What I Learned Today

German

Henning's Haus is a fun, German website with nice games. One of them is called Who's Who. There will be pictures of people along with their names. There's a Mystery Person...who is one of the people pictured. Your job is to find out who the person is by asking for clues in German e.g. Do you have red hair? (Hast du rote haare?). In the end, you are done when all the pictures except one are deleted. The person left is the Mystery Person. Click on the Question Mark to find out who it is.



Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings

I learnt about how Ken Jennings finally qualified for Jeopardy!. He did this by completing a test that had some of the more difficult material. I also learned that Ken Jennings used to play a game that was a lot like Jeopardy! when he was in college. The game was called Quiz Bowl. In Quiz Bowl, you use buzzers and the only difference between Jeopardy! and Quiz Bowl is that you can ring in anytime you know the answer to a clue. In Jeopardy! you have to wait until the clue is read out.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham

My Mom and I have read until Chapter 7. So far, Nat Bowditch, the main character, has been indentured into ship chandlery. Indentured means to stay in a company for a few years as an apprentice. Chandlery means a place that sells small things.

So far, I like this book. I like the adventures that befall Nat. Nat is also extremely smart.




I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears and Other Intriguing Idioms From Around the World by Jag Bhalla*

This book is about idioms from around the world. The author puts all the idioms into categories like Health and Animals and subcategories like Canines, Felines and Birds. Here are a few idioms that I really like:

"She swallowed her birth certificate" (she died)
"To get your jaws dislocated" (to die laughing)
"To be peeled as a banana" (to die laughing)
"Ducks are falling already roasted"(it's scorching hot)
"Those waiting for ducks to fall already roasted will be waiting a very long time" (a Chinese proverb meaning: nothing will come immediately to you)

*Mom's note: Parental preview strongly encouraged.