The Express Tribune hi five - June 29

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fairy tales

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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

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 29, 2014

Hi light

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Earlier this month, the film Maleficent was released worldwide and was met with great enthusiasm from children and adults alike. The movie, which re-imagines the well-known fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, only from the point of view of the villain who curses Princess Aurora that Auro Au uro r ra tto o a lifetime of deep sleep, is one of many films released in the last few years arrs a rs tth hat at and iss based ba assed ed on o a fairy tale. For a instance, Tangled, based on Rapunzel, The Princess a nd d tthe hee h Frog F Fr Fro rog og was wa w as an adaptation of The Frog Prince and last year’s Frozen, which was inspired re ed d by by The The Snow Sno Sn o Queen. Even the Shrek series incorporates common elements of fairy ta ttales ale les we’ve alll grown up reading and hearing. Clearly, fairy tales are still as important ass tthey we’vve al we a he h ey were thousands of years ago when they were first created.

Fairy tales are just one of many types of traditional stories which are passed down from one generation to another over centuries. Just like folk tales, myths and legends, fairy tales have been around for thousands of years. The fairy tales that we know today are just slightly altered versions of stories which have existed in different parts of the world for a long time. For instance, the popular fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, in which a little girl is tricked by a wolf pretending to be her grandmother, can be found in Chinese culture (the wolf is replaced by a tiger in this version) and in Persian culture (the little girl is instead a little boy in this story).

Because fairy tales are of ancient origin, it’s difficult to know who originally wrote which story. In fact, in the olden days, fairy tales were told orally. Children and grownups would gather around a campfire and listen to someone narrate the stories out loud. It was only later, in the 17th century, that different writers collected these fairy tales and wrote them down in the form of a book. One of the most famous collections of fairy tales is called Children’s and Household Tales, compiled by the Grimm brothers.

This collection includes stories such as Rumplestilskin, Hansel and Gretel and Snow White. Some writers, instead of collecting already-existing stories, wrote their own fairy tales. The most famous such writer is Hans Christian Anderson, who wrote many fairy tales that we love today, including The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling.

No matter what part of the world we live in or how old we are, everyone enjoys reading fairy tale. They are magical and mysterious: they are filled with goblins and fairies and evil witches, with curses and true love and exciting adventures. But more importantly, fairy tales teach us things which are important for everyone to learn — the importance of kindness and compassion (Beauty and the Beast), the value of following your dreams (Jack and the Beanstalk) and the merits of being patient and hopeful even in hard times (Cinderella). These are values that everyone should practice and fairy tales teach them to us without being preachy or boring.

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 29, 2014

HiHilight light

3 Calling herself the Mistress of All Evil, this wicked fairy crashes the christening party of the baby princess Aurora and instead of giving her a gift, curses her to prick her finger on a spinning wheel when she turns 16 and fall into a death-like sleep for a thousand years. The movie Maleficent, however, explains that Maleficent turned bad because of something that happened in her past, and it turns out that she is still capable of goodness.

When an evil king traps a girl in his castle and forces her to turn straw into gold, Rumplestilskin offers to help the girl in the seemingly impossible task. But in return, he demands that the girl give him her first baby whenever it is born. When the baby is born, the girl begs Rumplestilskin not to take it and Rumplestilskin agrees — on the condition that she guesses his name.

Demanding anyone to guess such a strange name might not be downright evil, but it sure is mean.

Snow White’s stepmother goes to great lengths to kill her including ordering a huntsman to bring her Snow White’s heart and trying to poison Snow White with an apple. The ‘Evil’ part of her name is truly justified.

Th h witch lives in a house The ma out of chocolate and ma made cca a candy, which although s so sounds wonderful, is really j just a way to lure innocent c children to her. When H Hansel and Gretel stumble u upon her edible cottage, s traps them in a cage she a feeds them lots of and ch chicken so that they become f and she can eat them. fa fat

The Th e me mean wolf wants to eat Little Red m R Ri idi ding di ing gH Riding Hood as she passes through the wood wo od to go to her grandmother’s woods h ho o house.

After failing to catch her on h he e journey, the wolf hurries to her her gran gr an grandma’s house, locks the grandma n the th closet and waits for Red Riding in H Ho Hood, disguised as the grandmother.

H hopes that she will be tricked He in nto t coming close enough for him to into e ea at he at e eat her.

1. Into the Woods (2014): A witch conspires to teach important lessons to different fairy tales characters, including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel.

2. Cinderella (2015): Disney is remaking the classic fairy tale into a live-action film.

3 3. Beauty and the Beast (2015): In this new version, Emma Watson (who played Hermoine in the Harry Potter films), reprises the role of Belle.

4. Giants (2016): Disney is finally making an animated film of the popular fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 29, 2014

Activity

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How to make an ice cube painting Step 1 Start out with the three primary colours — red, blue and yellow. To make the coloured water, add at least five drops of food colouring to about ¼ cup of water.

Mix well. Test the colour intensity by painting with the coloured water on plain white paper. If you want the colour to be brighter or more intense, add a few more drops of food colouring until you achieve the desired colour.

Supplies needed: •Ice cube tray •Small plastic bowls •Plastic spoons •Food colouring •Scissors •Sketch paper

Step 2 Prepare your ice cube tray. Spoon in the colours into each tray section by pairs to come up with the secondary colours — orange (yellow + red), green (yellow + blue), and purple (blue + red). Pour in some red, blue and yellow on some of the remaining tray sections.

Step 3 Once satisfied with the mixed colours, put the tray inside the freezer. Check on your ice cube tray after about 30 to 45 minutes. When the coloured water is half-frozen, stick in a ice cream spoon handle into the centre of each ice cube.

Put the ice tray back in the freezer.

Step 4 When the ice cubes are solid, take out the ice tray from the freezer and allow it to stand at room temperature for a few minutes. Twist the ice tray slightly to loosen the ice cubes.

•Disposable ice cream sticks

Step 5 Holding the ice cubes by the stick, paint on blank sheets of paper for as long as you want, until the ice is almost completely melted.

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

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

SOURCE: FIRSTPALETTE.COM

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 29, 2014

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

Reading to comfort In an English village called Winkfield, primary school children have been cheering up sad cats and dogs in an animal shelter by reading stories to them. The young students of Cranbourne Primary School have, over the last month, visited the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home regularly and spent time with the lonely animals there that are waiting for new homes. According to the Battersea staff, the children’s rhythmic sounds of reading can help the stressed animals relax. The children, who are all six years old, read short animal stories to the cats and dogs, including stories written by the Battersea Ambassador and famous children’s author Jacqueline Wilson.

Battersea Old Windsor’s Centre Manager, Kaye Mughal, said: “Ghost the Lurcher, Frank the Pug and Tilly the cat all enjoyed listening to the children read stories to them.” Since it was founded, the Battersea animal shelter has rescued and given new homes to around 3.1 million cats and dogs. METRO.CO.UK

Part of the family A confused and lost elephant was adopted by a herd of buffalo in a wildlife conservation area in Zimbabwe, Africa.

Nzhou, the 46-year-old female elephant was accepted as the queen of the herd by the horned buffalos after Nzhou’s parents were killed by ivory hunters in the 1970s. Even though all the animals at the conservation accept the elephant as part of their group, Nzhou chooses to spend most of her time with her buffalo family. “We have tried to reintroduce her to the elephant herd on the farm but she’s really happy where she is,” said Judy Travers, one of the owners of the wildlife park. Travers also explains that Nzhou is a very good leader to the buffalo, being both caring and stern, just like a mother. “She’s very nurturing towards calves and their mums, but can put her big foot down towards the mature bulls.” METRO.CO.UK

World wide weird

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Google’s gift

A little girl wrote a letter to the giant Internet company Google where her dad works, requesting a holiday for her father. The adorable handwritten letter requests Google to give the Katie’s father an off on his birthday. In the impassioned letter, the girl wrote: “Dear google worker, can you please make sure when daddy goes to work, he gets one day off. Like he can get a day off on Wednesday. Because daddy ONLY gets a day off on Saturday.” Then she added, “P.S It’s daddy’s BIRTHDAY. P.P.S. It is summer, you know.” Google not only accepted her request, they topped it. In a answering letter, Katie’s father’s boss, Daniel Shiplacoff, wrote, “Thank you for your thoughtful note and request. Your father has been hard at work designing many beautiful and delightful things for Google and millions of people across the globe. On the occasion of his Birthday, and recognising the importance of taking some Wednesdays off during the summer, we are giving him the whole first week of July as vacation time.” What a generous gift by Google. METRO.CO.UK

Human fireworks A team of sky-divers, apparently thinking that falling to earth from a great height was just not daring or dangerous enough, decided to turn themselves into human fireworks.

The American team, called The Fastrax, strapped fireworks to themselves before falling to earth at 120mph. The skydivers jumped from a height of 4,100 metres and as they did so, the fireworks strapped to their bodies burned like meteors for about 45 seconds while the members of the team hangs on to each others’ arms during the free fall.

When their height from earth decreases to 1,520 metres, the sky-divers have to carefully release their parachutes, making sure that the flames do not touch them. The Fastrax undertook such a dangerous task in order to create an incredible light show which illuminated the night sky, and which people on the ground can safely enjoy. METRO.CO.UK

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 29, 2014

6 Did you know?

Is playing video games really bad for you?

Now that school’s out for the summer, there is so much more time that can be spent playing video games, isn’t there? If only parents would just stop worrying that video games are bad for you. Research shows that video games have many positive effects on a person’s mind. Playing a video game is really just giving your brain a real workout.

It teaches you skills that aren’t taught at schools. These skills include problem solving and applying logic. Playing games like Angry Birds help train the mind to come up with creative ways to solve problems. Video games also increase a person’s hand-eye coordination. In shooting games or games in which you have to fly planes or drive cars, you have to keep track of the character’s speed, position and where they’re heading. All of these factors have to be interpreted correctly by the brain in order to effectively play the game. Another advantage of playing video games is that it encourages quick thinking and making fast decisions. Studies even show that video games can be used to train soldiers and surgeons. Playing games can improve your memory, and can teach you the benefits of taking risks and of sticking to something even when you fail the first few times. However, along with such important benefits, there are some harmful effects of playing video games. One of the most damaging things about video games is the violence in them. Studies show that playing violent games can increase aggressive thoughts and behvaiours and cause people to become less helpful and kind. Playing video games for long periods of time can also isolate you from friends and family, which can lead to you being more stressed out and angry. People who play video games too much are known to argue a lot with their friends, fight with their siblings and are less good in academics. In conclusion, video games have many benefits, as long as you don’t spend too much time playing them and as long as you try and avoid games which are too violent.

How to say ‘butterfly’ in different languages Afrikaans Albanian Basque Croatian Danish Filipino Finnish French German Igbo Italian Latin Polish Spanish

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Vlinder Flutur Tximeleta Leptir Sommerfugl Paparo Perhonen Papillon Schmetterling Nru Ububa Farfalla Papilio Motyl Mariposa

Cool facts The average human adult has two to nine pounds of bacteria in his or her body.

The average four-year-old child asks over four hundred questions a day.

Starfish can re-grow their arms.

The total weight of all the ants on earth is greater than the total weight of all the humans on earth.

If the human brain were a computer, it could perform 38 trillion operations per second. The world’s most powerful computer can only achieve 0.002% of that.

Seahorses are monogamous life mates and they travel in pairs, holding each other’s tails.

‘Rain of fish’ is an annual weather event in which hundreds of fish rain down from the sky on the Honduran city of Yoro.

A mosquito has 47 teeth.

A mouse can squeeze through a hole the size of a ballpoint pen.

Along with the five traditional senses of sight, sound, touch, smell and taste, humans have 15 ‘other senses’ which include balance, temperature, pain and time.

Airplane food never tastes good because our sense of smell and taste decreases by (20 to 50) per cent during flights.

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 29, 2014

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Fun & games

Notable Entries for the Liberty Books Card Competition

Areesha Farooqui

Ayesha Zahid

Ayesha Zahid

Ibrahim Aayan Naufal Qureshi Haroon Winner

Naufal Qureshi

Zainab Nasir Winner

Sumaiya Zahid

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE, JUNE 29, 2014

You have no doubt stacked books and boxes on top of each other. But to stack liquids you need a steady hand and a little understanding of chemistry.

What to do:

You will need:

1. Start by pouring each of the liquids into separate glasses. You should have five plastic cups half-filled with each of the liquids listed above, ie water, oil, dish washing soap, squash/sherbet and honey. You may want to colour water by adding a few drops of food colouring of your choice.

• Water • Vegetable oil • Liquid dish washing soap • Sherbet/Squash or any concentrated syrup • Honey • Food colouring • Plastic cups

2. Now before starting your column, give it some thought. Which liquid should be added first?

3. Take a new plastic cup and start by first pouring a little honey into it. Now you will pour a small amount of each of the liquids slowly into the container, one at a time. It is very important to pour the liquids slowly and into the centre of the cylinder. Make sure that the liquids do not touch the sides of the cup as your pour them. It is okay if the liquids mix a little as you are building your column. You will soon see distinct layers as the liquids have varying densities.

4. The challenge is to find the correct order in which to pour the liquids to get a density column.

Can you find the correct order?

This activity is brought to you by:

Here is the correct order: a. Honey b. Squash c. Dish washing soap d. Water e. Oil

Word of the week: Density vs Volume Are density and volume the same thing? Density tells you how compact a substance is while volume tells you how much space a liquid occupies. Can you measure the volume of the liquids you used in the experiment above? Can you tell which liquid has the highest density after you’ve successfully completed your density column? Is it the liquid on the top or the liquid at the bottom of the column?

Scientist Factory is offering a two week science summer camp at Haque Academy.

You can contact them at lalah@scientistfactory.com or call at 3 525 1511-3 for further details

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