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Palau

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Palau

“Our Palau”

  • Palau is an archipelago of 200 to 250 islands that are included in Micronesia, located in the western area of the Pacific Ocean, south east of the Philippines, that make up an area totalling 459 square kilometres (177 square miles).
  • The official languages of Palau are Palauan and English, and regional languages acknowledged and spoken include Japanese, Tobian and Sonsorolese.
  • ‘Palau’ is also known as the ‘Republic of Palau’, ‘Pelew’ and ‘Belau’, and the name possibly comes from the native Palauan word ‘beluu’, meaning ‘village’.
  • Palau is the home to approximately 21,000 people and has 16 states, with the Koror state having the greatest population with more than 12,000.
  • Palau was most likely originally settled by Filipino people, thousands of years ago, and during its history, it has been controlled by Spain, Germany, Japan and the United States, and it finally became independent in 1994.
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Part of Palau
Image courtesy of Lux Tonnerre/Flickr
  • Palau had a GDP of $164 million in 2008, and its main industries include fishing, agriculture and tourism, particularly snorkelling and scuba-diving.
  • Food popularly eaten in Palau includes yam, rice, fish, taro, cassava, and pork.
  • The currency used in Palau is the US dollar, and the country is governed by a president and state chiefs.
  • In Palau, baseball is a common sport which was introduced by Japanese in the early 1900s, and soccer is also played.
  • Palau has an airport, buses, taxis and boats, as well as roads totalling a length of 61 kilometres (38 miles).
Bibliography:
About Palau, 2014, National Government, http://palaugov.org/about-palau/
Palau, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palau

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Clothespin

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Clothespin

Why don’t you pin these clothespin facts?

  • Clothespins are devices typically used for attaching clothes to a clothesline or airer.
  • ‘Clothespins’ are also known as ‘clothes pins’, ‘clothes-pegs’, ‘clothes pegs’ and ‘pegs’.
  • Clothespins are most commonly used for pegging up wet clothes, for the purpose of drying, on washing lines outside.
  • Clothespins are believed to have been first patented early in the 1800s, by Jérémie Opdebec, which was the traditional one piece design, and they were commonly made by hand by English gypsies.
  • Traditional styled one piece clothespins are usually made of wood although they are sometimes made from plastic, and are often called ‘dolly pegs’, as they were, and still are, also used for making peg dolls.

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  • The more modern styled clothespin was invented in 1853, by David Smith of Vermont’s Springfield, United States and featured two separate pieces of wood and a spring, and was later improved upon in 1887 by Solon E. Moore.
  • Clothespins are often used in children’s craft, and occasionally used in artwork, and have also inspired artists to sculpt enormous pegs.
  • Modern clothespins are typically made from plastic with a steel spring, although sometimes they are made from wood.
  • Around the house, clothespins are often used for holding a variety of items together, like a clamp, and are also prominently used on film sets.
  • Clothespins come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours, but generally feature a spring, in between two wedge shaped pieces of plastic.

 

Bibliography:
Clothespin, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothespin
Greenbaum H & Wilson C, Who made that Clothespin?, 2012, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/magazine/who-made-that-clothespin.html?_r=0

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Parsnip

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Parsnip

Don’t parsnip these facts!

  • Parsnips are vegetables and the root of the annual or biennial plant Pastinaca sativa, and there are a number of varieties available.
  • Parsnips are native to Europe and Asia, and are from the family Apiaceae, family of carrots, celery and parsley.
  • Parsnips become sweeter during a frost, due to some of the starch being converted to sugar.
  • Parsnips are cream in colour, and are typically conical in shape.
  • Parsnips can be eaten either raw or cooked, in soups, stews or casseroles; as well as side vegetables, made into chips or used as a starch replacement.

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  • Parsnips were popularly eaten in Ancient Rome, and were sometimes confused with carrots due to similarities in colour at the time.
  • Parsnips, in Europe, were commonly used to sweeten foods before sugar cane was introduced.
  • The sap of the foliage on parsnip plants is poisonous, which can cause a type of burn on the skin.
  • Parsnips have a sweet flavour and a taste of nuttiness and anise, and are high in vitamin C, maganese, folate and fibre.
  • Parsnips, before harvest, are firm, but when harvested, turn soft, and are best stored in the refrigerator.

 

Bibliography:
Parsnips, 2014, Nature’s Pride, http://www.naturespride.eu/our-products/product-detail/parsnips/
Parsnip, 2011, Fresh for Kids, http://www.freshforkids.com.au/veg_pages/parsnip/parsnip.html
Parsnip, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsnip

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Iceland Poppy

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Iceland Poppy

Iceland poppies are not found in Iceland.

  • Iceland poppies are flowering perennial plants, native to the cool or mountainous habitats in Asia and North America, and are naturalised in Europe.
  • The Iceland poppy has the scientific name of Papaver nudicaule, and ‘nudicaule’ literally means ‘naked stem’ in Latin.
  • Iceland poppy flowers are white, pink, red, yellow or orange in colour, and are not limited to single colours.
  • Iceland poppies grow to be 15 to 45 centimetres (6 to 24 inches) in height and are often grown as annuals or biennials.
  • Iceland poppy flowers sit on the end of long hairy stems, with blue-green coloured hairy foliage at the base of the plant.

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  • Iceland poppies first arrived in London, England in the early 1700s, and it is believed that the first person to successfully grown them in England was Peter Collinson, a cloth merchant and gardener from London.
  • Iceland poppy flowers are papery in texture and shaped like a bowl, and can be 8 to 13 cm (3 to 5 inches) in diameter.
  • Iceland poppies are easily grown from seed and will usually self seed once established, and they grow best in full sun, but they do not like hot weather and prefer cool summers.
  • Iceland poppies are popularly used for decorative purposes in the garden, and are often used as cut flowers.
  • Iceland poppies are from the family Papaveraceae, the family of poppies, and bloom from spring to autumn, depending on when they have been planted.

 

Bibliography:
Iceland Poppy, 2014, Fine Gardening, http://www.finegardening.com/iceland-poppy-papaver-nudicaule
Papaver nudicaule, 2012, Heritage perennials, http://www.perennials.com/plants/papaver-nudicaule.html
Papaver nudicaule, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaver_nudicaule

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Giant’s Causeway

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Giant’s Causeway

Only a giant could build Giant’s Causeway.

  • Giant’s Causeway is a significant basalt rock formation of approximately 40,000 adjoining rock columns, believed to be created by volcanic action.
  • Giant’s Causeway is located in the County of Antrim, in Northern Ireland, Europe, on its north coast, and the area is regularly monitored, as it is mildly threatened by erosion, weather and people.
  • Giant’s Causeway is owned by the National Trust, and in 1986 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in 1987 it was designated as a National Nature Reserve.
  • In Irish, ‘Giant’s Causeway’ is also known as ‘Clochán na bhFomhórach’ meaning ‘stepping stones of the Fomhóraigh‘ (mythical beings) and ‘Clochán an Aifir’, and in the Ulster Scots dialect it is known as ‘tha Giant’s Causey’.
  • The basalt columns featured in Giant’s Causeway are typically regular shaped polygons, and are mostly 6-sided, but the number of sides can range from 4 to 8.
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Giant’s Causeway
Image courtesy of Alex Ranaldi/Flickr
  • The legend of Giant’s Causeway suggests that the formation, said to be a partly destroyed causeway, was built by a giant so that it could fight another giant, hence its name.
  • The tallest basalt column in the Giant’s Causeway is 12 metres (39 feet) in height, and some columns are found submerged underwater.
  • Giant’s Causeway saw more than 700,000 visitors in 2009, making it one of the leading tourist destinations in Northern Ireland.
  • Giant’s Causeway was discovered in 1692, by the then Bishop of Derry, and its existence was made public in a paper in 1693.
  • Giant’s Causeway is the home to many smaller formations, including the ‘Giant’s Boot’, ‘Giant’s Harp’, and ‘Giant’s Gate’, ‘Organ’ and ‘Chimney Stacks’, and it is the home to many seabirds and vegetation, including notable plants like sea spleenworts, frog orchids and trefoils.
Bibliography:
Giant’s Causeway, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant’s_Causeway
Causeway2014, UNESCO WHC, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/369

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Barbie Doll

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Barbie Doll

“B who U want to B” – the Barbie doll slogan.

  • Barbie dolls are male and female dolls of all ages, that are popularly fashioned with clothing and accessories, targeted at girls, and are produced by Mattel, Inc., a toy company.
  • Barbie dolls were invented by Ruth Handler, a business woman from America and the wife of Mattel’s founder, due to the lack of dolls for children, that resembled adults, and they were based on the German Bild Lilli doll, a character from a German cartoon, and the rights for the doll were acquired by Mattel in 1964.
  • The Barbie doll was first launched in the United State’s New York, at the American International Toy Fair on 9 March, 1959, which is known as Barbie’s birthday, and the doll’s 50th anniversary celebrations were held in 2009.
  • Barbie dolls were named after Ruth Handler’s daughter, Barbara, who enjoyed playing with dolls, and while there are various named dolls in the Barbie brand, Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
  • Barbie dolls were among the earliest toys to use television advertisements as their main advertising medium, and the first Barbie modelled a black and white striped swimsuit, and had brown or blonde hair.

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  • Barbie dolls are sold across 150 countries, with more than a billion having been produced and sold, and they have also been popularly featured in animated films, most notably Toy Story, as well as books, fashion and video games.
  • Barbie dolls are scaled at approximately one sixth the height of an adult, roughly 29.2 centimetres (11.5 inches) in height, although the dolls’ body proportions are not able to be imitated in real life, which has lead to much criticism.
  • Barbie dolls have seen a number of changes since their first production, most notably waist and eye changes, and the dolls are believed to be seriously collected by over 100,000 people around the world, with approximately nine out of ten collectors being female.
  • Barbie dolls have had their greatest competition from dolls produced by MCA Entertainment, in particular, the Bratz and Moxie Girlz lines, and the Mattel and MCA companies have been in and out of court for years regarding the Bratz branded dolls, which has resulted in the companies suing each other.
  • The most expensive Barbie doll ever sold, up until the end of 2013, was the Barbie styled by Stefano Canturi, an Australian jeweller, which was valued at more than AU $600,000, due to the rare pink diamond and other jewels found in Barbie’s jewellery, which sold for US $302,500 in October 2010, in New York, in the United States.

 

Bibliography:
Barbie, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie
History, 2012, Barbie, http://www.barbiemedia.com/about-barbie/history.html

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The Barbie Store

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