Tag Archives: America

ʻĪao Valley

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ʻĪao Valley

ʻĪao Valley is the perfect mix of rainforest and rain.

  • ʻĪao Valley is a valley located in the western area of Maui, an island of Hawaii, which is part of the United States.
  • ʻĪao Valley has an abundance of lush rainforest flora, although it is said that most of the plants are not native to the area.
  • The United States listed ʻĪao Valley as a National Natural Landmark in 1972, and as such, it is Division of State Parks logomaintained by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
  • ʻĪao Valley State Monument, the national park encompassing the valley, covers an area of 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres), and a road makes the park easily accessible to visitors.
  • The term ‘ʻĪao’ is from the Hawaiian language, and when translated into English it means ‘toward the dawn’ or ‘cloud supreme’.
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Part of ʻĪao Valley
Image courtesy of Mary and Andrew/Flickr
  • The ʻĪao Needle’, a volcanic plug of ʻĪao Valley, is a notable landmark in the area, reaching an above sea level height of 685 metres (2250 feet) and approximately 365 metres (1200 feet) above ground.
  • According to Hawaiian mythology, the god and provider of life, Kāne, is associated with ʻĪao Valley.
  • In its history, ʻĪao Valley has been used as a royal burial site, as well as a major battleground in 1790, when King Kamehameha I conquered the island in his bid to establish the Kingdom of Hawaii.
  • ʻĪao Valley is a common place visited by tourists, who will often explore the site through hiking, and lookouts and a botanical garden are located on the main trail.
  • The peak of Puʻu Kukui, located above the ʻĪao Valley, receives an average of around 9.8 metres (32 feet) of rainfall annually, making it one of the ten wettest places on earth.
Bibliography:
‘Iao Valley State Park, 2015, Maui Guidebook, http://mauiguidebook.com/central-maui/iao-valley-state-park/
Iao Valley, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iao_Valley
Iao Valley State Park, 2015, Hawaiian Tourism Authority, http://www.gohawaii.com/en/maui/regions-neighborhoods/central-maui/iao-valley-state-park/

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Maize

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Maize

Is it maize or corn?

  • Maize is a grain-based food plant where the seeds, or kernels, are also known as ‘corn’, and the plant was first cultivated in Mexico, America, thousands of years ago, where the grain is a staple food.
  • The scientific name of maize is Zea mays and it is from the family Poaceae, the family of true grasses.
  • There are a number of different types of maize, and they are generally categorised under the names ‘sweet corn’, ‘popcorn’, ‘flour corn’, ‘flint corn’, ‘dent corn’, and ‘wild’ or ‘pod corn’.
  • Approximately 600 kernels of maize form on a cob, that grows as an ‘ear’ or spear head shaped spike, on a 2.5 to 12 metre (8 to 39 feet) tall plant.
  • Female flowers of maize plants produce stigmas that are like strands of hair, known as ‘silk’; and the kernels or seeds are a white, yellow, orange or red colour, while green, purple, black, and blue/grey varieties exist.

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A Field of Maize
Image courtesy of Carsten Ullrich/Flickr
  • The United States was the world’s top producer of maize in 2013, producing roughly 353.7 million tonnes (389.9 million tons), of a world total production of just over 1 billion tonnes (1.1 billion tons), making it the most produced cereal crop on earth.
  • Depending on the type and variety, maize has different uses – sweet corn is generally cooked and eaten like a vegetable; popcorn is heated until the kernels burst providing a light weight snack, flour corn is typically ground into flour; flint and dent corn are used for animal feed and are also processed and made into products for human consumption; while pod corn is not usually used for commercial purposes.
  • A protein found in maize, that fails to break down when cooked, can cause allergic reactions, with symptoms that include itchiness, rashes, asthma or vomiting, among others.
  • Field corn, which includes all types of maize except for sweet corn and popcorn, accounts for at least 98% of corn crops grown in the United States, of which around 75% is used for stock feed and the production of ethanol fuel, while the rest is used to make products like breakfast cereal, corn syrup, corn starch and flour, corn chips, and other commercial products.
  • The cobs of maize have been crafted into smoking pipes, and it is believed that they were made as early as the 1860s in the United States, while the starch is used in many non-food products including adhesives and plastics.
Bibliography:
Corn, 1999, Purdue Agriculture, https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Crops/Corn.html
Maize, 2009, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, http://www.iita.org/maize 
Maize, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maize

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Spanish Moss

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Spanish Moss

Spanish moss is a mop of scraggy hair.

  • Spanish moss is a vegetation species that is hosted by a variety of trees, and it has no roots or need for soil and it is easily grown from cuttings or broken pieces.
  • The scientific name of Spanish moss is Tillandsia usneoides, and it is from the family Bromeliaceae, the family of bromeliads.
  • ‘Spanish moss’ is also known as an ‘air plant’, ‘Pele’s Hair’, ‘grey beard’, ‘old man’s whiskers’, and ‘old man’s beard’.
  • Spanish moss is native to the moist areas of southeast North, Central and South America; and has become a weed in some parts of Australia.
  • The leaves of Spanish moss have minute scales and appear to be a grey or green colour; and they are quite thin but long, reaching a single millimetre (0.04 inches) in width and 2 to 6 centimetres (0.8 to 2.4 inches) in length.

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  • Spanish moss droops from somewhat shaded or completely exposed tree branches, and the plant can be as long as 6 metres (20 feet).
  • Nutrients and water for Spanish moss are generally obtained from the atmosphere, including precipitation.
  • Spanish moss has been historically used for a variety of purposes, including as a filling for mattresses, and it can also be used as a fibre or for shelter insulation, as well as in creative works.
  • Spanish moss is a common habitat for certain spiders, bats, rat snakes and insects, and is used as nest material for birds.
  • Small fragrant flowers in blue, yellow or green may grow on Spanish moss in summer, and they produce hairy seeds.
Bibliography:
Spanish Moss, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_moss
Tillandsia Usneoides, 2015, Plants Rescue, http://www.plantsrescue.com/tillandsia-usneoides/
Tillandsia Usneoides (Spanish Moss), n.d, Kew Royal Botanical Gardens, http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/tillandsia-usneoides-spanish-moss

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Panamanian Golden Frog

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Panamanian Golden Frog

Don’t pick a fight with Panamanian golden frogs.

  • Panamanian golden frogs are a brightly coloured amphibian species native to Central America’s Panama.
  • ‘Panamanian golden frogs’ are also known as ‘golden arrow poison frogs’, ‘Zetek’s golden frogs’ and ‘golden frogs’, and despite their common name, they are toads, not frogs.
  • The scientific name of the Panamanian golden frog is Atelopus zeteki and it is from the family Bufonidae, the family of true toads.
  • Panamanian golden frogs have a distinctive gold, yellow or yellow-green skin colouration that is generally spotted with black, though the young toads are green in colour.
  • The length of Panamanian golden frogs reach 3.5 to 6.3 centimetres (1.4 to 2.5 inches) and they are typically 3 to 15 grams (0.1 to 0.53 ounces) in weight.
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A Panamanian Golden Frog
Image courtesy of Brian Gratwicke/Flickr
  • The skin of adult Panamanian golden frogs is highly toxic on touch, excreting poisons deadly to rodents and other animals, and they are also potentially hazardous to humans.
  • The diet of Panamanian golden frogs consists of invertebrates like spiders, ants, caterpillars, wasps, and flies, and the wider the variety of its diet, the more poisonous the toad becomes.
  • Along with a noise that sounds like a whistle, Panamanian golden frogs commonly move their hands in a waving motion as a means of communication, signalling to both potential mates and threats.
  • Panamanian golden frogs typically live in mountainous river and stream habitats, and have a lifespan of approximately 12 years, growing from egg to tadpole to adult.
  • Due to fungal diseases and habitat destruction, Panamanian golden frogs are listed as critically endangered, although it is possible that in 2007, they became extinct in the wild.
Bibliography:
Panamanian Golden Frog, 2015, The Animal Facts, http://theanimalfacts.com/reptiles/panamanian-golden-frog/
Panamanian Golden Frog, 2015, San Diego Zoo, http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/panamanian-golden-frog
Panamanian Golden Frog, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panamanian_golden_frog
Platt J, Sunday Species Snapshot: Panamanian Golden Frog, 2014, Scientific American, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/extinction-countdown/sunday-species-snapshot-panamanian-golden-frog/

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Monarch Butterfly

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Monarch Butterfly

Be warned when the monarch butterfly displays its bright wings.

  • A monarch butterfly is a species of common and easily recognisable butterfly, native to North America, though they are now found in a number of countries around the world.
  • ‘Monarch butterflies’ are also known as ‘milkweeds’, ‘common tigers’, ‘monarchs’, ‘black veined browns’, ‘King Billies’ and ‘wanderers’.
  • The scientific name of the monarch butterfly is Danaus plexippus and it is from the family Nymphalidae, the family of brush-footed butterflies.
  • The wingspan of monarch butterflies typically extends a distance of 8.6 to 12.4 centimetres (3.4 to 4.9 inches), and they generally travel thousands of kilometres each year, when they migrate to warmer areas in autumn where they overwinter.
  • Monarch butterflies are a distinctive orange and black colour, and sometimes white and black, though this is rare, with white spots decorating the wing borders; a pattern similar to that of the viceroy butterfly.
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Monarch Butterfly
Image courtesy of William Warby/Flickr
  • The diet of the monarch butterfly caterpillar consists of mainly milkweed leaves, from various species in the Asclepias genus, while the butterfly will feed on nectar from various flowers including milkweed.
  • After hatching from an egg, it takes roughly 9 to 14 days for a monarch butterfly caterpillar to moult and form into a chrysalis, while it takes 9 to 15 days for the butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis.
  • Monarch butterfly larvae or caterpillars are generally patterned with yellow, white and black stripes, while the chrysalis is mostly green with the odd yellow speck.
  • The taste of monarch butterfly is particularly putrid and potentially poisonous towards many possible predators as a result of the insect’s milkweed diet.
  • Monarch butterfly caterpillars were taken to the International Space Station in 2009, where the specimens both lived and emerged from their chrysalis under the watchful eye of scientists.
Bibliography:
Danaus plexippus, 1999, Animal Diversity Web, http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Danaus_plexippus/
Monarch Butterfly, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_butterfly
Monarch Butterfly (Danaus Plexippus), n.d., Wildscreen Arkive, http://www.arkive.org/monarch-butterfly/danaus-plexippus/

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Careers

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Careers

Now you can explore Careers from your own living room!

  • Careers is a popular board game that involves scoring a previously determined amount of points and money, by exploring career paths.
  • Careers is played by moving around the spaces on the outside edge of the board, while different interior paths create loops, and are travelled along to collect points.
  • Before the game starts, players of Careers are required to create their own targets totalling 60 points, using the three point types – ‘happiness’ represented by hearts; ‘money’ represented by dollar signs; and ‘fame’ represented by stars; to create their own success formula which is kept secret until the end of the game.
  • In the game of Careers, the first person to collect their specified quantities of points, and cash in the case of ‘money’, wins the game.
  • Careers is a two to six player game, and is notably different to many other games in that it requires significant data recording by the players during play, as collected points and other information is required to be documented on paper.

Careers, Game, Board, Invention, Set Up, Play, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Parker Brothers

  • James Cooke Brown, an American sci-fi author and sociologist, invented Careers in 1955, and it was his only published game.
  • Originally the career paths in the game of Careers included ‘Farming’, ‘Uranium Prospecting’, ‘Going to Sea’, ‘Hollywood’ and ‘Expedition to the Moon’; which were changed to ‘Teaching’, ‘Ecology’, ‘Sports’, ‘The Arts’ and ‘Space’ in some of the later versions.
  • Careers was published by Parker Brothers in 1955, and while there was a redesign of the game by the original designer at a later time, it was never published.
  • The game of Careers includes money, dice, ‘Opportunity Knocks’ and ‘Experience’ cards, playing pieces, a game board, and a ‘Success Formula’ pad for keeping track of points.
  • Due to the personalised winning conditions in Careers, strategies and game play can vary each game, which is significant in its ongoing appeal.
Bibliography:
The Best Classic Board Games – Careers (1955 – 2009), 2010, Recycled Thoughts From A Retro Gamer, https://magisterrex.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/the-best-classic-board-games-careers-1955-2009/
Careers, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Careers_(board_game)
Whitehill B, Careers, The Big Game Hunter, http://thebiggamehunter.com/games-one-by-one/careers/

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