Valley Glacier

We just learned about the Outlet Glacier.

Another type of glacier is a Valley Glacier.

Sometimes when glaciers melt, the edge of the glacier is by a valley, a low place with a hill on either side.

So when the melted water flows out, the hills and the valley make sure the water flows in one way.


(from: wikipedia - glacier morphology)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Battery Tower

Divine Comedy - Purgatorio

We just learned about the Divine Comedy and it's picture of the inferno.

Another part of that story is the Divine Comedy's picture of Purgatory.

Some Christians think that after you die if you believed in Jesus but did some bad things that you can go to a place between heaven and hell called purgatory and work your way up to heaven.

Other Christians don't agree and don't think this is a real place.

In the Divine Comedy, after the story goes through and talks about what hell looks like, it goes on to talk about what purgatory looks like.

In this place people were treated very badly, but not usually as badly as they were in the inferno hell.
They were forced to carry heavy weights, there was poisonous smoke and fire, and they were starving or blind.

If people made it through their suffering here for long enough they could go to heaven.
Many of the people and ideas in this picture of purgatory came from Greek mythology, so these weren't stories from the bible.
But because this book was so popular many people believed it was true.


(from: wikipedia - divine comedy)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Constantinople

Hugo Grotius - C. Paul Jennewein

We just learned about the Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial by Walker Hancock.

Another famous sculpture is the relief of Hugo Grotius by C. Paul Jennewein at the U.S. House of Representatives, made in 1950.

In the House building there are 23 different sculptures like this of famous people who worked in law and government.
Hugo Grotius was Dutch, and was a lawyer, a judge and a diplomat born in 1583.

The sculpture is made of marble and is a relief meaning there is a flat background and the face sticks out from it.

The artist Jennewein was born in Germany in 1890, and moved to the US when he was 17.
He was mostly famous for making architectural sculptures of people that were part of buildings.


(from: wikipedia - c. paul jennewein)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Double Headed Serpent

Russian - Counting to Ninety Nine

We counted to 89 in Russian, let's keep going!

90 девяносто (devyanosto) - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh 文A

91 девяносто один (devyanosto odin) - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh oh-dee-n 文A

92 девяносто два (devyanosto dva) - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh d-vah 文A

93 девяносто три (devyanosto tri) - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh t-dee 文A

94 девяносто четыре (devyanosto chetyre) - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh cheh-tee-dee 文A

95 девяносто пять (devyanosto pyat') - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh pee-yah-t 文A

96 девяносто шесть (devyanosto shest') - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh sheh-s-t 文A

97 девяносто семь (devyanosto sem') - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh seh-m 文A

98 девяносто восемь (devyanosto vosem') - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh voh-seh-m 文A

99 девяносто девять (devyanosto devyat') - sounds like deh-v-yah-noh-stoh day-v-yah-t 文A



(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: nitti, nittien, nittito, nittitre, nittifire, nittifam, nittiseks, nittisyv, nittiåtte, nittini

Greek: ενενήντα (enenínta), ενενήντα ένα (enenínta éna), ενενήντα δύο (enenínta dýo), ενενήντα τρεις (enenínta treis), ενενήντα τέσσερις (enenínta tésseris), ενενήντα πέντε (enenínta pénte), ενενήντα έξι (enenínta éxi), ενενήντα επτά (enenínta eptá), ενενήντα οκτώ (enenínta októ), ενενήντα εννέα (enenínta ennéa)

ASL: Ninety, ninety one, ninety two, ninety three, ninety four, ninety five, ninety six, ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine

Italian: novanta, novantuno, novantadoue, novantatre, novantaquattro, novantacinque, novantasei, novantasette, novantotto, novantanove

German: neunzig, einundneunzig, zweiundneunzig, dreiundneunzig, vierundneunzig, fünfundneunzig, sechsundneunzig, siebenundneunzig, achtundneunzig, neunundneunzig

Spanish: noventa, noventa y uno, noventa y dos, noventa y tres, noventa y cuatro, noventa y cinco, noventa y seis, noventa y siete, noventa y ocho, noventa y nueve

French: quatre-vingts dix, quatre-vingt onze, quatre-vingt douze, quatre-vingt treize, quatre-vingt quatorze, quatre-vingt quinze, quatre-vingt seize, quatre-vingt dix sept, quatre-vingt dix huit, quatre-vingt dix neuf

Air Brakes

We just learned about the Sand Dome.

Another part of steam locomotives is the Air Brakes.

When the engineer wants to stop the train, he pulls a lever to use the brakes.
The lever opens up something called an air reservoir which is a place where high pressured air is stored.
It is kind of like a really tight balloon filled with air, and opening it up causes the air to come blowing out.

The air goes through some tubes to get to a piece of metal called the brake shoe, and the air pressure pushes the metal brake shoe up against the wheel to stop the train.



(from: wikipedia - railway air brake)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rotor

Chinese Mountain Cat

We just learned about the Sand Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Chinese Mountain Cat, also called the Chinese desert cat or felis bieti.

This type of cat lives in western China, and there are less than 10,000 of them left in the world.
These cats have sandy colored fur with some dark stripes on their face and legs, and black tipped ears.

They are about 3 feet long, and weigh around 20 pounds.
Their tail is big and bushy and has black rings on it.


(from: wikipedia - chinese mountain cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Marrus Orthocanna

Haematopoiesis

We just learned about the Bone Marrow.

The bone marrow that makes blood cells is part of Haematopoiesis which comes from the Greek words αἷμα (aima) "blood" and ποιεῖν (poieín) "to make", so it means "to make blood".

A normal human body can make from one hundred billion to a trillion blood cells every day!


(from: wikipedia - haematopoiesis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Retina