Ninety-Five Theses

We just learned about the Swiss Guard.

Another part of early Christianity is the Ninety-Five Theses.

In the year 1517, a man named Martin Luther who was a monk and a priest disagreed with some of the things that the Catholic Church was doing.

In those days if someone sinned, they had to ask for forgiveness, but also pay money to the church, and this was called an indulgence.
Luther did not think it was right for people to pay money for sins, so he wrote a paper with his ideas as to why it was wrong, and called it his 95 theses.

He took them to the church and nailed them to the door, which was what people usually did when they wanted to talk about a problem.
His paper caused a lot of people to fight about his ideas, and many people were very upset with him for writing this paper, and demanded that he take it back.
He did not, and that caused a lot of changes in the future of the church.


(from: wikipedia - ninety-five theses)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Saint David

Winged Man - Richard Hunt

We just learned about the Dogon Mother and Child by Jerry Harris.

Another famous American sculpture is Winged Man - Richard Hunt.

Hunt was born in Chicago, and grew up learning about art.
He started making sculptures in the 1960s when it was a difficult time for African American people to be allowed to make public sculptures.

There are many of his sculptures all over Chicago and the US, like the Winged Man sculpture made in 1987 in Chicago.


(from: wikipedia - richard hunt (sculptor))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Statue of Charles Sumner - Thomas Ball

Swahili Alphabet

We just learned how to Count to ten in Swahili.

The Swahili alphabet looks pretty much like the English one, but there are some letters missing, and some grouped letters that sound different.

Swahili does not use the letters q or x, and the letter c is always grouped with the letter h for a ch sound like in the word chew.

The grouped letters are ch, dh, gh, kh, ng', ny, sh, th and ts.

ch - like "ch" in chew
dh - like "th" in they.
gh - like the French "r" letter, which is made by almost closing up the back of your throat and then making a sound.
kh - like a cat hissing sound with the back of the throat.
ng' - like "ng" in ringer.
ny - like saying nyah nyah.
sh - like "sh" in shed.
th - like "th" in thumb.



(from: wikipedia - swahili language)

The Russian alphabet: Аа, Бб, Вв, Гг, Дд, Ее, Ёё, Жж, Зз, Ии, Йй, Кк, Лл, Мм, Нн, Оо, Пп, Рр, Сс, Тт, Уу, Фф, Хх, Цц, Чч, Шш, Щщ, Ыы, Ээ, Юю, Яя

The Norwegian alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Æ, Ø, Å The Greek alphabet: Α, Β, Γ, Δ, Ε, Ζ, Η, Θ, Ι, Κ, Λ, Μ, Ν, Ξ, Ο, Π, Ρ, Σ, Τ, Υ, Φ, Χ, Ψ, Ω

ASL alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

The Italian alphabet looks the same as the English alphabet.

The German alphabet has the letters ä, ö, ü, ß

The Spanish alphabet:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G H, I, J, K, L, LL, M, N, Ñ O, P, Q, R, RR, S, T, U V, W, X, Y, Z

The French alphabet:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G H, I, J, K, L, M, N O, P, Q, R, S, T, U V, W, X, Y, Z

Leaf Spring

We just learned about the Blastpipe.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Leaf Spring.

When a train bounces up and down when it hits a bumpy part of a track, these leaf springs help make it less bouncy.
Just like the shocks in a car that help the car not bounce around so much, these springs make a smoother train ride.

Leaf springs are made up of a bunch of flat metal pieces with different lengths all stacked on top of each other, bent in a shape so that when the train hits a bump it will use the bent shape to help smooth out the bump.
The spring will flatten out to help absorb the bump, and then after the bump it will go back to its bent shape.


(from: wikipedia - leaf spring)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Stem

Asian Semi-longhair

We just learned about the Cyprus Cat.

Another type of cat is the Asian Semi-longhair.

This cat is also sometimes called by the name of Tiffanie.

It is a gentle cat that has a lot of energy and personality.
These cats love their owners so much that they get jealous if other cats come around, and they will meow a lot if they do not get enough attention from their owner.


(from: wikipedia - asian semi-longhair)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Velarium

Thymus

We just learned about the Phagocytosis.

Another part of the immune system is the Thymus.

We learned before about the type of lymphocyte white blood cells called T cells that go to the thymus to grow.

The thymus is only a few inches long and wide, but it is very important.
When young T cells leave the bone marrow to go to the thymus they are called thymocytes.

The thymocytes get to the thymus and then they are put to the antigen test.
Antigens are things that are part of the human body, but also part of viruses.
We want our T cells to fight against virus antigens, but not human body antigents.
So this thing called the MHC tests to see if the young thymocyte is a virus fighter.

If it is a virus fighter, this is called "positive selection" and it gets to grow up to a T cell and leave the thymus.
If not, this is caled "negative selection" then it has to be destroyed or it could hurt the body.


(from: wikipedia - thymus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fovea

Croatia

We just learned about the country of Bulgaria

Let's learn a little about the country of Croatia!

Croatia is in central eastern Europe, on the Adriatic Sea. It borders Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is across the sea from Italy.
There are about 4 million people in Croatia, and it is about 57,000 square miles.


(from: wikipedia - croatia)

The flag of Croatia is red, white, and blue with the coat of arms of Croatia on the middle.
The colors are for the three old kingdoms of Croatia:
- Red and white - Croatia
- Blue and white - Slavonia
- Blue and yellow - Dalmatia

The coat of arms has a red and white checkerboard for the old kingdom of Croatia, and then five small shield shapes for the history of the different people that lived in Croatia: - Croatia - A gold star over a crescent moon on a blue background
- Dubrovnik - Two red stripes on a dark sheild
- Dalmatia - Three yellow crowned leopard heads
- Istria - A golden goat on a blue background
- Slavonia - A gold star over a picture of a black marten with a red and white background


(from: wikipedia - flag of croatia)

To eat in Croatia you might have pašticada, which is like beef stew with bacon, garlic, onions and spices.

(from: wikipedia - pašticada)

Diocletian's palace is an ancient palace built around 500 AD for the Roman emperor Diocletian.

(from: wikipedia - diocletian's palace)

There is an ancient Roman arena that was made around 27 BC, and is the only Roman ampitheater that still has all of its four side towers.

(from: wikipedia - pula arena)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Transantarctic Mountains