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  Lucky Turkeys "Liberty" And "Bell" Receive Presidential Pardon November 21,2023 By Kavi Dolasia President Joe Biden marked his 81st birthday by  partaking  in a  cherished  Thanksgiving tradition on November 20, 2023. The US leader used his  executive  powers to spare two lucky turkeys named "Liberty" and "Bell" from the Thanksgiving table. The gorgeous  toms  were named after the famous  Liberty Bell  in Philadelphia. They will spend the rest of their lives under the watchful eyes of students studying animal science at the University of Minnesota. "These birds have a new  appreciation  of the words "let freedom ring," Mr. Biden said. "I hereby  pardon  Liberty and Bell." The 20-week-old birds both weigh about 42 pounds (19 kg). They were hatched in July on a family farm in Wilmar, Minnesota, as part of the "presidential flock." Their training included listening to music to get more  comfortable  with...

A 15-color rainbow spiral made with 12,000 dominoes  A rainbow spiral of 12,000 dominoes falls and rises a few times in  this video  from  prolific domino YouTuber Lily Hevesh  of  Hevesh5 , a collaboration with Steve Price of  Sprice Machines  and Hayden Russell, aka  Dynamic Domino . They spent two days building the 15-color domino speed wall chain reaction. Next, watch  The Amazing Triple Spiral (15,000 dominoes) ,  Unconventional Domino Tricks by Hevesh5 & Kaplamino ,  HUGE Domino Tower Fail ,  more chain reactions  and  more videos with rainbow colors . Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here for more 

 The National Zoo's Beloved Giant Pandas Have Returned To China  November 16, 2023  By Marcela Bonet  With heavy hearts, officials at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, DC, have bid  farewell  to its three  resident  giant pandas. Mei Xiang, 25, Tian Tian, 26, and their 3-year-old son, Xiao Qi Ji, left for China aboard a  retrofitted  Boeing 777 aircraft on November 8, 2023. Upon reaching Chengdu on November 9, 2023, the  trio  was whisked away to the Wolong Panda Center. After a 30-day  quarantine , the  mammals  will be allowed to  mingle  with the 150 wild giant pandas at the nature reserve. "It's a place where they have lots and lots of giant pandas... how our giant pandas live here, very  similar  to that," said Bryan Amaral, the Zoo's senior  curator . "They just have a lot more giant pandas than we have. Where we have elephants and, you know, all kinds of other things, t...

 What does it take to raise a guide a dog puppy?  Guide Dogs  is a British charity dedicated to breeding and training assistance animals for blind or visually impaired people. “Before the pandemic,” BBC reporter Sean Dilley explains, “they bred as many as 1,500 dogs in a year.” But 2020’s five-month hiatus, a pause for volunteer and staff safety, impacted the organization’s breeding program; they lost a third of their puppy raisers. And though they are making strides in their recovery efforts,  they needed more compassionate volunteers to help raise guide dog puppies . Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here for more 

14-Year-Old Heman Bekele is "America's Top Young Scientist With about 100,000 new cases  diagnosed  annually, skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the US. It is also  expensive  to treat. The  CDC  estimates that over $8 billion is spent annually to fight the disease. Now, scientists may have some help from 14-year-old Heman Bekele. The ninth-grader from Annandale, Virginia, has created a cheap bar of soap that could  potentially  help fight skin cancer. His invention won him the title of "America's Top Young Scientist" at the 3M Young Scientist Challenge on October 10, 2023. The teenager moved from Ethiopia to the US at the age of four. He recalls seeing the locals constantly working under the hot Sun. Since most skin cancers result from too much  exposure  to the Sun's  ultraviolet  rays, Bekele wondered if  he could find an  affordable  way to fight the disease. He came up with the idea of making ...

 Kaplamino's adeptly engineered Kapla domino trick  The blue Kapla planks are the dominoes. The red Kaplas are used as mechanisms or key parts of the chain reactions. The natural Kapla planks are used to create the structures. This adeptly-engineered Kaplamino video  is full of fantastic tricks: Planks clatter up and down stairs. Towers and bridges tumble. A Kapla wheel rolls and falls. Kaplas are catapulted through the air. They write, “I tried to use only big and impressive structures, which you can’t do with normal-sized dominoes.” Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here for more.

  NASA.gov:  Curious Universe Podcast Our universe is a wild and wonderful place. Join NASA astronauts, scientists, and engineers on a new adventure each episode — all you need is your curiosity! First-time space explorers welcome. Note:  The above comes directly from their website.  Click here to listen to the podcasts.

  Josh McDowell:  Youth Devotion Turn On the Love Light 11/09/2023  Bible Reading: 1 John 4:16-21 God  is  love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 1 John 4:16 KENDALL attend a large Bible study group nearly every week, but most people around him don’t even know he is there. He always sits by himself and heads for the door as soon as everyone says “Amen” to the closing prayer. One of the group leaders, Dale, noticed Kendall and decided to befriend him. For several weeks, Dale sought out Kendall after Bible study just to say hello.  Eventually Dale convinced Kendall to meet him for lunch. After a couple of get-togethers, Kend­all began to open up. “No way can God love me,” Kendall said one day. “He just puts up with me because I’ve accepted Christ as my Savior. But God will never love me as his child. I’m just lucky to be saved.” Dale wisely didn’t counter Kendall’s confession by ramming Scripture verses about God’s love down his th...

 A Fond Farewell  November 9,2023  TKF Kid Reporter Ben Stern  Want to see a panda up close? Time is running out. Soon, there won’t be any of the bears left in zoos in the United States. They’re being sent back to China. For more than 50 years, the country has loaned pandas to American zoos. It was a token of goodwill. But for now, that period is coming to an end. “We are going to miss these bears,” Trish Jarvis told TIME for Kids. She’s an animal keeper at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, in Washington, D.C. The zoo is sending its pandas back to China in the coming weeks. “[Pandas] have been part of everyone’s lives for over 50 years.” Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here to read more. 

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a 50,000 brick LEGO time-lapse  Brick by brick, whitecap by whitecap, this ten-minute time-lapse video captures Japan-based LEGO artist  Jumpei Mitsui  assembling  a giant LEGO wave sculpture  over the course of 400 hours. The original design is a LEGO brick reproduction of  Katsushika Hokusai ‘s iconic woodblock print  Under the Wave off Kanagawa  from 1830–31. The brick artist observed waves on YouTube for hours, and read academic papers on waves to better understand their forms and energy.  Note: The above is directly from TKSST. Click here for more. 

 Cardboard Super Mario Game  This  Turbo Fun Crafts  DIY cardboard toy looks like it’s simply side-scrolling through an endless drawing of the mushroom kingdom circa 1985, but there’s  a lot  of engineering inside. Plus, Mario is jumping through the scene. How was  this cardboard Super Mario Game  made? With toilet paper tubes, rubber bands, chopsticks, paper, plastic bottle caps, cardboard, and a few other household supplies, this analog video game can make for a fun and challenging project. No electricity required.  Turbo Fun Crafts shares highly detailed instructions , complete with measurements and step-by-step photos. Note: The above comes directly from the TKSST website. Click here for more.

 Josh McDowell Youth Devotions:   For Such a Worm as I 11/08/2023 5:20:22 AM Bible Reading: Psalm 86: 11-1 7 You,  O   Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to get angry, full of unfailing love and truth. Psalm  86:15 JOANNA SUMMED herself up this way: “A worm doesn’t adequately describe how I feel about myself. A worm can crawl underground and hide. I’m more like one of the ugly slugs on my patio. Everywhere they go, they leave this horrible trail behind them. That’s what I’m like; I mess up everything wherever I go.” What a sad personal description from the mouth of a Christian! Joanna is clueless concerning her true identity. She makes mistakes like we all do, but she certainly doesn’t “mess up everything” wherever she goes. If you are a believer who isn’t convinced of your true identity as God’s beloved, valued, competent child, the results in your life can be dismal. You might have a fearful, pessimistic view of the world and your ability to cope...

  DOGO News:  21-Year-Old Peanut Is The World's Oldest Living Chicken! SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 BY JONO SISON Peanut, a 21-year-old chicken, has been making  headlines  lately. In March 2023, the bantam hen from Michigan was crowned the world's oldest living chicken by Guinness World Records. The hen's  longevity  is even more impressive when you consider that she almost never hatched! In 2002, Marsi Darwin was preparing to  discard  what looked like a rotten egg when she realized it contained a living chick inside. The baby lacked an egg tooth — the hard part of the  beak  used to crack the shell — and was struggling to get out. Acting quickly, Darwin safely removed it from the egg. She then tried to place the  newborn  with her mother. But the hen refused to accept her, so Darwin raised the chick herself. Once Peanut was a few years old, she was moved to the chicken  coop . She lived there with the other birds for 13 years and...

  Time for Kids: Start Your Engines November 2, 2023 Brian S. McGrath Jaxon Porter is happiest behind the wheel. Coming out of a turn, he pops his go-kart into high gear and accelerates to 70 m.p.h. “I love going fast,” Jaxon told TIME for Kids. “When I get into that car, pretty much all my thoughts go away. And I just go as fast as I can.” Jaxon is not a professional driver—yet. He’s 10 years old. But like the other kids tearing around the track, he dreams of going pro. He already has a sponsor: the supermarket chain Hy-Vee. It helps pay the tens of thousands of dollars necessary to maintain the car and travel the country for competitions. Note:  The above comes directly from their website.  Click here to read more.

  Time for Kids:  Kid of the Week: Ava Moore November 2, 2023 Interview submitted by TFK reader Chloe Matysiak Can you tell me about your project? I’m trying to help special-needs kids to feel welcome in our community. My mom and I have been raising money through bake sales. This year, we bought toys and donated them to one of the local hospitals. We also donate money to Inspired Employment, which is a local nonprofit group that provides a community-based learning approach to people with disabilities here in the county. How does your project help? Children with disabilities sometimes have a hard time fitting in with other kids. This project tries to make them feel more welcome in the larger community. Note: The above comes directly from their website. Click here to read more.

  DOGO News:  The Mystery Behind Antarctica's "Blood Falls" May Finally Be Solved AUGUST 4, 2023 BY SHARIQUA AHMED There are thousands of  stunning  waterfalls worldwide. However, none are as  unique  as Antarctica's Blood Falls. The  aptly -named waterfall, which flows from the tip of the Taylor Glacier, spurts out bright red water. The existence of this five-story-tall waterfall has been known for over a  century . But the reason behind its  crimson  waters has remained a  mystery . Now, a team led by W. Berry Lyons of The Ohio State University may have finally found the answer. Australian  geologist  Griffith Taylor discovered Blood Falls during an  expedition  in 1911. The explorer  attributed  its color to red algae. But further research  invalidated  this theory. Later studies  asserted  that the blood-red color was most likely from the  iron  in the  subglacial ...