Ka-Boom!

The boy is into video games, and especially loves broadcasting live. I decided to see if I could find some kid-friendly video game jokes to doodle.

I don't know if the ladies in first grade are going to appreciate the humor, but I'm hoping the boy loves it.

Oh, Ewe!

I've had the joke for this doodle laying around for a few weeks. When the boy decided he wanted to start getting facts, I'd already compiled a stack of future jokes. This is one of the last.

It also happens to be one of my favorite doodles to date. I have no clue what appeals to me most, but I just love this one.

Hope you all had a great weekend. Happy Monday!

Extreme planet action

The boy likes fun facts. Even though some of the other kids like the jokes better, I try to give him what he asks for. That means today is a fact.

As if sulphuric acid rain isn't inhospitable enough, Venus has more extreme weather.

Seeker had this info to share about the strange precipitation:

http://www.seeker.com/the-metallic-snow-capped-mountains-of-venus-1767586407.html

"As we now understand it, the snow on Venus’ surface is probably more similar to frost. On the lower Venusian plains, temperatures reach a searing 480°C (894°F). This is hot enough that reflective pyrite minerals on the planet’s surface are vaporized, entering the atmosphere as a kind of metallic mist, leaving only the dark volcanic rocks like basalt in the Venusian lowlands."

The metals found are galena and bismuthinite. 

One smart cookie

The boy requested a dino fact for today. He wanted me to write that they all went extinct because of a giant meteor. I told him I wanted it to be a fact he didn't already know.

Fun fact for me. Half of the Troodon pics I found for reference had feathers. Half of them didn't. Prehistoric wildlife had this to say about the feather situation:

"While old depictions of Troodon‭ (‬then known as Stenonychosaurus‭) ‬show a lizard like dinosaur with bare skin,‭ ‬most modern reconstructions place a covering of primitive feathers over its body.‭ ‬This is quite a reasonable supposition as not only did other smaller members of the troodontidae have feathers,‭ ‬Troodon is known from as far north as modern day Alaska.‭ ‬Such a northern latitude even at the end of the Cretaceous period would have been much cooler than areas just a few hundred miles south,‭ ‬quite easily necessitating the presence of insulating feathers."

So, no feathers for sure, but highly likely given feathers have been found on similar fossils. I'm going to be honest and tell you I went for the featherless version because it's easier to draw!

Atomic

When I shared yesterday's fact with the first graders, they asked if I could do a joke today. They miss the jokes. Since the boy didn't specifically ask for a fact today, I complied and sent in a joke. The first graders will be happy.

But then again, they might not. I don't know if any of them will get it. I'm pretty sure the boy will because he loves science and knows more than I expect most of the time.

If this one's a bust, I'll send in a consolation joke tomorrow.

Bye bye Bao Bao

Yesterday was Bao Bao's last day at the zoo. She is the newest panda cub born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Since the boy had day camp there yesterday, he came home with questions about pandas. He asked how many were left in the wild, and I told him I didn't know, but I knew there weren't many. He firmly believes that there are 12.

I decided to look it up and make it a fact for his doodle today. The problem is, there are only estimates of the population. We can't know for certain how many there are. This means that not everyone has the same number.

According to Wikipedia: As of December 2014, 49 giant pandas lived in captivity outside China, living in 18 zoos in 13 different countries. Wild population estimates vary; one estimate shows that there are about 1,590 individuals living in the wild,[11] while a 2006 study via DNA analysis estimated that this figure could be as high as 2,000 to 3,000.[13] Some reports also show that the number of giant pandas in the wild is on the rise.[14] In March 2015, Mongabay stated that the wild giant panda population had increased by 268, or 16.8%, to 1,864 individuals.

Presidential Edition

So, the boy doesn't have school today (which means I also don't work today, YAY!). However, he is at a day camp at the zoo today, so I still packed him a lunch. That means there's still a doodle for today!

Given that it's President's Day and the boy will be at the zoo, I felt this joke was perfect for today.

Happy President's Day!