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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
CelebraAH
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 27, 2014
Hi light
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CelebraAH It’s that time of the year again After a month of fasting and worship, now is the time to party! Eid is a time to celebrate — a time to meet family and friends, and enjoy spending time together. There is yummy food, games and laughter. There are new clothes, and bangles and mehndi for the girls. The word Eidul Fitr in Arabic literally means ‘feast of the breaking of the fast,’ and this eid is one the two most important celebrations in Islam (the other being Baqra Eid or Eidul Azha).The day begins by everyone getting together in the Eidgah, an open ground or field, where they perform the Eid prayers. Everybody hugs each other and wishes each other ‘Eid Mubarak.’ Another part of Eid is to keep the needy people in our thoughts. Giving charity after the Eid prayers is an important way to help those who are less lucky than us.
joy Let’s face it, one of the best parts of Eid is greeting hordes of relatives and family friends you don’t even remember and hoping they will reward you with a crisp note of Eidi. Collecting Eidi is exciting and so is dreaming about the many different ways in which you can spend it. There are toys and books and chocolates. There are dolls and remote controlled airplanes and water-guns. But here are a few tips on how to spend your Eidi responsibly: - Figure out whether you want to spend all the money on one big thing or several smaller things. Do you want that bicycle you have been eyeing for ages, or would you rather buy a bunch of toy cars? - It’s smart to not spend all of the Eidi at once. Saving money for later means you will have money for that special toy you will most definitely want in the future. - In keeping with the spirit of Eid, remember that we must not forget about the less fortunate people. Set aside a small amount from your Eidi collection to give to charity. Even Rs10 for every Rs100 you receive will be a good start.
Moon
We find out that the next day will be Eid by watching the news. Some of us might go up to our rooftops and try to look for the moon ourselves. But ultimately, the decision is made by the religious authorities in collaboration with the meteorological department of the country. In Pakistan, the responsibility of confirming the sighting of the moon falls on the Ruete-Hilal Committee, which is assisted by the Pakistan Meteorological Department. The committee uses the lunar prediction programme of the Space Research Commission (SUPARCO). This programme is a scientific mission which conducts studies and then makes predictions about the phases and appearances of the moon. And what exactly are all these people looking for? The Islamic new moon refers to the moon when it is first visible in the sky, in the shape of a crescent. This Islamic definition of a new moon is different from the astronomical new moon. The astronomical new moon occurs in the event when the earth, moon and sun are in a straight line. The difference is that the astronomical new moon is not visible to people on earth while the Islamic new moon must be visible.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 27, 2014
Hi light
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delicious Celebrating Eid means hosting great Eid parties for all your friends and families. And what’s a party without good food? Here is an easy cookie recipe for you to try, with your parents’ help.
house @D This Eid, decorate your house with these pretty stained glass crafts. You will need: Transparencies Cellophane papers in different colours Black construction paper Scissors Glue Coloured markers Black permanent marker Paper cutter or knife
Ingredients: 200 g butter, softened 1/2 cup caster sugar 1 egg yolk 1/4 cup cocoa powder 1 & 3/4 cups plain flour
On the transparency, write down any Eid greetings you wish (eg Eid Mubarak or Happy Eid) with a black permanent marker. Turn the transparency the wrong side up. Apply a thin layer of glue and cover the whole side with small pieces of different coloured cellophane paper. Cover the part with the Eid greeting in a lighter coloured paper. Leave the transparency to dry. Meanwhile, cut out the shape of the stained glass on the black construction paper using the paper cutter or knife (it can be in the shape of a star or a lantern, or any other shape you wish).
Method: 1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line two oven trays with baking paper. 2. Beat butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add egg yolk. 3. Sift cocoa powder and flour and stir it into a mixture. Knead mixture lightly, shape into a ball then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. 4. Roll out between sheets of baking paper and cut out stars with a medium size star-shaped cutter. 5. Place on oven trays and bake 12 minutes until light golden. KIDSPOT.COM
Once dry, attach the transparency to the construction paper. The ‘right side’ i.e. the smooth surface should be on the outer side within the construction paper frame. Hang it up on your window or wall and enjoy! What would you like to see in Hi Five? Send an email to hifive@tribune.com.pk and let us know!
Remember that Eid is a time for love and family, and for thanking God for all His blessings. And of course, it is a time to have fun. Eid Mubarak!
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 27, 2014
Activity
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Riddle Me This 1
I’m tall when I’m young and I’m short when I’m old. What am I?
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What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
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How can a pants pocket be empty and still have something in it?
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What travels around the world but stays in one spot?
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What goes up when rain comes down?
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If I have it, I don’t share it. If I share it, I don’t have it. What is it?
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What is the longest word in the dictionary?
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What has hands but can not clap?
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If I drink, I die. If i eat, I am fine. What am I?
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8. A Secret
2. It can have a hole in it.
3. An umbrella
10. A cold
9. A clock
5. A fire!
4. Smiles
Tik-Tik is sick of being little. Living on planet Nopter, where children grow up very slowly — only a quarter of an inch in a year — he wants to solve this problem. He wants to hurry up and be an adult because adults on planet Nopter enjoy all kinds of freedom. Tik-Tik takes it upon himself to fix this problem and become the saviour of the species. To help him in his ‘Growing Up Project’, he recruits his best friend Nib-Nib and his Grandpa Kip-Kip. Joining them on the trip is Tik-Tik’s nemesis, the intergalactic-travelling cat DumDum. Dum-Dum has no problem
growing up fast, and Tik Tik wants to grow up at least as fast as DumDum. The four of them embark on a cosmic journey to a distant small planet Earth, where people grow up fast. Tik-Tik is sure that it is on this strange planet that he will discover the secret of speeding up time. Join Tik-Tik and his companions in their hilarious and exciting adventures through space and on Earth in Tik-Tik, the Master of Time, written itten by Musharaf Ali Farooqi. rooqi. Enjoy oy the story as well the he wonderful rful illustrations that accompany ccompany it, which have been n created by Michelle Farooqi.
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.
1. A candle
7. A stamp
Books and Movies
6. Short
Answers
What can you catch but not throw?
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 27, 2014
Get your weekly dose of the unusual and funny news from across the globe!
Snail racing It was a hot sunny day when a troop of snails slowly raced their way to the finish line in the 25th World Snail Racing Competition that was held in Norfolk, England. The race, which is a yearly tradition of the area, has snails race a distance of 13 inches. The snails race from the centre of a circle to the outside. They are put in the middle and pointed in the right direction. The snail that goes straight and crosses the outside line of the circle first, wins. This year, the victory belonged to Wells, a thoroughbred snail that belongs to five-year-old Zeben ButlerAlldred. The snail, which was named after a town that Zeban visited, finished the race in three minutes and 19 seconds. Unfortunately, it was unable to break the world record of completing the race in two minutes, which was set by a snail called Archie in 1995. But it’s still pretty impressive in snail terms. METRO.CO.UK
World wide weird
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Snakes in a playground
Two eight-foot long snakes were found in a park in East London near a children’s playground. After numerous reports of witnesses saying they saw snakes hiding in the bushes in the park, the police were called in to investigate. Officers used a litter picker and a brown paper bag to retrieve the reptiles. The snakes were then taken to the pet shop where they were identified as boa constrictors. Boa constrictors are a non-venomous species of snake, but they are still very dangerous as they kill their prey by suffocating them to death. Police suspect that the snakes may have been released in the park by someone who once had them as pets but no longer wanted them. Tony Nash, the police officer in charge of the case was flabbergasted at the discovery of the snakes. “This is certainly the most bizarre call I can think of my officers dealing with during my time.” TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
Legos at sea Tiny dragons, daisies and other Lego pieces are washing up on beaches in Cornwall, nearly 20 years after they were lost at sea. Nearly five million Lego pieces were accidently dumped into the ocean when a container ship called Tokyo Express was hit by a massive wave in February 1997. The wave caused the ship to tip over 62 containers’ worth of content into the sea. Seventeen years after this incident, these tiny Lego pieces still wash up on beaches and are found by eagle-eyed beachgoers. The most prized among these Lego pieces are the 4,200 black octopuses that were also lost in the incident. People around the area have been finding and collecting these pieces. It has become something of a treasure hunt. Tracey Williams from Newquay, who runs a Facebook page devoted to the lost Lego, told the BBC: “I only know of three octopuses being found, and one was by me, in a cave in Challaborough.” TELEGRAPH.CO.UK
Doughnut monster There is a mysterious mischief maker running rampant through the streets of a suburban neighbourhood in Portland, USA. This mischief maker’s crimes don’t involve spray paint or broken windows. They involve sweets and pastries. Somebody has been smearing doughnuts on car windows, littering maple bars in yards, and leaving desserts on top of car windshields. One woman, who said she has seen such incidents more than a dozen times, alerted the police. She claimed that she has also witnessed many different types of foods being smeared around town, including yogurt, cakes and eggs. Another woman told the police that her car has been smeared with food a total of six times — twice with a maple bar, once with a cinnamon doughnut, once with pink yogurt, once with “bread soaked in a white slimy liquid” and once with red potato salad. Police suspect that kids might be behind this vandalism. They claim that the victims of these crimes are chosen at random. HUFFINGTONPOST.COM
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 27, 2014
6 Did you know? Why is yawning contagious? Have you ever been talking to someone and caught them yawning? Feeling offended, you wonder whether the conversation was boring the person that much, but before you know it, you are yawning yourself. Another friend walks in the room and catching the two of you yawning, he immediately starts yawning too. It’s like there’s a yawn epidemic going around. Strange as it may sound, we have all experienced this. The idea of yawning is mysterious enough but the question of why watching a person yawn makes you yawn too is even more fascinating. To understand what makes yawning contagious, we must first understand yawning itself. We know that yawning is involuntary because we yawn even before we are born. There are different theories about why we yawn. One theory is that yawning is a way for our body to draw in more oxygen or release more carbon dioxide. Another theory is that yawning helps cool down our brains when they start to become warm. Cool brains think more clearly, so yawning might be a way for us to remain alert. And why is yawning contagious? One factor which makes yawning contagious is suggestibility. This means that it is actually infectious — watching someone else yawn gives your brain the suggestion to yawn yourself. And you don’t even have to watch someone yawn — even hearing someone yawn or reading about yawning can cause the same reaction. But suggestibility is not the only reason why yawning is contagious. Studies have shown that contagious yawning is related to our empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and connect with other people’s emotions and feelings. So the more empathy you have, the more likely it is that you will yawn if someone else does.
How to say ‘celebration’ in different languages Afrikaans Albanian Basque Bosnian Cebuano Danish Estonian Finnish French German Icelandic Latin
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Viering Festim Ospakizuna Slavlje Selebrasyon Fest Pidu Juhla Célébration Feier Hátíð Celebratio
Cool facts The sun moves at 220 kilometres per second. A full solar eclipse can last for seven and a half minutes. The sun contains 99.86% mass of the entire solar system. Unlike Earth, the further you get from the sun’s surface, the hotter it gets. The sun is 4.6 billion years old. Two to five solar eclipses occur each year. The energy emitted from one square centimetre of the sun’s surface is enough to burn 64 100-watt light bulbs. The sun’s gravity is 28 times that of Earth’s gravity. If the sun vanished, we wouldn’t know it for eight minutes. The sun’s core is 15 million degrees Celsius. The sun is a yellow dwarf star. One million Earths could fit inside the sun.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 27, 2014
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Fun & games
Notable Entries for the Liberty Books Card Competition
Marium Javaid Winner
Alhaan Haris Winner
Muhammad Anas Subhani
Suha Adil Laraib Shahbaz
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JULY 27, 2014
Make an optical illusion What to do: • Cut out two shapes from a sheet of white cardboard.
You will need: • White cardboard • Pencils and colouring pens • Scissors • Glue/scotch tape
• Draw some fish on one piece and a fish tank on the other. • Glue or scotch tape a pencil in between the two pictures. • Hold the pencil between your palms and rub your hands to make the picture spin around. When you do so the fish will look like they are inside the tank, even though both drawings are separate.
What is happening: When you see the fish being inside the tank, it is an optical illusion. Optical illusions are often described as visual images that differ from reality — the eyes and brain ‘see’ something that doesn’t quite match the physical measurement of the image. Your eyes aren’t entirely reliable. Optical illusions occur because our brains fill in the gap for whatever our eye isn’t processing. So when the eye sees the fish and the tank one after the other very quickly, the brain assumes that the fish must be in the tank.
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