The Express Tribune hi five - December 20

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Your Proofness: Dilaira Dubash Master Storyteller: Hurmat Majid Creativity Analysts: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Talha Ahmed Khan, Mohsin Alam, Eesha Azam, Maryam Rashid, Hira Fareed, Nabeel Khan, Sobia Khan and Umar Waqas

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Hi-light Hi light

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Christmas is the time to spread joy and cheer, it is also the best time of the year to bring out your crafting tools and get creative. Be it small stocking stuffers or some do-it-yourself Christmas presents to impress your friends, it is always a good idea to give presents that you have put some effort into. Another great way to use your skills as a crafter is to make some Christmas decorations for your home. Here are some fun ideas to create Christmas tree ornaments.

Supplies

Supplies Scrabble tiles that spell “let it snow” White cotton balls Paint Ribbon Paper plate Felt White craft glue

Directions • Line the scrabble tiles up so that they spell ‘let it snow’ over the paper plate.

Use a pen to trace around the shape of the tiles onto the paper plate (this does not have to be perfect).

• You just need a rough outline of the shape of your letters.

• Cut the shape out, making it smaller than the actual outline by cutting inside the lines. You want the shape to be large enough to glue the letters to, but small enough that they don’t overlap.

• Apply glue all over the template then press the letters in place.

• Place something heavy on top of the letters, like a bottle of paint, and let them dry for 2-3 hours.

• Glue tufts of cotton balls over the letters.

• Once the snow texture has dried, cut a piece of ribbon and fold into a loop.

Glue the ribbon hanger to the back of the ornament. Let everything dry before hanging on your tree.

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

4 kitchen paper rolls Ruler Pencil Scissors Glue Pins Gold metallic acrylic paint or spray paint Paint brush

Directions • Flatten each roll and mark off 1/2 inch segments along both sides of its length. Cut across the roll using the marks as guidelines to make 30 pointed oval segments.

• Cut 6 of the segments into two unequal pieces so that the smaller section measures about 3/4 inch in length and the larger one about 1 1/2 inches.

Each segment will have one folded end and one cut (open) end.

• You now have three segment sizes: - 6 of the 3/4” cut segments (small) - 6 of the 1 1/2” cut segments (medium) - 24 pointed oval segments (large) • Brush or spray one or two coats of gold paint on all of the surfaces, inside and outside.

• To assemble the innermost section of the tree topper that looks like a flower with six small petals inside six larger petals, glue the open end of a medium loop inside one end of a large loop. Hold the loops in place with pins while the glue dries. When dry, assemble the ‘flower’ and set it aside.

• Glue the open ends of the smallest segments and place them under a mug to weigh them down while the glue dries.

• While these small segments are drying, arrange and glue six three-petal arrangements that will form the outermost ring. All this glue-waiting is important so the snowflake/star winds up with symmetrical diagonals.

• Glue a three section segment to each of the central petal tips and then glue one of the smallest sections to each of the outermost ring sections.

• Touch up any missed spots with paint. Let everything dry before you set the tree topper up.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 20, 2015

3 Supplies Whole peanuts White, blue and purple paint Black marker Ribbon or yarn Hot glue gun

Hi-light

Supplies Sticks, pine needles, tiny pinecones, twigs, etc Buttons Twine or ribbon Hot glue gun Glue sticks

Directions

Directions

• • • •

• To form your basic stick ornament, glue together two sticks of about the same width and length in an x shape.

• Wrap twine around the ‘X’ where the two sticks meet in a in the shape of a number eight, over and over again, until the sticks are held firmly in place.

• Use your hot glue gun to cover the centrr of the ornament with pine needles, pinecones, buttons or any other embellishment you’d like.

• You can also glue smaller twigs to the sticks and wrap them with twine for a decorative touch.

Paint your peanuts white and set aside to dry.

Paint one end a different colour to make the hat.

Tie a ribbon scarf around the neck.

Draw on a face with a marker. Make different expressions on each peanut.

• Hot glue a thin string on top of the hat.

• Let everything dry before you hang the ornament.

• Make a template. Draw the shape of a stocking on a piece of paper.

• Cut out the template.

• Pin it to the fabric. You can either pin it to two pieces of fabric at the same time or pin it to single pieces twice. Cut around the template through the fabric. You will now have two pieces of fabric shaped like stockings.

• Thread your needle.

• Face the two pieces of fabric together, inside out. Pin in place. You will be sewing the stocking the wrong side first and then turning the stocking back out the right way at the end.

• Sew around the edge of the stocking shapes. Keep sewing until you reach the other edge, leaving the top opening part unstitched. Tie a knot to finish off the sewing.

• Turn the bag inside out. Your stocking is now ready. Turn down the top to neaten the finish. Stitch into place if wished.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Trivia

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Q: What do hockey players and magicians have in common?

A: Both do hat tricks.

Q: Why did the man keep doing the backstroke?

A: Because he just ate and didn’t want to swim on a full stomach.

Q: What is the hardest part about skydiving?

A: The ground.

Fun facts about bats The Bracken Bat Cave in Texas is the largest known bat colony in the world. Over 20 million bats live in the cave, which is more bats than there are people living in Mumbai, India — one of the world’s largest human cities. When the bats leave the cave, the group is so large that it looks like a huge storm on radar. The bats will eat over 200 tons of bugs in one night.

Some Mexican free-tailed bats can fly up to 250 miles in a single night. They can fly up to 10,000 feet high and reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour.

A small colony of bats can eat over one ton of insects in one year, or more than 600 million bugs.

A single bat can eat more than 600 bugs in one hour, which is like a person eating 20 pizzas a night.

Q: Why were the early days of history called the dark ages?

A: Because there were so many knights.

According to Bat Conservation International, 150 big brown bats can eat enough cucumber beetles in one summer to save farmers a billion dollars a year. Those beetles would have had 33 million larvae, which are what attack the crops.

Q: Why is England the wettest country?

A: Because the queen has reigned there for years.

The world’s largest bat is the giant golden-crowned flying fox, a rare fruit bat. It has a wingspan of 5 feetto 6 feet.

Did you know?

The story of Christmas Pudding Christmas pudding has its roots in medieval English sausages, when fat, spices and fruits (the best preservatives of their day) were mixed with meats, grains and vegetables and packed into animal stomachs and intestines so they would keep as long as possible. The first records of plum puddings date to the early 15th Century, when “plum pottage,” a savory concoction heavy on the meat and root vegetables, was served at the start of a meal. Then as now, the “plum” in plum pudding was a generic term for any dried fruit — most commonly raisins and currants, with prunes and other dried, preserved or candied fruit added when available. By the end of the 16th Century, dried fruit was more plentiful in England and plum pudding made the shift from savory to sweet. The development of the pudding cloth — a floured piece of fabric that could hold and preserve a pudding of any size — further freed the pudding from dependence on animal products (but not entirely: suet, the fat found around beef and mutton kidneys, has always been a key ingredient).

As with many English-derived Christmas traditions, the standard form for Christmas pudding solidified during the Victorian era, when English journalists, political leaders and novelists worked to promulgate a standardized, family-friendly English Christmas. Among England’s poor, Christmas saving clubs sprung up to help housewives lay away pennies throughout the year to purchase pudding ingredients come Christmastime.

Families throughout England began to celebrate the last Sunday before Advent — in which the Book of Common Prayer’s liturgy includes a prayer that begins, “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people” — as ‘Stir-up Sunday,’ in which family members take turns stirring up the Christmas pudding-to-be, which was then wrapped and boiled and set aside to mature until Christmas Day. By the 19th century the ingredients were more or less standardized to suet, brown sugar, raisins and currents, candied orange peel, eggs, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and plenty of alcohol.

For Victorian citizens of the British Empire, the Christmas pudding was a summation of their conception of the world: a globelike mass, studded with savory bits from distant colonies, bound together by a steamed and settled matrix of Englishness. In 1885 a British newspaper reported the joyful consumption of a plum pudding — sent overland via special envoy from Tehran — by a group of British soldiers stationed in northwestern Afghanistan.

Over the past century the Christmas pudding has slimmed down and simplified somewhat, according to modern tastes. The pudding-bag, in which the pudding is twice-boiled, is often replaced with molds shaped like a half-melon or bundt cake. Instructions for lighting the brandy sauce prior to serving include numerous fire-safety caveats. Across the Atlantic, where fruitcake’s own fortunes have waned in recent decades, Christmas pudding remains a curiosity known primarily from films, books and song lyrics, and is associated with Christmas crackers, paper crowns, Bob Cratchit and Boxing Day. SOURCE: HISTORY.COM

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 20, 2015

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

Lend a hand You’ve got to hand it to the broke student paramedics behind this rather unique ‘Christmas tree’ — they’re nothing if not creative. The picture shows a festive tree-of-sorts, which has been built out of inflated medical gloves, complete with gold tinsel. Sitting atop a small fridge, it looks every inch a work of art and proves that you don’t have to spend big to give your home a festive feel. The picture was shared on Reddit via Imgur with the caption, “What Christmas looks like in a house of 5 poor student paramedics.”

It has since gone viral, amassing 2.2 million views. Many viewers seem impressed by their ingenuity — even if it is slightly creepy. One wrote, “Effective and horrifying. Nice work.” The Redditor who shared the image has confirmed that the ‘poor student paramedics’ mentioned in the title are based in England. Responding to criticism over use of the word “poor”, they said, “For the record, we’re not that poor, this was done for a laugh.” MIRROR.CO.UK

World wide weird

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Role reversal

Dancing on the waves British researchers have built the world’s first sonic tractor beams that lift and move objects using soundwaves. A team from the universities of Bristol and Sussex, in conjunction with Ultrahaptics, a spin-off set up by a Sussex Professor of Informatics, Sriram Subramanian, used high-amplitude soundwaves to generate an acoustic hologram that can pick up and move small objects. The device allows the manipulation of small spherical objects in mid-air by individually controlling 64 miniature loudspeakers to generate the acoustic hologram without physical contact. The loudspeakers are controlled at a frequency of 40 kilohertz, creating high-pitched and high-intensity sound waves to levitate spherical, expanded polystyrene beads of up to 4 millimeters in diameter. HUFFINGTONPOST.COM

Cheeky seal

A team of French divers were swimming and taking photos in Antarctica, when a seal photobombed their pictures. The leopard seal, which is quite adorable, swam up close to the camera and gave its best goofy smile. Alexandre Voyer, 37, took the photos during an expedition organised by sailing enthusiast Gilles Rigaud. In another photo, the seal opened its mouth really wide and pretended to eat the camera. “These are wild animals that aren’t used to seeing any humans, so we had to approach them with a lot of respect,” Voyer said. “It was great to see them asserting their authority, but when they realised we were only poor swimmers and not a dangerous, they began to be a bit more playful and familiar with us.” Although they’re pulling silly faces here, leopard seals can be quite intimidating.

They are the second largest breed of seals and can grow up to 3.5 metres. They are also carnivores, eating smaller seals, fish, squid and sometimes even penguins. METRO.CO.UK

Timur the goat was meant to be nothing more than a tasty meal for Amur, a Siberian tiger living in a safari park in Moscow. Fate had other ideas. The stubborn animal was sent into the tiger’s enclosure earlier this week as one of the predator’s twice-weekly meals of live animals. And instead of dutifully fulfilling its role in the food chain, Timur chased Amur out of his own sleeping place! The tiger, by this point seemingly puzzled at the rolereversal, opted against confrontation. Timur has been bedding down in his spot for four nights now; Amur has been banished to sleeping on the shelter’s roof. .

But despite the unusual sleeping arrangements, there does not appear to be any animosity between the unlikely pair. Timur has also taken to following Amur around everywhere. Siberian tigers are an endangered species but their numbers have stabilised in recent years to around 500. NBCNEWS.COM

The careless shopkeeper

By Mahnaz Mir There once lived a careless shopkeeper. He had a wife and three children. With great difficulty the shopkeeper earned enough money to pay his children’s school fees. He had once collected enough money to buy a new house but instead he bought the latest smart phone that had just come out. His wife was very upset with him for doing that. At work, he never paid attention to his customers. He used to tell them incorrect prices and used to be so lost in his games and chatting that he failed shoplifters.

One day he was playing the latest game when a little boy came to the shop to buy muffins. His mother had sent him as some guests had come to their house. The shopkeeper didn’t pay attention as the boy spoke. “Hello, mister, can you give me muffins for six rupees?” The shopkeeper, Ali, looked up with disgust at the little boy who had just disturbed him.

“What is it?” he almost yelled. The smile faded from the boy’s face. “I want to buy some some muffins, please,” the boy was scared to talk. Ali angrily told him, “There are no muffins today.” The boy went home.

That night, Ali got so involved in a game on his phone again, he really wanted to win it to beat all the other players online that as he walked out from the shop with the phone in his hand and eyes stuck on the screen, he forgot to close the shutter of his shop. He went home, went to bed with his eyes still on the screen and finally he won the game. “Yes!” he yelled in the middle of the night so loud that his kids and his wife woke up, startled. But he didn’t care. In the morning when he went to his shop, he was crushed. His stuff was all gone, the shelves and racks were all empty. Thieves had ransacked his shop all night and now he had nothing left to sell. He sat at the door of his shop with his head in his hands and wept. Just then, the same little boy came and sat down next to him. Ali looked at him sadly. The boy opened his fist to reveal the same six coins he was holding yesterday.

“Here, go buy something to sell,” he said. “But that’s your money.” Ali said. “Its alright. I saved it to buy cakes.

Yesterday when I went home from school, after you were angry at me, my mother had already baked me the best lemon curd cakes ever. So I don’t need this money. But you have to promise me one thing, that you will use them carefully and try to make more for your family.” Ali cried tears of shame and relief. The boy was only a child but he brought hope. So he became more careful and less selfish.

Share your short stories with us.

Email them to hifive@tribune.com.pk

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Reading corner

6 Ho Ho Holiday flicks

Here are a bunch of classic Christmas movies to bring you holiday cheer: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Young Rudolph suffers a childhood accident that sees his nose turn from the publicly accepted norm of black to a glowing red colour. His parents worry about him getting teased, and indeed he does in the end. When he is beaten in the reindeer games by his rival for a doe he fancies, Rudolph runs away and moves into a cave with Slyly the Fox. However, the question is, can he overcome his fear and reach his true potential?

The Santa Clause The night before Christmas, Scott Clavin receives an unexpected visitor on his roof. When he’s startled by Scott’s calling out and falls, the Santa impersonator disappears, leaving only an eightreindeer sleigh and a suit with instructions to put it on if he’s involved in an accident. Scott does, and is transported around the town dropping gifts through chimneys until he’s taken to the North Pole and informed by a group who claim they’re elves that he is now Santa. Charlie is proud of his dad’s new job, though Scott’s convinced it’s a dream. Until his hair turns white, his beard refuses to stay shaved, he gains weight inexplicably, even for his sudden love of junk food. Now he’s accepted it, there’s just one problem: how to keep it secret from his disbelieving family?

Unaccompanied Minors Spencer and his little sister, Katherine, are flying to Pennsylvania for Christmas with their dad. While changing planes, a blizzard moves in and cancels all flights out of Hoover Airport: they must stay in a basement room with the other unaccompanied minors.

Spencer and four others — a chubby boy, a non-stop-talker, a surly girl, and a rich kid — go AWOL and get in trouble with Mr. Porter, the Christmas-hating airport supervisor. The five misfits spend the night evading and enduring Porter’s punishments, discovering all sorts of things in back rooms, making sure Katherine gets her visit from Santa, and finding among themselves a new kind of family.

Elf Buddy was a baby in an orphanage who hid in Santa’s sack and ended up at the North Pole on his first Christmas at an orphanage.

Raised by elves, Buddy gets a Christmas treat when Santa allows him to go to New York City to find his biological father, Walter Hobbs. Hobbs, on Santa’s naughty list for being a heartless old man, had no idea that Buddy was even born. Buddy, meanwhile, experiences the delights of New York City and human culture as only an elf can. When Walter’s relationship with Buddy interferes with his job, he is forced to reevaluate his priorities.

Home Alone It’s Christmas time and the McCallister family is preparing to head to Paris for vacation. Eight-year-old Kevin is the black sheep of the house who is regularly picked on by his siblings and cousins, and his parents are annoyed by his antics. Kevin finds himself forced to sleep on the third floor of the house. The next day, the McCallisters accidentally sleep in and barely make it to their flight, but when airborne they realize they forgot Kevin. As his family desperately tries to book a flight back to Chicago, Kevin is thrilled to have the house to himself. However, a pair of burglars named Harry and Marv have robbed a number of houses in the neighborhood and now have their sights on the McCallister home.

It’s up to Kevin to thwart them.

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.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Activity corner

Mind Game

Help Baymax be a hero by finding all the words given below in the puzzle.

BAYMAX HIRO TADASHI FRED GO GO

HONEY LEMON CALLAGHAN ALISTAIR CASS

BATTERY BIG YAMA GENERAL SARGENT

7

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, DECEMBER 20, 2015

Materials: Ingredients: Chicken breast Egg Salt Pepper Bread crumbs Oil

1/2 kg 1 to taste to taste 1/2 cup for deep frying

- Torch - Comb - Jelly crystals - Plastic container

2 packs

Directions: • Mix jelly with half as much water as it says on the pack. You need to make very stiff jelly.

• Pour the jelly into your mould and leave it to set overnight.

• When the jelly has set, tip it out onto a cutting board.

• Use a knife to cut the jelly into the shape of some lenses such as: - Wide in the middle and thin at the ends - Thin in the middle and wide at the ends - Semicircular.

Method:

• Shine light from the torch through the lenses and look at how they bend the light. If you place a comb between the torch and the lenses, you will get lines of light, which can make it easier to see the light bending.

• Boil the chicken breast for 20 minutes in water.

• In a blender, blend together cooked chicken breast, egg, pepper and salt.

• Roll the meat mixture into small balls and coat in bread crumbs.

• With the help of an adult, deep fry the nuggets in oil until golden brown.

• Serve with your favourite dip.

Remember kids, always get permission from your parents before you start.

It’s always a good idea to have a helper nearby.

What is happening: When light hits a boundary between two substances, like the surface of the jelly, it often bends. This is called refraction.

When light goes from air into the jelly, it bends away from the surface of the jelly. When it goes from jelly into the air, it bends towards the surface of the jelly. When the jelly surface is curved, rays of light hitting at different spots on the surface will either spread out or move together.

If the jelly makes a concave lens (thick on the ends, thin in the middle) the rays of light will be spread out.

If the jelly makes a convex lens (thin on the ends, thick in the middle) the rays of light will bend towards each other, until they cross over and then spread out again. If you are lucky and your lens is just the right shape, you may even find the rays of light all cross over at one spot. The strength of a lens depends on its shape and the material it is made from.

Different materials will bend light by different amounts.