The Express Tribune hi five - February 8

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Your Proofness: Sarah Munir Master Storyteller: Hurmat Majid Creativity Analysts: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Talha Ahmed Khan, Omer Asim, Mohsin Alam, Aamir Khan and Umar Waqas

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 8, 2015

Hi light

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Popsicles: In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a cup filled with powdered soda, water and a stirring stick on his San Francisco porch.

That night, as the temperature fell below 0o C, the mixture froze. It was amazing that it still tasted great. Seventeen years later Epperson showcased his creation at the firemen’s ball and found it to be an instant hit. This was when Epperson realised that he may have stumbled upon a brilliant invention purely by accident. He started selling his creation in California a year later, calling it ‘Epsicle’. His children, who called the creation ‘Pop’s ‘sicle’ persuaded him to change the name. Today, two billion Popsicles are sold every year.

Play Doh: Believe it or not Play Doh was once a wallpaper cleaner. Back in the day when people used coal to heat their homes their wallpapers got covered with soot. Back then wallpapers were made of actual paper and could not be cleaned with water. Kutol, a soap company came up with the idea of a non-water based wallpaper cleaner and it was an instant hit. Later, when gas and electric heating was introduced there was no market left for the cleaner. Someone suggested that the company could market the formula as toy clay for kids. With a few changes such as adding colour and almond scent and removing the detergent the world famous toy clay was created.

Post-its: In 1968, Spencer Silver was working at 3M trying to create super strong adhesives for use in the aerospace industry for building planes. Instead of a super strong adhesive, though, he accidentally managed to create an incredibly weak, pressure sensitive adhesive agent. The agent had two unusual qualities: it was reusable and it left no marks and yet no one at 3M was interested in coming up with a creative use for it. The project was shelved for years. It came back to life when chemical engineer Art Fly found a clever use for the adhesive. Art kept losing the page in his hymn book until he decided to put a bit of Silver’s adhesive on his bookmark to keep it from falling. He shared his clever idea with Silver and the team. The market was tested by sending out free samples to offices and stationary stores and since then Post-Its have been a successful part of 3M stationary line.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 8, 2015

Hi light

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Super Glue: Super glue was actually discovered twice by the same man. Dr Harry Coover was working on creating a clear plastic gun sight to be put on guns in WWII in 1942. While working on the project he came up with cyanoacrylate, a formula for a fast drying bonding adhesive.

Surprisingly Dr Coover abandoned the formula because it did not help him in the project he was working on. Nineteen years later, in 1951, when Dr Coover was supervising a project for developing a heat resistant form of plastic he discovered the formula again, this time he did not let the idea go and realised that there was a market for quick drying glue. After a little tweaking, super glue was put on the market in the year 1951.

Corn flakes: Brothers Dr John Harvey Kellogg and Will Keith Kellogg were working with a famous hospital in Michigan in 1894. The hospital stressed on a healthy diet for their patients. The brothers had created many dishes using grains for the hospital menu. One day, the brothers left some boiled grains out in the open for too long.

When they returned they found that the grains had hardened, they decided to experiment with them and put them through the grain rollers. Instead of turning into a sheet of dough, the individual grains came out as thin flakes. The duo then baked the grains and realised that they had actually discovered a new kind of cereal. For years the brothers used the cereal in the hospital kitchen until 1906 when they introduced it in the open market. Today corn flakes are one of the most popular cereal eaten around the world.

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

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 8, 2015

4 Q: What do you give a sick bird?

A: Tweetment!

Fun Facts about laughter Frequent and whole-hearted laughter actually helps your body fight off harmful diseases. By altering the levels of cortisol in our body, laughing lowers our levels of stress and fights off things that might be harmful to us.

We laugh up to 30 times more when we are in the company of other people.

Just as children laugh more than adults, surveys show that women laugh more than men.

Q. How do you make seven an even number?

A. Take the ‘s’ out!

Q: Why are ghosts bad liars?

A: Because you can see right through them!

Q: How do you make a fruit punch?

A: Give it boxing lessons.

Q: What is common between a horse and a wedding?

A: They both need a groom.

Although we can force smiles and trick our brains into thinking we are happy, we cannot actually force laughter. You can emit something that sounds a lot like laughter, but you can’t trick your brain.

Laughing shortly after you wake up can have similar effects to drinking a cup of coffee. Next time you laugh right after getting up, notice how refreshing it feels.

Humans are not the only beings that laugh. Although it’s less obvious to detect, many animals also experience something similar to laughter. Turns out our furry little friends are laughing at us too!

The average person laughs around 13 times a day. Oddly enough, very few of those times are due to a joke. More often, we laugh at chance happenings or things that were never intended to be funny in the first place.

Believe it or not, there really is a science to laughing. In fact, the science of laughing and its effects on the body is referred to as Gelotology.

Did you know?

The origin of chocolate Did you know that the Aztecs believed that cacao seeds (‘Cacao’ is how you say ‘cocoa’ in Spanish) were the gift of Quetzalcoatl, the God of wisdom? The seeds had so much value in the ancient times that they were used as a form of currency. Originally prepared only as a drink, chocolate was served as a bitter, frothy liquid, mixed with spices. It was believed to have special powers and to give strength to the drinker.

Until the 16th century, the drink from the Central and South American people was unknown to Europeans. Christopher Columbus encountered the cacao bean on his fourth mission to America on August 15, 1502 when he and his crew seized a large native canoe that proved to contain among, other goods for trade, cacao beans. His son Ferdinand commented that the natives greatly valued the beans, saying, “When they were brought on board ship together with their goods, I observed that when any of these almonds (bean) fell, they all stooped to pick it up, as if an eye had fallen.” After the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, chocolate was imported to Europe. There, it quickly became a court favourite. It was still served as a beverage, but the Spanish added sugar or honey to counteract the natural bitterness. Within about a hundred years, chocolate established a foothold throughout Europe.

Chocolate comes from a fruit tree called the ‘Theobroma Cacao’ tree, which literally translates to ‘food of the gods’.

Chocolate is made from the seeds of the tree. Because cocoa trees are so delicate, farmers lose, 30% of their crop on average each year. A farmer must wait four to five years for a cacao tree to produce its first beans. Each cacao tree produces approximately 2,500 beans and it takes 400 cocoa beans to make one pound of chocolate. There are an estimated 1.5 million cocoa farms in West Africa. The combined yearly consumption of chocolate worldwide has now risen to 7.2 metric tonnes. This number is rising every year and it is even believed that very soon the consumption of chocolate would exceed its production.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 8, 2015

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

Library book returned 65 years later Sir James Tidmarsh, 82, came across the long-forgotten copy of Ashenden by W Somerset Maugham as he was clearing his shelves. When he opened the collection of spy stories, he found the stamp of Taunton School, Somerset. He explained that his first thought when he saw the stamps was that he should keep quiet about it, but the fact was it clearly did belong there. The school authorities were rather bewildered when he told them it was in 1949 when he had checked the book out of the liberary.

Tidmarsh paid £1,500 as late fee for the book. He says he paid the money so that the school would be able to buy more books with it. If the school had pursued the overdue fee after 65 years, the true charge would have been £2,847 but the cheque of £1,500 was gratefully accepted by the school. MIRROR.CO.UK

Real money in monopoly boxes Manufacturers of monopoly are celebrating their 80th anniversary by adding real money to 80 monopoly boxes. The brand manager explained that the company wanted to do something unique to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the board game.

One set would contain a total of 20,580 euros. Ten sets would contain five real 20 euro notes, two 50 euro notes and one 100 euro notes. The remaining sets will contain five 10 euro notes and five 20 euro notes. The 80 lucky sets are hidden within 30,000 boxes of different types of the game. The game boxes would be shelved all over France. There is one dead giveaway for customers seeking a windfall: the boxes containing the Euro notes had to be made slightly bigger to accommodate the cash. However, it would take a careful eye to find the difference. ORANGE.CO.UK

World wide weird

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Oldest living land creature

Jonathan the ancient tortoise who, has been ambling around for 183 years is thought to be the world’s oldest living land creature. Born in 1832 at the latest, he has plodded through two world wars and numerous revolutions, outlasting all his human companions. He was even photographed, looking rather elderly, with a prisoner during the Boer War, which ended in 1902. Jonathan, of the species testudinidae cryptodira, was brought to the British territory of St Helena, a tiny island in the South Atlantic, in 1882. He was already mature at the time, meaning that he was at least 50 years old.

He is thought to have been shipped from the Seychelles. He has been kept in the paddock at Plantation House, the British governor’s residence, ever since, where visitors can observe his (lack of) movements at an appropriate distance from a viewing corridor. He is looked after by his namesake, Jonathan Hollins, the island’s senior veterinary officer, who feeds him a large bucket of salad every Sunday. TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

Prehistoric rhino remains The remains of a prehistoric rhino, over half a million years old have been found on a British beach. The stunning find was revealed after the cliffs were eroded by stormy weather. Amateur fossil hunter Jonathan Stewart spotted two lines of teeth in mud at the foot of the cliffs at West Runton beach in Norfolk. He called in local geologist Martin Evans to save the remains and spent a day carefully removing the fossil by covering the exposed area with plaster of Paris before cutting around them. The remains, found on January 28, date back to the Comorian interglacial period, named after Norfolk Cromer some 700,000 years ago. The fascinating find includes two rows of teeth, some eroded parts of the skull or jaws, and a bone which could be from the ribs. MIRROR.CO.UK

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 8, 2015

Reading corner

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Observing Kashmir Day The Kashmir dispute sprung up during the Pak-India Partition in 1947. A large chunk of the princelyy state of Kashmir was forced to join India after its ruler could not make a decision about which side to join. Muslims had the overall majority in the state and they rebelled against the decision. The Indian troops have since been controlling the state.

In 1991, Pakistan decided to observe Kashmir Day on the 5th of February to show solidarity with the people of occupied Kashmir. Kashmir Day is observed by people throughout Pakistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK). The day is marked by public processions, special prayers in mosques for the liberation of Kashmir and protests that are carried out against the oppression of Kashmiris. Another common spectacle is the formation of a human chain on all major routes leading to AJK from Pakistan. This symbolises unity and solidarity to reassure Kashmiris that they are not alone in their struggle for freedom. Special cultural programmes and festivals are also held to promote Kashmiri culture and tradition. News and entertainment channels air special programmes, talk shows, dramas and Kashmiri songs about the oppression and brutalities suffered by Kashmiris over the years. Educational institutions organise debate competitions and dialogue forums where students express their views and ideas for resolving Kashmir-related issues.

The Sands of Time The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Written by the C S Lewis, this book has enchanted readers since 1950. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are sent to live in a big old country house during World War II. The children have a hard time copeing with their new strange surroundings and are often found quarrelling and bickering. But when Lucy, the youngest, comes across the wardrobe in the spare room that leads to the enchanting world of Narnia it all starts to change. It is an ancient world full of talking animals, mythical creatures and mortal perils. As the others join Lucy in the magic kingdom behind the wardrobe, little do they realise that their lives are about to change forever. Faced with different challenges of their own, the children learn many valuable lessons in the strange land. The adventures continue as the children return to save Narnia from other evils in the later books.

The movie adaptations for the series started coming out in 2005.

Back to the Future: Produced by Steven Spielberg and directed

by Robert Zemeckis, the movie has us rolling with laughter all through. This ultimate time travel movie is set in 1985, where Dr Emmitt Brown (Christopher Lloyd) fondly known as ‘Doc’ turns a DeLorean-DMC into a time travelling car.

His creation sends his teenage friend Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) back in time to 1955.

Marty realizes that this is the time when his parents were his age. As thrilling events unfold, Marty realises that he needs to find a way to go back to 1985 or else the time space continuum would be disturbed. He needs to find Doc in 1855 and convince him that the time machine is his creation from the future in order for him to fix it. While trying to return home, Marty finds that his world did change, in a way he might have not imagined. We see more action and Marty continues to time travel in the next two movies in the triology.

A Christmas Carol:

A Wrinkle in Time:

Published in 1843, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is one of the first stories ever to feature an element of time travel. One Christmas Eve in Victorian London, all around the city people are rushing home to be with their families. All except one man, Ebenezer Scrooge. A wealthy old miser whose only joy in life is money, Scrooge decides to spend the evening counting his cash, rejecting seasonal goodwill with well-practiced cries of ‘Bah! Humbug!’

But this Christmas Eve there are some surprises in store for old Scrooge. While his poor overworked employee Bob Cratchit prepares the finest family feast his paltry wage can buy, Scrooge’s sleep is disturbed by the Ghosts of the Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. In one short night, they reveal more to him about his true character than he has ever realised himself. As Christmas Day dawns, Scrooge is forced to confront the specter of his own mean existence. The movie adaptation of the story came out in 2009.

Written by Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time tells the tale of a young girl and her brother. The children find out that their father, a government scientist, has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract. The tesseract is a portal from one part of the universe to another. The siblings set off with their friend Calvin on an epic galactic quest to find their father, ultimately discovering that true strength comes from within. To makes things more intriguing still, there is a trio of amusing and mysterious guardian angels, Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Witch watching over them. The book brings to life an unexpected fantasy that’s full of warmth and humor.

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.

Dal Lake, Sriniga r.

PHOTO: LONELYP LANET

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 8, 2015

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Artwork

Maleeha Mansoor Winner

Mughni Shahbaz

Notable Entries for the Liberty Books Cards

Competition

Zainab Nasir

Ayesha Azeem

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 8, 2015

You will need: Oreos Marshmallows Butter

20 1 cup 2 tbsp

• Crumble the cookies by putting them in a plastic bag and breaking them up with a rolling pin.

• Melt the marshmallows and butter in a pan over a low heat.

• Once the marshmallows melt, take them off the heat.

• Add the crumbled cookie mixture before the marshmallow mixture cools down.

• Keep mixing until you get a uniform gooey mixture.

• Line a tray with butter paper and pour in the mixture and flatten it out.

• Let the mixture set for 30 minutes. Then cut out bars and enjoy.

XXXXX.COM

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

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

Kashif loved football. He followed all of his favourite teams’ matches and wanted to play for the school football team too. Everywhere he went he told people about how well he played and how he knew so many field tricks from famous footballers.

But he talked more than he practiced, thinking that watching all those matches would give him an edge.

The inter-school championship was soon to start and the tryouts for the school team were starting after the weekend. Kashif was confident he was going to get in the team and play his favourite position as a centre-forward. He was so confident in fact that the weekend before the trials instead of practicing Kashif went for a picnic with his friends Haris and Kazim to a water park and had the time of his life. He returned late on Sunday night and didn’t pay much attention to his father’s tips.

The next morning when Kashif went to school, all his friends were excited to see his great football skills that they had heard so much about. When the time for the trial arrived the sports teacher informed them that two boys had been shortlisted for each position and they would both have to showcase their skills for the selection panel. Kashif and a boy named Amir were both trying for the centre-forward position. Kashif had never paid much attention to Amir before; neither had anyone else in class. The boy was on a scholarship and mostly kept to himself. Looking at Amir’s old worn out sports shoes and faded P-cap Kashif snickered to himself thinking the boy had no chance.

When it was time for the trial, Kashif and Amir were asked to work their way through identical field tests. To everyone’s great surprise, Amir outshined Kashif in every stage of the test and easily qualified for the position. Amir had worked very hard for the trial and his well-worn shoes were proof of his continuous training. Kashif, on the other hand, stumbled his way through the entire test and by the end he was tired bruised and outshined by the quiet boy that no one had ever noticed before.

That night Kashif told his mom and dad about what had happened.

After hearing the story, his mom said, “My boy, there is a valuable lesson to be learned here. You took the trial too lightly, were over confident and didn’t work hard. If you keep your head down and work hard your success is what gets you noticed. But if you spend your time telling everyone how great you are, where would you find the time to practice?” Kashif nodded his head, understanding that humility is an important trait to have. He promised his mother he wouldn’t brag anymore. Instead, he would work hard and let his success make all the noise.

If you want your story to feature in Hi Five, email us at hifive@tribune.com.pk