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Your Proofness: Sarah Munir Master Storyteller: Nudrat Kamal Creativity Analysts: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Samra Aamir, Talha Ahmed Khan, Munira Abbas, Omer Asim and Umar Waqas
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, AUGUST 3, 2014
Hi light
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The universe is a vast and wonderful place, and just when we think we have found out everything there is to know about it, it throws us for a loop. Take the weather, for example. Science has progressed enough that we can now explain how basic weather events work — we know why it rains, why it snows, why sometimes earthquakes can shake the world. Most weather events are so common that we hardly even think about them. But there are some weather events which still boggle the mind. Here are some of the craziest weather phenomena that occur in the world.
We have all seen rainbows during the day, but did you know that there are certain instances in which a rainbow can be seen at night? Known as lunar rainbows, or simply moonbows, these rainbows are produced by the moonlight bouncing off of moisture in the air. The weather conditions have to be exactly right for a moonbow to be produced — a very bright full moon is needed, it must be raining opposite the moon, the sky must be dark and the moon should be low in the horizon. No wonder moonbows are so rare! But when all these conditions do occur together, the resulting moonbow is magical in its beauty. Because moonlight is usually very faint, it is difficult for the human eye to discern the separate colours in the moonbow, so they can appear to be white. However, the colours of the moonbow do appear in photographs.
A brinicle is a type of icicle which forms under the sea when the sea is covered in ice at the top. The salt of the sea ice is very cold and salty, making it denser than the sea water, which causes the salt to sink down to the sea bed. But as this extremely cold salt, known as brine, descends to the bottom of the sea, it freezes the seawater it comes in contact with. This forms a fragile tube of ice that can reach the seafloor, trapping, freezing and ultimately killing any sea creatures that come in its path, such as starfish or sea urchins. Once it reaches the bottom, the brinicle will travel downward along the seafloor until it reaches the lowest point of the sea, where it will finally make a pool of ice. Given its deadly nature, who can blame the brinicle for being nicknamed the ‘icy finger of death’? What would you like to see in Hi Five? Send an email to hifive@tribune.com.pk and let us know!
Sprites and blue jets are shapes and flashes of light that can be seen in the night sky in some parts of the world. These quirkily-named lights are caused by electrical discharges produced in the atmosphere. The electrical discharges excite the air until it emits light. Grouped together, these light flashes are known as transient luminous events (TLEs). Sprites, which are flashes of red, are the most common TLEs. They occur directly above large thunderstorms. They can appear in different shapes, and might resemble jellyfish or angels. A sibling of the sprite is the blue jet, a cone of dim blue light which ends in a puff of blue smoke. The blue jet is rarer and it is usually produced by hailstorms.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, AUGUST 3, 2014
Hi light
3 If you thought an icy finger of death wasn’t scary enough, there are also fire whirls. A fire whirl, also known as a fire tornado or fire devil, is a rare phenomenon in which fire forms a tornado-like vortex of flames. A tornado in itself is a terrible and wondrous thing, but imagine a tornado made of flames and ashes and lots of heat, and the whole thing becomes much more frightening. A fire whirl is formed when a tornado spins too close to a wildfire, thus catching fire itself. It can also be formed when a heavy concentration of heat is generated in a small area. Although it’s rare, this type of weather is extremely dangerous. Like tornadoes, fire whirls can vary in size and duration, but the typical fire whirl lasts no more than a few minutes.
Imagine if someone poured put tons of coffee and milk in the ocean and then turned on the blender. It seems like something out of a story, right? But this phenomenon does sometimes occur on some beaches around the world. Known as cappuccino coast, this is a thick layer of foam which is produced on the surface of the sea. It is a cross between whipped cream and shampoo. Cappuccino coast occurs when the salty sea water interacts with the decomposition products of underwater living creatures, and everything is mixed together by the powerful currents which cause the water to form bubbles. These bubbles stick to each other and as waves are formed, the bubbles are turned into foam by the current.
Volcanic Lightning
Raging thunderstorms and violent volcanic eruptions are both powerful and majestic, but if you combine both together, the result can be almost out of this world in its terrible beauty. Volcanic lightning, also called dirty thunderstorms, are exactly this — a result of nature’s two great forces colliding. The rare weather event refers to lightning being produced at the mouth of an erupting volcano, creating a mixture of ash and flash. But what causes the thunderbolts in the first place? Scientists say when rock fragments and ash in a volcanic eruption collide, they produce static electricity which in turn creates the lightning.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, AUGUST 3, 2014
Activity
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Riddle Me This 1
What is as light as a feather, but even the world’s strongest man couldn’t hold it for more than a minute?
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How do you make the number one disappear?
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What starts with the letter “t”, is filled with “t” and ends in “t”?
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What gets broken without being held?
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5
Which weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?
8. Tomorrow 4. A needle
9. A Road
10. A piano
5. Neither, they both weigh one pound!
Answers
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What goes through towns and over hills but never moves?
What has 88 keys but can’t open a single door?
3. A palm!
What has one eye but cannot see?
Books and Movies When she is born, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania is given gifts by different fairies, as is the custom. But the gift she receives is very unusual. Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, she recives a special fairy gift: Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, Princess Amy is quite ordinarylooking, and she would rather have adventures than become a queen. When she reaches a marriageable age, her parents are worried that no prince will want to marry her because of her ordinariness. They decide to hold a dragonslaying competition and give her as a gift to whichever prince slays the
dragon. But Princess Amy wants none of that and she runs away. Because she’s so ordinary, she easily becomes assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace, and becomes friends with all the woodland creatures that live in the nearby forest. One day, she meets Percy, an ordinary boy, and the two become friends. Little does she know that he iss a prince in disguise, just as she he is a princess ess in hiding! Read all about Princess ncess Amy’s adventures in The Ordinary rdinary Princess by M. M. Kaye and learn that just because you are ordinary doesn’t mean you are not special.
Do you have a favourite book or movie you would like us to review? Write to us at hifive@tribune.com.pk and tell us all about it.
2. A teapot!
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What is always coming but never arrives?
1. His breath!
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7. A promise.
What kind of tree can you carry in your hand?
6. Add the letter G and it’s “GONE”
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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, AUGUST 3, 2014
Get your weekly dose of the unusual and funny news from across the globe!
Duck therapy An ex-soldier living in a village in America has kept 14 ducks as pets to help him feel safe and less lonely. Darin Welker, who served in many wars as a soldier, says that the ducks comfort him and help him recover from the physical and psychological wounds that he got during the wars. Welker keeps the ducks in his own home and takes them out for regular walks to make sure they get their exercise. His ducks include 10 Pekin ducks and four mallards. “Taking care of them is both mental and physical therapy,” Welker said. “[Watching them] keeps you entertained for hours at a time.” But officials of the village that he lives in are now threatening to take the ducks away from him. They argue that keeping ducks as pets is against the law. A 2010 law allows only dogs, cats, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, birds or mice as pets. Welker will try to keep his ducks by making his case in front of a judge. HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
World wide weird
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Creepy dolls
Eight families in southern California, USA, woke up to a scare one morning when they found creepy-looking porcelain dolls left on their doostep. The families were particularly frightened because all the dolls had a strange resemblance to each of the families’ 10-year-old daughters. The families, whose daughters all go to school together, were so worried that they contacted the police. The police are now investigating the strange case. They are as baffled as the residents as to the meaning behind such an incident, and they have taken the dolls for examination in the hopes that they would provide clues. “We’re examining the dolls in an attempt to identify who may have manufactured them,” Lt. Hallock, who is in charge of the case, told People magazine. He also said that it is as yet unclear whether these families were specifically targeted, but he is determined to get to the bottom of it. METRO.CO.UK
Dare to be different Meet Hideaki Kobayashi, a Japanese middle-aged, bald man with a unique fashion sense. He likes to parade all over Tokyo dressed in ‘Seifuku,’ the name for the sailor outfits worn by teenage girls. The 50-something Kobayashi started dressing up as a teenage girl about three years ago. Before that, he was a computer engineer and an accomplished photographer — careers that he’s kept alive. Kobayashi first wore the schoolgirl outfit at an art and design event, but now he walks the streets of Tokyo wearing it. He has become an internet sensation, with people coming over to take pictures with him and posting them online. Kobayashi says most of the feedback he has received is positive, with the exception of some men who occasionally pass rude comments his way. When asked why he chooses to dress like a teenage girl, he said, “I just want to wear something cute.” He says he feels that Japanese culture is too strict and he doesn’t want to conform to its standards. Kobayashi’s reputation has spread so far that one Japanese prep school has hired him to teach teenagers to think for themselves. HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
Beware of the anaconda There have been reports of a 16-foot snake, possibly an anaconda, hiding in Lake Hopatcong, the largest lakes in New Jersey, USA. These rumours and reported sightings have sent ripples of fear among the people in the area and have led to searches and questions about what exactly is in the lake. Authorities have set up huge traps in the water and a reptile expert and an animal control office have been hunting the snake for weeks. Some government officials don’t believe that there is anything in the lake at all, and that it is all just a figment of people’s imagination. Spokesman Larry Ragonese said, “At this point, we’ve gone a couple weeks now with a growing story of an exotic creature roaming the lake, and there’s hundreds of eyes now trained on it. If there was to be something, you would think that that someone would have seen it.” But Gerald Andrejcak, assistant director of New Jersey’s Common Sense for Animals, says that he spotted the head and part of a body of what he estimated as a 16-foot-long anaconda last week. He said he cornered it before it escaped by slithering between his legs. He wants to be the one to catch the snake. HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, AUGUST 3, 2014
6 Did you know? What is déjà vu? Have you ever been in a situation when you get a weird feeling that you have experienced that moment before? Maybe you walked into a store for the first time and felt that you had been there before. Or you were having a conversation with a friend and suddenly felt like you have had the exact same conversation with that friend before. If you’ve ever had such a feeling, it means you have experienced déjà vu. Déjà vu is a French term that literally means ‘already seen.’ Generally déjà vu is described as the feeling that you’ve seen or experienced something before when you know you haven’t. It seems like a strange thing, like something out of a sci-fi movie. But lots of people experience déjà vu. Scientists have different theories about what causes déjà vu. One theory is that déjà vu occurs when we are distracted by something else and our brain takes in what is around us but we don’t realise it. Then, when we are able to focus on the situation at hand, the surroundings and the situation seem to be already familiar to us even when they shouldn’t be. This is called the Divided Attention Theory. Another theory that might explain the weirdness of déjà vu is the ‘memories from other sources’ theory. Our brains have stored lots of memories that come from different parts of our lives, including not only our own experiences but also movies, books and pictures. So when we see or experience something very similar to one of those memories, we might get déjà vu.
How to say ‘school’ in different languages Afrikaans Albanian Bosnian Croatian Danish Estonian French German Hungarian Igbo Italian Spanish
: : : : : : : : : : : :
Skool Shkollë školski škola Skole Kool école Schule Iskola Akwụkwọ Scuola Escuela
Cool facts Crickets’ ears are located on their front legs, a little below their knees. Turtles often bury their eggs in alligator nests. The mother alligator guards her nest so well it ensures the safety of the unborn turtles as well. February is the only month that can pass without a single full moon. Chocolate chip cookies were made by mistake when the chocolate in the cookie did not melt properly. The peacock is actually the name of the male peafowl. The female is called a peahen. The spitting spider doesn’t wait for insects to get caught in its web; it spits out sticky strings that capture the prey where it stands. About one in every four million lobsters is born with a rare genetic defect that turns it blue. Only one half of a dolphin’s brain sleeps at a time. The other half that’s awake signals the dolphin to come up for air to prevent drowning. The sailfish (the fastest swimming fish, clocked at 68 mph) is faster than the cheetah (the fastest land animal, clocked at 62 mph).
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, AUGUST 3, 2014
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Experiment
Method You will need: • Empty water bottle — small • Baking soda • Kitchen roll or tissue • Scissors • Straw • Vinegar • Tape • Bath or large container • Water
• Pierce a hole in the non-lid end of the water bottle and poke the straw through. (Trim the straw and make it small). Tape around the gap to prevent air from escaping and keep the straw in place. • Carefully pour some vinegar into the bottle and replace the lid. • Pour some baking soda onto a small piece of kitchen roll and roll it up. • Stand over your water container, stuff the tissue wrapped baking soda into the bottle and quickly cover it with the lid. • Place in the water container and watch it go.
What is happening: Vinegar (an acid) and bicarbonate of soda (an alkali) react together to neutralise each other. This reaction releases carbon dioxide, a gas which is released through the straw in the water, making the bubbles you see. The force of the movement of the carbon dioxide causes a reaction force which pushes the boat forwards. SCIENCE-SPARKS.COM
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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, AUGUST 3, 2014
A picture puzzle to colour