Mammals: Rabbits

Rabbits
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are about 30 species of rabbits around the world, and while they live in many different environments, they have many things in common. A male rabbit is called a buck and the female rabbit is called a doe. Meanwhile the young rabbit is called a kitten, kit or bunny.

A Rabbit's Anatomy
Small rabbit species can be as little as 8 inches(20 centimeters) in length and weigh less than a pound. Larger rabbits grow to 20 inches (50 cm) and more than 4 pounds(1.8 kilograms). The world's largest rabbit clocked in at 4 feet 3 inches (129.54 cm) and 49 pounds (22 kg).

Parts of a Rabbit

 

A Rabbit's Diet

Rabbits are herbivores meaning that they have a plant based diet. They eat herbs, hay, peas, grass, lettuce, and leafy greens. A rabbit's diet contains large amount of cellulose, which is hard to digest. Rabbits are incapable of vomiting. 

A Rabbit's Habitat

Rabbits habitat includes meadows, woods, forests, grassland, deserts and wetlands. Rabbits live in groups, and the best known species, the European rabbit, lives in underground burrows, or rabbit holes. A group of burrows is called a warren. Wild rabbits live in woods, forests, grassland, etc. While domestic rabbits often live in cages. 

A Rabbit's Burrow

 A Rabbit's Offspring

These mammals are known for their insatiable reproductive habits for good reason. They breed three to four times each year. Each pregnancy produces three to eight babies, called kittens or kits. After four to five weeks, a kit can care for itself. In two or three months, it is ready to start a family of its own. 

A Rabbit with its Young

Fun Facts About Rabbits

• Rabbits are born with their eyes closed and without fur.
• Rabbits have a lifespan of around 10 years.
• Rabbits can be very crafty and quick. 
• When rabbits ‘binky’, this is an expression of joy. They will run, jump into the air, twist their body and flick their feet.
• Rabbits have extremely strong hind limbs which allow them to leap great distances. They can jump up to one metre high and three metres long.
• Rabbits have an excellent sense of smell, hearing and vision. They can see everything behind them and only have a small blind-spot in front of their nose.
• Rabbits should be kept in pairs. Companionship is key to the welfare of rabbits – without the company of another neutered rabbit they get lonely and bored.

Lime Part 2

Uses of Lime
Lime can be used for many different purposes. Some uses of lime are: 

• One by-product of lime is lime oil. When lime oil is applied directly to the skin, it helps to kill germs. 

• Lime can be used to produce a variety of chemicals.

• Lime can be used to improve the health and appearance of facial skin. 

•  Lime extracts are frequently used in perfumes, cleaning agents, etc.                                           

•  If someone is suffering from a fever, lime can be used to help reduce the fever.  

 

Benefits of Lime

Some benefits of lime:

• Lime contains citric acid which helps with the removal of dead skin.

• Lime contains antioxidants which keeps your arteries healthy.

• Lime's bacteria fighting abilities enable the fruit to fight cholera.

• The peel left behind after the lime can be used to create a powerful and pure oil. This oil can be used to flavour food.

• Lime helps with weight loss, eye care, improved digestion, relief from constipation, skin care, etc. 

Milk Part 3

Treatment of Milk
Some treatments given to milk are:

Filtered Milk
     Filtered milk goes through an extra fine filtration system, which prevents bacteria from passing through. The nutritional content of the milk is unaffected but the shelf life is increased. The milk is then homogenised and evenly distributes the fat molecules.
Filtered milk is available in whole, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk varieties.

Evaporated Milk
     Evaporated milk is a concentrated, sterilised milk product. It has a concentraion twice that of standard milk. The process of producing evaporated milk involves standardising, heat treating and evaporating the milk under reduced pressure.
The evaporated milk is then homogenised to prevent it from separating, under storage and then it is cooled.

Pasteurised Milk
     Louis Pasteur  believed that milk soured because of the presence of bacteria. He showed by experiment that if heated the souring process could be delayed and the milk could be safer to drink. The aim of pasteurisation is to destroy harmful bacteria without affecting the flavour and quality of milk.
The milk is heated to about 72°C for at least 15 seconds, then cooled rapidly to about 10°C. This is known as the flash process or the high temperature. The milk is heated to 63°C for half an hour, then cooled rapidly. This is known as the Holder Method.

NOTE: Milk must be cooled rapidly to prevent:
(i) destruction of nutritive value
(ii) bacterial growth

Sterilised Milk
     This means that the temperature has been raised and the milk treated for much longer. The flavour is altered and the cream line disappears altogether, but the milk will keep unopened for months and days.
Further treatment at high temperature will result in the milk which will have a considerably long life and does not need to be kept in a refrigerator. This milk comes in cartons and is expensive. 

Tuberculin tested Milk
  This milk is produced by cows which are tested, to ensure that they are free from tuberculosis, at intervals, of 2 to 6 months. The milk from these special herds must be labelled to indicate this.

Ultra heat treatment (U.H.T)
   Fresh milk is heated to 132°C for one second, then cooled rapidly. This can be done by passing it directly through heat or steam. After this treatment, the milk must be packed under sterile conditions.

Irony

What is Irony?
Irony is a device which speakers or writers use to point to a contrast between what is stated and what is really meant; or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen. 

Types of Irony 
There are two basic kinds of irony. 
They are: 

• Irony of situation- This is evident when events turn out to be different from what is expected.   

 E.G. A person who claims to be a vegetarian and avoids meat, will eat a slice of pepperoni pizza because they are hungry. 

• Verbal irony- Verbal irony refers to a statement in which the implied meaning intended by the speaker or writer differs from what is overtly expressed. 

E.G. The bed is as comfortable as lying on nails. 

FACT

Information Technology

What is a computer?
A computer is an electronic device under the control of instructions stored in its memory. The computer is capable of receiving information (data) in a particular form and performing a sequence of operations.
A computer can:

• accept data (input)
• manipulate data (processing) 
• produce results (output)
• store data for future use (storage)

Types of computers

Microprocessor

Microcomputer

Minicomputer

Mainframe Computer

Supercomputer

English words that you should know

balter (v.): to dance artlessly, without particular grace or skill but usually with enjoyment.
Example: "Never underestimate the healing power of listening to your favorite music on full blast while baltering"

chork (v.): to make the noise that feet do when one’s shoes are full of water.
Example: “Caught in the rainstorm with no shelter, he was soon chorking his way toward a terrible cold.”

duffifie (v.): to lay a bottle on its side for some time so that it may be completely drained of the few drops remaining.
Example: “The relationship started to fall apart when Dennis uprighted a bottle of ketchup that Sarah had been duffifying for days.”

egrote (v.): to feign sickness in order to avoid work.
Example: “Among lazy men, egroting is a pursuit of perfection.”

feague (v.): to put a live eel up a horse’s bottom; used figuratively to describe encouraging someone or getting their spirits up.
Example: “I’ve heard Ann Romney’s secret to winning dressage is feaguing Rafalca right before the competition.”
This word, used in the 1700s by what were apparently kinky horse-traders, came from a reference called Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

jehu (n.): a fast or furious driver.
Example: “So I’ve got an idea for a movie. We get a bunch of jehus—well, that’s about it..” A jehu is named for Jehu, a Biblical figure who “driveth furiously” as he went to murder King Ahab by the Lord’s decree.

metanoia(n.): the journey of changing one’s mind, spirit, heart, self or way of life; fundamental change of mind; spiritual conversion.
Example: Metanoia in the psychological theory of Carl Jung denotes a process of reforming the psyche as a form of self healing, a proposed explanation for the phenomenon of psychotic breakdown

pedeconference (n.): to hold a meeting while walking.
Example: “Roughly 40% of the West Wing is footage of people pedeconferencing.”

redamancy (n.): the act of loving the one who loves you; loving in return
Example: "Despite his lack of redamancy her passion for him was unabated for several years."
scuddle (v.): to run with an affected haste.
Example: “Desperate to look important and with nothing to do, she scuddled around the office like a pinball.”

serendipity (n.): the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident; finding something good without looking for it.
Example: "Sarah had known Josh for years and had a crush on him. She never knew that Josh liked her too. It must have been serendipity that their mutual friend Alice set them up on a blind date."

snollygoster. (n.): One, especially a politician, who is guided by personal advantage rather than by consistent, respectable principles.
Example : “Even though he professed to not be a crook, our president was still a bit of a snollygoster, wasn’t he?”

throttlebottom (n.): a dishonest man who holds public office.
Example: “’That Barack Obama is a downright throttlebottom!’ said the Tea Party supporter who feigned political opinions so he could wear colonial garb.”
Other great political insults include flapdoodler, lollie boy, pollywog and quockerwodger.

uhtceare (n.): lying awake before dawn and worrying.
Example: “Knowing that some object he owned had been secretly put in the toilet bowl, Jerry lay awake, plagued by uhtceare.”
Pronounced oot-key-are-a, the word breaks down into two parts: uht, a word for the restless hour before dawn and ceare, an Old English term for care and sorrow.

zarf (n.): the cup-shaped holder for a hot coffee cup that keeps you from burning your fingers.
Example: “Forgetting a zarf often leads to a dangerous game of hot potato.”
In the olden days, zarfs were typically metal or ornamental. These days they’re referred to as ‘one of those little cardboard thingys.’”