The Express Tribune hi five - April 14

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X Your Proofness: Mahim Maher Master Storyteller: Ameer Hamza Knowledge Navigator: Dilaira Mondegarian Creativity Analysts: Amna Iqbal, Essa Malik, Jamal Khurshid, Maha Haider, Samra Aamir, Kiran Shahid, Faizan Dawood, Anam Haleem, Umar Waqas

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 14, 2013

Hi Light

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Do you love stories about buried treasure? Well, those stories got started for a reason: There is lost treasure all over the place.

Entire fortunes lost, the only people who knew their locations long dead.

Secret City of the Paititi Most people have heard the myth about El Dorado, a city full of gold lost somewhere in the rainforests of South America. The real City of Gold is Paititi. In the 1500s, the Spanish were at war with the Incas of Peru.

When the Spanish finally conquered the Incas they found the city largely deserted. It appeared as if the Incas had fled to a new location in the rainforests of southern Brazil taking their vast treasure of gold with them. The new city was never found nor was the gold.

The Boer Treasure During the Second Anglo-Boer War the South African descendants of the Dutch settlers, the Boers, realised that their capital, Pretoria, would soon be captured by British troops so they quickly collected all their gold.

Much of this gold is believed to have travelled with the Boer president, Paul Kruger, as he ran away from the advancing British army. When he finally escaped the continent for France, he left all the gold behind. It has never been officially found although it is a popular ‘scam’ for con men to try and sell the whereabouts of the gold to gullible tourists.

The Crown Jewels of King John King John ‘the Bad’ was particularly fond of collecting (stealing) jewellery and gold plate for himself and coinage for his guards, soldiers and court followers. In 1216 King John travelled to Bishops Lynn in Norfolk, there he fell ill with dysentery and decided to return to Newark Castle. The area is aptly named The Wash as it was once a huge expanse of marshes and dangerous mud flats. John took the slower and safer route around The Wash but his soldiers and carts full of his personal possessions, including the crown jewhis grandmother the Empress of Germany, took the shorter route els he had inherited from h marshes. Trapped by the tide they were drowned and the treasure carts through the marsh were lost and a never recovered.

What would you like to see in Hi Five? Send an email to hifive@tribune.com.pk and let us know!

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 14, 2013

The Flower of the Sea

The Gold at the Bottom of Lake Guatavita

The Flower of the Sea was a 400-ton Portuguese ship, captained

by Alfonso de Albuquerque. It set sail for Portugal in 1511 with the largest treasure ever assembled in the history of the Portuguese navy.

On the 20th November of 1511 it was shipwrecked on the reefs of Sumatra. The ship broke in two and although Alfonso was saved, the treasure was lost to the waves. The exact location of the shipwreck was never discovered, probably due to the inaccurate maps of the time. It is considered the richest treasure still to be found.

Lake Guatavita was a holy site for the native people of Colombia a few centuries ago. Every year, the chief of the ruling tribe would cover himself in gold dust, get on a boat, and throw gold and gems into the lake as a sacrifice to his god. When the Spanish invaders arrived they discovered that all the native’s gold had been thrown overboard over the years and was now sitting beneath the lake.

The Spanish decided to drain the lake. The first attempt took three months, as slaves emptied the lake a bucket at a time. They managed to lower the water level by 10-feet and recover 40-pounds of gold.

The lake is now full of water and the gold is presumably still down there. Sadly the Colombian government has stopped anyone from draining the lake anymore.

The Lost Fabergé Eggs Peter Carl Fabergé and his brother Agathon were Russian jewellers.

They rapidly became famous for the extraordinary quality and beauty of their work. In 1885, the Tsar (King) of Russia commissioned the production of a gold ‘Hen Egg’ for his wife the Empress Maria. Over the next 33 years 52 eggs were made by Fabergé for the Russian Royal Family as well as a further 15 for other private buyers. In 1917 after the Russian Revolution the Fabergé eggs and many other treasures of the royal family were confiscated and stored in the vaults of the Kremlin Armoury. Some were sold to raise funds for the new regime.

Over time eight of the original 52 Imperial eggs have vanished and their whereabouts remain a mystery to this day. In 2007, just one egg, ‘The Rothschild’ was sold at Christies Auction House for $8.9 million.

Captain Kidd’s Treasure When the privateer Captain Kidd was arrested and sentenced to death, he claimed to have a huge stash of buried treasure to delay his execution. Some of the treasure was immediately found but the rest was never found. No one really knows where it is and many believe that the treasure could be scattered across the globe. In 2007, a 300-year-old Kidd’s ship was discovered right off the coast of the Dominican Republic. It was still loaded down with gold and silver and other valuables.

Treasure of the Knights Templar

Montezuma’s Gold

The Knights Templar were a religious military order formed in 1119 AD. They established their headquarters on the side of the Temple Mount. Over the decades donations made the Knights Templar the wealthiest and most powerful military order in Europe. They invented an early form of banking which made them even richer. For nearly two hundred years the Templars amassed a fortune in lands, castles, gold, silver, jewels and precious objects.

By 1291 AD the prestige of the Knights Templar had failed and they were forced out of the Middle East and arrested. Across the rest of Europe the remaining Knights moved swiftly to hide their portable treasure. The vast treasure of the Knights Templar had largely disappeared and has never been found.

When the Spanish invaders arrived in Tenochtitlan, they were treated as gods but when they killed Montezuma, the king of the Aztec Empire, the Aztec people got angry. The Spanish grabbed all the gold they could get their hands on and escaped the city. The problem was that gold is really heavy and Tenochtitlan was an island in the middle of a swamp. In one night over half of Cortes’s men were killed, mostly due to drowning in the swamp under the weight of all the gold. The treasure was never recovered.

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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 14, 2013

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Tambourine Do you like to sing, dance, and make music. Well you can now make your own

: d e d e e n s e i l p p Su Paper plate (2) Hole puncher Ribbon Bells (7)

instrument! This super fun tambourine craft is easy and quick to make.

Instructions: • First, punch seven holes around your paper plates. (If you can punch through both at once it will be much easier to line up the holes for threading later.)

• Next, tie one end of your ribbon through a hole and add a bell.

• Once the ribbon has been threaded all the way around the plate, tie the ribbon to the first loop and trim off the excess ribbon.

• Decorating is always the best part! You can use stickers and markers to jazz up your tambourine.

• Now time to shake, move, dance, and sing to the beat of your beautiful tambourine!

Do you have any craft ideas? Drop us an email at hifive@tribune.com.pk

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 14, 2013

World wide weird

Get your weekly dose of the unusual and funny from across the globe!

Dude,where’ss myy camel?

“Which camel, Monsieur Président? Oh, that camel? Ah, yes.

We ate it.”

French President Francois Hollande recently discovered thatt his prized camel was consumed in Mali. The e young creature was a gift to Hollande from a local official as a sign of gratitude. The gift has been slaughtered and stewed, according g to Jean-Yves Le Drian,, France’s defense minister. ster.

Hollande had planned France. But when faced with ed to have the camel brought to a zoo in France complications of transferring the camel to an unsuitable climate, Hollande entrusted a family in Timbuktu to care for his cherished pet. Le Drian reported that the family did not babysit the camel for long before making it into a traditional stew.

Now Malian authorities have announced that they will give French President Francois Hollande another camel. “The new camel will be sent to Paris. We are ashamed of what happened to the camel. It was a present that did not deserve this fate.”

Toodles Poodles

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Argentinian bazaarr salesmen are passing ng off ferrets on steroids as toy poodless — and people believe ve them. A local news station in Buenos Aires recently reported the shocking g tale after a man took ok the “toy poodles” he bought at the La a Salada market to a veterinarian veterinarian, only to find that it was actually a giant weasel weasel.

Selling what Argentineans call a “Brazilian rat” — a ferret given steroids at birth to increase its size and then groomed — isn’t a rare occurrence. Another woman told the Buenos Aires station that she was tricked into buying what she thought was a chihuahua — but that was also a ferret. It’s unclear where the enhanced ferrets are today. But ferrets aren’t the only animals that have allegedly been used to dupe poodle-seekers. The Brisbane Times reports that a Japanese actress once purchased a lamb believing that it was a standard poodle.

The Mystery ys y Of The Missing ss g Toilet

Ewes-ful: Sheepp to Mow Paris Lawns

The city of Kyoto, Japan, may have flushed away $3000. A very expensive toilet in a public park ladies’ room was stolen by thieves who lifted the costly crapper from its moorings. “I’ve got to admit that it’s the first time I’ve heard of the theft of an entire toilet,” a Kyoto official told the local news.

“It usually stops at a bit of vandalism, but the unit itself... Why someone would do such a thing is completely baffling.” Kyoto, however, isn’t the only city recently plagued by commode crooks. Earlier this year, Milwaukee was plagued by a “bathroom bandit” who allegedly swiped $30,000 worth of automatic flush valves from urinals and toilets.

In January, Canadian Randy Nemirsky found himself in the awkward situation of offering a $507 reward for the return of his missing outhouse.

Will tourists soon see flocks of baaing ng sheep at the Eiffel Tower and bleating ewes by Notre Dame cathedral?

That could be the case, since Paris City Hall this week installed a small flock of sheep to mow the lawn at the city’s gardens, replacing gasguzzling lawnmowers.

Four woolly ewes — shipped in from an island off the Brittany coast — are currently munching the grass surrounding Paris Archives building. The number of sites doing that could expand from October in and around Paris. s.

The ovine-operation follows a successful cessful stint last year by two goats that were hired privately by the Louvre to mow the lawn at Tuileries, central Paris’ grand 17th-century gardens.

Motorless and independent, the four-legged workers contentedly munch day and night — oblivious of the France’s strict 35-hour work week.

A similar experiment in a park outside Paris even found that sheep droppings were a benefit, bringing swallows back to the area.

“It might sound funny, but animal lawnmowers are ecological as no gasoline is required, and cost half the price of a machine,” said Marcel Collet, Paris farm director. “And they’re so cute.”

Best photobomb ever!

Chocolate disaster!

Zoo visitors Ella O’Brien and her sister Bridget were posing for a nice souvenir picture when the giant silverback made his entrance. He was upset about being kept behind glass and away from the bananas at a Werribbe open-range zoo in Melbourne, Australia. Hence the King Kong impression. The 20-stone silverback ck Motaba celebrated his 29th birthday last year and was presented with a huge birthday cake.

He and his two sons — Yakini and Ganyeka — are the star attractions and live in a luxurious 6,000 square-metre pen. Yakini almost as well known as his dad after being photographed having his heart tested when he was born.

Thieves in Germany have stolen 5 tons of Nutella.

Police said that an unknown wn number of culprits made off with the chocolate-hazelnut ut spread from a parked trailer er in the central German town wn of Bad Hersfeld. The gooeyy loot is worth an estimated two million rupees. The German news has reported d that thieves have previously ly stolen a load of energy drinks from the same location. These thieves might really have sticky fingers.

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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 14, 2013

Did you know?

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s n i g i r O d r o W The Difference Between a Coffin and a Casket The words coffin and casket are often used interchangeably to describe a box used to bury a body. Although the general purpose of each is the same, there are small differences between the two. The shape of a coffin typically resembles the shape of a body and has six or eight sides. It is wider at the top for the shoulders and gradually decreases in width toward the opposite end where the feet are placed (picture Dracula’s coffin in all the scary movies). Depending on all the bells and whistles a person chooses to adorn a coffin with, the hexagonal or octagonal shape is considered to save wood for construction and can be cheaper than a casket. On the other hand, the word casket was originally used to describe a box used to store jewellery and other small valuable items before coming to have an additional meaning somewhat synonymous with coffin. A casket is typically a four-sided rectangular box used for burying people. Interestingly, it is thought that the word casket was adopted as a substitute word for coffin because it was deemed less offensive. In addition, the shape of a casket was thought to be less dismal because it did not depict the shape of a person.

How to say ‘Would you like to dance with me?’ in different languages.

Albanian Basque Bulgarian Catalan Corsican Danish Dutch Estonian Fijian Finnish French Galician Haitian Creole Italian Japanese Latin Limburgish Norwegian Russian Scots Somali Swahili Tahitian

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

A doni të vallzoni?

Dantzatu nahi al duzu nirekin?

Iskate li da tancuvame?

Vols ballar amb mi?

Voli ballà?

Vil du danse med mig?

Wil je met me dansen?

Kas te soovite tantsida?

Ko via meke kei au?

Haluaisitko tanssia kanssani?

Voudriez-vous danser avec moi?

Bailas? Queres bailar conmigo?

Eske ou vle danse?

Vuole ballare con me? isshoni odorimasenka?

Mecum ballare vis?

Wil doe mit mich denser?

Skal vi danse?

Xotite potancevat?

Woods ye loch tae jink wi’ me?

Ma ciyaaraysaa?

Tucheze ngoma? Utapenda kudansi?

Haere tatou e arearea

Cool facts In Disney’s Fantasia, the Sorcerer to whom Mickey played an apprentice was named Yensid (Disney spelled backward).

Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

The sound you here when you put a seashell next to your ear is not the ocean, but blood flowing through your head.

More people are afraid of open spaces (kenophobia) than of tight spaces (claustrophobia).

The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries.

Jim Henson first coined the word “Muppet”. It is a combination of “marionette” and “puppet.”

About 20% of bird species have become extinct in the past 200 years, almost all of them because of human activity.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 14, 2013

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Fun & games

The Queen of Cranes

By Kiran H Mian

Long ago, there was a land where the most delicious rice in the world grew. Even more famous than the rice was the beauty of this land. The green rice paddy fields were filled with water and tiny nutritious creatures would thrive in these fields! Many beautiful birds, mostly cranes, could be seen flapping their gorgeous wings as they danced in the fields. These tall, slender cranes were not there to show off their grace; rather, they came to this land to feed on the tiny creatures that lived there. The farmers liked this because, otherwise, the tiny pests would ruin their precious rice. However, things took a sudden turn when, one day, a greedy, thirsty monster stopped by and drank up all the fresh water available, leaving none for growing rice. No rice meant no cranes, and soon the beautiful land became barren and ugly to look at. Yet no one had the courage to confront the monster.

There was one farmer who, despite the dire water shortage, refused to give in and continued with his farming. He worked day and night and, with the help of his wise wife, managed to grow just enough rice for them to live on. One night when the farmer and his wife were home, they heard a loud knock on the door.

Knock! Knock!

“Who’s there?” asked the farmer.

There was no reply, but the wise wife insisted that he should see who it was, for it might be someone in need. When the farmer opened the door, before him stood the most beautiful lady he had ever seen. She was tall and slender with thick black hair that danced in the cool midnight breeze. Her attire suggested that she was a queen, for she wore an elaborate silk grey dress embroidered in gold with pearls and diamonds sewn onto it. Her dress sparkled under the moonlight. On her head, she wore a huge gold diadem

and the Magical Pearl

with a large red ruby in the centre. The farmer did not know what to do, but his clever wife immediately made a curtsy, signalling her husband to do the same. Pleased by the wife’s curtsy, the lady took out a flawless pearl and, placing it in the farmer’s grubby hands, said, “Care for it as if it were your own. Our futures depend on it”. With these words, she disappeared.

The couple did exactly as the queen instructed—and perhaps even more. The farmer’s wife developed a certain attachment to the pearl. Every day, she took the beloved pearl out of her locker, cleaned it, polished it, and then spent hours reading science magazines aloud to it. Time passed swiftly and, one day, something rather odd happened.

The pearl, which had been lying peacefully on the table, suddenly began to roll back and forth. The farmer’s wife quickly jumped up to stop it from falling but, alas, was too late. It rolled off the table, hitting the floor with a loud crash, and then white smoke came hissing out of it! The poor wife could do nothing but cry, as the hut soon filled with smoke. Then they heard the most mysterious sound of laughter, as if there were a small child in the house.

When the smoke settled, they saw the most beautiful little boy sitting there, playing among the pearl’s pieces. Without thinking or questioning their good luck, the wise wife quickly picked the little boy up, since his hair was white and silver, they named him Zal, (the Persian word for white). It did not take long for word to spread that the farmer and his wife had been blessed with the most handsome boy. Relatives and friends came from far and wide to congratulate the couple. What was more, no one in the whole kingdom had ever seen such a lovely child. The only problem was that the farmer had wanted a strong son, not a handsome one.

Nevertheless, he felt blessed, and both he and his wife loved Zal very much.

Part 1 To be continued next week...

Find your way out!

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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 14, 2013

Comic strip

© LAAJVERD. LISTEN IN AT AAMAWAAM.ORG

STORY CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

From Our Readers Teacher No one was glad Everyone was sad I became mad That was very bad I don’t know that The weather was dry Blue was the sky I don’t know that At the end I came to know it happens why?

When I cry My lovely teacher was leaving the school With tears in everyone’s eye!

Anna Mushtaq