Ryan

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http://www.hellokids.com/c_25958/draw/drawing-tutorials-step-by-step/animals-for-kids/how-to-draw-a-parrot-for-kids

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= Are Rain Gauges Accurate =

Consider these factors that may affect the data that you gather from your gauge: If you are now thinking, “Yikes! My data may not be accurate after all,” or “All of this sounds like a hassle,” remember Reportorial.com can not only monitor sites for you—at any point in the United States simply by using the latitude and longitude of the property—but we can also e-mail you the results—completely eliminating the need to deal with the hassle of the rain gaug media type="youtube" key="pGs4ZIIcfsc" height="315" width="560" align="center"
 * Operator negligence – Did you remember to empty the gauge following the last rain event? If so, did you record the data in a place that will enable you to keep up with it and use the valuable information for later decision making?
 * Low angle precipitation – Did the gauge collect all of the rainfall? The answer is maybe not—especially if there is a nearby building or if the rain event was composed of low angle precipitation.
 * Opening obstr uction – Is there a chance that the opening on your gauge was blocked? Anything from a leaf to animal feces can compromise your da ta.
 * Damaged devices – Unfortunately, plastic and glass rain gauges are not indestructible. Even a small crack will affect the accuracy of your information. Additionally, someone may move your gauge without your knowledge, interrupting your monitoring schedule.
 * Single point collection – Depending on how large your property is, it may be necessary to measure rainfall on several different points in order to secure useful information. Rainfall can vary significantly, even over a relatively small area; therefore, by monitoring only one site, you may be missing the variability factorTiming and record keeping – In order to keep accurate records, you must not only write down and keep up with your readings, but do so at the same time after each rain event. If you are out of town, and a rain event occurs or if the weather or temperature is unpleasant, you will still need to monitor the gauge.

=Valerie Adams wins Olympic gold after Ostapchuk was stripped of her gold medal=



Valerie Adams with Nadzeya Ostapchuk on the podium (Reuters)
By Dan Satherley Olympic shot put champion Valerie Adams says she "can't wait" to give her silver medal back and collect the gold. Belarussian competitor Nadzeya Ostapchuk was outed as a drug cheat overnight, the IOC stripping her of the gold and promoting Adams to first place. This morning Adams said she's looking forward to having her own little medal ceremony to right last week's wrong. "I think it's very important to me to be able to hear my national anthem, savour the moment, and just reflect back on the last eight years, and especially the last two years, the changes I've made to become the Olympic champion that I am today," says Adams. "I can't wait until that happens, and I can't wait to get a gold medal and give the silver back." It could take months for that to happen, but she's wasting no time in celebrating. "Tonight I had one small glass of champagne and it went to my head straight away, so I've stopped that now. I have a competition on Thursday, but I'm going to be celebrating with everybody that I love here in Switzerland and also back in New Zealand when I'm done with my season."



Adams was on her to training when she got the news Ostapchuk had tested positive for anabolic agent metenolone. But Adams says she's done talking about her disgraced rival. "I don't want to waste any more of my time or my breath on her. What she's done is really negative for the sport, but I hope and pray that this continues on and the system that has been put in place to catch these cheats is actually working. "I have no time and I don't want to give her any of my time."  Defending the title she won in Beijing, 2004, proves Adams to be the best shot putter of her generation.  "A double goldnner, Olympic gold medallist is very rare to come by, and I think the longevity in the sport shows just how good you are by being able to maintain your dominance through two Olympic Games," says Adams.  "So I'm absolutely humbled and very, very happy. Nothing can take this away from me now, even though it's come a week later, but better late than never."

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The ends of a slit drum are closed so that the shell becomes the resonating chamber for the sound [|vibrations] created when the tongues are struck, usually with a mallet. The resonating chamber increases the volume of the sound produced by the tongue and presents the sound through an open port. If the resonating chamber is the correct size for the pitch being produced by the tongue, which means it has the correct volume of airspace to complete one full [|sound wave] for that particular pitch, the instrument will be more efficient and louder. The people of [|Vanuatu] cut a large log with 'totem' type carvings on the outer surface and hollow out the center leaving only a slit down the front. This hollowed out log gives the deep resonance of drums when hit on the outside with sticks. A slit drum is a hollow [|percussion instrument]. In spite of the name, it is not a true [|drum] but an [|idiophone], usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood into a box with one or more slits in the top. Most slit drums have one slit, though two and three slits (cut into the shape of an "H") occur. If the resultant tongues are different lengths or thicknesses, the drum will produce two different [|pitches]. It is used throughout [|Africa], [|Southeast Asia], and [|Oceania]. In Africa such drums, strategically situated for optimal acoustic transmission (e.g., along a river or valley), have been used for long-distance communication.[|[][|1][|]]

Renowned studio percussionist [|Emil Richards] used his [|chromatically] tuned slit drums in numerous soundtracks and other recordings. His tuned slit drums spanned one octave, from C3-C4 (middle C). Richards'slit drums consist of a wooden soundboard placed onto a [|resonator] box the length of which corresponds to the desired pitch. The soundboard is one piece, from which a bar is cut to a particular length, also corresponding to the chosen pitch. Emil got this set in the late 1970's from a craftsman in New York who brought them to show off at the [|Percussive Arts Society]'s International Convention, and added them to his giant instrument collection, the [|Emil Richards Collection].[|[][|2][|]] [|[][|3][|]] The fact that they were chromatic enabled melodies to be played on the set of slit drums, and the arrangement of them like a [|keyboard] allowed immediate fluency of performance. During recording sessions, some composers would give Emil the license to add it to the music if he heard a good place for it. In general, composers such as [|Lalo Schifrin], [|James Horner], and [|James Newton Howard] were interested and active in “marrying” instruments together to create new textures; slit drums were an interesting color available on the palette. Having a set available that was chromatic and in western tuning allowed them to be scored with other [|orchestral] instruments.[|[][|2][|]]

slit drum, [|percussion instrument] formed by hollowing a tree trunk through a lengthwise slit and sounded by the players’ stamping feet or by beating with sticks; the edges of the slit are usually of different thicknesses, so as to produce different pitches. Unlike membrane drums, which are classified as membranophones, [|slit drums] are idiophones, or resonant solids. Slit drums are found in Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Oceania. They vary in size from huge tree trunks (20 feet [6 m] or more in length and 7 feet [2.1 m] or more in width) enclosed in huts and played by several men to small bamboo instruments used in Malaysia by watchmen. Large slit drums are sometimes less precisely called slit gongs. Slit drums are frequently ritual instruments that are regarded as possessing magical attributes and are often associated with water and with death and resurrection. Because of their great carrying power and resonance, they are often also used as signaling instruments, in some places transmitting messages by reproducing the inflections of human speech. Frequently, slit drums are carved as elaborately stylized animals. Among the Aztecs (as the teponaztli) and earlier Mesoamerican peoples, the slit drum was hollowed through an H-shaped slit, the two tongues of which produced different pitches; several instruments are believed to have been combined in order to play melodies. Two smaller, Chinese offshoots of the slit drum are the wood block and the wooden fish (Chinese mu yü; also known as temple block), carved in the shape of a mythical fish and lacquered red. Both were used in [|religious ritual], and the former was also in [|Chinese opera] orchestras. Producing a clear, penetrating sound, they were adopted into the Western orchestra in the 20th century.

Kiwi

1.Kiwi can live up to forty years old.

2.Their whiskers can feel in the dark.

3.Kiwi has tiny wings but can not fly.

4.The kiwi eyes can see very well in the dark.

5.Kiwi’s have powerful legs for runing kicking and burrowing.

6.Kiwi’s have very very shap claw’s

7.If we don’t look after the kiwi it will be extinct