Tag Archives: Facts

Scone

By | |
7 Comments
Scone

Yum Yum!

  • A scone is a small, single serve, cake-like bread.
  • Scones are generally made from wheat, barley or oats, and are best mixed by hand.
  • Scones are believed to have originated from Scotland.
  • Scones are pronounced ‘s-con’ or ‘s-cone’.
  • Scones were originally round and flat instead of the modern bulky round shape.

Scone, Cream, Jam, Apricot, Homemade, One, Single, Delicious, Yummy, Crumbly, Ten Random Facts, Gormet

  • Scones were originally made with unleavened oats.
  • Scones commonly include raisins, currents, cheese or dates in the batter.
  • Some people in Australia add pumpkin to the batter to make delicous pumpkin flavoured scones.y
  • The English Oxford Dictionary says the term ‘scones’ used for the cake was first used in 1513.
  • Scones are commonly served with jam and cream.
Bibliography:
Scone 18 February 2013, Wikipedia,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scone>

 

Sea Slug

By | |
7 Comments
Sea Slug

Slimy sea slugs.

  • Sea slugs are also known as nudibranches, which means naked gills.
  • Sea slugs are commonly found in tropical oceans.
  • Sea slugs are mollusks without shells and come in a large variety of shapes, sizes and colours.
  • There are thousands of species in the world, and at least 500 of them are found at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
  • Some sea slugs are as small as sand, and some grow up to 30cm (12 inches) in length.
Sea Slug, Yellow, Blue Spots, Philippines, Coral, Sea, Beautiful, National Geographic, Ten Random Facts
Sea Slug
Image courtesy of National Geographic
  • Sea slugs have special, feathery gills at the back of the slug’s body that allow them to breathe.
  • Sea slugs are carnivores that feed on sponge, coral, fish eggs, crabs, shrimp, lobster and clam.
  • Sea slugs have strong jaws and rough tongues.
  • Sea slugs have both male and female organs.
  • Some sea slugs are eaten by humans and have been used in traditional medicine in the far East.
Bibliography:
Holden-Boone, A 1998, Coral Reef, Somerville House Books, Canada
Sea Slug 2008, A-Z Animals, <http://a-z-animals.com/animals/sea-slug/>

Queen Elizabeth II

By | |
Leave a comment
Queen Elizabeth II

Her majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Also known as the Queen.

  • The Queen’s full name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, and she was born in 1926.
  • The Queen’s real birthday is on the 21st of April, even though her official birthday is celebrated in June.
  • The Queen is married to Prince Philip; her father was King George VI, formerly known as ‘Prince Albert’; and her mother was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, well known as the ‘Queen Mother’.
  • The Queen’s reign began on the 6th of February, 1952, and her silver jubilee year was 1977, her golden jubilee year was 2002 and her diamond jubilee year, a celebration of 60 years reign, was 2012.
  • The Queen and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, were educated at home by her father, tutors and governesses.

Queen Elizabeth II, England, Australia, Perth, Her Majesty, Duke of Edinburgh, CHOGM, Plane, Andrew Taylor, Commonwealth Secretariat, Flickr, Ten Random Facts

The Queen
Image courtesy of the Commonwealth Secretariat/Flickr
  • Although London was bombed in World War II, the Queen stayed at home with her mother, father and sister.
  • Even though it was her 40th year on the throne, the Queen announced 1992 her annus horribilis, meaning horrible year, or year of horrors, due to a series of disturbing family events that occurred throughout the year.
  • The Queen has been bitten by one of her pet corgis dogs on more than one occasion.
  • In 2007, Queen Elizabeth II, exceeded the age at death of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, and as such became the longest living monarch the United Kingdom has had, while in September 2015, she became the longest reigning monarch of the UK.
  • Queen Elizabeth was patron to more than 600 charities and organisations in 2013.
Updated September 2015
Bibliography:
Elizabeth II 19 February 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

By | |
Leave a comment
Mount Rushmore National Memorial

A sculpture in a mountain!

  • Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota, United States of America, and is controlled by the United States National Park Service.
  • Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved in the side of the granite mountain, Mount Rushmore.
  • The Mount Rushmore sculpture depicts four US president heads – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
  • Mount Rushmore National Memorial was carved in 1927-1941 by Gutzon Borglum, a notable sculptor, and a team of 400 workers.
  • Mount Rushmore’s carved heads are 18 meters (60 feet) high and make up the  largest sculpture ever carved.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South, Sculpture, Record, Carving, four, Presidents, Faces, Stock.Xching, Ten Random Facts, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln,

Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Image courtesy of Stock.Xching
  • The Mount Rushmore sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, made plaster models that were one twelfth the size of the finished sculpture so that the workers had a guide to follow.
  • Dynamite was used to carve 90% of the Mount Rushmore heads.
  • Around 3 million people visit Mount Rushmore every year.
  • After approximately two year’s work on the sculpted Thomas Jefferson, bad cracking was found in the granite, so Jefferson was removed and restarted on the other side of Washington.
  • Each day during construction, the Mount Rushmore workers had to climb 700 stairs before they could start work.
Bibliography:
Mount Rushmore 19 February 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore>
Grant, N 1994, People and Places, RD Press, Australia

Assault Amphibious Vehicle

By | |
Leave a comment
Assault Amphibious Vehicle

Lets shorten Assault Amphibious Vehicle to AAV.

  • AAVs are used for land and sea military operations, generally around the beach.
  • The marines call AAVs “amtracks”, which is short for amphibious tractor.
  • An AAV was originally known as a “Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Personnel-7” or LVTP-7.
  • AAVs are generally equipped with a grenade launcher, a heavy machine gun, crew radios, and an intercom system.
  • AAVs have the capacity to hold 21 equipped troops, and four crewman – the driver,  commander, gunner, and a rear crewman.

AAV, Amphibious Assualt Vehicle, USA, Three Men, Army, Miltary, Water, Land, Beach, Official US Navy Imagery, Flickr, Ten Random Facts

AAV
Image courtesy of the Official U.S. Navy Imagery/Flickr
  • AAVs were originally LVTD-7s which were first made in 1972 and converted to AAV-7A1s in the 1980s.
  • An AAV-7A1 weighs 29.1 tons (26.4 tonnes), and is 7.94 meters (26 feet) in length, 3.27 meters (10.7 feet) in width and 3.26 meters (10.7 feet) in length.
  • The AAV-7A1 can travel over speeds of 24.32 km per hour (15 mph) off road, 72 km/h (45 mph) on road and 13.2 km/h (8.2 mph) in water.
  • The replacement cost of an AAV is over two million dollars.
  • The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) was due to replace AAVs in 2015, but the plans have been cancelled.
Bibliography:
Assault Amphibious Vehicle 7 February 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_Amphibious_Vehicle>
LVTP7 Landing Vehicle, Tracked AAVP7A1 Assault Amphibian Vehicle Personnel April 14, 2000 , FAS, <http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/aavp7a1.htm>

Duranta

By | |
Leave a comment
Duranta

Do you call it a weed?

  • Duranta is also known as Golden Dewdrop, Pigeon Berry and Skyflower.
  • Duranta is from the family Verbenaceae which is the verbena family and there are 17 different species.
  • Duranta is native to the Americas and the Caribbean.
  • Duranta can grow up to 6 meters (20 feet) in height depending on the species.
  • Mature duranta have thorns and bloom light blue, violet or white coloured flowers.

Duranta, Purple Violet Flowers, Small, Tree, Bush, Bloom, Pretty, Australia, Ten Random Facts

  • Duranta have yellow or orange coloured berry fruit.
  • The berries and leaves of duranta are poisonous, and have killed children, cats and dogs.
  • Duranta was named in honour of a 16th century Italian botanist and physician, Castor Durantes.
  • Butterflies and hummingbirds are attracted to duranta’s brightly coloured flowers.
  • Duranta is known as a weed in Australia, South Africa and China.
Bibliography:
Duranta erecta 5 December 2012, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duranta_erecta>
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...