floccinaucinihilipilification

Is the estimation of something as worthless, or the habit of doing so.

CONTENTS

ARTICLES

A sneak peek at ... rabbits! - Part 2

Gemstones

Crafts

Ornithomimus

STORIES

The Adventures of Juniper Silverheel

A story within a story

A Grand Inheritance

Recipes

Book Reviews

Movies

Poems

Quotes

Photos

Riddles

Puzzles

Facts

A sneak peek at ... rabbits!

Part 2

Tara Rose

Welcome back to the "Animal Corner". This week I will be looking at the origins of the rabbit species, investigate why the rabbit isn’t a rodent, and how they differ to their distant rodent relatives.

Thanks for reading, and remember, keep sniffing for more juicy news!

Tara R

What actually is a rabbit?

It will probably come as a surprise to you that the rabbit does not belong to the rodent family! Until 1912 rabbits and hares were considered part of the rodent family, but in that year the Leporidae family- which includes all breeds and types of rabbits and hares- were assigned to a new order called Lagomorph.

www.creationsbydawn.net 

www.sheppardsoftware.com 

Characteristics

Lagomorphs differ from rodents in that:

1. They have four incisors in the upper jaw, unlike rodents that only have two.

2.  They are herbivorous (only eat vegies) unlike rodents, which are omnivorous (they eat meat and vegies).

3. The scrotum is in front of the penis, where as the rodent’s is behind.

4. The penis has no bone, unlike the rodent’s.

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Gemstones & Minerals

Tara Rose

BRAZILIANITE

General Info

Brazilianite is one of the most recently discovered gemstones. It is seldom found in jeweller’s shops, but it is greatly prized by mineral collectors. Brazilianite is a yellow mineral. Its crystals are almost always flawed, and when they are cut and polished, great care must be taken to avoid structural imperfections.  

When it was originally discovered, Brazilianite was often mistaken for yellow Chrysoberyl, Beryl or Topaz, but it was not long before the error was discovered and scientists realised they had found a new gemstone! Brazilianite is of limited use in jewellery because it is not very hard - it scores only 5 ½* on the ‘Mohs Scale of Hardness’. But because it is so beautiful, it is often cut for collectors. They do not wear the stones, because the Brazilianite chips and flaws so easily, but they keep them safely in display cases.

www.wikipedia.com 

Where is it found?

The main deposit of Brazilianite has been found in the surroundings of Conselheiro, Pena, in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil . During the past few years this deposit has yielded a great quantity of beautiful raw material, which has included crystals of surprisingly large dimensions and perfectly bounded crystal faces. Other deposits have also been found in the continents of North America, South America, and Europe . The most exquisite crystals - dark greenish-yellow to olive-green - sometimes measure up to 12cm in length and 8cm in width. Crystals of similar shape and dimension have been discovered in another deposit in Minas Gerais, near Mantena, but they lack the perfection of the crystal bounding. Brazilianite has also been discovered in many large collections that originated from the Palermo mine and the Charles Davis mine in Grafton County , New Hampshire , USA .

www.wikipedia.com 

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Crafts

Eva Marlie

The craft for this month is napkin folding. As strange as it may seem, it comes in handy many times. For example, you could make them for formal dinner events, for Christmas or birthday feasts, other celebrations, or just for a little family get together.

You can choose any complementary or contrasting colours of napkin to brighten up the table.

Soon everyone will want to come to your place to see what napkin there is waiting for them on their side plate, so you better brush up on your different methods!

NAPKIN FOLDING - Bishop's Hat

www.napkinfoldingguide.com 

You will need:

1 napkin or big serviette unfolded

Method:

1. Lay the napkin face down in front of you.

2. Fold the dinner napkin in half so that the open end is towards you.

3. Fold the far-right corner diagonally towards you, resting the point in the center of the side closest to you.

4. Fold the near-left corner diagonally away from you, resting it so that it lies right next to the previous fold.

5. Flip the napkin over and orient it so it points to the far-left and to the near-right.

6. Fold the bottom half of the napkin up and away from you, laying it so the far edges run on top of one other.

7. Reach underneath of the napkin and pull out the flap on the right, making the near-side come to two points as seen in the picture.

8. Gently roll the left half of the left triangle over and tuck its end underneath the right triangle.

9. Flip the napkin over, points pointing away from you.

10. Fold the right-triangle to the left, tucking its end into the other triangle.

11. Open up the hat and press the material inside down to fill it out so that it becomes circular, this may take a little fidgeting.

There you go, now all you need is a little bishop to wear it.

Click here for picture instructions.

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Ornithomimus

Star (12)

Introduction

Ornithomimus (pronounced or-nith-owe-mim-us) was a dinosaur from the Theropoda class. They had large brains and were about the same size as a human.

Features

Ornithomimus is an ostrich like dinosaur about 3.5 meters in length and 2.7 meters in height. It had skinny arms with three long fingers, all of approximately the same length, on the end. It had a toothless beak-like mouth and a small skull, but the walls of bone were thin to contain its large brain.  Their legs were very long, especially its foot bones which had bird-like feet. It also had a long neck similar to an ostrich or an emu's. In fact they are so alike that Ornithomimus means Ostrich-mimic. Ostriches and emus are probably their descendants.

Habitat

Ornithomimus lived in swamps and forests in  Arizona , Colorado , Mongolia , Montana , and  North America  around 70MYA (million years ago) in the Late Cretaceous period.

Food

Ornithomimus were omnivores, meaning they ate both plants and animals. They probably ate berries, leaves and insects, seeing as their toothless beak does not appear to be designed to eat the flesh of other animals.

Resources

www.kidsdinos.com

www.disosaurs.about.com

www.britannica.com

www.flickr.com 

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The Adventures of Juniper Silverheel

Part 3

Star (12) & Nova (11)

Finally the sun set and Loom woke up. I was still working. She was impressed at how beautiful the structure was. I smiled and kept working forgetting that I was suppose to rest when she woke up.

“Rest”, she said. "Let us eventides do the work. You may still have work to do in the morning."

Reluctantly, I climbed back into my comfortable bed. As soon as my head touched my leaf and grass pillow I was reminded of how tired I was and fell asleep straight away. The next morning I woke up to find that I was in a bedroom and not on a platform high in a tree. I opened the door and looked out into another room. I opened the door at the end of that room and saw a half finished room.  Loom was hovering to the left of the room, calling to someone outside.

"Time for you to rest and me to work", I said in a very un-commanding tone.

"Of course", she said, and called out: "Time for sleep everyone!"

I watched her elegant wings flap until I could no longer see her. I sighed, partly wishing that I had let her keep on working. I flew down to the ground to find that there was a bundle of sticks waiting for me. I smiled to myself and thought at least I don’t have to wake up at dawn. Then I worked. The sticks were strong and fine. Where in the world did Loom and her helpers find them? I shrugged to myself thinking I’ll ask her tonight. The day was long and hard and many times I felt as if I would faint. But somehow, I kept going. Finally the long day was over and I plonked myself on my bed almost forgetting to ask Loom about the wood, but just as I was drifting to sleep I remembered and got up to ask her. I took my time to slip my warm coat on then I walked through to the furthest room. I peered out of my newly made window and looked out into the blackness. I saw a glow! Then another and another, I was sure they were the eventides’! How was I supposed to find Loom? Then someone said:

“Hello.”

I jumped with a start. The voice was male.

To be continued ...

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A story within a story

Tara Rose

Chapter 1 - Maka

“Maka, come and help me gather”, my mother shouted into the forest, shattering the tranquillity that I had been immersed in.

“Mm”, I said loud enough for her to hear, but not as ear shattering.

“Now”, she said sternly.

“Fine”, I retorted, and sighed. I was sitting under a Buttress tree, lying in the sun. My hemp dress was bristly compared to my long black hair that draped over my back, hot from the beating sun, which was pouring through every opening of the leafy canopy where possible. I laid my hand on a root of the tree and pushed myself off the ground. I whispered to the tree, “I will be back”, and she sighed:

“I know."

As I started to trudge towards a dreary day of preparing for the party that night, I enjoyed the feeling of squelching my warm toes into the cold mud that lined the edges of the mangroves. I drew back my head and breathed in a last breath of damp rainforest air, and then stepped into the open clearing of parched dirt and grass.

In the middle of this barren clearing was a large thatched roof, which housed my family and friends; the main meeting place, and home, of the Kakwa tribe. All in all there were fifty-two of us. We all contributed to the well being of everyone else in the tribe, so it was my duty to help my mother, and the other women of the tribe, in collecting our food for the big feast tonight.

I walked quickly over to the other side of the clearing, past my grandfather, who was dozing in a hammock, snoring loudly. I sighed and shook my head; how comical he looked. I have never loved someone as dearly as I loved my grandfather. He was my father, and my best friend. I had never known my father. When I was one year old, the year was 1995, he was part of the party that rebelled against the ‘workmen’; the first time they came to steal the land and our life.

There were thirty men, all of them strong and fit, which went to make peace with the ‘workmen’, and only 23 came back. Out of the seven who were lost, my father one, were many of my uncles and relatives. We don’t know what happened to my father; the survivors confirmed all of the seven dead, but one. He disappeared, when they broke out in a fight, and the ‘workmen’ drew their guns. I have always had a secret hope that he escaped, and is still out there, somewhere, trying to find his way home.

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A Grand Inheritance

Oogliod Knacktid

"I say," said Reginald Rumtumble. "This is awfully decent of the pater."
   The young man, a successful lawyer, was the son of the late lamented Sir Charles Rumtumble. Reginald and his mother, Marjorie Rumtumble, who was clad from head to toe in black veils, were sitting in one of the living rooms of their country mansion.
   "Yes," agreed Marjorie, "especially as he never gave any indication that he would leave you anything. Dear old Charles must have changed his mind."
   Reginald was bending over his father's will, his finger tracing the lines of the last paragraph. He spoke it aloud.
   "And to my dear son Reginald, I leave my old fifth-regiment army box, in which is contained all the wonderful treasures he deserves."
   Sir Charles had fought in India , and retired after a long service to the British army. He had gone on to be an oil tycoon, purchasing all the oil companies he could get his hands on. He made millions, and was just settling down when he died of cancer, presumably from his heavy smoking throughout the past 30 years.
   "If only we could get the bally thing opened!" said Reginald. He turned his gaze to an ornate wooden box. Ever since he first read the will he had been trying to open it, but to no avail.
   "You'll have to smash it," decided Marjorie.
   "But a box like this is invaluable! I can't destroy it!"
   "Well then, you'll just have to look at it for the rest of your life."
   Reginald groaned, and took the box outside. He commanded the strongest servant to fetch the sledgehammer and break the box open.
   After a few minutes of violent assault of the box, the lid cracked. His every nerve tingling in anticipation, Reginald crept up to the box. He flung the splintered lid open.
   Inside the box was nothing but a note. Reginald picked it up and read it.
   "Pity about the box!"
   Infuriated, Reginald stalked away from the wreckage. His thoughts echoed with six words...
   "All the wonderful treasures he deserves!"

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Recipes

Cheese Muffins

Sandy Groper

Ingredients

2 cups grated cheese

2 cups plain flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups milk

Method

Preheat oven to 200ºC.

Combine flour, salt, and baking powder, and add grated cheese.

Mix well, then add the milk to make lumpy batter.

Don't over mix.

Bake in greased muffin tins for about 15 minutes, till golden brown.

Turn out on cooling rack.

Serve warm or cold.

Goes very well with apricot jam.

Optional - Add mustard powder and/or mixed herbs to the dry ingredients.

Makes 12

Click here for a print out.

Raw Patties

Compiled/edited by Sue D Nim

Ingredients

1 avocado
1 cup of almonds ground in blender
1 tablespoon fresh sage
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh chives
1 small onion chopped finely

Method

Blend the almonds to a fine meal.

Mash avocado and add to almond meal with other ingredients. Mix well.

Use two soup spoons to form patties.

Serve on a bed of lettuce with hommus or chopped tomato. Yum! Or put the lot on whole wheat toast.

Click here for a print out.

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Movies

Eva Marlie

Monsters Inc.

Monsters, Mike and Sulley, work at Monsters Incorporated where it’s Sulley and the other scary monsters’ job to scare human children and collect their screams for their city’s power system. Everything turns this jolly town upside-down when Randall, the mean camouflaging monster, decides to steal a human child so he can extract the kid’s screams and break the scare record Sulley was holding.

www.thecia.com.au 

Monsters Inc. is one of my favourite movies, especially because of the strange but interesting plot, the characters with very different in-depth personalities, and the fact that the director and script writers have made things happen in the movie that no one else would have ever thought of! I think this movie is a classic kids (and their parents!) will enjoy for decades to come.

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Poems

Compiled by Tara Rose

The Night
Star Light (12)

Night, oh, night;

The stars so bright.

The moon is glowing,

And the wind is blowing.

The crickets are chirping,

The snow is falling.

The snow is thick upon our door;

So thick we go out no more.

But the stars are glowing,

And the wind is blowing.

The moon is bright,

And I am alight

With happiness.

www.fayobserver.com

Time and Again
Rainer Maria Rilke

Time and again, however well we know the landscape of love,

And the little church-yard with lamenting names,

And the frightfully silent ravine wherein all the others

End: time and again we go out two together,

Under the old trees, lie down again and again

Between the flowers, face to face with the sky.

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Book Reviews

Leatherwood Books

www.leatherwoodbooks.com.au  

The Australia Book

Eve Pownall

9781742030418

$34.99

This is such a lovely book! With the beautiful illustrations by Margaret Senior, this reproduction of Eve Pownall's 1952 classic, The Australia Book, really comes to life.

As it covers all the big events in Australia's history, it's a very good way to get the children to discover their own history here on this massive island down-under, and realise how the lives were for the people living back then.

(Review LR)

For another review click on the book cover.

www.wwnorton.com 

The Well-Trained Mind

Susan Wise Bauer & Jessie Wise

9780393067088

$64.95

If you are looking for a rigorous, academic, classical curriculum for your children, with a detailed plan of how to achieve it, then look no further.
In The Well-Trained Mind you will find over 800 pages of detailed curriculum planning for children K-12 in all major learning areas.
Based on the medieval education model of the trivium, this method makes use of the best literature the world has known, and the authors have done a fabulous job bringing together exhaustive lists of all the resources required to implement their programme.

(Review JH, previous owner)

For an extended review click on the book cover.

Ranger's Apprentice #1 - The Ruins of Gorlan

John Flanagan

9780759320758

$16.95

Fifteen-year-old Will is disappointed when he is rejected at Castle Redmont's Battleschool, as he had always wished to become a great knight like his father. Instead, he gets apprenticed to the mysterious ranger, Halt.

When Will and Halt adventure out to save the King from being assassinated, Will discovers that the bow, arrow, mottled cloak, and the little pony he learned to use (without enthusiasm) actually do come in handy.

Flanagan has written this book very well; he makes the children's thoughts and decisions clear, so the reader can understand exactly what the characters are thinking.

Age 8+

(Review LR)

For another review click on the book cover.

Photos

These are Eva's two cats, Sonic (tabby) and Delta (black).

Despite how unlike each other they are, they're twins.

They had their 5th birthday on the 18th of October.

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Quotes

Compiled by Tara Rose

Dream as if you have forever. Live as if you only have today.

- James Dean

Don't lose hope. When the sun goes down, the stars come out.

- Anonymous

Puzzles

Click here for answers. 

Sudoku

The aim is for there to be all the numbers from 1 - 9 in every 9 box square, every column, and every row.

Click here for a print out.

Word Search

Tara Rose

The aim is to find all the words listed, hidden in the box.

Click here for a print out.

Nine Letter Word

 The aim is to construct a word with nine letters from each of the boxes below. 

Good Luck!

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3 Brain Busting Riddles

Compiled by Tara Rose

1. What can you hold without using your arms, hands, or feet?

2. An island and the letter "t" have something in common. What is it?

3. My life can be measured in hours; I serve by being devoured. Thin, I am quick; fat, I am slow. Wind is my foe. What am I?

Thanks to www.answerbag.com, www.answers.yahoo.com and Xocibici.

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5 Facts 4 Fun

Compiled by Tara Rose

1. Floccinaucinihilipilification (see word of the month) is the longest non-medical term in the English language.

2. Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a novel, "Gadsby", which contains over 50,000 words - none of them with the letter E!

3. 80% of people eat their corn on-the-cob in circles rather than side to side.

4. 13% of Americans actually believe that some parts of the moon are made of cheese.

5. 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their bottoms.

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