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Your Proofness: Sarah Munir Master Storyteller: Nudrat Kamal Creativity Analysts: Jamal Khurshid, Essa Malik, Talha Ahmed Khan, Omer Asim and Umar Waqas
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JANUARY 11, 2015
Hi light
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Wonder Woman is the most popular female comic-book superhero of all time. Aside from Superman and Batman, no other comic book character has lasted as long as her. She first appeared in a DC comic book in 1941 and new comics chronicling her adventures are still coming out. Wonder Woman is a warrior princess of the Amazons, the mythological nation of all-female warriors. In her homeland of Amazon, she is known as Princess Diana of Themyscira. Wonder Woman has lots of superhuman powers, including super speed and super strength. She also has great scientific knowledge, the ability to speak every language known to man and even has psychic abilities like telepathy (the ability to receive information from another mind) and astral projection (the ability to separate one’s spirit from one’s body and travel wherever you wish to). Wonder Woman’s most famous superhero weapon is the Lasso of Truth, a golden lasso that compels all beings who come into contact with it to tell the absolute truth and is virtually indestructible. Wonder Woman’s unique quality is that she finds compassion for everyone, even the bad guys, so she only kills them as a last resort. You can enjoy Wonder Woman’s epic adventures by reading her comic books or watching the 1970s TV show Wonder Woman. She also recently featured in The Lego Movie, and will soon be seen having superhero adventures with Batman and Superman in the upcoming film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. She will also feature in a film of her own in 2017.
The only thing cooler than bloodthirsty vampires is a girl whose life calling is to slay those vampires. When we first meet her, Buffy Summers is a regular high school cheerleader. But then she soon learns her true destiny: she is a Slayer, a Chosen One who is gifted with the strength and skills to fight vampires, demons and other monstrous creatures. Buffy lives in a small town called Hellmouth which is built literally on top of a portal to Hell, and as she learns how to use her powers to send monsters back to Hell, her friends and family support her in her mission. Among her superhero abilities are supernatural strength and stamina, awesome reflexes and the ability to rapidly heal. She also has enhanced intuition and prophetic dreams which help her in her mission. The creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer said that his inspiration for the character came from watching horror movies in which a dumb girl is always shown going down a dark alley and getting killed by a monster. He said he wanted to challenge that cliché by making a girl like that be the slayer of such monsters. The character of Buffy first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Five years later, the character got her own TV show of the same name, in which she has to balance her Slayer duties with life at school and then college. Buffy also has her own comic book series and a series of novels.
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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JANUARY 11, 2015
Hi light
The best thing about superheroes is when they team up and combine their superpowers for the greater good of mankind. The best example of such an awesome team is the Powerpuff Girls, made up of Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles. Created by the brainy scientist Professor Utonium, the sisters live in Townsville, USA and defeat any evil villains that threaten the safety of the city. The Powerpuff Girls were created by Professor Utonium in an attempt to create the perfect little girls using a mixture of “sugar, spice, and everything nice” but he accidentally spilled a mysterious substance called Chemical X into the mixture, creating superheroes. The Powerpuff Girls’ superpowers include flight, super strength, super speed, near invulnerability, x-ray vision, super senses, heat vision, and energy projection. Each Powerpuff Girl brings her own special qualities to the team: Blossom is commander and the leader, Bubbles brings the joy and the laughter and Buttercup is the toughest fighter. The Powerpuff Girls were first introduced in the Cartoon Network’s animated series Powerpuff Girls in 1998. A feature film was also made. The cartoon channel has announced a reboot series which will air in 2016.
Avenger is our very own superhero, born, bred and fighting villains inside The Burqa Ave borders. Set in the fictional town of Halwapur in northern Pakistan, the Pakistani bord Jiya at an all-girls school who dons a burqa as her mask at night and fights superhero is Ji politicians bent on closing down girls schools and vengeful mercenaries with corrupt politic evil plans. Jiya, Jiya whose superhero name is Burqa Avenger, has been specially trained in a martial art ar called Takht Kabahi which involves using books and pens as her lethal fight crime. Together with three children, which include twins Ashu and weapons to fig Immu and their the friend Mooli (named after his love for the vegetable of the same name) and his pet goat go Golu, the inspirational teacher Jiya changes into the Burqa Avenger fights the evil magician named Baba Bandook and corrupt politicians at night and fi Pajero. Jiya stars in her very own animated television series called Burqa like Vadero Pa that you don’t need to be the daughter of an Amazonian queen or Avenger. Jiya shows s bitten by a spider in order to be a hero and do good in the world. She also have to be bitt woman in a burqa is not weak, but powerful. The show is famous for its shows that a w education in Pakistan, its colorful animation and awesome main promotion of women’s w character, and even has a number of games, merchandise and its own music album with singers like li Ali Zafar, Ali Azmat and Josh.
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A newer addition to the pantheon of great female superheroes is Kamala Khan, whose superhero name is Ms Marvel. Kamala was introduced by Marvel Comics in a Captain Marvel comic book in 2013 and got her own comic book series at the beginning of 2014. Kamala is already legendary because she is the first Muslim superhero to ever headline her own comic books. She is also especially cool for Pakistanis because she is a Pakistani-American born in Jersey City, US after her parents moved from Pakistan. Kamala is a regular teenager — struggling to balance her strict upbringing and Muslim identity with the cultural norms of America. She is also a huge comic book fan. So imagine her surprise when one night she is walking home and is suddenly exposed to supernatural mists, which give her superpowers. Her superpowers include the ability to shape-shift into any form she wants. She can also grow the size of her fists and improve her physical strength when she’s in combat. Also, she can extend her limbs, torso, or neck to great distances. Her superhero idol Captain Marvel (aka Carol Danvers) gives Kamala her blessing and tells her to assume the superhero identity of Ms Marvel to protect her friends and family. You can enjoy Kamala’s adventures by reading the Ms Marvel comic book series.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JANUARY 11, 2015
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Fun facts about french fries French Fries are not called that in France. They are known as frites, patates frites, or pommes frites in French. These names are also used in many non-French areas.
Why can’t you give Elsa a balloon? Because she will let it go.
French fries might not be French after all. Belgians claim to have invented ‘frites’ and there is an ongoing disagreement between Belgium and France over their true origin. Some also believe that the fry may have first been introduced in Spain via Colombia.
What did the pencil say to the other pencil? You’re looking sharp.
The earliest known reference to french fries in English literature is in A Tale of Two Cities. Charles Dickens refers to “Husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil”. The US eats more fries than any other country, but Belgians consume more french fries per capita.
Why did the picture go to jail? Because it was framed.
In a one-storey pink house, there was a pink person, a pink cat, a pink fish, a pink computer, a pink chair, a pink table, a pink telephone, a pink shower– everything was pink! What color were the stairs? There weren’t any stairs, it was a one-storey house!
What stays in the corner and travels all over the world? A stamp COMPILED BY ZAINAB FAWAD
Potatoes are a great source of fibre and french fries are made from potatoes. Fibre helps pass waste through your system and lower cholesterol, consumption of a certain amount of fibre becomes inevitable. Your body may suffer from indigestion and stomach problems without fibre. When you eat french fries, you are also getting some potassium, a nutrient present in potatoes. The energy you require throughout the day can be obtained from potassium. You may become more tired, have slower reflexes, and have weaker muscles without adequate potassium. Ed ‘Cookie’ Jarvis won the Nathan’s Famous World French Fry Eating Championship in 1995 by downing a total of 4.46 pounds of crinkle cut fries in six minutes.
Did you know? Who invented emoticons? ‘Emoticons’ is short for ‘emotive icons’. Emotive means ‘appealing to or expressing emotion’, so emoticons are basically “icons that express emotions”. While vertical emoticons have been around for some time, sideways emoticons seem to be a recent invention, going back just about three decades. It all started with a man named Scott E Fahlman who wanted his colleagues and students to understand the difference between a sarcastic joke and a nasty barb when typed. Fahlman was part of a group of advanced scientists and students at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), US who frequently communicated via an early online newsgroup to discuss a wide variety of topics. In these groups, if someone failed to understand that some sentiment was meant to be sarcastic or a joke, they would start arguing and the true meaning of the discussion would be lost. So Fahlman came up with a sideways smiley and posted it on the newsgroup in September of 1982. He wrote, “I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-) Read it sideways.” Fahlman thus became the first known person to use the :-) and :-( emoticons. It is possible that people used these sideways emoticons before Fahlman but he is the one who popularised them. The idea caught on quickly at CMU and without Fahlman having a clue, it spread to dozens of other universities, research labs, and computer networks. Soon people made a hobby out of compiling all sorts of smileys expressing various sentiments.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JANUARY 11, 2015
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Sophisticated prosthetics An American man can now control two prosthetic arms with his mind. Les Baugh lost both his arms in an electrical accident 40 years ago. But with the help of Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), he’s able to control a set of Modular Prosthetic Limbs with his nerves. All he has to do is think about moving his arms, and they move. Baugh wears what is called a ‘socket’, which connects the prosthetics to his body. The researchers measured the way his muscles and nerves react when Baugh thinks about moving his arms. Then, when he thinks about moving his arms and hands in a certain way, the prosthetics move. This is a great step forward for the science of prosthetics and will be able to help lots of people who have lost their limbs. “I think we’re just getting started at this point. It’s like the early days of the internet,” Mike McLoughlin, the program manager at Johns Hopkins’ Revolutionising Prosthetics, said. “There’s just a tremendous amount of potential ahead of us, and we just started down this road. I think the next five to ten years are going to bring some really phenomenal advancements.”
World wide weird
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Crane hotel
Would you stay in a crane hotel that moves in the wind? One of the world’s oldest and largest cranes and been transformed into a swanky hotel. Architects say the 50-metre maritime crane in Amsterdam still moves in the wind. Hotel Faralda boasts three luxury hotel suites — each with their own unique character and one with an outdoor hot tub. The 250-tonne crane was left to decay and had previously been branded “impossible” to develop. But just three years since that statement, the crane is hosting elite guests in its rotating suites decked out by a top team of interior designers. Hotel spokesman Edwin Kornmann Rudi said, “Nowhere else in the world is there something as unique, as big and high as this hotel.” Alongside deluxe dining and sumptuous suites, the steel colossus also boasts a private business club. Developers splurged £660,000 building each room. METRO.CO.UK
HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
Cloud city above Venus Painting with a typewriter A man who lived with a severe disability for decades in an Oregon nursing home created a collection of amazing artwork using only a typewriter. Paul Smith was born in 1921 with cerebral palsy, but could still type using one finger, and the ‘paintings’ he created are extraordinary. As a young man with limited movement, Smith discovered that he could use the symbol keys on the top row of a typewriter to create shading and forms, and even replicate the Mona Lisa. He moved the paper around and used both black and coloured typewriter ribbons to get the desired effects. Paul Smith died at age 85 in 2007, having never married. His art has been published in several books over the years. GOODNEWSNETWORK.COM
NASA says it has a vision for future, manned science missions to Venus — a vision that includes a floating cloud city. While the surface of the second planet from the sun is a sulphurous, corrosive landscape in which no human could survive — a global greenhouse effect has created surface temperatures of almost 900 degree Fahrenheit with crushing pressures — at an altitude of around 30 miles there are cloud layers with about the same atmospheric pressure as Earth, with comparable gravity. That could be the target for a manned mission using airships and floating habitats, NASA researchers Dale Arney and Chris Jones say. “The vast majority of people, when they hear the idea of going to Venus and exploring, think of the surface, where it’s hot enough to melt lead and the pressure is the same as if you were almost a mile underneath the ocean,” Jones says. “I think that not many people have gone and looked at the relatively much more hospitable atmosphere and how you might tackle operating there for a while.” Venus, unlike Mars, has sufficient atmosphere to protect astronauts from harmful radiation, and being even closer to the Sun than the Earth there’s plenty of sunlight above the cloud layers for solar power. TECHTIMES.COM
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JANUARY 11, 2015
Reading corner
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Materials: • Cardboard box • Gift wrapping sheets • Transparent contact paper • Coloured tissue paper or film • String of mini coloured lights • Scissors • Paper cutter • Glue stick • Tape
Make a lighted dollhouse Instructions: 1. Cut off two of the flaps of the cardboard box and tape them to the other two. You will have two bigger flaps now. Attach the two flaps together to make a pointy roof. 2. Cut out a door and a couple of windows using a paper cutter. 3. Decorate the outside of the house using gift wrapping sheets. 4. Use colourful markers to decorate the house. 5. Use contact paper and coloured tissue paper to add a stained glass window to the house. 6. Place the mini coloured lights inside the house and enjoy! ARTFULPARENT.COM
Books and movies celebrating diversity Most English language books and movies that we get to read and watch contain stories about people of a certain culture — most of them live somewhere in America or England, have fair skin, blonde hair and blues eyes, and get grounded when they do something wrong. It’s fine to read about people of that culture, of course, as long as we also read stories about other cultures and ethnicities as well. The best part of reading books and watching films about people of different backgrounds is that we realize that underneath our superficial differences, we are really just the same. Here are some books and movies that tell stories of different cultures. Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth 11-year-old Gopal and his family move from their small Indian village to the big city of Mumbai in hopes of finding work and a brighter future. Gopal is eager to help support his struggling family until school starts, so when a stranger approaches him with the promise of a factory job, he jumps at the offer. But Gopal has been deceived. There is no factory but, instead, a small, stuffy sweatshop, where he and five other boys are forced to make beaded frames for no money and little food. Will Gopal ever be able to escape? Read the adventures of Gopal in Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth. Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata 11-year-old Jaden is adopted, and he knows he’s an “epic fail”. That’s why his family is travelling to Kazakhstan to adopt a new baby — to replace him, he’s sure. But when they get to Kazakhstan, it turns out the infant they’ve travelled for has already been adopted, and literally within minutes are faced with having to choose from six other babies. While his parents agonize, Jaden is more interested in the toddlers. He becomes attached to one little guy named Dimash. Already three years old and barely able to speak, Dimash will soon age out of the orphanage. Will Jaden be able to help Dimash? Read Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata to find out.
Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins In her Bangladesh village, 10-year-old Naima is a born artist. She excels at painting designs called alpanas, which are painted on rickshaws, buses and buildings all around the country. But life is hard in her village and to make ends meet, her father borrows money to buy a rickshaw. When Naima accidentally breaks the rickshaw, she feels terrible. She wants to help her family earn money, but girls aren’t allowed to work. Naima finally decides to dress as a boy in order to go to work painting alpanas in a rickshaw-building shop. But will Naima’s secret be revealed? Read Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins to find out.
Whale Rider On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea’s direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. Can Pai defy tradition and embrace her true destiny? Watch Whale Rider to find out whether Pai will be able to ride a whale to become the chief.
Children of Heaven Ali and his little sister Zahra live in Iran. Their life is simple and enjoyable, even if their family doesn’t have much money. But then one day, Ali takes his little sister Zahra’s shoes to the shoemaker to be repaired, but loses them on the way home. The siblings decide to keep the predicament a secret from their parents, knowing that there is no money to buy a replacement pair. They devise a scheme to share Ali’s sneakers: Zahra will wear them to school in the morning and hand them off to Ali at midday so he can attend afternoon classes. Watch Children of Heaven to find out what Ali and Zahra will do to keep their secret from getting out.
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, JANUARY 11, 2015
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Artwork
Shehr Bano
Vadiyah Abbas
Labiba Muddasir Winner
Shiza Mirani
Mahrosh Mirani Winner
Beenish Fatima
Notable Entries for the Liberty Books Cards
Competition
Rehma Khurram
Tehreem Zubair
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JANUARY 11, 2015
Chocolate Croissants You will need: • A clean and empty tin can • Crushed ice • Water • Salt
You will need: Chocolate chips/chopped pure chocolate 1 cup Egg 1 large, beaten Packet ready-rolled puff pastry 1 (13-ounce) What to do: 1. Fill the tin can about half full with ice and add some salt and water. 2. Wait and watch the frost form.
What is happening: 1. Heat oven to 350o F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Set aside. 2. Separate puff pastry dough into eight triangles. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of chocolate chips/chunks on top of each triangle. Use your best judgement — if you think your triangle can hold more, add more. If you think it should hold less, use less chocolate chips. Press chips down lightly to get them to stick. Reserve remaining chocolate chips. 3. Roll up, starting from wide end and rolling to opposite point. Place onto baking sheet and curve into croissant shape. Brush the croissants lightly with beaten egg — this helps gives them that golden sheen. 4. Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until deep golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool for five minutes. Melt the remaining chocolate in the microwave in 10-second increment, stirring after each increment. Add shortening to thin out if desired. Drizzle over croissants and serve warm. Leftovers keep well-covered tightly at room temperature for three days. SALLYSBAKINGADDICTION.COM
Remember kids, always get permission from your parents before you start. It’s always a good idea to have a helper nearby.
The air around us can hold a lot of water which is called water vapour. You can’t see it but it’s usually there (especially in a kitchen). We can often see this water vapour when it condenses on windows, cars, grass and cobwebs. We call this dew. Cold surfaces generally make the water vapour condense because colder air can’t hold as much water so what it can’t hold turns into droplets on surfaces. If the surface is very cold (below the freezing point of water) the condensed water vapour freezes, this is what we see as frost. In our experiment we filled a can with crushed ice and a bit of water. This makes the water and the can sit at around the freezing point of water (zero degrees Celsius). However, we need to get it even colder and we do this by adding salt. Salt lowers the melting point of ice (and we might investigate this process later on), but by doing so it means that the surface of the can is actually below freezing point. This makes the water vapour in the air (and you can make sure there is some by putting the can on a wet paper towel) condense and freeze on the can. SCIENCE-SPARKS.COM
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