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Newgrange

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Newgrange

Newgrange takes prehistoric architecture to a new level.

  • Newgrange, also known as ‘New Grange’, is a monumental structure that was built in ancient times, and is found in Ireland’s County Meath, in Europe.
  • Newgrange is a roundish building in shape, featuring internal chambers and hallways, with an opening on the side that is facing south-east.
  • In 1993, the UNESCO World Heritage Convention listed Newgrange as a World Heritage Site as part of the Brú na Bóinne group.
  • Stone is the primary material used to construct Newgrange, while grass grows on the roof of the structure, and it also includes soil and sand.
  • The height of Newgrange reaches 12 metres (39 feet) and has a diameter of around 80 metres (262 feet).
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Newgrange
Image courtesy of Young Shanahan/Flickr
  • Newgrange was built by a Neolithic community around 3200 to 3100 BC, and it is believed to be older than the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge, that are also renowned for their age and monumental significance.
  • Newgrange is said to be a passage tomb, that has housed the remains of multiple people, while the structure may have also been used for religious purposes.
  • Although abandoned some 1000 years after it was built, Newgrange managed to leave a significant footprint in the myths of Ireland, especially in the time of the Middle Ages.
  • It is considered that Newgrange was first uncovered and entered by people from the modern age in 1699, by workers employed by the owner of the land, Charles Campbell; and this led to the beginning of historical interest, and the site was first investigated by Edward Lhwyd, a Welsh antiquarian.
  • Newgrange is considered an art of architecture, featuring many creative corridors, sculptures and carved stones, as well as a window, known as a ‘roof box’, that lights the inner structure during the Winter Solstice.
Bibliography:
Newgrange, 2010, World Heritage Ireland, http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/built-heritage/newgrange/

Newgrange, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgrange
Newgrange – Ireland’s Most Famous Monument, 2015, Mythical Ireland, http://www.mythicalireland.com/ancientsites/newgrange/

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Pay Day (Board Game)

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Pay Day (Board Game)

Where does all the money go?” – Pay Day

  • Pay Day is a two to six player board game, depending on the version, that involves earning (or losing) money by moving across a board mimicking a monthly calendar.
  • The typical aim of Pay Day is to have the most money and savings in possession by the end of the game, by earning interest and receiving monthly pay, and avoiding mailed bills.
  • Although luck-based in movement, Pay Day requires particular strategic use of money and other finances to be successful.
  • ‘Pay Day’ is also known as ‘PAY DAY’ and ‘Payday’; and has been produced in a number of different languages including Italian, French and Dutch.
  • Pay Day was designed by the American game designer Paul Gruen, and released in 1975, and it was the designer’s biggest hit.

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  • Pay Day was first produced by Parker Brothers, which later became Hasbro’s property, and is now produced by Winning Moves.
  • There are  number of editions of Pay Day which include the original 1970s one; the 1990s edition; the 2000s ‘Big’ version, which has a customisable game board with interchangeable day tiles; and a 2011 modernised version of the original known as the ‘Classic Edition’.
  • Each edition of Pay Day has had various changes, including board design and layout, different mail and deal card options, and a change of activities on the calendar.
  • The original version of Pay Day featured a savings account, however this feature was removed in the 1990s game.
  • Pay Day was very favoured when it was first released; competing against the sales of Monopoly, although it has not remained as popular.
Bibliography:
Pay Day (Board Game), 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_Day_(board_game)
Review of the Pay Day Board Game, 2014, HubPages, http://hubpages.com/hub/Review-of-Payday-Board-Game#

Slinky

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Slinky

Generation upon generation can relate to the Slinky.

  • Slinkies are famous toys that are primarily a coil spring with multiple entertaining properties.
  • A Slinky has the ability of stepping down stairs automatically, with moments of apparent defiance of gravity, and its properties are mostly governed by the physics of waves, gravity and momentum.
  • In 1943, Richard James, an engineer for the American navy, designed the Slinky after attempting to create a spring for use in sensitive watercraft equipment, when he accidentally discovered the spring’s ‘walking’ properties.
  • The Slinky became available commercially in 1945, after some alterations to the spring, although it was relatively unsuccessful until a public demonstration in Philadelphia’s Gimbels department store, in the United States, where the toy became an instant hit and sold out within an hour or two.
  • The name ‘Slinky’, meaning ‘sleek and graceful’, was given by the inventor’s wife, Betty, who found the word, which she thought represented the invention, after paging through the dictionary.
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Slinky
Image courtesy of Marcin Whichary/Flickr
  • Slinkies are traditionally made of flat steel wire, with a high carbon count and a diameter of 1.5 millimetres (0.0575 inches).
  • Plastic versions of the Slinky, that eliminate the safety hazard of electrocution, have been released, however cheap plastic imitations are also available, but they do not have the same abilities.
  • The colour of a Slinky is generally a silver metal colour, although plastic ones are commonly available in various colours including multicoloured, as in a rainbow.
  • Slinkies entered the Toy Hall of Fame in the year 2000, and a year prior to this they where depicted on a postage stamp.
  • Slinkies are not only a toy, but a tool used by physics teachers, as well as scientists in specific experiments, including multiple zero-gravity tests performed by NASA.
Bibliography:
The Invention of the Slinky, n.d, Priceonomics, http://priceonomics.com/the-invention-of-the-slinky/
Slinky, 2015, The Strong, http://www.toyhalloffame.org/toys/slinky
Slinky, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slinky

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Puss Moth

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Puss Moth

Puss moths are an example of grey-scale beauty.

  • Puss moths are a species of moth of a medium size, native to Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia.
  • The scientific name of a puss moth is Cerura vinula and it is from the family Notodontidae, a family of moths known as ‘prominents’.
  • Puss moths have wings that are predominantly a white, grey or cream colour, that are patterned with black coloured marble styled markings, and the body is similar in colouring.
  • The wingspan of a puss moth is roughly 5 to 8 centimetres (2 to 3 inches) in length, though they may be larger, while the length of the caterpillar is approximately 8 centimetres (3 inches).
  • Puss moth caterpillars are primarily green in colour when mature (black when juvenile) and have small white spots, and their head is surrounded by a red coloured ring that is decorated with two black spots so that it appears to be a face.
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Puss Moth
Image courtesy of Ben Sale/Flickr
  • Puss moth caterpillars strike a defence pose when feeling threatened, which involves intimidation with its pretend ‘face’ and the two red tipped projections on its rear.
  • As a method of protection, puss moth caterpillars may excrete formic acid which is sprayed out when they are further threatened, a feature that makes it one of the more dangerous caterpillars in the United Kingdom.
  • The diet of puss moth caterpillars mainly consists of vegetation from poplars and willow trees, and once hatched, they have an average lifespan of three to five months.
  • Puss moths have a soft furry texture that is comparable to the fur of a cat, which is the reason for the moth’s common name, and they are said to be threatened in some areas due to continuous woodland destruction and pollution.
  • Puss moth caterpillars construct hard waterproof cocoons that are considered one the strongest among moth species, and once the metamorphosis process has concluded, the moth releases a liquid to soften the cocoon so that it can be liberated.
Bibliography:
Cerura Vinula, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerura_vinula
Puss Moth, 2013, Buglife, https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs-and-habitats/puss-moth
Puss Moth, 2015, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/puss-moth/

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Fairy Bread

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Fairy Bread

No Aussie party is complete without a bit of fairy bread.

  • Fairy bread is a food, generally considered a sweet snack, that is typically bread decorated with a sprinkled topping.
  • Fairy bread is usually made of white buttered bread, topped with hundreds and thousands or other types of sprinkles that stick to the butter or margarine.
  • Most commonly, fairy bread is triangular in shape, and is generally a full bread slice chopped in halves or quarters, however other shapes can be made using a knife or cookie cutters.
  • Parties for children in Australia and New Zealand often have fairy bread as a type of party food, as it is usually popular with children and quick easy to make; while one of the only cafes known to serve fairy bread in 2015, was in Sydney, Australia, and its name was the Parliament on King.
  • Fairy bread is relatively unknown outside of Australia (and New Zealand), where it was invented, and one of the first mentions of sprinkling buttered bread with 100’s and 1000’s was in 1921, as part of an advertisement for Perth’s Plaistowe and Co’s nonpareils, and by the late 1920s and early 1930s the snack was used as a party food.
Fairy Bread, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Sprinkles, Dessert.Party, Australia
  • A poem written by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1885, referred to ‘fairy bread’ as a term, and it is believed to be the food’s inspiration, however at least one other author of that era also used the term in their works.
  • In the 1920’s in Australia, ‘fairy bread’ was the name of plain wafer-thin bread that had been dried in an oven; and it was not until the early to mid 1930s that this term was used in reference to the now common buttered bread version.
  • It is thought by some that fairy bread is a variant of the Dutch hagelslag, which is simply a slice of buttered bread with chocolate sprinkles (various flavours now exist) on the top, however, chocolate hagelslag was not invented until 1936.
  • Unlike many bread spreads, stacking pieces of fairy bread on top of each other without pieces sticking together is possible, due to the sprinkles themselves.
  • Fairy bread comes in a variety of colours, stereotypically rainbow, although the bread can be decorated in bright blues, greens, pinks and other colours.
Bibliography:
Fairy Bread, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_bread
Hurst P, Australia, We Need To Talk About Fairy Bread, 2015, Munchies, http://munchies.vice.com/articles/australia-we-need-to-talk-about-fairy-bread
What is Fairy Bread?, 2015, WiseGEEK, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-fairy-bread.htm

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Cape of Good Hope

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Cape of Good Hope

You better have a lot of hope when travelling the seas of the Cape of Good Hope.

  • The Cape of Good Hope is a narrow, rocky piece of land that juts out into the South Atlantic Ocean, found in South Africa’s Cape Peninsula.
  • The Cape of Good Hope is part of the Table Mountain National Park, and contrary to popular belief, is not actually the southernmost point of Africa, as that title goes to Cape Agulhas.
  • ‘The Cape of Good Hope’ is also known simply as ‘The Cape’ and is known in Afrikaans as ‘Kaap die Goeie Hoop’.
  • The Cape of Good Hope is regarded as particularly important by many sailors, as it is used as a reference point when sailing to Australia or East Asia.
  • Bartolomeu Dias, an explorer from Portugal, was the first known person from Europe to discover the Cape of Good Hope, doing so in 1488, and named it ‘Cape of Storms’.
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Cape of Good Hope
Image courtesy of Iryna Kuchma/Flickr
  • The Da Gama and the Dias Crosses are situated on the Cape of Good Hope as beacons, and when the two are aligned they point towards a major water vehicle hazard known as ‘Whittle Rock’.
  • Despite the bad weather that Bartolomeu Dias experienced at the Cape of Good Hope, John II of Portugal, the king who commissioned the initial expedition, renamed it as such to portray a more positive perspective on sailing to India.
  • There are around 250 bird species, including penguins, that are found in the Cape of Good Hope vicinity, while other animals from zebras, deer, reptiles, antelopes, otters and rodents are also found in the area.
  • Approximately 1100 native plant species populate the Cape of Good Hope, and includes large quantities of shrubby vegetation known as ‘fynbos’, like proteas, cone bushes and tree pincushions.
  • By legend, the Cape of Good Hope is the haunted location of the ghostly ship The Flying Dutchman, which is said to be cursed so that it can never reach land.
Bibliography:
Cape of Good Hope, 2015, Pano, http://www.airpano.com/360Degree-VirtualTour.php?3D=cape-good-hope-rsa
Cape of Good Hope, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_of_Good_Hope

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