Kids wisdom: general knowledge

Showing posts with label general knowledge. Show all posts

There are no rivers in Saudi Arabia.
Australia is the only country which is also a continent.
The city of Istanbul spreads across two continents - Asia and Europe.

Istanbul
At the nearest point, Russia and America are less than 4km apart.
La Paz in Bolivia is so high above sea level that there is barely enough oxygen in the air to support a fire.

La Paz
More than 75% of all the countries in the world are north of the Equator.
About one tenth of the Earth's surface is permanently covered with ice.
Imagine if a teddy bear were to come alive and somehow resemble a cat! Well, that's how a Olinguito the new tree-dwelling mammal looks like! It lives on fruit and has only one baby at a time.

Olinguito

It is the tiniest member of the raccoon family of mammals. An olinguito is easily mistaken for its cousin, the olingo. But the former has a rounder face, tinier ears and a shorter tail. This shy 'bear-cat' is a night animal and has made the cloud forests of Eucador and Columbia its home.

Olinguito stuffed toys are already popular in America.

Its been a long traditional practice to teach our kids, the alphabets saying A for Apple, B for Ball, C for Cat and so on. Why not teach in this way...

Alphabets

A for Ambition – elevates you to higher ideas

B for Brotherhood – binds one and all together

C for Cleanliness – must to get kids cultivated with it from childhood

D for Daddy – who works hard for our health, wealth and education

E for Enthusiasm – is the first step for reaching success

F for Friendship - which can be never bough but can be won with love

G for God – Who created us, loves us and helps us to live with love

H for Health – our greatest wealth

I for Immortality – gained through great sacrifices and selfless deeds

J for Joy – brightens our day and sweetens our life

K for Kindness – miracle to drive sadness away and shower sunshine to poor, weak and sick

L forLove – like sun it warms itself and all others around

M for Mother – who is divine, the very symbol of sacrifice and whose only concern is family’s welfare

N for Nobility – biggest jewel of our characters

O for Obedience – which must be always shown to Mother, Father, Teacher and God

P for Prayer – greatest solace and protection under all circumstances

Q for Quiet – so precious and rare

R for Righteousness – which we must imbibe in all our thoughts, words and deeds

S for Smile – should be our motto towards all

T for Truth – to be adhered to all at all times

U for Unity – must know that united we will stand, but once divided we will fall

V for Victory – all your aspiration should be victory of goodness over evil

W for Work – didecated service and key to win God’s love

X for eXcellence – gained only be being sincere and regular in studies

Y for Youth – best period for striving hard to reach our goal

Z for Zeal – which helps in all our endeavours

Elephant and horse sleep in standing posture.
Octopus has got 3 hearts.
Lizard doesn't drink water at all.
Average human brain weighs about 1360gms.
Thomas Alva Edison was asked to drop out of school by his teacher as he was weak in science.
Newton formulated the Laws of Motion, Laws of Gravitation and Laws of cooling before he was 20 years.
Yak's milk is in violet color.
Giraffe is incapable of making any sound.
Cat's cannot see if there is total darkness.
Fish are capable of growing till death.

There are 2 billion bacteria in just one teaspoon of soil and millions more fungi, protozoa and algae.
Bamboo can grow three feet in just one day.

A cricket crawls toward the leaves of a Venus flytrap that can shut tight, trapping the insect.

There are over 500 types of meat eating plants growing in the world.
Bees use a special dance to tell other bees where to find flower. That dance is called Waggle dancing.
Beetles are popular pets in Japan.

Wat Pa Maha temple in Thailand made of glass bottles

Wat Pa Maha temple in Thailand is made over one million bottles.
Scientists believe they have identified a flower that is 120 million years old.

Leefructus

Whales

Whales are the largest animals that have ever lived on earth - even larger than dinosaurs. Unfortunately, now they are in danger of becoming extinct. These magnificent creatures are threatened by whaling, garbage, chemicals, noise, fishing lines and more.

Did you know?

Whales are mammals, which means they are warm blooded and breathe air like us although they live in water.
A whale's nose is on the top of its head and is called a blowhole. A single breathe from a blue whale can inflate 2000 balloons! Isn't it amazing?
The largest whales are blue whales. In fact, they are the largest creature ever to live on Earth.
Ten whale species are on the endangered list, including the baleen, blue, and right whales.

Saving whales

Greenpeace is an organisation that has been saving whales over 30 years. They can show you how to write letters to newspapers and how to help get people to pay attention to whales problems http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/whaling/

Where would you find the Bad lands?
What is called 'Whispering bells'?
What is Vihuela?
What is the capital of Bahama Islands?
BIMSTEC stands for?
Where is Transylvania?
What was the peculiar feature of the Royalists?
In music, what does polytonality mean?
Name the first American to win the Nobel prize for literature.
Name the renowned American novelist who wrote ' The great gatsby'.

Answers:

In South dakota, USA
Plants of the water leaf family, 8 to 14 inches high.
A spanish musical instrument.
Nassau
Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Srilanka and Thailand council for Economic Co-operation.
The western part of Rumania.
They wore ringlets.
Simultaneous use of several keys.
Sinclair Lewis.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Types of Dinosaurs

All talks about Dinosaur have so far been an astonishing information for us. And it will continue to be also. Kids, here are some fun facts giving the meanings to the names of Dinosaur group. Most of the namesare connecting to Lizards. Sure there should be some sort of similarities between Dinosaurs and Lizards. The vivid similarity is the face.

Tyrannosaurus rex means 'King of the tyrant lizards'.
Brachiosaurus means 'Arm lizard'.
Maiasaura means 'Good mother lizard'.
Ankylosaurus means 'Stiff or fused lizard'.
Triceratops means 'Three horns on the face'.
Stegosaurus means 'Roof lizard'.
Deinonychus means 'Terrible caw'
Ornithomimus means 'Like an ostrich'.
Parasaurolophus means 'Beside ridged lizard'.
Compsognathus means 'Elegant jaw'.

In 1853, an English sugeon named Joseph Lister observed that almost half of the patients on whom he performed amputations died of dreadful infections. Standards of hygine in operating theatres at this time were so bad that to be taken to hospital was almost a death sentence. Lister developed a system of cleaning everything that came into contact with a patients wounds with an 'antiseptic' called carbolic acid. He was able to prove that this method destroyed germs and greatly reduced infection.

Now there are numerous antiseptics available in the market. Savlon, Dettol, Betadin, Vicco products are some antiseptics which are popular. Also these antiseptics are available in the form of cream, liquid, hand wash, wipes, band-aids and mouth wash.

Molecular structure of pencillin

Ancient egyptians used mouldy bread to prevent wounds becoming infected. This is not as strange an idea as it sounds. In 1928, Scottish Professor Alexander Fleming was clearing out his laboratory when he noticed a dish of bacteria had become contaminated by a mould called Pencillium notatum. he observed that the bacteria had been killed where they had come into contact with the mould. after refiinement, the mould became the first antibiotic wonder-drug, now known as 'Pencillin'.

In the time before radio communication and mobile phones, issuing urgent orders within the navy was very difficult. It was fine to shout loud enough for the seamen on your own ship to hear, but communicating with other ships while under attack was almost impossible.

In 1800, Sir Home Riggs Popham, a rear admiral, came up with a clever way of signalling to other ships. he devised a code which involved hoisting flags, each with a differently coloured design. the code was known as Telegraphic Signals of Marine Vocabulary.

The tallest flagpole to be toppled by birds is a massive wooden structurre that originally stood in kew Gardens in London, england. when it was first constructed in 1959, the mole measured 69 metres tall, which made it the world's tallest flagpole at the time. Since then it has been shortened a number of times to make it safe. Then, in august 2007, the pole was taken down because it had become too dangerous to raise a flag. woodpeckars had damaged it making the pole unsafe.

Today, the tallest flagpoles dont have this problem. They are made of metal, which would give a curious woodpeckar a heck of a headache.

World's cheapest car is produced in India - Nano by Tata Motors.
World's first airmail system - between Allahabad and Nainital(1911)
World's first fingerprint bureau - kolkata(1897)
World's first muslim judge of an apex court - Justice Fathima Beevi, Supreme court of India
World's first country to aopt Family Planning (1952)
World's first woman airmarshal - Padma Bandopadhyaya, Indian air Force (2004).
`World's first woman president of UN General Assembly - Vijayalakshmi Pandit (1953).
World's highest airport - Leh (Ladakh)
World's highest ATM - SBI ATM at Ladakh (12000) feet.
World's highest battlefield - Saichen.

Rubber band bracelets

One of the most commonly used things in any house-hold in any part of the world is, the rubber band. The rubber band was first made in London in 1823 by Sir Thomas Hancock. Since then, there have been many improvemnts in the quality of the rubber band and it has come to be adjudged as one of the most important inventions of the 20th century.

Even though the rubber band is used extensilvely as a packing aid, some people hit upon the idea of making a rubber ball by simply stretching rubber bands, one over the other. The world record ( as recognised by Guinness Book) is held by John Bane of Wilmington, Delaware, USA. Here are the statistics of the biggest rubber band ball in the world.

Weight - 2800 lbs

Height - 5 feet

Diameter - 15 feet

Time taken - 4 years, 2 months

Number of rubber bands used - 5 lakh, 50 thousand

cost - 12,000 dollars

Why does a rubber ball bounce?

Rubber is viscoelastic material which means it is both viscous and elastic. Rubber is characterized by its resilence - if you drop it from a height of 1 metre, then it will bounce back to 0.5 to 0.7 metre depending on the rubber type and resilence value. Higher the resilence, higher is the bounce which means higher elasticity and lesser viscosity.

Generally, butadiene rubber has higher resilence property, followed by natural rubber. Due to this resilence property of rubber, it is used in tyres, etc.

Trees in Rain forest

How to determine the age of a tree?

If you come across a timber depot, stop a bit and look closely at the cross-section of a tree trunk. You will observe a series of concentric circle. these circles indicate the age of a tree.

How does it happen?

When a tree grows, two types of layers grow around its trunk every year, one soft, the other hard. These layers grow around in circles. External factors such as extreme cold, heat, famine, excessive rain etc., determine the shape, size, and thickness of the layers. Since this takes place once every year, the age of the tree can easily be calculated.

Glutinous sticky rice cements were used in ancient chineese historic buildings that even bulldozer could do nothing in it.
To avoid your great ideas from sinking Aquanotes (myaquanotes.com) has created a pad of waterproof paper with suction caps and a pencil that works in all conditions.
Blind people learn the Braille alphabet. They use the touch and feel technology. In most of the developed countries, the floor identification board in elevators are facilitated with Braille. Have a look on the alphabets and numbers of Braille.

Braille
Plankton are the small water animals that feed on tiny plants and animals.
Spinneret is the scientific name for the spinning tubes of a spider.
Convex mirror is used in a motor vehicle to see the traffic behind it.
Kabuki is the Japanese class of drama performed solely by men and characterized by elaborate scenery and heavy make-up.
France is the country that does not have mosquitoes. So the mosquito repellent companies have no chance of entering France!

Kids, Do you know that sugar and chocolate come from plants? Look out how?

Sugar

Sugar comes from Sugar cane and Sugarbeet plants. See how.

From Sugarcane

Sugarcane

The tall canes are cut down and taken to factory called sugar mill. There they are shredded and crushed between rollers that squeeze out the juice. The juice is then boiled with lime. This gets rid of the unwanted bits in the juice. It is then boiled to make syrup and small lumps of sugar crystals. A centrifuge seprates the brown crystals from the syrup. The crystals are taken to other countries and refined into white sugar.

From Sugarbeet

Sugarbeet

Sugar beets grow in cooler places. the leaves are removed, and the plants are taken to a factory. There they are washed, sliced and spun in hot water. The sugar then passes out into the water. This is boiled and treated then like cane juice.

Making white sugar

Brown sugar crysals are made into white sugar after refinery. The crystals are put in a pan and covered in dried molasses. The molasses is melted in warm syrup. A centrifuge separates this from the crystals. The crystals are dissolved in waer. The unwanted parts are removed, and they turn white. The syrup is cooked in a closed pan. Crystals are then added. This makes white sugar form. It is removed and dried. It is poured into packets.

Chocolate

Cocoa tree

Chocolates are made using cocoa trees that grow in South America and Africa. The cocoa beans grow in large pods and are picked when they are nicely ripen. Each pod contains about 40 beans. The beans are left under damp banana leaves for 6 days, to give them a nice taste.

Then they are dried in sun, put in sacks and taken to abroad factories through ships. There the beans are cleaned and roasted. The insides are removed and ground to paste. Cocoa butter is squeezed out of the cocoa paste.

Cocoa butter, cocoa paste, sugar and fat are made into liquid chocolate and poured out in desired moulds to form tasty chocolates.

cocoa pod with beans inside

Toothpaste forms an important role in our life. We start our daily activities with it. While so many brands with so many flavours and colors reside, how many of us really know whats the ingredients of toothpaste. If you dont know then get into this...

The following are the ingredients that are put in sealed mixer for 3 hours.

Polisher: powder made from bauxite
Humectant: stops paste from dring up and is made from maize
Binder: keeps paste well mixed. This ismade from wood pulp.
Detergent: cleans teeth and makes paste foamy. made from chemicals.
germicide:Chemicals for killing germs
Fluoride; chemical that helps keep teeth strong
Flavour: makes paste taste nice. Made from plant such as mint.
Saccharin: makes paste sweet. This is a chemical made from coal.

The lids of the tubes are put on while the bottoms are left open to fill up this mix by a machine and later they are sealed by another machine.

The Dandy is Britain's oldest comic still being published. It was launched on 4 December 1937 by D.C. Thomson & Co. and has been issued weekly ( apart from world war II). 'Dessperate Dan' sotries have apperared in every issue.
The Beano is Britain's second oldest comic still being published. It was launched on 30 July 1938 by D.C. Thomson & Co. and is issued weekly and 'Dennis and menace' stories have appeared in every issue except once since 17 March 1951. The Dennis The Menace Fan club (founded in 1976) has over one and a quarter million members.
Watch a video of The Beano here..

The Dandy and The Beano recorded their highest combined weekly sale on 22 April 1950 when the figure exceeded 4 000 000 - The Dandy, 2 035 310; The Beano, 1 974 072. both comics have produced Christmas annuals each year without a break. The first Dandy annual, The Dandy Monster Comic, was publisheed in 1938, and the first Beano annual, The Beano book, was published in 1939. Learn more »

A humming bird weighs less than a penny.
April 22nd is world’s earth day promoting reuse, reduce and recycle way of life.
Mangroves thrive in salty water, unlike other trees for which salt is a deadly poison. Mangroves pump salt out of their roots and store it in leaves that they are about to shed. As a result they can drink sea water with no apparent ill-effects.
An avalanche can carry as much as a million tonnes of snow, sending ahead of it a shock wave of air that blasts almost everything on its path. Anyone trapped inside is likely to be crushed or suffocated to death.
A medical species of anise (saunf) grows profusely on the island of java & Sumatra and is used to treat snake-bite and its efficacy is proven to be 100%.
Woodpecker scalps, porpoise teeth and giraffe tails have all been used to make money.
Portugese jellyfish tentacles have been known to grow mile in length, catching anything in its path by stinging its prey.

Llamas are reported to be inquisitive, friendly animals. A llama greeting is marked by softly blowing on each other. According to animal experts, a soft blow to a person is the llama’s way of saying hello.
Octopi and squids can express emotions by changing the colour of their skin. Normally brown, their skin can become green or blue when they are frightened or trying to attract a mate.
Young birds such as ducks, geese and shore birds are born with their eyes open.
Lobsters like grasshoppers feel no pain. They have a decentralised nervous system with no cerebral cortex, which in humans is where a painful stimuli proceeds.
Polyp, fish, worm, plant, crab, mollusc and plankton in symbiotic relationship ( the habitual living together of organisms of different species) make up a coral reef.
Not all male lions have manes. Many lion specimens have bare shoulders. Some male lions in Central Africa have more than a slight ruff of hair at each side of the chin.
An octopus will eat its own arms if it gets famished.

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