The Express Tribune hi five - June 14

THE

EX

IB U S TR PRES

N E , JU

, 2015 NE 14

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

MOBA: A world of its own PAGE 2-3

Solar eclipse PAGE 4

Summer flicks PAGE 6

Mango shake PAGE 8

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 14, 2015

Hi light

2

If you’re even a little interested in virtual gaming, you would know that Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) are the rave these days. These games have gained such popularity that they have international championships with prize money in millions. The games have gained popularity in the last few years but their story began over a decade ago.

The evolution of MOBA The story started in 1998 when a modder (someone who modifies existing games) called Aeon64 created ‘Aeon of Strife’, a fan-made custom map for Blizzard’s real-time strategy game StarCraft. In it, players controlled a single hero unit and fought with a team against computer-controlled units. The objective was to destroy the other team’s base.

In 2002, Blizzard released its next real-time strategy game, Warcraft III. Like StarCraft, it came with tools that enabled players to create custom maps and scenarios. In 2003, a map editor named Eul created a mod inspired by ‘Aeon of Strife’ called ‘Defense of the Ancients’. Soon, other players would create their own version of ‘Defense of the Ancients’ (Dota), each adding his own heroes, items and other differences. Eventually, a modder named Steve Feak, who went by the handle Guinsoo, created ‘Dota Allstars’. This version combined elements from multiple variations on ‘Dota’, and it quickly became the most popular version of the map. However, ‘Dota Allstars’ was still a mod for Warcraft III. This means that it depended on all the assets from that game, so it could never feature a hero character that used a completely new model.

In 2009 another standalone MOBA would have a much bigger impact. When Feak left ‘Dota’, he eventually joined a developer called Riot Games. The company soon created its own version of the title called League of Legends. It was similar to the Warcraft III map in style and design, but its aesthetics were a bit cartoonier and the mechanics a bit easier to understand.

Most importantly, however, was its pricing structure. League of Legends was free to play, meaning that anyone could download it and immediately try it by using a rotating selection of free heroes. However, if you wanted a specific hero that wasn’t free, you’d have to buy him or her. The business model was a huge success. Suddenly, people who would never download a mod for an old PC game like Warcraft III were curiously trying out the new MOBA, a term that Riot Games itself coined. In 2010, another standalone MOBA entered the scene. Created by developer S2 Games, Heroes of Newerth also took most of its inspiration from ‘Dota Allstars’.

In fact, it was in many ways more faithful to the original mod than League of Legends was.

In 2009, the same year that League of Legends launched, famed Half-Life developer Valve announced that it had hired IceFrog, who modder that had taken over maintaining ‘Dota Allstars’ after Feak left for Riot Games. IceFrog and Valve were working on Dota 2, another standalone successor to the original ‘Dota’. Like Heroes of Newerth, Dota 2 was incredibly faithful to the original Warcraft III map although it had much nicer graphics thanks to Valve’s source engine. It was also free to play via Valve’s digital store, Steam, right at the game’s 2013 launch.

The success of titles like League of Legends and Dota 2 helped to make MOBAs one of the biggest trends in gaming. Soon, other genres borrowed ideas from MOBAs to create something new, like the 2010 third-person shooter game Monday Night Combat, which looked like another team-based shooter to the casual observer but featured MOBA elements like creeps, turrets, and lanes. 2012’s Awesomenauts would try to translate the MOBA experience into a 2D affair. MOBAs were mostly played on computers until 2012’s Guardians of Middle-earth attempted to bring the same experience to consoles albeit with simpler controllers and easier mechanics. Guardians of Middle-earth also marked a new trend of adding existing, popular properties to new MOBA games. MOBAs have taken over mobile platforms too, with Zynga’s 2013 Solstice Arena leading the way.

The basic map A typical MOBA map is square, it is divided diagonally to form two equal triangles. The top triangle is Team 2’s area, with their base at the top right corner of the map. The bottom triangle is Team 1’s area, with your base at the bottom left corner. There is a path connecting the two bases down the middle. There is a top and bottom lane that both teams have on the sides of the map. To put it simply, all each team has to do is to sneak into the opposing camp and destroy it to win the battle.

Actual games are far more complicated than that, with lots of hurdles and the opposition’s players ready to destroy you.

A team of 5 players battle 5 other players to achieve victory over the other.

Launched in the year 2009, League of Legends was created by a developer that originally played a huge role in creating the infamous mod ‘Dota’ from Warcraft III. As of now, League of Legends has, on average, 25 million users per day.

Each player chooses from over 123 different characters aka “champions” and gradually enhances their abilities and skills as the game progresses. League of Legends has different modes; however, the most played are the normal matches in which a team’s goal is to destroy the ‘Nexus’ of the enemy team.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 14, 2015

3

Defense of the Ancients 2 (Dota 2) is a 3D MOBA published by Valve. The official remake of the original ‘Dota’ mod, Dota 2 brings over 100 original heroes from the original. Each game of Dota 2 pits 5 players versus 5 other players in head to head Player vs Player action! Players can choose participate in practice matches versus bots, engage in friendly matches with friends, or form a clan and compete against other teams.

In Dota 2 players choose a hero to enter battle with. Once in game, players must work together to level up and defeat the enemy team’s base by destroying it. To do this players must kill the enemy teams, ‘minions’ which spawn in waves throughout the entire game. These minions drop gold which players can then use to purchase items in order to become stronger.

Hi light

Heroes of Newerth (HoN) is a free to play team-based arena style action RPG that is very similar to Dota 2. In Heroes of Newerth, two teams of up to five players each take on the role of special hero units. With the assistance of AI-controlled armies, each team sets out with the sole objective of destroying the other team’s base. As a match progresses, players can earn experience and gold which can be used to upgrade skills or purchase items to make their character more powerful. The team-oriented design of HoN coupled with unprecedented in-game Voice-Over-IP controls and Clan Support allow for an incredibly deep, tactical team-based experience.

Fifteen-year-old Sumail Hassan Syed from Karachi, who moved to America a year ago, recently made history in the world of MOBA games. He played a vital role in leading his team ‘Evil Geniuses’ (EG) to victory in Dota 2 Asian Championship. The Asian Championship is the second largest Dota 2 battle in the world. Sumail won a sum total of $1.2 million in prize money with his team comprising four other members. EG now have their sights set on The International 5, world’s largest Dota 2 championship.

DESIGN BY ESSA MALIK

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

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 14, 2015

4

Fun Facts about the Egg

Why can’t pirates play cards?

They are sitting on the deck!

An egg’s shell colour doesn’t indicate the quality or nutritional value of an egg, but rather the breed of the hen that laid it. Hens with white feathers tend to lay white eggs and hens with red feathers tend to lay brown eggs.

The colour of an egg yolk is determined by a hen’s diet. Like shell colour, it has nothing to do with an egg’s nutritional value.

What do lazy farmers grow?

Couch potatoes

An average American eats 250 eggs per year, which translates to a total annual consumption of 76.5 billion eggs in the US. Harriet the hen laid the world’s largest egg in 2010, measuring a hefty 9.1 inches in diameter.

What do you get if you eat beans and onions?

Tear gas

To tell if an egg is raw or cooked, spin it! If the egg spins easily, it is cooked but if it wobbles, it is raw.

An average hen lays 300 to 325 eggs a year. As a hen grows older she produces larger eggs.

Which animal is always found at baseball games?

A bat

How do you make time fly?

Throw a clock out of the window!

The fastest omelette maker in the world made 427 two-egg omelettes in 30 minutes. American Egg Board’s Howard Helmer is the ‘Omelette King’. He holds three Guinness World Records for omelette making.

Egg protein has just the right mix of essential amino acids needed by humans to build tissues.

Did you know?

The solar eclipse phenomena A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun causing a shadow to fall on certain portions of the Earth. The eclipse is not seen from every place on Earth, but only from locations where the shadow falls. From these locations, it appears as if the Sun has gone dark.

There are three main parts of the Moon’s shadow during an eclipse called the umbra, penumbra and antumbra. The umbra is the portion of the Moon’s shadow where the Moon completely covers the sun. The area of the shadow beyond the point of the umbra is called the antumbra. Here the Moon is completely in front of the Sun, but doesn’t cover the entire Sun. The outline of the Sun can be seen around the shadow of the Moon. The area of the shadow where only a portion of the Moon is in front of the Sun is known as penumbra.

There are three types of eclipse: total, annular and partial. A total eclipse is where the Sun is covered completely by the Moon. The portion of the Earth that is in the umbra experiences a total eclipse. An annular eclipse is when the Moon covers the Sun, but the Sun can be seen around the edges of the Moon.

An annular eclipse occurs when the observer is within the antumbra. A partial eclipse is when only a portion of the Sun is blocked by the Moon. It occurs when the observer is within the penumbra.

WARNING: Never look directly at a solar eclipse. Even though it appears darker, the harmful rays of the Sun can still damage your eyes.

SOURCE: DUCKSTERS.COM

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 14, 2015

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

World wide weird

5

A tiny bundle of cuteness A tiny deer is generating a giant dose of cuteness in New York’s Queens Museum. The Wildlife Conservation Society sent out a baby announcement last week saying that it’s a boy. The southern pudu fawn belongs to the world’s smallest deer species. The fawn is still nursing but soon will be munching on leaves, grain, kale, carrots and hay. The white spots on his soft brown fur will disappear as he grows up. In his case, though, “growing up” won’t be much of a vertical process. Southern pudus tend to be around a foot tall at the shoulder. When they’re born, they’re only 6 inches high and weigh less than a pound. They are shy and can bark when they are scared. They also run in a zig-zag pattern to confuse predators.

Southern pudu are native to Chile and Argentina. The new pudu is the third of his species to be born at the Queens Zoo in the last three years. UPI.COM

Aliens invading the moon?

Scott Waring, editor of the UFO Sightings Daily website, says he found the “weird craft” which appears to be in the shape of a cross or airplane parked on the surface of the Moon in age-old Soviet images of the Moon he was directed to by the NASA website. Waring said he discovered the bizarre craft, and a host of other evidence of Lunar alien occupation in old Soviet Russia moon photographs. The alien news site editor claims to have scoured through Russian photos of the Moon from the 1950s through to the early 1970s that he found online. Other spots include something which resembles an Empire tie fighter attack ship from the original Star Wars trilogy, but Waring insisted it looked like a Lunar version of an early design of “the wheel” instead. He also highlighted what he called a screw-like object, which looks like a longer version of the “wheel” or “tie fighter” with a pole running through it. He has also spotted what he says looks like a cross-shaped UFO also parked on the barren surface. Waring says that the anomalies appear to be proof that the moon was at one time occupied before the US and Soviet Lunar missions began. EXPRESS.CO.UK

Hellboy A new species of dinosaur, featuring two horns sticking out over its eyes and dubbed “Hellboy”, has been unveiled in Canada. It was buried along a Canadian river bank for 68 million years. Scientists described one of the most unique horned dinosaurs ever discovered, a beast boasting an exotic set of facial horns and spines around the edge of the bony frill at the back its skull. The official name, Regaliceratops peterhewsi, means “royal horned face” but the scientists have nicknamed it “Hellboy” because its stubby horns above the eyes resembled the comic-book character of the same name and because of the hellish time they had in painstakingly extricating it from what they called “evil hard rock”. Nearly the entire skull was found. Regaliceratops lived near the end of the age of dinosaurs. Similar in size to today’s largest rhinos, it was estimated at 16ft long, 5ft tall at the hips, weighing about 1.5 tonnes.

It possessed a large conical horn over its nose and a pair of small, forward-curving horns over its eyes that were small. Seven bony spines in triangular and pentagonal shapes formed a halo around the edge of its large shield-like frill. NEWS.SKY.COM

Honey bee society More than 40,000 bees were found under the floorboards of a woman’s bedroom in Queens, after the homeowner called an expert to find the source of a loud, buzzing noise, authorities say.

Retired NYPD Detective Anthony Planakis, known as Tony Bees, responded to the home in Flushing one night last week; it took him more than two hours to extract the unwanted residents, authorities said. Honey dripped off the massive honeycomb as it was pulled piecemeal from beneath siding and plywood. The queen was among the tens of thousands of bees recovered, so the colony is able to be moved. An FDNY firefighter who is also a beekeeper will relocate the colony upstate. Planakis said the homeowner called him in July about the bees, but he was concerned they wouldn’t live through the winter so didn’t want to remove them at the time. The homeowner, Mary Jean Dyczko, said she was relieved they were gone. “Thank goodness I didn’t know there was about 40,000” explaining she had know there was a large amount of bees in her house for nearly a year. “I had no idea there were that many. When he opened up the boards and I saw the size of that hive it was amazing. I’m glad I know it now as opposed to then because I probably wouldn’t be living there! It was pretty frightening.” NBCNEWYORK.COM

A lesson in friendship

By Mehrunnisa Abrar Fiona Famous was a very popular girl at school. She was clever, funny and got on well with everyone. It was no accident that Fiona was so popular. From an early age she had made an effort to be kind and friendly to everyone. She invited the whole class to her birthday party and from time to time give presents to everyone. She was such a busy girl, with so many friends, that she hardly got a chance to gave people individual time. However, she felt very lucky as no other girl had so many friends at school and in the neighborhood. But everything changed on National Friendship Day. That day at school everyone was having a great time, drawing, painting and giving gifts. Everyone had to make three presents to give to their three best friends. Fiona enjoyed the task of choosing three from amongst dozens of her friends.

However, when all the presents had been made and shared among classmates, Fiona was the only one who had not received a present! She felt terrible, and spent hours crying. How could it be possible? So much effort to make so many friends and in the end no one saw her as their best friend? Everyone came and tried to console her for a while. But each one only stayed for a short time before leaving. This was exactly what Fiona had done so many times to others. She realised that she was a good companion and acquaintance but she had not been a true friend to anyone. She had tried not to argue with anyone, she had tried to pay attention to everyone, but now she had found out that this was not enough to create true friendship. When she got home that night, she created quite a puddle with her tears and Fiona asked her mother where she could find true friends. “Fiona, my dear,” answered her mother, “you cannot buy friends with a smile or a few good words. If you really want true friends, you will have to give them your time and affection. For a true friend you must always be available, in good times and bad.”

“But I want to be everybody’s friend! I need to share my time with everyone!” Fiona protested. “My dear, you’re a lovely girl,” said her mother, “but you can’t be a close friend to everybody. There just isn’t enough time to be available for everyone, so it’s only possible to have a few true friends. The others will be playmates or acquaintances but they won’t be close friends.” Hearing this, Fiona decided to change her ways so that she could finally have some true friends. She thought about her mother. Her mother was always willing to help her, she put up with all of her problems, she always forgave her and she loved her a great deal. That’s what makes friends! And Fiona smiled from ear to ear, realising that she already had the best friend anyone could ever want.

Share your short stories with us. Email them to hifive@tribune.com.pk

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 14, 2015

Reading corner

6 1

2

3

4

Material: • White, black and orange polymer clay • Key ring (optional)

Direction: • • • •

Tear off two small pieces of polymer clay and soften them in your hands until they are pliable.

Make two sphares out of them, one slightly bigger than the other.

Place the smaller sphare on top of the bigger one and press gently.

With the black polymer clay make four equal sized small sphares. Use two of these as buttons and the remaining two as eyes.

• Make arms with the black polymer clay and stick them on the sides of the bigger sphare.

• With the orange polymer clay make a tiny cone to give your snowman a carrot nose.

• Once your snowman is ready, you can use it to make a keychain by pushing down the smaller end of the chain into the snowman’s head.

PHOTO CREDIT: EESHA AZAM

Summer flicks Baby’s day out Baby Bink couldn’t ask for more: he has adoring parents, he lives in a huge mansion and he’s just about to appear in the social pages of a newspaper. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world is as nice as Baby Bink’s parents, especially the three enterprising kidnappers who pretend to be photographers from the newspaper. Successfully kidnapping Baby Bink, they think they will make a quick fortune by asking for a hefty ransom for the baby’s swift return. In truth they have a harder time than they anticipated, keeping hold of the baby, who not only keeps one step ahead of them but seems to be more than a little bit smarter than the three bumbling criminals.

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants Tibby Tomko-Rollins, Lena Kaligaris, Carmen Lowell and Bridget Vreeland have been best friends since childhood. At the start of their summer vacations, they find a pair of jeans that fits each one of them perfectly. They decide to share the pants as a magic symbol of their friendship and form a sisterhood with a manifesto of 10 rules. Bridget travels to a soccer camp in Mexico. Lena visits her family in Greece and finds that there is a feud between her family and the family of her new friend Kostas. Carmen travels to South Carolina to spend the vacation with her father and watches as her father’s new life unfolds into a family drama.

Tibby stays in town working in a department store to raise money to buy new equipment for her documentary and is befriended by 12-year-old Bailey who is very ill. The girls learn valuable lessons during this vacation and their friendship grows stronger than ever.

Rio In Rio de Janeiro, baby macaw Blu is captured by dealers and smuggled to the US. While driving through Moose Lake, Minnesota, the truck that is transporting Blu accidentally drops his box on the road. Fifteen years later, Blu is a domesticated, intelligent bird that does not fly and lives a comfortable life with bookshop owner Linda. Out of the blue, a clumsy Brazilian ornithologist, Tulio, visits Linda and explains that Blu is the last male of his species, and he has a female called Jewel in Rio de Janeiro. He invites Linda to bring Blu to Rio to meet Jewel, but when Blu is captured by a group of smugglers, the plan goes south. Linda and Tulio look everywhere for Blu, who is chained to Jewel and hidden in a slum. Meanwhile, Jewel and Blu escape from their captors and befriend a group of birds that help them to get rid of the chains.

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, JUNE 14, 2015

7

Artwork

Sameer Hania Ismail

Warisha Shams

Iman Imran Winner

M Naseem Winner

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 14, 2015

Material:

Ingredients: Mango Milk Vanilla ice cream Ice

1 large, cut in cubes 200 ml 1 scoop 4 cubes

• Balloon 1 • Kite string (about 10-15 feet long) • Plastic straw 1 • Tape

Directions: • Tie one end of the string to a chair, door knob or other support.

• Put the other end of the string through the straw.

• Pull the string tight and tie it to another support in the room.

• Blow up the balloon (but don’t tie it.) Pinch the end of the balloon and tape the balloon to the straw as shown below. You’re ready for launch.

• Let go and watch the rocket fly!

Method: • Blend the mango and milk in a blender.

• Add the vanilla ice cream and blend again.

• Pop the ice cubes in a tall glass and pour the mango shake over them.

• Garnish with mango cubes.

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: As the air rushes out of the balloon, it creates a forward motion called “thrust”. Thrust is a pushing force created by energy. In the balloon experiment, thrust comes from the energy of the balloon forcing the air out. Different baloon sizes and shapes will create more or less thrust. In a real rocket, thrust is created by the force of burning rocket fuel as it blasts from the rockets engine — as the engines blast down, the rocket goes up!

SOURCE: SCIENCEBOB.COM