| Hello Children,
Did you know that the First of December was World AIDs Day? This year however AIDS day was mainly focused on children. Why do you think it was done? Well because children are very vulnerable and are easily led astray. When parents leave their children and go abroad or for work, sometimes there is nobody left to look after them so they become easy targets for some adults who want to misuse them by promising them gifts. Beware of such people because they can lead you into trouble. AIDS is a deadly decease, so if you don't know much about it ask your parents to tell you. Children are the future of the world and are very precious, so take care of yourselves. Until Next Time Aunty Sunshine |
This great wide wonderful world,
With water round you curled,
And grass round your breast,
World, you are so beautifully dressed.
The fresh air is over me,
As the winds shake the trees,
It whirls over the mills,
And blows among the hills,
The friendly earth,
With wheat fields and the rivers that flow,
With buildings and gardens, and cliffs and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles,
In the centre of a seed
Lies a wee plant asleep
Moving slowly here and there
Cause it's got a lot to share
Obeying the call of the majestic sun
And the thunderous rain
The baby plant peeped out to see
How the outside world would be
As time passed by, it grew and grew
Nourishing itself from the earth below
Now stands high with a canopy above
Mingling with the clouds I know not how
By and by when the flowers bloom
Spreading its fragrance from morn to noon
Little birds and bees flock far and near
To quench their thirst with nectar dear
When years go by
The leaves fall dry
The roots cannot hold
The mighty tree, bold
Alas! they fall the giant trees
Breaking the mother earth free
Everything that comes into being
Has to leave one day unseen
The maxim "sound mind in a sound body" tells us the importance of sports and games. From time immemorial sports have been given a prominent place. Greeks and Romans gave the first place to sports men and women.
The Marathon Race is run today to remember Phediphides who ran 26 miles from Sparta to Athens bringing a message that the Spartan Army was coming to invade Athens. He gave the message to Athens and fell dead.
Sports are of many kinds. There is cricket, soccer (football), rugger, tennis, badminton, volleyball and athletics. There is boxing and bodybuilding also.
The whole world gives prominence to sports and exercise. Today we have international sports competitions in cricket, soccer, athletics. Recently Sri Lanka became the world's cricket champions. We are proud of our cricketers like Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda De Silva, Sanath Jayasooriya and others. Susanthika Jayasinghe a girl from a remote village in Sri Lanka won a silver medal beating some of the world's fastest runners in Athens by winning second place in a 200 meters race. We are sure she will win a gold medal in the next Olympics held in Australia in the year 2000.
Games teach us discipline, obedience and how to work together as a team.
What is the largest seabird?
The Albatross is the largest flying seabird. It has a wingspan of 3.6 meters. It belongs to the Diomediadae family and is found mainly in South of the equator. It has a long heavy beak and long narrow wings which allow it to soar on the wind for hours.
There are more than a dozen types of Albatrosses. It experiences great difficullty in taking off. It needs some wind and must run along the ground or paddle its feet across the water for a long time.
She was the peoples' princess
And forever she will be
Always wanted to be
And to be treated like the same
She left a throne in pain
To find true love as it is
She will be in our hearts
And beyond our lives
Diana we love you
Diana we care
Diana we love you
Diana our friend
This great wide wonderful world,
With water round you curled,
And grass round your breast,
World, you are so beautifully dressed.
The fresh air is over me,
As the winds shake the trees,
It whirls over the mills,
And blows among the hills,
The friendly earth,
With wheat fields and the rivers that flow,
With buildings and gardens, and cliffs and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles.
The US Space Shuttle has opened up many new possibilities for the exploration of space, and its development may be the start of an exciting new programme of technology in space.
The Shuttle isn't the same as the space rockets which carried the first men and machines in to space in the early years of space travel. It is more like a 'space aircarft' in a way, and it can make repeated journeys into space, gliding back into Earth's atmosphere after each mission, and landing on an ordinary aircraft runway.
The fuel tank and the solid-propellant rockets for the Shuttle's lift-off from Earth are carried beneath the vehicle itself, and they eventually drop away and return to earth once their work has been done. Parachutes on the booster rockets open so that their fall is slowed, and they can be recovered and used again.
Meanwhile the Shutttle vehicle itself - or Orbiter, as it is called-continues on its journey through space, until its specific mission is completed. Then it will simply return to base, ready to be checked and serviced before it files again.
The Shuttle is covered in hundreds of specially developed ceramic tiles, which are mainly for protection during the hazardous period of re-entry into the atmosphere. On the early flights, despite extensive research and thorough testing in the laboratories, these tiles proved troublesome, and both their design and the adhesive used had to be modified.
One big difference for astronauts travelling in the Shuttle concerns the food they eat. Food for astronauts used to consist of an unappetising selection of concentrated foodstuffs, usually squeezed out of tubes. All that has changed with the Shuttle. The more spacious conditions on board include a galley area where delicious hot meals can be prepared. Shrimp cocktail, steaks and broccoli au gratin are all on the menu for Shuttle travellers!
The Shuttle has a huge range of possible uses, and it can be hired out to all manner of scientific and commercial organisations who wish to perform specific experiments in space.
These experiments will usually be housed in special pallets - also re-usable - which are carried in the Shuttle's cargo bay.
Each pallet will hold everything necessary for one complete experiment, and they will generally be launched in to orbit during the Shuttle's flight, so that they orbit the Earth whilst the experiment is being performed.
A later Shuttle flight can then pick up the pallet and return it to Earth, so that the results of the experiment can be studied.
This manoeuvring of the pallets, and also any cargo handling which is necessary, will be performed by the Shuttle's manipulator arm. This robot arm, approximately 15 metres long, is made of a carbon- fibre composite material, designed to cope with load stresses which occur under weightless conditions.
Some possible experiments which the Shuttle could carry out include measurement of pollution levels in the atmosphere, studying surface features of the Earth, and pinpointing areas of the ocean which are rich in plankton.
But another possibility which the Shuttle opens up is possibly even more exciting. It could be used to set up space stations where men and women could live for long periods of time, perhaps creating whole communities in space.
Shuttle flights could ferry up the materials for building, and could assemble them in situ. Supplies could be delivered regulary, and visitors taken to and from the station by regular Shuttle flights.
Artist's impression of the kind of manned space station which the Shuttle might one day help to build.
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