5 September 2016

Monday, September 5, 2016
6
The Bird
Set Free
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Story Time
A Hole in the Fence
In a small village, a little boy lived with his father and mother.
He was the only son.The parents of the little boy were very
depressed due to his bad temper. The boy used to get angry
very soon and taunt others with his words. His bad temper made
him use words that hurt others. He scolded kids, neighbours and
even his friends due to anger. His friends and neighbours avoided
him, and his parents were really worried about him.
His mother and father advised him many times to control his
anger and develop kindness. Unfortunately, all their attempts
failed. Finally, the boy’s father came up with an idea.
One day, his father gave him a huge bag of nails. He asked his son to hammer one nail to
the fence every time he became angry and lost his temper. The little boy found it amusing and
accepted the task.
Every time he lost his temper, he ran to the fence and hammered a nail. His anger drove
him to hammer nails on the fence 30 times on the first day! After the next few days, the number
of nails hammered on the fence was reduced to half. The little boy found it very difficult
to hammer the nails and decided to control his temper.
Gradually, the number of nails hammered to the fence was reduced and the day arrived
when no nail was hammered! The boy did not lose his temper at all that day. For the next several
days, he did not lose his temper, and so did not hammer any nail.
Now, his father told him to remove the nails each time the boy controlled his anger. Several
days passed and the boy was able to pull out most of the nails from the fence. However, there
remained a few nails that he could not pull out.
The boy told his father about it. The father appreciated him and asked him pointing to a
hole, “What do you see there?”
The boy replied, “a hole in the fence!”
He told the boy, “The nails were your bad temper and they were hammered on people. You
can remove the nails but the holes in the fence will remain. The fence will never look the same.
It has scars all over. Some nails cannot even be pulled out. You can stab a man with a knife,
and say sorry later, but the wound will remain there forever. Your bad temper and angry words
were like that! Words are more painful than physical abuse! Use words for good purposes. Use
them to grow relationships. Use them to show the love and kindness in your heart!”
Moral – Unkind words cause lasting damage: Let our words be kind and sweet.
Red blood cells are
produced in bone marrow
• New Zealands first hospital was opened in 1843
• When your face blushes so does your stomach lining
• 1 square inch of human skin contains 625 sweat glands
• Your normal body temperature is 37C (99F)
• Red blood cells are produced in bone marrow
• You shed a complete layer of skin every 4 weeks
• That after petrol, coffee is the largest item bought and sold
• The first metered taxi was introduced in 1907
• The Chinese used fingerprints as a method of identification as far
back as AD 700
• A Sphygmomanometer measures blood pressure
• The revolving door was invented in 1888
• Minus 40C is exactly the same temperature as minus 40F
• Cars were first started with ignition keys in 1949
• To crack a whip the tip must be travelling faster than the speed of sound
• There is enough petrol in a full tank of a Jumbo Jet to drive the
average car 4 times around the world
• Sir Isaac Newton was 23 when he discovered the law of gravity
• The lie detector was invented in 1921
• The world's knowledge is growing so fast that 90% of what we will
know in 50 years time will be discovered in those 50 years
• The drinking straw was invented in 1886
• Red light has the highest wavelength
• Paper money was first used in China
• According to the old English time system a moment is 1 and a half
minutes
• Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body
• light is electro magnetic radiation
She opened the cage, and away there flew
A bright little bird, as a short adieu
It hastily whistled, and passed the door ;
And felt that its sorrowful hours were o'er.
An anthem of freedom it seemed to sing ;
To utter its joy for an outspread wing
That now it could sport in the boundless air;
And might go any and every where.
And Anna rejoiced in her bird's delight ;
But her eye was wet, as she marked its flight ;
Till, this was the song that she seemed to hear ;
And, merrily warbled, it dried the tear :-
"I had a mistress, and she was kind
In all but keeping her bird confined.
She ministered food and drink to me ;
But oh ! I was pining for liberty !
" My fluttering bosom she loved to smoothe ;
But the heart within it she could not soothe :
I sickened and longed for the wildwood breeze,
My feathery kindred, and fresh green trees.
" A prisoner here, with a useless wing.
I looked with sorrow on every thing.
I lost my voice, I forgot my song,
And mourned in silence the whole day long.
" But I will go back with a mellower pipe,
And sing, when the cherries are round and ripe ;
On the topmost bough as I lock my feet
To help myself, in my leafy seat.
" My merriest notes shall there be heard
To draw her eye to her franchised bird ;
The burden, then, of my song shall be,
Earth for the wingless; but air for me !"
The Snow Flake
"Now, if I fall, will it be my lot
To be cast in some low and lonely spot,
To melt, and to sink, unseen or forgot?
And there will my course be ended ?
"'Twas this a feathery Snow-flake said,
As down through measureless space it strayed ;
Or, half by dalliance, half afraid,
It seemed in mid air suspended.
"Oh, no !" said the Earth, " thou shalt not lie
Neglected and lone, on my lap to die,
Thou pure and delicate child of the sky !
For thou wilt be safe in my keeping.
Krill
Colour me
The lowly krill averages only about two inches (five centimeters)
in length, but it represents a giant-sized link in
the global food chain. These small, shrimp-like crustaceans
are essentially the fuel that runs the engine of the Earth’s
marine ecosystems.
Krill feed on phytoplankton, microscopic, single-celled
plants that drift
near the ocean’s
surface and live
off carbon dioxide
and the sun’s
rays. They in turn
are the main staple
in the diets of
literally hundreds
of different animals,
from fish,
to birds, to baleen
whales.
Fun Facts
Type...............................Invertebrate
Diet................................Herbivore
Average life
span in the wild.............5 years or more
Size................................2.4 in (6 cm)
Weight...........................0.035 oz (1 g)
Group name..................Swarm
Relative.........................Size relative to a
paper clip
Simply put,
without krill,
most of the life forms in the Antarctic would disappear.
Alarmingly, there are recent studies that show Antarctic krill
stocks may have dropped by 80 percent since the 1970s.
Scientists attribute these declines in part to ice cover loss caused
by global warming. This ice loss removes a primary source of
food for krill: ice-algae.
Pink and opaque, Antarctic krill are among the largest of the
85 known krill species. Their estimated numbers range from 125
million tons to 6 billion tons in the waters around Antarctica.
During certain times of year, krill congregate in swarms so dense
and widespread that they can be seen from space.
Antarctic krill can live up to 10 years, an amazing longevity
for such a heavily hunted creature. They spend their days
avoiding predators in the cold depths of the Antarctic Ocean,
some 320 feet (100 meters) below the surface. During the
night, they drift up the water column toward the surface in
search of phytoplankton.