Author Archives: Cris

Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

By | |
Comments Off on Nancy Drew Mystery Stories
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories

More mysteries solved by Nancy Drew.

  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is a book series that is often named the ‘original’ or ‘classic’ Nancy Drew series.
  • Stratemeyer Syndicate, producers of other mystery series such as the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift, produced the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories.
  • Grosset & Dunlap first published the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories in 1930 and continued publishing the series until 1979, when Simon & Schuster took over, until the series concluded in 2003.
  • Twenty-eight people, all ghost writers for the series, have written Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, most notably Mildred Bensen under the pen name Carolyn Keene, under the orders of Edward Stratemeyer and descendants, who thought of the idea and founded the Stratemeyer Syndicate.
  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories is a series of 175 books, the first 56 published by Grosset & Dunlap, and the rest by Simon & Schuster.

 Nancy Drew Mystery Series, Four Books, Teenager, Classic, Quad, The Secret in the Stars, number 167, 156, 155, 173, Mystery in Tornado Alley, Library, australia, Ten Random Facts, Danger on the Great Lakes

  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories were originally published as hardbacks, but in 1979 they began to be produced as paperbacks.
  • Nancy Drew is the main character in the series of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, who is a female teenager and the mystery solver.
  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories were written after the success of the Hardy Boys, also produced by the Stratemeyer Syndicate, to give a sense of mystery to young female readers, and the series made a very significant impact on female culture and society, and continues to be popular to this day.
  • Nancy Drew Mystery Stories have been turned into six films, all produced by Warner Bros, the most recent film having been released on 15 June, 2007.
  • The first Nancy Drew Mystery Stories book was ‘The Secret of the Old Clock’ and the last being ‘Werewolf in a Winter Wonderland’.
Bibliography:
Nancy Drew, 2013, Wikipedia, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Drew>
Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Drew_Mystery_Stories>

 

Amazon:   
Nancy Drew Book Series – Multiple Selections

 

Ground Asparagus

By | |
Leave a comment
Ground Asparagus

Ground asparagus… though not an asparagus bearer, though.

  • Ground asparagus is also known as basket asparagus, Sprenger’s asparagus and asparagus fern.
  • Ground asparagus is from the family Asparagaceae, which is the family of asparagus and flowering plants.
  • Ground asparagus have tiny bell like flowers that are white to palish pink in colour and bloom in spring and last until autumn.
  • Ground asparagus is a small perennial, low lying, scrambling shrub that has a number of  stems coming from the ground that have ferny looking cladodes (water storing leaf like segments) and small thorns attached.
  • Ground asparagus is easily grown from the rhizomes and through seeds that birds spread, making it an invasive weed in many areas.

Ground Asparagus, Red, Berry, Fern, Green, Basket, Weed, Invasive, Australia, Ten RandoM Facts, Aethiopicus, Long ways, Green, Evergreen, Vegetation, Plant

  • South Africa is the native home of ground asparagus, where it is found in coastal areas.
  • The scientific classification for ground asparagus is Asparagus aethiopicus, although it is often confused with Asparagus densiflorus, which it is often called, and is similar in appearance.
  • Ground asparagus have berries that start off green and ripen to a red colour, and grow to 5 to 8mm (0.2 to 0.3 inches) in diameter.
  • Although ground asparagus is known as an invasive weed in a number of countries in the world, especially Australia, New Zealand, and parts of the United States, it is still used for decoration in shady areas or rocky gardens.
  • The berries of ground asparagus are poisonous, causing symptoms such as stomach pain, diarrhoea and vomiting. 
Bibliography:
Ground (Basket) Asparagus, n.d, Weeds Australia, <http://www.weeds.org.au/WoNS/asparagusweeds/docs/Asparagus_Weeds_BPMM-5.pdf>
Ground Asparagus, n.d, Weeds Australia, <http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi?tpl=plant.tpl&state=&s=&ibra=all&card=H03>

 

                                                                                              Amazon: 

 

Dubai

By | |
Leave a comment
Dubai

One of the fastest growing cities in the world…

  • Dubai is a city located in the Arabian Desert and on the southeastern part of the Persian Gulf located in the United Arab Emirates, Middle East, and occupies an area of 4,110 square km (1,588 square miles).
  • In 2012, Dubai was the wealthiest city in the Middle East and the 27th wealthiest city in the world and is nicknamed the ‘City of Gold’, due to its significant trade in gold, and includes 250 gold retail outlets in the city.
  • The main religion of Dubai is Islam, and Arabic is the official language with English being the second.
  • Dubai is the home of its ruler, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates.
  • Dubai’s population of over 2 million people originate from over 200 countries, with only a little over 15% of them being nationals, and over 50% of the expatriates are Indian.

Dubai, Houses, Resident, City, Middle East, United Arab Emirates, Towers, Burj Khalifa, Hotel, Tourist, Destination, Panorama, Overveiw, Skyscraper Distance, Flickr, Ten Random Facts

Dubai
Image courtesy of Robert Young/Flickr
  • Up until the 1930s, Dubai was a significant exporter in pearls, when the industry gave way due to war, the Great Depression and the production of artificial pearls.
  • Dubai has an important role in trade, as the city is located near the Persian Gulf, a main trading water route, which really kicked off in the 1900s, and then in 1966, oil was found in Dubai, which contributed to a huge increase in the population, mainly expatriates, although the oil industry now only makes up a small percentage of the city’s revenue.
  • Dubai is a great tourist destination attracting visitors with no less than 70 shopping malls and 600 fancy hotels, and attracted 10 million people in 2012, ranking it in the top ten most visited cities in the world.
  • Dubai achieved the world’s tallest skyline in 2010, and is home to some of the largest and most unique hotels, gardens, buildings and entertainment centres, and one hotel is nicknamed as a ‘seven star hotel’.
  • Dubai is the home to the Burj Khalifa, an apartment and office building, which became the tallest building in the world in 2010, measuring 829.8 meters (2,722 feet) in height.
Bibliography:
Dubai, 2013, Wikipedia, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai>
Dubai Department of Tourism, 2012, Dubai Government, < http://www.dubaitourism.ae/en>

Amazon:   

Dominoes

By | |
Leave a comment
Dominoes

Dominoes – a fun family game…

  • Dominoes is a game that involves matching the game pieces, rectangular ’tiles’, on a flat surface and each domino tile has a number of spots, or none at all, at each end of the tile that must be matched with another of the same number of spots.
  • ‘Dominoes’ is also spelt ‘dominos’, while the spots on the dominoes are also known as ‘pips’, and the game pieces, called ’tiles’, are also known as ‘bones’, ‘stones’, ‘cards’, ‘spinners’ and ‘tickets’.
  • Dominoes were first documented in China between 12 and 13 century AD, and in the western world were initially played in Italy in the 1700s, and from there it spread throughout Europe.
  • Bone, ivory or hardwood were the original domino materials, and some other materials such as stone, metal, ceramics and glass have been used, but modern dominoes are generally made from plastic or resins.
  • European domino sets, which generally differ slightly to Chinese dominoes, have 28 tiles, but sets with up to 253 have been made, but are rare and are more than enough to suit eight players.

Dominoes, Traditional, Game, Pile, Tiles, Two, Colour Plastic, Wood, Double six, Ten Random Facts, Game, Australia

  • They most common sets of dominoes are known as ‘double six’ or ‘double nine’, which have 28 and 55 tiles respectively, with values of zero to six and zero to nine.
  • Dominoes are played with two to eight people, depending on the quantity of tiles, making it a great family game, the aim of which is to be the first to rid your hand of all your tiles, blocking your opponents as you do so.
  • Dominoes have often been used to create what is known as ‘domino effects’ that are lines, or many other things such as spirals, of dominoes standing on their ends, that when one is toppled over the rest should follow in turn.
  • Chinese dominoes were originally made to represent all the possible throws of  two six-sided dice, with some added duplicates to make a set of 32.
  • To this day, it is uncertain whether the game of dominoes derived its name from the word ‘domino’, that once referred to the black hood-like accessory that priests wore, or directly from the word ‘dominus’, meaning lord or master.
Bibliography:
Dominoes, 2013, Wikipedia, < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominoes>
Dominoes Information, 2013, Domino Games, < http://www.domino-games.com/>

 

Amazon:       Fishpond:  Maxam 28pc Double 6 Color Dot Domino Set  Premium Set of 55 Double Nine Dominoes in Wooden Case

 

Ladybug

By | |
Leave a comment
Ladybug

A beetle… not a bug, or a bird.

  • Ladybugs are also known as ‘ladybirds’, ‘lady beetles’, ‘lady clocks’, ‘lady cows’, ‘lady flies’ and ‘god’s cows’.
  • ‘Ladybugs’ is one of the common names of the family Coccinellidae, which is a family of beetles, and this name is derived from the Latin word for scarlet, ‘coccineus’.
  • Ladybugs have mainly yellow, orange or red elytra, or hard wings that cover the true wings, with typically black spot markings, although some species of the beetles can be a single colour, like black, brown or grey, or have different coloured spots, or have stripes instead.
  • Ladybugs grow from 1 to 10 mm (up to 0.4 inches) in length, have short legs, and are usually a round or oval shape.
  • There are more than 5,000 different species of ladybug, and the most common type is the seven-spotted ladybug.

Lady bird, orange, spot, wonky, black, plant, stalk, green ,background, leave, plant, vegetation, small, one, little, Australia, Ten Random Facts, dangle, eat, splode, blade, grass, animal,insect, beetle

  • Contrary to popular belief, the spots position, amount and size on ladybugs do not contribute to age but to species.
  • Most farmers like ladybugs as there are many species that eat aphids, scale insects, and other pests without any damage to the plant, although there are a few species of the beetle that eat and destroy crops.
  • The name ‘ladybug’ was named after Virgin Mary, also known as ‘Our Lady’, who was often painted with a  scarlet cloak, and farmers believed the beetle to be a miracle bug from God, because of its ability to eat and control pests, and some prayed to Mary to protect there crops.
  • Ladybugs can withdraw their head into their body for protection and can be prey to birds, frogs, wasps, dragonflies and spiders, although the bright colours of ladybugs warn predators to stay away.
  • A ladybug has an average lifespan of one to two years, which starts as an egg, develops into a larva, transforms into a pupa, and emerges as a ladybug, with a female laying up to 2,000 eggs in its lifetime.
Bibliography:
Coccinellidae, 2013, Wikipedia, < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coccinellidae >
Ladybugs, 2013, National Geographic Kids, <http://kids.nationalgeographic.com.au/kids/animals/creaturefeature/ladybug/>

Amazon:    Fishpond: Ladybugs (Creepy Critters (Paperback))  Incredible Ladybugs (Incredible World of Insects)

Granny Smiths

By | |
4 Comments
Granny Smiths

Apples for Grannies!

  • One of the many apple cultivars is the Granny Smith apple, which is crisp and crunchy, and ripens to a bright green colour.
  • Granny Smiths were first grown in a Sydney suburb, Eastwood, in Australia in 1868 and were named after the first grower of the apples, Maria Ann ‘Granny’ Smith, who had migrated from Sussex, England to New South Wales, Australia.
  • Maria Smith discovered Granny Smith apples growing near a creek on her farm, after she threw out some French crab apples, that originated in Tasmania, in the spot.
  • Granny Smiths are believed to be a hybrid of the French crab apple from the Malus family of crab apples, but like other hybrid mutation plants, the seeds of Granny Smiths will produce a different type of apple, thus all Granny Smiths grown today are cuttings from the original Granny Smith apple tree.
  • The New South Wales Government started growing Granny Smith apples in 1895, and began promoting them as a good export apple due to their ability to be stored for long periods.

Granny Smith Apple Normal, One, Shiny, Plain, stalk, good, Ten Random Facts, Australia, Three

  • Granny Smith apples have a juicy tart and sweet taste, and are often eaten raw or in desserts, cider or salads.
  • Granny Smith apples are particularly high in antioxidants, compared with some other apples, while containing many other beneficial vitamins and minerals.
  • Granny Smiths are said to be the best apples to use in cooking, as they do not change their natural shape once cooked due to the high acid content.
  • Once cut, Granny Smiths are slow to turn brown, so the apples are often used in salads.
  • Granny Smiths were a major Australian export after World War 1, eventually becoming one of the most popular apples grown in Australia, and are now grown in countries around the world including New Zealand, Europe, South America and the United States.
Bibliography:
Granny Smith, 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granny_Smith

 

Granny Smith Apples, 2013, Specialty Produce, < http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Granny_Smith_Apples_2021.php>

 

Amazon:       
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...