is the Rhopalium.

Remember we learned about the lappet that goes the bell and dents in on some spots.
The part where the bell dents in toward the middle is called the Rhopalium.

In these rhopalium are things that jellyfish can use to sense light and movement.


(from: wikipedia - rhopalium)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod Suckers

Rod Cells

We just learned about the Zonule of Zinn.

Another part of the eye is the Rod Cells.

In the back of the eye at the retina there are things called Rods that help take in light and turn it into a message for your brain to understand what you are seeing.

An adult human has about 92 million rods in one eye!
These rods mostly help see brightness and darkness, and help people see better at night.


(from: wikipedia - rod cell)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: amelogenesis

East Antarctica

We just started learning about Antarctica.

Antarctica is split up into two parts, Wast and East Antarctica.

The East part is the bigger part, and is sometimes just called Greater Antarctica.
It is closer to Africa and Australia, and the Indian Ocean.
The East and West parts of Antarctica are separated by a 2,000 mile long mountain range.


(from: wikipedia - west antarctica)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forbidden City

Anno Domini

We just learned about the Hagia Sophia ancient church.

Another part of early Christianity is Anno Domini.

When we talk about what year it is, we sometimes put the letters AD at the end, like 2019 AD.

The AD stands for "Anno Domini" which means "Year Of"
"Anno Domini" is just a short way to say "anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi" which means "year of our Jesus Christ".

A long time ago a man named Dionysius Exiguus was working on a new calendar to be different than the one that the old emperor Diocletian had used.
Diocletian was very bad for Christians and had many of them killed.

So Dionysius made a new calendar and said that the year was 525 AD.
By putting AD at the end, he was taking away the naming of the years from the bad Diocletian and giving it to Jesus.

In the new AD calendar, people believe that Jesus was born around 1 AD.
The time before that we call "BC" for "Before Christ".

In the old days before people used English they used "aCn" which was for "Ante Christum Natum" meaning "before Christ's birth".


(from: wikipedia - anno domini)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Split of Christianity and Judaism