Water - Cool & Interesting Facts

Water  :Fun, Interesting & Cool Facts

 Have you ever thought about floating ice in a glass of water, glaciers floating in oceans? And ice is solid! From what we know about matter, a solid should sink in liquid as solid molecules are denser than liquids, so why does not the ice, which is solid form of water does not sink in its liquid form. This is a unique quality of water. Its solid form is 9% less dense than its liquid form. Although 70% of earth’s surface is covered by water ,but total water on the surface of earth makes up just 0.025 % of earth’s total mass i.e. 25/100,000ths of the stuff of the earth.

·         Pure water is so pure that one can’t even drink it. It tastes very bland & due to its solvent properties, it would absorb all the minerals from your tongue & your mouth would feel dry So few minerals are added back to water by water-producing companies so as to make it tastier & safe for your dinking.

·         The two-litre bottle of a cola requires five litres water to produce.

·         Water exists in almost every substance ,you eat or drink. Percentage of water in few items Milk-90%,Bread-30%, Meat-75%,Egg-73%,Cucumber-95%,Lettuce -95%,Tomato-95%,Potato-75%.

·         Water exists in  a fourth form too, despite it being so vast & important, it is never mentioned outside scientific circles .The vast quantity of water is locked in the rock deep in the Earth’s mantle ,in a layer about 410 kilometres below your feet.

·         All the water on Earth came from space in exactly the form is in now i.e. H2O.

·         Every hour, the Earth’s oceans are evaporating 50 cubic kilometres of water into the air (13 trillion gallons)

·         Just the leaves from a single acre of trees might send eight thousand gallons of water up into the air in a day, which is enough to fill a normal swimming pool.

·         A normal toilet uses 6-8 litres of water for one time use, so if you flush five times a day ,that means 30-40 litres of water being used by one person just for flushing toilets in a day.

·         According to WHO, 1.8 million children die every year, either from lack of water or from diseases they get from not-so-pure drinking water. That no. is too high, in other words, it is 5000 children a day.

·         Agriculture, producing food for us, uses two thirds of all the water people use.

·         Do you know microwave cook/heat your food due to water only? Yes, water Molecules inside a cup of coffee or a potato, can spin 1 billion times a second, in response to the microwaves. This spinning motion causes heat, which cooks the surrounding food.

·         Popcorn in a microwave pops when the 14 % of each kernel that is water, inside a corn grain, vaporizes into steam and expands the grain.

·         You can use internet, your computer, your iPhone because of water only. These all are made by micro-chips, they are so tiny & pathways on them are of nano-size, even a slight impurity won’t let these microchips to function properly, so these microchips are cleaned by using pure water as water takes away all the impurities from path-ways due to its solvent properties.

About Tigers : 25 Interesting & Fun Facts

•      Tigers belong to “Cat” family of animals & is the  largest (in size) in cat family , the 2^nd  one is Lion.

•       It is the third largest land carnivore (behind only the Polar bear and the Brown bear)

•      It is assumed that  word tiger came from the Greek work “ tigris ", which has been derived from a Persian word which means  “an arrow”

•       Its most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark black stripes on golden yellow skin.

•      The pattern of stripes is unique to each tiger, these unique markings can be used  to identify individuals .It is like finger-prints in human-beings

•      There are 9 subspecies of tiger, 3 of which are extinct now.

•      Tigers tend to live alone .

•      To mark his territory , the male marks trees by spraying of urine  as well as marking trails with faeces. 

•      Tigers are strong swimmers, and are often found bathing in ponds, lakes, and rivers.

•      They may also cross rivers up to 6 to 7 km across and can swim a distance of up to 29 km  in a day

•      Tigers don't like when it is too hot, they generally spend really hot days lying in pools and streams

•      Tigers normally are nocturnal predators, hunting at night . They have good night vision.

•      Tigers have a very poor success rate as hunters, their average is 1 kill out of every 20 attempts.

•      Male tigers (unlike Lions ) will allow the females and cubs to feed on the kill first. 

•       An adult tiger can go up to 2 weeks without eating but then it can eat up to 34 kg (75 lb) of food at one sitting.

•      They  hunt alone

•      A tiger takes many days  to finish eating its kill. It eats until it's full, and  the rest  is hidden with leaves and dirt. When it's hungry again, comes back to feed some more, until all the flesh is over.

•      It eats small animals such as turtles & frogs, as well as large ones such as buffalo & a large antelope.

•      A Tigers footprints are called 'Pug Marks”

•      It retracts its claws as it walks, so no claw marks  can be found in its tracks.

•      A group is tiger is called “streak”

•      Tiger vision is 6 times better than humans.

•      A tiger roar can be heard from 2 kms .

•      A tiger length can be 6 feet & the tail can be as long as 3 feet.

http://www.makemegenius.com

Lions : 25 Fun & Interesting Facts about Lions

•      Lions belong to “Cat” family of animals & is the 2^nd largest in cat family , the 1^st one is Tiger.

•      A group of Lions is called “Pride”

•       The average pride consists of about 15 individuals, including five to 10 females 

•      Male lions are the only members of the cat family to have a mane.

•      Lions live for 10–14 years in the wild, while in captivity they can live longer than 20 years.

•      Lions may hunt at any hour, but they typically go after large prey at night.

•       They hunt in a group to increase their chances, as larger animal can be difficult to catch and can outrun a single lion.

•      The lions fan out in a broad front or in a  semicircle to slowly attack on prey. Once with within striking distance, they join together among the startled animals and  knock one down. They sneak up to the victim until they reach a distance of around 30 metres (98 ft) or less.

•       Females do >85%  of the pride's hunting as they are more aggressive,  the males patrol the territory and protect the pride, for which they take the "lion's (major)share" of the females' prey.

•      Lions are not always successful in the job, 50% of times their hunting adventure fails too.

•      Females do 85 to 90 percent of the pride's hunting, while the males patrol the territory and protect the pride, for which they take the "lion's (major) share" of the females' prey.

•      The male lions  eat first even before the cubs as well as hunters (lioness).

•      Lions are the laziest of the big cats. They usually spend 16 to 20 hours a day sleeping and resting, spending the remaining hours to hunting,  protecting their territory.

•      Lions are also called “Nocturnal” animals, this means sleeping during day-time & working in night.

•      Lions  spend an average of  2 hours a day walking and 50 minutes eating.

•      Lions make many gestures towards each other .Rubbing head, face and neck against another lion—seems to be a form of greeting.

•      Most lions drink water daily if available, but can go 4-5 days without it. Lions in dry areas obtain required moisture from the stomach contents of their kill.

•      The lion’s worst enemy -is a surprise, it is a porcupine.

•      Though a lion can't actually roar until it's 2 years old

•      When adult, a lion’s roar can be heard from as far as 5 miles away.

•      A lion is the only one having a tassel on the tail. It's often used to signal to other members of the pride, with messages like, "this way

•      Lions don’t have much  stamina, thus, they only run fast in short bursts.

•      A lion can run for short distances at 50 miles per hour and can leap as far as 36 feet.

•      A lion’s heels don’t touch the ground while walking.

•      When males take over a new pride, they usually kill the cubs

http://www.makemegenius.com

All about Penguins - 21 Interesting & Fun Facts

• •      There are between 17-20 living species of Penguins.
• •      The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin- on average adults are about 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) tall or more.
• •      The King Penguin  is the second largest species of penguin.
• •      The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin  also known as the Fairy Penguin.
• •      The yellow-eyed penguin is believed to be the rarest penguin species, with only approximately 5,000 birds surviving , though population numbers fluctuate.
• •      Winter arrives in Antarctica in March. Nearly all creatures leave except for the Emperor Penguin, the only animal that spends the winter on Antarctica's open ice.
• •      Penguins are warm-blooded birds as humans but still lay eggs.
•       Interestingly, male Penguin takes care of the chick. To keep eggs warm away from cold they balance their egg on feet and cover them with their belly flap..
• •      After laying the egg, female Penguin leaves for about 65 days for feeding  towards open seas, males stand, for about 65 days, through icy temperatures, cruel winds, and blinding storms. And they eat nothing that whole time.
• •      After females return, the males eagerly leave for their own fishing session at sea, and the mothers take over care of the chicks for a while.
• •      There are about 17-20 different species of penguin and around 100 million penguins are there  in the world.
• •      Penguins seem to have no special fear of humans. This is probably because penguins have no land predators in Antarctica.
• •      Typically, penguins do not approach closer than about 3 meters (10 ft) at which point they become nervous. This is also the distance that Antarctic tourists are told to keep from penguins
• •      Another interesting  thing about them is if they lose a chick they steal from other mother.
• •      Penguins can walk faster than humans even when they seem to waddle while walking.
• •      Penguins know Yoga ! They can hold their breath for 20 minutes under water and can leap in water while swimming.
• •      Penguins love to store stones that help them to float in water.
• •      It is really funny that penguins steal stones from each other & there are sometimes fight among them for this.
• •      Penguins  can’t fly ,but their powerful flippers and streamlined bodies make them very good swimmers. They are the fastest swimming and deepest diving species of any birds. 
• •      Penguins’ eyes work better underwater than they do in the air, giving them good eyesight to spot prey while hunting, even in cloudy, dark or murky water.
• •       Emperor penguins and king penguins do not make any sort of nests.

Why Indian Kids are too good at Spelling Bee - Washington Post Article

Free website for Science videos for kids - http://www.makemegenius.com 

On Thursday night, 14-year-old Snigdha Nandipati won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, acing the word "guetapens" in the final round. Nandipati, who beat out fellow Indian-Americans Stuti Mishra and Arvind Mahankali to win the title, was the fifth consecutive Indian to take the Scripps crown and the 10^th in the last 14 years. Two years ago, Ben Paynter revealed the secret to Indian spelling success: a minor-league circuit sponsored by the North South Foundation. The original article is reprinted below.

This April's North South Foundation bee in Shawnee, Kan., might seem like an obscure place to find the spelling world's two biggest stars. Mostly, it looked like the sort of geeky local bee I might have attended as a kid—except everyone there was Indian. Inside Shawnee's Hindu Temple and Cultural Center, 23 awkward kids took turns passing a microphone back and forth in a hushed beige auditorium. No spotlights, no podium, just cringe-inducing feedback on the P.A. system. And for the record, the spelling was a-t-r-o-c-i-o-u-s. Just three of the first 10 contestants spelled their words correctly. At one point, a poor kid paced in circles and clutched his crotch before misspelling beleaguered and sprinting off to the restroom.

Amid it all, 13-year-old Kavya Shivashankar pronounced words from a fold-out judging table as her father, Mirle, emceed in a sharp dark suit. Kavya, the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, is a spelling superstar complete with signature move: She air-writes each word across her palm before speaking it. Kavya and Mirle—her innovative, ever-enthusiastic coach—were at the small-time competition to pay homage. Over the past two decades, tournaments like this one—a regional qualifier for the North South Foundation's spelling league—have become a breeding ground for Scripps contenders. These minor-league competitions help kids as young as 6 years old work out the spelling kinks at an early age. The result has been an Indian-American dynasty at the National Spelling Bee.

Consider the facts: Indian-Americans make up about 1 percent of the U.S. population; this year, an estimated 30 NSF-ers will compete at Scripps, 11 percent of the 273-kid field. Recentwinners include Sai R. Gunturi from Dallas, who nonchalantly reassembled pococurante for a national title in 2003. Sameer Mishra from West Lafayette, Ind., nailed guerdon in 2008. And four-time finalist Shivashankar made it back-to-back titles for North South Foundation competitors last year, air-writing Laodicean for the win. If Shivashankar hadn't come through, it's possible another North South graduate would have: Four other NSF kids cracked the top 10behind her.

The NSF circuit consists of 75 chapters run by close to 1,000 volunteers. The competitions, which began in 1993, function as a nerd Olympiad for Indian-Americans—there are separate divisions for math, science, vocab, geography, essay writing, and even public speaking—and a way to raise money for college scholarships for underprivileged students in India. There is little financial reward for winners (just a few thousand dollars in college scholarships) compared with the $40,000 winning purse handed out each year by Scripps. Still, more than 3,000 kids participated in NSF's spelling events this year due in part to what NSF founder Ratnam Chitturicalls a sort of Kavya Effect. "Most American kids look up to sports figures," he says. "Indian kids are more interested in education, and they finally have a role model."

Just as Kavya Shivashankar has inspired the next wave of Indian spellers, Kavya found her bee mojo during the post- Spellbound boom. Before Spellbound, the 2002 documentary that featured Indian-American Nupur Lala's run to the 1999 Scripps title, many first-generation South Asian parents saw NSF as a way for their children to assimilate—the best way to understand a culture, after all, is to learn its language. They used the North South Foundation events as a sort of SAT prep, teaching their children to use phonetics, etymology, and word roots to suss out answers. "Our focus is not on competition," says Chitturi. "Winning becomes an outcome of you focusing on learning. You are competing against yourself, not these other people."

After Spellbound, that changed a bit. After Balu Natarajan (winning word: milieu) became the first Indian-American to win Scripps back in 1985, he went on to a career in sports medicine. When Lala did it in 1999 with logorrhea, she became a movie star. (OK, a movie star and aneuroscientist.) Kavya has called Lala an inspiration—the license plate of Mirle's teal minivan reads "SPL BND." She's far from alone. In 2002, NSF had less than 20 chapters pulling in about 500 mostly middle-school-age spellers. Then pop culture galvanized an expansion to elementary schoolers; today, six times as many students compete in North South Foundation spelling events. "The parents were just excited," Chitturi says. "They saw that it was a possibility [to win the National Spelling Bee]."

It's no coincidence, then, that in the last decade North South Foundation has transformed from an SAT prep course into a training ground for Scripps. It wasn't too long ago that NSF standouts like Kamran Riaz and 2000 champion Ashley Thakur didn't compete at the National Spelling Bee. Riaz, for one, remembers NSF as a nice "alternative" to Scripps. Thakur's thoughts on the National Spelling Bee: "Not to brag, but I don't think it would be a hard cake to cut," she once bragged to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

It's not quite right to say that Riaz and Thakur didn't go to nationals because they didn't think it was a big deal. The more significant reason is that they simply weren't eligible. You have to be more than a great speller to qualify for the National Bee—you also have to live in a school district with a sponsoring newspaper or community organization. These days, parents seem to be paying a lot more attention to such logistics. When Mirle Shivashankar realized in 2005 that there was just one Scripps sponsor in all of Kansas, he beat the bushes to ensure that more kids from the state—his daughter, for one—would have the chance to go to nationals. Kavya subsequently gained all of her berths to the nationals by virtue of a brand-new sponsor, theOlathe News.

The North South Foundation could dominate Scripps even further, if more of its spellers were eligible to compete. In areas with more gifted NSFers than competition zones, the battle to get into Scripps can be intense. Whereas regional North South Foundation competitions are run like standardized tests—the best scores get weighted against a national average to determine the national finalists—Scripps operates more like a crazy single-elimination tournament. The winner in each local bracket funnels into a pool of finalists, who repeat the same process to pick a winner. That can lead to some powerhouse regional showdowns. In San Jose, Calif., for instance, eventual 2009 NSF senior co-champion Ramya Auroprem had to beat out 2009 NSF runner-up Sidarth Jayadev just to make it into last year's National Spelling Bee finals.

North South Foundation winners don't have to worry about Kavya Shivashankar anymore—she has retired. At the Shawnee NSF contest this April, Swetha Jasti placed first, with a perfect score that qualified her for NSF nationals later this summer. But unfortunately for Jasti, she won't make it to Scripps this year. When the National Spelling Bee starts up this week, their region will be represented by a surprise challenger: Kavya's 8-year-old sister, Vanya, who drubbed Jasti in the National Spelling Bee's Olathe qualifier.

For youngsters like Vanya, this is Scripps' best selling point: Whereas the North South Foundation still divides contestants into junior and senior levels, the National Spelling Bee has no minimum age requirement. Vanya, who has taken to referring to herself and her sister as the Eli and Peyton Manning of spelling, will be the youngest competitor in Washington, D.C., this year. When ESPN recently showed up in Kansas to film a miniprofile for the contest, she grinned unabashedly. "Now it's my turn," she proclaimed to the room full of cameras. As with most things in the life of an NSF standout, the moment seemed well-rehearsed.

Helping Children / Kids in Home Work -No Tutions

Helping kids in home-work is becoming a challenge day-by-day. With both parents busy in the office jobs & carrying home the stress ,helping kids in their studies has taken a back-seat.

Tutions from a very young age has become a fashion rather than neccessity. You can find kids as young as 6-7 years going to 2-3 coachng classes?Is it good for next generation?

Helping kids in home work not only helps parents to understand their progress in school, it also can give lot of insights about school,about their friends & about development of the kids in general.Apart from it ,it can be very easily said that it adds to emotional bonding among parents & children .Importance of sitting with kids & taking them through different subjects with day-to-day examples ,importance of a parenet can't be over-emphasized.

But despite all of  the above, as a parent ;we all are hard pressed for time.May be a week-end is all what we have.

In west , parents have found an innovative solution for the same. They spend time with the kids ,although little ,but they try to make best out of it. This is what they called spending "Qulaity time" with children.

They use cartoons, animations & vidoes for school subjects.These videos not only help children to get acquainted wwith internet at a very young age ,but they narrow down the key areas to be focused for each subject. Also lot of these contain day-to-day examples ,which help chidren to grasp the subject easily.

These videos help kids in their home-work revision, understanding the subject deeply & easily.Few of the videos ,you can refer to are as following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwwQU8DBaY8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjyI4CmBOA0

Best advantage of these are that children can spend 15-20 minutes a day & they can become masters of the subjects. Also they can see these again & again ,which is not possible for class-room teaching lessons.

for more videos ,you can visit sites like http://www.makemegenius.com

New way of Teaching

Text book teaching is now a passe. 

Schools in USA & UK have now moved to class room videos . 

"Seeing is Believing" is the key to new learning methods.

More than rote, understanding concepts has become neccessary.

Don't believe it.

Have a look at following videos ,sit with your kids after you make them watch these videos, check their progress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwlr2uSSgcc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydX8Lw4q2Mk

Compare it with normal learning process, see the difference?

This is new way .... learning through videos with lot of day to day examples incorporated in these.

Hope you start believing in these.

For more videos ,you can visit 

http://www.makemegenius.com

Free Science Videos for Kids -Best Indian Educational Website

We ,as parents of two kids of 6 & 11 years, used to struggle a lot for home-work help for our kids as well as to give them quality understanding.

Being working parents ,we are always pressed for time, so wanted some short-cut to spend less time with greater outputs for kids. Also as grown-up professionals, we believed in adage"Seeing is Believing" .

So started our quest for quality education videos. First we bought lot of video CDs from market, but found those very low-quality & then you have to pay for the same without knowing what is inside.

Then we took resort in Google.We would type the subject name in google  plus video in it. To our surprise,we came across thousands of videos on several websites. 

Then we realized that we are not first ones to look for this route.Parents all across the globe are searching for this way of teaching their youger-ones.

But along came the trouble-how to short-list relevant videos ,which are suitable for our own kids. Few were of very low quality or for toddlers & other were for grown-up kids.

That is a problem ,which every parent faces. After one year of struggle ,we came across few relevenat websites .Apart from You Tube ,would like to list those for help of other parents

a) www.neok12.com -it is one spot ,where you would find all sorted videos ,that is the best part .But again issue comes of level or grading.

b) www.brainpop.com-excellent site , but it paid.

c) http://www.makemegenius.com -this has been made by us so obviously we've tried to minimize what we found lacking in others. 

d) www.discoverykids.com -again a great website , but is more of extra-studies .

So try to teach your kids with help of videos.We found these very effective.

Best Education Websites for Kids

1. Streaming.discoveryeducation.com
Home school education is what this site basically focuses on. With automated ready to use tools, interactive videos and integrated slide shows, this educational website is an instant tool for teaching toddlers as well as for self study.

2. Netrover.com
Children have always enjoyed a blend of education with fun and play. Room 108 is therefore a perfect educational website to meet the creative ends of your child. Graphical user interface further helps effective honing of skills and subsequently efficient results.

3. Britannica.com
Britannica is equivalent to an educational brand which sells only by its name. In regard to the same, Britannica.com has delved into the world of internet. It helps kids play around every possible subject with a sense of curiosity. Indeed, power is inherent to ideology!

4. Enchantedlearning.com
From information pertaining to entrances such as TOEFL, SAT and alike to Pictionary and colouring pages; everything is served in a golden platter at enchantedlearning.com. Furthermore, it has also been stated as one of the best sites in United Kingdom.

5. Makemegenius.com (http://ww.makemegenius.com
With every detailing in the form of video presentations, makemegenius.com is truly a genius producing website for children between the age of 6 and 12. Majorly focusing on subjects of Maths and Science, makemegenius.com is pretty much a positive captivator for kids to keep them entangled between their lessons and studies.

6. Brainpop.com
Practical learning has always proved to have a greater impact and better results in comparison to theoretical learning. Taking into consideration the same, brainpop.com stands top on the pedestal with interactive videos on various categories like, Engineering and Technology, Maths, Science, Social Studies, Art and Music, Health and so on.

7. Bbcearth.com
Who said textbook knowledge is enough? Merely being bookworms or only being aware of what’s in books doesn’t help much in this era of cut-throat competition. Everything else you thereby need to know is best available on bbcearth.com. With a stupendous narration, the videos are truly world-best and cent percent knowledge gaining.

8. Howstuffworks.com
Howstuffworks.com is an ultimate portal to quench all your thirst for knowledge. Your quest for almost every possible question will come to an end the moment you research through howstuffworks.com. not only that, all your nested questions will also be sufficiently answered by this thought-provoking educational website called howstuffworks.com.

Make Me Genius: India School Education & Educational Websites-Need...

Make Me Genius: India School Education & Educational Websites-Need...: In last few years, we have seen lot of commercialization in schooling & education all across India, be it at any level -school or college. ...

India School Education & Educational Websites-Need to move to next Level

In last few years, we have seen lot of commercialization in schooling & education all across India, be it at any level -school or college.
It has become another business for people trying to make quick buck, you have a small piece of land & t is ready to take off. Regulatory authorities in most of cases turn a blind eye to the basic requirements which are must for a basic infrastructure .

In this kind of context ,what can be expected outcome?When people having no literacy themselves are ,trying to use this sector to enhance their networth rather than adding value to the society, then future really seems grim.