Speech - Weird and Wacky Facts and Figures

Everyone knows that paper is made from trees and that log houses are made from logs but personally I think that it the boring stuff. Some people might know that the mathematical pi never ends and that Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark but this still seems average to me. I want to know unusual things like 200 000 000 M&M’s are sold in the US each day or that, an average person would spend 14 days of their lifetime waiting for the traffic lights to change! That’s 20 160 minutes. These are just some of the weird and wacky facts and figures.

For someone who has a fear of numbers they would have numerophobia. If you have numerophobia please block your ears for you are in for your worst nightmare. For every person in the world there is a chicken or two. There are around 6 billion people in the world and about 10 billion chickens. That would give an endless amount of eggs and a lot of omelettes. I was dreaming of an egg one night. A pure round flawless egg. Then I woke up. I had wondered how many dreams would I have each year and the answer came to me like that, from a book that is. If you are an average person you would have 1 460 dreams a year! This year I have only had about 365 of them. Have you ever felt short of something? Maybe short of eggs or maybe you have felt short of height. Then you would be happy to know that after 2.66543 minutes of searching I have found that an average human being is 14 mm higher when they wake up in the morning so remember to measure your height when you wake up. After all these weird figures let’s move on to wacky facts.

If you are afraid of words then you would have logophobia. I am guessing that if you had logophobia then you would have already fainted by now but if you are afraid of long words then you have a phobia called hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. Don’t worry. That is the longest word I am using in these three minutes. That is about the biggest word my vocab I can handle but maybe yours is different. A person’s vocabulary can consist of 5 000 to 8 000 words. Try counting them someday. After that you can try rhyming words with month, orange, silver and purple. Actually don’t try because there isn’t a word in the English language that can rhyme with those words. Some strange words in the English language can include lulliloo which means to sing a joyful welcome, liripoop which means a silly person and gongoozler which is someone who stares at something for a long time.

I now hope that everyone knows how many dreams you have in a year and the phobia of really long words oh, and if you ever find a word that rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple please come tell me. I like knowing unusual things.

Poem - Two Drops of Rain

These are my two drops of rain
Waiting on the window-pane.
I am waiting here to see
Which the winning one will be.
Both of them have different names.
One is John and one is James.
All the best and all the worst
Comes from which of them is first.
James has just begun to ooze.
He's the one I want to lose.
John is waiting to begin.
He's the one I want to win.
James is going slowly on.
Something sort of sticks to John.
John is moving off at last.
James is going pretty fast.
John is rushing down the pane.
James is going slow again.
James has met a sort of smear.
John is getting very near.
Is he going fast enough?
(James has found a piece of fluff.)
John has quickly hurried by.
(James was talking to a fly.)
John is there, and John has won!
Look! I told you!
Here's the sun!

By A.A. Milne

By the looks of things, this is a child who is bored by the rain and is looking at two raindrops on their window. One is James and one in John. The child is giving these characters personification by making them sound as if they are running. A the end of the poem John has won but they totally forget about it and realise they can go out and play.

I found this poem very enjoyable to read because of the simple English and the funny topic.

Albrecht Dürer

Albrecht Dürer was a German painter born on the 21st of May, 1471. He is a renowned painter and printmaker but died on the 6th of April, 1528 at the age of 56. Dürer became famous when he was in his mid-twenties and because of this, his life has been well documented by several sources.

After a few years at school, Dürer started learn a bit about goldsmithing and a bit of drawing from his father. He showed such a talent for drawing that although is father wanted him to continue goldsmithing, he let him become a apprentice to Michael Wolgemut at the age of fifteen. Wolgemut was a leading artist at that time in Nuremberg and owned a large workshop that produced many different types of art. The one in particular was woodcuts for books.

The great artist of the Renaissance looked as if he painted in watercolours and oils but engraving was the thing he was most famous for. A particular favourite of some is a watercolour painting called A Young Hare. Although the idea of a hare bores some people Dürer has added great detail to this work to make it a boring hare look like a piece of artwork.

With a lot of his works in great detail, he did not get to finish some. When he died he left a career that many would have loved to have. Although the person is gone, his spirit still lives in some of his paintings.



A Young Hare

My List of Dairy Products

I've named 14. How many can you name?

1. milk
2. cheese
3. yoghurt
4. ice-cream
5. gelato
6. butter
7. cream
8. chocolate
9. coffee
10. white tea
11. cappuccino
12. curd
13. margarine
14. Yakult
15. buttermilk

From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

These are the famous lines from the poem. I did not really understand this until I read the Wikipedia article about it. For once it explains the poem in plain simple English that I can understand and after reading it, I thought it was a very good poem to describe a horrific story.

Edgar Degas

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar de Gas was a French born artist and famous for painting, sculpturing, printmaking and drawing. Born on the 19 July ,1834, he lived for 83 years and died on the 27 September ,1917,. If he was alive today then he would be 174 years of age but althoug his age changed I don't think that his love for art would have ever changed.

He was born into a family of three boys and two girls and Degas was the eldest of them all. He changed his last name to Degas some time later when painting his works of art.

At the age of 18, Degas had turned one of his rooms into an art studio but although his love for art showed, his father wanted him to go to law school. His studies for law at the University of Paris were vain as he took little interest. In July 1856, Degas travelled to Italy which was the place where he would stay for another 3 years. There he drew and painted copies of pictures done by Michelangelo, Raphael and other famous artists. During this period he succeeded in the technique of classical art.

Degas used a couple of artistic materials. From what I can find he used oils, pastels and he had to use something to make sculptures!

I am really infuriated by the fact that wherever I go to find something on the Web that it always turns out to be in complicated English. This is what I find a lot on Wikipedia and since this is the only site I can find details on his life, I have to stop here. Wait a minute! One last thing. I am personally very attracted to the painting called The Dance Class. With the detail and beatuy of the picture, it gives you a wonderful feeling to go and dance with them.


The Dance Class

Trixie Belden

Trixie Belden is a series of mystery stories revolving around the main character Beatrix 'Trixie' Belden. The first six books were written by Julie Campbell but then changed authors to Kathryn Kenny. Kathryn Kenny was a pen name or in other words, a fake name only used to write books and to disguise the author's real identity. These books were written between 1948 and 1986 but stopped for a number of years before Random House reprinted them. They came back out in the summer of 2003. In 2006, books 1-15 have been reissued. Lots hope to see all 39 reprinted especially the hard to find books.

Trixie is 13 year old girl who lives in the made up town of Sleepyside-on-Hudson. This is in the Hundson River Valley around the area of New York. She lives on Crabapple Farm with her family made up of her parents and her three brothers. This farm has been with her family for three or six generations. The reason for three to six is that it changes through the series. She hates her real name Beatrix and is not to fond of school work.

Throughout the series Trixie and her good friend Honey Wheeler solve mysteries together. I hope to grab some of these books and have a good read to see what Trixie really gets up to.


The first book

Monotremes

What are montremes? They are a mammal that lays eggs and there are only two monotremes on the entire Earth. The platypus and the echidna. They are found in Australia and New Guinea.

The echidna is covered with fur and sharp spines that are used to guard them from harm. Where it is warmer in the north, the colour of the echidna is brown whereas in the cooler south, they are black.

As I said before, what makes them a monotreme is the fact that they lay eggs. They do this rather than have live birth. For the echidna mating occurs during the winter months and around 22 days later, the female will lay a soft leathery egg directly into her pouch. After ten days, a baby emerges from the egg and the size of it is no larger than a jellybean. It suckles from two milk spores in the pouch and stays there for up to 55 days. During this time it begins to develop spines. After all this, the mother digs a burrow for the young one and comes again five or so days to suckle it for an extra seven months.

The platypus is the other monotreme. It's appearance shocked early scientists and were first thought to be a joke. It has a sleek fur-covered body, webbed feet and a smooth, leathery bill.

During June to October is the time to breed for the platypuses but can occur earlier in northern latitudes. Mating takes place in the water and from about 12-14 days, the female lays 3-2 eggs in a nesting burrow. These eggs are incubated by the mother's belly and tail and hatch after about a fortnight. By six weeks of age they have grown fur, have opened their eyes and may leave the burrow for short periods of time. Sooner or later they are weaned by 5 months of age.

I think that these are very interesting creatures that we should all look out for.

The echidna

The platypus

Poem - anyone lived in a pretty how town

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did.

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hoe and then)they
said their nevers and they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt for forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

e.e. cummings

After some research I have found out that 'anyone' and 'noone' are actually people that are ignored by the others around them. 'anyone and 'noone' are lovers and noone gradually comes to love anybody. At the end of the poem, anyone died and I think noone did too.

From my point of view, I think that it is a very lovely poem that came to a very sad end. The repetition emphasises the things you forget in the first bit which is a good thing.

A comment on what you think or know what this poem is about would really help me to understand it more. Do note to leave your name. :)

Harper Lee - Author of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Nelle Harper Lee is an American author well known for her work, To Kill a Mockingbird. While born on April 28th, 1926, she made her book in 1960. At the age of 82, she lives with her 94 year old sister Alice.

Lee was the youngest child of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. Truman Capote, another famous American writer, was a neighbour and a friend in those early years and on. She lived in a southwestern Alabama town called Monroeville but first studied in Huntingdon College in Montergomery, Alabama. She then went on to do a law degree in the University of Alabama and spent one year overseas at Oxford University, England. Before she became a writer, she worked as a reservation clerk for Eastern Airlines in New York City until the late 1950's. Lee lived a inexpensive lifestyle, travelling only to her original home in Alabama to look after her father, and her cold-water-only apartment. She now worked in Holcombe, Kansas, as a research assistant for Truman Capote's 4th novel 'In Cold Blood' .

Harper Lee published her first but only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, in 1960 after a two year period of rewriting and revising under the advice of her editor. Her book was so successful that it won the 1961 Pulitzer Prize despite the fact that her book had many different critical views. In the book she had put in her own experiences as a child in Monroeville. The book was a best seller by selling more than 15 million copies and was made into an outstanding film.

As I have said at the top, she now lives with her sister Alice and I am sure that she is living a very happy life.

Harper Lee

Sidney Nolan

Sir Sidney Robert Nolan is a renowned Australian painter for his arts on Ned Kelly but was also known for his printmaking. Born on the 22nd of April, 1917, He spent most of his life as a painter even as a child. If he still lived today he would be 91 years of age but died on the 28th of November, 1992 in London.

Nolan was the eldest of the four children in his family. He was born in the suburb of Carlton in Melbourne but later moved to the bay side St Kilda, also in Melbourne. He left school at the age of 14 to attend Prahran Technical College, Department of Design and Crafts to do a course which he had already begun by part-time correspondence. When he was 16, he started to work for Fayrefeild Hats and Abbotsford by making advertisements and display stands with dyes and spray paint. In 1934, when he was 17, he attended night classes, in no particular order, at the National Gallery of Victoria Art.

He was close friends with John and Sunday Reed who were art patrons or art supporters. His involvement with the Reeds ended up breaking his relationship with his first wife Elizabeth Patterson but married again to John's sister Cynthia after being refused to marry him by Sunday Reed. His last marriage was to Mary Boyd.

He is most famous for the Ned Kelly Series in which some he painted in the Reed's living room. In most of his paintings you can see that he has not put in Kelly's head or eyes but in every scene he painted, Kelly was always wearing his suit of amour.

In 1950 Nolan moved to London where he stayed until his death. Some of his paintings are now in the National Art Gallery of Australia. From my perspective, I think that they look very simple but sometimes just a little can do so much.

The Trial by Sidney Nolan

Poem - The Knight

Once upon a time there was a knight who rode
over the hills,
and killed a dragon,
and set fifteen women free
from an enchanter who kept the prisoners in a tower
and found a castle where they could live,
and rode on to the desert
where two kings were fighting a war that never ended
and waved a magic shield over the battle so all the soldiers stopped fighting and said,
"What are we here for?"
And then the knight turned and rode back,
through the desert, past the tower, over the hills,
and when she got home
she took off her armour, patted the cat and made
herself a cup of tea.

I was very surprised at the ending which was my favourite part. It just shows that not everything goes to plan or that women can do these type of things too.

Berthe Morisot & THRASS

Where did she live and paint?

Berthe Morisot was born in Bourges, Cher, France. From my sources, she painted in France.

What is her style called?

Her style was called Impressionist. Many famous artists did this including Claude Monet.

When did she paint?

She painted when she could. Her career was an artist and her sister was also one too. By the age of 20 she had met a few famous people too.

What is your favourite painting and discuss it.

I like 'The Cradle' or 'Le berceau'. I chose this because of its colour and who was on the picture. The way she mixes her colours and the I don't get it how she was able to make that veil type thing over the baby's cradle.

shout
lash
crash
hash
fresh
leash
sheet
sheer
should
shocking
astonishing
shop
shelf
relish

In the tree house I saw some big blue-green birds singing songs which was quite astonishing, a mini faded shelf with a small pink tea set on top, a fresh hash brown which I relish and and extra large sheet concealing all the money in my piggy bank!

Poem - The Owl and the Pussy Cat

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat:
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,
How charmingly sweet you sing!
Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the bong-tree grows;
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood,
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

By Edward Lear

Edward Lear is a renowned poet but is also know for his skill in being an English artist, an illustrator and writer. Most of his literacy is nonsense but nevertheless, it still enchants readers today.

Born on the 12th of May, 1812, he was the 20th child in his family and was raised by older sister Ann. They left the family home together and set up a new one together as well. He started work as a serious illustrator and published his first work at the age of 19. From my sources, he had 22 works throughout his lifetime.

Lear was not a healthy person. He suffered from seizures which is when the body sort of moves in a sharp way. To add to the list was asthma, bronchitis and when he was older, partial blindness. Yet, from all this, he still had one of the most famous poems in the world. Neither did this stop him from teaching Queen Victoria for a time!

He died on the 29th of January, 1888, but he would be happy to know that his work still lives on and is being read by generations of children.





The Edward Lear and the Owl and the Pussy Cat

Questions & THRASS

1. 1,537
2. 40,000
3. 999,999
4. 8

The words I can think of now are:

bat
book
brink
probe
blink
bee
beak
bleak
but
because
babble
bubble
black
butter
butterfly
betrothed
ball
ballad
bag
back
boat
boast
bloat
blue
best
box
blank
bank

Questions and THRASS

Easter Egg Hunt

1. 1 egg
2. 37
3. a, c, d

bin
fish
finish
him
rim
grimace

"We were going to catch some fish today," said dad. I grimace. That is what he always says. He said that he would make the rims of my glasses look shiny. He didn't. He said he would take my turn for taking out the bin on Monday. He didn't. He said he would finish my homework if I did the dishes. He didn't. Really, when will he ever do what he says?

Poem - Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
'Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

By Percy Bysshe Shelley

In this Shelley is acting as the person telling the poem in this poem he met a traveller from a old land. This man is telling Shelley that there is a thing in the sand. I think that it is a statue and after the description of the statue, the man is now talking of the sculptor. The person who made the statue read the person's (who was he sculpting) feelings or passions well. The man is also saying that it survived and the meaning of it was stamped on the lifeless thing. The hand that made it and the love of the heart that was put into it is the definition of line 8. On the base of the statue it read:

`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
'Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Questions, THRASS and the Paragraph of Writing

Extension Maths:

1. a, c, d, e

2. b

3. none

absurd
urchin
spurs
Urban
urged
blurry

On the ocean floor I found an absurd looking sea urchin, a blurry looking fish the somehow reminded me of Keith Urban, a brown boot with spurs that must have been there for ages and a horrible looking octopus which urged me to make my way to the surface.


Word Bank: cocoon chrysalis butterfly larvae milkweed orange migration wings caterpillar poisonous Monarch insect beautiful flying egg traveller patterns flight predator crunchy

The Monarch Butterfly starts off as an egg (larvae) and then after a few weeks, it will become a caterpillar. After a few weeks or so, it spin a coccon or chrysalis. Another few weeks of waiting and it will emerge from its cocoon and take flight into the unknown world.

This insect is a beautiful creature and has orange and black patterns on its wings. This butterfly eats milkweed, which is poisonous and predators can be assured to find it crunchy!

One of the unique things about this insect is that it goes on a migration journey to warmer places during the winter. So maybe you'll be able to see it flying over your house during the cold times.

Questions and THRASS

1. 20:43
2. 167.24
3. 185,324,003
4. 10 sides
5. 52161
6. MXLVii, CXCVii, MDCCCLiX
7. 84
8. 1962
9. 20.7
10. 141.36

run
ruin
rug
tread
credit
tomorrow

I can't believe what happened today. Sally got all the credit for cleaning up the special rug but it was me that did it. Me! Max just had to tread on this woollen piece of decoration and ruin the it! I had to run to the toilets' and get heaps of paper towel. By the time Ms. X comes in the mess is cleaned up but then Sally pipes up saying she did it! Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and think this was all a silly dream.

Poem - if there are any heavens

if there are any heavens my mother will(all by herself)have
one. It will not be a pansy heaven
nor a fragile heaven of lilies-of-the-valley but
it will be a heaven of blackred roses

my father will be(deep like a rose
tall like a rose)
standing near my
(swaying over her
silent)

with eyes which are really petals and see
nothing with the face of a poet really which
is a flower and not a face with
hands

which whisper
This is my beloved my

(suddenly in sunlight
he will bow,

& the whole garden will bow)

by e.e cummings

Cummings is describing what he thinks it might look like in heaven. His mother must have died and he is explaining it won't be a heaven of pansies or a lilies-of-the-valley heaven but a heaven of blackred roses. His father must have died too and he is standing (deep like a rose tall like a rose) near cummings' mother. Cummings is explaining that his father's eyes ,which are really petals, can't be explained by a poet and the eyes are a flower and not a face with hands. When his father bows the garden will do the same in the sunlight.