Beta Flag

We just learned about the Alpha Flag.

Another of the maritime flags is the Beta Flag, used for the letter B.

This flag also means "I am taking in or discharging or carrying dangerous goods."

This flag is swallowtail shaped, and the red color is called gules.


(from: wikipedia - international maritime signal flags)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Display Resolution

Necklace Starfish

We just learned about the Antarctic Sun Starfish.

Another type of starfish is the Necklace Starfish, also called the Fromia Monilis or Tiled Starfish.

This starfish lives in the Indian or Pacific oceans, near Australia and Japan.
They can grow to be around 12 inches wide, they have a red circle in the middle, their arm tips are red, and the rest of their arms are white.

These starfish are sometimes used in aquariums, but they have to actually keep them dirty for the starfish to eat the algea or the starfish will starve to death.
In the wild they can eat on other things like sponges or very small sea creatures.


(from: wikipedia - fromia monilis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: White Faced Saki

Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep

We just learned about the Circadian Clock.

Another part of sleep is Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep.

We learned before about Rapid Eye Movement Sleep that happens when you are in deep sleep.
Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep is also called NREM, or quiescent sleep, and this is the part where you are falling asleep but aren't in deep sleep yet.


(from: wikipedia - non-rapid eye movement sleep)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Organ of Corti

Shanghai, China

We just learned about the Chinese city of Chongqing.

Let's learn a little about the city of Shanghai!

This city is in China.
It is about 6,341 square kilometers, and about 24 million people live there.
The people in this city speak Shanghainese, or Mandarin.


(from: wikipedia - shanghai)

Shanghai has a lot of sports teams, like the soccer teams Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai Port, basketball team Shanghai Sharks, and baseball team Shanghai Golden Eagles.

(from: wikipedia - shanghai sports)

To eat in this city you might have xiaolongbao which are steamed buns or dumplings.

(from: wikipedia - xialongbao)

Visiting this city you might go see the city of Lujiazui, which has a beautiful group of huge skyscrapers.

(from: wikipedia - Lujiazui)

Another interesting place is the Yu Garden, built first in 1559 AD.
This garden has six large areas with ponds, statues, bridges and plants, and each area is separated by a "dragon wall"


(from: wikipedia - yu garden)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Yemen

Tower of Babel

We just learned about Noah's Ark.

In chapter 11 of Genesis, it tells the story of the Tower of Babel.

This story talks about a tall building called the Tower of Babel that people built.
God was not super happy because he had told people to go all over the world and believe in him.

So because they were just believing in themselves and not trusting in God, he made it so people couldn't talk to each other, and changed all their languages.


(from: wikipedia - tower of babel)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: O Holy Night

Van Gogh - Garden of the Hospital in Arles

We just learned about Van Gogh's painting of Sunflowers.

Another of Van Gogh's famous paintings is the Garden of the Hospital in Arles.

In 1888, Van Gogh had a breakdown and cut off his ear.

He went to the hospital, and while he was there he made this famous painting.


(from: wikipedia - hospital in arles)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Michelangelo

Arabic - Hello and Goodbye

We've now learned a whole year of Hindi!
Wow!

Let's try another language now, how about Arabic?

This is the language spoken by hundreds of millions of people acros the world, mostly in Africa and Asia.

Arabic uses a different alphabet than English, called abjad.
It has 28 letters, and the vowels are just the consonants with small marks called diacritics above them.
Probably the biggest difference between Arabic and English is that it is written from right to left instead of left to right!

Let's learn how to say hello and goodbye in Arabic!

To say hello in Arabic you would say mrhaban, sounds like mah-dr-hah-ben 文A

In the Arabic letters it looks like this: مرحبًا

To say goodbye you say mae alsalamati, sounds like mah-ah-l-sah-lah-mah-ti 文A

In the Arabic letters it looks like this: مع السلامة!



(from: wikipedia - lebanese academy of sciences)

Hindi: नमस्ते (Namaste), अलविदा (Alavida)

Swahili: Jambo, Hujambo, Habari, Mambo, Shikamoo

Russian: Привет (privet), Здравствуй (Zdravstvuy), Пока (poka), до свидания (do svidaniya)

Norwegian: Hei, Hallo, Ha det, Ha det brah

Greek: Γειά σου (Geiá sou), Χαίρετε (Chairete), Αντίο (Antío)

ASL: Hello and Goodbye

Italian: Ciao, arrivederci

German: Hallo, Auf Wiedersehen

Spanish: Hola! Adiós!

French: Bonjour! Au Revoir!