Brain Teaser – Middle Names

Middle Names

Can you supply the middle names for these famous people? Where their middle names are not well-known, we give you three possibilities to choose from. Find the answer in the Virtual Library’s online information source Credo Reference.

1. What was the middle name of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart?

2. What was U.S. president John F. Kennedy’s middle name?

3. What was Thomas Edison’s middle name?

4. Was John Lennon’s middle name originally Julian, Anthony or Winston?

5. What was the middle name of the British novelist William Thackeray?

6. Is Stephen Hawking’s middle name William, Albert or Alan?

7. Was film director Alfred Hitchcock’s middle name John, Joseph or Julian?

8. Is U.S. computer scientist Bill Gates’s middle name Henry, Gordon or Michael?

9. Was jazz trumpeter Miles Davis’s middle name George, Noah or Dewey?

10. What was the poet Percy Shelley’s middle name?

Find the answers here.

Image entitled: “The United States Information Agency prepares giant pictures of Kennedy for export at the time of his inauguration in 1961.”.

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Wow – I didn’t know that!

Fact for Learning – we love this resource!  Designed for students in grades 2-5.  We like to judge a database by it’s “wow” factors.

Here just a couple for Facts for Learning:

• Picture Gallery – Need a picture for a report? This is the place! Get the picture and the citation all in one.
  • Citation: “B-2A Spirit Stealth bomber.” Picture. Facts For Learning. 2003. Weekly Reader Publishing Group. 29 July 2009 <http://0-www.factsforlearning.com.ilsweb.lvccld.org&gt;.
  • 
• Need to know what happened on this day or who was born? Check out the Calendar.
• Select your grade and topic area and get lots of information including great timelines!
• Read Weekly Reader online! Just click the Weekly Reader icon and select a date under your grade level
• Teachers will love the activities and lesson plan ideas.

World Holidays – August

Old Spanish Days Early August
This five-day fiesta held in Santa Barbara, California, in early August draws heavily on the area’s Spanish-American and Mexican-American heritage.

Hiroshima Peace Ceremony August 6
A ceremony held each year since 1947 at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan, in memory of the victims of the atomic bomb that devastated the city in 1945. The peace ceremony is held in the evening, when the city’s citizens set thousands of lighted lanterns adrift on the Ota River and prayers are offered for world peace. Other memorial services are also held throughout the world at this time.

Glorious Twelfth August 12
August 12 is the legal opening of grouse season in Scotland. If the 12th falls on a Sunday, Grouse Day is the following day. Because grouse-shooting has always played such a central role in the life of Scottish gentlemen, the occasion is referred to as the Glorious Twelfth and is observed as a social event by Scots around the world.

Obon August 13-15
Obon, also called Urabon, is celebrated by Japanese Buddhists around the world. Obon is a festival for the dead.

San Martin Day August 17
This national holiday in Argentina honors José Francisco de San Martín, who died on this day in 1850.

National Aviation Day (USA) August 19
National Aviation Day honors the birthday of the American inventor and early manufacturer of airplanes, Orville Wright (1871-1948), as well as the progress that has been made in manned flight since the Wright Brothers made their historic 120-foot flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903.

Women’s Equality Day: August 26
Organization: U.S. Department of State
Summary: “The U.S. Congress designated August 26 as ‘Women’s Equality Day’ in 1971 to commemorate the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women in the United States the right to vote.” (U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE) Learn more about this day commemorating both the passage of the 19th Amendment and women’s efforts toward equality.

Hopi Snake Dance August
The grand finale of ceremonies to pray for rain, held by individual Hopi tribes in Arizona every two years. Hopis believe their ancestors originated in an underworld, and that their gods and the spirits of ancestors live there. They call snakes their brothers, and trust that the snakes will carry their prayers to the Rainmakers beneath the earth. Thus the Hopi dancers carry snakes in their mouths to impart prayers to them.

Klondike Gold discovery Day Third weekend in August
On August 17, 1896, George Washington Carmack discovered gold at Bonanza Creek in northwestern Canada’s Yukon Territory. His discovery triggered a huge gold rush and an enormous influx of American miners and traders.

Suggested resources for finding out more:

• Gale Virtual Reference Library
• American Indian History and Culture
• CultureGrams

Up Up and Away!

On June 4, 1783, Joseph-Michel Montgolfier and his brother Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier completed the first public demonstration of a hot air balloon in order to claim their invention. Their prototype, which flew for approximately 10 minutes and traveled 1.2 miles at altitudes above 5,000 feet, finally made air travel for humans a possibility, though many were still skeptical of both the practicality and safety of hot air balloons.

“How posterity will laugh at us, one way or other! If half a dozen break their necks, and balloonism is exploded, we shall be called fools for having imagined it could be brought to use: if it should be turned to account, we shall be ridiculed for having doubted.
— Horace Walpole, letter to Horace Mann, 24 June 1785”

Enjoy – read these eBooks or listen to the eaudio books –
Around the World in 80 Days (eAudio) by Jules Verne
Around the World in 80 Days (eBook) by Jules Verne

Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois

Check the Library Catalog for additional copies.

Also enjoy these free lesson plans –hotairballoons-worksheet-lessons to use with either of these titles or just to celebrate this event in history! The lessons include 5 activities that can be used across grade levels.

Worldcat Mobile

You can now find books from your mobile device using WorldCat Mobile App. WorldCat Mobile allows you to search for and find books and other materials available in libraries near you through a Web application you can access from a PDA or smartphone.

The WorldCat Mobile is a downloadable application that supports many devices, including Nokia, Blackberry and iPhone.

Try out the The WorldCat Mobile App.

Download the WorldCat Mobile App.

Once you find a book enter your zipcode to locate a library near you which owns the book.  Put it on hold and go pickup up.  It’s just that simple.