Cambodia

We just learned about the country of Brunei

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

Cambodia is a country in easter Asia, bordering Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, and the Gulf of Thailand.
About 15 million people live in Cambodia, and it is about 70,000 square miles.

People in Cambodia mostly speak the language Khmer.


(from: wikipedia - cambodia)

The flag of Cambodia is blue and red, with a picture of the Angkor Wat temple in the middle.


(from: wikipedia - flag of cambodia)

One of the national dishes of Cambodia is Fish Amok, which is fish mixed up with spices, coconut cream and eggs.
The mix is then put into a banana leaf container, and served with rice.


(from: wikipedia - fish amok)

Visiting Cambodia you might go to see Ankor Watt, a giant place of worship that is over 400 acres.


(from: wikipedia - ankor watt)

Another famous place in Cambodia is Phnom Kulen, a park with waterfalls and temples.


(from: wikipedia - phnom kulen)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Antarctic Sea Ice

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

We just learned about the Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.

Another famous hymn is A Mighty Fortress Is Our God written by Martin Luther around 1527 AD.

Luther was one of the leaders of the early church who started The Reformation, where people wanted to be able to go to different churches and worship God in their own way.

The German name for this is "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott", and when Luther was arrested and put on trial for disagreeing with the leaders of the church, he sang this hymn along with his friends while he was walking into the trial.

It was a very famous hymn during the time of the reformation, as people felt it gave them strength through God.


(from: wikipedia - a mighty fortress is our god)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Teutonic Order

Double Negative - Michael Heizer

We just learned about the 43 Roaring Forty by Carl Andre.

Another famous work of American Land Art is Double Negative by Michael Heizer, made in Nevada in 1969.

Artist Heizer was born in California in 1944, and became famous for making art that looked at positive and negative, and art where there is an empty space with something missing, or if something is there.

In the the desert in Nevada, he took a big rock and carved out two big trenches, each one 30 feet wide, 50 feet deep and 1,500 feet long.
He removed 244,000 tons of rock to make these trenches.

In between the trenches is a canyon, so it is like a long trench, then a big missing place where the canyon is, and then it connects to the other trench.

244,000 tons of it to make a trench.
There are canyons on either side of the trench, so it just looks like there is a big piece missing from this rock.

The artwork is called "Double Negative" with negative meaning missing. Because the trenches are like holes that are missing rocks, and then there is a missing space between the trenches, that is double missing or double negative.



(from: wikipedia - double negative (artwork)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Johns Hopkins - Hans Schuler

Swahili - May, June

Let's keep learning about the months of the year in Swahili!

We already learned that January, February is Januari, Februari, and March, April is Machi, Aprili.

Let's keep going!

May - Mei - sounds like may-ee 文A

June - Juni - sounds like joo-nee 文A



(from: wikipedia - swahili language)

Russian: Май (May), Июнь (Iyun')

Norwegian: Mai, Juni

Greek: Μάιος (Máios), Ιούνιος (Ioúnios)

ASL: May, June

Italian: Maggio, Giugno

German: Mai Juni

Spanish: Mayo, Junio

French: Mai, Juin

Starter

We just learned about the Alternator.

Another part of a car is the Starter.

We know that the engine takes in gas for fuel and the explosion of the gas moves the pistons go up and down.
The power of the exploding gas is enough to drive the car and also keep the pistons moving until they run out of fuel.

When a car is turned off, the pistons can't just move by themselves the first time, they need some way to start the engine moving for the first time.
It's kind of like a campfire. As long as you keep putting wood on the fire it will keep going, but first you have to start the fire.

Car engines use something called a Starter to get things going the first time.
The starter takes electric power from the energy saved up in the car's battery.
It uses that electricity to power an electric motor, which spins a gear around and uses that power to get the engine moving the first time.

That starter gets turned on when someone either pushes the button or turns the car keys, and the engine starts up.



(from: wikipedia - starter (engine))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: North River Steamboat

Zanzibar Red Colobus

We just learned about the Mantled Guereza.

Another type of Old World Monkey is the Zanzibar Red Colobus, also called Kirk's red colobus.

This is a type of monkey that lives only on the island of Zanzibar.
Their fur can be white, red and black.
Usually their back is red, and they have a black stripe on their sides and arms, their belly is white and their face is black.

They don't get very big, only about 25 pounds.
One funny thing is that these monkeys smell bad, and are called "kima punju" which means "poison monkey" and some people used to think that their bad smell was bad magic that killed the trees.

Most primates have a thumb that sticks out a little different, but these monkeys are part of the "colobus" family, which means "he cut short".
The name is because they only have a tiny little thumb, but they have longer fingers than most monkeys.



(from: wikipedia - zanzibar red colobus)


The Red Colobus Monkey of Zanzibar, One Of The Rarest Primates In The World - Tekweni


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Marbled Cat

Human Ear

We just learned about Metastasis and a whole bunch of other things about Cancer.

Let's move on to learn about the Human Ear!

The ear is the part of the human body that takes in sound waves from the air and turns them into messages that our brain can understand.

It also helps balance, telling us when our head is straight up, or tipped over.

Ears are also one place on the body that people have worn jewelry and piercings for thousands of years.

Some people have big ears, some have little ears, and some have ears like an elf but they all help give one of the important 5 senses of the body.


(from: wikipedia - ear)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rheum