e n u b i tr e d i s in Birthday coming up? Learn how to make a pinata in 4 easy steps PAGE 4
Get ready for perfume that is free of whale puke! PAGE 5
Was the first computer bug a real insect? PAGE 6
Want to say ‘stupid’ in 15 different languages? PAGE 6
! n i u g n e 2 P b Clu page
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 15, 2012
Hi light
2 Waddle around and meet new friends!
Everyone loves penguins and being able to live in a snowy virtual world inhabited by a sea of multi-colored penguins is what Club Penguin is all about! Each player is provided with an igloo for a home. The main Club Penguin room is called The Town, and this is where most players arrive when they log in to the game. It has three rooms: the Coffee Shop, the Night Club and the Gift Shop. The Coffee Shop looks like any real life coffee shop and contains a mini game called Bean Counters in which a player has to catch sacks of coffee beans launched from a truck. Being the coffee shop, it is the most popular hang out spot where penguins meet each other! One of the good things about Club Penguin is if you get bored with being in one place, the map icon, easily visible, can be used to select another place and before you know it, you will find yourself in a different setting with lots of new things to explore. And you
will also come across tons of mini games to play! Some games can be played with other penguins, while others are designed for one player. After you play each game you are rewarded with coins. Collect enough of them and you can buy things like puffles (a fur-ball pet) to take care of. If you have friends playing as well, you can invite them to be your buddy. Likewise they can invite you. Becoming a buddy with someone means you can send them a letter. You can also visit a buddy’s igloo to check out their décor skills. One thing you must know about Club Penguin is you must follow the rules. Everywhere you go in penguinland, you will notice the all-seeing moderator, which is represented by the capital “M” on a gold shield. So if anything gets out of hand, they’ll step in and stop it. You can also report abuse to them or complain about other penguins who try to ask for personal information as it is never a good idea to share personal information online. And if you have any questions, you can always write to Aunt Arctic who can be accessed from within the game! Basic membership is free and premium membership offers you the ability to purchase more items of clothing to dress-up your penguin, decorate your igloo, and buy more puffles if you wish. Even without becoming a member, you may occasionally find free clothes during special events. If you need some tips convincing your parents, tell them the Club has lots of parental controls and chat options which enable them to regulate chat options as well as how much time you can spend online. One thing that is sure to get their approval is that the Club was awarded a privacy seal of approval from the Better Business Bureau.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 15, 2012
Hi light
And promise them that there will be no requests for paid memberships, at least not anytime soon! A fun and interesting game, Club Penguin is sure to keep you hooked as it continues to add new features. You can also read the Penguin Times to keep you informed and entertained about all the latest happenings in penguin land. Be sure to check it out today‌with your parents’ permission of course! Club Penguin can be accessed on: www.clubpenguin.com
Club Penguin trivia 1. There are around 2000 penguins playing on a full server after any update has been released. 2. About an average of 100 penguins quit Club Penguin everyday but an average of 500 penguins join each day on Club Penguin! 3. Club Penguin is the #974 most visited website worldwide! (But according to the ad planner by Google, Club Penguin is the #274 most visited website) 4. There is an average of 200 penguins banned everyday! 5. The Beta Hat was the first available item other than colors. 6. Almost nearly 70% of penguins use Club Penguin Trainers once or more or right now! 7. Club Penguin first penguin style was on October 2005 and only had about 20 items on it. 8. The Night Club is the oldest Club Penguin room! 9. When Club Penguin started it had 15,000 users, and by March 1.4 million users. 10. Rockhopper is the most popular Club Penguin character. 11. The white puffle is the slowest and littlelest puffle. The orange one is the fastest puffle until now. 12. Club Penguin has an update EVERY Friday no matter what.
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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 15, 2012
Activity corner
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Paper Bag Monster Pinata Craft A simple-to-make pinata made from a paper bag and tissue paper
: d e d e e n s e i l p p u S • • • • • • •
A large paper bag String Tissue paper Glue Scissors Crepe paper streamers Optional: Googly eyes, paint
Step 1
Fill a paper bag about half way with goodies (like candies and small toys). Roll the top of the bag down, staple the folded top shut, and punch two holes along the top.
Step 2 Cut strips of tissue paper and cut fringes in them.
Step 4
Step 3 Glue the fringes of tissue paper to the bag (glue along the top of the fringes). Cover the bag with tissue paper.
Decorate with paper cut-outs, markers, paint, and/or googly eyes. Tie a long string through the holes. Glue the streamers from the bottom of the pinata. You now have a scary monster pinata. Hang it up and break it open with a soft bat or a tightly-rolled-up and taped newspaper).
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 15, 2012
World wide weird Get your weekly dose of the unusual and funny from across the globe!
Couch potato no more? How many times has your mom asked you to get off the couch and get moving. Josh Steeg seems to have found a way around it when he went for a cruise around town on Easter Sunday. The mechanic, along with two friends, went for a spin on his couch — yes couch. Attached to a Yamaha motor, Steeg patrolled the streets of Napier, New Zealand on his couch impressing all, including local police officers. “It’s an old couch, but the Yamaha motor is still pretty good,” Steeg said. The shed project, as Steeg calls it, took just a few months to accessorise and was built with a view to rope in business. “Who knows, someone might see it as a great opportunity to do some advertising.” With a top speed of 60km per hour, it comes complete with a stereo system, indicators, speedometer and double-crate refreshment trailer. “Police had a look at us but it was all good. It’s only the second time I’ve had it out for a run. If I had a dollar for every time someone stopped us to take a photo today, I’d be rich.” If it is on the move, would sitting on it still make you a couch potato? NZHERALD.CO.NZ
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Get ready for whale puke free perfume
Umbrella helmets to ‘rain’ this season
Ever struggled with your lunch pack, flask and that bulky school bag while trying to make sure you don’t splash water on your school uniform! Rains can be fun but holding an umbrella while carrying all the above listed items can become a chore. But science and scientists have always come to our rescue, this time with a hands free umbrella, or Nubrella as it is called. The Nubrella, which resembles a bubble wrapped around the user’s head and shoulders, works by strapping on a shoulder support and extending a canopy around the head. Weighing just over 1kg, it costs £40 (Rs5775) and can resist winds of up to 50mph and comes in either black or see-through style. And when the rain finishes, the Nubrella can be slid back to sit behind the head. Inventor Alan Kaufman, 49, from Florida, said: “The major advantage is the wearer doesn’t have to carry anything when not in use as it goes behind the head like a hood. “The umbrella was long overdue for some innovation, now people can ride their bikes and work outdoors completely hands-free while staying protected.” So all those who want to stay dry in style this season — the hands-free umbrella is here to blow you away! TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
For centuries, perfume makers have used ambergris in perfumes to prolong the scent. Ambergris is a fancy name for a wax-like substance secreted by whales when they throw up. Whales may need it to protect their digestive systems from sharp objects, ambergis or whale vomit, when mixed with the salty ocean water forms a hard substance which is rare and can cost as much as $10,000 a kilogram. Scientists have now found a chemical called cis-abienol in sage and fir trees. Until recently getting the chemical out of the trees wasn’t worth the effort because the process was so difficult, but researchers have successfully isolated a gene from balsam firs that can be simply introduced to yeast and grown, making large-scale production of cis-abienol possible. The discovery could make production of this bio-product less expensive and more sustainable. It’s doubtful that the cheaper alternative will actually make high-end perfumes any more affordable. But you can probably expect to find designer scents eventually labelled as being “whale puke free” which, admittedly, is a pretty great selling point! AFP
page THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 15, 2012
6 s n i g i r O d r o W Did you know?
Was the first computer ‘bug’ a real insect? The story goes that one of the early electromechanical computers suffered a failure because an insect had crawled into the machine and been squashed between the moving parts of a relay switch, thereby jamming it. The incident was written up in the logbook and spread from there throughout the whole of the infant computer industry. However, although the account seems to be genuine, the word is older: the event was recorded as an amusement for posterity precisely because the term ‘bug’ was already in use. The term in fact originates not with computer pioneers, but with engineers of a much earlier generation. The first example cited in the 20-volume historical Oxford English Dictionary is from the Pall Mall Gazette of 11 March 1889: “Mr. Edison, I was informed, had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his phonograph — an expression for solving a difficulty, and implying that some imaginary insect has secreted itself inside and is causing all the trouble.” It seems clear from this that the original ‘bug’, though it was indeed an insect, was in fact imaginary.
How to say 'stupid' in different languages? English Hungarian Italian Croatian Estonian Czech Indonesian/Malay Latvian German French Spanish Danish Dutch Slovenian Swedish
Stupid Ostoba Stupido Glup Juhm Stupidní Bodoh Stulbs Blöd Stupide Estupido Dum Stom Neumen Dum
Cool facts The length from your wrist to your elbow is the same as the length of your foot. Men loose about 40 hair a day. Women loose about 70 hair a day. On average a hiccup lasts 5 minutes. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails. The liver is the largest of the body’s internal organs. The skin is the body’s largest organ. Every person has a unique tongue print. If all your DNA is stretched out, it would reach to the moon 6,000 times.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 15, 2012
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Fun & games
Want to be hi five’s artist of the week? Send your drawing with your name and age to hifive@tribune. com.pk
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, APRIL 15, 2012
Quick! Run as far as you can from the haunted castle!