White Christmas

We just learned about the Christmas song Jingle Bells.

Another famous Christmas song is White Christmas, written by Irving Berlin in 1940.

Berlin wrote songs and plays, and wrote this song for his play Holiday Inn, about some people falling in love around Christmas time.
When he wrote the song, he called up his secretary and said it was not just the best song he ever wrote, but the best song anybody every wrote.

The actor and singer Bing Crosby was in the film Holiday Inn, and his deep voice singing the song is the most famous version that everyone knows.
During World War II many people were sad about soldiers being in the war during Christmas time.
So in 1942 a lot of people liked this song for Christmas, because of the part that says "Just like the ones I used to know".

Bing Crosby's version of Irving Berlin's song is said to be the most popular song every made, with over 50 million people buying the song.
Even though it is a great and famous song, Crosby said that anybody could have sang it as well as him, and he once said "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully".


(from: wikipedia - white christmas (song))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Protestant Reformation

Daniel - Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting of Isaiah.

Another of Michelangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel was of the prophet Daniel.

In the Bible Daniel was a prophet who could tell what people's dreams meant.
His most famous story in the Bible was about the Lion's Den, but in Michelangelo's painting it just shows him thinking and holding a book.


(from: wikipedia - sistine chapel ceiling)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Birth of the Muses - Jacques Lipchitz

Hindi - Black, White, Brown, Gray

We just learned that in Hindi, red, orange and yellow are लाल (laal), नारंगी (naarangee), पीला (peela), and green, blue, purple, pink are हरा (hara), नीला (neela), बैंगनी (bainganee), गुलाबी (gulaabee).

Let's learn some more colors!

black - काला (kaala) - sounds like kah-lah - 文A

white - सफेद (saphed) - sounds like sah-fay-d - 文A

brown - भूरा (bhoora) - sounds like boo-drah - 文A

gray - ग्रे (gre) - sounds like gray - 文A



(from: wikipedia - devanagari)

Swahili: nyeusi, nyeupe, , kahawia, kijivu

Russian: черный (chernyy), белый (belyy), коричневый (korichnevyy), серый (seryy)

Norwegian: svart, hvit, brun, grå

Greek: μαύρο, λευκό, καφέ, γκρι

ASL: black, white, brown, gray

Italian: nero, bianco, marrone, grigio

German: schwarz, weiß, braun, grau

Spanish: negro, blanco, marrón, gris

French: noir, blanc, brun, gris

Sound Card

We just learned about the Hard Drive.

Another part of a computer is a Sound Card also called an audio card or audio interface.

When computers were first made, about the only sound they could make was a BEEP sound.
Then later they were able to make different beeps that could make music.

Eventually people wanted to actually play songs or watch shows on their computers and hear actual sounds.
Most old computer motherboards couldn't do that, so people had to buy a thing called a sound card that plugged into a motherboard.

These days most computers can play music and sounds for movies without having an extra card that has to be plugged in, but sometimes professional people that are making music or movies want to have even better sound might still need an extra piece of hardware to make it better.


(from: wikipedia - sound card)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Coupling

Diademed Sifaka

We just learned about the Woolly Lemur.

Another type of lemur is the Diademed Sifaka, also called the simpona, ankomba joby, or propithecus diadema.

These sifakas are very large, growing to weigh around 6 kilograms, and about 105 centimeters long, with a very long tail.
They are very colorful, with long soft silky fur.
Diadem is another word for crown, and these lemurs are called diademed because they have a circle of white fur around their face that looks like a crown.
They have grey backs, black hands and feet, and golden legs and taile.

Like other lemurs these primates live mostly in the trees, but they travel a long distance every day to try and protect the land they call home.
With their big strong legs, they can climb through the trees at 30 kilometers per hour, and will go over 1.5 kilometers every day.

If there is danger, the diadamed sifakas will make a sound like a kiss and a sneeze combined.


(from: wikipedia - diademed sifaka)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Primates

Nasal Ridge

We just learned about the Nasal Root.

Another part of the nose is the Nasal Ridge.

This is the long part of the nose that starts with the nasal root at the top and goes down to the tip of the nose.


(from: wikipedia - human nose)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Antibody

Trinidad and Tobago

We just learned about the country of Jamaica

Let's learn a little about the country of Trinidad and Tobago!

This country is in the Caribbean, just north of the South American country of Venezuela.
The main big island is Trinidad, and the smaller main island is Tobago.
There are about 30 total islands in this country, with the others all smaller than Tobago.
The total land of all the islands is about 5,000 square kilometers, and about 1.3 million people live there.
The people in this country mostly speak either English or Creole.


(from: wikipedia - Trinidad and Tobago)

The flag of Trinidad and Tobago is red, with a black diagonal line, and two white diagonal lines on it.
The red is for courage and the fire of the sun, the black is for dedication and the earth, and the white is for purity and water.


(from: wikipedia - flag of trinidad and tobago)

To eat in this country you might have food called doubles, which is flat fried dough filled with chickpeas and curry.


(from: wikipedia - doubles (food))

Visiting this country you might go to Pigeon Point, to see one of the best beaches in the country.

(from: wikipedia - pigeon point, tobago)

Trinidad has a place called Pitch Lake, which is the largest deposit of asphalt in the world, with around 10 million tons.

(from: wikipedia - pitch lake)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Estonia