Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Lion


We just learned about Cats.

The big cat known as the king of the jungle is the Lion.

Lions mostly live in Africa, but there are also some in the Middle East and Europe.

Lions are big cats that are part of the "Felidae" family.
The male lions have a big mane, and all lions have a hairy fluff of fur at the end of their tails.
They are usually 6 or 7 feet long, and they can weigh over 300 pounds!

Lions live together in a family that is called a "pride".
A pride is usually a few grown up males, then some females and little lion cubs.
When the little lion cubs are about 3 years old, the boy lions are sent off to live on their own, and the girl lions stay with the pride.
When boy lions are out by themselves, sometimes they will group together with a few other boy lions until they find a home where they join a new pride as a grown up male lion.

Lions can make a lot of sounds like purring and meowing, but they are best known for the lion's roar.
It is so loud that it can be heard up to 5 miles away.

There is one type of lion called a white lion, that has white or very light colored fur.







(from: wikipedia - lion)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Purple Striped Jelly

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Central Retinal Vein


We just learned about the Central Retinal Artery.

Another part of the eye is the Central Retinal Vein.

The artery brings blood to the eye, and this vein in the back of the eye then takes that deoxygenated used up blood and brings it back to the heart.

(from: wikipedia - central retinal vein)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Specialized Mucosa

Monday, January 20, 2020

Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf


We just learned about the Ross Ice Shelf.

Another part of Antarctica is the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf.

This shelf is about 430,000 square kilometers, which is bigger than the state of California.
It is about 600 meters deep, and below the shelf the water goes down another 1,400 meters.

In 1998 an iceberg named A38 split off from the ice shelf that was over 22,000 square kilometers.



(from: wikipedia - filchner-ronne ice shelf)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Château de Chambord

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Icons


We just learned about the Muslim Conflict.

Another part of early Christianity is Icons.

In the old times of the church, people thought it was bad to use pictures of crosses, or even pictures of Jesus, Mary or any of the old leaders of the church.

The paintings were known as icons.

Because God said not to worship any idols, they felt that putting up artwork of something Christian was like worshipping an idol.

Later on people argued that having these paintings around was good because it helped people think about God and Jesus.


(from: wikipedia - byzantine iconoclasm)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Biblican Canon

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument - Randolph Rogers


We just learned about the sculpture The Willing Captive - Chauncey Ives.

Another famous work of American sculpture is the Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument by Randolph Rogers in Detroit Michigan, 1867.

Rogers was born in New York, but grew up in Ann Arbor Michigan.
He started off doing most of his sculpture in wood, and then later worked with marble.

When he was about 40 years old he moved to New York City and then Florence Italy to study sculpture.
He didn't really like working with marble, so he would always make his statues out of something else like wood, and then have other marble sculptors make a copy of it in marble for him.

His civil war monument in Detroit is octagon shaped.
On top is a sculpture of a heroic woman called Michigania, or Victory holding a sword and shield.
There are four male sculptures for the Navy, Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery of the Civil War.
Four female sculptures are for Victory, History, Emancipation and Union.
By the bottom are eagles with raised wings, and four plaques with Union generals Lincoln, Grant, Sherman and Farragut.


(from: wikipedia - michigan soldiers' and sailors' monument)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sanchi Capital of Ashoka

Friday, January 17, 2020

Russian - Cow, Chicken, Pig

We just learned that black white brown and gray in Russian is черный (chernyy), белый (belyy), коричневый (korichnevyy), серый (seryy).

We already know that in Russian, dog is собака (sobaka) and cat is кошка (koshka).

Now let's learn about some farm animals!

cow - корова (korova) - sounds like kah-droh-vah 文A

chicken - курица (kuritsa) - sounds like koo-dree-t-sah 文A

pig - свинья (svin'ya) - sounds like s-vee-n-yah 文A

Also in Russian cows say Му-у-у (mooo), chickens say Ко-ко-ко (ko-ko-ko) and pigs say Хрю-хрю (khryoo-khryoo)!



russian language
(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: ku, kylling, gris

Greek: αγελάδα, κοτόπουλο, χοίρο

ASL: cow, chicken, pig

Italian: mucca, pollo, maiale

German: Kuh, Huhn, Schwein

Spanish: vaca, pollo, cerdo

French: vache, poulet, porc

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Ball Valve


We just learned about the Valve Trim.

There are a lot of different kinds of valves.
One type of valve that is used a lot is the Ball Valve.

It's called a ball valve because inside the valve there is a ball.
The ball has a hole in the middle of it, and the valve handle turns the ball.
When the ball is turned one way, the water or gas can go through the hole in the ball.
When the ball is turned the other way, the ball blocks the water or gas, and keeps the valve closed.



(from: wikipedia - ball valve)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: World War II Rocket Weapons