Decretum Gratiani

We just learned about the Teutonic Order.

Another part of early Christianity is the Decretum Gratiani.

We've learned before that "Biblical Canon" means the things that are approved or agreed by the church.
And the word comes from the Greek word "κανών" which means rule or measuring stick.

Through the years many people were arguing about which writings about Jesus were real and which were fake.
They also argued about what all of the real and true writings meant, and what was the best way to live your life.

Like was it ok to make paintings of Jesus or famous people from church history?
How should people be baptized, and how should churches be built?
These decisions and a lot more rules had been made in the time over a thousand years since Jesus was born.

Around 1150 AD, a man named Gratian decided to try and put together all of the different rules and laws that the Catholic church had written down.

He put them into what he called the "Decretum Gratiani" which means "The Decree of Gratian".
People believe this to be the first real law book that listed all of the laws for how to live.

He listed them out in a very organized way, so that later on if someone was talking about a certain law of the church, they could talk about "Decretum c. 1. d. XI". Instead of writing out over and over what the law said, they could just basically say "Go look it up in the law book, at this spot."
This book of law put together by Gratian was the first part of what would become the Canon Law used by the church to rule if someone was guilty of breaking a church law or not.


(from: wikipedia - decretum gratiani)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: True Cross

Black Hawk Statue - Lorado Taft

We just learned about the sculpture of Johns Hopkins by Hans Schuler.

Another famous American sculpture is the Black Hawk Statue, also called The Eternal Indian made by Lorado Taft in 1911, in Oregon Illinois.

This statue is 48 feet tall, and stands on a 77 foot high cliff by the Rock River overlooking the city.
Black Hawk was a Sauk Native American who fought many battles for his tribe in Illinois.
The statue is the second tallest concrete statue of a person, just after the statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro.

Taft made many other monument statues honoring people in the Midwest area.
In Chicago he made a 126 foot long sculpture with 100 people called Fountain of Time showing the peace of the US and Great Britain for 100 years.
He also made The Soldier's Monument in Oregon Illinois, honoring the people who fought in the Spanish-American war.

Taft was born in Elmwood Illinois, where he grew up learning about sculpting.
When he was 20 he moved to Paris to learn more about sculpting, and then moved back in 1886 to Chicago to make sculptures and become a teacher.

He helped teach sculpting to many other people in America that went on to become famous.


(from: wikipedia - black hawk statue)



(from: wikipedia - fountain of time)



(from: wikipedia - the soldier's monument)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Benin Bronzes

Russian - July, August

We already learned that January, February is Январь (Yanvar'), Февраль (Fevral'), March, April is Март (Mart), Апрель (Aprel'),
and May, June is Май (May), Июнь (Iyun').

Let's keep going!

July - Июль (Iyul') - sounds like ee--yoo-l 文A

August - Август (Avgust) - sounds like ah-v-goo-st 文A



(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Juli, August

Greek: Ιούλιος (Ioúlios), Αύγουστος (Ávgoustos)

ASL: July, August

Italian: Luglio, Agosto

German: Juli, August

Spanish: Julio, Agosto

French: Julliet, Août

Cugnot's - Fardier à vapeur

We just learned about the North River Steamboat.

Another part of the history of steam engines is Cugnot's - Fardier à vapeur.

A lot of people made steam powered boats that many people liked.
But it took a lot longer for people to make steam powered engines on wheels that people liked.

The first known steam powered engine on wheels was made by a French man named Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, and he called it the "machine à feu pour le transport de wagons et surtout de l'artillerie" which is French for "fire engine for transporting wagons and especially artillery".

Since that's a long name, people just called it the "Fardier à vapeur" which means "Steam wagon".

He built it in 1769, but not a lot of people used it.
It went about 2 miles per hour, and could carry about 2 tons of weight.

Because it was very slow and broke down a lot, it was not very popular, and steam wagons like this were not used a lot for a long time.


(from: wikipedia - nicolas-joseph cugnot)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forensic Podiatry

Asian Golden Cat

We just learned about the Marbled Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Asian Golden Cat, or the Catopuma temminckii.

This type of cat lives mostly in south India and China.
They are about 4 feet long, and weigh about 35 pounds.

Asian golden cats are golden, brown, or red-brown.
Some even have dark black fur like a panther.

These cats live alone and mostly stay up at night to hunt.
They hunt a lot of different animals, and can even climb trees to hunt birds.

When they want to talk, these cats can hiss, meow, purr or growl just like other cats.



(from: wikipedia - asian golden cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sea Wasp

Myokymia

We just learned about the Rheum.

Another part of the eye is a Myokymia, which is a type of eye spasm where the eyelid twitches.

Sometimes without doing it on purpose the upper or lower eyelid might twitch a little.
It usually goes away after a while, and is usually caused by not getting enough sleep or not drinking enough water.

If it is really bad and doesn't go away for months, then it is called a blepharospasm.


(from: wikipedia - blepharospasm)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Vermillion Border

Antarctic Sea Ice

We just learned about the South Pole.

Another part of Antarctica is the Antarctic Sea Ice.

We've learned before about the big Antarctic Ice Sheet that covers the continent.
And we've learned about the Ice Shelves that stick out from the Ice Sheet above the water.

The ice shelves are very thick, sometimes 1 kilometer deep.
Sea ice is a lot thinner, and is usually only a few meters thick.
Sometimes it is touching the shelf ice, and sometimes it's just floating out in the ocean close to Antarctica.

During the winters in Antarctica, the frozen sea ice goes out very far from the main land of Antarctica, and then in the summer most of it melts back to the ice shelves.



(from: wikipedia - antarctic sea ice)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Barbican