Just Imagine!

Today's FunVidya Class

2011-03-05T19:39:00.003+05:30

Today read about:

The conical Asian hat, sedge hat, rice hat, paddy hat or coolie hat is used primarily as protection from the sun and rain. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_farmer%27s_hat.
Statue of Liberty: On the small uninhabited Liberty Island, this was the gift to the United States from the people of France. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty.
Mount Rushmore: 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore.
Volcanoes and Climate Change in Antarctica : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YWujPBASs0

Hindi Proverb Fun Mix:

हाथ कंगन को आरसी क्या

पढ़े लिखे को फारसी क्या

अभी ढूध का दूध

और पानी का पानी

हुआ जाता है!

bonjour madame

2011-01-06T16:21:00.003+05:30

Hello Madam

bonjour monsieur

2011-01-06T16:16:00.004+05:30

Hello Sir

je parle Français

2011-01-06T16:06:00.003+05:30

I Speak French

Story of Eggs

2010-10-28T22:42:00.000+05:30

It is said that Shahtoosh shawls (weighing only 160 grams) are known as "ring shawls" and that they are so fine and light that they can be passed through a wedding band and are warm enough to hatch a pigeon egg.

See http://factsanddetails.com/china.php?itemid=1040&catid=6&subcatid=38.

So, I asked my father, how much does a Shahtoosh shawl take to hatch a egg? He said, it would depend on the species of the bird!

As usual, we surfed and found interesting details at Stanford Education's web-site:

How much time different species actually spend sitting on the eggs during the incubation period is even more variable than who does the sitting. Individual bouts of incubation by many small passerines such as wrens may last less than ten minutes; an albatross, in contrast, may sit on its eggs continuously for weeks at a stretch.

Where only one parent incubates, it usually spends about two-thirds to three-quarters of the daytime hours on the eggs, and the remainder feeding. Flycatchers and others that hunt flying insects spend only slightly over half their time on the nests. Small birds have high metabolic rates, and stoking their fast-burning fires exhausts fat reserves rapidly. They could not survive even a small part of a normal albatross incubating session.

The constancy of incubation often is genetically controlled and adapted to the habitat of the species. It may have a profound effect on the ability of different species to colonize new areas. For example, two starling species, the European Starling and the Asian Crested Myna, were both introduced into North America in the late 1800s.

The species have very similar breeding habits, but the former has spread over virtually the entire continent; the latter has remained restricted to the vicinity of Vancouver where it was introduced. One hypothesis to explain the different successes of these two close relatives is that the myna's incubation constancy is genetically attuned to its subtropical homeland. It sits on its eggs for only about half of the day; the starling incubates for almost three-quarters of the hours of daylight. Although both lay clutches of 5 eggs, the starling successfully rears an average of 3.5 young per clutch; the myna manages to fledge an average of 2. This relatively low reproductive rate may account for the myna's limited success in Vancouver, compared with the explosive spread of the European Starling.

Since, in general, birds do not begin incubating until the clutch is complete, "incubation time" is defined as the period from the laying of the last egg of the clutch until that egg hatches (or, if individual eggs can't be identified, from the last egg laid to the first egg hatched). It is one more aspect of incubation that varies a great deal. Incubation time is roughly correlated with the weight of the egg. The eggs of small songbirds generally hatch in about 11 days; those of the Royal Albatross in about 80 days.

Source: http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Incubation_Time.html

Hope you enjoyed!

Introduction To Binoculars

2010-10-03T23:30:00.001+05:30

Picked up some cool facts on Binoculars -

Unlike a (monocular) telescope, binoculars give users a three-dimensional image.
A basic telescope has two magnifying glasses placed in line at a fixed distance. The front glass is the objective lens and the one near the eye is the eyepiece. As telescopes invert images, binoculars require a third element – an erecting prism to flip the image for us to enjoy a naturally magnified view of objects.
In a binocular 7x50 or 10x50, the first number “7” or “10” is the magnification. Binocular comes with magnifications from 7x to 20x.
The last number “50” is the aperture in millimeters. Larger the number, the brighter the images will appear.
Recommended size: 8x36 or 8x40 for good quality birding binoculars.
Binoculars are widely used by amateur astronomers; their wide field of view making them useful for comet and supernova seeking (giant binoculars) and general observation (portable binoculars).
Ceres, Neptune, Pallas, Titan, and the Galilean moons of Jupiter are invisible to the naked eye but can readily be seen with binoculars. Although visible unaided in pollution-free skies, Uranus and Vesta require binoculars for easy detection.

http://www.kolkatabirds.com/binocs.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binoculars

http://www.tejraj.com/binoculars.html
http://www.tweet.com/konfuciy.asp?tda=dt&t=7697&fs=binoculars

11 Collective Nouns

2010-02-02T21:56:00.000+05:30

Listing some collective nouns, for fun!

A flock of birds
A brood of chickens
A murder of crows
A dole of doves
A flush of ducks
A cast of falcons
A stand of flamingos
A gaggle of geese
A bazaar of guillemots
A colony of gulls
A brood of hens

Heliotropism

2009-09-18T15:46:00.000+05:30

Today, while solving science problems, discussed "Heliotropism" with my father. The wiki entry says:

Sunflowers in the bud stage exhibit heliotropism. At sunrise,
the faces of most sunflowers are turned towards the east. Over the course of the
day, they follow the sun from east to west, while at night they return to an
eastward orientation. This motion is performed by motor cells in the pulvinus, a
flexible segment of the stem just below the bud. As the bud stage ends, the stem
stiffens and the blooming stage is reached.

My Links

2009-07-21T16:53:00.000+05:30

Longer List at :

Masti Ki Pathshaala

Life of a Tree: http://www.domtar.com/ARBRE/english/index.asp
Making education fun and free: http://www.kidsknowit.com/
http://www.playkidsgames.com/problem_solveGames.htm
http://thinkzone.wlonk.com/

How a Make a Compass

Drawing

http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/howtodraw.html

Geography Fun

Maths Fun

Games

BBC Cbeebies: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/fun/
http://www.girlgames4u.com/
Nick India: http://www.nickindia.com/games/
Tom & Jerry: http://tomandjerry.110mb.com/
Disney: http://www.disney.in/
http://www.addictinggames.com/index.html
http://freegamegallery.com/

Space Fun

NASA Kids' Club: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html

Solar System

Solar Sytem Jigsaw: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/playspace/games/jigsaw/jigsaw.shtml
Solar System Games: http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/the-solar-system/solar-system-games/
Solar System Fun: http://nasascience.nasa.gov/kids/kids-solar-system

Quiz

How much do you know about the solar system? NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/text/games/levelfive/KC_Solar_System.html

Ram Gets Full Marks in Maths

2008-12-28T14:32:00.000+05:30

Once upon a time there lived a boy called Ram, who was very poor in Maths. One day there was a Maths test, but he was not bothered.

However, Ram was the class teacher's favorite student - because he was very good in all other subjects.

The class teacher requested the Maths teacher to make an easy question paper for Ram. The Maths teacher was angry because she not happy with Ram, but she said:

"OK, I will make an easy paper for Ram - I will given him only one table to write".

The test started and Maths teacher told Ram to write the most difficult "table of nine". Ram remembered that Maths M'am had told that the number is always the same in the first answer (times one). So, he got the first answer - 9. Similarly, he got the last answer - 90. Then he thought:

"I don't know what to write now".

He wanted to get out fast - from Second answer, he just wrote 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. For the second digit, he wrote backwards - 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

It looked like this:

9
18
27
36
45
54
63
72
81
90

He gave his answer sheet to M'am, who was surprised that all answers were correct and he got full marks in Maths.

Moral: Maths is an easy subject

BALOON SELLER

2008-11-04T21:16:00.000+05:30

Once there was a baloon seller. He had a new idea to sell baloons.

He told the children in the park to shoot his baloons.Shooting the ballons was free, but they had to buy a gun from him.

One girl shot the green baloon. One boy shot the blue baloon. Suddenly, a pellet from a gun hit a man passing by. The man got angry and ran towards the children.

The children started running.But, one small girl, who could not run, was left. Her brother came back just in time to take her home.

Moral: You should not shoot anything in public

CHINNI, MINNI

2008-10-26T10:44:00.000+05:30

Once there were two baby birds called Chinni and Minni living in a nest on the top of a tree.One day their father and mother had gone out to fetch food.

Minni started to jump here and there. Suddenly, she fell down off the tree. She tried to fly, but could not fly.

One girl called Soumya had come to the park to play. She saw minni hurt and trying to fly. She rushed back home and came back with a medicine for Minni and applied it on her where she was hurt.

Then, Soumya found a ladder and put Minni back on the nest.

MORAL: We should help animals when they are injured.
..................................
By Aditi Srivastava

ONCE THERE WAS A BUTTERFLY

2008-10-25T20:56:00.000+05:30

Once there was a beautiful butterfly in the park.

I wanted to catch her.

But, she was flying here and there. So, I had an idea to catch her.

I came back in five minutes. I was very quiet and then she came came to me, so I caught her easily.

I brought her my to my house and named her Carolina. I played with her for sometime. Then I thought that she was a bit sad so I went to the window and freed her.

MORAL: We should not catch butterflies because they are happiest when they are free.

.....
By Aditi Srivastava

This is my FIRST story

IN THE PARK

2008-10-25T16:59:00.000+05:30

In the park
We see lots of trees
With many leaves
In the park
We see many swings
In the park
We see many flowers and butterflies
In the park
We see many bushes
In the park
We see lots of grass
In the park
We see lots of beautiful things.

By Aditi Srivastava

This is my FIRST poem.