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Friction Heat The Myth:  Meteors are heated by friction when entering the atmosphere When a meteoroid enters the atmosphere of the earth (becoming a meteor), it is actually the speed compressing the air in front of the object that causes it to heat up. It is the pressure on the air that generates a heat intense enough to make the rock so hot that is glows brilliantly for our viewing pleasure (if we are lucky enough to be looking in the sky at the right time). We should also dispel the myth about meteors being hot when they hit the earth – becoming meteorites. Meteorites are almost always cold when they hit – and in fact they are often found covered in frost. This is because they are so cold from their journey through space that the entry heat is not sufficient to do more than burn off the outer layers.

Dark side of the Moon The Myth:  There is a dark side of the moon Actually – every part of the moon is illuminated at sometime by the sun. This misconception has come about because there is a side of the moon which is never visible to the earth. This is due to tidal locking; this is due to the fact that Earth’s gravitational pull on the moon is so immense that it can only show one face to us. Wikipedia puts it rather smartly thus: “Tidal locking occurs when the gravitational gradient makes one side of an astronomical body always face another; for example, one side of the Earth’s Moon always faces the Earth. A tidally locked body takes just as long to rotate around its own axis as it does to revolve around its partner. This synchronous rotation causes one hemisphere constantly to face the partner body.”

8 Brightest Star The Myth:  Polaris is the brightest star in the northern hemisphere night sky Sirius is actually brighter with a magnitude of ?1.47 compared to Polaris’ 1.97 (the lower the number the brighter the star). The importance of Polaris is that its position in the sky marks North – and for that reason it is also called the “North Star”. Polaris is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor and, interestingly, is only the  current  North Star as pole stars change over time because stars exhibit a slow continuous drift with respect to the Earth’s axis.

Humans Pop In Space The Myth:  When exposed to the vacuum of space, the human body pops This myth is the result of science fiction movies which use it to add excitement or drama to the plot. In fact, a human can survive for 15 – 30 seconds in outer space as long as they breathe out before the exposure (this prevents the lungs from bursting and sending air into the bloodstream). After 15 or so seconds, the lack of oxygen causes unconsciousness which eventually leads to death by asphyxiation.

Evolutionary Improvements The Myth:  Evolution causes something to go from “lower” to “higher” While it is a fact that natural selection weeds out unhealthy genes from the gene pool, there are many cases where an imperfect organism has survived. Some examples of this are fungi, sharks, crayfish, and mosses – these have all remained essentially the same over a great period of time. These organisms are all sufficiently adapted to their environment to survive without improvement. Other taxa have changed a lot, but not necessarily for the better. Some creatures have had their environments changed and their adaptations may not be as well suited to their new situation. Fitness is linked to their environment, not to progress.

“I have seen the best of you, and the worst of you, and I choose both.”                    ― Sarah Kay “Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them.” ― Marvin J. Ashtond ''It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what                                       required                      ― Winston S. Churchill “Do your best and let God do the rest.” ― Ben Carson “You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, Love like you'll never be hurt, Sing like there's nobody listening, And live like it's heaven on earth.”                      ― William W. Purkey “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” ― Mae West “In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.” ― Robert Frost “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ― Oscar Wilde “It

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” ― Dr. Seuss “For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” ― Abraham Lincoln “It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Diary “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” ― Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” ― Mahatma Gandhi “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” ― Albert Camus “There's nothing like deep breaths after laughing that h

“Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody.” ― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ― Leo Tolstoy “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ― Margaret  Mead “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ― Nelson Mandela “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” ― Albert Einstein “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” ― Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ― Jalaluddin Rumi “You can't stop the future You can't rewind the past The only way to learn the secret ...is to press play.”                     ― Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Wh

“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” ― Dr. Seuss “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches “A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” ― Elbert Hubbard “We accept the love we think we deserve.” ― Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” ― André Gide, Autumn Leaves “As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.” ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” ― Elie Wiesel “It is not a la

“To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ― William Arthur Ward “The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” ― Ronald Reagan “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.” ― John C. Maxwell “You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out.” ― Steve Jobs “If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.” ― Dolly Parton “If you have a dream, don’t just sit there. Gather courage to believe that you can succeed and leave no stone unturned to make it a reality.” ― Roople

Retold by Aaron Shepard Printed in Cricket, June 1995, and Australia’s School Magazine, Oct. 1995 “The sons of Makhzum should raise the Black Stone,” declared one of the men in the circle. “It is our right as foremost of the tribes.” “Who gave you such a position?” demanded another man. “The sons of Jumah will raise it!” “Not while the sons of Abdu Manaf stand here,” said another. “The honor should be ours.” “Then you will have to fight for it,” cried another. “None but the sons of Abdul-Dar shall raise the stone!” In the years before Muhammad’s holy mission, it happened that the tribes around Mecca decided to rebuild their temple, the Kaaba. In those days, the Kaaba was simply a yard enclosed by a wall. Their plan was to build a higher, thicker wall and add a roof. Each tribe had chosen a section of the wall and started pulling down the stones. The sacred Black Stone, built into the east corner, had been removed carefully and set aside. At last they had gotten down to the foundation l

Told by Aaron Shepard Printed in Cricket, Nov. 1993, and Australia’s School Magazine, Feb. 1997 The old sea captain was not sure he had heard right. “What did you say, my Lady?” The Lady stopped pacing about her parlor and looked at the captain in annoyance. Many were the merchants rich and proud in this great port city of Stavoren. But this woman, called by everyone “the Lady of Stavoren,” was richest and proudest of them all. “I said I want to hire you and your ship to bring me the most precious thing in the world.” “But what is the most precious thing?” asked the captain. “And where do I find it?” “If I knew,” said the Lady coldly, “I would already have obtained it. I ask you to discover and bring it to me. I will make sure you have ample gold to buy it, whatever it turns out to be.” “Forgive me, my Lady,” said the captain, “but I still don’t understand.” The Lady sat facing him. “Look around you, Captain. Have you seen a more magnificent mansion?” “Never, my Lady.” “I spared no exp

Told by Aaron Shepard Printed in Cricket, January 1993, and Australia’s School Magazine, May 1996 My dearest Arild, I promised to wait for you forever, but I fear I will not be allowed to. My father says you will never return, and he has chosen another man to be my husband. Though I pleaded with him, he has already set the marriage date. I will love you always. Your faithful Thale Arild Ugerup, son of a noble Danish family, sat on his cot, reading the letter by the dim light of his prison cell. How cruel the tricks played by war, he thought, his eyes filling with tears. Though Arild and his family were nobles of Denmark, they had long lived peaceably in Sweden. When King Erik of Sweden was crowned, Arild had been one of his honored guests. But then Denmark and Sweden declared war on each other, and Arild was drafted into the Danish navy. He was captured in battle and imprisoned by King Erik. Arild’s childhood sweetheart, Thale Thott, had promised to marry him when he came back from the

According to legend, whenever the wizard Merlin could get away from affairs of state at the court of King Arthur, he would return to his lover, Viviane, in the forest of Brocéliande. In the forest, the fountain of Barenton is reputed to be the spot where Merlin first met Viviane, who was the daughter of the Lord of nearby Comper Castle. The castle’s lake is said to cover the palace that Merlin magically built for her. The fountain is also claimed to be the spot where Yvain, one of King Arthur’s Knights, defeated the Black Knight, the fountain’s guardian. One day, Viviane implored him to teach her his magical arts and gradually she learned all his magic. It is this knowledge that she used finally to imprison Merlin in nine invisible rings – a prison of air – to keep him from leaving her again to return to his duties at Arthur’s court. It is said that Merlin’s Tomb hides this prison of air.

In the year 1.136, Ramiro considered timely to receive advice from how be able to end with the pressures that were exercising to him the nobility of Navarra and Castilla. To this end, it sent to Sant Ponce a messenger who was received by the abbot of that monastery while he last was working in the orchard. The abbot was beheading in that moment some cabbages that he were projecting of other and gave as response to the consulting of Ramiro II, that this messenger would say to his master, only what he had seen. Arrived the advice to Ramiro, he understood it so perfectly that quickly he summoned to Courts in the City of Huesca, to the noble and rich revolted men, making them to believe that between the motives of that summons, it was existing the mind of fusing a bell whose sounds were perceived by ear in all his dominances. The pride and pretense of the many rich men and nobility of that then, caused that attended in bulk the most beligerent, since such ostentation of power was satisfyin