Posts filed under ‘.pdf’
SCIENCE FAIR: ROME HOME DOME
Download: domes.pdf
Links:
- BUILDING BIG: DOMES
- Build a Dome Instructions
- How to make a geodesic dome from newspaper – Playground Science
- How to Build a Geodesic Dome – Whitney Museum
- Design Matters: Doing Better with Less
C I T I N E R A R I E S : CELEBRATION: Fuller Dome Restoration
C I T I N E R A R I E S : AROUND THE WORLD: DOMES
Mr. Tickle (Mr. Men and Little Miss)
The Lightest Pearl
A merchant of Benares, in India, had in his possession eight pearls identical in shape, size, and color. Of these eight pearls, seven were the same weight, while the eighth weighed slightly less than the others. How could the merchant discover which pearl was lighter, using a scale but making only two weighings and not using any weights?
From THE MAN WHO COUNTED by Malba Tahan
Chapter 32: A BALANCING ACT
Download: .pdf
Seven
Seven are the gates of hell
Seven are the days of the week
Seven wise men of Greece
Seven the seas that cover the earth
Seven the planets, and seven
The wonders of the world
From THE MAN WHO COUNTED by Malba Tahan
Chapter 8: SEVENTH HEAVEN
Download: .pdf
The puzzle of the five discs
“When Princess Dahize was eighteen years and twenty-seven days old, her hand in marriage was sought by three princes whose names have passed into legend: Aradin, Benefir, and Comozan.
“King Cassim was uncertain. Of the three rich suitors, how could he choose the one who should marry his daughter? If he were to do so, it could have the following fatal result: he, the king, would gain a son-in-law, but the two unsuccessful suitors would become his bitter enemies. It was a hard decision for a sensitive and cautious king who only wanted to live in peace with his people and his neighbors. He asked Princess Dahize, but she declared only that she would marry the one who was most intelligent.
“Her decision pleased King Cassim, for he saw a simple solution to what seemed an impossible choice. He summoned five of the wisest men in his court and told them to put the three princes through a rigorous test to see which of the three was the most intelligent.
“When they had done so, the wise men reported to the king that all three princes were indeed most intelligent. They were well versed in mathematics, literature, astronomy, and physics. They could solve difficult chess problems, the subtleties of geometry, and all kinds of complex enigmas. ‘We do “not see any way,’ said the wise men; “of making” a clear decision in favor of one of them.
“After this distressing failure, the king decided to consult a dervish who had a reputation for knowing much about magic and the occult.
“The dervish addressed himself to the king. ‘I know only one way that will allow us to decide which prince is the most intelligent of the three—the test of the five disks.’
“‘Then let us do it!” exclaimed the king.
“The three princes were summoned to the palace, and the dervish, showing them five simple wooden disks, said to them, ‘Here are five disks, two of them black and three of them white. They are all the same size and weight and are different only in color.’
“Next, a page carefully bound the eyes of the three princes so that they could-see nothing. The old dervish then picked three disks at random and fastened one each to the backs of the three suitors, saying as he did so, ‘Each one of you has on his back a disk whose color you do not know. You are to be questioned in turn. The one who discovers the color of the disk he is wearing will be declared the winner and will receive the hand of the beautiful Dahize in marriage. The first one questioned can look at the disks of the other two. The second can see only the disk of the third, and the third must make his reply seeing none of the others. The one who gives the correct answer must, in order to prove that he was not simply guessing, justify his answer by clear reasoning. Now, who wants to go first?’
“‘Let me be first,’ said Prince Comozan promptly.
“The page removed the bandage from his eyes, and Prince Comozan saw the disks on the backs of his two rivals. The dervish took him aside to hear his answer, but it was wrong. Declaring himself beaten, he withdrew. He had seen the two disks on the hacks of the other princes and still not been able to determine the color of his own disk.
“‘Prince Comozan has failed,’ said the king in a loud voice, to inform the other two.
“Then let me be next,’ said Prince Benefir. Once his eyes were uncovered, the second prince saw the disk worn by the third on his back. He motioned to the dervish and whispered his reply to him. The dervish shook his head. The second prince was also mistaken and was given leave to withdraw immediately. Only one was left, Prince Aradin.
“When the kin” announced that-the second suitor had also failed, he approached with his eyes still bandaged and announced in a loud voice the correct color of the disk on his back.”
When the story was finished, the wise man pf Cordoba turned to Beremiz and said, “In making his answer. Prince Aradin reasoned in such a way as to reach with complete certainty the solution to the problem of the five disks and to win the hand of the beautiful Dahize. Now, I wish you to tell me, first, what his reply was and, second, how he could be so “sure of the color of his own disk.”
A Collection of Mathematical Adventures
by Malba Tahan
Chapter 31: IN BLACK AND WHITE
Download: .pdf
The Little Red House with a Star Inside
Once upon a time a little boy named Johnny asked his mother to make a mommy magic for him.
“How would you like to find a little red house with no windows, no doors, a chimney on top, and a star inside?” asked his mother.
Johnny said he would like that very much.
So Johnny and his mother went for a walk.
They saw Johnny’s friend, Jenny, jumping rope.
“Do you know where I can find a little red house with no windows, no doors, a chimney on top, and a star inside” asked Johnny?
“No.” said Jenny. “But maybe Farmer Jones knows that.”
Johnny and his mother walked until they came to Farmer Jones.
Johnny asked him, “Do you know where I can find a little red house with no windows, no doors, a chimney on top, and a star inside?”
“No.” said Farmer Jones. But I bet my Grandma knows. She has lived a long, long time, and she knows most everything.”
They went to see Grandma Jones. She was rocking back and forth in a rocking chair on the front porch.
Johnny asked her, “Grandma, Jones, do you know where I can find a little red house with no windows, no doors, a chimney on top, and a star in the middle?”
“Go into the orchard and ask Mr. Wind.” said Grandma Jones.
So Johnny went into the orchard.
Mr. Wind came and blew so hard, that an apple fell down onto Johnny’s lap.
“This is what we’ve been looking for!” shouted Johnny. They cut it open, and inside was a star.
Johnny and his mother walked home and showed Grandma Jones, Farmer Jones, and Jenny the apple. Then each of them ate a piece of the apple.
Download: pdf
Baba Dochia
After a romanian folktale about the days of Baba Dochia
Download: .pdf
A long time ago, there was an old woman forgotten by time and kindness, who lived in a cottage of stone, up in the mountains. Baba Dochia was her name.
It was so cold inside her soul that she was always dressed up with nine lambskins.
Only her son Dragobete and the sheep lived with her.
One day, Dragobete marries Nora, a beautiful and kind girl, and brings her home.
But Baba Dochia didn’t like Nora, and made her life hard, giving her odd jobs.
That year it was a cold and long winter. One day, Baba Dochia blames Nora for the bad weather and sends her to bring spring flowers.
Saddened by her new task, Nora left without knowing where to go to find spring flowers in the winter snow.
Wandering in the cold, she meets a kind man, Mărţişor. She tells him her sad story, and Mărţişor gives her some white snowdrops that bring spring.
Happy, Nora is running back home with the snowdrops. It was the first day of March.
When Baba Dochia sees Nora with the snowdrops, she thinks that spring has come back and leaves for the mountains with her sheep.
She is dressed with the nine lambskins, but it rains on the mountain and the skins get soaked and heavy. Dochia has to get rid of them, one lambskin every day.
After nine days, the frost comes back, the rain turns into ice, and Baba Dochia and her sheep turn into stone.
You can still see the Babele stones up in the mountains.
Baba Dochia
Rhea or the Great Mother with the name Dochia and Dochiana in Romanian legends.
Mărţişor
This is a legend of the Romanian Mărţişor (little March)
And here is a slightly modified version with my kindercat’s illustration: pdf
Once upon a time, the Sun used to take the shape of a young man and descend on Earth to dance among folk people.
A dragon found out about this and followed the Sun on Earth, captured him and confined him in a dungeon in his castle. Suddenly the birds stopped singing and the children could not laugh anymore, but no one dared to confront the dragon.
One day a brave young man set out to find the dungeon and free the Sun. Many people joined in and gave him strength and courage to challenge the mighty dragon.
The journey was long and lasted three seasons: summer, autumn and winter.
At the end of the third season the brave young man could finally reach the castle of the dragon where the Sun was imprisoned. The fight lasted several days until the dragon was defeated. Weakened by his wounds the brave young man however managed to set the Sun free to the joy of those who believed in him.
Nature was alive again, people got back their smile, but the brave young man could not make it through spring. His warm blood was draining from his wounds in the snow. With the snow melting, the snowdrops, harbingers of spring, sprouted from the thawing soil. When the last drop of the brave young man’s blood fell on the pure white snow he died with pride that his life served a noble purpose.
Since then people braid two tassels: one white and one red. Every 1st of March men offer this amulet called Mărţişor to the women they love or friends. The red color symbolizes love for all that is beautiful and also the blood of the brave young man, while white represents purity, good health and the snowdrop, the first flower of spring.
Mărţişor Gallery and Card
Mărţişor and solar eclipse
Legenda Mărţişorului (.ro)
The Little Bag with Two Coins
Here is a translation of the Romanian folktale Punguţa cu doi bani by Ion Creangă
And here is a slightly modified version that I did for my kindercat: pdf
Once upon a time there were an old woman and an old man who were living in the countryside. The old man had a rooster and the woman a hen. The woman was very proud and happy because the hen laid an egg every day but she was also very greedy and never offered a single egg to the man.
In vain the old man asked the woman for some eggs, she never wanted to hear about sharing them with the man.
- “Beat your rooster if you want to eat eggs! My hen didn’t lay any egg until I started beating it!”
Tempted and greedy, the old man ran after the rooster, caught it and beat the poor animal.
-”You start laying eggs or you’ll leave my house, because you are just a burden to me!”
The rooster escaped from the old man’s hands, scared and dazed, started wandering when he saw on the road a little bag with a couple of coins in it. Very happy, he took the little bag in his beak and went to the old man’s house. While it was going back home, very pleased with its little treasure, the rooster met a carriage with some elegant ladies and a landlord. The man saw the rooster and told the driver:
- “Go down and bring me the little bag from the rooster’s beak!’
The driver took the little bag and brought it to the man. The man put the bag in his pocket and ordered the driver to move on.
The rooster, very angry, followed the carriage and yelled:
Cucurigu, mighty man,
Give me back my two coins bag!
The landlord, irritated by the rooster’s perseverance, seeing a fountain, ordered the driver to throw the rooster in it!
What could the driver do but obeying? He went down from the carriage, caught the rooster and threw it into the fountain! When the rooster saw the danger, he started drinking the water from the fountain until he could fly away from there.Then he started running after the carriage again, yelling as loudly as he could:
Cucurigu, mighty man,
Give me back my two coins bag!
Very angry, the landlord said:
— You trouble rooster, I will take care of you!
As soon as the landlord arrived at his mansion, he ordered a woman from the kitchen to throw the rooster in an oven’s fire. The woman caught the rooster and threw it into the fire, putting a rock at the oven’s door. But the rooster started then to pour all the water he had drunk from the fountain and put the fire out flooding the kitchen. Then he removed the rock from the oven’s door and started yelling again:
Cucurigu, mighty man,
Give me back my two coins bag!
— Well, I found my Godfather with this rooster, says the angry landlord! Take it and throw it into the middle of the cattle, maybe he’ll be crushed by an angry bull and we’ll be over with it!
The driver took the rooster and threw it in the middle of the cattle. That was all the rooster was waiting for. He started gobbling one after another all the cows and all the bulls and flew to the landowner’s window, yelling again:
Cucurigu, mighty man,
Give me back my two coins bag!
The landowner didn’t know what else to do to get rid of this rooster! He threw it in his cellar where all his money was kept, hoping that this way, the rooster would choke itself with one coin.
But, the greedy rooster, emptied the landowner’s chest full of golden coins, got out from the cellar and yelled again:
Cucurigu, mighty man,
Give me back my two coins bag!
When the landowner saw that it was not possible to defeat the rooster, he gave it the little bag only to get rid of it. Happy, the rooster took his little bag in its beak and went back to the old man’s house! The landowner was shocked when he saw all his chickens following the rooster, like at a wedding.
— I am happy not to have anything to do with this rooster anymore, said the landowner, he brought me only bad luck!
Very proud with a whole crowd surrounding him,the rooster got to the old man’s house and started yelling: “Cucurigu!!! Cucurigu!!!”
When the old man heard the rooster’s voice, he got out off the house and saw the giant rooster surrounded by a lot of chickens. He had never seen such a thing before in his life! The proud rooster asked for a rug to be put in the middle of the yard. Quickly, the old man got the rug and the rooster beated his wings and soon the old man’s yard was full of cattle and the rug full of money.
The old man’s eyes started sparkling of joy, and he didn’t know what to do for his clever rooster.
When the old woman saw such a racket, she came quickly to the old man’s yard to see what was happening. When she saw so much money,she couldn’t believe it green of envy.
Ashamed, she begged :
— Please, give me some money, old man!
— Eat your heart up, old lady! Did you give me any eggs when I asked you for? I did what you told me and look what my rooster gave me! Beat your hen too if you want she brings you money!
The old lady, greedily looking at the money, and forgetting that what she had told the oldman to do was just a lie, caught her hen and beated it. The poor hen ran to the road escaping from the old woman’s angry hands.
There, the hen saw a little crystal ball, swallowed it and went home feeling very happy! He flew to her nest and after an hour gave the old lady the good news. The old lady ran as fast as he could to see what treasures the hen had brought home!
When she looked in the nest and saw the little crystal ball, the old lady got so angry that the hen, scared, ran away and never came back again. So the old woman became really so poor that she didn’t have even a hen to eat its eggs!
The old man was carrying his rooster with him everywhere with pride. He gave the rooster a golden necklace and red boots. He built many beautiful houses with many fruit trees and they lived happily ever after.
